The Novice - Mille feuilles

No cover — The Novice (Paperback, 2012, HarperOne)

paperback, 160 pages

Published Nov. 13, 2012 by HarperOne.

ISBN:: 978-0-06-200584-7

(1 review)

Fans of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Peace is Every Step and Anger, and Deepak Chopra’s Buddha, will appreciate Hanh’s wisdom and storytelling in his novel The Novice, which contains universal themes that transcend all boundaries of faith, creed, country, and era.

Through the parable of a young woman who stays true to herself and her faith in the face of adversity, Vietnamese Zen Buddhist master and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh enables readers to embark on their own path of introspection and self-discovery.

With his trademark insight, Hanh presents a path to greater awareness of the means to manifest peace both inside oneself and in the world at large.

2 editions

Sergeant Cat reviewed The Novice by Thích Nhất Hạnh

Very engaging and inspirational

4 stars

This was a very good story. I saw it was available at the NYPL and borrowed it without really looking at what it was about. Thich Nhat Hanh's books are usually short, easy to digest, and leave me feeling a bit more optimistic about life. I was looking for something like that, but this is a much more powerful story and wound up being very inspirational.

Once I was a few chapters in, I thought this was a fictional story that Thich Nhat Hanh had come up with, and I was surprised because that's not his usual style or method for teaching. Instead, "The Novice" is apparently his retelling of a traditional Vietnamese story about a Buddhist novice and the acknowledgment of her status as a bodhisattva after she passed away. The story is very engaging and well worth the time invested in reading it.