Book Reviews — Page 6

If forgiveness can bloom for the Gardner family, then there is hope for us all.

Dr. Siri is the wise-cracking Laotian septuagenarian national coroner of Laos. That’s funny already, right?

The point of this brilliant book is that life is, and there is simply nothing more to say. So, logically, I should just stop here, but I’m not yet mistress of the short form.

Put together The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer, Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, Matterhorn, by Karl Marlantes, The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, 365 Days by Karl Glasser, and Redeployment and you have all the reasons you will ever need to be a pacifist, or a reluctant warrior at the very least.

Gilbert knows that just recounting her adventures is not enough; she must put her personal experience into a context which will include the reader, and there she hits a home run.

I learned about an ignored corner of recent history, and felt reassured. In the midst of uncertainty and terror, some people slide through on wit, courage, and good will.

Take the advice, enjoy the humor, and gird yourself for the despair. Lamott has survived her despair and by her example (perhaps in spite of herself) reminds us that you won’t be facing the existential maw, you’ll just be joining the club.

The blurb on the book’s front cover is by Alice Munro, “To read this book is to enter a state of enchantment.” Read it and become enchanted.