THIS IS WHY I CAME: A NOVEL
Book ID/图书代码： 03371015B85077
English Summary/英文概要： A woman sits in prayerful meditation, waiting to offer her first confession in more than thirty years. She holds a small book on her lap, one that she’s made, and tells herself again the Bible stories it contains, the ones she has written anew, for herself, each story told aslant, from Jonah to Jesus, Moses to Mary Magdalen. Woven together and stitched by hand, they provide a new version, virtually a new translation, of the heart of this ancient and sacred text. Rakow’s Bernadette traces, through each brief and familiar story, a line where belief and disbelief touch, the line that has been her home, ragged and neglected, that hidden seam.
The result is an amazing book of extraordinary beauty, so human and humorous, and yet so holy it becomes a work of poetry, a canticle, a song of lament and praise. In the private terrain of silence and devotion, shared with us by a writer of power and grace, Rakow offers, through Bernadette, her own lectio divina for the modern world.
No reader will forget this book or be able to read the Bible itself without a new perspective on this text that remains, arguably, Western civilization’s greatest literary achievement.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： 一个女人坐着进行虔诚的冥想，她在等待30多年来的第一次忏悔。她拿着一本自己制作的小书放在腿上，再一次给自己讲述里面有关约拿、耶稣、摩西、抹大拉的玛丽亚的圣经故事。这本书是手工编织缝制的，书中对《圣经》这部古老而神圣的作品进行了全新的诠释。Rakow塑造的主人公Bernadette通过一个个简短而熟悉的故事追溯信仰和怀疑，追溯那隐秘的、被忽视的线索。
本书文笔优美，内容幽默，散发着人性和神圣的光辉，像一首诗、一首圣歌、一曲挽歌、一曲赞美诗。作者通过Bernadette优雅、有力地与当代世界分享自己的圣言诵读。
每一位读过本书的读者都将对其念念不忘，并从全新的角度解读这部西方文明史上最伟大的文学作品。（LYR）
Awards/获奖情况：“这部华丽的作品融合了寓言、神学和诗歌，将圣经故事以全新的面貌展现在读者面前，使这些故事重新焕发原有的陌生感，体现出深刻的人性。这部小说令人不安，却又抚慰人心，是一部充满疑问的作品，同时也为读者打开了一扇门，陪伴我们独孤充满未知的漫漫长夜。”——Garth Greenwell，作家
“我们以为我们了解《圣经》。我们以为像熟悉自己的身体一般熟悉这些古老的故事。但作者以一种意想不到的方式重新探索这些文字背后的沉默含义……她大胆而虔诚地处理这些圣经人物，令文字变得如呼吸般自然……这正是我们在艺术中所寻找的东西，一种提升我们自身觉知并打破我们所熟知的现实的幻象……在她的笔下，语言变成了光杯，符号被赋予了全新的意义，重新揭开人性的秘密。”——Julianne Ortale，作家
Ron Charles在《华盛顿邮报》上发表的书评充满了“精致”“鲜明”“震撼”“魅力非凡”“深刻”“富有诗意”等溢美之词。
• The Washington Post glowing review by Ron Charles —review filled with praise: “delicate,” “stark,” striking,” “arresting,” “startling,” “poignant,” “poetic” … to name a few adjectives he uses.
• Magazine—review—January
• The Atlantic—TK
About the Author/作者介绍： Mary Rakow，曾荣获2次Lannan Foundation Residencies和1次Lannan Foundation Literary Fellowship。《回忆房间（The Memory Room ）》曾入围斯坦福大学图书馆国际萨洛扬文学奖（Stanford University Libraries International Saroyan Prize in Literature）决选名单、PEN USA/West小说决选名单，并入选《洛杉矶时报》的“西方最佳图书”名单。她的专业是神学（硕士，哈佛神学院；博士，波士顿学院），后转向小说创作，现居住在旧金山，是一名自由编辑。
Mary Rakow is the recipient of two Lannan Foundation Residencies and a Lannan Foundation Literary Fellowship. The Memory Room was shortlisted for the Stanford University Libraries International Saroyan Prize in Literature, a PEN USA/West Finalist in Fiction and was listed among the Best Books of the West by The Los Angeles Times. She comes to fiction from theology (Masters, Harvard Divinity School, Ph.D., Boston College) and lives in San Francisco where she is a freelance editor.
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Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE
Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE
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