Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith

It is abundantly clear throughout Anne Lamott's non-fiction opus that she is a product of the AA rooms and deeply immersed in Bay Area politics.

Although this book is ostensibly about grace, a more fitting title might be "Essays on My Beef With Bush." Lamott's preoccupation with George W. Bush infiltrates nearly every nook and cranny of her life, becoming tiresome and at times, verging on a diagnosable fixation.

Moreover, the frequency of her complaints about poor, underappreciated women and the big, bad men who torment them comes across as just another whiny feminist tirade. For someone who has allegedly spent over 20 years invested in the 12 steps, she lacks the wisdom to take responsibility for her part in the consequences of her actions.

If I hadn't shelled out the money, I probably wouldn't have finished the book, but I truly wanted to like it. I have relished several of Anne Lamott's fictional works. I knew, based on those novels, that her essays would lean towards the liberal side of life, but this tome amounted to little more than a hodgepodge of rants and mini-musings about herself (and plenty of hikes up the mountain with her dog).

This was truly fabulous.

I read Bird by Bird several years ago, but then unfortunately, I forgot about Anne Lamott. However, I am extremely glad that I have now found this one.

Her writing style is so incredibly easy to read. It feels more like having a conversation with her as she openly shares her struggles and the journey towards achieving a life that is filled with grace.

She has this unique ability to make the reader feel as if they are right there with her, experiencing every emotion and every step of her path.

It's not just about reading words on a page; it's about being drawn into her world and being inspired by her story.

Anne Lamott's work has a way of touching the heart and making you think about your own life and the choices you make.

I can't wait to explore more of her writing and continue to be enlightened by her wisdom.

Anne Lamott's writing is, as always, intimate and honest.

She lays herself bare on the page, sharing her thoughts, feelings, and experiences with a candor that is both refreshing and disarming.

However, in this particular work, I found her tone to be a bit too whiny at times.

She seemed to dwell on her problems and complaints, which made it a bit of a slog to get through at points.

Additionally, there was a fair amount of political content that, while interesting, felt a bit out of place in what was otherwise a more personal exploration.

I understand that Lamott is a political person, and her views are an important part of who she is.

But I think in this case, they detracted from the overall message of the book.

That being said, I do think Lamott gets better with time.

This was one of her earlier writings, and I can see the seeds of the great writer she would become.

As she continues to grow and evolve as a person and a writer, I look forward to seeing what she comes up with next.

A lot of the reviews I've read of this book from fans of Lamott's are rather harsh. So perhaps it works out in my favor that I'm going into this totally unfamiliar with her work.

As a newcomer, I really enjoyed it, even though it wasn't entirely what I was expecting. Lamott has a unique, lyrical, and absolutely beautiful style of writing. It instantly draws the reader in. It's clear that she tries to see joy in everything and everyone. Part of one essay is devoted to her - successful, I might add - attempt to stop hating George W. Bush. This too comes across in her writing. Nevertheless, she's not above the black humor that makes all of the great memoirists worth reading. So her style wins her lots of points.

As for content, it's a mixed bag. Most of the essays are wonderful, but a few go nowhere and seem to have no real point. They're also divided into sections, often for no apparent reason. The only section with any continuous theme is "Samwheel", in which all the essays are about Lamott's son.

I think a big part of the reason I liked this book so much is that I see a lot of myself in Lamott. A Christian who sometimes struggles with her faith, is inspired by the Zen and Buddhist spiritual leaders, is against the war in Iraq, and is pro-choice? That's me! So identifying with Lamott was no problem for me. However, it will be a problem for the many conservative Christians who will pick up this book expecting to find something more akin to their own philosophy. Even I was a little confused by the fact that the book advertised itself as "Thoughts on Faith" but didn't seem to contain a large number of thoughts on faith - at least not any more than thoughts on politics, family, friends, or getting older. In the end, though, I thought it was a great book, and am looking forward to reading Lamott's other works, which if other reviewers are to be believed are even better.

I know that everything about this book should say RUN! RUN!

The author is a recovering alcoholic, a born-again Christian, and a hippie from Northern California with dreadlocks! Apparently, she and Derrick Jensen have a lot of drama, which is, of course, utterly hilarious.

But don't be swayed by crabby Ol'Derrick's accusations that she is a vapid liberal.

Anne Lamont is intensely likable, unpretentious, self-deprecating, and goofy. I don't even hate her for being a former coke head or a current hippie or for earnestly believing that a "read in" is a successful form of social protest. The fact that she constantly writes about praying for the grace to love George W. Bush as a fellow child of God should be annoying, but... she really means it.

Her theology isn't dippy but a combination of sophisticated Universalism and day-to-day paganism. God accepts and loves us all unconditionally, and we are all saved, but we still have a responsibility to clean up our messes. She writes that a more enlightened friend of hers prays only two prayers: in the morning, "whatever," and in the evening, "oh well." She, not being so enlightened, prays only two prayers: "help me help me help me" and "thank you thank you thank you."

If I believed in God, it would be Anne Lamont's God, by whom we are all "loved and chosen."

I truly love this writer's voice!

After reading sections of this book, I found myself laughing out loud and uncontrollably, and this reaction persisted even a day later.

What makes her writing so remarkable is that she can be hilariously reverent and irreverent within the same sentence.

We, as humans, are inherently flawed, yet at the same time, we are almost perfect in our human sensibilities.

Dear Anne has captured this dichotomy in the finest possible way!

It's truly a masterpiece, and I can't help but give a resounding Bravo!!!

This book is not only entertaining but also thought-provoking, making it a must-read for anyone who appreciates great literature.

I can't wait to explore more of Anne's works and see what other gems she has in store for us.

Her unique writing style and ability to capture the essence of human nature make her a writer to watch.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good laugh and a deeper understanding of what it means to be human.

I have a deep affection for Anne Lamott's writing. It has this remarkable quality that makes me feel both hopeful and realistic simultaneously. So many books out there give the impression that we should reach this lofty zenith in our faith or life, where we never get irritable, act unreasonably, or have unkind thoughts. But Lamott is refreshingly honest. She openly admits to being a gripey little human and yet doing her best to give and receive grace. What's more, the way she writes makes the world seem so much bigger than it often appears in my daily life.

This book is filled with countless highlights for me. However, here are five of my absolute favorites.

"At twenty-one, I still believed that if you could only get to see the sunrise at Stonehenge, or the full moon at the Taj Mahal, you’d be nabbed by truth. And then you would be well, and able to relax and feel fully alive." This shows her youthful naivete and the hope she placed in such experiences.

"And I was part of two wings of the community—the smartest, funniest alcoholics, and the seekers, who had designed lives based on spiritual values and tried to live up to them. I loved equally reading the great literature of the world and getting wasted. I thought we were here to have spiritual awakenings." Her honesty about her dual nature and her search for meaning is truly captivating.

"I realize again and again that this is really all you have to offer people most days, a touch, a moment’s gladness. It has to do, and it often does." This simple yet profound statement reminds us of the power of small acts of kindness.

"She is radiant with spirituality and humor. She was dealt with the same basic cards we all were, but somehow she could see that the cards were marked, so she put them down and refused to play. You can’t win with marked cards. Refusing to play has left her with hands free to do what really matters to her, what her heart longs to do in this life. Doing those things has made her beautiful." This description of a person who chooses to follow her heart rather than play by the unfair rules is truly inspiring.

"These are the words I want on my gravestone: that I was a helper, and that I danced." Her desire to be remembered as someone who helped others and lived life to the fullest is a beautiful sentiment.

I am four-fifths of the way through this book, and I loathe it. The only reason I am finishing it is because I want to review it properly. However, I can tell you that I'm EXTREMELY disappointed. Thankfully it is short.

Thank you, Lord, I am finally finished with this piece of drivel.

This book should have been named Ann Lamott (Continuously): Thoughts on Myself, as that is ALL she talks about. If she wanted to write yet another memoir (of sorts), then entitle it and market it as such. To suggest that this book is about grace (as in the grace of God) is erroneous in the extreme. Lamott simply DOES NOT GET the concept of grace...at all. I actually expected this to be a book of at least a modicum of substance, so I was thoroughly disappointed at the end. It was shallow, doctrinally flawed, morally relative, and all in all, a very laissez faire approach to Christianity.

If Lamott was looking to burn off readers - specifically readers whose points of view differ from hers - she has successfully written a book that will accomplish that. This is truly a shame, because she has a talent for writing and spins an interesting tale. Unfortunately she seems unable to discuss issues that are dear to her heart without presenting them in a way that will appeal only to like-minded readers. The rest of us will want to (and may indeed) hurl the book against the wall.

The most glaring problem with this book is her irrational anger toward and hatred for George W. Bush. Certainly she disagrees with him politically, but she expresses such extreme reactions to him and his policies (depression, for instance) that she comes across as unstable. I mean seriously, I get being opposed to a politician's ideology, but to become so hate-filled and morose is disturbing to me, as it seems to suggest that Lamott's life is not altogether balanced.

Regarding her Christianity, she claims to be a devout Christian and to have a complete, encompassing love for Jesus. I won't dispute her love for Jesus, but to claim that she is devout is committing a huge disservice to Christians who actually ARE devout. What she subscribes to is "Christianity Lite." She picks and chooses what biblical truths she believes in and adheres to, which makes me question her commitment to God. What I don't question is her almost rabid commitment to abortion, even seeming somewhat proud that she herself had "a couple" in her younger years, and she declares it a moral imperative that children not be brought in the world who will be resented. What astonishes me about this is how completely counter it runs to biblical teaching, which not only requires us not to kill, but commands us to care for widows and children. There is simply no way to biblically justify her stance on abortion.

She also assisted in a suicide, and was admittedly proud to be a part of this man's death plan. Here again she believes and espouses something that is absolutely not supported by scripture, and yet she is attaching moral superiority to the choice. This is problematic for me, because we as humans are incapable of seeing all that God sees, or knowing all that God knows, yet she is willing to take on a God-like role with the limitations of our humanity. That's just scary...and stupid...and arrogant in the extreme.

Finally, she made a conscious decision to have a child out of wedlock. For a devout, committed Christian, this is anathema, and yet she describes it as a decision she came to because she was ready to be a mother and there was no suitable spouse with whom to create a stable home. Furthermore, this in and of itself verifies that she has engaged in premarital sex, not to mention that she has already admitted to having "a couple" abortions. Granted, she may not have been a professing Christian at the time of those abortions - and she was a practicing alcoholic and drug user - but to become a Christian and not loathe what are rightly labeled the sins of one's past, nor to express remorse for having done those things, is to completely miss the point of GRACE. We are saved by the grace of Jesus Christ, freely given to us, and when we truly accept that gift, we are reborn and renewed in our hearts, with a desire to follow hard after Christ. Of course we fail, but if our hearts are truly changed, then we continue striving to put Christ at the center or our lives. No where in her book does Lamott describe a relationship with God that puts him at the center of her life. How can she, when so many other things take precedence to God? She swerves into grace occasionally, and even then, she describes it as more of her own doing than God's.

This was the most disappointing, frustrating and infuriating book I have read this year. Unless you are a reader of like mind and heart, I would recommend avoiding this one. It will save you a lot of irritation.