Consummation, a novel

 

Book: Consummation, a novel
Basic Information : Synopsis : Characters : Expectations : Thoughts : Evaluation : Book Group : New Words : Book References : Good Quotes : Table of Contents : References

Basic Information:

Author: Randy White

Edition: Paperback

Publisher: Self-Published

ISBN: 9798218999209

Start Date:   September 15, 2025 - or there about

Read Date:  November 1, 2025

338 pages

Genre:  Fiction, Christianity, Book Group

Language Warning:  Low

Rated Overall: 3½   out of 5

Religion: Christianity

Fiction-Tells a good story: 4 out of 5

Fiction-Character development: 4 out of 5

Synopsis (Caution: Spoiler Alert-Jump to Thoughts):

Keith starts in Ghana talking to some of his clients about the loans they have been given and the effect it has had on their people. He is impressed by this. Another NGO is interviewed which seems to be more into status and Keith will be recommending that his group not do further business with them. Keith is then kidnapped and eventually escapes.

When he returns to the States, he goes into therapy, but is itching to return to the field. This time to Manila. There he goes to the garbage pits and finds that the micro-loans are improving the lot of people as well as bringing groups of people into community. But there is trouble on the home front-a wife who does not seem to be interested in her husband, a husband who is so invested in his work, he does not spend enough time at home. And all have secrets in their life.

The uptake on this is that Keith has to deal with loneliness and in Manila turns to a prostitute, then to a beautiful and charming Scottish woman. He chases her over half of the globe, while corruption charges are leveled against him. Things come to a head in Guatemala City where the Scottish woman sends him back to get therapy before she will work out a relationship with him.

In the meantime, Esther is trying to figure out should she stay with Keith after his lapses. The trail leads her and their children to Wyoming to a ranch where Keith’s one remaining relative lives. There, she experiences something new and open. She also sees a different side of her husband that she did not know about. This both confuses her and leads her to delve into her own secrets.

The finale of the book has Keith getting therapy both for the trauma of the abduction and his feeling of aloneness. He is on the road to understanding when he gets fired because of the corruption charges, then when the charges have been investigated, they find out the charges are false, but his job is gone. Esther has a reunion with Keith where they work on getting their lives sorted out.

Cast of Characters:

• Keith Gilbert - international microloan specialist with a non-profit called Two Talent nicknamed Chester-which he has only shared with Rollie, not even his wife
• Esther Gilbert - Keith’s wife. Daughter of a wealthy family.
• Amber Gilbert - Keith and Esther’s daughter
• Ashley Gilbert - Keith and Esther’s daughter
• Annie Gilbert - Keith and Esther’s daughter
• Rollie Gottlieb - Keith’s confidant and counselor
• Alyth - Keith’s Love Interest
• Franz Kreig - Head of Two Talent, Keith’s boss
• Tawiah - a person from the Fruitful Vine Trust
• Comfort - Woman who takes Keith in after fainting due to dehydration
• Emmanuel - Her son.
• Ofori -Head of New Beginnings Community Betterment Systems
• Pastor Lani - pastor of a church in the Manila Scavenger Community
• Alyth MacDonald-Scottish representative from Yunine Bank. Husband died 8 years before meeting Keith. Becomes Keith’s infatuation
• Ruth Calindo - Philipina, in her 50th who a voice of reason and compassion to Keith. Works under the Center for Urban Transformation
• Forrest Steingunner - Fellow traveler
• Myron Rothchild - Old childhood friend of Esther who has latent hopes for Esther
• Margaret Hughart (Meg) - Keith’s aunt who lives in Wyoming at the Forty Mile Ranch
• Myrtle - Keith’s dead mother
• Maggie - 17 year old grand-daughter of Meg
• Mariam - Keith’s aunt, deceased, Meg’s twin
• Reginald - Esther older brother, about five years older than Esther
• Rita Canto - a partner of Two Talents in Guatemala City
• Liz Larios - Keith’s logistics person in Guatemala City. Nicknamed Woodstock
• Renaldo - 12 year old boy, learning English who was tending a hot dog cart
• Pastor Shrimpy Sol - A friend of Rita Canto who Keith has met.
• Jane Daniels - Receptionist at the Joseph Center for Trauma Recovery
• Ainsley Bennett - Director of the Joseph Center for Trauma Recovery, Dr
• Alister McAffrey - a colleague of Bennett, Dr

Locations: ( There is a kmz files for the locations I could identify)

• Accra
• Angel Tree Hotel (Fictional)
• Numi slum-Moslim (Fictional)
• Sodom and Gomorrah slum-Christian (Fictional)
• Manila
• Chicago
• Manila
• Mapang Lupa (Fictional)
• Tomas Morato Avenue
• Payattas
• Quezon City
• Chicago
• L Station
• Adams-Wabash Station
• Art Institute of Chicago
• O’Hare Airport.
• Heathrow
• Esther
• Wyoming
• Sheridan
• Forty Mile Ranch
• Big Goose Creek
• London
• St Martins in the Field
• National Gallery
• Guatemala City
• La Limonada
• Oxford
• Oxford
• Joseph Center for Trauma Recovery
• Bodleian Library
• Magdalan College
• Eagle&Child Pub
• Radcliff Camera
• Cotswolds
• Burford
• Bourton-on-the-Water
• Stow-on-the-Wold
• Moreton-in-Mars
• Chipping Norton
• Lower Slaughter
• Magdalen Bridge
• St Giles Church
•  Randolph Hotel

Authors:

• CS Lewis*
• GK Chesteron*
• Yeats
• St Francis of Assisi
• Karl Rahner
• Ronald Rolheiser
• Annie Dillard*
• Victor Hugo*
• Iris Murdoch
• John Stott*
• Thomas Merton
• Henri Nouwen*
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer*
• Percy Walker*
• NT Wright*
• Alistar McGrath
• Brennan Manning
• Dorothy Sayers*

*Authors I have read

Expectations:

• Recommendation: Book Group, Church
• When: June 17, 2025
• Date Became Aware of Book: June 17, 2025
• Why do I want to read this book: I know Randy and our book group will have him talk with us.
• What do I think I will get out of it? Not really sure.

Thoughts:

First Pres said that In contrast, Randy White, has authored a novel, "Consummation", a fictional novel chronicling the experiences of Keith Gilbert, a development expert establishing micro-loan programs in areas of extreme poverty and corruption around the world, but whose internal world is corroding. Consummation captures the internal journey of people trying to navigate their needs, illusions, expectations and faith in a quest for something more.

Easter Eggs-There are a couple hidden treats in this story which when discovered are a delight. Look for them.

Given White’s background, I would think that he would have used this story as more of a platform to talk about micro-loans. Instead, that is the background to this book, where the place of helping small through local groups in a community is shown, but not with a megaphone. How this was handled was both a surprise and welcomed way of showing the power of helping people one at a time, over a long period of time.

Themes

There are certain under currents which White has through the book. Some are based upon Scripture, but not directly referenced.

• Genesis 2:18 - It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him. There is a sense of aloneness which Keith feels throughout the book. His own wife does not understand nor seem to care about what happens to him, at least his work and only give perfunctory concerns.
• 1 Corinthians 10:13 - No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. Keith repeatedly confronts his lust and desires. I think White is saying that since he was not finding support at home, he would at least get an imitation of it in prostitutes. And then there was Alyth who offered an illicit means of filling that aloneness. In all of this Keith was tugged in that direction and somewhat succumbed to it, but also pulled back at times.
• 2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! At the end both Keith and Esther are given a new chance to make a life together, not just a life, but one which would fulfill each other.
• Expectations. Nothing came up to my mind Scripturally. But the protagonist has had high expectations set on him throughout his life. This affects him as he tries to live up to them and is a strong part of his downfall.
• Reconciliation. This takes many fronts. First between a husband and a wife who are going through the motions of being married. They go back to their first love and given the opportunity to start again along a different path. But also a reconciliation of the main characters, but with themselves and their past. A father who does not accept his son-but loves him. A wife who has had an abuse of her body by a brother. A lover who is trying to get over her husband’s death.

Accra

1 - Establishes who Keith is. In Ghana, he has felt disconnected from his wife and family. He is resentful to an unsympathetic boss. He is starting to drown in self-pity. He observes that where he goes there is a mixture of beauty and suffering. This is something woven throughout the book. Later on he will have an Annie Dillard quote about beauty. Upon arrival, he meets with Tawiah who will show him what they are doing in the Sodom and Gomorrah slum

2 - Tawiah brings Keith to the Sodom and Gomorrah slum. Keith notes that Hosts are usually more concerned with a guest’s safety than even the guest. Interesting perspective. I wonder if this is only in Ghana or is this also in other places. Would I find that in the United States? Would I be more concerned about my guest than maybe being on time or my own safety?

Two things always hit me: what an unnerving and strange honor it is to pick my way through human suffering and also how precious my life feels when I do.

Keith interviews the recipients of the loans Two Talents has made. He finds that they are improving people’s lives. Not only theirs but it is giving hope to their children to get education and be able to improve their lot. There is a description of mobile bankers who act as middle men to the banks. They help to keep the funds secure until they are deposited. There is a careful accounting of funds. Also the loans are made to groups of people and the group is responsible for payment of the loans. At the end of the visit, Keith collapses from dehydration.

3 - Wakes up from dehydration.. He feels like a rookie. He meets a 14 year old, Emmanuel. Keith feels dissatisfaction with his life. He meets Ofori from New Beginnings Community Betterment Systems. The NGO had started out ministering to people in the slums, but had now branched out to provide job training, advocacy, housing as well as banking. But they were also hiding their religious origins. When questioned if they still verbalize the Christian message, they quote St Francis of Assisi, Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.

Keith was impressed with the idea of siloing banking services where those of a particular vocation could go to a service which was nearby which would cater to others who shared a common interest. But where Ofori took him was a mall-like place away from the slums. As they went through their presentation, it became more evident that they had pulled away from ministering to the needy. Then they tried to hide their financial reporting.

Karl Rahner: here in this life, all symphonies remain unfinished. The fuller quote found on

Ronald Rolheiser’s site: In the torment of the insufficiency of everything attainable we come to understand that here, in this life, all symphonies remain unfinished.

Keith’s friend, Rollie, said that instead of focusing on all of the unfinished business, Keith should be asking what should I do? Implied is the question is directed towards God.

4 - Kidnapped. Saved by Emmanuel. Went to the American Embassy. Checked into the Hilton then booked on flight home

Manila

Ronald Rolheiser: Spirituality is about properly handling the fires, those powerful energies, that flow through us. The Holy Longing: The Search for a Christian Spirituality

TS Elliot: Our choice is not between restlessness and restfulness, but between two kinds of restlessness - pyre and pyre. This quote does not seem to be a direct quote.

5 - Two months of therapy and low level activity passes since the kidnapping. Keith is itching to go out and be useful. He requests being sent to Manilla where he knows he will be taken care of. Esther was not supportive of him and accepted he could go to Manilla.

White’s first bit of poetry in the book happens here and wonders about trees and places which cry in flowers. This seems appropriate for the type of work both Keith and White did. There seems to be much sorrow in this work, but there are also scented flowers to keep one refreshed-as White quotes Annie Dillard later on-chp 6, (Beauty and grace are performed whether or not we will

or sense them. The least we can do is try to be there. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek)

In Manila, he visited the Mapang Lupa,Scavenger Community. Going there he is in a van with reflective windows. He is both thankful that people cannot see him as privileged and wistful that it is a barrier from him being part of the community which he wants to serve. Wondering about what White wants us to learn from this.

If there is no today, there is no tomorrow. This is in reference to the scene of hundreds of children going through garbage, inhaling smoke from burning rubber tires. Loans to try to bring these people out of poverty.

Grameen model? microfinance, specialized community development bank founded in Bangladesh. Pastor Lani said this is helping, but not enough to pull them out of that way of life. She hints that land ownership is the path.

Keith likes what he saw-lots of self-reliance. Additional help will move them further along. He gets a note from a representative from Yunine Bank.

6 - He goes to a restaurant to meet the Yunine rep. As he went he noted the contrast was jarring and still on my mind when I entered the restaurant. It's similar, but a lot less drastic when I come back from backpacking. I could only imagine the transformation shock from America to a garbage pit where people lived to being surrounded by American culture and values in Manila.

He meets Alyth and there is an instant connection. She is interested in both the small loans made as well as the spiritual connections Two Talents also emphasizes. They discuss various commonalities.

Keith realizes that what he sees in Alyth is the disappointment he has in his own marriage. Esther does show affection, but not intimacy. White notes that true intimacy involve shared understanding, deep communication and connection, common interests and passions, shared hopes and aspirations. That is a mouthful and a lot to pack into intimacy. This is the heart of what White is trying to get across about Keioth’s relationship with Esther.

7 - Next morning Rollie calls up. Keith goes over what happened with Alyth. Keith notes that he lives an unnatural life with all the traveling he does. Rollie sees through Keith’s facade and says that Keith’s wanting to help others is a falseness to hide his own inner emptiness.

Walks down Tomas Morato Avenue where he walks into a brothel. But decides not to go through with it. But something in him broke and he thinks he will give in later.

8 - Caution: Soft Porn. Keith pays a prostitute, but cannot perform. Feels guilty.

9 - Mets with Ruth Calindo who works with the Center for Urban Transformation-this is a real Center. They go to another garbage dump, Payattas . There Keith met Pastor Ferdinand who had been sponsored to seminary and then returned to the garbage dump. He felt that since Jesus had left heaven to come to earth, we could do no less than to relocate ourselves and live among the people who most need our help. This is a true calling of a Christian, to be like Jesus.

Even with all the worthwhile projects, Keith is having a difficult time concentrating as he kept having thoughts of the previous day. The lesson which Keith learned was that the woman in the brothel was someone’s daughter.

10 - Keith felt aimless, discontent. Discontent leads to either greater actions or disintegration. He mistakenly stumbles into a topless bar. He stumbles out and is lost-this is where chapter 1 picks up Keith’ story. The old man whom Keith meets asks, is he lost. It is there where Chesterton comes in and says in Keith’s mind, we are not lost until we lose ourselves. I wonder where White got this quote as GK is pretty much online.

In the old man’s kindness, offers him a piece of fresh fruit. Keith wanders to a Catholic Church where the priest talks about the mystery of grace. This led Keith to thinking of the ways he betrayed. He betrayed his wife, his profession, his God. This went beyond sex to the state of his soul. It is in the state of tears and exhaustion that Ruth Calindo finds him outside the church.

Keith confesses to Ruth all. Ruth does not scold, but offers grace. She listens and lets Keith pour out his soul. She thinks that he has set high standards and in climbing to reach that has fallen. She talks about Acedia, referencing Kathleen Norris. In a Facebook post, Norris says Acedia is an unfamiliar term to many, but the condition is common: a horrid, hard-hitting mix of boredom, restlessness, sadness, and loss of hope. In ancient times it was thought that only monks, with their life of relentless routine, would suffer from it. But whatever one’s vocation or daily grind, acedia can strike with thoughts of: can I do this for the rest of my life? It all seems meaningless. And I feel dead inside. What’s the point? This seems to be a common thing in modern life, undiagnosed.

Ruth discusses the sense of calling. She notes the two different ways which Protestants look at calling: Luther saying that we are to be Christian in our profession. While Calvin saw that the Christian should use their profession to further the Kingdom of God. She paraphrases Mother Teresa our vocation should not be mistaken for the work we do. Our vacation is to belong to God. This is the core of our identity. It looks like the actual quote is Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of Jesus. But I have not found the source.

Ruth diagnoses Keith's problem as two fold: Keith cares too much about making a difference and as such, drives himself. Consequently, he also has lost himself. Secondly, he travels too much and does not have a sense of rootedness, a sense of family. Keith does not want to face this analysis. Filipino saying, A desperate man will even hold onto a knife’s edge.

Henri Nouwen: The greatest enemy of the spiritual life is self-rejection, because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the beloved. From Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World

Keith returns to Chicago to face the music.

Chicago

11 - Opens the chapter with a quote from Buckaroo Bonzi Wherever You Go, There You Are. Of course there is a book by that title written about ten years later which White may be quoting from. Or it could be just a Gen Z mantra. I wonder which.

Keith returns home with the secret hope that Esther would free him up and divorce him so he could pursue Alyth. This is an indication about how far Christian thinking has been influenced by modern culture. 50 years ago, just being divorced would have been a scarlet A on a Christian man. Now it is a cheap road to freedom.

He thinks about his relationship with Esther. She would ask about how the trip was, but there would be no curiosity about what I had been working on, or what I had seen, or what had been accomplished. Very superficial. I wondered why she married him in the first place. She knew what his work was before they got married. Later on in the book White talks about how they met.

When he meets up with Esther and his kids, the kids are all joyous to see him. But he notes in Esther an absence of joy and delight at my having come home.

Franz’s boss has been trying to get a hold of Keith. There have been accusations of financial and moral issues while he was in Ghana. This came from New Beginnings Community Betterment Systems, the organization Keith had denied another round of financing for.

He talks with Esther about what happened in Manila. When she finds out about the accusations in Ghana, she kicks him out of the house.

12 - He goes to Rollie’s place and confesses to him. Rollie thinks that Keith has a lot of rebuilding to do, both for himself and his relationship with Esther. He identifies that this is a longer term problem than just something which surfaced in Manila or even by the kidnapping. Rollie pinpoints it to Keith feeling alone-the bolding is mine. As I think this is the key to the book. As I noted before, God said it is not good for man (or a man) to be alone. But with Esther’s isolation, that is what Keith feels like. To Rollie, what Keith sees in Alyth is that she is interested in him as a person. Unknown if she is interested in him as a partner. Rollie affirms that Keith is a special person doing a special work.

Difference between being alone and lonely

Esther tells him to stay away until she is ready to talk to him. Keith tells Rollie how they met-at a bookstore where Keith asked for books by Chesterton. Esther’s comment is that Chesterton will make you unhappy to read anybody else. And that is close to being true. He also liked how she looked as well as that they both liked Chesterton. They liked other authors and could discuss them. She would follow up. Later Keith found out that Esther is all about meeting expectations. That is also a lot of pressure for a person. Trying to meet someone else’s measure of you.But after they were married, he discovered she did not like intimacy. Rollie noted that they were talking about what attracted Keith to Esther and then Keith started talking about her inadequacy in bed.

Dorothy L’Amour-I have not heard of her before.

They both have secrets from each other. He does not know much about her before he met her; she does not know his nickname, Chester. Esther’s parents were on the board of the Art Institute of Chicago and she was a frequent visitor.

Keith is suspended because of the accusation in Ghana. Two Talents is throwing Keith under the bus-the lawyers are protecting the organization. Rollie’s advice is to be like Jesus when he was falsely accused-pray. Rollie has a friend in Ghana who may be powerful one day. He would like his friend to look into things on his end.

Matthew Arnold: Beauty is just truth from another angle.

Keith went to the Art Institute of Chicago and wandered around. A drawing by Victor Hugo about a burnt out cathedral held his gaze, until he went to the cafe. There he saw Esther coming in with a man.

13 - Who is he? A lover? A friend? They eventually leave without seeing Keith. He goes back to Rollie’s place, packs and leaves. He knows that his life is over in Chicago. He goes to O’Hare Airport. He decides to go to Heathrow in London.

14 - At O’Hare he meets a fellow traveler, Forrest Steingunner. He pours out what has happened to him and how Esther no longer wants him around. Forrest’s take is that both Esther and God are not done with Keith yet, and Forrest is not particularly religious.

Esther

This is Esther’s side of the story. So it is told from Esther’s point of view and in her person.

15 - The person who Keith saw with Esther was Myron Rothchild, an old childhood friend of Esther’s. Esther says to Myron, a realization of hers that I don’t think I really know him[Keith] - who he really is inside. Talking to Myron, whom she has not seen in 17 years, the year before her marriage, gives her a neutral sounding board. She also realizes that I have not developed an instinct toward problem solving. What Esther wants out of the conversation with Myron is since he is in the diplomatic corps in Africa, close to Ghana, that maybe he could collaborate Keith’s story. She does not think that what Keith is accused of in Ghana fits into his character, but she is confused. Esther has surreptitiously gotten Keith’s Ghana report and given it to Myron to follow up on.

There are times when I think White is a bit too cute with words. He has Myron asked, curiosity streaming from his eyes. What kind of phrase is that? Thankfully these do not come too often, nor does it break up the story too much.

She reflects on who Keith is to her and how he has treated her, being honest and good to her.

Rollie calls Esther about the note Keith left, which may be a suicide note. But also letting him know that his marriage is over because of seeing Esther with Myron. Rollie thinks that Keith thinks that Esther is transferring the feelings she had for him to Myron. Rollie thinks that Keith has been trying to meet others' expectations for so long, he has lost himself. Rollie says it is reactive/responsive mode.

Rollie inadvertently revealed Keith’s nickname to Esther, Chester. Also that it came from his aunts in Wyoming.

Rollie wants to team up with Esther to find Keith. He thinks he is no longer in Chicago.

16 - Esther at a loss about what to do. She reaches out to Keith’s Aunt Meg in Wyoming. She decides to go for a visit to find out about Keith’s youth. She pulls the kids from school and heads there.

17 - They met Meg and Maggie and there is an instant connection. Some background on the dude ranch and the house. Keith’s father was critical and Keith could never live up to his father’s expectations. This is another theme of this book-living up to expectations and the effect of having to do so. With his aunts, Keith found a safe place to be. Even Esther found a peace, what White calls a vigorous peace. Interesting phrase. You think of peace as tranquility, not with activity. There is a sense in my hiking that I can find a place where an activity will bring about a bit of taking away stress, leaving me a space to think about things which are higher up than the day to day.

Both Meg and her granddaughter exhibited a fundamental confidence about who they were, and seemed to have no need to impress in any way. They seemed free.

At the ranch, the aunts had a well stocked library, complete with Bible commentaries and Christian authors-many of which I have read and loved. The complete works of Chesterton? I think there are at least 36 volumes of this, including his newspaper columns. At an inch a volume, about three feet of shelf space.

Meg asks Ether about herself and how she met Keith/Chester. Also why did Esther come so quickly after the call-Meg seems to be one perceptive woman. Esther then pours out her story about what has happened to Keith. She realizes that there is a vast amount of Keith’s life which she does not know.

The girls are freer than they have ever been in their lives.

18 - Trying to figure out why Keith is called Chester. Looking through old letters. They find poetry from Keith when he was a kid. As they went through the letters, Esther realized that Though I shared Keith’s faith, it never burned quite as brightly in me. And maybe that is part of the reason why they are having their troubles now, along with the aloneness Keith feels. Later on she thinks: He never shared the details of this amazing place that had obviously shaped him, so I wondered if he was still writing. He did not share this side with her, but then again, she never shared her personal side with him.

Esther found out that Keith had named their three daughters after his mother and her sisters-each sister’s middle name started with an A. You wonder how come she was not more inquisitive why Keith wanted them named that way. Esther is angry that she did not know about this and she did not know about the place she was at now.

She opens up to Meg about her feelings about how inadequate she feels. Also how she was raised not to let her feelings out. Then she opens up about why she does not enjoy sex. Her brother had raped her. Meg is patient and lets her talk, then says a simple prayer for her.

Esther relives how she first fell in love with Keith. She has a simple prayer, which I think all people should pray: make me more fully who you intend. Make me free to be at peace, …

Keith’s mother felt that he was what every man should be. He tries so hard to be what everyone expects. This is what drives Keith and what drives him to failure. Maybe there is only one true expectation, to be who God wants us to be, like Esther prayed above.

Then there is the mystery about a box which Keith’s mother wanted to give to Esther when they got married. But the box was never given to her.

Clerihew - a whimsical, four-line biographical poem of a type invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley. The first line is the name of the poem's subject, usually a famous person, and the remainder puts the subject in an absurd light or reveals something unknown or spurious about the subject. The rhyme scheme is A A B B {\displaystyle \mathrm {AABB} }, and the rhymes are often forced. The line length and metre are irregular.

19 - Myron calls and says that they have collaborated on the facts in Keith’s report. But the facts can substantiate with Keith’s story or the accusation.

 

 Meg knew about the box, but they could never find it.

Thomas Merton quote: The logic of worldly success rests on a fallacy: the strange error that our perfection depends on the thoughts and opinions and applause of other men! A weird life it is, indeed, to be living always in somebody else's imagination, as if that were the only place in which one could at last become real! Seven Story Mountain. White starts off the quote with It is a strange error …

Esther says they need to return back to Chicago for school on Monday. Esther thinks about both Maggie and Meg: She [Maggie] knew who she was, just as her grandmother did… It is a good thing to know who you are and to be comfortable in knowing.

Esther realizes that her life, her being, is being repaired by being on the ranch.

Maggie realizes that there are shelves of books which they cannot reach and gets a ladder. She looks and finds the box. It is locked. She will wait until she finds a way to open it without breaking the clasp. Also Maggie found a second set of Chesterton books.

20 - They left the ranch and returned to Chicago. Esther wants news of Keith so she contacts Myron. Myron thinks this is for a date. The only news was that the Ghana police had Keith’s driver’s license which the bouncer picked up. Esther puts out a feeler of what if the NGO is corrupt. Myron says: Some would argue that western aid is killing the countries of Africa that have come to rely on it.

London

Switches back to Keith.

21 - When Keith gets to London, he gets caught in a rainstorm and retreats into St Martins in the Field church. As Keith listened to the music and admired the light coming through, he wondered, if all these years I had become like this colored glass here - a false improvement. He started to wonder, did he really want the truth? In some ways, do we really want the truth about ourselves? Could we stand it? God lets us off the hook and reveals ourselves only what we can stand. It is up to us to do something with that revelation. If we cannot get past that, then why would we want God to reveal anything more? Keith comes to the realization that he did not trust Esther with the truth about himself. That was the reason why he hid Chester from her. Protect[ing[ the most cherished things in my past, not wanting them to be trampled on.

Christopher Wren: There was nothing more beautiful than the clear light of God. When I hike, there are moments usually a little before mid-morning or a bit after mid-afternoon when light filters through trees. In the Autumn there is the added warmth of reds and yellows which usually stops me from admiring the beauty of light. Light itself is too brilliant to be beautiful. But when I see it against God’s creation, there is a sense of reflected glory.

Pg 211 site should be sight.

22 - After traveling half the world to see Alyth, he finds that she is out of the country. But she will be in Guatemala City in a day. He then realizes that he is neglecting himself, things like eating, sleeping, being honest with ourselves.

He then goes to the National Gallery , a place where reflection is the norm. We need these kinds of places in our life. He sees Caravaggio;s The Supper at Emmaus and thinks that Sometimes Christ comes to us in disguise, in the midst of our confusion and distress, while on the road out of town. But what struck him unexpectedly was Vilhelm Hammershoi’s Interior with Young Woman Seen from the Back. He contemplates what is going on inside himself.

White has Matthew Arnold saying something like beauty is just truth seen from another angle. I like that, but I cannot see where Arnold alluded to this.

He starts to look through his missed calls, mostly from Rollie and Esther. But before he could listen to the messages, Alyth calls. He says that he will be going to Guatemala City. He offers to introduce his contacts to her.

He took a cab to the airport, but the driver took a circular route and needed to get gas. When they stopped, Keith had an anxiety attack. He ran off, leaving all of his money. Someone who was down on his luck. Helped him out and directed him to the Tube, even giving him some money. Keith, when asked for a name, gave him Chester.

Guatemala City

23 - Keith tries not to think about any moral issues. This includes the dirty kids trying to sell something to make a few cents. In today’s signature line, there is a quote from Mother Teresa-someone mentioned several times in this book: To serve the poor we must love them. And in order to love the poor, we must find them. In this case because of Keith’s moral place he does not want to see them, much less find them.

Keith gets propositioned, which he rejects. Alyth gets in contact with him. He accompanied her to a meeting with the ambassador, then to a place for disabled children. Then to La Limonada-a slum, one of the worst in the area. These are people who had been displaced by war. Two Talents had supplied funds which were providing education. Within the community, Rita took them to a family where the husband was abusing his wife and raping his daughters. It was disturbing. Alyth notes that those who listen the most, see the best.

24 - Keith is delighted with his time with Alyth and wondering if he can share his deeper self with her, unlike with Esther. He meets a 12 year old boy, reading, who is trying to learn English. Renaldo tells the story of how his father died. Keith gives the mother some money for books.

When Keith meets up with Alyth, he tells the story of his meeting. I was not used to having anyone be interested in what I was feeling or thinking underneath. .But that also means that when Alyth asks what happened to his marriage, he has a choice to be honest or give it a sanitized account. He gives a sanitized account. He even tells why he is there in Guatemala City. She feels drawn to him. But also recognizes that he is in a confused state and needs time to process what is happening to him.

Since she wants to put the relationship on hold until he gets himself sorted out, he asks her Bank uses a trauma center. One in Oxford. She will find out if they have an opening.

In that discussion, White does switch to something corny-Alyth captured and held my eyes in a tractor beam of joy.

25 - After Alyth leaves, Keith goes to a bar. There he is propositioned by the same woman as the night before. He finds out a little bit of her life story-he gives her some money for her child. But his talk with Alyth had awakened him to a commitment to my own good. The women followed Keith to his room and came in uninvited. She started to undress herself and him. He thinks of his Chesterton that imagination is the opposite of illusion. The realities of the woman’s life and the illusion of intimacy fought against giving in and he asked her to leave. He does not congratulate himself on resisting, rather realizing how far he has fallen.

A contrast between Renaldo and the woman who was working the streets for her child. One of the things I realize is that there are limits to help. But you do need to help someone.

Oxford

Therapy starts.

26 - Keith now started counting what he was losing: marriage and profession and people whom he admired. White has a description which Keith misses by being on the bus, medieval skyline. I wonder what this looks like. He thinks of a Filipino saying which Ruth Calindo said: We don’t control hope. It occurs - it buds from a dormant branch. It appears like manna overnight. Hope is something we wake up to.

He came to the Joseph Center for Trauma Recovery and got settled in. His first appointment was the first day at 3 with Ainsley. Four hour session where he tells all which happened to him. The next morning, he was keeping himself company-first time in a while. Sounds like decluttering from a busy life.

Silence is power. Allows a person to be centered.

Julian of Norwich: All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.

John Newton poem, Prayer for Spring::

1 Lord, afford a spring to me;
Let me feel like what I see;
Ah! my winter has been long!
Chilled my hopes and stopped my song.
Winter threatens to destroy
Faith, and love, and every joy;
If thy life was in the root,
Still I could not yield thee fruit.

2 Speak, and by thy gracious voice
Make my drooping soul rejoice;
O, beloved Saviour, haste,
Tell me all the storms are past!
On thy garden deign to smile;
Raise the plants, enrich the soil;
Soon thy presence will restore
Life to what seemed dead before.

Robert Bridges poem ODE TO MUSIC WRITTEN FOR THE BICENTENARY COMMEMORATION OF HENRY PURCELL. White quotes a single line: For the spirit of man on beauty feedeth, The lines before it are interesting as well: All mankind by Love shall be banded To combat Evil, the many-handed:

27 - Ainsley had left him some books to read, three of them. Keith notes that he had been so busy with work that he had not read for years. A case of what Jesus tells the churches in Revelation, a loss of your first love.

The center would call Esther to let them know about his location. The therapy references Smith’s book, but I do not see it in his list. He calls Alyth who he wants to see, but she holds him off and said she would pray.

He talks to Franz. Two Talents will cover the therapy, but the lawyers say that Two Talents is in a vulnerable position. Franz is wondering if there was more evidence for his story than just his report. It sounded like the agency would not pursue too much more on Keith’s side of the story.

Augustine: Christians always live in three time zones simultaneously: the past is a present memory, the future is a present possibility. Not quite the quote: What now is clear and plain is, that neither things to come nor past are. Nor is it properly said, “there be three times, past, present, and to come”: yet perchance it might be properly said, “there be three times; a present of things past, a present of things present, and a present of things future.” For these three do exist in some sort, in the soul, but otherwhere do I not see them; present of things past, memory; present of things present, sight; present of things future, expectation. Confessions, Book 11, Chapter 20

28 - Keith wanders afterwards and comes to Lewis and Tolkien's place, Eagle&Child Pub. There he realizes that what he also misses is the back and forth of ideas, particularly with Esther. He opens the National Gallery book and comes across Gerrit van Honthorst’s painting, Christ Before the High Priest. The next day he wanders and comes to the Bodleian Library.

In a different building, Radcliff Camera, he sees great theological works. White’s uses a phrase, communal search for truth. I often think of truth as my search rather than our search. But we all know that crowdsourcing will lead to a stronger and quicker response. Why not truth? But is that something which can be crowdsourced? And will we move in the same direction? I think only if we have similar goals.

White talks about Treatise on Happiness by Gryffith Williams. It is a sermon. I wonder where he came across this as a quick search did not bear fruit. It is a take on Matthew 11:28-29. White quotes Williams as saying our consciences are quieted from the sting of sin, and our hearts are satisfied with the love of God.

Ainsley had talked with Esther. Esther had a message for Keith: First, the man she met was a friend whom she had enlisted to help Keith be vindicated. The second was that she called him Chester. Keith now would have to deal with the reasons I had protected the real Chester from public view. This led Ainsley to get to the root and have Keith understand who Chester is. Keith is a brave front and Chester is the one full of anxiety. Keith thinks that once you strip away the facade, there is nothing left; Ainsley says everything. She thinks this is his moment of liberation. This is the time which Keitth can reorient his life.

Chesterton-Orthodoxy: Rocks sink and birds rise. Hardness is weakness. Fragility is power.

Percy Walker- The Second Coming : You were getting all A’s but flunking life.

29 - Keith gets a call from Rollie who is in Ghana researching what happened to Keith. Keith brings Rollie back up to date. Keith's basic question is how does he get in touch with his basic self. Rollie’s answer is to pray, God, teach me that you love me. Not as a one time prayer, but over many months. Rollie says: our spirituality is essentially the product of what we do with our restlessness. Rolllie concludes the conversation with that God will do good whatever the outcome.

White brings in a book which I love, Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers. There is a scandal which the main person needs to work through, similar to Keith’s.

Alyth will be at Oxford over a weekend.

30 - Keith discovered that his response to Franz was similar to his response to his father and somewhat to Esther. He would withdraw. There is little to create face-to-face trust. There is a sense that Keith would like a little bit of appreciation and understanding from all of them.

He has been journaling his time in Oxford.

Alyth visits him in Oxford. He is close to being romantic with her. She has her own thinking, which we as readers are not privy to but, she seems to have made some sort of resolution and leaves for the night.

White gives credit to Chesterton for this poem, but it appears to be Hilaire Belloc’s poem My Own Country. Still it gives the tone of what White is trying to say is going through Keith’s mind:

I shall go without companions,

And nothing in my hand;

I shall pass through many places

That I cannot understand –

Until I come to my own country,

Which is a pleasant land!

The trees that grew in my own country

Are the beech tree and the yew;

Many stand together,

And some stand few.

In the month of May in my own country

All the woods are new

When I get to my own country

I shall lie down and sleep;

I shall watch in the valleys

The long flocks of sheep.

And then I shall dream, for ever and all,

A good dream and deep.

31 - Alyth’s confession and rejection of taking the relationship further. Also it sounds like she has just become a believer. Also she is moving to Hong Kong. She indicates she does not want to continue with the relationship, but still is concerned about him.Then on top of that, Two Talents is terminating him.This was even though Ainsley told him that she felt professionally that the kidnapping was real. Ainsley notes that he experienced two deaths that morning: the death of a dream and a death of an identity. She is wanting to see what now comes through these experiences: Keith or Chester.

32 - Esther surprises him by coming to Oxford. She was a different Esther and made herself known that way, gently. This took Keith back as he was bewildered by the absence of judgement from her. Esther showed that she had changed by going through what she experienced at the ranch.She shared how they tried to track down why he was called Chester, but was not able to until they discovered the still unopened box. Esther had discovered the key, but waited until she was with Chester to open the box. There are two gifts and a letter. The letter was to Esther. Some points:

Keith likes to create and is at his best then when he can share it.

His father was an alcoholic and his mother tried to shield him

Get to know him at his creativity and his earnestness.-this will free him to be who God created him to be

One of the gifts was a rough draft of Chesterton’s poem A Certain Evening.

The daughters are there. They go on a ride, going through strange sounding towns. It felt deeply satisfying to be somewhere as a family together. I understand that yesterday, we went hiking with one of my daughters.. It was wonderful. I have hiked with my other two children with similar feelings. They stopped in at a cathedral in Lower Slaughter where Esther prayed and Keith remembered a prayer called the Sarum Primer.

Even here, he thought of Alyth but was realizing she was a dream; Esther was real.

I am wondering if the reason why Keith was attracted to Esther in the first place was because she had certain expectations for him, like his father. Keith also is drawn to female beauty-both Esther and Alyth are described that way.

33 - Esther got back word from Myron that there was suspicion about the NGO which was accusing Keith. Then they had sex and Esther told him about why she had not been intimate with him like he wanted. They decided to spend additional time in Oxford and Esther and the daughters came to live in the manse with Keith.

Rollie called and said that he was able to track down his rescuers and they collaborated his story. Not only that, but the police were now investigating the NGO. They had found that Franz was the one who was extorting money from the NGO.

There is a paragraph in this chapter which summarizes what White wants to say that in the last two months Oxford had removed the false pillars of significance and desirability I have been building my life on. On top of this. A void that I had tried to fill with Alyth was being filled by a brand new relationship with Esther and the girls. That it takes the destruction of the self made image to bring about the full image which God wants us to have.

Esther took up reading to Keith again. At a Methodist church, Keith does a bit of confession to the girls, not in detail, but enough to try to explain his change. There are rudiments of a plan which Keith and Esther put together for Keith to continue his work, but in a different way. Keith gets a call from Alyth.

Talks about the martyrs at St Giles Latimer, Ridley and Cramer. The famous quote of Latimer say Be of good cheer, Ridley, and play the man. For we shall this day light such a candle in England as shall never go out.

Mother Teresa: That our true vocation is not the work we are doing. Our true calling is to belong to God. Not verified.

John Wesley’s Prayer:

I am no longer my own, but thine.

Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.

Put me to doing, put me to suffering.

Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,

exalted for thee or brought low for thee.

Let me be full, let me be empty.

Let me have all things, let me have nothing.

I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.

And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

thou art mine, and I am thine.

So be it.

And the covenant which I have made on earth,

let it be ratified in heaven.

34 - Alyth and Keith met. She wants to talk both professionally and personally. Keith realizes that there is still something there which infatuates him. Keith thinks that his soul is unknown to him still.

Keith’s talk with Alyth. She confesses she loves him. This is the fantasy which Keith hoped for. We don’t give up our fantasies easily. He realizes that he has set up this confession of love and now cannot reciprocate. Alyth senses it. He tells her how she helped him regain his wife.

She realizes the promotion she sought was not for her and has left Yunine Bank and taken a small job. But her relationship with Keith has revitalized her interest in having a relationship. But on the professional job, she has developed a position with the Bank with Keith in mind. She is wondering if he would be interested in it.

Alyth has found that faith is about the object of your faith, about falling in love with the one who made you.

Keith confesses to Esther what was going on with him and Alyth. Whatever future we had together must be built together without withholding anything. Esther is hurt, but sees that Keith has turned from Alyth to her and they will continue on..

Kintsugi - the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by joining pieces back together and filling cracks with lacquer dusted with powdered gold, silver, or platinum, thereby highlighting the flaws in the mended object.

Aqua tears???

Chesterton’s Orthodoxy: perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.

Acknowledgments

White took 15 years to write the book. He says that in order to write this book, he needs to go to new spiritual depths. He references Jeremiah 29:4-7. Those who serve the city have a different set of pressures and stress and struggles which are internal to them. These are struggles which he has seen in others.

He lists several people in his acknowledgements. I share many of the authors he talked about in the book and in the acknowledgements. I suspect White has mined them deeper than I have. Then there are a list of people who have influenced him. Some of them have also influenced me. Which makes me wonder, that White has done so much in this world. How can I make better use of what I know and have absorbed?

Wendell Berry’s poem, Our Real Work from his book Standing by Words:

It may be that when we no longer know what to do

we have come to our real work,

and that when we no longer know which way to go

we have come to our real journey.

The mind that is not baffled is not employed.

The impeded stream is the one that sings.

Evaluation:

This is a hard book to put a rating to. What do you do with a book that is competently written, with some flaws which an editor would have caught. But on the other hand, many of the lessons which White wants us to see, I felt spoke to me. In that sense, this book is very successful in my eyes, even though strictly speaking, the writing may be somewhat ordinary to good.

White does have fun with the story. There are some Easter Eggs embedded in this book. At least one is intrinsic to the outcome. Just be on the watch for them. And then like Chesterton, who gets quoted through out the book, there are puns. Such as a couple horses named Paint and Brush. And taking a page out of Chesterton’s book, White throws in some of his poetry and does a credible job of it.

This is a story about a Christian man who works in many countries, allocating funds to NGO’s to provide micro-loans to people in very dire circumstances. White talks about the pressures the man faces. Then to top that, there is a wife who has her own issues which causes a lack of intimacy. The man goes astray, falls in love with another woman, pursues her. The story then talks about recovery and reconciliation. The themes include those along with implications of feeling alone and expectations.

I am glad I read this book. It is not so much a book of learning as a book of understanding what makes us tick and knowing there are ways back from the edge of our dark places in life.

As a note: I have known the author and his family for 40-45 years. Over that time I have learned how to respect the man both for what he has done in this world, the wisdom he has gained through his experiences.

 
Notes from my book group:

For the Author:

I enjoyed the Easter eggs you planted in the book. Also the puns. How long did it take you to figure out how to use Paint and Brush?

Quick question, the place names in the various places seem to be fictional, such as Numi, Mapang Lupa, and Sodom and Gomorrah. Are they? If so, how did you come up with these names?

In several places you provide a good quote. There are some quotes which appear to be approximations of a quote. How did you come about these approximations?

You wrote this book as a fictional story. Your other books were more directive in nature, explaining the problem and calling for actions. What did you think a story as Keith Gilbert’s could convey which a more directive book could not? Who did you have in mind when you wrote this story?

I thought this story brought out several themes: feelings of being alone, resisting temptation, reconciliation, and expectations. Were there others which I missed? How did you decide to work through these themes?

Did you have any pieces of Scripture in mind as a theme or themes?

In the story, you talk about feelings of being lonely and being alone. Two similar words yet you make a distinction between the two. Can you talk about why you picked being alone over lonely as one of your points?

One of the themes of the book is the part which expectations played on both Keith and Esther. Why did you think this was a needed component to their story? Is there a place for expectations of others? On yourself? Can you live a life without expectations? What would “good” expectations look like?

Knowing your background, I was surprised that you used the stories of how micro-loans changed lives rather than shouting it out as an exposition. Was this intentional? How did you come to use a vehicle of show rather than tell?

You talk about loans in the book. But it seems like here there is more of a focus on grants. Is this true? And why the difference? You have Pastor Lani talking about how micro-loans help, but not enough to pull people away from their way of surviving. There is a hint that land-ownership may be the path. What difference would owning the land make? Is that an avenue which is being explored?

You have Myron saying Some would argue that western aid is killing the countries of Africa that have come to rely on it. Can you elaborate on this a bit more? Is this more because of giving to faceless entities rather than to people? I am thinking about Keith giving to Renoldo so he can get an education.

You noted in the Manila chapter how Keith emerged from the Scavenger Community into an American restaurant culture in Manila, that the contrast was jarring and still on my mind when I entered the restaurant. Did this happen often in “real” life? How does a person deal with it? Maybe compartmentalization?

When I think of someone like Keith, my thoughts would be coming into a place and playing the hero to people in need. And yet, you have him thinking Two things always hit me: what an unnerving and strange honor it is to pick my way through human suffering and also how precious my life feels when I do. Can you talk more about this statement about honor and being unnerved?

Pastor Ferdinand felt that since Jesus had left heaven to come to earth, we could do no less than to relocate ourselves and live among the people who most need our help. You lived in a “normal” middle class house before moving into the Lowell district. Is this the inspiration for you and Tina to move into the White House on Van Ness?

If White’s wife is present, ask how she reacted when she first heard the contours of this book? What questions did you ask of the author?

Do you have a place like the Forty Mile Ranch which gives you peace by being there? What about that place brings you that calmness? Is this part of your Silence is power. statement?

When Esther goes to Wyoming, she finds a vigorous peace. Would you like to talk about that phrase a bit more as it seems to stand in opposition to tranquility.

You seemed to take on the persona of Chesterton in your writing, writing with poems, prose and puns. Our group has read several of Chesterton’s books and enjoyed them. How did you enter into Chestertondom?

You bring in various pieces of art work to help illustrate a point in Keith’s journey. They do not seem to be picked just for this book. How did you come to appreciate artwork?

I was intrigued by the phrase you used, communal search for truth. Can you elaborate on this?

There are places in the book which I thought were Christian-light porn. How did you decide to write about the more explicit parts of infidelity? What were you trying to convey by this which could not be brought out by alluding to what happened?

You quote Karl Rahner as saying In the torment of the insufficiency of everything attainable we come to understand that here, in this life, all symphonies remain unfinished. What parts of your symphony seem unfinished?

Towards the end of the night ask, In the acknowledgement, you noted that this book took 15 years to write. Graham Greene noted in his “Collected Stories” that it takes years to write, the author is not the same man at the end of the book as he was at the beginning. There are two questions: First, during your 15 years in writing a book the author has changed. How did your experiences during those 15 years change the book? Second, how did writing the book change you during those 15 years? Any epiphanies came to you?

For the Book Group:

What resonated with you? What caused you to think a bit deeper? Were there parts of the book which made you feel uncomfortable? Why?

The NGO New Beginnings Community Betterment Systems started off as a Christian group. But now it is letting its good works speak for its mission. White quotes St Francis of Assisi's famous statement, Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words. Or as White says, [this] created a false choice between talking about the love of God and demonstrating it. How does White portray this as a step back from a Christian organization? How can St Francis’ words be used to tell the Gospel story? How can it be used to hide the Gospel? What do you think about telling the Gospel story?

At the start of the story, White has a phrase Hosts are usually more concerned with a guest’s safety than even the guest. How is this shown in the book? A while back we read The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert by Rosario Champagne Butterfield. One of her big things was hospitality. How is hospitality shown throughout the book? To what extent do you make a guest feel safe?

When Keith goes to the Scavenger community in Manila, Keith looks through the reflective window of the van carrying him. What is White trying to say to us with the reflective window and the partitioning it creates?

If there is no today, there is no tomorrow. This is a potent reminder that people live on the edge. When you read this phrase with what the Filipino community faced, where did your thoughts go?

When you read about the Manila Scavenger Community, the mind goes to our trash which we throw out. Who processes our trash? What becomes of it?

Pastor Ferdinand felt that since Jesus had left heaven to come to earth, we could do no less than to relocate ourselves and live among the people who most need our help. How is Jesus to be the model for our involvement in the community which we participate in?

White has a quote from Karl Rahner which the full quote is: In the torment of the insufficiency of everything attainable we come to understand that here, in this life, all symphonies remain unfinished. Does this statement help you understand when you feel like you are not doing enough? Taken with Rollie’s question of what should I do? (Note this question is more about dealing with when a problem looks large and you seem so small rather than you personnelly taking care of the whole problem.)

White uses the term Acedia. Norris says Acedia is an unfamiliar term to many, but the condition is common: a horrid, hard-hitting mix of boredom, restlessness, sadness, and loss of hope. In ancient times it was thought that only monks, with their life of relentless routine, would suffer from it. But whatever one’s vocation or daily grind, acedia can strike with thoughts of: can I do this for the rest of my life? It all seems meaningless. And I feel dead inside. What’s the point? People who aim high in their lives seem to be exceptionally susceptible to acedia. Why? Does this describe how you have felt? Under what circumstances? What did you do?

Mother Teresa said Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of Jesus. How do we as Christians mistake our work for our vocation? What effect does this have? Luther said that we are to be Christian in our profession. While Calvin saw that the Christian should use their profession to further the Kingdom of God. Are these views in conflict with each other or are they two sides of the same coin?

Do you have a place like the Forty Mile Ranch which gives you peace by being there? What about that place brings you that calmness? Do you think the Oxford trauma center provided a similar benefit as the Forty Mile Ranch?

Keith in Guatemala City thinks about a commitment to my own good. What does this phrase mean to you? How does one do that?

What is the difference between imagination and illusion? How is this an important distinction?

Describe Esther and Keith’s relationship before Oxford. White notes that true intimacy involve shared understanding, deep communication and connection, common interests and passions, shared hopes and aspirations. How does their relationship not live up to this? Was there ever that kind of relationship? Did this cause you to think about your own relationships and what effects intimacy or lack of it affects that relationship?

There are several places which show a change in how Christians think. Such as Keith hoping for a divorce to pursue Alyth and the use of sexually explicit imaging in the story. How do you think our current culture has changed what Christians find acceptable? How does it affect how we tell our stories?

In the Acknowledgements, there is the usual listing of people who have contributed to the formation of White and this book. How many of the names did you recognize? How many people of that group have you met?

What does the author want us to feel when we read this book?

How do you want your life to change because you read this book?

Many of these questions are either from or adapted from LitLovers.

Why the title of Consumation?

Did the ending seem fitting? Satisfying? Predictable?

Which character was the most convincing? Least?

Which character did you identify with?

Which one did you dislike?

Every story has a world view. Were you able to identify this story’s world view? What was it? How did it affect the story?

In what context was religion talked about in this book?

Was there anybody you would consider religious?

How did they show it?

Was the book overtly religious?

How did it affect the book's story?

Why do you think the author wrote this book?

What would you ask the author if you had a chance?

What “takeaways” did you have from this book?

Describe the cultures talked about in the book.

How is the culture described in this book different from where we live?

What economic or political situations are described?

Does the author examine economics and politics, family traditions, the arts, religious beliefs, language or food?

How did this book affect your view of the world?

Of how God is viewed?

What questions did you ask yourself after reading this book?

Talk about specific passages that struck you as significant—or interesting, profound, amusing, illuminating, disturbing, sad...?

What was memorable?

Reading Groups General Fiction Guide

New Words:

• Consummation - the action of making a marriage or relationship complete by having sexual intercourse; the point at which something is complete or finalized.
• carrel - a small cubicle with a desk for the use of a reader or student in a library

Book References:

• Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
• Forgotten Among the Lilies by Ronald Rolheiser
• The Dark Night of the Soul by St John of the Cross
• The Art of Worship from the National Gallery
• Treatise on Happiness by Gryffith Williams
• Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis
• Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers
• Orthodoxy by GK Chesterton

Good Quotes:

• First Line: I must have been standing there motionless, in a daze on that crowded sidewalk in Quezon City, for quite some time - enough to attract the curiosity of an elderly, toothless Filipino vendor wearing a dirty St Louis Cardinals cap.
• Last Line: We turned our still-wet faces together toward the Manse, and holding on tightly to each other, we set our new eyes and ears to the Master Potter and the source of the music.
• Two things always hit me: what an unnerving and strange honor it is to pick my way through human suffering and also how precious my life feels when I do. Accra, Chp 2
• In the torment of the insufficiency of everything attainable we come to understand that here, in this life, all symphonies remain unfinished. Karl Rahner
• Spirituality is about properly handling the fires, those powerful energies, that flow through us. Ronald Rolheiser, The Holy Longing: The Search for a Christian Spirituality
• If there is no today, there is no tomorrow. Manila, chp 5
• true intimacy involve shared understanding, deep communication and connection, common interests and passions, shared hopes and aspirations. Manila, chp 6
• Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of Jesus. Mother Teresa
• The greatest enemy of the spiritual life is self-rejection, because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the beloved. Henri Nouwen, Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World
• make me more fully who you intend. Make me free to be at peace, Esther, chp 18
• The logic of worldly success rests on a fallacy: the strange error that our perfection depends on the thoughts and opinions and applause of other men! A weird life it is, indeed, to be living always in somebody else's imagination, as if that were the only place in which one could at last become real! Thomas Merton, Seven Story Mountain.
• There was nothing more beautiful than the clear light of God. Christopher Wren
• Sometimes Christ comes to us in disguise, in the midst of our confusion and distress, while on the road out of town. London, chp 22
• We don’t control hope. It occurs - it buds from a dormant branch. It appears like manna overnight. Hope is something we wake up to. Oxford, chp 26
• Silence is power. Oxford, chp 26
• Rocks sink and birds rise. Hardness is weakness. Fragility is power. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
• You were getting all A’s but flunking life. Percy Walker, The Second Coming
• our spirituality is essentially the product of what we do with our restlessness. Oxford, chp 29
• That our true vocation is not the work we are doing. Our true calling is to belong to God. Mother Teresa

 

Table of Contents:

• Accra
• Manila
• Chicago
• Esther
• London
• Guatemala City
• Oxford
• Acknowledgments

References:

• Author's Website - actually his professional consulting site
• Amazon-Book
• Amazon-Author
• GoodReads-Book
• GoodReads-Author
• Bakke Graduate University
• Center for Community Transformation