Sunday, August 19, 2012

The Lilies of the Field

by William E. Barrett  127 p.

   This is the story that the Sidney Poitier movie by the same title is based on, but I haven't seen the movie. I plan on doing so. This is a novella about a man who is traveling around in the 1950s I think after he serves in the military. His name is Homer (so fitting he's a bit of a nomadic soldier-type) and he is driving in the western US to check out it out. He is originally from the South. He sees some women working at a small farm in the desert and offers his services as a paid worker. They turn out to be nuns from Germany. The mother superior believes Homer is sent from God to build their chapel. She is bossy and that often irks Homer. Homer thinks she's a bit nuts, because he has never built a church. Something draws him to building the church even though it is not his denomination.

   This book had some touching and inspiring moments, but I felt the descriptions of Homer by the author are questionable at times.
     

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