By Anne Lamott
Riverhead 2021
208 pages Spiritual
Like me, Anne Lamott is in the “third third” of her life. (I
love that thought.) Newly married for the first time, she is coping with her
life that has changed dramatically and the world that she is living in which has
changed dramatically as well. In Dusk,
Night, Dawn, Lamott is trying to manage all these changes and to find a way forward. She is looking for
revival and renewal—something most of us are seeking, as well.
Lamott is a recovering alcoholic, and that horrific time in
her life as well as her recovery is seldom off her mind. The lessons she
learned continue to reverberate in her writing. She is also a Christian, and the
spiritual side of her life determines her outward actions as well as her inner
turmoil. What makes her writing compelling
is that she laces practically every paragraph with a self-deprecating zinger.
For example, in speaking of surviving this difficult year, she says, “I am
sober, loved, grateful, sometimes brave, and wearing dry pants.”
The chapters in the book are random essays, each written on
the general theme of managing life and calling upon the grace of God to help get
through the turmoil of our current situation. Of course, she discusses the
Trump years and this Covid year. Each essay is filled with her personal
experiences, laced as they are with humor
and insight. While she attempts to justify the reasoning for her marriage to
Neal, and to understand what being married means, she is ultimately so pleased
that she was able to find someone to share her craziness with. One of the
strengths of her writing is the humor. The reader can say, yeah, I’ve felt that
way. While she is a very spiritual person, she is not a very pious person, and
in a lot of ways, her faith matches mine.
Probably Lamott’s greatest strength is her ability to
connect with her readers. The strength of her faith is matched only by her
questioning. Here is one of her prayers: “Help me start walking in your general
direction. And the greatest prayer: Help me not to be such an asshole.” What we
realize when we read Lamott is that this life of ours is a major journey, and
it is through the grace of God that we survive and perhaps even thrive.
I have read several of Lamott’s books, and if you have not read one of her books, I highly recommend them, although this is probably not the one to begin with. This may just be agism fatigue on my part, because much of this particular book by Lamott deals with aging. Several of the last books I have read concerned aging, including Face: One Square Foot of Skin by Justine Bateman and Women Rowing North by Mary Pipher. In a conversation with my brother-in-law last night, he mentioned that everyone he knows is talking about Covid, aging, and dying. He said he was sick of talking about it. I am feeling the same, although in both of the aforementioned books, and now including Dusk, Night, Dawn, I have gained inspiration and encouragement to persist and move ahead.
Other Lamott books I have read and reviewed include: Plan
B: Further Thoughts on Faith, Hallelujah,
Anyway, and Some
Assembly Required.
Here are a couple of interviews with Lamott about Dusk,
Night, Dawn. One with Maria Menounos and the
other with Caroline Myss.
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