I just finished reading this bestseller by Ron Hansen. Apparently we were living in Germany when it was a "hot item"  so I missed out on it then.

Can any of you share your thoughts on it?    As I was reading it, it read like the biography of a mystic postulant --- it is so surprising that it's fiction.

And what was your opinion of her experience of having the stigmata?  Did you believe it was real or not?

Can't say that I have ever heard of this book Jeanne so I'm not much help.  Maybe someone else has.

Jeanne, 

this is not a board I usually visit, but I saw your post.  I love this book.  I have read it over a few times.  It reads like the best poetry ever written.  I gave it to two male friends and asked them to tell me what they thought.  One guy who is avidly anti-former Catholic told me it made him cry it was so beautful.  One of the things I find so unforgettable about the book was the reaction of Mariette and her sister about her sister's cancer and coming death.  It kinda blew my mind. 

I also ponder that this book was written by a man.  The only other male who has written a woman so well, IMHO, is Jim Harrison's Dalva and the sequel, The Road Home.

Personally, I found this book moving in its simplicity.  I usually don't read short, emotional books but I have two keeper copies of this one...one hardback first edition and a paperback loaner. 

PS.  I forgot to mention about the stigmata.  Well, I asked a priest friend who had actually read the book,  Mariette..., to tell me about sigmata, and he said that there are people all over the world who have it.  Mostly, Christian, but some not Christian.  He said at one time Meninger's Hospital in Topeka was full of people with the 'disorder' and the doctor there studying the condition found that it is spontaneous and not based on belief  or craziness 100% of the time.  I find that a little spooky.