Review: Too Much Surface Area for a Kindle Single
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 16, 2012
This is a solid and decent Kindle Single, but the title is worthy of a full-length book and ultimately it disappoints because Bill Donahue tries to cover too much surface with too little depth.  Unfortunately, a Kindle Single is far too brief to sufficiently cover the "Mysterious Process of Anointing the Holy Dead".  Where "The Secret World of Saints" succeeds is when Donohue focuses squarely on the story of Kateri Tekakwitha, Mohawk Indian.  Pope Benedict recently announced she would be canonized as a saint, the first Native American Catholic Saint.  While Donahue began his work before this papal announcement, the story of Tekawitha is the interesting part, not the outcome of her sainthood.  When Donahue stays focused on Tekawitha, including the most recent circumstances of the micaculous recovery of a Bellingham, WA boy from a flesh-eating bacteria, the story is engaging.  However, as Donahue tries to go deeper about sainthood, its history, how it has changed over the years, etc., the brevity works against him and leaves the reader looking for far more than he delivers in this work.