I don’t recall where I first heard of Anne Lamott, but I had a few of her books on my wishlist. I was given ‘Traveling [sic] Mercies’ nearly a year ago, but have only just got to reading it over the past couple of weeks. 
(Amazon UK link)
The subtitle of this book is ‘Some thoughts on faith’, and essentially that’s what this book is. Much of it is told in autobiographical style, which I found very interesting. It shows the author’s background, with a wide variety of religious (and non-religious) input from family members and friends.
Lamott begins her story when she’s around five, a free-range child in a small town in Southern California, where she hung out with other children of all ages. Her best friend was Roman Catholic, so she sometimes went to church with her friend, and even at such a young age loved the mystery, the liturgy, the formality of it all.
Her own family, by contrast, were not religious in any way. They believed in doing good, in helping other people, but not in God. Her mother went once a year to a Christmas service, her father not at all. So it’s not surprising that young Anne was confused. She was eager to please everyone, longing to fit in. She knew she wasn’t pretty, or conventional, but she could do things people wanted in the hope that they might like her.
It’s not an autobiography as such; more scenes from the author’s life as they related to her leaps and discoveries about faith. Some of it is revealing, poignant, and stark. As a teenager she experimented with drugs, slept with a lot of different men, and drank far too much. She didn’t look after herself at all; later chapters talk about her developing an eating disorder after trying - and failing - to diet, experimenting with every possible way of eating she could find.
Fundamentalists would find a lot to argue with. Lamott is not a conventional Christian at all, and while her faith is clearly strong it’s hard to know how she sees God, and what principles she still holds to. She clearly likes to help others - to love her neighbour, to forgive and care for even the most unpleasant people - and she adores her young son Sam, a quirky little boy who, by the time he’s eight, has learned to be quite scathing (even rude) at times.
On the other hand, it takes her a long time to accept that she is loved and lovable, to care less about her image and more about being who God made her to be. And she continues sleeping with the many different boyfriends she acquires, never finding anyone she wants to spend the rest of her life with. She seems to fall in and out of love with disturbing rapidity.
Although the topic of faith is certainly covered, here and there, the book felt more like an expose of the author and her life. It’s very honest, quite self-revealing in a way that’s almost uncomfortable at times. Yet I found it a very readable book. The writing style is unique, if sometimes a bit wordy. The descriptions are excellent, with some unusual metaphors and word pictures that conjured up scenes or voices in my mind.
There are a few too many expletives for my tastes, but they’re evidently part of the author’s natural conversation. I like the way that much of the book comes across as her talking about personal anecdotes and ideas, as if to a friend. So while I don’t like some of the language, it’s apparently how Anne Lamott speaks - and therefore more acceptable.
Not everyone will appreciate this book. The forays into faith and leaps in understanding how God works are described well, and unlikely to offend atheists and agnostics. But those of fundamentalist leanings, or strict evangelicals might object to the relaxed, liberal theology that comes across.
But with those provisos, I would recommend this as a description of one person’s wanderings through unusual pathways, experimenting with several bad ideas, but still ending up believing in God.
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