BOOK REVIEW! A sloppy one.

Because when it’s winter break, you get to be presumptuous and review a book no one asked you to. And also, lazy and informal.

This book was recommended to me by Mark Lynn of Brew City Training Community (who apparently now is a Mark OF Something, and rightly so – he’s pretty epic). I believe he claims it to be his favorite book, and Mark: I can definitely see why you like it. Although Lamott’s writing style (revealing lessons about faith through personal anecdotes) is very reminiscent of Don Miller, she has a certain edginess and bluntness to her. Hence, Mark, why I can see you loving it – swearing and all. Also Betsy gave me the book, which is great. Er, lent me the book.

Lamott really tells it like it is and reveals her insecurities and flaws, down to things like getting really annoyed with the people we love and other things we aren’t really supposed to admit. Many a time during reading was I comforted to know that I am not the only one who is completely immature and dysfunctional. Like listening to mewithoutYou, but much lighter and often comical.

The book was a really quick read – easy and fun. Took me three days.

Here are some of my highlights:

1. Her thoughts on body image. I loved when she said that she thinks she will never look back and regret going to the beach and swimming in the ocean despite how her butt looks in a swimsuit. She speaks of struggles with eating disorders, and concludes “that no one needs that plastic-body perfection from women of age and substance” (p. 197). That is very beautiful and very true.

2. Her humor. A part that made me laugh out loud is when she is talking about Elijah hiding in a cave in the Bible. She says:
“First the angel told him he shold eat. This is one of my favorite moments in the Bible, God as Jewish mother: Elijah, eat something!” (p. 165)
Hilarious.

3. Her stories of the spirituality and significance of coming alongside friends who are suffering, especially from illness. She has a lot of stories of friends who are sick or who have really sick kids. Their stories are straight-up discouraging: the Lord is there, but there is not comfort to be found in the situation. She really emphasizes the need to be there with friends going through times like these, with nothing to offer and no solutions, but simply to give them a window out to the world beyond their own suffering – to remind them that the entire world hasn’t been reduced to hospitals and worry and waiting and pain. I have a beautiful and strong and resilient friend who has been suffering with sickness for over a year now, heroically and tragically. There is no comfort for her right now. But the way Anne Lamott took the opportunity to share in sorrow with others so seriously as one of our biggest spiritual experiences, it really made me realize how much more important it is for me to be available for this friend than anything else going in my life right now that may seem significant. This ties in very directly with the book I have recently started about Oscar Romero’s life and dedication to the poor in El Salvador: that in seeking God’s face by truly coming alongside the poor and suffering, we experience one of the purest forms of holiness.

This book was very beautiful and I highly recommend it… a great book to read a few stories out of before bed each night… if you can put it down.

MUAHAHAAA