Wounded
Claudia Mair Burney, 2008
David C. Cook Publisher
384 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781434799388
Summary
Poor in health but rich in faith, Gina Merritt—a young, broke, African-American single mother—sits in a pew on Ash Wednesday and has a holy vision. When it fades, her palms are bleeding. Anthony Priest, the junkie sitting beside her, instinctively touches her when she cries out, but Gina flees in shock and pain. A prize-winning journalist before drugs destroyed his career, Anthony is flooded with a sense of well-being and knows he is cured of his addiction.
Without understanding why, Anthony follows Gina home to find some answers. Together they search for an answer to this miraculous event and along the way they cross paths with a skeptical evangelical pastor, a gentle Catholic priest, a certifiable religious zealot, and an oversized transvestite drug dealer, all of whom lend their opinion. It's a quest for truth, sanity, and grace and an unexpected love story. (From the publisher.
Author Bio
Claudia Mair Burney is the author of the novel Zora and Nicky: A Novel in Black and White, as well as the Amanda Bell Brown Mysteries and the "Exorsista" series for teens. Her work has appeared in Discipbleship Journal, The One Year Life Verse Devotional Bible, and Justice in the Burbs. She lives in Michigan with her husband, five of their seven children, and a quirky dwarf rabbit. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Burney's offbeat story, which explores what it might mean to literally share in Christ's suffering, demonstrates an edginess that both attracts and repels. Burney's protagonist, Regina "Gina" Dolores Merritt, is a 24-year-old black, health-conscious, bipolar, once suicidal single mom with fibromyalgia and migraines and a history of mental illness. It's a lot to put on one character. When she appears to receive the stigmata on Ash Wednesday at her Vineyard Church in Ann Arbor, Mich. (perhaps based on real-life pastor Ken Wilson and his church), a circus of sorts ensues. Druggie Anthony Priest shows up to help, as does Priest's alienated mother, Veronica Morelli. Events catapult toward an unexpected conclusion. Burney pushes the boundaries for her faith fiction audience sexually, especially in references to Christ as lover. The multiple first-person perspectives work well, but stories about saints seem inserted rather than integral, and a few characters feel overdrawn. However, Burney's unusual voice, gritty themes, and ecumenical blending should help this uninhibited novel find a home, especially with emergent church readers.
Publishers Weekly
Sitting in a church pew on Ash Wednesday in great physical pain, African American mother Gina Merritt prays for relief, instantly having a vision of Jesus, who kisses her hands and leaves the stigmata of two red roses. The junkie sitting next to her touches Gina, and believing he is cured of his addiction, follows her home. This original tale about the nature of miracles in modern times from the author of Zora and Nicky: A Novel in Black and White and the "Amanda Bell Brown" mystery series includes the viewpoints of a Catholic priest, a Protestant minister, and a cast of colorful characters, including a transvestite drug dealer. The subject matter may be controversial for some readers, but this thought-provoking novel deserves a place in fiction collections, especially where there is a demand for books that feature African American protagonists. Highly recommended.
Library Journal
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Wounded:
1. The book's title, "wounded," has numerous meanings. What is its significance? Who all in this novel is wounded—and in what ways?
2. When Gina tells Mike that "Jesus kissed [her] hand and pierced it," why does Mike think, "not this"?
3. According to Mike, "People of God go through life believing without seeing; that's the nature of faith." Then he refers to the famous quotation from Hebrews (I:1): "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." How does that understanding of faith affect those surrounding Gina? How easy is it for doubt to enter into our own lives—all of us? What would your reaction have been to Gina had you met her in real life?
4. Why is Gina chosen? And why is she a surprising, even unbelievable, recipient of the stigmata?
5. Gina is visited by two different men of the cloth: a Catholic priest and a Protestant minister. What are their reactions to Gina? What do they reveal about themselves...and what do you think of them?
6. Were you disturbed—or intrigued—by Burney's treatment of Jesus as both a human with human lovers and the Son of God?
7. What about the novel's structure—told in rotating voices of the main characters? Why might Burney have chosen that format—and does it work for you? Talk about how the characters (and their voices) differ from one another. Is there one in particular whom you favor?
8. Do you find the stories of the saints engaging...or do you feel they're intrusive, disrupting the plot's momentum?
9. What does Wounded suggest about human struggle and God's beneficence—and about the "types" of people who are elegible to receive grace?
10. Does this story alter, reinforce, or challenge your view of Christianity and what it means to be a person of faith?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution.)
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