The Cloister

I had read books by James Carroll years ago and liked them, but he fell off my radar.  While looking through books at the library, I came across his new book (published last year) called The Cloister.  It sounded interesting so I picked it up.  I'm glad that I did. I couldn't put it down once I started reading it! The book tells the true story of Peter Abelard (1079-1142) and Heloise, along with a modern day story.  It covers the few years of Peter Abelard and Heloise's relationship and then their lives over time.

The book opened with a scene from 800 years ago, when Heloise first saw the body of Peter Abelard, her mentor/teacher and lover from years ago.

"Lifeless, yes.  But also old. He had come into his seventh decade, yet she still thought of him as they had been before..."

The book goes back and forth between time.  In New York, Fr. Michael Kavanaugh was giving communion out during daily Mass, and came upon "Runner", his long-ago best friend from the seminary, who he had lost contact with after Runner unexpectedly left the seminary. Runner declined communion and left the church before Michael could find him.  Michael took off looking for Runner and lost him. It began raining so Michael ducked into The Cloisters, a kind of museum resembling Middle Ages architecture. There Michael met Rachel, a docent at the museum.

Over the next few weeks, Michael and Rachel would meet to talk.  Rachel was studying the work of Simone Weil and they began discussing it.  Eventually, Rachel shared that her deceased father had been writing about Peter Abelard and his work, specifically Abelard's views on how the Catholic Church treated the Jewish people.  Rachel and her father were Jewish, and had gone through the Holocaust. Rachel was struggling with all of her secrets and Michael was doing the same with secrets from his past that he had just learned from his mentor that involved Runner.

I found this book to be absolutely fascinating.  I had never heard of Peter Abelard, so his works as presented in the book were very controversial during his time, yet seemed very thought-provoking and absolute truth.  I do want to read more about him. I also thought that the writing of the book was superb...great character development, and a fascinating story.

This beautiful line is actually from Peter Abelard's writings to Heloise:

"May the first time I forget your name be when I no longer remember my own."