Hallelujah Anyway

February 13, 2017
With her trademark humor and candor, Lamott (Help, Thanks, Wow) explores the scriptural imperative from Old Testament Prophet Micah to “love mercy,” reviewing both the difficulties and the life-changing rewards of obeying this mandate. Casting a fresh eye on well-known biblical figures such as Jonah, the Good Samaritan, and Lazarus, Lamott drolly attests to the subversive yet sustaining power of simple acts of kindness in the face of life’s inevitable devastations: “This collective, imperfect, hesitant help is another kind of miracle. Naturally one wants to avoid these kinds of miracles.” Lamott’s collective first-person voice makes generalizations that may not resonate with all her readers (“Learning to read gave us a true oasis, salvation”), but in revealing her painful personal struggles, she taps into universal feelings. For example, Lamott recalls the fallout brought on by a “snarky public comment” she made that not only elicited public castigation (“My attackers were like a mob with pitchforks, shaming adorable, progressive me”) but, worse, caused an excruciating rift with her son. As in previous works, Lamott’s courageous honesty and humility, laced with wit and compassion, offer wisdom and hope for difficult times.

February 1, 2017
A meditation on the benefits of discovering and extending mercy.In her recent books, bestselling author Lamott (Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace, 2014, etc.) has increasingly delved into the challenges of finding and sustaining faith, especially when confronting incidences of misfortune or cruelty. Often drawing on her own experiences as a mother and devoted friend, her struggles with alcoholism, finding solace and sustenance by embracing Christianity, and embracing a sense of community, the author offers spiritually enhancing, life-affirming lessons, often punctuated with her signature wit and accessible wisdom. In examining the nature of what it means to be merciful, Lamott treads over a good deal of her inner landscape that will be familiar to her readers. As usual, her examples are loaded with references from pop culture, literature, and philosophy, but she draws most extensively from Scripture. The biblical stories serve to provide fuller dimension to the many forms in which mercy may present itself and reflect on the most awe-inspiring results. Lamott also touches on some extreme examples from our recent past--e.g., the relatives of the nine people gunned down at the Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston in 2015 speaking of forgiveness for the killer or teenage Tibetan nuns who were tortured in prison but later prayed for the Chinese guards who had held them captive. "When we manage a flash of mercy for someone we don't like, especially a truly awful person, including ourselves," writes the author, "we experience a great spiritual moment, a new point of view that can make us gasp. It gives us the chance to rediscover something both old and original, the sweet child in us who, all evidence to the contrary, was not killed off, but just put in the drawer." Lamott always delivers flashes of wisdom and inspiration that resonate, particularly with her most devoted readers, but the book is a somewhat opaque and redundant exercise that never quite feels grounded.

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November 15, 2016
Lamott (Small Victories, 2014) takes her cranky old self to the well once again, to ruminate on faith, family, and friends (often with emphasis on their deficiencies ) as she tries to puzzle out the meaning of mercy. The radical kindness, the softening and surrendering that is a part of mercy, is what Lamott longs for, but it often seems out of her reachto accept or to grantbecause life can be, well, so, unforgivable. In short yet ruminative essays, she offers examples of this, and along the way, will hit almost every reader with a familiar situation that encourages one to go beyond. She herself responds with mixed results, but with an acute awareness of doing so, something that will also resonate. Some of the best moments in the book come when Lamott is fighting scripture, and, as in previous books, when she is fighting herself. Fans of her work will certainly recognize familiar themes, as well as her particular cris du coeur, but new readers will likely get a jolt from her bracing words.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

November 15, 2016

The author of numerous New York Times best-selling books on spirituality, Lamott opens her exploration of mercy by arguing that we inevitably face "a great big mess, especially the great big mess of ourselves." Then, as we reach out to others, we can connect more honestly by acknowledging the presence of mercy in and around us. With a ten-city tour for this book.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 15, 2017

Lamott (Help; Thanks; Wow) weaves a fascinating personal journey of mercy, challenging readers to allow mercy to impact their personal lives. In the first chapter, she states, "Hallelujah that in spite of it all, there is love, there is singing, nature, laughing, mercy." Later, Lamott shares, "Pope Francis says the name of God is mercy. Our name was mercy too, until we put it away to become more productive, more admired and less vulnerable." She continues to challenge readers to rediscover and give ourselves mercy, and to extend that mercy to others in simple but profound ways. By doing so, "Moments of compassion, giving, grief, and wonder shift our behavior, get inside us and change realms we might not have agreed to have changed." In our current climate of power struggles and ethnic, religious, economic, and political turmoil, Lamott sounds a clear melody of grace, mercy, peace, and forgiveness. VERDICT This work will appeal to fans of Lamott as well as general readers interested in current spiritual thought. Recommended for all libraries. [See Prepub Alert, 10/24/16.]--Ray Arnett, Fremont Area Dist. Lib., MI

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2017

Lamott (Help; Thanks; Wow) weaves a fascinating personal journey of mercy, challenging readers to allow mercy to impact their personal lives. In the first chapter, she states, "Hallelujah that in spite of it all, there is love, there is singing, nature, laughing, mercy." Later, Lamott shares, "Pope Francis says the name of God is mercy. Our name was mercy too, until we put it away to become more productive, more admired and less vulnerable." She continues to challenge readers to rediscover and give ourselves mercy, and to extend that mercy to others in simple but profound ways. By doing so, "Moments of compassion, giving, grief, and wonder shift our behavior, get inside us and change realms we might not have agreed to have changed." In our current climate of power struggles and ethnic, religious, economic, and political turmoil, Lamott sounds a clear melody of grace, mercy, peace, and forgiveness. VERDICT This work will appeal to fans of Lamott as well as general readers interested in current spiritual thought. Recommended for all libraries. [See Prepub Alert, 10/24/16.]--Ray Arnett, Fremont Area Dist. Lib., MI

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.