The Field of Stars – a brief book review

To The Field of Stars: A Pilgrim’s Journey to Santiago De Compostela, by Kevin A. Codd

Told from the perspective of a Catholic Priest, this book recounts a thirty-five day pilgrimage across Spain to Santiago de Compostela, the traditional burial place of the apostle James the Greater. Pilgrims, trekkers, cyclists and hikers have traversed this route for hundreds of years. The author allows us to travel with him from village to village as he recounts friendships and insights and discovers changes in his own interior life along the camino ­(the way). He infuses his pilgrimage with delightful details of some of the places he slept, food he ate, and the scenery along the way. Along the camino he shares his admiration of some of the great architecture of the cathedrals and churches he encounters, confessing, “I gawk at Gothic but I pray in Romanesque.” Elsewhere he reminds us of the gift of authentic welcome that blesses him in surprising ways. “Hospitality counts for everything; appearances for nothing.” His story is breezily told, but there were places that I felt he bogged down in the telling. Nevertheless if you would like to learn more about this historic pilgrimage from the eyes of a modern pilgrim, I commend this to you.