Somehow
Thoughts on Love
by Anne Lamott
Riverhead Books, 2024. 194 pages.
Review written August 27, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review
Yes, when Anne Lamott brings out a new book, I need to read it. They are a little bit about faith, a lot about life, and always inspiring and encouraging.
Anne Lamott has a quirky perspective, and she knows how to bring the reader along with her, so we look at things a different way. She’s also self-deprecating and never makes you feel bad for being spiteful, angry, or whiny, because she tells hilarious stories of when she was all those things, too, and really, who wouldn’t be?
Anne Lamott writes about the human condition and helps us realize how much we have in common and that we’re all in this together.
I didn’t mark quotations in this one. There are lots of great paragraphs, but they’re generally all from a longer story and the power of her words is in the path she leads you down to get you there.
So I think for this review, I’m going to give you the first and last paragraph, to give you the flavor. Here’s how the book begins:
My husband said something a few years ago that I often quote: Eighty percent of everything that is true and beautiful can be experienced on any ten-minute walk. Even in the darkest and most devastating times, love is nearby if you know what to look for. It does not always appear at first to be lovely but instead may take the form of a hot mess or a snoring old dog or someone you have sworn to never, ever forgive (for a possibly very good reason, if you ask me). But mixed in will also be familiar signs of love: wings, good-hearted people, cats (when they are in the right mood), a spray of wildflowers, a cup of tea.
And here’s the last paragraph:
I’ll tell you what Blake actually wrote more than two hundred years ago: “And we are put on earth a little space, that we may learn to bear the beams of love.” If the younger ones in our lives can remember only this one idea, that they are here, briefly, a little space to love and to have been loved, then they will have all they need, because love is all they need, rain or shine – love, cough drops, and one another. Good old love, elusive and steadfast, fragile and unbreakable, and always there for the asking; always, somehow.
In between you’ve got the wonderful musings of Anne Lamott. I read a chapter each day and they always leave me feeling uplifted and more hopeful. If you haven’t read an Anne Lamott book yet, it’s time to dive in!
Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction/somehow.html
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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.
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