THE LATEST NEWS
Written by Sam Barron: From Northwest Dutchess Daily Voice
2/20/2017
RHINEBECK, N.Y. -- As a minister at Rhinebeck Reformed Church, Luis Perez has seen firsthand the right way and the wrong way to deal with grief.
Perez, a former journalist, decided to turn his observations into his first novel, "Catharsis: Maldonado's Journey Through Grief," which was recently published by Wipf and Stock Publishers.
In the book, grief has led Maldonado to be vulnerable to wrongminded decisions which lead him to prison and a halfway house. As he grapples with his grief, he blames the world and a former business partner who emerged unscathed from a scandal that sent Maldonado fleeing for a decade. The discovery thrusts him on a path of revenge and into the world of church politics. It takes the whims of fate and new friendships for Maldonado to realize the importance of coming in touch with his pain in order to experience redemption.
"The novel is designed to explore the theme of grief," Perez said. "It shows what can happen when we don't acknowledge those feelings. I wanted to give a face to grief and do it in a creative manner."
Perez said, like Maldonado, when we don't grieve in a constructive manner, we are prone to making bad decisions.
"We have to navigate through this process in order to experience breakthroughs," Perez said. "We need to regain our strengths and move forward in life."
The wrong way to handle grief is to blame the word for things that happen to you, Perez said.
"There are things that happen to us that defy comprehension," Perez said. "Trying to rationalize it doesn't do it any good."
The right way to handle grief is to understand that we all experience loss in life and to accept the cyclical nature of life.
"Things are born and things die," Perez said. "We should be grateful for the experiences we had with these people."
It took Perez about five years to write the book and he said he was elated when it got accepted by Wipf and Stock- despite Perez not having a literary agent.
"All the work I had put into the process of putting together this novel finally paid off," Perez said. "It allowed me to get my message out to people."
Perez said he has also enjoyed support from his family and friends.
"They know is this is something I've been thinking about for a while," Perez said. "I'm able to show another side of my personality, deploy my sense of humor and reach different people this way."
March Issue of Chronogram 2017
Life presents us with an opportunity to take a second bite at the apple, an opportunity to start all over again when we get in touch with our vulnerability, and when we acknowledge the pain created by grief. The Chronogram captures this point in their book review of Catharsis: "Maldonado..is finally offered the chance to confront his demons." ~Chronogram, March 2017
ALSO IN THE NEWS
"HOW GRIEF CAN RUIN A LIFE"
AUTHOR'S DEBUT NOVEL LOOKS AT IMPACT OF GRIEF
RHINEBECK, N.Y.--Luis Perez of Rhinebeck has published his first novel, Catharsis, Maldonado's Journey through Grief.
Catharsis invites the reader to examine the impact of grief through the narrative of William Maldonado, an aspiring scholar who harbors sorrow over personal losses.
Grief is such a relevant topic that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) recently added the concept prolonged grief disorder as an official psychiatric diagnosis.
"I wrote this book because we all experience grief. We all know what it is to experience a slashed dream or a broken heart," said Perez.
"Maldonado's Quixote-like journey will provide the reader with enduring lessons on the importance of discerning what grief is trying to teach us. Pain can be one of life's greatest master teachers," Perez said.
The novel employs flashback and humor to show how subterranean sorrow has made Maldonado vulnerable to wrong-minded decisions which eventually lead him to prison and then to a half-way-house. As he grapples with his grief, he blames the world, and in particular, a former business partner and mentor, who, he discovers, has emerged unscathed from the scandal that sent Maldonado fleeing for a decade. That discovery thrusts him on a path of revenge and into the world of church politics. It takes the whims of fate and new friendships for Maldonado to realize the importance of coming in touch with his pain in order to experience redemption.
"At a time where the soul of our nation grieves as a result of prickly race relations, political polarization, and senseless acts of violence, I believe that the characters and message of this book can create awareness, elevate our national discourse, and provide healing."
Catharsis is being praised by National Book Award recipient Carlos Eire of Yale, who said:
“Catharsis is a beautiful, moving, and gripping novel, full of colorful characters so vividly drawn that they become part of the reader’s own world. Perez does much more than simply craft a great narrative that transcends its gritty setting . . . he explores the vicissitudes of life, always searching for a higher and deeper meaning.”
And by Dr. Bruce Chilton of Bard College, who said:
“Luis Perez deploys a novelist’s lucidity and a pastor’s heart in telling Maldonado’s story. This itinerary of redemption, not the deus ex machina of wishful thinking, but the grittier, twisted tangle of life in a broken world and a flawed church, takes us into—and through—the jumble of our own hearts.”
Catharsis was published by Wipf and Stock Publishers in Oregon.
About the author: Luis R. Perez is the pastor of the Rhinebeck Reformed Church since 2003. He has studied at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Yale Divinity School, New Jersey City University, and Jersey City's Public School. He has written and reported for newspapers in Connecticut and in New Jersey.
For more information, email:
luisperez@lrperezbooks.com
Written by Sam Barron: From Northwest Dutchess Daily Voice
2/20/2017
RHINEBECK, N.Y. -- As a minister at Rhinebeck Reformed Church, Luis Perez has seen firsthand the right way and the wrong way to deal with grief.
Perez, a former journalist, decided to turn his observations into his first novel, "Catharsis: Maldonado's Journey Through Grief," which was recently published by Wipf and Stock Publishers.
In the book, grief has led Maldonado to be vulnerable to wrongminded decisions which lead him to prison and a halfway house. As he grapples with his grief, he blames the world and a former business partner who emerged unscathed from a scandal that sent Maldonado fleeing for a decade. The discovery thrusts him on a path of revenge and into the world of church politics. It takes the whims of fate and new friendships for Maldonado to realize the importance of coming in touch with his pain in order to experience redemption.
"The novel is designed to explore the theme of grief," Perez said. "It shows what can happen when we don't acknowledge those feelings. I wanted to give a face to grief and do it in a creative manner."
Perez said, like Maldonado, when we don't grieve in a constructive manner, we are prone to making bad decisions.
"We have to navigate through this process in order to experience breakthroughs," Perez said. "We need to regain our strengths and move forward in life."
The wrong way to handle grief is to blame the word for things that happen to you, Perez said.
"There are things that happen to us that defy comprehension," Perez said. "Trying to rationalize it doesn't do it any good."
The right way to handle grief is to understand that we all experience loss in life and to accept the cyclical nature of life.
"Things are born and things die," Perez said. "We should be grateful for the experiences we had with these people."
It took Perez about five years to write the book and he said he was elated when it got accepted by Wipf and Stock- despite Perez not having a literary agent.
"All the work I had put into the process of putting together this novel finally paid off," Perez said. "It allowed me to get my message out to people."
Perez said he has also enjoyed support from his family and friends.
"They know is this is something I've been thinking about for a while," Perez said. "I'm able to show another side of my personality, deploy my sense of humor and reach different people this way."
March Issue of Chronogram 2017
Life presents us with an opportunity to take a second bite at the apple, an opportunity to start all over again when we get in touch with our vulnerability, and when we acknowledge the pain created by grief. The Chronogram captures this point in their book review of Catharsis: "Maldonado..is finally offered the chance to confront his demons." ~Chronogram, March 2017
ALSO IN THE NEWS
"HOW GRIEF CAN RUIN A LIFE"
AUTHOR'S DEBUT NOVEL LOOKS AT IMPACT OF GRIEF
RHINEBECK, N.Y.--Luis Perez of Rhinebeck has published his first novel, Catharsis, Maldonado's Journey through Grief.
Catharsis invites the reader to examine the impact of grief through the narrative of William Maldonado, an aspiring scholar who harbors sorrow over personal losses.
Grief is such a relevant topic that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) recently added the concept prolonged grief disorder as an official psychiatric diagnosis.
"I wrote this book because we all experience grief. We all know what it is to experience a slashed dream or a broken heart," said Perez.
"Maldonado's Quixote-like journey will provide the reader with enduring lessons on the importance of discerning what grief is trying to teach us. Pain can be one of life's greatest master teachers," Perez said.
The novel employs flashback and humor to show how subterranean sorrow has made Maldonado vulnerable to wrong-minded decisions which eventually lead him to prison and then to a half-way-house. As he grapples with his grief, he blames the world, and in particular, a former business partner and mentor, who, he discovers, has emerged unscathed from the scandal that sent Maldonado fleeing for a decade. That discovery thrusts him on a path of revenge and into the world of church politics. It takes the whims of fate and new friendships for Maldonado to realize the importance of coming in touch with his pain in order to experience redemption.
"At a time where the soul of our nation grieves as a result of prickly race relations, political polarization, and senseless acts of violence, I believe that the characters and message of this book can create awareness, elevate our national discourse, and provide healing."
Catharsis is being praised by National Book Award recipient Carlos Eire of Yale, who said:
“Catharsis is a beautiful, moving, and gripping novel, full of colorful characters so vividly drawn that they become part of the reader’s own world. Perez does much more than simply craft a great narrative that transcends its gritty setting . . . he explores the vicissitudes of life, always searching for a higher and deeper meaning.”
And by Dr. Bruce Chilton of Bard College, who said:
“Luis Perez deploys a novelist’s lucidity and a pastor’s heart in telling Maldonado’s story. This itinerary of redemption, not the deus ex machina of wishful thinking, but the grittier, twisted tangle of life in a broken world and a flawed church, takes us into—and through—the jumble of our own hearts.”
Catharsis was published by Wipf and Stock Publishers in Oregon.
About the author: Luis R. Perez is the pastor of the Rhinebeck Reformed Church since 2003. He has studied at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Yale Divinity School, New Jersey City University, and Jersey City's Public School. He has written and reported for newspapers in Connecticut and in New Jersey.
For more information, email:
luisperez@lrperezbooks.com
