The Book of Mev

By Mark Chmiel

Book Overview

The Book of Mev is the story of Mev Puleo, an American photojournalist and young Catholic who actively confronted a world of injustice, poverty and violence. From witnessing homelessness in the United... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1413462707
• ISBN13: 9781413462708
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: Xlibris
• Length: 392 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Truly a gift

I usually don't write reviews, because I think that people should experience a book for themselves, and I'm always afraid that I won't do the book "justice" if I write something! What moves me may not move you, or I may miss something or say the wrong thing. But I have been challenged by this book to come out of my own comfort zone and speak. I knew Mev before she was a liberation theologian. We went to school together-she was my "big sister" in highschool. And we did all those things that high school girls would do: went to parties, shopping at the mall, talked on the phone, fell in and out of love 100 times a day... But even then, there was something different. We also prayed together, we talked a lot about God and what He could be calling us to be, and how would or could we respond to that call. In "The Book of Mev", Mark Chimel has, more than anything else, captured that spirit of Mev-a woman who was just as on fire for God as for a great movie! It would have been very easy to write a book about a wonderful woman who did a great work in the short amount of time we were blessed to have her among us on the earth. Yet Mark delves deep under the surface, to show the beauty and the struggles, the joys and the pains, the breakthroughs and the frustrations, of living, loving, and journeying with this woman. And, lest we begin to think that it really is just a love story between two people, Mark effectively places their personal story in the midst of the world's struggles. This book is an invitation to enter into the lives of two people as they try to "Find God in all things"--the good and the not so good. But more importantly, this book is an invitation to embrace God in yourself-and to listen for the voice that is calling you to respond. We are not all called to be liberation theologians-but we are all indeed called. Maybe in reading Mev's journey, you will find the strength and courage to travel the road before you.

The Book of Mev

Mark Chmiel's The Book of Mev echoes the themes of the scriptural Book of Ruth: "Wherever you go, I will go. Your people will be my people and your God my God." But here the pact is between a young man and a young woman, who move from "spiritual flirting" at Maryknoll to a deepening awareness of their love for each other and for the marginalized people of the world. From Cambridge to San Francisco to St. Louis,Mark and Mev discover their vocations separately and together in that "people/God experience" that recalls the Book of Ruth. Mev Puelo's photography of faces from Haiti, El Salvador and Chiapas is a visual meditation for Mark Chmiel's story. It is the story of falling in "love at first laugh" but also the unflinching chronicle of a young woman's struggle with cancer. In The Book of Mev Mark Chmiel crafts a work of literary art, a work of spiritual and very earthy love.

Her voice lives on

The Book of Mev beautifully portrays the life of one of the most important and innovative journalists of our time, Mev Puleo. Through the words of her husband, Mark Chmiel, Mev's life, writing, and photography continue to live on and impact the lives of many. Chmiel's writing ranges from hillarious to gut-wrenching as he honestly tells the reader about falling in love with a dynamo of a woman and having to let her go. The book also contains numerous interviews and journal entries by Mev Puleo which cut straight to the guts of Catholic Social Teaching and the necessity of living life every day in connection with the insignificant.

simply amazing...

I read "The Book of Mev" while riding public busses in rural Nicaragua. I was in Nicaragua to immerse myself into the life of a third world country, and found myself equally moved by immersing myself into the life of Mev and her relationship with the author Mark Chmiel. This book is an unusally honest tale of Love between two Catholic social justice activists and the Love of one photojournalists for the people of Brazil, Haiti, and anwhere where people hunger. It is a tale of the struggle to open one's eyes to the reality of the world and the reality of human relationships. I cried and laughed out loud. For anyone searching for some truth and understanding, take the time to read Mark's book, it will truly move you.

An incredible, endearing story of love and life!

The Book of Mev is a tragic yet unforgettable love story. I sobbed through many chapters, perhaps it is because I knew Mev. She left us too young. She was an inspiring person who lived life to the fullest! She is missed by many and this world could use her passion for justice.