Still crazy (by Adrian Plass)

(Amazon UK link)

I have loved almost everything Adrian Plass has written since I first discovered his first wonderful ‘Sacred diary’ book back in the late 1980s. He is a very versatile writer, with novels, poetry and non fiction in a variety of genres. Underlying them all is his Christian faith, often with profound questions being asked. Yet he is never preachy or pushy.

I was delighted when I read that he had published another book, ‘Still crazy’, a few years ago. I waited until it was out in paperback before adding it to my wishlist, and was given it for my birthday a year ago. I was going to read it almost immediately, but the blurb on the back mentions that this collection includes ‘fresh entries from the Sacred Diary and new insights into the world of the Shadow Doctor.’ So I decided to re-read Adrian Plass’s full-length fiction books over the course of the past year, in preparation.

And finally I picked this book up to read a couple of weeks ago. I quickly realised that it’s mostly non-fiction, and quite a random collection. The introduction describes the author’s own ‘craziness’, as he puts it, including a bizarre incident when he found himself balancing a bottle of wine on his head, waiting for his wife to arrive… 

Plass also claims that God works in an ‘off balance’ kind of way, particularly through Jesus. And, over the course of this book, he challenges a lot of traditional Christian thinking and rigid evangelicalism. Some might find what he says disturbing, but to me it’s refreshingly honest. He doesn’t try to give answers, and doesn’t criticise those who stand by their long-held beliefs. But he - hopefully - opens a few minds, and encourages his readers to think outside the box.

There are nine main chapters to the book. I had forgotten that the blurb only mentions two updates from the author’s fictional books. For some reason I had thought there might be an update on the Robinson family, but there isn’t. Even more disappointingly, there is no update on the people in the book ‘Ghosts’. I don’t know why I had thought there might be; the ending is tantalisingly open. And the characters in these books all managed to get under my skin. 

However, the chapter ‘Adrian Plass and the summer festival’ is a welcome addition to the ‘Sacred diary’ books, and does update a very stressful situation that arose, relating to his fictional daughter-in-law Josie, at the end of ‘Adrian Plass and the church weekend’. I liked that chapter very much.  I also appreciated the eighth chapter, ‘Shadow of shadows’, which gives some insight into the past, with some anecdotes involving Doc’s late wife Miriam, who was only briefly mentioned in 'The past awaits'. 

Other chapters are a mixture of anecdotes, explanations, brief conversations and poems. Adrian Plass writes well, as ever, and I found myself quite caught up in each chapter; I mostly read one per day, sometimes just half a chapter if it was particularly long. But looking back, I’m not sure I remember anything in particular. There’s a chapter entitled ‘All people great and small’ which describes some apparently ordinary people who had a significant effect on the author’s life, albeit in apparently tiny ways. 

There’s a chapter about surviving during the pandemic, which I could certainly relate to. There’s an interesting chapter about Scargill House, a retreat centre where Adrian and his wife Bridget worked for some time (and where they still sometimes run workshops). And the final chapter is about love. Once again it’s full of different anecdotes and ideas, apparently unconnected, as well as some poems.

I’m not a fan of poetry in general, and though I did try to read through the poems in the book, they didn’t really do anything for me. But I enjoyed the rest of the book - once I’d accepted the lack of updates on ‘Ghosts’ or the Robinson family - and am sure I will read it again in a few years’ time. It didn't make me laugh aloud like some of the author's other books, and it didn't move me to tears. But I smiled a few times, and there was much to ponder.

Recommended if you like Adrian Plass’s work; but not so much as an introduction to his writing. ‘Still crazy’ gives the impression of being an eclectic gathering of his thoughts, almost as if he wanted to capture several bits and pieces, rather than writing a more coherent book. The book cover rather reflects this.Still, some of his other books are similarly random in structure and style. And hopefully there will be more in future.

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