Plan B

Starred review from February 7, 2005
Five years after her bestselling Traveling Mercies
, Lamott sends us 24 fresh dispatches from the frontier of her life and her Christian faith. To hear her tell it, neither the state of the country nor the state of her nerves has improved, to say the least. "On my forty-ninth birthday, I decided that all of life is hopeless, and I would eat myself to death. These are dessert days." Thankfully, her gift for conveying the workings of grace to left-wing, high-strung, beleaguered people like herself is still intact, as is her ability to convey the essence of Christian faith, which she finds not in dogma but in our ability to open our hearts in the midst of our confusion and hopelessness. Most of these pieces were published in other versions on Salon.com, and they cover subjects as disparate as the Bush administration; the death of Lamott's dog, her mother and a friend; life with a teenager and with her 50-year-old thighs—yet each shows how our hearts and lives can go "from parched to overflow in the blink of an eye." What is the secret? Lamott makes us laugh at the impossibility of it all; then she assures us that the most profound act we can accomplish on Earth is coming out of the isolation of our minds and giving to one another. Faith is not about how we feel, she shows; it is about how we live. "Don't worry! Don't be so anxious. In dark times, give off light. Care for the least of God's people!" Naturally, some pieces are stronger than others—her wonderful style can come across as a bit mannered, the wrapup a bit forced. But this is quibbling about a book that is better than brilliant. This is that rare kind of book that is like a having a smart, dear, crazy (in the best sense) friend walk next to us in sunlight and in the dark night of the soul. Author tour.

January 1, 2005
Lamott, a novelist and columnist for " Salon," has continued to write the sort of pithy spiritual essays that made her first collection, " Traveling Mercies " (1999), a best-seller. She proves to be just as funny and candid in her second collection, and just as skilled in transforming the chaos of life into lessons in forgiveness, compassion, and faith. After surviving her wilderness years and finding salvation in a progressive Oakland church, Lamott developed a fluently humanistic approach to prayer and right action, discoveries that shape her compelling reflections on everything from age to the solace of long walks to the traumas and reconciliations that take place in her hormonally charged household as her son, Sam, enters adolescence and she confronts menopause. A skilled storyteller with an antic sense of humor and a refreshing lack of piety, Lamott also writes about how "depressed and furious" she is over the Bush administration and the war in Iraq. As she participates in peace demonstrations, teaches Sunday school, and tries hard to feel love even for those she deplores, Lamott avers that life is all about "Plan B,"\b \b0 that is, remaining flexible and tolerant and open to holiness wherever it beckons. A Presbyterian in dreadlocks who wears a red cotton cord blessed by the Dalai Lama and a Virgin Mary medallion, Lamott brings invaluable humor, imagination, and magnanimity to the conversation about faith. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)

March 1, 2005
Novelist Lamott's latest is an easy read, crackling with puns, funny anecdotes, and memorable sayings coined by her minister, family, and friends. As in "Traveling Mercies", this book's predecessor, the chapters comprise biographical sketches and reflections on the author's Christian faith. The sketches follow no chronological or thematic order, giving the book a slightly disjointed quality. However, the author's insights connect them and infuse them with meaning. Lamott is also more politically outspoken here than she has been previously. While she repeatedly criticizes the current Bush administration and their hawkish agenda, these commentaries do not dead-end there; instead, they swerve back to the positive ways in which she can influence the world, the political leaders, and her own community. Recommended for all public and academic libraries. -Maria Kochis, California State Univ. Lib., Sacramento

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.