Brilliant imagining of an historical character. Takes the sentimentality out of the image of the ascetic hermit and makes him vivid and earthy. ( )

Godric is a beautiful story of the friction between who you are and who others want to believe you are. It deals with what happens in our hearts, regardless of who others want to make us to be. The character Godric is someone I'd love to know. Buechner does a wonderful job with the conflict that rages in our spirit and flesh. The key theme of grace rings loud and clear in this work. ( )

Godric is a historical fiction novel about the real-life 12th century English saint Godric who lived half his life a criminal rouge, and the second half a pious hermit. He was famous in his day and Buechner uses fiction as a vehicle to flesh out the details of his fascinating life, which crossed paths with much Medieval history.

What makes it curious is Buechner writes the novel as if it were the thoughts of Godric recanting his life as he nears death. The sentence structure, choice of words, the very thought process, is both alien but reconizable. Buechner does a good job of imagining the inner life and perspective of a medieval mind. It's as if listening to an actor at a Renaissance Festival tell a story in Old English (although its not Old English but Buechner's own invention). Nominated for a Pulitzer in 1981. ( )