This is a difficult book for me to review. I've been exploring Christian mysticism for the past two years and have been reading extensively (especially St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross, but also some more contemporary authors such as Evelyn Underhill). I picked this one up on recommendation of a Celtic Christianity FaceBook group, and did find several passages that really spoke to me.

While the book opened with the definition of the Anam Cara ("In everyone's life, there is great need for an anam cara, a soul friend. In this love, you are understood as you are without mask or pretension. . . Love allows understanding to dawn, and understanding is precious. Where you are understood, you are at home."); it later develops more into the individual journey and path that only we can take (i.e. alone). This bothered me some as I felt a real connection with the idea of Anam Cara and have found myself blessed by such people in my own life. In fact, it seemed that most of the book really focused on how no one can really know you, and the deep interior spiritual life is most critical to understand yourself. While I agree in some ways, I wonder where this leaves the Anam Cara?

Anyway, while I have mixed feelings about the book, I will rate it 5 stars, because there are parts that I did feel a connection to and helped me to understand better some of my own experiences. I'll also keep in mind a piece by James Finley regarding a reading list for Beginners in Christian Mystical Tradition. He states, 'Your heart will tell you which writers are best suited to your needs. As you read, you will find yourself relaxing into insight after insight, reassurance after reassurance. It is not that everything will be clear. But as you continue on in your awakening journey, things that are not clear now will become clear later on. Reading the mystics helps us to appreciate and accept the fact that being perplexed is part of the path. . .' In this way, I would say that St. Teresa truly speaks to me more than John O'Donohue.