"Several themes are threaded throughout this book: the much-maligned doctrine of sin; the question of whether acedia may be acquainted with depression; the implications of believing that human beings are made in the image of God; the psychological insights to be found in monastic literature and practice; and the meaning of marriage and motherhood." from Author's Note.

Not exactly what I was expecting. Some inaccuracies in her descriptions.

Some may get value from it.

Someone asked me to summarize "Acedia" when it took Norris an entire book. The best way I understand it after reading the book is it's the feeling of "why bother?" This book helped me look at my life differently and start opening to some things in my personality that need review. The last chapter of the book is tedious and I want to say, unnecessarily depressing. She got my mood turned around by the penultimate chapter and then brought me down in the last chapter. And yet, the last chapter is important because she's wanting to assure that the reader has all the different pictures that show acedia's face. ( )

This book was not what I thought it was going to be, hence the low rating. I thought it was going to focus more on solitude. Instead, I got an education on Acedia (kinda like depression but not) and then a lot of Catholic theology. Parts were very interesting, but this is just not my preferred reading. ( )

I was disappointed with this book. It was just too uneven of a book, with moments when it really picked up my interest and passages that spoke to my heart, only to fade in a few pages to the repetitious descriptions of acedia. At times I just wanted to scream at her: go back and rewrite it all as essays.

I really wanted to hear more about her experience as a teenager, about marriage, death and spiritual growth. But she insisted on linking it all under the theme of acedia, and too often it felt manufactured. To add more to it, she seemed very intended in using every single reference ever made about acedia over the past 1,500 years. Now, some of the quotations were fitting and very interesting – Dante’s Inferno for instance – but the overabundance thinned their impact.

However, I am still going to give her 3 stars because when I look back at the book, it has so many dog-eared pages and underlined quotes (yes, I do deconsecrate books this way), I have to admit that it did convey many snippets of truth and wisdom. It is too bad that they seemed misplaced though.
( )