★★★★★ 3
Not a bad first-person account
Format: Paperback
I had mixed thoughts about this book. It's the author's personal experiences and thoughts about the Camino, but aren't most books about the Camino? I tend to think it's a little too much interior maundering, how every part of the experience affected the writer. Still, what would you expect? I have to call this just an ok read. Most of the reason I liked it at all is because I am intrigued by the Camino and enjoy reading about it.
The writer is a dedicated sister and her companion was a retired priest. I enjoyed the places where she touched on Catholicism, but there wasn't much of that. But there was the part of the book that I found a jarring note, and that was about her take on some fellow Catholics. She and her companion meet a group of three helpful, warm, caring priests and take them to be Jesuits. The priests inform them that that are Opus Dei. As the sister and priest continue walking, they find they are both astounded at the goodness of these men, since Opus Dei is considered to be extremely wealthy, conservative, and have strong ties to traditional Rome. (I thought all Catholics felt they have ties to Rome. I myself talk about the year I "crossed the Tiber.") It is just amazing to this twosome that such nice men could be from wealthy, conservative Opus Dei. I thought this antipathy toward a Catholic group known to do good works told a lot more about the writer than about the well-met priests--maybe more than she intended to let slide about herself. It was the one part of the book that struck a negative note for me.
Other than that, I also wished for more at the end. They finished the Camino and went on to Finisterre. (Huh? What happened to the time spent at the Cathedral at the end? The beauty of the place and the experience of Mass there, and that wonderful incense burner. That whole part was left out.)
I finished the book and consider it just "ok".
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Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2021
