Love her writing, but not the Christian god aspect of this one.

I can't figure out if this book inspires me to write, or makes me want to quit because it appears the English language has already peaked.

2.5* The book probably deserves more stars, but I understood so little of it, I couldn't give more. I truly enjoyed "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek" and "An American Childhood" - but this one I just couldn't seem to get the gist of. What was she really saying? What was her conclusion? It didn't ever become clear to me. I love the way she expresses herself, and I appreciate what she was trying to do - I'm just sad that I didn't get it.

This is Dillard's shortest and quite possibly most powerful work. In 76 pages she takes on massive topics (God, existence, beauty, truth, etc.) and deals with them in elegant prose. I have found this to be her most religious work, addressing God and Christ directly. I've never seen someone wrestle with God in such beautiful language.

That being said, Holy the Firm is written in the exact same literary mode as Teaching a Stone to Talk and Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (and since I've read those as well, I found this book fairly repetitive); delving into nature and experience to explore the transcendent meaning behind the seemingly mundane. If you're going to read Dillard for the first time, then read this book. It is the most revealing in the shortest amount of time to who exactly Dillard is and how she views the world.