“Snarky” threatens to overwhelm “authentic”

By Karin Armstrong and ChristianWeek | December 9, 2009

Susan Isaacs, like many others, has a story to tell. But Isaacs is not like others in her method of telling her story. She says, "truth needs to be invented—that is, it needs to be crafted into a story worthy of your time."

With this in mind, she relates the events of her life from a relatively "normal" beginning, through circumstances that turned her family into above-average dysfunctional, on into high school, college and beyond.

Her choice to study drama and comedy did not improve relations with her parents. Things got messy with anorexia, alcohol, sex and rejection in work and relationships. But in all of this she was looking for a relationship with God. Finally, after observing her ex-boyfriend "stick his tongue down some woman's throat as the adrenaline ripped my heart open like a dirty bomb," she made the decision to go to counseling with God as her spouse.

"Our relationship with God is nothing short of marriage," a friend tells Isaacs. She replies, "Well, in that case, God and I need to go to couple's counseling. Because we are not getting along." These counseling sessions interspersed throughout the book are where she works out her understanding of God and her relationship with Him.

"A snarky but authentic spiritual memoir" is an apt subtitle for this book. It's over the top on "snarky" until well into the book when "authentic" begins to make it more readable. But Isaacs' writing style takes away from the honesty and agony of life, her search for a formula, a church, or one-time fix with God.

This is not a "must have" book for my library, nor would I hand it to someone else thinking, "Maybe this will help them understand me," as Donald Miller predicts. Nevertheless, as Isaacs ends her story with her decision "to accept the real God on God's terms," I could also conclude that aspects of the book did speak to my soul. Not only is God beyond my comprehension but I am not the judge of how people might respond to His greatness and goodness.