Julie Mars, A Month of Sundays

A Month of Sundays: Searching For the Spirit and My Sister By Julie Mars

Author Julie Mars drops everything to be with her beloved sister Shirley Ann Carter dying of pancreatic cancer. Ms. Mars observed how her sibling returned to Catholicism, but worried that she waited too long and will burn in hell. When death finally occurred, Ms. Mars grieved deeply, but everyone reminded her that life goes on so she should leave Upstate New York to return to New Mexico to complete her PhD that she put on hold. Still that did not feel right to just go back to her lifestyle. Instead Ms. Mars vowed to visit thirty-one churches over thirty-one consecutive Sundays to learn more about the spiritualism and faith that Shirley discovered towards the end that gave her sister comfort that there is more and discomfit that she thought she failed to achieve the ultimate goal.

Thus the readers gain an intriguing look at a journey for more than the author's search for personal spiritualism and her sister. Instead this is a deep look at the living who need closure when a loved one dies. The various churches run the gamut of congregations to include different races, social and economic classes, etc; some provided warmth to the stranger while others enhanced her doubts re organized religion. Still all remain irrelevant as mourning is personal. Ms. Mar's journey is a memorable memoir of an individual seeking solace and worth reading especially by those going recently or expecting to go down that lonely path soon.

Harriet Klausner