Book Review - Critical Mass by Kathleen M. Henry

Saturday, January 2, 2010

I began reading Critical Mass by Kathleen M. Henry a few weeks ago while sitting in the waiting room at my dentist's office. Not the most glamorous start but I was quickly pulled into the story. I guess I should say stories to be more accurate, Critical Mass follows the lives of several women and their relation to the church. Each section of the book corresponds to the segments of a Catholic Mass.

I am not Catholic but I have always been very interested in all religions and now that I live in a predominately Catholic city I am more interested than ever in the theology and lore that Catholicism is built upon. Critical Mass not only shows the reader inside the church and the sanctity of Mass but also puts us inside the minds of the parishioners sitting in the pews and the priests behind the scenes.

Ms. Henry does a great job building her stories, one character on top of the other each one pulled me more and more into the larger picture. Though the book is short at just 109 pages, it is so perfectly put together that it didn't leave me wanting but calm and warm. Even though we are not all that similar on the surface I felt like I connected with the women in Critical Mass intimately which can only be attributed to Kathleen Henry's storytelling. All-in-all I give Critical Mass thumbs up.

Currently "Reading":
Book - Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 1) by Charlaine Harris