Wounded: A Love Story (edit title)

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Liked It 2 of 2 members found this review helpful Rated 5 stars “Wounded by Claudia Mair Burney is the unlikely story of a young, black single mom, Gina, who experiences the wounds of Christ on Ash Wednesday, the drug-addicted journalist, Anthony, who can't seem to stay away from her, and the story that God makes through them. As a Protestant, the stigmata is...” see full review » see other reviews »

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  • Rated 4 stars

  “This book was an easy read. It held my interest and I liked the writing style. The story was told from the view point of the main characters. So you'd get a change from the view point of the different characters and I felt that this added to the movement of the book.
  
  Basically, it is a story of a black, ill, single mother of one, who is a stigmata, Gina. As her first signs of the wounds begin she meets with a junkie with plenty of his own problems but falls head over heals for Gina. The story was captavating and had you wondering what in the world would happen next and would the story end happy or sad.
  
  I would recommend this book because it is a good read and you'll fly through the text.”

  Marlyn B wrote this review Tuesday, July 14 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No

  
  
  • Rated 4 stars

  “Wounded (in so many ways) . . . a love story.
  
  If you haven’t read a novel by Claudia Mair Burney, you need to do so. Not: you should or you ought to. You need to. This woman can write. Her voice stands out in a crowd. Unique. Real. Quaint. Strong. Wicked. Good.
  
  “Stigmata” is a term which is most familiar to Catholics in reference to the supernatural appearance of the crucifixion wounds of Christ appearing on humans. One would assume a novel written around this topic might be filled with monks and nuns and monasteries, taking place in ancient Italy. Not in present day Michigan at a Vineyard Church.
  
  Regina (Gina) Dolores Merritt, whose name means “Queen of sorrows”, is a single mother of a five year old named Zoe who attends the Vineyard church whenever her fibromyalgia and chronic pain disorder allows. On Ash Wednesday after Pastor Mike pats some ashes on her head in the sign of the cross, she treks up to the balcony to get lost in Jesus. Behind her in line, Anthony Priest, once a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, now heroin junkie extraordinaire, receives his ash cross and for some unknown reason follows Gina up to the balcony in his drug zone. While there, she screams and begins to bleed from one of her palms. In horrific amazement he kneels before her and takes her hand, desperate to help her, knowing he can’t even help himself. The blood touches him, he smells a beautiful rose fragrance, and she runs off to the ladies’ room. He is no longer stoned.
  
  A technique I described yesterday for POV shifts in chapter divisions is used to chronicle the thoughts behind the actions of the characters in this novel. Gina is an ordinary young single mother with “issues”, as Mair likes to put it, a woman who pictures herself as loving the Lord but not in a particularly worthy manner. Anthony Priest has become a shell of a young man with unlimited talent for telling a story but who now indulges in chronic drug use to overshadow the pain of the utter hatred and outright rejection shown to him by his mother, Veronica, or Ronnie as she is sometimes called. Veronica personifies the hypocrisy of the embittered, self-gratifying, self-pitying individual who fancies herself a Christian but is devoid of love or kindness or any sort of forgiveness because of her intense bitterness caused by a tragic event in her young life. As Mair’s books often do, she exposes all kinds of character flaws and makes us cringe in the process as her words hold up a mirror to our souls.
  
  As if the events surrounding the stigmata occurrences aren’t surprising enough, the miraculous healings of wounded spirits while exposing the unbelief of Christian people in supernatural situations points to the calloused views we often form of our faith. Heaven forbid something unusual happens in the church!
  
  This story hits a homerun so far out of the park, I can’t even process the distance. There are so many valid subjects addressed in the novel about the inner workings of faith, the supernatural choices of an unlimited God, the righteous love which yearns to be cultivated in us through our Savior, and the arduous battles with which we wrestle against the enemy of our souls. Not to mention the validity of true suffering. All of that with genuine humor mixed in like a rich but light salad dressing.
  
  I think it’s important to note that the supernatural aspects of this novel extend beyond its pages. In the “after words” section at the end of the book, if you’re like me, you skip the discussion questions, but don’t skip Mair’s conversation with friends at the very end. God is so wonderfully outside our little boxes.
  
  Claudia Mair Burney will tell you she’s been just about every denomination known to man in her lifetime thus far. I am not Catholic because I have a problem with some of their doctrine, but if an individual loves Jesus and believes in his death and resurrection as the only way to heaven, then we can all laugh together in heaven about our doctrinal divisions on earth. This novel merges denominational differences effectively and proclaims the beauty and sovereignty of God in His fullness.
  
  Fascinating novel.
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  hopeofglory wrote this review Tuesday, September 9 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No

  
  
  2 of 2 members found this review helpful

  • Rated 5 stars

  “Wounded by Claudia Mair Burney is the unlikely story of a young, black single mom, Gina, who experiences the wounds of Christ on Ash Wednesday, the drug-addicted journalist, Anthony, who can't seem to stay away from her, and the story that God makes through them. As a Protestant, the stigmata is something that seems unreal to me, more than a little bit crazy, and Burney tackles the story from just that frame of reference. Gina suffers from bi-polar disorder and is a Protestant, so even she can't be sure if this eruption of bleeding from her hands and feet is real or just another twist of her fragmented mind. Anthony has been a drug addict for so long, he doesn't know any other kind of life, and more than three hours away from heroin has him writhing in pain from withdrawal, but one touch from Gina's hands, and the craving and addiction is gone. Anthony and Gina become connected to each other while he cares for her and her daughter, Zoe. Anthony tells Gina stories of saints who have suffered stigmata throughout the centuries to help her make sense of her own story that is quickly disintegrating. Anthony's mother, Veronica, has caused him no end of suffering through her hatred of his conception. When she discovers Gina and her wounds, she takes charge and determines to make this her chance to be a part of something bigger. Her religious zealotry gives the story a sense of urgency and also helps ground the story. Burney captures the wide range of reactions to Gina's story with startling clarity. The most powerful message in the book is Gina's passion for Christ, her Lover. The faith that I experience is so weak and watered down compared to the love that she (and the other stigmatics from history) bears. Gina makes me want more. I want that kind of passion in my faith, even if it means suffering. I want to love God that whole-heartedly. Burney weaves Scripture with the writings of saints into a powerful love story that leaves the reader wounded, wanting more from their own faith.”

  clockstein wrote this review Monday, September 8 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No