Be Near Me

by Andrew O'Hagan

Book Overview

"Always trust a stranger," said David's mother when he returned from Rome. "It's the people you know who let you down."Half a life later, David is Father Anderton, a Catholic priest with a small parish in Scotland. He befriends Mark and Lisa, rebellious local teenagers who live in a world he barely understands. Their company stirs memories of earlier happiness--his days at a Catholic school in Yorkshire, the student revolt in 1960s Oxford, and a choice...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0156033968
• ISBN13: 9780156033961
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.7" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Tough Subject Handled Beautifully

What a beautifully written book. When Catholic priest David Anderton is posted to a small, clannish village in Scotland, his erudition and cultured ways are off-putting to most of the adults, with the notable exception of his cleaning woman and verbal sparring partner, Mrs. Poole. When he is drawn into the orbit of a couple of misfit teenagers, it is she who warns him that no good will come of it. David's past spills into most chapters seamlessly and we get a picture of his youth, his seminary experience and his Oxford days even as the present events unfold into personal disaster and the worst accusation a priest can face. What could have been a cliché, however, is not. When David realizes that his choices in life have left him totally alone and that the past and its grief cannot be forgotten, he accepts responsibility for his actions with total honesty and morality. The grief from which he can never heal is the great love he shared at Oxford with a fellow student - and his ruminations on love are particularly luminous (in O'Hagan's hands): "...the heart will always have the last word, and when the word is love we can recognize, we can respond, we can submit and we can try to ignore, but we can never choose. Love is not a matter of choice but an obdurate fact of surrender." Father David's mother is also a wonderfully drawn character - full of a steadfast and undemonstrative mother's love and good advice. The author's gift in leading the reader past distaste and condemnation of the protagonist's actions through the character's own search for self-understanding is quite an accomplishment, but it seems almost effortless.

An exceptional novel

Be Near Me is beautifully written, moving, and eloquent novel of what it means to be human. O'Hagan traces the life of a man who is seeking himself, the conflicts between his love of God and his love of earthly pleasures. It's one of the finest novels I've read in years.

Deeply moving

Andrew O'Hagan's "Be Near Me" is a work of indescribable beauty. From the opening dialogue that David Anderton (Father David) has with his mother to the final pages, a wistful thirty years later, O'Hagan elicits some of the finest characterizations and dialogue I have read. This is a story about distance and loss. David, an Oxford student, falls in love with Conor, a young man from another college. After a certain kiss with Conor, David knows where he his headed...the priesthood. As it turns out, that's one of the few pieces of knowledge David will carry with him. Much of the book centers around Father David's time in the Scottish town of Dalgarnock many years later, where he is not exactly welcomed by all. He meets an adolescent couple, younger than their years, befriends them, takes them on trips and becomes their confidante. After falling for Mark, the male of this duo, David is drawn into him one night and an indiscretion occurs. A trial follows and the rest is left for the reader to witness. "Be Near Me", like the fine wine David drinks, simply gets better with each passing chapter. O'Hagan's narrative is so good that I found it hard to leave his book for even a minute. Each character evokes a certain empathy...not an easy task with multiple principals. By telling a Catholic priest's story from within, O'Hagan captures the "other side" of what we so often miss in the headlines of abuse. It is the choice of not facing one's sexuality that often draws men into the priesthood coupled with the ensuing loneliness that tortures its victims. The author presents this side with pathos and tenderness. I highly recommend "Be Near Me" as it is a compelling work and one of the best books of the year. O'Hagan has created a masterpiece and the reader will understand the joys and sorrows of each of the individuals portrayed. It is a tour de force, full of emotion, depth and care.

Excellent writing

Generally speaking, I mostly read mystery novels. Literary mystery novels to be sure, but mystery novels nonetheless. While this book is certainly no whodunit, in a sense, this novel deals with a greater mystery: How shall a middle aged Catholic priest deal with the perils of doubting his long held faith, and how does he cope with his long surpressed temporal desires. In a lesser hand, this book would have been pedestrian effort. In this author's hands, this ouvre is a small treasure. Grab it, read it, savor it, and then wait for Andrew O'Hagan's next book!

Beautiful, sad, and wise

I am taking my time only because the other reviewer (there is only one so far), was so far off the mark, in giving the book only three (or 3.5, as she claims in her review), that I want to remedy her review. This is a terrific book. The writing is beautiful--not lah-dee-dah beautiful, but strong and thoughtful--and the characterizations are splendid. I believed utterly in the conflicted priest, in his dying, snobbish, decent housekeeper, and most of all I believed in the ghastly beast that the Scottish town became. If you are a reader of highly literate material, I recommend this. If you like your novels more obvious, skip it. (But you will be missing a fine book).