Though born into the Jewish faith, Sister Theodora became a devout Greek Orthodox nun after a Marian intervention saved her from the Holocaust. Now a message from God has informed her that she must travel to the United States and find her seven year old grand-nephew Jackie as he is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Though Theodora’s superiors worry that it is the Devil who has planted these thoughts into her mind, the nun travels to America on her Divine mission.
TO SEE GOD is the final part of Bruce J. Berger’s “Forgiveness and Faith” trilogy. It’s a fitting close to the series and followers of the earlier books will be more than satisfied. For new readers there is much to take from this serious, though never overwrought, novel which is very well written and beautifully paced. The initial chapters alternate between the nun’s metaphysical issues of faith, mystery and prayer in her monastery and the more quotidian matters of struggling to maintain a life in the grit and grumble of New Orleans. Berger cleverly juxtaposes moments of spiritual yearning with the more mundane, though no less impactful, tribulations of having to deal with the stresses of modern life. While Theodora wanders the surrounds of her monastery hoping to hear “His voice behind the high sweet whistling of warblers, the peeping of the red-backed shrike, the occasional screech of an eagle, and the rustling of wind in the trees”, young Jackie’s mother is on a hike in the USA and worrying that she may be losing her mind before ruefully accepting that a schizophrenia diagnosis years before means most will believe it was lost long ago.
Trauma and mental health issues are both addressed with skill. They are subtly interwoven into the plot so that they resonate and raise ideas that question the veracity of Theodora’s experiences. Though TO SEE GOD is ultimately a novel bound by faith, Berger is prepared to push and test both his characters’ and his readers’ ideas of what faith actually means.
In TO SEE GOD, the beautifully crafted and deeply spiritual novel by Bruce J Berger, the author is unafraid to tackle the weighty issue of faith itself. Well developed characters find themselves having to reassess everything that they believed to be true in the same way that readers will need to dig deep to answer the questions that provokes.
~Kent Lane for IndieReader