Unlike some Christian writers, Frederick Buechner has never claimed to have a ringside seat to the truth. "I have seen with the eyes of the heart the great hope to which he has called us," he writes, "but out of shyness ... I rarely speak of it, and in my books I have tended to write about it for the most part only obliquely." This very reticence, however, is one of the qualities that most endears this writer to his fans: we trust him all the more because he does not deny his own doubts. A novelist, preacher, and essayist beloved by the thoughtful (and the doubtful), this new memoir follows the quiet and yet probing style of the three that precede it (Now and Then, Telling Secrets, and The Sacred Journey). Here, as he moves into his 70s, Buechner explores more deeply and with greater personal poignancy his familiar subjects of loss, death, and faith, acknowledging that these three issues still revolve around his own father's suicide when Buechner was 9. Including delightful and honest reminiscences of his childhood friend, the great poet James Merrill, along with rich and loving memories of family members and books, Buechner writes the way many of us feel--with moments of glory that shoot through the grayness. Those who know his earlier work will not be disappointed by this continuation of the journey; those new to him will find a suitable entry point to the path right here. --Doug Thorpe


From Publishers Weekly
Its cloying title aside, this fourth memoir by the Pulitzer Prize-nominated author (Godric) is elegant, understated and elegiac. As the reader is guided through the author's libraryAhis "Magic Kingdom"Avarious books, manuscripts and mementos become the stimulus for meditations about Christian faith and about the people who have touched his life. We read at length about the folly of writing a novel about Jesus; to do so, the ordained minister writes, "would be to cheapen and somehow dishonor the bond between us." We see the author's fatherAwho committed suicide at the age of 38Anot only as a distant figure, alcoholic and adulterous ("the empty place at [the] center" of Buechner's childhood), but as a charismatic Princeton alumnus who once seemed so full of promise. The memoir's penultimate chapter is a tribute to the author's beloved brother, Jamie, who died as Buechner was finishing the bookAhe had called and said he had "incurable cancer of virtually everything and didn't intend to be around for more than two weeks if he could possibly help it." Such a momentAa pitch-perfect blend of tenderness and sardonic lyricismAtypifies the poetic intensity of the memoir. Also of note is the second chapter, about Buechner's friend, the late poet James Merrill, who appears in the author's dreams: "and it is always goodbye that we are saying again as if to make up for never having had the chance to say it properly." Acknowledging at once the intensity of their bond and the married minister's puzzlement at the alien pleasures of an unapologetically homosexual man, this chapter exemplifies the memoir's adroit equipoise, unsparing and loving at once. (Dec.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Buechner's fourth memoir (after The Sacred Journey, Now and Then, and Telling Secrets) is a hopeful rumination on family, loss, and faith. The recent deaths of the author's older brother and his lifelong friend, poet James Merrill, remind him of earlier lossesAhis father's suicide and the death of his beloved grandmother Naya. The birth of a grandchild forces Buechner to focus on the present, reminding him that life goes on and that forgotten familial characteristics remain for generations to come. "The Magic Kingdom," Buechner's nickname for his study, office, and library, gives him the necessary space for writing and meditating. The rooms are filled with family archives, irreplaceable books and mementos that inspire the author to connect past and present and look beyond his life to his grandchildren's future. An impressive addition to Buechner's oeuvre, which includes over 30 critically acclaimed works of fiction and nonfiction.APam Kingsbury, Florence, AL Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.



"It is this sense of hope that pervades the book, hope in life and in the hereafter. With humility, empathy, and honesty, Buechner invites us to see life, and death, with the 20/20 vision offered by the eyes of the heart."


From Booklist
Without ever leaving the magic kingdom of his personal library, the acclaimed author of religious fiction, meditation, and criticism transports us in multiple directions: back in time to witness his grandparents' wedding in Maine; around the world to relive an eventful trip with his wife; and deep into his own dark childhood to comprehend the shock of his alcoholic father's suicide in a fume-filled garage. Interwoven with these threads of family history lie the even stronger threads of literary experience: discovering the world of literature as a child reading Uncle Wiggily; savoring as a mature writer the genius of Anthony Trollope in his nuanced portrayal of the neurotic Josiah Crawley. For readers who have already enjoyed such Buechner masterpieces as A Long Day's Dying or The Son of Laughter, these memoirs offer illuminating glimpses into how the writer acquired and nurtured his gift for transmuting the subtlest spiritual stirrings into narrative art. For those unfamiliar with Buechner, these reflections can only awaken desires to explore his other work. Bryce Christensen


From Kirkus Reviews
A memoir of death may seem a contradiction in terms, but that is what Buechner, Presbyterian minister and prolific writer (best known for his novel Godric, 1980) has given us. Here we meet the dead who haunt his hearthis grandmother; his friend and fellow wordsmith James Merrill; his father, who committed suicide; and his brother. Buechner, trustworthy and slightly self-effacing, offers his meditations on death with a characteristically light touch. Unlike so many writers who weigh in on the ultimate questions, Buechner never winds up sounding like a pompous ass. A hopelessly religious person, Buechner is the doubters Christian, ever suspect of the believer whose faith life is not shot through with doubt. The Eyes of the Heart captures that skepticism: Without losing sight of his Christian convictions, Buechner wonders what will happen after he dies, asking his grandmother, who pooh-poohs the question, to describe being dead. Bibliophiles will enjoy The Eyes of the Heart because it is framed by a tour through Buechner's study; we browse through his first edition Oz books and the copy of Gone With the Wind in which Buechners father wrote a final note to Buechner's mother. Early in the book, Buechner tells us, There are such wonderful books in [my study] that I expect people to tremble with excitement, as I would, on entering it for the first time, but few of them do because they dont know or care enough about books to have any idea what they are seeing. It seems, at first, a throwaway line, but the image stays with you as you read, for Buechner is not just referring to books, but to God and the wonder and fragility of human life as well. One hopes in the same way that readers will know what they are seeing when they pick up The Eyes of the Heart. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

About the Author

Frederick Buechner is the popular author of such nonfiction titles as Telling the Truth, Wishful Thinking, and Peculiar Treasures. The New York Times Book Review described his recently published memoir, The Sacred Journey, as a "beautifully successful experiment." In addition to The Final Beast, which was originally published in 1965, Mr. Buechner is the author of ten other novels, including the bestselling A Long Day's Dying and, most recently, Godric. He makes his home in Rupert, Vermont.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Its cloying title aside, this fourth memoir by the Pulitzer Prize-nominated author (Godric) is elegant, understated and elegiac. As the reader is guided through the author's library--his "Magic Kingdom"--various books, manuscripts and mementos become the stimulus for meditations about Christian faith and about the people who have touched his life. We read at length about the folly of writing a novel about Jesus; to do so, the ordained minister writes, "would be to cheapen and somehow dishonor the bond between us." We see the author's father--who committed suicide at the age of 38--not only as a distant figure, alcoholic and adulterous ("the empty place at [the] center" of Buechner's childhood), but as a charismatic Princeton alumnus who once seemed so full of promise. The memoir's penultimate chapter is a tribute to the author's beloved brother, Jamie, who died as Buechner was finishing the book--he had called and said he had "incurable cancer of virtually everything and didn't intend to be around for more than two weeks if he could possibly help it." Such a moment--a pitch-perfect blend of tenderness and sardonic lyricism--typifies the poetic intensity of the memoir. Also of note is the second chapter, about Buechner's friend, the late poet James Merrill, who appears in the author's dreams: "and it is always goodbye that we are saying again as if to make up for never having had the chance to say it properly." Acknowledging at once the intensity of their bond and the married minister's puzzlement at the alien pleasures of an unapologetically homosexual man, this chapter exemplifies the memoir's adroit equipoise, unsparing and loving at once. (Dec.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Buechner's fourth memoir (after The Sacred Journey, Now and Then, and Telling Secrets) is a hopeful rumination on family, loss, and faith. The recent deaths of the author's older brother and his lifelong friend, poet James Merrill, remind him of earlier losses--his father's suicide and the death of his beloved grandmother Naya. The birth of a grandchild forces Buechner to focus on the present, reminding him that life goes on and that forgotten familial characteristics remain for generations to come. "The Magic Kingdom," Buechner's nickname for his study, office, and library, gives him the necessary space for writing and meditating. The rooms are filled with family archives, irreplaceable books and mementos that inspire the author to connect past and present and look beyond his life to his grandchildren's future. An impressive addition to Buechner's oeuvre, which includes over 30 critically acclaimed works of fiction and nonfiction.--Pam Kingsbury, Florence, AL Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A memoir of death may seem a contradiction in terms, but that is what Buechner, Presbyterian minister and prolific writer (best known for his novel Godric, 1980) has given us. Here we meet the dead who haunt his heart￯﾿ﾽhis grandmother; his friend and fellow wordsmith James Merrill; his father, who committed suicide; and his brother. Buechner, trustworthy and slightly self-effacing, offers his meditations on death with a characteristically light touch. Unlike so many writers who weigh in on the ultimate questions, Buechner never winds up sounding like a pompous ass. A "hopelessly religious person," Buechner is the doubter's Christian, ever suspect of the believer whose faith life is not shot through with doubt. The Eyes of the Heart captures that skepticism: Without losing sight of his Christian convictions, Buechner wonders what will happen after he dies, asking his grandmother, who pooh-poohs the question, to describe being dead. Bibliophiles will enjoy The Eyes of the Heart because it is framed by a tour through Buechner's study; we browse through his first edition Oz books and the copy of Gone With the Wind in which Buechner's father wrote a final note to Buechner's mother. Early in the book, Buechner tells us, "There are such wonderful books in [my study] that I expect people to tremble with excitement, as I would, on entering it for the first time, but few of them do because they don't know or care enough about books to have any idea what they are seeing." It seems, at first, a throwaway line, but the image stays with you as you read, for Buechner is not just referring to books, but to God and the wonder and fragility of human life as well. One hopes in the same way thatreaders will know what they are seeing when they pick up The Eyes of the Heart.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Frederick Buechner knows better than anyone that we are such stuff as dreams are made of. He is a dreamer who is fiercely honest and unsentimental and yet manages a magic of mediating hope by being intensely personal and compassionately universal at the same time. Deeply moving, the book drives the reader into a world of tenderness, forgiveness, and hope. — (Alan Jones, Dean of Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, and author of The Soul's Journey)

Profound, beautiful, wrenching at times, and unassumingly wise—The Eyes of the Heart will be one of my book treasures. I will probably read it once a year, and I suspect many other Buechner lovers will do likewise. I recommend it to everyone. It has the feel already of a classic. — (Gail Godwin, author of Evensong)

How beautifully written is this thin volume, above and apart from the current of our times and deeply within the current of the truth. It is the author's remarkable genius for the truth that gives his deceptively simple memoir the heart and soul of a great book. — (Mark Helprin, author of Winter's Tale)

Harvey Cox

It is a splendid book, a genuinely spiritual memoir, which avoids the lugubrious and the sentimental but invites the reader into a level most other memoirs do not. He demonstrates a capacity to cope with tragedy that would be immensely helpful to other people when faced with similar woundings. — (Harvey Cox, Thomas Professor of Divinity, Harvard Divinity School; and author of Fire from Heaven)