Brava Dominika! I enjoyed reading this so much. You brought out new texture and depth in the story for me, such as how the characters who survive exhibit corresponding virtues. Your exploration of Dante is also so great with the characters who survive going up Mt Purgatory to reach the heavenly feast. That’s just so great! I didn’t grow up in my Presbyterian tradition with learning about virtue and vice and your understanding of it here within the context of the novel makes me long to learn more.
Ahh there's so much more I wanted to cover but I think it would have to take me a whole series on each vicious character and their virtuous foil. I can't get over how brilliant this book is!
Also, reading it made me want to learn more too! I took thomistic ethics in college, but that was quite a while ago so it was a joy to have this book send me straight to my bookshelves to pull down Josef Pieper's The Four Cardinal Virtues and get to reading! The Thomistic Institute podcast has a lot of great lectures on these topics too, if you're interested.
I love The Feast! I love your commentary on The Feast! I found your exploration of Dante's Divine Comedy to be illuminating as well. I've been reading a book about the Mystical Body of Christ and in reading your thoughts, I was struck by Evangeline's character. It's so interesting and relatable and scary how she thought the virtue of patience, the right thing to do, in her circumstances was to "conform her life to the duty of enduring and managing her father’s volatile tempers." But in her relationship with the other characters, specifically with Mrs. Paley, she learns true patience. It's her drawing closer to Christ in the form of humanity as His mystical body, that she is able to see and practice true virtue. Which also points to the reality that no act of charity is private and no sin is private.
Thank you for the picture from Edward Lear! I wish I had that image in my head before I read the story.
It’s a good point and in thinking back, it’s interesting how the author showed us that Evangeline’s form of patience was false. It was clear that although she was technically “enduring and managing” by not physically leaving she couldn’t really handle the strain (no interior peace but rather strung tighter than a high wire). She was having breakdowns and secretly fantasizing about murdering him with powdered glass, even going so far as to keep a box of it with her and file down the glass herself. But, like you said, at the beginning of the book I don’t think that she knew any other way until she opens herself to relationship and allows herself to be seen in truth.
Brava Dominika! I enjoyed reading this so much. You brought out new texture and depth in the story for me, such as how the characters who survive exhibit corresponding virtues. Your exploration of Dante is also so great with the characters who survive going up Mt Purgatory to reach the heavenly feast. That’s just so great! I didn’t grow up in my Presbyterian tradition with learning about virtue and vice and your understanding of it here within the context of the novel makes me long to learn more.
Ahh there's so much more I wanted to cover but I think it would have to take me a whole series on each vicious character and their virtuous foil. I can't get over how brilliant this book is!
Also, reading it made me want to learn more too! I took thomistic ethics in college, but that was quite a while ago so it was a joy to have this book send me straight to my bookshelves to pull down Josef Pieper's The Four Cardinal Virtues and get to reading! The Thomistic Institute podcast has a lot of great lectures on these topics too, if you're interested.
I am here for a whole series! :)
Agreed! lol
A whole series for sure! Thank you for the tip about Pieper and that podcast! Off to look up both!
Love reading your thoughts Dominika!! After Dante, May have to read this one ❤️!
You should! Dante and The Feast make the perfect pairing!
Raymond and I often talk about the relationship of friendship to virtue, and this fits like a glove in that. Sounds like a lovely read.
It was super enjoyable. And yes! My husband likes to quote Proverbs 27:17 when describing his best friendships: iron sharpens iron!
I love The Feast! I love your commentary on The Feast! I found your exploration of Dante's Divine Comedy to be illuminating as well. I've been reading a book about the Mystical Body of Christ and in reading your thoughts, I was struck by Evangeline's character. It's so interesting and relatable and scary how she thought the virtue of patience, the right thing to do, in her circumstances was to "conform her life to the duty of enduring and managing her father’s volatile tempers." But in her relationship with the other characters, specifically with Mrs. Paley, she learns true patience. It's her drawing closer to Christ in the form of humanity as His mystical body, that she is able to see and practice true virtue. Which also points to the reality that no act of charity is private and no sin is private.
Thank you for the picture from Edward Lear! I wish I had that image in my head before I read the story.
Lol one should always have an image of Edward Lear's creations ready to bring to mind 😂
But yes, vices masquerading as virtues are much more difficult to recognize, especially in ourselves, than vices that are obviously vices.
And agreed, Margaret Kennedy did a wonderful job showing the communal nature of both charity and sin.
It’s a good point and in thinking back, it’s interesting how the author showed us that Evangeline’s form of patience was false. It was clear that although she was technically “enduring and managing” by not physically leaving she couldn’t really handle the strain (no interior peace but rather strung tighter than a high wire). She was having breakdowns and secretly fantasizing about murdering him with powdered glass, even going so far as to keep a box of it with her and file down the glass herself. But, like you said, at the beginning of the book I don’t think that she knew any other way until she opens herself to relationship and allows herself to be seen in truth.
Lol I had no idea where the story was going to go with her at the beginning. It was frankly kinda creepy 😅