The Cloister Walk

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Gradually she learns much about simplicity, patience, forgiveness, the value of community, and the responsibility of freedom. Part memoir, part meditation, The Cloister Walk is the movingly written and thought-provoking record of a married, Protestant woman’s time spent in a community of men in a traditional Benedictine monastery in Minnesota. The canal tow path and river Exe are also conveniently nearby, and are popular for walking and cycle rides.

I started this book at the same time I started to read a psalm every day and the accompanying commentary on the Enduring Word commentary site. Kathleen Norris, a married woman with a thoroughly Protestant background and often more doubt than faith, finds herself, somewhat to her own surprise, on two extended residences at St John's Abbey, Minnesota.It is a first principle of their worship that they read the psalms straight through, at least some portion of it each day. Norris, whose poetry collections include The Middle of the World, reached a wide audience with her prose memoir Dakota, A Spiritual Geography.

If you enjoyed The Cloister Walk, you’ll want to read these other works by Kathleen Norris, all available from Riverhead. The humanizing stories they tell about both of them are the most wonderful parts of both books- Hey!I think a lot of people would show up for that, if only we could all be still and quiet enough, for long enough, to listen. It made me yearn to be able to do as she does and spend long periods of time within the monastery, sharing in the daily round of work and prayer. Her sheltered upbringing left her unprepared for the world she encountered when she began attending Bennington College in Vermont.

Each chapter is structured around a reading, a line, or a life of a saint she encounters while attending worship with the monks.As a young man (end of college days) I visited a Trappist Monastery when a boyhood friend was studying to become a Trappist, and I was allowed to walk with the Monks in processional at a High Mass (which they have every day). Unlike Fermor in his short masterpiece, Norris utterly fails to convey the 'feel' of monasticism and often comes across as rather apologetic about the subject, as though she feels she needs to justify her interest in it. Will usually dispatch within same working day if paid before 14:00 GMT (excludes weekends and holidays). Change country: -Select- Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Republic Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Islands Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Cook Islands Costa Rica Cyprus Czech Republic Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) Fiji Finland France Gabon Republic Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iraq Ireland Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Republic of Croatia Republic of the Congo Romania Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts-Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Suriname Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City State Vietnam Virgin Islands (U.

Norris doesn’t really fall into this, but sometimes her literary leanings can leave me a bit perplexed as to what she is actually saying and what her own beliefs are. For Norris, the potent metaphors of scripture harness a power that simultaneously encompasses the literal and transcends it. We hope it will prove to be a valuable accompaniment to Kathleen Norris’s unique work — “a gift of insight… one of those rare books too rich to race through” ( The Kansas City Star). Indeed, the Benedictines have a love of the psalms, reading and immersing in them daily, starting over once they are all read again, imbedding the rhythms into their daily lives and contemplations.

Soon after moving to the rural prairie, Norris developed a relationship with the nearby Benedictine abbey, which led to her eventually becoming an oblate.