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Reviews on Holy Communion: Provocative, powerful, insightful, incisive. So
much experienced by so many beneath that religious surface! I
loved the way the children and their adults during the whole
Communion debacle were this squirming uncontrollable human mass of
energy, tension and rebellion! Initially I couldn't continue reading this unrelentingly grim book past page 70. I wanted to kill the kid just to put him out of my misery. It brought to the surface many issues I dealt with in my fifties, and I had to take a break. It ended up as I hoped it would, for which I was grateful! In the context of the boy's hellish life, he triumphs in the only way possible, by confronting the truth and moving forward from there. The quality of writing actually soars near the end, when the boy comes to grip with reality, and is quite superior — literature actually. It's a tougher, bloodier version of "Catcher in the Rye." -- Robert Bahr, Editor and Publisher, Factor Press What an extraordinary story! I was so involved
with the little boy that at times it was very hard to read, but I
couldn't put it down. His point of view was very poignant and had
me in tears more than a few times. Mykola Dementiuk really
captured the time, too. Historical without lots of clumsy
references, just pure description and dialogue to deftly paint a
portrait. Mick has a wonderful voice that is unafraid to get into
the gritty and the seedy. He knows how to push the envelope and
force readers to look at things they don't want to. I have never
read anything quite like this before. In my mind's eye, I felt
like I was reading a graphic novel told in black and white where
the nuns, all the adults, really, were shadowy monsters looming
over the poor boy. Very seldom does a book touch the reader to the
extent as that of Holy Communion. Author Mykola Dementiuk
takes his audience into the world of a seven-year-old boy’s first
Holy Communion in the Catholic Church, and we get to spend the
exciting four days of this event with him as we wend our way
through a story that is as gripping as it is original. During the
time spent preparing for his first communion, the boy in question
has to overcome obstacles such as the alcoholism of his father, a
nasty accident that befalls his mother, downright mean nuns are in
the mix, as are a couple of pedophiles, and babysitters from hell!
Throughout all the boy finds his way to cope as he emerges
triumphant from these trials not only to receive his communion but
also to rise above the problems life has thrown his way. Dementiuk
has created a true little masterpiece that is a slice of one boy’s
life in the confines of Holy Communion, injected it with
his own observations of the world, without becoming preachy or
self serving in the process. Recommended reading. Those who read purely for pleasure, who look
upon books as similar to opening a window on a pleasant Spring
day, will not be likely to read Mykola Dementiuk’s starkly
overcast “Holy Communion” (Synergy Press, 2009). Those, however,
who see books as a way to explore all aspects of human nature and
the human soul may find exactly what they are looking for within
the pages of this far-from-the-mainstream tale. It follows one
nameless seven-year-old boy—there is not a single proper name in
the entire book—in the seven days leading up to his first
communion. The dark and underlying irony of the book is that this
emotionally and physically battered young soul should have no need
for communion: he’s already lived his entire short life in
purgatory. To read it is rather like peeling an onion; removing
one layer reveals another. -- Dorien Grey, www.doriengrey.com (review from glfictionreviews.blogspot.com)
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