"OFF-PUTTING TO LISTEN TO"

I am grateful for J's thorough and the teeniest bit snide review of Padre Pio and You, and I include it below, and then give my response.

"Listening to the audio version, read by the author. The way most of the names are read is sort of bizarre and off-key and loud. As if she programmed all the names to be activated when she clicked a Pre-Recorded button for names. Therefore, when she says "Giuseppe" for example, it does not follow the flow of the sentence. It's out there by itself and quite frankly strange And off-putting to listen to, especially when the name is mentioned tens of times in the first few chapters.

I haven't gotten through the entire book yet but I will give an opinion later when I get through it. I did like that she mentioned The dark Night Knight of the soul as necessary. Step to grow..

It's a very detailed and lengthy book. Probably more details that I wanted to know about Padre pio's parents. It is not very spiritually beneficial to know exactly what Padre pio's mom and dad dressed like or their facial features. How does that benefit the reader, spiritually speaking?

I really enjoyed the interviews that the author did on YouTube and spoke about her encounters with the Saint Padre pio and her humility.

Perhaps an abridged version with the main focus on spiritual benefit can be made from this book.. an author in general should ask the question if there is a spiritual benefit in learning unnecessary details..

I think that the the goal of this book was to sort of create a complete autobiography in addition to how to befriend our beloved Saint Padre Pio

May God bless the author's effort and work and kindly accept my gentle remarks."

J's main criticism is my recording of the audio, and true I need more practice and his note will keep me on my toes. But I don't agree as to the "unnecessary details" because certain key aspects like Padre Pio's mother's flaming red wedding dress (it was Southern Italy) reveal many things at once; the matrimonial customs of the time, the sort of character his mother had and the hot passionate fervor of an Italian wedding served (I felt) to give the reader a lived sense of the people and place into which Pio was born and who cultivated his soul. Yes, the first priest to bear the stigmata was born to a mother whose train of bridesmaids wore crimson dresses. I grant that female readers might like the description of the wedding more, but male readers have liked that Pio's father secretly downed a glass of wine before the wedding Mass and was later told he had to confess this by his stigmatist son because he'd broken his fast before receiving Holy Communion. 

It could potentially be a good idea to do an abridged version, but that is already happening somewhat, readers are in touch that they have annotated the pages they found most helpful and re-read them alone, and each seems to have a certain section. For example some people revisit the attacks the devil made on Pio as a baby and some avoid them like they would a horror movie. Then when they read to their children, ahem, they leave out certain parts, especially those concerning Pio's younger sister who had substance abuse issues and committed adultery with their older sister. 

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The classic painting that accompanies this post His Master's Voice was executed by Francis Barraud of his own dog, Nipper.