A Tiny Step Away from Deepest Faith: Teenager's Search for Meaning
Early in this short memoir, Corbman observes that her conversion "started gradually, using stepping stones of Christian mysticism." This will not surprise readers familiar with St. Teresa of Avila and the young St. Thérèse of Lisieux. Corbman's deep piety, internal battle with despair and alternating love-hate relationship with the material world echoes the tone and confessional nature of these other women. Still a teenager, Corbman writes without the benefit of much life experience, but sees herself as a definitive voice of her generation, one she consistently describes as "rejecting everything." She's filled to the brim with teen angst, and her obvious youth makes it difficult to hear her frequent use of phrases like "years ago," yet it would be a mistake to dismiss this memoir because of the author's age. Corbman offers readers a rare and thought-provoking gem: the story of a teenage girl struggling with life's biggest questions about meaning, love, suffering, loneliness, and most of all, God. Her story will resonate not because itsoundsauthentically young adult, but because sheisa young adult herself, still searching. She differs only in that she has found a surer spiritual footing than most her age.(Oct.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.