World Famous Comics: Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith
Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith
By: Anne Lamott Publisher: Riverhead Trade Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Riverhead Trade Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 272 Publication Date: February 26, 2008
Amazon.com: Through Anne Lamott's many books (including six novels, her bestselling parenting memoir, Operating Instructions, and her popular guide to writing, Bird by Bird) the subject she keeps returning to is her faith, her deeply personal--"erratic," she says--journey in Christianity. Her latest book, Grace (Eventually), is her third collection of her "thoughts on faith," and she took the time to answer a few of our questions.
Questions for Anne Lamott
Amazon.com: This is your third book on faith. How has your perspective changed since you wrote your first one?
Lamott: I wrote my first book on faith when Bill Clinton was president, and I was in a much better mood. I wrote Plan B during the run-up to war in Iraq, and the ensuing catastrophe, so I was very angry, but trying to reconcile that pain and hostility to Jesus's insistence that we are made of love, to love, and be loved, to forgive and be forgiven. Some days went better than others. Also, my son Sam was in his early teens, and that was a LOT easier than when he turned 16 and 17, his ages when I was writing the pieces in Grace (Eventually).
In general, I think Grace (Eventually) is a less angry book. I like how I'm aging, except that my back hurts more often, my knees crack like twigs when I squat, and my memory fails more frequently, in more public and therefore humiliating ways. But I think I complain less. As my best friend said when she was dying, and I was obsessing about my butt, "You just don't have that kind of time."
Amazon.com: What does grace mean for you? How can we better communicate it to each other?
Lamott: Grace is that extra bit of help when you think you are really doomed; also, not coincidentally, when you have finally run out of good ideas on how to proceed, and on how better to control the people or circumstances that are frustrating or defeating you. I experience Grace as a cool ribbon of fresh air when I feel spiritually claustrophobic. Sometimes I experience it as water-wings, something holding me up when I am afraid that I'm going down, or the tide is carrying me away. I know that Grace meets us whereever we are, but does not leave us where it found us. Sometimes it is so small--a couple of seconds relief here, several extra inches there. I wish it were big and obvious, like sky-writing. Oh, well. Grace is not something I DO, or can chase down; but it is something I can receive, when I stop trying to be in charge.
We communicate grace to one another by holding space for people when they are hurt or terrified, instead of trying to fix them, or manage their emotions for them. We offer ourselves as silent companionship, or gentle listening when someone feels very alone. We get people glasses of water when they are thirsty.
Amazon.com: Many of the essays in Grace (Eventually) first appeared in Salon, the online magazine, and that's the way that many readers first found you. How do you see the Internet changing the way people read and write?
Lamott: The Internet makes everything so immediate and spontaneous, which I totally love--UNLESS it has to do with the immediacy of people's negative response to me. Several of the Salon pieces in Grace--for instance, the story about the horrible fight with my son, and the piece about turning the other cheek while being ripped off by The Carpet Guy--generated a couple hundred letters, many of them extremely hostile. Perhaps "spewy" would be a better description. I also sometimes get knee-jerk responses to my mentions of Jesus in my Salon pieces that seem to lump me in the same tradition as Jerry Falwell. But for the most part, I love the populism and egalitarian nature of the Internet: everyone counts the same.
Amazon.com: What stories do people tell you, when they've read your books or know you are a writer?
Lamott: People tell me how relieved they are that I try to tell the truth about how hard it can be to be a mother, or a daughter, or an American in these times. They tell me stories about how awful their own teenagers can be, or how awful they themselves behaved towards their kids or parents; how hard it was to finally be able to adore their mothers, or to forgive their fathers. They tell me their sobriety dates. They whisper to me that they are Christians, too.
Also, they ask if I am able to read their manuscripts, and the name of my agent, and my e-mail address. They ask if we are going to survive the current political difficulties--and I promise them we are. They ask how old my son is now--17 and a half--and how he is doing, which is fantastically, after some of the hard months I wrote about in Grace.
Amazon.com:What lessons do you think you can pass on to others: to your readers, to your son? What lessons does it seem like people have to learn for themselves?
Lamott: All I have to offer is my own truth, my own experience, strength and hope. I can pass on the tool of a God Box, and how for 20 years I have been putting tiny notes in mine and promising God I will keep my sticky fingers off the controls until I hear God's wisdom: sometimes I get an answer because the phone rings, or the mail comes, but at any rate, during every single terrible problem and tragedy, I have been given enough guidance and stamina and even humor to bear up, and be transformed, for the good. I always tell Sam that if you want to make God laugh, tell Her your plans. I tell Sam that if he listens to his best thinking, he will suffer: and to listen to his heart instead, to listen in the silence, and to seek wise counsel.
Amazon.com: You've written nearly a dozen books (including an incredibly popular guide to writing): does writing get any easier? Does it get harder?
Lamott: In a very important way, writing gets easier, because I've been doing it full time now for thirty-plus years, and just as you would get better and better if you practiced your scales on a piano, I've gotten better, and can try harder and harder pieces. But writing is always hard. It does not come naturally to me at all. I sit down at the same time every day, which lets my subconscious realize it's time to get to work. I give myself very short assignments, and let myself write really terrible first drafts. But I grapple with the exact same problems every writer does, which is having equal proportions of self-loathing and grandiosity. I sort of live by the Nike ads: Just Do It. So I sit down. I show up. I do it by pre-arrangement with myself, because I know I'll feel sad and terrible if I shirk on that days writing. I do it as a debt of honor, to myself, and to whatever it is that has given me this gift of being able to tell stories, and to make people laugh. Laughter is carbonated holiness. Other people's good writing is medicine for me, and I hope mine is too, for my readers.
Product Description: "Lamott has chronicled her wacky and (sometimes) wild adventures in faith in...the wonderful Grace (Eventually)." (Chicago Sun- Times)
In Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith, the author of the bestsellers Traveling Mercies and Plan B delivers a poignant, funny, and bittersweet primer of faith, as we come to discover what it means to be fully alive.
Lessons from Sam, Lily, and Others What's not to like about Anne Lamott's Grace Eventually? A collection of essays in which she describes moments of spiritual clarity and examples of the divine in daily life, the book is a treasure trove of writings about topics ranging from abortion to euthanasia and lots of good stuff in-between. Through Sam, Lily, her mother, her vast and motley crew of friends, and even those whom she casually encounters, Lamott teaches lots of lessons on grace and love.
Some of the writing made me feel sad (Gertrud's sickness), some mad (the carpet guy), some glad (chirren musings) and some scared (shadows scenario). Although she might irritate and even anger some people with her views on George W. Bush, abortion, and global warming, Lamott makes no claim to be a saint, but rather a person who's doing her best to see God in everything and to do her part in making the world a better place. After assisting with a special-ed dance class and learning that one of the dancers said, "I liked those old ladies! They were helpers, and they danced," Lamott decided on the words that she wanted on her gravestone: "that I was a helper, and that I danced."
Thoughts on Faith I would recommend this book to anyone who has past issues that they have struggled with. This is a very candid account of one person's life and the way that they have turned it around. I really liked the honesty, even if I didn't always agree with her position.
Grace (Eventually) Thoughts on Faith Lamott Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith I have enjoyed the books by Lamott because I can relate to them. Down to earth - up close and personal writings that most have experienced. Excellent - certainly helped me to realize that I was not atypical.
Too many lefty rants and too few thoughts on faith I adore "Travelling Mercies." Having spent some time as a Christian, I expected some mature Christian thought from Lamott. Instead, I'm kind of horrified. Jesus was awful as a teenager? Praying to Mary? Yay for abortion? What Bible is Lamott reading?
I admire Lamott's raw honesty and the way she turns a phrase, but the "I hate George Bush" rants got really old. I may not agree with our President's decisions and I may not admire him as a person, but a certain amount of respect is due to the office of the President of the United States. It's one of the most difficult jobs in the world.
After reading Lamott's last three non-fiction books, I get the idea that Lamott doesn't have anything new to say. Although she occasionally has wonderful insights, I won't be buying Lamott's books again.
not perfect, but wonderful no question, i'm an annie lamott fan. more specifically, i'm a fan of anne lamott's non-fiction. i've tried her fiction, and continue to find it ok, but not brilliant. but her non-fiction: ooh.
traveling mercies, lamott's first autobiographical book about faith, remains in my top 5 books of all time (not that i actually maintain such a list; but if i did, it would be). and operating instructions, lamott's autobiographical reflections on her pregnancy and the first couple years of her son's life, should be suggested reading for all humans, and required reading for all parents (especially expectant parents). lamott's last non-fiction, plan b, was a bit of a let-down. i really wanted to love it. so i found myself loving parts.
but, other than a horribly repetitive titling and cover treatment (and, really, that's more of a publisher's gaffe than a reason to wag my finger at anne lamott), grace (eventually) brings us back nearly to traveling mercies (notice i say "nearly"). yes, some have complained that this book is another collection of mostly already-published essays. i say: i don't care. they're great; they hold together; and i hadn't read them elsewhere anyhow.
why do i love lamott's writing so much? well, i can't deny the fact that she makes me laugh out loud. and they're not those "slowly creep up on you laughs" that move from smile to tiny "huh" sound to low chuckle to pleasant and appropriate laugh. no: my occasional laughter while reading anne lamott is more the out-of-the-blue cackle, one that surprises me as much as it would anyone within painful earshot.
reason two for loving anne lamott's non-fiction: she is unevenly insightful. what i mean is, there are moments when i'm reading, and i have to stop and breathe for a moment, and think about the profundity of what i've just read. and then there are lots of moments in-between those moments that aren't so insightful. but here's the thing -- the uneven-ness of the insighfulness somehow works. it's almost as if it creates a reading culture where the insights catch me off guard that much more. i'm always hopeful of stumbling onto them, but never quite expecting them when they appear.
reason three for loving anne lamott's non-fiction: there are books -- maybe 1 in 30 books i read, where the very act of reading is joy. the choice of words, the structure of sentences, the odd metaphor, they leave me smiling or astonished. christopher moore writes this way. anne lamott writes this way.
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Lamott: I wrote my first book on faith when Bill Clinton was president, and I was in a much better mood. I wrote Plan B during the run-up to war in Iraq, and the ensuing catastrophe, so I was very angry, but trying to reconcile that pain and hostility to Jesus's insistence that we are made of love, to love, and be loved, to forgive and be forgiven. Some days went better than others. Also, my son Sam was in his early teens, and that was a LOT easier than when he turned 16 and 17, his ages when I was writing the pieces in Grace (Eventually).
