BOOK REVIEW : The Man who Listens by Janet Taylor Caldwell

Recently I was fortunate to have the chance to speak with The Very Reverend David Ison, the Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral, who has had a great deal of experience training both priests and lay people. We talked about different aspects of what it means to be a priest and what I have learnt so far from my experience at St Stephen Walbrook - the birthplace of the Samaritans. Amongst the great deal of wisdom he imparted was a recommendation to read this book - and I am very glad I was able to find a second hand copy.

Written by the British born American writer Janet Taylor Caldwell in 1960, each chapter of the novel tells the story of a different visitor to The Man Who Listens, who resides in a curious structure built by John Godfrey in memory of his wife.

As each story unfolds we find out more about the mysterious building from the observations of the visitors. Simple in plan and maintained to a pristine condition in as Eden-like grounds as you can imagine in a suburban setting, the building has just two rooms. The first is a waiting room that contains a letterbox into which visitors can push a short note setting out what it is they wish to talk about. We find out towards the end of the book (when Felix, a Jewish Doctor visits the building and holds open the letterbox in an attempt to understand the mysterious structure) that a flame incinerates the notes when they fall to the bottom. A bell chimes to indicate when those waiting may enter the second room, through a one-way door. Inside the second room is a solitary marble chair covered in velvet. Many of the visitors commented on the unusual light conditions in the room, which seemed to respond to them as they spoke - and while several visitors thought they heard The Man speak, his words are never recorded. An alcove is concealed by a large blue curtain that cannot be prized apart by hand. A button can be depressed to draw the curtains - but only responds to those who come to talk (and not to the merely curious) - behind which sits The Man Who Listens.

Speaking to reporters at the opening of the mysterious building, John Godfrey explained its purpose: “One of the most terrible aspects of this world today is that nobody listens to anyone else...even the clergy are hurried and harassed; they do their best and work endlessly. But time has taken on a fragmented character; it doesn’t seem to have any substance any longer.”

Many years later an architect, frustrated with his job and his marriage, finds a leaflet about the building which persuaded him to visit. “While there is more leisure time than ever before, in the world there is less time, less solidity, less meaning, fewer roots and no real security. Therefore, more despair and loneliness” it said. (Sixty years after the novel was written not much has changed!)

Each visitor has their own story to tell and their own reason for visiting The Man Who Listens, including The Reverend Anson Carr, a thirty eight year old priest who holds his parishioners in contempt and is starting to see his calling more as a profession or job than a vocation. His monologue includes a critical observation of the process for selecting candidates for ministry (aspects of which, having recently been through such a process, sounded familiar);

“To think there were people long ago who thought God ‘called’ them. Now we gravely consider the impulse we have towards ministry and wonder if we are well rounded enough, and fully psychologically educated, and adjusted, to become ministers of the Gospel! Are we good administrators? Do we like people? Do people instinctively like us? Are we excellently grounded in the social ethic? Do young people gravitate towards us? Are we excellent businessmen? Do women like us? Are we liberal in our ideas? Do we have good voices which inspire confidence? Can we meet men on their own ground easily and confidently..... Are we broad?... In short, must we be everything except ministers of the Gospel?”

We meet doctors, judges and teachers - each searching for answers to different questions; we also meet Ami Logan, a hard working housekeeper whose children want to send her to a nursing home; she dies whilst speaking to The Man Who Listens. In each encounter I think we find out not only something about these characters and relate the life events they encounter to our own lives or the lives of people we know, but through the reactions of those who choose to open the curtain, we also find out something about the life of The Man Who Listens; who is a teacher, a healer, someone who works hard, someone who was despised and rejected; someone who lives for life. We also learn something, in each encounter, about the nature of being a priest (which may be why David suggested that I read this novel?)

The final visitor we meet in the fifteenth chapter is a Japanese physicist who is stranded on his way to the Pentagon due to bad weather. He, along with seven other scientists, are to provide information they have each memorized that will help construct a formula for a weapon capable of destroying the earth. He finds a leaflet about The Man Who Listens in his hotel room and decides to go and visit him. It is only when he pushes the button that we finally discover the identity of The Man Who Listens - Jesus hanging on the cross.

This is a beautifully written book and the first by Janet Taylor Caldwell that I have read. Attending a church where the Samaritans were founded - whose purpose is to listen - the book seemed particularly resonant. Published sixty years ago, the need for more of us to be generous with our time for the benefit of others and ourselves, seems as great as ever. In our inter-connected network society our horizons are continually expanding - perhaps stretching perilously thin. One of the visitors to The Man Who Listens (an architect distraught with his job and his marriage) describes this as creating a flat and featureless world because everyone is stretched so thin they become faceless and colourless themselves.

The counter to this is to give what John Godfrey described as ‘real substance’ to time - like the characters who visited The Man Who Listens, which means giving space to move vertically as well as horizontally - deeper into our relationship with others and with God.

The Man Who Listens by Janet Taylor Caldwell was published in London by Collins in 1961