"Outstanding!"
The Catholic Church assigns Father David Proust to minister
to the congregation of St. Margaret's in La Rochelle,
France. The parishioners, the other clergy, and almost
everyone the priest comes in contact with adore the
selfless giving man. All is right in the priest's world
until he starts dreaming about stimulating young teenage
girls and getting them pregnant. After the dream, the girls
commit suicide convinced they're possessed. David also believes he's possessed but the Church sends him
to the insane asylum, the Institut in Poland near the
Carpathian Mountains to live out his years. His friend, a
fellow priest, his doctor and a police man on the case all
travel to the Institut, not realizing once they enter they
can never leave. Two young women arrive at the Institut
and David once again dreams of getting one of them
pregnant. To every one's shock she becomes pregnant
leaving people to wonder if she is carrying a messiah, an
anti-Christ or something not of this world. This is a very lush and juicy novel that is fascinating to
read but not easy to classify. The INSTITUT calls in to
question the basis for the formation of the Catholic Church
leaving the reader wondering if any part of the author's
theory could be true. The men who willingly stayed at The
Institut with David are the true heroes of the book which
shows that the bonds of friendship, when true, run very deep. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted August 15, 2002
|
