11, 2014 Honest, witty essays on the hidden blessings in life.
READ REVIEW SMALL VICTORIES SPOTTING IMPROBABLE MOMENTS OF GRACE by Anne Lamott RELEASE DATE: Nov.
Decades later, his former girlfriend sends along his journal, in which he criticizes Lamott for having “tried too hard to be brave and hopeful.” How can she possibly forgive this? Only, it seems, by tuning in to her pain and seeing her father in all his fearful human complexity. SMALL VICTORIES Kirkus Reviews Sage advice on finding beauty and happiness in life despite bad circumstances. In “Dad,” she relates that she adored her alcoholic, philandering father and, when he developed brain cancer, devoted herself to his care. Wrestling with her anger toward her dead parents is a far-tougher slog, and provokes some of her most powerful writing. Lamott observes “frozen music in the giant redwoods” and felt herself “take on all the qualities that Barbara brought to the day, a fraught joy and awareness.” She transforms the hike into a spiritual journey, with the forest resembling a vast chapel. In “Prelude: Victory Lap,” Lamott describes hiking Muir Woods, north of San Francisco, with her friend Barbara, who has ALS, a walker, and an iPad-based computer voice. She portrays them, for the most part, as courageous, life-affirming role models. Too many of her intimates have been afflicted with serious illnesses, including Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS), cancer, and dementia. But Lamott also writes compassionately about near-universal challenges: difficult parents, emotional betrayal, the ravages of illness and grief.
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