Name: Lying Awake
ISBN: 9780375706066

Mark Salzman

Sister John of the Cross, an elderly nun, experiences a series of dazzling visions, but she is confronted with a difficult choice between her spiritual gifts and curing the powerful headaches that accompany her visions.

Lying Awake

Sarah Sammis

Lying Awake is a book I received during one of last year's BookCrossing meetings. It is one of the most engrossing books I've read this year. It is a short book, only 181 pages (and with a large font). Each short chapter reads like a prayer, a perfect fit as it follows a nun who is facing surgery to cure her of her headaches. If she has the surgery she will be pain free for the first time in years but she will probably lose her feeling of rapture.

As a long time sufferer of migraines, I felt connected to Sister John and her desire to live with her pain and not let it rule her life. As the pain progresses and her migraines are rediagnosed as a form of epilepsy I was further engrossed. The descriptions of her episodes matched what I've been told they are like.

Lying Awake is also a book about inner struggles. Sister John wants to be true to her calling. While suffering through the headaches and seizures she feels closer to her god but the pain keeps her from helping with her duties at the convent. The cure will give her back her peace of mind and free her of her pain but she will lose that sense of union. What is the best solution for her to take for the betterment of her community and for herself?

Lying Awake

Reviews

Highlights