Exiles

I'm a big fan of Ron Hansen: his fiction, his basic writing project, his nonfiction, etc. But I felt like I was missing something in his Exiles. As usual, there were moments of beautiful and crafted prose. But the general feel of the book (for me) was very flat. The biographies, especially of Hopkins, felt stilted and almost intentionally dry, as if Hansen chose not to develop the scenes or moments (or even inner life) that would have been most important to a fuller psychological character expose. In his first two Westerns, I felt the same quiet nature of the plot, but with the Westerns I sensed and understood a power behind the quiet: a slow but powerful change in character and American landscape. I couldn't figure out the power behind show more the quiet in this novel. But perhaps it's there. show less

Exiles entwines the life stories of the English Jesuit Gerard Manley Hopkins and the five German nuns whose deaths inspired him to write his famous poem "The Wreck of the Deutschland". Through their lives, Hansen explores concepts such vocations and obedience. The nuns have a duty towards both their religion and their country, which has rejected and persecuted them. Hopkins continues to follows the life of a Jesuit, even though it brings him only pain and disappointment. Of the two, I found the priest's to be the more interesting. Hopkins was clearly ahead of his time and suffered continuously from those in his order who understood neither his personality nor his radical style of poetry. Yet he kept with it and took whatever menial show more position his superiors gave him. The book's title Exiles refers to both the physical exile of the nuns and the intellectual exile of Hopkins. Filled throughout with Hansen's dense poetic language, the book is a lyrical homage to a poetic genius who died to young to benefit from the fame which his works have brought him. Heartbreaking at times, this is a book that shows that even the most obscure man can become great and that there are indeed greater rewards than fame and wealth. Highly recommended. show less

Ron Hansen's blend of biography and novel makes for an interesting read that opens up a little-known (at least to me) tragedy peopled with fascinating characters. The people, of course, make the book worth reading, especially the five German Franciscan nuns who were exiled to America but died in a horrible shipwreck before they could get there. Their individual personalities shine from beneath their austere habits in ways that could indeed inspire poet Gerard Manley Hopkins to pen a 35-stanza ode to their death based on newspaper accounts of the disaster.

I adored this book; it's a truly remarkable work. I enjoyed every page of it, wished it were longer, and was sad to see it end. It's an odd book, made up of two separate stories--the first that of five emigre German nuns en route to the US who are killed in a shipwreck and the second that of poet Fr. Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J.--that are unified only in the priest's writing of a poem about the nuns. Their stories are small but oddly heroic. And Hansen recounts them in a way that is deeply respectful and moving and yet does not fail to acknowledge the question that was constantly on my mind at least: what they're all doing with their lives in the first place. This book is a true gem.

I've always loved Gerard Manley Hopkins' poems, and wondered why there weren't more of them (37 in all I think). This book is a wonderful novel and accounting of a life that was wondrous, sweet, and sad, all at the same time...so much talent, so much devotion, so much waste -- something like Van Gogh's genius and sorrow. A very good book, but terribly depressing. I wonder how much of the sadness of this account of his life was truly Hopkins and how much the author's.

I found this book an engrossing read. Gives the reader an ending and then work from the past back to that ending and weaving in the story of Gerard Manley Hopkins, an enigmatic but now famous poet. For people going through difficult situations, it is very profound.

This is very close to a biography in tone and intent. Hansen, however, alternates his telling of Hopkin's last 10 years with a re-telling of the wreck of the Deutschland and the death of 5 nuns who were travelling on that ship to re-settle in America. It's a beautifully written, thoughtful book and I think I'm how in love with Gerard Manley Hopkins.