Therese by Dorothy Day

Therese Reviews

• 
  Hunter

  Enjoyed Dorothy Day's commentary on the life of St. Thérèse, especially as it focused more on the background of her family life and younger years. There's only a few chapters concerning her time at Carmel. I feel as though I got to know the saint better through this work, although I am glad that I'd read Story of A Soul before this as context. Day writes in a simple and accessible style that lends itself to a near narrative format. Only cried a few times because I love St. Thérèse so much and this book definitely drew me nearer to her.
• 
  Joy

  I was really taken by St. Therese's autobiography The Story of a Soul, and have always been vey interested in Dorothy Day's life. Now reading about Therese de Lisieux through the eyes of Dorothy Day, I admire both women immensely. For some reason, Therese's "little way" speaks softly to me.
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  Sara

  I’d already read “Story of a Soul” by the time I read this book, so I already knew a lot about St. Therese, but Day still sheds new light on the life of this saint and I really liked how much Day talked about the saint’s parents and sisters, because they really do influence her life a lot, and it was interesting to hear about their lives, especially Zelie Martin’s life and her incredible faith. What I found most interesting about the book is when Day connects the themes of St. Therese’s life with what’s happening in the world contemporarily and Day’s own semi-Marxist, more progressive beliefs.
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  Suzanne

  An excellent short biography on Saint Theresa. I really enjoyed learning more about her family, Saints come in many different, personalities. My favorite part was when Dorothy Day’s voice pops out of the narrative to comment on Mr. Martin. She points out that he is retired and seemingly not helping about the household very much. Yet she gives him the benefit of the doubt and implies that we really don’t know the Martin’s relationship and Mr. Martin’s relationship to God.
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  Elizabeth Barreca

  My women’s group is reading this right now and I knew I was in for a treat when I saw Dorothy Day’s name flash across the list of the books for the year. Therese is also one of my favorite saints since childhood, but my devotion to her has waxed and waned. Dorthy Day’s last chapter explains her motives for writing this book of reaching the commoner. Dorothy did just that for me, it was a quick, frank, but deep read.
• 
  Ann Warren

  I love loved this book - I loved the family stories and am, dare I say - inspired to live the little way a little better. I just love St Therese, and this book really gave a beautiful snapshot into her life.
• 
  Sarah Winslow

  I learned more about St. Therese and her family, and did enjoy picking the book up, but I just am not a huge fan of the biography genre.
• 
  Monica

  Dorothy Day first learned of St.Therese, the Little Flower, in the maternity ward of Bellvue Hospital after the birth of her daughter. In this compact and mighty book she studies the short and intense life of Therese Martin, born to a religious family in Alençon, Normandy, west of Paris, in 1873. Therese's father was a watchmaker and her mother made lace famous in that region. She was the youngest of the Martin's five daughters. The Martins had wanted sons for the priesthood but their male children did not survive. Both parents worked from home. There was a wonderful garden behind their home where she played and learned. Her mother was very accomplished and adored her littlest one. Despite some remedies she got sick and passed from breast cancer when Therese was four. Her father and older sisters cared for and spoiled her. Her mother had left wishes that her sister would care for her family so for a time the family stayed with their aunt. Therese was beautiful and had a good sense of humor. Her sister Celine was still home and they were good companions. Her father traveled often on religious pilgrimages so Therese and her sisters joined him on a month-long pilgrimage to Rome. At an audience with the Pope Leo XIII Therese defiantly asked that she be allowed to join the Carmelie order even though she was only fourteen. As the book moved along Therese's dedication despite her difficulties made me wish to get through it as quickly as possible. I was glad it's a small book because I might not have been able to persevere. The more she suffered physically the more she kept dedicated to doing her chores and doing 'little things' to please God. I remembered the horrors of her tuberculosis which I had read about when I was as a child and had aspirations of being a nun. Therese hid her suffering from others embracing the fact that her death would bring her everlasting life and bring joy to others. Her mother had actually found joy as her own breast cancer progressed because it would lead her to everlasting life. When Therese was accepted as a novice she was challenged by an unpleasant mother superior who was especially hard on her because of her youth, yet Therese prevailed. Carmeltie nuns sleep on two planks of wood with a layer of straw. That convent was cold! Day wrote about a period of time after Theresa's mother died that Mr Martin suffered from mental Illness and went to a sanitarium for a time. He healed and continued on pilgrimages that he so enjoyed. Therese would be joyful every time she vomited blood because it would bring her closer to god. She continued to do her chores and little things every day to please God so others would see the way to do little things to honor others and embrace the spirituality of life. Celine was able to bring a camera into the Carmelite convent so Therese is the first saint of the modern age who we can see in photographs. Her book was published after her death and the public proclaimed her a saint. It has been translated into dozens of languages and help to inspire many. I don't want to give any spoiler alerts. As Dorothy Day has earned similar recognition it's easy to understand the expression, "it takes one saint to know one."
• 
  Ellen

  Wonderful insights into the life of this cloistered religious by renowned acivist.
• 
  Rachel

  This book is a wonderful introduction to St. Therese if you’re not yet ready to bite off her autobiography, “Story of a Soul”. I enjoyed all of the history of her family, especially since her parents are now saints as well. Day paints a beautiful picture of the family of St. Therese. The devotion of her sisters to her and to their parents, the industriousness of her mother, her deeply devoted father - all of it brought St. Therese’s “little way” into clearer focus for me. She didn’t just happen to wake up and be this way. Yes, it was God’s design but the family unit and structure wholly contributed to who St. Therese was and became. I understand a bit more clearly why she is beloved by so many people, young and old. Day wonderfully captured her story…upbringing and time at Carmel, without making reader feel like it was just another take on the saint’s autobiography.
• 
  Kate Rooney

  As is always the case with Day, this work was well written and succinctly presented. I didn't necessarily think that this added a lot to the perhaps oversaturated list of biographies regarding the life of St. Therese. That being said, it was very interesting having Dorothy Day present the life of St. Therese with such admiration, as a lot of people might unfairly pit them and their lives as antithetical to each other. This work allows the reader to contemplate Day and Therese as two threads in a great tapestry.
  
  I particularly enjoyed the introduction and closing chapter, as it was fascinating to hear Day present her own commentary, something she refrained from doing in the biographical text. I also enjoyed Day's presentation of the lives of Therese's parents, as a great deal of those details were new to me.
  
  Overall, I recommend this book! Succinct, well presented, and informative.
• 
  Paul Jellinek

  I'd read Therese of Lisiuex's own autobiography and was somewhat baffled, and even put off, by it--as, I later learned, others have been, including Bishop Robert Barron, who strikes me as an unusually astute Catholic thinker. So I was hoping that Dorothy Day, a very thoughtful Catholic writer who tried during her life to put the Church's teachings into practice among the poor of New York City, could help me to understand what it is about Therese of Lisieux that the Church and many Catholics find so compelling. As always, I loved reading Dorothy Day's prose, which for me is her distinctive voice, but having read the book, I still don't fully "get" Therese and her "little way." Or maybe I do, and I just don't understand what's so different or special about it. See what you think.
• 
  Luke Prohaska

  Dorothy Day's Therese was a nice treatise on St. Therese of Lisieux's life that drew heavy inspiration from Therese's Story of a Soul. It gave some new insight on St. Therese's family and how their holiness influenced that of Therese. You could also see how Dorothy especially focused how Therese and her family lived out poverty, simplicity, and the works of mercy. However, I was really hoping for less of a biography and more of Dorothy's personal journey with St. Therese and how St. Therese had impacted her spirituality and her work, especially with how St. Therese's "little way" of reaching God is so applicable to the poor, lonely, oppressed, and the hopeless of today's age. There wasn't a lot of personal testimony from Dorothy, and thus I gave it four stars.
• 
  A.R. Gaspard

  A Mesmerizing introduction to The Little Flower
  
  Dorothy Day’s biography of St. Therese will go down in history as one of the best of her works. Her writing style, her mind, and her own experience with life brought together the masterful classic. I’ve learned much about St. Therese in this book and the beautiful simplicity of practicing the presence of God. I highly encourage anyone to take this book up and read it. I promise you will be left edified for doing it.
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  Mallory Montazzoli

  “But this book was not intended primarily for scholars. In fact it was intended, partly, and to defend Thérèse from the elite…” - John C. Cavadini in the Afterword. The book offered an interesting perspective on Thérèse as well as Day. Day emphasizes Thérèse’s smallness and how her everyday actions made her something extraordinary.
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  Mary Ellen Barringer

  Maybe 3.5 stars
  
  I read this book for The Well Read Mom bookclub.
  
  Dorothy Day choose to write a book on The Little Flower. The strongest chapter for me was The Shower of Roses. I've read The Story of a Soul and other books on St Therese and her family, so much of this book was repetitive.
• 
  Claire

  I didn’t care for the mixture of biography and personal reflections. It could have used more editing.
• 
  Lori Hatch

  A lot has been written about St Therese! I appreciate how much time this biography spent on her family and home life prior to entering Carmel.