It is fascinating to me how we are all so similar and yet so individually unique. Our perceptions of similar things we see and hear can be so different that it might seem impossible that we have witnessed the very same incident. Three people may witness a traffic accident, and by the time the police have asked each of them what they saw, they might have three totally different stories. What about book reviews?

My novel, The Priest and The Peaches, has received a multitude of reviews since it launched two months ago. The book deals with five newly-orphaned Catholic kids who are trying to stay together as a family. The parish priest is their guide as they try to navigate the waters of “grown-up world”. For the most part the reviews have been great. There was even one from an atheist in the UK who wrote that he was “so glad he read it because it actually made religion sound nice”. There’s a home-run for you.

Then there was one from a reviewer who wrote that this was “the first time I have to do a SCATHING review”. She literally hated the book, and wrote that it took her three weeks to force herself to get through six chapters (there are 20) and after that she “could not go on”. She hated the theme, the characters (especially the priest), the grammar, the punctuation, and even bashed the publisher for publishing it. It was almost as if the book made her angry.

The point is this: As a writer you squirrel yourself away in your little writing hole and do your thing. You pour your time and effort and sweat into creating and putting together your work, always clouded by a veil of insecurity that it is “not good enough”. Then the work gets out there. Now you are the quarterback who has just thrown a long pass down-field. If you’re good enough, most of the time you will hit your target. But you will NEVER hit it every time.

Larry is a Catholic/Christian author and blogger and posts weekly commentary. His work has appeared in such publications as Zenit from Rome, Aleteia, New Evangelists, Top Catholic Blogs, Big Pulpit, Catholic365.com and others. His first children's picture book, "Slippery Willie's Stupid, Ugly Shoes" was published in 2011. In 2012, his full-length novel, "The Priest and the Peaches" was released. His second novel, "The Demons of Abadon", was released in the spring of 2016. Larry’s latest novel, “Horizon Homeless” was released in ebook format in May of 2017 and the paperback followed on July 27, 2017. Larry belongs to the Catholic Writer’s Guild, The Catholic Writer’s Society, The Knights of Columbus, and the St. Vincent de Paul Society. He has been an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion for over twenty years bringing communion to the homebound and hospitalized. He lives in Pinellas Park, Florida and his kids and six grandchildren all live within three miles of each other. His first wife died of cancer in 2003. He remarried four years later and became the primary caregiver for his wife, Martha who came down with Non-Hodgins Lymphoma in 2011. The cancer was in remission when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease in October of 2014. Sadly and unexpectedly, Martha passed away on March 27, 2017. The writer says, "God has me where he needs me and I try my best to make Him proud. Larry’s blog site is http://www.slipperywillie.blogspot.com You can find more at www.larrypeterson-author.com

By Catholic Writing and Publishing, The Writing Life2 Comments on “Ah, Reviews”

2 Replies to ““Ah, Reviews””

  2. It only makes sense. But, it’s still hard for us to take. That there are a lot of different personalities out there, and they’re bound to have different opinions. What’s still, as believing Catholics, we’re outsiders…loving things many hate…will it surprise us when they don’t see the world like us? Maybe it will be just a slim minority that can appreciate our words.

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