Nine Essential Things I've Learned About Life

Harold Kushner's subtle, refined voice remains consistent as he seeks to change contemporary attitudes toward forgiveness, revenge, and life in general through his audiobook. He documents his words of wisdom with biblical passages, historical references, and Judeo-Christian thought. Gently challenging the current acceptance of revenge as a means to personal satisfaction, he asks the vengeance seeker to forgive as a way to root sadness from his or her own soul. He speaks with emotion about his own experience with the tragic death of his son from progeria. With his slight accent, he exhorts his audience to become more attuned to what it means to have faith in God. E.E.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

Starred review from August 31, 2015
As he enters his eighth decade, Kushner (When Bad Things Happen to Good People) offers a capstone volume to his decades as a congregational rabbi and popular writer. In sharply intelligent yet friendly prose, Kushner provides a thoughtful living guide for doubters and the faithful alike. There are pointed but gracious admonitions for those claiming that a self-developed religion is all they need. Your daily paper, spring flowers, and gratitude are not enough, Kushner says: when facing serious illness or other disasters, you need the support of a faith tradition and a community that has "learned to find God in the shadows as readily as in the sunshine." Kushner braids together stories from his professional and personal lifeâlongtime readers will remember that his son died at age 14 of a rare rapid-aging diseaseâalongside wisdom from biblical and theological texts and commentary on events related to science, culture, and literature. This book is a provocation and a balm for the skeptical and the religious, offering persuasive evidence that belief, forgiveness, hope, altruism, and joy are all possible, even in the face of death.