Review: "Looking for Mary"

If you have read Beverly Donofrio's first memoir, Riding in Cars with Boys - or, at the very least, have seen the movie - then you may be surprised by her second memoir, Looking for Mary: (Or, the Blessed Mother and Me). "Riding in Cars" focuses on Beverly's young life as a proverbial 'bad girl,' the one who gets pregnant in high school, experiments with drugs, etc. "Looking for Mary," however, is the next chapter in her life. She is older, more mature, and has put many of her previous experiences behind her. Now, as a woman reeling from a breakup and as a mother trying to enhance her relationship with her adult son, Beverly looks into spiritual matters. Is it cliched? Not in a million years.

Beverly has an incredible talent, not just to write well, but to be open, accessible, and light-hearted about what matters. She approaches Catholicism - the religion she had been raised and disenchanted with - in a most down-to-earth way. The reader never feels preached to, only honestly engaged. Beverly describes her fascination with the Virgin Mary as well as what she sees in the U.S., Mexico, and all the way to Medjugorje, Bosnia, where Mary is said to appear. Beverly doesn't make you feel bad about yourself as a religious or spiritual failure; rather, she makes you want to believe. Her book is beautiful, honest and inspiring. A non-Catholic like myself finished the book with a strong desire to learn how to pray the rosary.

I don't think, however, that conversion to Catholicism is this author's aim for her readers. She is not stringent or pushy; she even, rather humorously, admits that while she loved Mary, she wasn't really all that fond of Jesus, as he had been the one to make her feel guilty as a Catholic all those years. But she begins to soften towards him because that's what Mary would want, for us to listen to her son.

Whether you come away with further insight into spiritual matters, or just into human frailty and longing, you will not be disappointed with this book.

Rating: A+

*Check out my interview with Beverly Donofrio at Della Donna: a webzine for women.

April D. Boland is a freelance writer and editor.  Originally from New York City, she now resides in Austin, Texas where she enjoys reading, writing, soaking up culture and taking advantage of the beautiful outdoors that she never had back home.  She is the founder and editor-in-chief of Della Donna, a webzine for women for which she heartily accepts submissions.  Her published work can be found at her website, AprilBoland.com, and she blogs about writing at These Words.