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 -  You Surprised Me - 

In 1987, an unknown publisher brought out Joe Mannath’s You Surprised Me. Without publicity, it went on to become a national bestseller, a favourite with all age groups, popular in the different countries where it appeared. Editions/translations have appeared in India (English and Tamil), USA, Korea, Japan, Poland, Spain. Many readers carry the book around, and read it every day. Why?

“It is intimate. You have put into words exactly what I feel.” (The most frequent reader-response)

Reviews and Readers’ Letters:

“You Surprised Me is a valuable and precious gift... well worth its reasonable price. Don’t hesitate to buy your own copy.” (Word and Worship, Bangalore)

“An unraveling of the mystery of the human being.” (The Hindu, Madras)

“A fine book, with meaty content, facility of expression, attractive presentation, well illustrated and able to engage us at our deeper levels.” (Vidyajyoti, Delhi)

“The best birthday present I’ve ever received. I feel it is written just for me.” (Rekha, 20-year-old student)

“You Surprised Me certainly surprised me…Allow You Surprised Me to surprise you... Its a surprise you will savour for a long, long time.” (The Examiner, Bombay)

“I would rank this book along with the works of Rabindranath Tagore. As such, it is an ideal gift… It’s for the young and the old alike. I am sure it can find a place in the family library, not just for show, but to be used frequently.” (Charisindia, Bombay)

“I read the book over and over…My heart felt lifted at some points, and, on other pages, I cried!…My room mate read some, and she cried with happiness and sadness. The next day I showed it to two special friends, and they had the same reaction. They not only love the book, but feel as I do: It’s as though the writer were inside us, putting down on paper our exact feelings. It’s uncanny! Beautiful! (Cathy Jolliffe, Los Angeles)

For longer reviews, see below:

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Word and Worship, Bangalore (India)

The author’s purpose – admirably achieved in my opinion - is that what he shares helps us to be intimately in touch with ourselves and with the ‘Mysteriously Other’ whose loving touch enables us to grow into our fullest and most authentic selves. This happens when we enter into His vision on life and persons, for “God is the Loving Heart of reality” .

Mannath’s book will remind many of Michael Quoist’s popular ‘Prayers of Life’. Principals of high schools and colleges, animators of youth movements and all those working with the young (and the not so young) of today should introduce this book to as many young men and women as possible. No longer do they have to rack their brains on what to give young people as a present or prize. You Surprised Me is a valuable and precious gift.

The main merits of the book are (the order of my comments does not reflect the order of importance:)
1. The prayers and reflections express what young people feel. Joe Mannath notes some of their comments in his Foreword: “You have described me”, “This is exactly how I feel”, “There are the things I feel, and think about, and wish I could put into words” (vi). Even in the presence of persons who are dear to us and we are familiar with, we often find it difficult to express our feelings in words. Many experience greater difficulties in expressing their relationship to God. This book is tremendous help and guide.

2. You Surprised Me clearly rejects the dichotomist world view that confuses and plagues so many. In all prayers and reflections the immanent points to the transcendent and the transcendent sparkles in the immanent. Speaking and relating to persons and other realities around us, we speak and relate to the invisible God who is very close in what we see, hear and touch. This is particularly clear in the section ‘How do I picture You?’(no. 55-60).

3. It is also a great achievement in our multi-religious society that the prayers and reflections are deeply Christian and yet universal. Thus it is a prayer book for Muslims and Sikhs, for Hindus and Christians, for all believers and even for those who feel that they do not believe and do not need any faith. They will be particularly struck by ‘Thoughts of a Skeptic’ (130).

4. This book is a guide and refuge in a great number of situations, joyful and sad. The titles of the sections communicate this very clearly: Needs and Moods, Special Persons, Special Occasions, Every Night. Young people will almost always find help and consolation in ‘You Surprised Me’.

5. The book is written in the language or idiom of the youth. It is a prayer book, but not a pious, holy-holy book that young people prefer to keep closed. The style is simple, poetic and reverently pointing to the mysterious.

The clear and pleasant print, the creative lay-out and the fitting illustrations make the book even more attractive and only with great difficulty I could discover a printing mistake. The book is well worth its reasonable price. Don’t hesitate to buy your own copy. (Gerwin van Leeuwen in Word and Worship)
 

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The Hindu, Chennai

This is a collection of 65 prayers for all occasions.
The appendix of six pages answering “Questions people ask,” makes the aim of the book will “free you to be yourself.” He confronts questions like, “Aren’t counselling and psychotherapy a better substitute for religious practice?” Cynics might say that prayer is only a kind of fantasising, but Mannath observes that we stand to gain by using fantasies of a powerful, loving parent figure. There is nothing sectarian about Mannath’s approach, his prayers can be uttered by any human being. The tone is colloquial:
I realise now
that I am talking to someone
who knows me through and through.

The first section, "Needs and Moods", contains 34 poems for a various situations in life, such as “In times of worry,” “When I feel lonely,” “Before a decision” or “When frightened or nervous.” The spirit is one of acceptance and working towards the best use of one’s inborn strength through prayer. All aspects of life are covered, whether it is sexuality or the body. Mannath does not use any poetic devices like rhyme. The beauty of his poems lies in simple statement:
I want to talk to you about something
that I cannot ignore or entirely remake—my body.
My body has been source of pleasure and pain,
of worry and pride,
a source of embarrassment and thrills.

He prays to God in a spirit of humility, for help in achieving the proper attitude towards the body:
Teach us to reverence our body
and be responsible in its care
May we never slight or reject anyone
because of their bodies.

Simple prayers cast light on major problems facing mankind; apartheid, casteism and discrimination against women would not exist if “we never slight or reject anyone because of their bodies.”

The clarity of thought lends a certain rhythm and balance to the utterance. One is reminded of the famous prayer of St. Francis of Assisi. Here Mannath takes up the needs of contemporary life. One of the most touching prayers is For the Gift of Humour.
Give me eyes to enjoy
the numberless occasions for laughter —
but never in scorn or the desire to hurt.
May I not confuse seriousness with solemnity,
devotion with dryness, detachment with coldness.

The alliteration gives the verse a kind of incantatory power. Later sections of the book contain daily prayers, prayers for special occasions like birth, sickness or travel, and for specific persons like a mother, father, teacher or teenager. How Do I Picture You? contains six poems, where God is conceived as a parent, friend or lover. The poems in the last section, You Surprised Me, are more reflective. The Angel and the Beast for instance, talks about the duality of human nature. The last poem, You Surprised Me uses paradox to express the omnipresence of God in “different moods and seasons” in the hope that He would draw nearer. But:
You did not move closer; You cannot come nearer,
for You are closer to me than I am to myself.

Every other page has black-and-white photographs of people and natural objects like flowers; the photographs of young children and babies, reproduced in correct contexts, are very attractive. This book is well produced; the printed poems, as well as the illustrations, are in soothing sepia tones. The prayers, especially in the first section, can provide solace to us when faced with life’s problems. The book has now been translated into many Indian and foreign languages, including Japanese, Korean and Polish.

-Shyamala A. Narayan
The Hindu (Madras)
Tuesday, August 20, 1996
 

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Vidyajyoti, Delhi

This is a fine prayer book with meaty content, facility of expression, attractive presentation, well illustrated and able to engage us at our deeper levels with the living God.

The prayers are gathered around themes (Needs and Moods), types of people (A Mother’s prayer…), special occasions (At Work…), the faces of God (To you my Father, Mother…) and some other themes. There is a concluding section on the questions people ask about prayer.

The value of the book is the author’s ability, based on long pastoral experience, to put into words private thoughts and feelings which will find resonance in many. It will help them to be themselves before God and so grow in inner freedom and transparency, Worth buying.

Vidyajyoti—April 1988

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The Hindu, Madras
Love, sorrow and old age

An interesting foreword and a series of 65, shall I say poems, (?) by a Dean in the Department of Philosophy, present enough scope for introspection, even identification with the author. Because all these are virtually sharing the moods, doubts, concerns, passions, sentiments and the questions puzzling any human being.

Mannath has spanned the whole gamut of emotions from love and sorrow to filial love and old age. The whole thing is an unraveling of the mystery of the human being.

A pattern is visible in most of the poems — there is a presentation of the problem or the emotion, then a graphic description of the mood of the person experiencing it and finally the surrender or appeal to God to take charge.

The poems are utterly simple and penned in more of a conversational style, in keeping with the picture they present. So it is quite easy for people to identify themselves with the problems portrayed and the sentiments captured.

V. Jayanth

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The Examiner, Bombay

The summer holiday period is the best time of the year for a journey not only to foreign lands or cool climes or picturesque beaches but also of discovery of self. This is why Joe Mannath’s book You Surprised Me should form a part of your vacation reading.

You Surprised Me certainly surprised me on account of its intimateness of approach and its refreshing way of highlighting deep truths through everyday emotions and situations. Whether the emotion may be of love or hate, anger or despair, the author through common experiences guides the reader through these emotional mazes to spiritual comfort and light.

Personal and down-to-earth feelings and states of mind that are our human lot – nervousness, confusion, pain, indecision – are treated with such intimate insights that they become friendly companions rather than deadly enemies on the road of life. The deep and underlying truth that courses through the book is that human contacts, interaction, and mutual sharing of hidden, individual strengths, enrich life and exalt suffering.

The author has done well to opt for verse rather than prose to express his innermost thoughts. The blank verse rhythm and the lyrical style enhance subtle meanings and reinforce the need (expressed throughout) for divine solace and spiritual strength.

The book reveals Mannath’s voyage of self-discovery and through it the reader can discover much about his own self. This is its intrinsic value. And how priceless can be gauged from Socrates’ exhortation ages ago: ‘Know thyself’.

What dissatisfies is the extensive use of the personal pronoun ‘I’. True, the life-experiences of the writer are penned in the first person and as such the personal pronoun cannot be avoided. However, there are scores of places where it could have been altogether unused by verb expansion or line reconstruction.

The printing types employed are attractive, clear, and easy on the eye. The illustrations though relevant are often hazy photo reproductions. The photos of Italian origin would have been more effective if turned into Indianised drawings. The proof reading has been excellent and the errors are limited only to a few, unsuitable punctuations. The cover of the book is eye-catching. So, on the whole, a well-produced volume.

Allow “You Surprised Me” to surprise you this summer. It’s a surprise you will savour for a long, long time.
Otto De Costa

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