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    House of Prayer No. 2: A Writer's Journey Home
    House of Prayer No. 2: A Writer's Journey Home
    House of Prayer No. 2: A Writer's Journey Home
    Audiobook6 hours

    House of Prayer No. 2: A Writer's Journey Home

    Written by Mark Richard

    Narrated by Mark Richard

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Award-winning author Mark Richard delivers a fascinating and unique memoir. Born in the South with deformed hips, Richard was tagged a "special" child. Nothing was expected of him. But as a young man, he decided to strike out and experience as much of our strange world as he possibly could. "No one writes like him. His prose style is both hammerblow and shrapnel. He has written the book of his life."-Pat Conroy
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateApr 8, 2011
    ISBN9781461803997
    House of Prayer No. 2: A Writer's Journey Home

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    Reviews for House of Prayer No. 2

    4/5

    13 ratings13 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I've tried and tried to like this book. It sort of reminds me of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time the way he explains his story. I still just didn't love it. It was interesting and at times reminded me of the Glass Castle poor child dealing with the antics of parents making bad decisions.
    • 5/5
      Beautifully written memoir Mark Richard about how he overcame a Southern Gothic childhood and a crippling hip ailment to become an award-winning writer. It's sort of like a Southern "Running with Scissors," but really so much more than that.
    • 5/5
      i absolutely loved this book. A unique spiritual memoir with a lot of interesting twists and turns. Poignant but not self-pitying. Though the second-person writing technique took a little getting used to (though I quickly found myself starting to use this in my own conversations - much to peoples's confusion) but it didn't slow me down. This book kept me enthralled and I would recommend it heartily. Or you could say... you are a Walker Percy fan who has suffered hip pain along the course of a tortuous spiritual journey and feel a great affinity with the author. But you know many other people will also enjoy reading it.
    • 4/5
      Mark Richard has written a fascinating memoir of growing up in the South of the1960's as a "special child," due to a hip deformity. His ability to survive that childhood and against all odds set out to make a name for himself is an amazing journey. The writing was excellent, however, I personally found the second person narrative distracting.
    • 4/5
      This book is like reading 2 books, one, the author's life as a child on through college, and the other, everything that happened after that. By far, the first part of the story is best, written in detail at a slow, suspenseful pace that keeps the reader engaged at every turn of the page.A relationship is steadily built with the author that captured this readers heart.Then, suddenly, we find ourselves at the second part of the book where the pace changes to frenetic. In scene after scene, I felt shortchanged when events were stated but not described. It was as if the author wrote part one as a book and part 2 as a screenplay. If part 2 had been written in the same fashion as part one, this effort could have been a great and mighty, not to mention lengthy, contender. Maybe after critical acclaim from that kind of effort, a screenplay might have become appropriate.Even so, this memior earns it's 4 star rating. The man's childhood is riveting, the character studies of the people in his life amazing in their insightfulness. The book radiates wit, warmth and intelligence. Well worth reading, very glad to have won it through Early Reviewers.
    • 4/5
      Mark Richard knows how to write. There is absolutely no question that he is a skilled and engaging writer. For House of Prayer No. 2, Richard has an enormous challenge: how does one write about a childhood in the American South without sounding cliched? How does one write about one's physical disabilities without sounding whiny? How is it possible to portray one's distant father while not sounding like all the other writers out there who have written about disengaged, abusive, and/or difficult fathers? Richard solves the problem by penning his narrative in the 2nd person.Writing in the 2nd person is tricky - and dangerous. Immediately one thinks of Jay McInerney from the 1980s. Perhaps McInerney was the last author to successfully attempt a 2nd person narrative, and he did it in fiction. Perhaps Richard is a pioneer: how many memoirs can one think of that are written in second person?So Mark Richard is gutsy. He is daring. He has done something new. Or, if not new, he has carried a semi-successful (and somewhat controversial) form into the genre of memoir. Is that not courage? It certainly is. It could have backfired, but Richard is a skilled writer, so it worked. Whether one likes reading narratives written in the second person or not, no one can argue that Richard didn't do the best with the form that he could possibly do. In fact, it might be the best anyone could do.That said, what else is left? Richard's life is not particularly interesting. True, he had a different sort of childhood due to his physical disability, and that makes his upbringing somewhat nontraditional. After the high-school years, however, his life sounds similar to that of many individuals in the 1960s, 1970s, and the 1980s. Richard was a bit of a rebel, but he was hardly the only one. His various career paths are interesting, but it is the way he writes about them that is more notable. Mark Richard probably could have been an insurance agent and made his memoir sound fantastic and exciting. Yes, he is that good of a writer.One of the unusual aspects of House of Prayer No. 2 is that in an ordinary memoir, there is a great deal of room for reflection. Most writers use that territory and roam all over it. Reflection is everywhere. Because Richard chose to write in the second person, however, he did not have the option of long reflection. Everything is very immediate, and he had to master how to reflect on many heavy-duty experiences by condensing his reflection into one or two startling sentences. Again, he is a master at this.The American South runs rampant throughout his book. There are the usual Southern themes such as race and religion. Does Richard add anything new to those themes? No. But he writes about them well. What readers end up with in House of Prayer No. 2 is a writer who can knock socks off words. He can say in one paragraph what other writers can in forty pages. He is talented.Richard's life just isn't that exotic, though. The strongest part of the book is the narrative about his childhood, but once he leaves home and starts his vagabond existence, he sounds just like everyone else. The key here is that he writes about it better than most. This book gets four stars for excellent writing, not for leading an interesting life.
    • 5/5
      While second-person narrative is difficult for most writers, Mark Richard's House of Prayer No. 2 is so compelling that the tale wouldn't sound right any other way. His memoir of being born with deformed hips in mid-50s rural Virginia is rich with description, reflection, resentment, astonishment and gratitude. From his long body-cast stays at Crippled Children's Hospital in Richmond to hauling nets on a fishing boat on the Outer Banks to an NYC writing workshop where he meets his future wife, he never stops searching for faith, for signs, for direction. It leads him back to where he began, the small southeastern Virginia town where, while financing a new church for his mother's congregation at House of Prayer No. 2, the deliverance Mark has sought is finally delivered, in all its marvelous glory.
    • 2/5
      Unfortunately, I was unable to finish this book. I started it several weeks ago and after struggling to finish the first 44 pages I just couldn’t do it anymore. The author’s use of 2nd person narrative is distracting from the story. I didn’t like reading “you” when I couldn’t relate to his story. He talks about tragic events and terrible things in such a nonchalant way that it feels so impersonal. I read a book for insight into the way things make other people feel and the author mentions these things in passing like they are inconsequential when to me they seem so tragic. So I found it very unrelatable. I think the writing is great and the author’s story is one worth hearing, but the style of the book bothered me too much. I would like to give this book another try later, especially after reading some other reviews that say it’s worth finishing, but right now I’m ready to move on to something else.
    • 4/5
      Within the first several pages of Mark Richard's memoir, I was ready to quit. I thought that I would not be able to tolerate his use of the 2nd person for the WHOLE book. I forced myself to hang in there, and I'm glad I did. By far, the best part of this superb memoir is it's perfect pacing. Just when you think the whole narrative will be mired in the children's hospital where Richard spends his chldhood, it takes OFF, remaining anchored by that experience, but sweeping through the life that followed - not too fast and not too slow. The second person works, in a memoir, of all thing, in that the use of "you" DOES bring you more intimately into the author's circle. Richards reinforces this up by avoiding name dropping, where he certainly has encountered some mildly notable personalities. Having just finished, I want to read his other writing.
    • 5/5
      WOW what a story Richard has to tell!! If being "special" means you can write this well, than all authors should want to be "special". I loved how Richard didn't let his being "special" keep him from doing all of things he wanted to do, and even some things he didn't want to do. It would be a struggle to find another author who could say that Jackie Kennedy Onassis paid his doctor bills! This story is worth reading just for the snippet about the smokebus and the baby pigs! I loved that the author rebuilt his church. What a legacy that he has left for his sons!!"Satan demands to sift us like sand through his fingers, and God, knowing everything, allows it." A Must Read!!
    • 5/5
      I for one loved the second person narrative that Mark Richards has written his memoir in. It's like standing back and looking at something from a little bit farther away than you normally would, turning your head slightly and in doing so you see even more. He tells his story with humor, honesty and just a basic truthfulness that is endearing, funny and at the same time sobering. He does not gloss over the truth and tells it like it was growing up the 'special child' in the South. Due to deformities in his hips he is forced to go through several horrific surgeries from what he must recover from in full body casts. Despite severe pain through most of his life he enjoys many adventures (many of them drunken and drug infused), and comes to terms with the tough things life has thrown at him. Specifically his father. I highly recommend this book. It is a life well documented and beautifully described. It is not a pretty life but it is an honest life.
    • 4/5
      I received House of Prayer as an Early Reviewer book. I signed up for it originally because the tag line is 'A Writer's Journey Home,' and I always like to read writers writing about writing.House of Prayer, No 2, is indeed a memoir written by Hollywood screenwriter, Mark Richard, about his childhood and early adult years in the deep South. His childhood is colored by his problems with his hips, which cause him to go through awful treatments as doctors try to fix his bones. Lying in body casts, he is a vociferous reader, but once out of the casts, he becomes the kind of troublemaker that you warn your daughters away from.When I started reading House of Prayer, I had just finished Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes, which is about Viet Nam. The styles were so very different. Matterhorn is written in the typical past tense while House of Prayer is written in the present tense. It was a jarring distinction and at first I didn't like it, and in fact, found it rather pretentious, but eventually it started to grow on me and by the time I reached the middle of the book, I didn't notice it anymore.I found myself sympathizing with the young Richard at the beginning of the book, deemed a "special' child by teachers, forced to endure agonizing remedies for his hips, and dealing with a father who grows increasingly cold. As Richard grew older, however, my sympathy started to wane. Each page related another story of rebellion and lawlessness, as Richard's life spirals out of control. At one point I remember thinking that I didn't really want to read anymore about a guy who couldn't follow the rules, caused himself and others a lot of grief, and then wrote about about it and got rewarded for being such a jerk. And then the story turned and became a story of redemption and it totally changed the way I thought of Richard and his book.Nicely done! Recommended!
    • 5/5
      He was called a “special child”. In the South, this was a term used for mentally and physically challenged children. Born with bad hips and a slow demeanor, raised by an alcoholic, quick-tempered father, the boy’s chances in life looked mighty slim, destined to be another discarded outcast.This astounding memoir follows this “special child”, growing up in rough-hewn Appalachia, subjected to torments from his peers, going through painful surgeries, to correct his deformed hips and finally landing him in adulthood, aimless and confused.After stumbling through a series of jobs, like disc jockey, fishing trawler deckhand, private investigator and failed seminarian, to name just a few, he finally settled into a life of a writer. An amazing talent was born.The book is told in the second person perspective, which is quite daring, somewhat challenging but very effective. For fans of Rick Bragg, this is especially recommended.Do not just add this to your wish list, go out and find a copy…now!