Above all, though, this is a spiritual book, and as such it is truly inspiring. As psychology, it is wise and insightful. For Lamott, social, psychological and all the other difficulties of life are the threads of spiritual renewal, and she weaves them seamlessly with faith and prayer into a completely human tapestry.Īs entertainment, 'Traveling Mercies' is funny, poignant and very readable. It is precisely in such a mature psycho-spiritual integration that 'Traveling Mercies' shines. In his 'Answer to Job,' Carl Jung maintained that the psychological problems of life ultimately demand spiritual responses.

Lamott's life is full of problems, but each one is a vehicle for grace, an occasion for healing. The rest of us, however, are sure to encounter ourselves somewhere, because her cup runs over with troubles: failed romances, single motherhood, the illness and death of loved ones, a cornucopia of phobias, depressions, eating disorders, chemical abuse and other compulsions and, not least, dimply thighs and frizzy hair. If you like to consider yourself well-adjusted, you may not find much with which to identify in Lamott's experience. Lamott portrays herself as riddled with difficulties, most of them psychological. The journey Lamott shares has been a decidedly bumpy one, and she describes the ups and downs in wincing detail. New readers especially will be delighted by the way she swerves without warning from hilarity to tragedy, from rage to tenderness, all the while remaining grounded in the earthiness of real-life experience. But Lamott is also and always uniquely herself. I think if Teresa of Avila were alive today and freed from her church strictures, she would sound a lot like Anne Lamott. At one point she seems a reincarnation of Erma Bombeck at others, she could be Annie Dillard or Kathleen Norris, or even occasionally Evelyn Underhill. Readers familiar with Lamott's work will be prepared for the sparkling way she shifts from laugh-out-loud wisecracks to heart-wrenching poignancy. The stories are loosely organized according to indistinct themes, but the writing is so exuberant and captivating that organization seems irrelevant. This sets the stage for the heart of the book: some two dozen delightful accounts of the author's experiences of faith and prayer. The book begins with a slightly slow-reading but important prologue about Lamott's childhood, her coming of age in the '60s and her early ventures and misadventures in the world of religion. 'Traveling Mercies' is a travelogue of the author's spiritual journey, and it is indeed full of mercies.

Traveling mercies book