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“Reading Donofrio’s memoir, Astonished, is, in itself, an astonishing experience. She grapples
with her faith in ways and in words that startle, move, mesmerize, wrench,
enliven, and thrill the reader. It is a narrative composed of brutal honesty,
tenderness, and an aching love for God. I could not put it down.”
— Sue Monk Kidd, New York Times bestselling author
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“The brutally honest author of Riding in Cars with Boys reveals how a terrifying brush with a
rapist sparked her spirituality and set her on a journey of recovery paved with
prayer.”
— O, The Oprah Magazine
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“A smart, funny memoir about a woman seeking answers to
some very hard questions…Donofrio’s intelligent and down-to-earth delivery
gives [Astonished] a meditative feel.
For her, ‘bringing God into the picture makes me pay closer attention.’ Her
writing does the same thing for us. Her bravery helps. She holds nothing back.”
— San Francisco Chronicle
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“What’s most compelling, besides Donofrio’s simultaneously
warm and tough-as-nails voice, is the openness of her heart toward good
old-fashioned faith and her willingness to accept God into her life, if she could
only figure Him out…The fact that she was able to take such ugliness and
transform it into the beauty of this book is a stunning accomplishment.”
— Daily Beast
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“[An] insightful, candidly unfolding,
soul-bearing journey to grace.”
— Publishers Weekly
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“Honest, engaging, and cathartic.”
— Kirkus Reviews
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“Donofrio’s journey around the country and into her inner
life is compelling material beautifully written. Perpetually humble, searching,
honest, and wry, Donofrio is a fine companion for a spiritual journey.”
— BookPage
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“It is an unsparing but also hopeful account of evil and
misery and suffering as well as joy and goodness and forgiveness. ‘Don’t run
from the pain,’ Donofrio writes. She doesn’t. Instead, Astonished transcends it.”
— Booklist
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“Donofrio recounts facing down her subsequent anger and
fearfulness and learning to embrace life, even as she spent time in five
monasteries hoping to touch the face of God."
— Library Journal
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“As beautiful as it is authentic, Astonished is one of the most compelling, appealing, and
instructive spiritual autobiographies I have read in many a year.”
— Phyllis Tickle, author of The Great Emergence: How Christianity Is Changing and Why
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“Astonished is a
seeker’s and writing woman’s spiritual journey through doubt and despair,
emerging in cowboy boots, green tights, and prayer.”
— Sara Pritchard, author of Crackpots and Help Wanted: Female