The Priest Fainted: A Novel

By Catherine Temma Davidson

Book Overview

A stunning debut about a young Greek-American woman and the history she shares with her mother and grandmother. Imam is a recipe known throughout villages in Greece, handed down from mother to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805055398
• ISBN13: 9780805055399
• Release Date: March 1998
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.9" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

The Greece I Know

I found this book fascinating! As the daughter of a Greek mother, I could relate to author's descriptions of the relationship between her and her mother. The assocation of the story to the mythological stories was an added bonus! Well written and worth the read!

Remarkable achievement

The theme of this superb novel is change. Change that happens in people and places when people are uprooted, for whatever reason, from places their forebears have loved for centuries. The book's persona spends time in Greece trying to understand the truth of her relationship with her mother and grandmother. In that sense it is a piece of fiction for women, but it also offers plenty about relations among humans in general. By far the most interesting and likeable personage is the over-achieving mother, who actually got a lift uptown from Eleanor Roosevelt. There is lots of sex in this work, all of it honest, none of it forced. The protagonist falls into a manipulative relationship with a gorgeous athlete whose sense of basic humanity is second-rate and of course she suffers. But that's a kind of trade-off because at the same time she is learning things and resolving issues with regard to members of her family, both Greek and American. There is a happy array of flamboyant minor characters here, each with his or her own special character flaw and particular fear or maladjustment. I suspect the author had as good a time writing this book as I did reading it. She comes off as a joyful person. The book is structured by seemingly mythic stories that move the narrative along and at the same time tie us back to what it means to be Greek and Greek American, even though thorough enjoyment of Davidson's book does not depend on any Greek connection.

wonderful discovery; Greek myths re-examined

My best book for at least *three* years. A young woman returns to her roots; her mother emigrated to America from Greece. In her exploration of her mother's past, she re-examines ancient Greek myths from her present-day perspective. Magic - and not only for young women of Greek extraction..I am an old woman of anglo-saxon extraction.

joy-mother-daughter relationship that's not "mommie dearest"

How blessed am I to have been able to be part of this remarkable family's growing-up years and to observe the candidness and directness of this author true to form. Catherine's calling this a novel in lieu of her autobiography is surprising since she appeared to leave no stone's unturned in the revelation of self and still came through leaving her daughter-mother (and even father)relationship unscathed. The essence of the ingredients to the recipe surely appear to survive perhaps due to their honesty and just enough of a bit of this and a bit of that for many more generations to follow. I'm on tinder hooks w/ anticipation awaiting Catherine's next publication!

This is a book which links mythology and family experience

Catherine Davidson writes beautifully--poetically--about the women in her family and mythology as it relates to the women of Greece, and filters her ancestresses lives and issues and her own heritage over her experience while living in Greece. A good read. It will resonate with women of all backgrounds.