Vous voulez voir cette page en français ? Cliquez ici.

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
The Eyes of the Heart: A Memoir of the Lost and Found
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside another edition of this book

The Eyes of the Heart: A Memoir of the Lost and Found [Hardcover]

Frederick Buechner (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


Formats

 Amazon Price New from Used from
Hardcover --   -- --
Paperback CDN $11.91   -- --

Product Details

Product Description

From Amazon

Unlike some Christian writers, Frederick Buechner has never claimed to have a ringside seat to the truth. "I have seen with the eyes of the heart the great hope to which he has called us," he writes, "but out of shyness ... I rarely speak of it, and in my books I have tended to write about it for the most part only obliquely." This very reticence, however, is one of the qualities that most endears this writer to his fans: we trust him all the more because he does not deny his own doubts. A novelist, preacher, and essayist beloved by the thoughtful (and the doubtful), this new memoir follows the quiet and yet probing style of the three that precede it (Now and Then, Telling Secrets, and The Sacred Journey). Here, as he moves into his 70s, Buechner explores more deeply and with greater personal poignancy his familiar subjects of loss, death, and faith, acknowledging that these three issues still revolve around his own father's suicide when Buechner was 9. Including delightful and honest reminiscences of his childhood friend, the great poet James Merrill, along with rich and loving memories of family members and books, Buechner writes the way many of us feel--with moments of glory that shoot through the grayness. Those who know his earlier work will not be disappointed by this continuation of the journey; those new to him will find a suitable entry point to the path right here. --Doug Thorpe

From Publishers Weekly

Its cloying title aside, this fourth memoir by the Pulitzer Prize-nominated author (Godric) is elegant, understated and elegiac. As the reader is guided through the author's libraryAhis "Magic Kingdom"Avarious books, manuscripts and mementos become the stimulus for meditations about Christian faith and about the people who have touched his life. We read at length about the folly of writing a novel about Jesus; to do so, the ordained minister writes, "would be to cheapen and somehow dishonor the bond between us." We see the author's fatherAwho committed suicide at the age of 38Anot only as a distant figure, alcoholic and adulterous ("the empty place at [the] center" of Buechner's childhood), but as a charismatic Princeton alumnus who once seemed so full of promise. The memoir's penultimate chapter is a tribute to the author's beloved brother, Jamie, who died as Buechner was finishing the bookAhe had called and said he had "incurable cancer of virtually everything and didn't intend to be around for more than two weeks if he could possibly help it." Such a momentAa pitch-perfect blend of tenderness and sardonic lyricismAtypifies the poetic intensity of the memoir. Also of note is the second chapter, about Buechner's friend, the late poet James Merrill, who appears in the author's dreams: "and it is always goodbye that we are saying again as if to make up for never having had the chance to say it properly." Acknowledging at once the intensity of their bond and the married minister's puzzlement at the alien pleasures of an unapologetically homosexual man, this chapter exemplifies the memoir's adroit equipoise, unsparing and loving at once. (Dec.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
See all Product Description
Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
I bring Naya into the Magic Kingdom. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Tag this product

 (What's this?)
Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.
Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

› Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most helpful customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Life After Death, Mar 9 2007
By 
Justin Majeau "Justin" (Edmonton, AB, CAN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Eyes Of The Heart (Paperback)
Another powerful memoir from critically acclaimed author, Pulitzer Prize runner-up and my favorite writer of all time, Frederick Buechner. Unlike his other memoirs this one spends more time in the details of his life including his close relationship with the famous poet James Merrill and of all things his own personal library, which he colorfully calls ?The Magic Kingdom.? Buechner even comes out and hints to a possibility that he and the late Truman Capote were also acquaintances.

Near the middle it is possible to get snowed under by all the seemingly inconsequential events of his grandmothers father and who he was friends with and who were his enemies and what happened to his arm but if you will do what Buechner has been trying above all else to get his readers to do and ?Listen to your life? and listen in on his intently enough you will see yourself and your family within his narrative and be well enough prepared for a beautifully written final chapter where Buchner makes sense of all the lose ends and polishes up the mysteries that must remain mystery until God ?opens the eyes of the heart.?

It is a memoir of death and the life that can at times come before death but, God we hope, more then any other time after death.

I would suggest if you are at all interested in reading memoirs from Buechner that you do not begin with this one. The details, I believe, could be lost on individuals who do not know the broader context of his life.

Which is why, if I had not read any of his prior work, would have said that level of connectedness I felt with him would have been a 2/5 with many parts of him still in the shadows and many parts of me remaining hidden. Yet because of the context that has been set I felt 4/5 connected to him while I read.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


3.0 out of 5 stars Preserving the Magic Kingdom, Jan 4 2004
This review is from: Eyes Of The Heart (Paperback)
Sharing intimate details of his childhood and adult memories--in a kaleidoscope of chronology which requires flexibility on the part of the reader--Buechner offers a gentle autobiographical
patchwork of his life. He invites us graciously into the most
hallowed rooms of his heart, describing precious objects whose
existence and display coalesce into his own personal magic kingdom. We are treated as his honored guests, allowed free access into the privacy of sacred spaces: his home, his family archives and his fluid imagination. He reveals the dreams and feelings, labors and heartache of various family members going several generations back. Not because they were noteworthy in the eyes of the world; instead because he painstakingly acquired the knowledge, and now is willing to share their human
experiences with his unknown readers--experiences which just might echo our own.

Mainly the author presents conversations with those dear ones who have gone on before. He, like us, seeks to know what really Happens after death. Endowing his characters with post-terrestrial information and wisdom, he seeks to calm his fear of the great unknown (and ours) by spiritual rationalization as viewed through "the eyes of the heart"--a quotation from Ephesians. We learn much about his family of course, but also about literature and his favorite authors, such as Trollope. Striving to comfort himself and his readers about those who have been Lost, he assures us that they have also been Found in afterlife by a benficient Divinity--a message which offers desperately-needed peace and hope for those who grieve. This plotless book consists of variations on one theme, so it can not be classified as a novel, yet it remains much more than mere autobiography. I recommend this book for introspective readers who seek meaning in this world, especially after suffering the loss of dear ones. Take hope--take heart--as Buechner strives to assuage our pain and our fears about the post-human condition.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful, beautifully written memoir, Dec 31 2002
By 
This review is from: Eyes Of The Heart (Paperback)
A wonderful, beautifully written memoir of loved ones Buechner remembers and love ones for whom he wishes he remembered more. Basis of books and objects from his library is one part of the charm. The other, however, can not be described without dispelling part of the enchantment of the first chapter.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
› Go to Amazon.com to see all 9 reviews  4.3 out of 5 stars 
 
 		 Most recent customer reviews



Only search this product's reviews


Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject























i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?