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The Devoted
Nicole Hennessy’s world revolves around her Boston Zendo, to the chagrin of her Irish Catholic family. As she struggles to break free from a psychological and sexual entanglement with her mentor, her past finally catches up with her. A spellbinding confession of what it means to abandon one life for another, The Devoted asks what it takes, and what you’ll sacrifice, to find enlightenment.
320 pages, Paperback
First published August 21, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
September 3, 2018
Beautifully written story of a woman in thrall to faith and to a manipulative leader. I must say that I found the book disturbing at several points & upsetting because it felt quite close to some aspects of my own experience. The novel and its scenarios rang very true to me though I am not Buddhist. Very accomplished debut.
April 19, 2019
3.5 stars.
When someone cool like Anne Lamott says she’s been reading this book while laying in bed at night, I’m all in.
And I was. Except the story never seemed to land. I wanted to like Nicole. But I didn’t feel like I ever got to know the current day Nicole.
I wanted to know much much more about her Master. But I didn’t really get that either.
The relationship between the two was the scratch that couldn’t be itched in the story between these pages.
However, I did turn the pages in the quest for the story. In that this book is redeemed.
When someone cool like Anne Lamott says she’s been reading this book while laying in bed at night, I’m all in.
And I was. Except the story never seemed to land. I wanted to like Nicole. But I didn’t feel like I ever got to know the current day Nicole.
I wanted to know much much more about her Master. But I didn’t really get that either.
The relationship between the two was the scratch that couldn’t be itched in the story between these pages.
However, I did turn the pages in the quest for the story. In that this book is redeemed.
September 6, 2018
his intriguing and fascinating novel examines a young woman's search for spirituality as she also tries to find her personal strength, grounding, and self-knowledge.
Nicole was brought up in a religious Catholic family but since she was a pre-teen she felt something missing in her religion. Not only was she confused about all the abuse going on in the Catholic church, but she didn't feel an affinity towards its teaching. She had a friend named Kukio whose family were Buddhists and, from Nicole's first exposure to Buddhism, she becomes entralled. Trying to get her family to understand her pull towards Buddhism is impossible and, at 17, she runs away and spends a year on the streets, ostensibly trying to get to a guru in Colorado.
Nicole, at 20, ends up in a Zen practice where she falls prey to her manipulative, seductive and abusive master. As she becomes more and more sexually and emotionally involved with him, she loses sight of her own self. She lives to please her master and, because of Buddhism's intrinsic nature, she relives her own pain time after time. After more than a decade with him, Nicole realizes that she has to escape.
Leaving her master is not easy and, despite a geographic distance, he appears to know everything about Nicole and what she is doing. She wonders, even at 32 years old, if she can ever escape him yet still hold the tenets of Buddhism close to her heart. "He'd shaped her like clay, and she'd let him; there was so little left that wasn't his." What she realizes is that she needs to reveal her whole life, primarily to herself, in order to progress into the future.
This book is a wonderful exploration of faith, spirituality, and the many ways we try to find our roots. The novel is chock full of Buddhist Koans, poetry, readings, teachings, etc. Because "nothing, not even the self, has a permanent essence" Nicole flounders as she searches for her high ground. We all flounder and often we fall. What this book explores is the question of whether Nicole is able to pick herself up and live her life without shame.
Nicole was brought up in a religious Catholic family but since she was a pre-teen she felt something missing in her religion. Not only was she confused about all the abuse going on in the Catholic church, but she didn't feel an affinity towards its teaching. She had a friend named Kukio whose family were Buddhists and, from Nicole's first exposure to Buddhism, she becomes entralled. Trying to get her family to understand her pull towards Buddhism is impossible and, at 17, she runs away and spends a year on the streets, ostensibly trying to get to a guru in Colorado.
Nicole, at 20, ends up in a Zen practice where she falls prey to her manipulative, seductive and abusive master. As she becomes more and more sexually and emotionally involved with him, she loses sight of her own self. She lives to please her master and, because of Buddhism's intrinsic nature, she relives her own pain time after time. After more than a decade with him, Nicole realizes that she has to escape.
Leaving her master is not easy and, despite a geographic distance, he appears to know everything about Nicole and what she is doing. She wonders, even at 32 years old, if she can ever escape him yet still hold the tenets of Buddhism close to her heart. "He'd shaped her like clay, and she'd let him; there was so little left that wasn't his." What she realizes is that she needs to reveal her whole life, primarily to herself, in order to progress into the future.
This book is a wonderful exploration of faith, spirituality, and the many ways we try to find our roots. The novel is chock full of Buddhist Koans, poetry, readings, teachings, etc. Because "nothing, not even the self, has a permanent essence" Nicole flounders as she searches for her high ground. We all flounder and often we fall. What this book explores is the question of whether Nicole is able to pick herself up and live her life without shame.
December 27, 2019
I was disappointed to see that throughout this book, despite the main character claiming that she is a "real" Buddhist, unlike other white Buddhists, the author treated traditional Buddhist communities in Tibet and China as terrifying and foreign. All of the main characters in this novel were white, and Buddhists of other races were presented as props to aid Nicole's spiritual journey. I was excited for the psychological portions of this book, but this complete oversight and simplification of a complex religion was actively irritating throughout the novel.
This book treats Buddhism as a gimmick philosophy that can easily be twisted into a type of cultish devotion without any real intellectual analysis as to why Eastern religions are so commonly appropriated as an exotic escape from the mundane lives of Americans. Instead of any form of self-reflection on East-West relations, the author externalizes Buddhism and somehow makes a book about Zen into a book about white Bostonians. One quote really made me see her view - "Now they were Bostonians again; not Zen students;" as if one cannot be both.
Clearly Nicole uses Buddhism as a way to rebel against her Catholic roots. However, this analysis of her shallow interest in the religion is never expressed, and instead she is portrayed as a genuinely "devoted" follower. I think this book could have been really beautiful if it more deeply discussed this element, but instead feels like a poor erotica that fetishizes Buddhism.
This book treats Buddhism as a gimmick philosophy that can easily be twisted into a type of cultish devotion without any real intellectual analysis as to why Eastern religions are so commonly appropriated as an exotic escape from the mundane lives of Americans. Instead of any form of self-reflection on East-West relations, the author externalizes Buddhism and somehow makes a book about Zen into a book about white Bostonians. One quote really made me see her view - "Now they were Bostonians again; not Zen students;" as if one cannot be both.
Clearly Nicole uses Buddhism as a way to rebel against her Catholic roots. However, this analysis of her shallow interest in the religion is never expressed, and instead she is portrayed as a genuinely "devoted" follower. I think this book could have been really beautiful if it more deeply discussed this element, but instead feels like a poor erotica that fetishizes Buddhism.
September 11, 2018
Notes: The author is a friend of mine. I listened to the Audible audiobook edition, excellently read by Xe Sands.
This is a remarkable first novel, with a very strong narrative voice, well-drawn characters, and a compelling interweaving of incidents large and small through different periods of the protagonist's life (with times much better marked than tends to be the case in books that move around in time). At a basic level, it's the story of a young woman, Nicole, moving from her hometown of Boston (captured with exquisite and loving detail) to New York to in an attempt to escape her entanglement with her Zen master. This is told along with the gradually-revealed background of Nicole's loving but complicated pious Catholic childhood during the initial uncovering of the Church sex abuse scandal in Boston in the late 90s and early 2000s (it is therefore, sadly, very topical again in 2018) and her escapades as a rebellious teenager. Hurley is not Catholic herself (I am), but she captures Catholic themes, practices (with one or two super-nitpicky minor exceptions), and one flavor of the Catholic way of looking at the world very well. The portrait of the abuse scandal, and the indictment of the Church's and some people's response to it, is detailed and sobering, and sets up haunting resonances with Nicole's later situation with her spiritual leader (some of which she notices herself but others of which are left for readers). The details of Buddhism (about which I knew very little going into the book) are also nicely interwoven, informative without feeling info-dumpy; they add realism and depth to Nicole's story, and I'm left even more interested than I already was in learning more about Buddhism.
I also related to the vivid picture of Nicole's complicated attachment to her master and her attempts to escape his influence, as I spent several years in an abusive relationship myself. The depiction of the hold that a controlling person can have on a victim, and of Nicole's thoughts and actions, felt so authentic as to be difficult for me to read at times and it was hard to imagine that the author wasn't speaking from personal experience (though I sincerely hope not).
Overall, the book tells a rich and compelling story about the at times overwhelming pull of faith, others' expectations, and the past, and the struggle it can be to find our true selves amidst all these influences. I enjoyed it so much that I'm already almost done a second listen, and I'll be eager for more writing from Hurley in the future.
This is a remarkable first novel, with a very strong narrative voice, well-drawn characters, and a compelling interweaving of incidents large and small through different periods of the protagonist's life (with times much better marked than tends to be the case in books that move around in time). At a basic level, it's the story of a young woman, Nicole, moving from her hometown of Boston (captured with exquisite and loving detail) to New York to in an attempt to escape her entanglement with her Zen master. This is told along with the gradually-revealed background of Nicole's loving but complicated pious Catholic childhood during the initial uncovering of the Church sex abuse scandal in Boston in the late 90s and early 2000s (it is therefore, sadly, very topical again in 2018) and her escapades as a rebellious teenager. Hurley is not Catholic herself (I am), but she captures Catholic themes, practices (with one or two super-nitpicky minor exceptions), and one flavor of the Catholic way of looking at the world very well. The portrait of the abuse scandal, and the indictment of the Church's and some people's response to it, is detailed and sobering, and sets up haunting resonances with Nicole's later situation with her spiritual leader (some of which she notices herself but others of which are left for readers). The details of Buddhism (about which I knew very little going into the book) are also nicely interwoven, informative without feeling info-dumpy; they add realism and depth to Nicole's story, and I'm left even more interested than I already was in learning more about Buddhism.
I also related to the vivid picture of Nicole's complicated attachment to her master and her attempts to escape his influence, as I spent several years in an abusive relationship myself. The depiction of the hold that a controlling person can have on a victim, and of Nicole's thoughts and actions, felt so authentic as to be difficult for me to read at times and it was hard to imagine that the author wasn't speaking from personal experience (though I sincerely hope not).
Overall, the book tells a rich and compelling story about the at times overwhelming pull of faith, others' expectations, and the past, and the struggle it can be to find our true selves amidst all these influences. I enjoyed it so much that I'm already almost done a second listen, and I'll be eager for more writing from Hurley in the future.
July 25, 2018
Nicole ran away from home and her Catholic upbringing at the age of seventeen. Now 32, she is still processing the outcomes of that decision as she navigates life as a devoted Buddhist. Her Zen Master (her roshi) has been a controlling, manipulative force in her life for 10 years, and she is ready to break free and find herself. But the ghosts of her past and present follow her everywhere. Highly recommended for fans of literary fiction, character development, and exploration of religion in shaping people and communities.
June 7, 2020
Ratings:
Writing 4
Story line 3
Characters 2
Emotional impact 2
Overall rating 2.75
Writing 4
Story line 3
Characters 2
Emotional impact 2
Overall rating 2.75
January 28, 2019
Compelling and fascinating. Very well written and intriguing examination of Buddhist faith, Catholic faith, contemporary coming-of-age, and understanding the nature of devotion, its dark and light sides, its sacrifices. The only weakness in the narrative was the character of Sean, likable and potentially interesting but under developed.
May 20, 2018
Beautiful exploration of guilt and the need for absolution. Can't believe this is a debut. Simply spectacular!
March 20, 2019
Not for me.
August 25, 2018
The Devoted, an accomplished and moving first novel by Blair Hurley, is the story of two journeys of self-discovery and liberation woven deftly into one. The first follows the stumbling, unskillful and sometimes perilous path of Nicole as a fretful and rebellious schoolgirl into young womanhood in her native Boston; in the second, we find her mostly in New York City, a distraught, unhealthily dependent and emotionally rootless young woman searching desperately for substance, purpose, and spiritual meaning in her life.
We first get to know Nicole at the beginning of the second of these two stories, already in the iron grip of the man she calls her “Master,” a predatory and, we soon discover, an emotionally and sexually abusive Zen roshi--the teacher to whom she submits her entire being in the search for what passes for spiritual refuge from the vicissitudes of her life. As she recalls, in alternating passages, the stories of the childhood that has endowed her with a legacy of crippling insecurity and self-doubt, the Master hovers, a dark, clutching and seemingly inescapable presence over her every effort to come to a sense of individuality and freedom.
We learn the story of that childhood, at first in snatches and glimpses, through Nicole’s recurring flashbacks and the partial stories she allows herself, gradually, to share with two confidants: the strange, generous, and awkwardly loving man who courts her affections; and, later, a seemingly protective woman friend--and eventual betrayer--who watches with apparent sympathetically over her emotional lurches and missteps.
Nicole reveals herself, acknowledges herself, only reluctantly, deeply shamed by her past, unforgiving of its wounds, and unable to shed an overwhelming sense of guilt. Brought up by a distant father and a demanding and unstable mother whose only emotional support is a kind of frenzied Catholicism, she rebels against the Church—at this time, in Boston, in the throes of its own sickening scandals of abuse—and, to her mother’s dismay, develops a lasting passion for Buddhism, immersing herself in every book she can discover and devour; and soon sets off on a runaway road trip that leads her through sex, drugs and homelessness to eventual tragedy.
In the meantime, as this tale unfolds, we have been following Nicole’s emotionally fraught attempt to escape the clutches of her Master by establishing herself in New York—an effort as disastrous in its own way as the wreckage of the childhood she has now left behind. Friendship and intimacy elude her; she spurns the superficial social intercourse that makes living tolerable for those who are content with its surfaces; and spins ever further out of control. It is eventually the icily sadistic commands of her Master, bringing her on the telephone to the point of death and, perilously, back, that confront her with the need to take responsibility for herself.
The Devoted is a short, compelling read and, its brevity notwithstanding, is unafraid to tackle big issues without simplification or evasion. It exposes the potential of religious orthodoxy—whether Catholic or Buddhist—to degenerate into the exercise of male domination and exploitation of the innocent. It explores the difficult territory of gender differences in one young woman’s prolonged struggle to acknowledge and assert her personal power. It delves into the problematics of family ties, between mother and daughter, father and daughter, brother and sister. It takes us through the heartbreak of betrayal and loss, and investigates the narrow ground between devotion and dependency, between spiritual fervency and unhealthy addiction… In the end, it manages to bring Nicole to the most welcome, sacred and eventually satisfying of all refuges: love.
The Devoted is a good Buddhist lesson, too, in its acknowledgement that turmoil and suffering are unavoidable in our lives, but no less impermanent than every other aspect of the human experience. Tough as it is, Nicole’s story bears out the wisdom of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, that there is an end to suffering; and offers her a way forward, through imperfection, toward a happier, more hopeful, and more enlightened way of being in the world.
We first get to know Nicole at the beginning of the second of these two stories, already in the iron grip of the man she calls her “Master,” a predatory and, we soon discover, an emotionally and sexually abusive Zen roshi--the teacher to whom she submits her entire being in the search for what passes for spiritual refuge from the vicissitudes of her life. As she recalls, in alternating passages, the stories of the childhood that has endowed her with a legacy of crippling insecurity and self-doubt, the Master hovers, a dark, clutching and seemingly inescapable presence over her every effort to come to a sense of individuality and freedom.
We learn the story of that childhood, at first in snatches and glimpses, through Nicole’s recurring flashbacks and the partial stories she allows herself, gradually, to share with two confidants: the strange, generous, and awkwardly loving man who courts her affections; and, later, a seemingly protective woman friend--and eventual betrayer--who watches with apparent sympathetically over her emotional lurches and missteps.
Nicole reveals herself, acknowledges herself, only reluctantly, deeply shamed by her past, unforgiving of its wounds, and unable to shed an overwhelming sense of guilt. Brought up by a distant father and a demanding and unstable mother whose only emotional support is a kind of frenzied Catholicism, she rebels against the Church—at this time, in Boston, in the throes of its own sickening scandals of abuse—and, to her mother’s dismay, develops a lasting passion for Buddhism, immersing herself in every book she can discover and devour; and soon sets off on a runaway road trip that leads her through sex, drugs and homelessness to eventual tragedy.
In the meantime, as this tale unfolds, we have been following Nicole’s emotionally fraught attempt to escape the clutches of her Master by establishing herself in New York—an effort as disastrous in its own way as the wreckage of the childhood she has now left behind. Friendship and intimacy elude her; she spurns the superficial social intercourse that makes living tolerable for those who are content with its surfaces; and spins ever further out of control. It is eventually the icily sadistic commands of her Master, bringing her on the telephone to the point of death and, perilously, back, that confront her with the need to take responsibility for herself.
The Devoted is a short, compelling read and, its brevity notwithstanding, is unafraid to tackle big issues without simplification or evasion. It exposes the potential of religious orthodoxy—whether Catholic or Buddhist—to degenerate into the exercise of male domination and exploitation of the innocent. It explores the difficult territory of gender differences in one young woman’s prolonged struggle to acknowledge and assert her personal power. It delves into the problematics of family ties, between mother and daughter, father and daughter, brother and sister. It takes us through the heartbreak of betrayal and loss, and investigates the narrow ground between devotion and dependency, between spiritual fervency and unhealthy addiction… In the end, it manages to bring Nicole to the most welcome, sacred and eventually satisfying of all refuges: love.
The Devoted is a good Buddhist lesson, too, in its acknowledgement that turmoil and suffering are unavoidable in our lives, but no less impermanent than every other aspect of the human experience. Tough as it is, Nicole’s story bears out the wisdom of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, that there is an end to suffering; and offers her a way forward, through imperfection, toward a happier, more hopeful, and more enlightened way of being in the world.
September 21, 2018
Such a skillfully-written, fascinating book. It was such a pleasure to read something so well-constructed and layered, shot through with that spark of insight that makes fiction worth reading. I loved the exploration of the idea of the world as a text that can be read and decoded, the nature of revelation and power, and the particular evocation of a specific New England. There's just so MUCH here- I am sure I will revisit.
"She knew those Boston girls from the big-lawned suburbs, the girls who went to her school, who clattered into ice cream shops in their field hockey cleats, with their dark blond hair and their freckled rosy-glowing skin, smelling of baby powder and body glitter—those demure entitled girls stalking down Newbury Street in packs, those brisk beaming ponytailed girls, too busy, too accomplished even to be mean, assembling their résumés for the Ivy League schools where they would meet drunk blond boys, those girls, who were trained to attack on the soccer field, on the debate teams and model U.N.’s of the world but were still called “sweet”—those girls, diligently turning the keys of their palate expanders—those Boston prep school girls. "
"She knew those Boston girls from the big-lawned suburbs, the girls who went to her school, who clattered into ice cream shops in their field hockey cleats, with their dark blond hair and their freckled rosy-glowing skin, smelling of baby powder and body glitter—those demure entitled girls stalking down Newbury Street in packs, those brisk beaming ponytailed girls, too busy, too accomplished even to be mean, assembling their résumés for the Ivy League schools where they would meet drunk blond boys, those girls, who were trained to attack on the soccer field, on the debate teams and model U.N.’s of the world but were still called “sweet”—those girls, diligently turning the keys of their palate expanders—those Boston prep school girls. "
October 30, 2018
This is a very strong, compulsively readable first novel with an impressively drawn main character. The parallels and contrasts between Nicole's relationship with Buddhism and the Master and her relationship with Catholicism and her family are well done and interesting to explore. Highly recommended, especially if you have an interest in religion as a topic, whether or not you are religious yourself.
February 16, 2019
A Long Time Coming of Age
Watch out for those holy men, those Catholic priests, those protestant ministers of all denominations, and those Buddhist masters, which might be an implicit secondary theme, the primary being finding your place in the world, of Blair Hurley’s debut novel. In it, a 32-year-old woman comes to grips with her life, spent as a rebellious Catholic teen and later as a devotee of a Buddhist master. He’s a master who will strike you less the holy man and more the controlling boyfriend who dominates Nicole Hennessy’s life for over 10 years, as she seeks to know her true self and gain enlightenment about the universe. Hers is a life of travail, alienation from her Boston Catholic family (except for her brother Paul, who admirably stands by her), existence on a shoestring, constant inner examination and frustration, and aloneness. She does, in spite of all this, or maybe because of it, find her calling in the wake of Catholic clergy scandal and its victims, one victim in particular. But, readers, though Hurley’s writing can be lyrical, steeped in Buddhist koans and poems, nonetheless it can feel like a trudge up a steep hill at times.
Nicole grows up in what appears a typical American family. Her family, notably her mother, are devoted Catholics. Nicole as a teen grows less so. As she matures, she feels lost, and the Catholic sexual abuse scandal confuses her, though it doesn’t diminish the devotion of her mother, who becomes truly distraught when the diocese begins shuddering churches, hers included, to settle financially with the victims of the abuse. She finds solace in Buddhism, which she reads on her own. Finally, Nicole, at 17, breaks with her family and spends a year on a quest to reach a monastery in Colorado, along with two boys, one troubled, the other larking but quietly in love with Nicole. The quest ends in tragedy and her parents bring her home. Another loss follows, and she finally turns to Zen Buddhism and the Master and tutelage in his Zendo.
This long episode of her life finds her living in poverty, striving to understand herself through Buddhist teachings, and forming a romantic relationship with the Master. The Master fully controls her and she becomes dependent upon him for maintaining her psychological health. Some readers will certainly find this relationship maddening, and wonder how Nicole cannot see how the Master has seduced her into an unhealthy relationship. Then, after she finally understands she must break with the Master, how he continually draws her back into his web, even using people around her to delve deeper into her consciousness and use the discoveries to manipulate her. She becomes a broken soul and she meets another broken soul, Sean. Along the way, people turn to her for help in their lives, revealing to her that she might have a calling in life, that perhaps the deprivation and pain were worthwhile, especially as related to Sean’s suffering, which, if you are patient as a Zen student, you’ll learn in the end.
No doubt many will relate to Nicole, especially if those who have been on their own rough journeys of self-discovery and searches for modicums of meaning in life. Here is a novel for you. Others might not enjoy the journey quite as much.
Watch out for those holy men, those Catholic priests, those protestant ministers of all denominations, and those Buddhist masters, which might be an implicit secondary theme, the primary being finding your place in the world, of Blair Hurley’s debut novel. In it, a 32-year-old woman comes to grips with her life, spent as a rebellious Catholic teen and later as a devotee of a Buddhist master. He’s a master who will strike you less the holy man and more the controlling boyfriend who dominates Nicole Hennessy’s life for over 10 years, as she seeks to know her true self and gain enlightenment about the universe. Hers is a life of travail, alienation from her Boston Catholic family (except for her brother Paul, who admirably stands by her), existence on a shoestring, constant inner examination and frustration, and aloneness. She does, in spite of all this, or maybe because of it, find her calling in the wake of Catholic clergy scandal and its victims, one victim in particular. But, readers, though Hurley’s writing can be lyrical, steeped in Buddhist koans and poems, nonetheless it can feel like a trudge up a steep hill at times.
Nicole grows up in what appears a typical American family. Her family, notably her mother, are devoted Catholics. Nicole as a teen grows less so. As she matures, she feels lost, and the Catholic sexual abuse scandal confuses her, though it doesn’t diminish the devotion of her mother, who becomes truly distraught when the diocese begins shuddering churches, hers included, to settle financially with the victims of the abuse. She finds solace in Buddhism, which she reads on her own. Finally, Nicole, at 17, breaks with her family and spends a year on a quest to reach a monastery in Colorado, along with two boys, one troubled, the other larking but quietly in love with Nicole. The quest ends in tragedy and her parents bring her home. Another loss follows, and she finally turns to Zen Buddhism and the Master and tutelage in his Zendo.
This long episode of her life finds her living in poverty, striving to understand herself through Buddhist teachings, and forming a romantic relationship with the Master. The Master fully controls her and she becomes dependent upon him for maintaining her psychological health. Some readers will certainly find this relationship maddening, and wonder how Nicole cannot see how the Master has seduced her into an unhealthy relationship. Then, after she finally understands she must break with the Master, how he continually draws her back into his web, even using people around her to delve deeper into her consciousness and use the discoveries to manipulate her. She becomes a broken soul and she meets another broken soul, Sean. Along the way, people turn to her for help in their lives, revealing to her that she might have a calling in life, that perhaps the deprivation and pain were worthwhile, especially as related to Sean’s suffering, which, if you are patient as a Zen student, you’ll learn in the end.
No doubt many will relate to Nicole, especially if those who have been on their own rough journeys of self-discovery and searches for modicums of meaning in life. Here is a novel for you. Others might not enjoy the journey quite as much.
November 17, 2018
Have you ever longed for "the secret knowledge at the heart of all things?" From the age of eight years, Nicole Hennessey, the protagonist of Blair Hurley’s The Devoted, longs to see the “living light” like the medieval nun Hildegard von Bingen. Nicole comes by her longing naturally. Her mother is a devout Catholic who we find out by novel’s end also wanted to be a nun before she got caught up with a family of her own. But while her mother remains steadfast in her allegiance to the Catholic church, even in the face of all of the sexual abuse settlements that are beginning to bankrupt the Catholic Diocese of Boston, Nicole’s own faith begins to falter during her teenage years. During a course in World Religions, she is introduced to Buddhism and it becomes immediately clear to her that this is what she has been searching for all along. She reads every library book on the subject, begins calling herself a Buddhist, and tells her teenage friends about a guru in Colorado she would like to meet. Later, reflecting back on why she became a Buddhist, she says: “At first I joined [Buddhism] just to rebel against my family, I think. To be something they weren’t. But when tragedies visited me — it was Buddhism that kept me alive. It helped me go on living.”
Nicole tragedies are memorable ones. She runs away from her troubled Catholic home at 17 with her boyfriend Jules and another friend. After a heady homeless year on the street doing drugs and everything else they can think of, they finally set off for Colorado to meet the guru. It is on the road to Colorado that her first tragedy strikes when Jules is killed in a car accident. Nicole returns home defeated with a shattered ankle. There, she suffers her second tragedy: burying her father who has died from cancer.
These early tragedies are the backstory for the main novel which begins when Nicole is thirty-two years of age and a Buddhist protégé who is studying with a Zen Master at the Peaceful Healing Zen Center. She has been studying with the roshi for the last ten years and is finally coming to the realization that their relationship isn’t working. She senses that he wants more from her than she is willing to give him, even more than the sex that they are already having. He is as obsessed with her as she is with seeing “the living light.” She moves from Boston to New York City but soon finds out that it will not be that easy to escape him. An old student of his tells her: “Did you think just by moving to a new city, you can get away from him? He’s here. He’s with you right now. You don’t ever break that bond…Wherever she went. Eventually he would find her.” Thus, Nicole learns the hard way that a commitment to one’s Master is for this life and all of one’s next lives. It is not a commitment that is taken lightly, or at least not in the case of this Zen Master.
I loved the way that Blair Hurley was able to shed insight on an ugly side of Zen Buddhism which is rarely talked about while still giving us a taste of the ritual and magic that can exist within this religion. I highly recommend this novel.
Nicole tragedies are memorable ones. She runs away from her troubled Catholic home at 17 with her boyfriend Jules and another friend. After a heady homeless year on the street doing drugs and everything else they can think of, they finally set off for Colorado to meet the guru. It is on the road to Colorado that her first tragedy strikes when Jules is killed in a car accident. Nicole returns home defeated with a shattered ankle. There, she suffers her second tragedy: burying her father who has died from cancer.
These early tragedies are the backstory for the main novel which begins when Nicole is thirty-two years of age and a Buddhist protégé who is studying with a Zen Master at the Peaceful Healing Zen Center. She has been studying with the roshi for the last ten years and is finally coming to the realization that their relationship isn’t working. She senses that he wants more from her than she is willing to give him, even more than the sex that they are already having. He is as obsessed with her as she is with seeing “the living light.” She moves from Boston to New York City but soon finds out that it will not be that easy to escape him. An old student of his tells her: “Did you think just by moving to a new city, you can get away from him? He’s here. He’s with you right now. You don’t ever break that bond…Wherever she went. Eventually he would find her.” Thus, Nicole learns the hard way that a commitment to one’s Master is for this life and all of one’s next lives. It is not a commitment that is taken lightly, or at least not in the case of this Zen Master.
I loved the way that Blair Hurley was able to shed insight on an ugly side of Zen Buddhism which is rarely talked about while still giving us a taste of the ritual and magic that can exist within this religion. I highly recommend this novel.
June 13, 2019
The Beloved (2018) is a mélange of girl and woman, Buddhism and Catholicism, a novel that reads like a memoir, the story of Nicole Hennessy, coming of age. After her first sexual encounter, she remarks: “I am the young girl, she thought. But now she was the grown woman too. She was neither and both. The split between them was exact.”
Beloved’s author, Blair Hurley reveals this precise split as she explores the era in which the scandal of the errant priests broke in the diocese of Boston, a young woman from a devout family caught in the crosshairs. However, she finds a pattern repeated as she herself becomes entangled in the wiles of her Buddhist Roshi, her Master, whom her brother Paul believes pretends “to be the omniscient narrator of his sister’s life.”
Will she ever be free from enslavement? Will she break away from the tyranny of servitude? A runaway, homeless, will she ever find a home for her heart? These are the questions that fuel the plot, that keep the reader turning pages.
On an odd odyssey, with Jules and others, Nicole treks the country, on her dual quest to break from home and to find enlightenment in the “other.” About two-thirds the way through, I temporarily lost interest, perhaps because of Nicole’s repeated lapses: Never because of Hurley’s brilliant writing, deft and soaring with graphic description and strong metaphor. For example: “In the checkerboard of light and dark windows she could see other silhouettes moving—husbands, wives, cats on sills. One caught her eye: a woman moving in a kitchen, swaying to music while she stood at the sink. In the other room, a light on, but no one there. ‘That’s me,’ Nicole whispered.”
In a debut novel endorsed by Joyce Carol Oates, West meets East, two conflicting philosophies warring for the soul of Nicole. As one reviewer explains, Hurley “explores the lines between devotion and entrapment, between the search for self and the attempt to lose oneself entirely.” I absolutely agree.
Beloved’s author, Blair Hurley reveals this precise split as she explores the era in which the scandal of the errant priests broke in the diocese of Boston, a young woman from a devout family caught in the crosshairs. However, she finds a pattern repeated as she herself becomes entangled in the wiles of her Buddhist Roshi, her Master, whom her brother Paul believes pretends “to be the omniscient narrator of his sister’s life.”
Will she ever be free from enslavement? Will she break away from the tyranny of servitude? A runaway, homeless, will she ever find a home for her heart? These are the questions that fuel the plot, that keep the reader turning pages.
On an odd odyssey, with Jules and others, Nicole treks the country, on her dual quest to break from home and to find enlightenment in the “other.” About two-thirds the way through, I temporarily lost interest, perhaps because of Nicole’s repeated lapses: Never because of Hurley’s brilliant writing, deft and soaring with graphic description and strong metaphor. For example: “In the checkerboard of light and dark windows she could see other silhouettes moving—husbands, wives, cats on sills. One caught her eye: a woman moving in a kitchen, swaying to music while she stood at the sink. In the other room, a light on, but no one there. ‘That’s me,’ Nicole whispered.”
In a debut novel endorsed by Joyce Carol Oates, West meets East, two conflicting philosophies warring for the soul of Nicole. As one reviewer explains, Hurley “explores the lines between devotion and entrapment, between the search for self and the attempt to lose oneself entirely.” I absolutely agree.
November 8, 2018
I just happened to read this book right before chancing upon Tara Westover's _Educated_. Though that book is a memoir and this one is fiction, there are some interesting superficial similarities between the two stories. First, both deal with daughters who disappoint their families by rejecting their respective faith traditions. Secondly, both portray situations where an abuser uses religion to take advantage of his victim. And finally, in both books, after making valiant attempts to maintain their relationships with their respective families, both protagonists eventually break off ties completely in order to assert their right to choose their own way forward in the world and to be the person they themselves choose to be on their own terms.
I enjoy reading about converts to a new religion. I identify closely with those who think deeply about what it is they really believe and are willing to back it up with a public confession. Personally, I've become less and less enamored of organized religion, but it works for some people, and that's great. One thing I dislike is that there's often not enough room or flexibility in organizations to accommodate those whose beliefs don't exactly fit the prescribed mold. The Unitarian Church is a notable exception, and I'm sure there are others, but I don't know of many. Of course, local leaders can often create the environment needed for outliers to flourish, and I know of many cases like this in the Mormon church.
One interesting thing about reading this book for me was that I was taken completely by surprise when Nicole takes her brother up on his long-standing and repeated offer to find her an apartment in New York City so that she can escape what seems to me like a pretty good life in Boston. She seems pretty satisfied with her position at the Zendo and her relationship as a favored disciple of her master. But maybe I missed telltale signs that were there all along. It makes me wonder if a woman reading this same novel would have seen such clues where I did not.
Nicole's visit to a Catholic mass with her family toward the end of the book is an important transition in the narrative. She has moved to New York to escape her seemingly all-knowing master, a man who claims she can never sever their master-disciple relationship. Here, too, she finds that she has no choice but to violently and publicly break from her family in order to take control of her own life and claim the right to self-determination. And I think it's safe to say that the reader is on her side here despite her foul language and ugly behavior.
By the way, this is neither here nor there, but I think _The Devotee_ would be a better title for this novel. _The Devoted_ implies plurality, and it's true there are other religious characters in the book. However, I think this book is all about Nicole. We get to know her intimately through glimpses into her inner life. We never get the same insights into her master's inner life or that of her family members or friends or of other devotees or students.
In any case, the book is well written and flows well. In rare moments, it got a little slow for me, and I was tempted to stop reading, but I was glad I stuck with it and read all the way to the end. I recommend the book, particularly for those who are interested in the role of religion in families and in individuals’ lives.
I enjoy reading about converts to a new religion. I identify closely with those who think deeply about what it is they really believe and are willing to back it up with a public confession. Personally, I've become less and less enamored of organized religion, but it works for some people, and that's great. One thing I dislike is that there's often not enough room or flexibility in organizations to accommodate those whose beliefs don't exactly fit the prescribed mold. The Unitarian Church is a notable exception, and I'm sure there are others, but I don't know of many. Of course, local leaders can often create the environment needed for outliers to flourish, and I know of many cases like this in the Mormon church.
One interesting thing about reading this book for me was that I was taken completely by surprise when Nicole takes her brother up on his long-standing and repeated offer to find her an apartment in New York City so that she can escape what seems to me like a pretty good life in Boston. She seems pretty satisfied with her position at the Zendo and her relationship as a favored disciple of her master. But maybe I missed telltale signs that were there all along. It makes me wonder if a woman reading this same novel would have seen such clues where I did not.
Nicole's visit to a Catholic mass with her family toward the end of the book is an important transition in the narrative. She has moved to New York to escape her seemingly all-knowing master, a man who claims she can never sever their master-disciple relationship. Here, too, she finds that she has no choice but to violently and publicly break from her family in order to take control of her own life and claim the right to self-determination. And I think it's safe to say that the reader is on her side here despite her foul language and ugly behavior.
By the way, this is neither here nor there, but I think _The Devotee_ would be a better title for this novel. _The Devoted_ implies plurality, and it's true there are other religious characters in the book. However, I think this book is all about Nicole. We get to know her intimately through glimpses into her inner life. We never get the same insights into her master's inner life or that of her family members or friends or of other devotees or students.
In any case, the book is well written and flows well. In rare moments, it got a little slow for me, and I was tempted to stop reading, but I was glad I stuck with it and read all the way to the end. I recommend the book, particularly for those who are interested in the role of religion in families and in individuals’ lives.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 20, 2023
The Devoted is Blair Hurley's debut novel. It is a prize-winning story about a religious convert to “Zen” Buddhism. I put scare quotes around Zen because the “Zen” of the “master” in the novel is actually a mishmash of Tibetan, Zen, and Pure Land Buddhism. The master is a huckster— and has built a semi-successful Zendo teaching his own version of Buddhism to American believers—one of whom is a young woman of eighteen; a person he seduces and then controls.
The story is reminiscent of memoirist Natalie Goldberg’s sad story of her own disillusionment with her Zen master, Katagiri Roshi. To find out that he was sleeping with his female students for years after her devoted following of his moral teachings hit her hard, and it is something she returns to again and again in her books.
In the novel by Hurley, the sexual relationship is only the tip of the iceberg as the emotional control is really what drives the story. And this is all happening in Boston against the scandals of the Catholic church. I was puzzled why the Zendos she visits in Boston and NYC all have jade Buddhas, I was confused about the prostrations and many other details, but the truth is I have never been in a space like that in the United States. The book is at heart (I think) about charismatic leaders who control their underlings. It is how the strong eat the weak but it is also about malignant narcissism and the hunger that many young people have to live a life beyond the rat race. I loved the book and am really looking forward to reading the author's new novel --coming out soon I think...
The story is reminiscent of memoirist Natalie Goldberg’s sad story of her own disillusionment with her Zen master, Katagiri Roshi. To find out that he was sleeping with his female students for years after her devoted following of his moral teachings hit her hard, and it is something she returns to again and again in her books.
In the novel by Hurley, the sexual relationship is only the tip of the iceberg as the emotional control is really what drives the story. And this is all happening in Boston against the scandals of the Catholic church. I was puzzled why the Zendos she visits in Boston and NYC all have jade Buddhas, I was confused about the prostrations and many other details, but the truth is I have never been in a space like that in the United States. The book is at heart (I think) about charismatic leaders who control their underlings. It is how the strong eat the weak but it is also about malignant narcissism and the hunger that many young people have to live a life beyond the rat race. I loved the book and am really looking forward to reading the author's new novel --coming out soon I think...
January 9, 2019
At first, I was not very engaged by this book - it starts off slowly, and there isn't a lot of information about the main character at first, so it isn't easy to get drawn in. However, it becomes intense and I really enjoyed it by the end. I especially appreciated its examination of spirituality, contrasting Catholicism with Zen Buddhism. Having grown up Catholic, I could relate to Nicole's upbringing. Nicole's character is also a contemporary of mine, having grown up about the same time, so the way the Boston priest scandals are described through the eyes of a teenager is similar to how I remember those times.
I've recommended this book to a few of my friends who are Buddhist converts because I am interested to see if they relate to that part of the book (the conversion) as much as I could relate to the Catholic parts. The writing was subtle, its sparse descriptions seeming very Zen to me.
Definitely an interesting read, and not one I would have usually picked up except that the cover was interesting and I liked the title. Unexpected and definitely worth reading.
I've recommended this book to a few of my friends who are Buddhist converts because I am interested to see if they relate to that part of the book (the conversion) as much as I could relate to the Catholic parts. The writing was subtle, its sparse descriptions seeming very Zen to me.
Definitely an interesting read, and not one I would have usually picked up except that the cover was interesting and I liked the title. Unexpected and definitely worth reading.
November 6, 2022
This was a haunting, tragic look at how faith can lead to blindness. Growing up, my family transitioned from a non-denominational mega church to a tiny Protestant one, and so religion became routine. It wasn't until college did I realize faith is personal. Likewise, Nicole in The Devoted leans toward Zen Buddhism yet is surrounded by Catholics in Boston. Most of this book is about searching for balance between escaping and living, deception and truth, and Eastern and Western faiths.
The book uses letters, Buddhist koans (fables), and third person omniscient pov, so there's plenty of social commentary. This leads to multiple timeframes of telling (not really showing) Nicole's story, including the mass shuttering of Catholic churches, which parallels her own seduction by her Buddhist Master. She's too blind/devoted/attached to see it. Truly, this book is heartbreaking, from her boyfriend's unexpected death to Nicole finally standing up for herself. I was genuinely surprised by how much I cared for, and resonated with, Nicole while reading this.
The book uses letters, Buddhist koans (fables), and third person omniscient pov, so there's plenty of social commentary. This leads to multiple timeframes of telling (not really showing) Nicole's story, including the mass shuttering of Catholic churches, which parallels her own seduction by her Buddhist Master. She's too blind/devoted/attached to see it. Truly, this book is heartbreaking, from her boyfriend's unexpected death to Nicole finally standing up for herself. I was genuinely surprised by how much I cared for, and resonated with, Nicole while reading this.
January 9, 2019
This debut novel is an interesting exploration of faith, fidelity, and searching, and also the ways that religion wields power over both the faithful and the questioning. The protagonist, Nicole, has left the Catholic church in which she was raised for Buddhism—she's a convert, and has been studying under the same teacher for more than ten years. But the fact that she and her teacher also have a sexual relationship leads her to interrogate her own practices of faith and submission, particularly when held up to the reasons she broke from Catholicism. I liked the exploration of the issues here, and how Hurley framed the beauty and comfort to be found in both religions, although at times the controlling nature of both Nicole's family and her Buddhist master felt a little too cut-and-dried for the sake of easy comparison. Still, this was definitely worth reading—a thoughtful novel that isn't afraid to interrogate itself a bit.
February 18, 2019
A self-assured debut novel. Hurley did a decent job with her switching timelines storylines, only getting bogged down a little. Nicole is an Irish-Catholic Boston girl, coming of age during the priest scandals. That, along with difficulties with her mentally ill mother, sends her on a spiritual quest that leads her to Buddhism. After a series of events (no spoilers here) derails her life, she becomes in thrall to a Buddhist master (hmmmm, some similarities to those Catholic priests going on here...). The story kept my interest sometimes and totally lost it at others. There was too much clunkiness - about the Buddhism especially. Some interesting side characters (brother Paul, bf Sean) but not enough time with them or insight into them. Paul, pretty much a saint throughout, is awkwardly given a massive flaw near the end of the novel. Bottom line: I closed the book with a shrug and a ho-hum.
September 11, 2018
I took this book from the library on a flyer. I'm sure glad I did. This is a multi-dimensional examination of relationships at every choke-point, down every open stretch of time/lives/connections. Hurley uses the vehicles of faith and belief, trust and betrayal, ritual and revolution. Hurley's character, Nicole, starts on a spiritual journey early in her life at a crucial time in history. This is a profound search for the real self through the false and all its trappings. I can't think of any novel that has done so much to examine so many areas of modern life, without judgement, as THE DEVOTED does. It's a book that could only have been written by a woman but it needs to be read by men. Hurley wisely avoids making her heroine seem to be completed, understanding that the journey goes on; sometimes we teach, sometimes we learn, sometimes we just go along watching the scenery.
Great book.
Great book.
December 11, 2018
So - the writing is good. Hurley has real talent as a writer and storyteller. I would give that talent 5 stars. It is a 2 star book for me because she has messed up the content of Buddhism so much and Buddhist teachers. This book is about a a woman who goes from one fundamentalist faith (her Mom is a fundamentalist Catholic) and masochistic relationship to another. She thinks she is being a rebel, but she is just a fundamentalist in another faith, skimming the surface of each faith as a practitioner and taking unexpected forays into (or against) each. People do that, so if the point of the story is that, OK. But the book’s conclusion was not a good thing to me. I don’t see her as becoming a teacher herself as redemptive for the character at all. She can only transmit the messed up values of her Master. Blech. Don’t go pop Buddhism/mindfulness seekers, don’t go!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 24, 2019
I really enjoyed the subject matter and themes, as I’m also a former Catholic / current cultural Catholic and current student of Buddhism. In the end I found the description of the master-student relationship a bit difficult to believe and grew frustrated with their exchanges. I suppose this might accurately describe what cult-like behaviour/devotion looks like to outsiders, though- unbelievable. As a Buddhist student in a much more modern, open sangha, I couldn’t believe someone would go for that, especially if they’d grown disenchanted with religions with a lot of hierarchy like Catholicism.
I enjoyed the sections describing Nicole’s break from her family’s religion and runaway years the best. Blair Hurley captures the way youth are intoxicated by ideas and possibilities really beautifully. It also gave me a great feeling for the city of Boston.
I enjoyed the sections describing Nicole’s break from her family’s religion and runaway years the best. Blair Hurley captures the way youth are intoxicated by ideas and possibilities really beautifully. It also gave me a great feeling for the city of Boston.
October 2, 2018
Excellent first novel. The story of a Catholic family in Boston, each of whom is searching for a center to hold to. The main character, Nicole, is on a quest to find meaning in her life. As a teen, she fell in with a group of rebellious kids. That part of the fiction I found the most believable and heartbreaking because Ms. Hurley captured the angst and insecurity of being a teen who is trying to find their place and searching for something to make themselves feel special and in control of their lives and destinies.
The religions of the devoted in the book are Buddhism and Catholicism, neither of which comes across as truly spiritual. More like rules and regulations for so that the adherents in this book do not have to think for themselves. I found Nicole a compelling character.
The religions of the devoted in the book are Buddhism and Catholicism, neither of which comes across as truly spiritual. More like rules and regulations for so that the adherents in this book do not have to think for themselves. I found Nicole a compelling character.
July 25, 2019
Encountered this little gem while listening to a podcast about Buddhism and thought I had the gist, but was unprepared for the punch it packs. It’s a story about a zen student with a too-familiar relationship with her Master that eats at her.
That’s the gist. But there’s so much more. Deftly and lightly handled is Boston Catholicism’s fall, the fall and pain and quests of Boston’s Catholics, New England culture, the parallel of abuse in these faiths (abuse of one’s self and by one’s self), the true Buddhist amongst the New Age dabblers, aging, love, trauma . . . There’s too much. But it all fits very neatly.
I think this was supposed to be a book about a Master but the protagonist took over and she has as much humanity as I needed this summer in one read.
That’s the gist. But there’s so much more. Deftly and lightly handled is Boston Catholicism’s fall, the fall and pain and quests of Boston’s Catholics, New England culture, the parallel of abuse in these faiths (abuse of one’s self and by one’s self), the true Buddhist amongst the New Age dabblers, aging, love, trauma . . . There’s too much. But it all fits very neatly.
I think this was supposed to be a book about a Master but the protagonist took over and she has as much humanity as I needed this summer in one read.
June 11, 2018
*I won this book via a Goodreads giveaway!*
This is a profound book that truly made me think while enjoying fantastic writing and storytelling. This book is a departure from what I would normally read and in being so, I was surprised with how much I was pulled into, and questioned, the protagonist along the story arc. I was mad, sad, and enthralled while reading. Delving into a world I was unfamiliar with was educational and I was surprised, and happy, with a satisfying sense of closure at the end. This is certainly not a light read, but it is worth the time.
This is a profound book that truly made me think while enjoying fantastic writing and storytelling. This book is a departure from what I would normally read and in being so, I was surprised with how much I was pulled into, and questioned, the protagonist along the story arc. I was mad, sad, and enthralled while reading. Delving into a world I was unfamiliar with was educational and I was surprised, and happy, with a satisfying sense of closure at the end. This is certainly not a light read, but it is worth the time.
August 14, 2018
Interesting exploration of faith and, frankly, maturity. Nicole left her Irish Catholic family as a runaway and thinks she found herself when she discovered Buddhism. Her Zen master, however, is manipulative and in some ways destructive so now that she recognized this, she must leave him. This is slow in spots but I found the details of zen practice intriguing. Nicole is not the most sympathetic character - although I wanted to tap her on the shoulder more than once and tell her to stop. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For fans of literary fiction.
August 27, 2018
Nicole ran away from home and her Catholic upbringing at the age of seventeen. Now 32, she is still processing the outcomes of that decision as she navigates life as a devoted Buddhist. Her Zen Master (her roshi) has been a controlling, manipulative force in her life for 10 years, and she is ready to break free and find herself. But the ghosts of her past and present follow her everywhere. Highly recommended for fans of literary fiction, character development, and exploration of religion in shaping people and communities.
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