 "Shocking but profound" | 2008-06-29 |
| - Reviewed By jvellenga2 |
In an e-mail exchange, a ministry colleague asked, "I have never read Anne Lamott. Do you recommend her?" I responded:
Knowing your heart for broken people and for Jesus, I can recommend "Traveling Mercies" to you without qualification. I have only about 16 feet of easily reachable bookshelf, including my favorite reference books, yet this is one book that I keep avoiding moving to attic storage.
Lamott is blunt about what she has gone through, how she has felt (especially about those of us who make a career of being nice), and her determination to keep Jesus out of her life at all costs. She is a product of multiple dysfunctions, and you can see why she'd have a hard time learning to love herself or to admit that perhaps God could love her. But I love the sentences by which she let Jesus come in; I have never otherwise heard such a simple prayer of conversion, nor one that is so true at the heart level.
My daughter-in-law said that if I enjoyed Lamott, I'd also enjoy Kathleen Norris (The Cloister Walk). I did, but Norris is more cerebral. Lamott is at once pithy, practical, shocking, and profound. "Traveling Mercies" has confirmed in me, probably more than any other source has, an understanding of how varied, unexpected, and original God's work is in any one individual's life.
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 ""...I can always find my way home from here..."" | 2008-06-24 |
| - Reviewed By User: AF5D1TH909VL6 |
Anne Lamott recounts the stories of her growing faith from disbelief to belief in a God who crouches down and waits patiently for her to open the door and welcome Him in. Anne recounts a harsh life of challenges with addiction, love, family, and herself. She shares her simple yet profound spiritual conversion careful to incorporate the people who have had some of the greatest impact in her life.
We catch glimpses of her faith story through the people she shares relationships with: her childhood friend, a Jesuit, the people (especially the older women) of her church community, and her son. We see in her life the mundane, the struggles, a person who can be gritty in one breath and sweet in the next. Anne Lamott tells her journey of faith, in a way that is not for the faint of heart. (or the straight and narrow) She packs this memoir with everything that life is made of and allows one to enter into her story and glimpse the God who unwearyingly waits.
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 "similes like suffocating pillows" | 2008-06-05 |
| - Reviewed By venrbook |
| Oh deliver us from the deeply insightful similes..ack. Lamott confuses praying and wishing, and she never prays/wishes for a greater good...just me me me. She mentions two prayers: "helpme helpme helpme, and thankyou thankyou thankyou. Yes I found that funny too...but didn't we think like that in junior high? This book got very tiring very fast, like a ..... |
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| "Entertaining Read..." | 2008-04-22 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3CK40JON1QVVK |
| This book is written differently than just your average book. It's a compilation of several life lessons all molded into one story. The short stories are really interesting and her humor gives it a fun kick. She tells her stories in such detail it feels as though you're experiencing it with her. The stories are so diverse that I guarentee someone finds some story in there that they relate to. No matter what your religion is, this book is a really powerful read. Prayer helps the author out in numerous ways that will prove to the readers that there is power in prayer. This book is touching and it really makes you think about life. |
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| "A Book that Resonates" | 2008-01-03 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1ARNGML07P797 |
Anne Lamott writes with tremendous vulnerability and sincerity. She opens her veins for us and spills the contents of her life onto the page--the good, the bad, and the very very ugly. Her words are raw and evocative.
I must say that while this book resonates with many people, including myself, who have been hurt by life, disillusioned by the church, and a bit angry at things, I did not come away feeling closer to any tangible answers. I didn't think her crass and vulgar language added much to her message. It was kindof distracting, and I felt like taking a shower after wading through it.
My generation is craving something more--something deeper. We want real answers for real problems. While I continue to read Lamott, I would not say this is her best work.
Shameless plug--check out my new book Sex, Sushi, and Salvation: Thoughts on Intimacy, Community, and Eternity |
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| "Close to the bone" | 2007-11-27 |
| - Reviewed By cecilbothwell |
| Brutally honest, endearingly quirky, funny as the dickens, and turning on dimes to catch a reader's heart by surprise. This little volume is a treasure. From discussion of her formative years and early losses, through alcoholism and on into single parenting, Lamott holds nothing back. Her prayers, her curses, her neuroses, her blessings, are all laid out for inspection. Through it, despite her admitted self-absorption and bottomless fears, wisdom born of close attention and contemplation leaps off the page. More than once the reflected brightness lit up parts of my own life and character and motives that suddenly seemed to have lain too long in the dark. Breezy and deep are not two words I would commonly apply to the same essay. Here they fit. |
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| "Part of my spiritual journey" | 2007-11-22 |
| - Reviewed By User: A196BJOUAHWOF3 |
| An "in the trenches" view of spirituality that puts a human face on her version of Christianity. Don't mistake this for a run-of-the-mill "God squad" inspirational or How-To book: It is a powerful narrative of spiritual enlightenment that would be good for anyone to read. I am not a Christian nor do I subscribe to any specific religion -- frankly I'm more likely to be Agnostic as anything else -- but this book was a powerful and important read for me and part of my spiritual journey. |
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| "Poignant journey of discovery" | 2007-10-19 |
| - Reviewed By hollyfivestarreads |
| Lamott's Traveling Mercies takes the reader along on her journey of self-discovery and search for faith. A touching, wonderful, thought provoking story. |
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| "Mercy on Us" | 2007-09-19 |
| - Reviewed By sumeto |
| This is one of my favorite books, and I've read it many times. The essay on Forgiveness is a classic. I'm not sure how Annie Lamott makes fundamentalist Christianity palatable, but she manages to convey a deep sense of faith and gratitude along with a quirky charming wit about it all -- especially about herself. |
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| "I (heart) Anne Lamott" | 2007-08-25 |
| - Reviewed By amazon-reader |
| I pretty much love any essay Anne Lamott writes, and I appreciate her foray into the spiritual side of life. She makes faith very real and very every day/accesible ... something we all need. Her humor and witty prose make the reading enjoyable as well. |
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