Traveling Mercies, by Anne Lamott

This was a quick read, good for a day at the beach, yet it contained none of the shallowness that such a statement would ordinarily imply. That, in essence, sums up the impressiveness of this achievement: Anne Lamott writes a darn good book, one that is simultaneously funny and wise, reverent and irreverent, light and filling.

The book’s focus is religion, but, thankfully, not just one religion; instead, it talks about general issues of faith and leading a religious life. Lamott has known all types of lives, it seems: unreligious, Jewish, Catholic, Christian, spiritual. She has known hardships—more than her fair share, it seems, with the divorce and death of both her parents, the death of a close friend, the disease of another, serious drug abuse, and a heartbreaking series of bad relationships—but, through those hardships, has come to a place of comfort and wisdom. Her past experiences have made her present faith far richer, and she manages to share that, though this book, without being unduly self-righteous; instead of a self-help book or lecture, this is an honest confession of a troubled, and finally soothed, soul.

There are hilarious moments here--her bat mitzvah, from which she can only remember the question “do Jews camp?”; her descriptions of a fat friend snorkeling, her morning and night prayers of “whatever” and “oh, well”—but also some very serious ones. Though at the beginning of the book she delicately balances funny and serious, by the end, the parenting chapters, the tone turns more serious, and one feels the weight of the world, or at least her child’s life, on her shoulders. It would have been better if she could have kept some of the lightness, some of the frivolity and humor, in her voice, but one understands the failure.

Mostly, though, it delighted me to read a book on faith—not an argument, not a harangueing, not an explication, in fact, not a theological book at all. Simply a book about spirituality, about its benefits, about the ways to live a happy and fulfilled and peaceful life, through all the sufferings that are inevitable. Lamott writes that, “Most of the people I know who have what I want—which is to say, purpose, heart, balance, gratitude, joy—are people with a deep sense of spirituality. They are people in community, who pray, or practice their faith,” and one, or at least I, believe that. That, in fact, is my guiding thought behind the practice of my own religion: my beliefs help me, I think, to attain, or at least strive towards purpose, heart, balance, gratitude, and joy. If we could have a few more people like Lamott, confused but honestly and sincerely striving and open, and a few fewer people like Billy Graham or Pat Robertson, self-assured and closed, perhaps we could honestly have an open and functioning forum for discussing religious issues in America. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for the day.