Revelation

Starred review from February 8, 2016
Deftly interweaving personal tragedy with reporting forays into brutal conflicts, Covington (Salvation on Sand Mountain) delivers a superb, fast-paced memoir. During his own spiritual crisis, Covington determines to discover "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." In pursuit of answers about his own faith, Covington first travels to Juarez, Mexico, where he interviews a street preacher who takes in mental patients amid drug-cartel violence as well as the city's citizens who bury the horrendous number of murder victims. Eventually, he heads to the Middle East in search of Kayla Mueller, a 25-year-old Baptist aid worker from Arizona who was kidnapped by ISIS in Syria. Swiftly sketched scenes of illegally crossing the Turkey-Syria border take readers into war-ravaged hospitals and refugee camps. Traumatically, Covington suffers a head injury from a vacuum bomb that leaves him with lasting brain injuries. He visits Mueller's parents to decipher how their understanding of God has changed as a result of their daughter's abduction by terrorists with whom their government will not negotiate. Reflecting the bleakness of the conflict in the Levant, Covington never finds Mueller, but headlines record her disturbing fate. What Covington discovers about Mueller's final weeks, when faced with seemingly impossible circumstances, rekindles a long-lost spark in his dark night. Covington's memoir is an essential, human account of the violent reactions to religious plurality in an increasingly polarized world.

January 1, 2016
A search for faith amid war, terror, and family strife. Covington (Creative Writing/Texas Tech Univ.; Redneck Riviera: Armadillos, Outlaws, and the Demise of an American Dream, 2003, etc.) purports to look for faith against the backdrop of a violent world. Though he occasionally stays on course, the narrative takes a variety of detours, frustrating readers and muddling his work. The author begins in Juarez, where drug-inspired violence has spread out of control for years. He recounts the work of one preacher who, in addition to burning an effigy of Judas to drive Satan out of the city, runs an inspiring ministry, aiding those living, and escaping from, lives of violence. Covington goes on to recount visits to Turkey, and to the Turkey-Syria border, where he encountered both victims of and participants in the violence. Covington also crossed over into Syria, witnessing firsthand the horror of war. This timely and page-turning section represents the author at his best, as he ably conveys the otherworldly scene of suffering and brutality. However, he continually reverts back to his own personal story. In page after page of self-catharsis, Covington describes growing up with his older brother, a troubled young man who ended up in mental hospitals and nursing homes; his two failed marriages; and his own mental health issues, including a lack of a will to live after returning from Syria. Though not without merit, these sections continually detract from the author's real mission. Faith, in fact, has little to do with this book. Covington does not have it, nor do most of the people he met during his travels. When he does address people of faith in the midst of violence, he is unable to report on their thoughts and motives with the depth needed for a book on the topic. Far from uninteresting but too often self-indulgent and unsatisfying.

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Starred review from March 1, 2016

Covington (creative writing, Texas Tech Univ.; Salvation on Sand Mountain) pens this memoir of faith in the midst of war and extreme violence. A pilgrim in search of belief, the author travels extensively for three years to areas where pain and suffering owing to warlike conditions are an everyday experience--yet people exhibit spirituality in nontraditional ways. Much of the volume relates stories from his experiences in Turkey and Syria, with flashbacks from his childhood and early adult years in Birmingham, AL, during the civil rights movement. Along the way, he shares his religious struggle amid family crises, marriage difficulties, and other areas of tumult. He concludes his search in 2015 without becoming sure of God's existence but states, "I can't deny the existence of faith, though. I've seen it in the eyes of children." VERDICT This moving and riveting first-person account will appeal to those interested in the Syrian conflict as well as readers who enjoy faith journeys such as those by Anne Lamott and Nadia Bolz-Weber. Highly recommended for all libraries.--Ray Arnett, Fremont Area Dist. Lib., MI

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