Review of THE DEARLY BELOVED by Cara Wall

3 Stars

I will begin by stating that I don’t gravitate to books with religious themes.  I read this one because it was chosen by my book club. 

The book is about two ministers and their wives.  Covering 1953 to 1970, the novel shows these four as they grow up, attend college, get married, establish careers, create families, and weather tragedies. 

Charles Barrett, the son of a Harvard professor, falls in love with Lily who has never recovered from the death of her parents and who is a staunch non-believer.  James MacNally, who comes from an impoverished family with an alcoholic parent, falls in love with Nan, a minister’s daughter from an influential and affluent family.  The two men are made co-ministers of the Third Presbyterian Church in Greenwich Village in the 1960s.  Charles sees his mission as guiding and supporting his parishioners while James tries to inspire congregants in the fight for social justice.  Nan becomes the quintessential clergyman’s wife while Lily becomes involved in academia and activism.  Events cause rifts between the couples and bring them together. 

I had difficulty with the foundations of the novel.  Everyone falls in love at first sight?  Would a man of so much faith marry an atheist?  Isn’t religious faith and belief experiential, not an academic pursuit?  Would a man who does not fully believe in God become a minister when his desire to help others and change the world could just as easily be met in another role?  A parish is so wealthy as to be able to support two ministers?  I also had difficulty with the ending.  Annelise arrives to save the day and a man proceeds to fall in love with her the moment he sees her!

The author goes out of her way to build religion into the structure of the novel, but I found it to be less about faith than love.  In a scene near the end, one of the characters realizes that a group of people are his beloved because he loves all of them “more than he would have ever thought possible, loved them not with the automatic love of childhood or the easy love of coincidence, but with the tautly stitched love of people who have faced uncertainty together, who have stuck it out, the strong love of people who looked to their side while suffering and saw the other there.”  God is never mentioned.

I tend to enjoy books with dynamic characters that change and grow.  All four of the major characters do learn from experiences.  For instance, one comes to realize the importance of connection while another learns that doubt can assail anyone.  Unfortunately, I didn’t find that I really cared.  The characters come across as wooden because the author relies more on telling than showing. 

This book just did not speak to me.  Perhaps I lack the type of faith necessary to appreciate its nuances.