Book Review – Amen: The Autobiography of a Nun

Another ‘explosive’ (!) book in the lines of ‘My Story’ (Kamala Das), ‘The Autobiography of a Sex-Worker’ (Nalini Jameela), or the melodramatic obscenities of a Taslima Nareen even.  Only that the fire runs out of the fuse itself and the book turns out to be a damp squib. The book follows no norms of an autobiography and could very well have been named as ‘Musings of a Nun’, rather than as ‘Autobiography’. The author herself admits in the beginning of the book that this is no proper autobiography as per the norms.

The book lacks the coherence of a ‘My Story’ or the flow of Taslima’s semi-autobiographical, ‘French Lover’. The book contains no proper dates except towards the end. So, you have no chance of knowing whether a particular event happened during her 30th year of 40th year. Also, she has adopted the use of modified names rather than the original names of the people involved. While this might have been done out of goodwill to protect their dignity, the book loses its credibility. When no period is mentioned, no place is specified and pseudonyms are adopted against real names, the book is wobbling between a fiction and a biography.

Also, the events suddenly jump into our face without proper explanation. She says that her ‘authorities’ wanted her to undergo psychiatry treatment. But no valid explanation is given from her with regard to the events that could have prompted such an initiative on the part of authorities in such dignified places. Also, a major part of the book turns out to be discussing office politics and how she was penalized for ‘no mistake of hers’. This portion will remind the readers of Kiran Bedi’s autobiography, ‘I Dare’, where she keeps portraying everyone in the authority as villains except herself. Don’t we need a proper depiction of events and incidents for us to decide who is at fault here?!

But the book cannot be brushed away completely. Some of the accusations that she makes are threatening the very foundation of the Church in Kerala. Homo-sexuality and illicit affairs prevalent among the people that have vowed their lives in the service of God, the mismanagement of money and power-struggles in the places of piety are things that no layperson will be able to digest. People have already started losing faith in the intermediaries of God. Be it the pervert ‘saints’ of Hinduism or the pedophilic priests of  the Pope, sexuality and immorality are threatening the very foundation of faith of a layperson.

The people in the highest echelons may soon take notice of these serious violations. With so many magazines and tabloids making mincemeat of the Church in Kerala over such allegations as well as recurring suicides of the nuns, it takes a lot for the people concerned to come clean and bring up transparency and credibility in the transactions of the Church.

The lovely messages of Jesus and his sacrifice at the cross cannot be diluted by events like these and we cannot afford to let people lose faith in religious institutions at this critical juncture! Wish someone cracks the whip before it is too late!

Ashok Krishna