The Monk Downstairs

Insight (Concordia)

By: Tim Farrington

Narrated by: Edison McDaniels

Rebecca Martin is a single mother with an apartment to rent and a sense that she has used up her illusions. I had the romantic thing with my first husband, thank you very much, she tells a hapless suitor. I'm 38 years old, and I've got a daughter learning to read and a job I don't quite like. I don't need the violin music. But when the new tenant in her in-law's apartment turns out to be Michael Christopher, on the lam after 20 years in a monastery and smack-dab in the middle of a dark night of the soul, Rebecca begins to suspect that she is not as thoroughly disillusioned as she had thought.

Her daughter, Mary Martha, is delighted with the new arrival, as is Rebecca's mother, Phoebe, a rollicking widow making a new life for herself among the spiritual eccentrics of the coastal town of Bolinas. Even Rebecca's best friend, Bonnie, once a confirmed cynic in matters of the heart, urges Rebecca on. But none of them, Rebecca feels, understands how complicated and dangerous love actually is.

As her unlikely friendship with the ex-monk grows toward something deeper, and Michael wrestles with his despair while adjusting to a second career flipping hamburgers at McDonald's, Rebecca struggles with her own temptation to hope. But it is not until she is brought up short by the realities of life and death that she begins to glimpse the real mystery of love and the unfathomable depths of faith.

Beautifully written and playfully engaging, this novel is about one man wrestling with his yearning for a life of contemplation and the need for a life of action in the world. But it's Rebecca's spirit, as well as her relationships with Mary Martha, Phoebe, her irresponsible surfer ex-husband, Rory - and, of course, the monk downstairs - that makes this story shine.

©2010 Harper Collins Publishers (P)2020 Tim Farrington

after a long wait

First time author for me. A decade ago or so my wife's book club read this book and my wife told me that I would really like it. I'm visually impaired and don't read books anymore, nor back then, and she volunteered to read me the book out loud. She tried twice and I fell asleep both times in the first chapter. I really liked the idea of the story, though, and was disappointed there was no audio version of the book. I joined audible sometime after that and every so often I'd check to see if the book was yet available on audible. Lo and behold it showed up just a couple months ago. I bought it and just finished listening.

It's a nice, easy listen, a good story. I'm one of those people that has often thinks about the meaning of life and that's center to the life of the ex-monk that lives downstairs. He gets to know his upstairs landlady who has basically given up on life and love. Then she meets the monk downstairs.

A damned good novel

What a beautiful book. From the title you may guess where it is going, but the masterful writing transcends any preconceptions. The deeply drawn characters sparkle, without any gimmicky stumbles into flourish. It is not a romance, it is not a character study, nor any easily categorized genre. It is just a damned good novel.

Heartwarming and funny

A wonderfully written and narrated story. I read the Monk Downstairs a few years ago and loved it. Mr Farrington's vivid descriptions and skilled narrative really puts you inside the character. Mr. McDaniel's narration really breathes new life into an already fantastic novel. Looking forward to the Monk Upstairs audiobook!