I enjoy Buechner’s writing. In this book, however, I found there were times that it felt that he was rambling, and I was unsure where he was going or if there was a point to the narrative. There are some great nuggets of insight hidden throughout. Maybe I was just not patient enough to ferret them out.

Buechner has written yet another fine memoir, this time facing the very thing so many of us seek to avoid: pain. Life is often filled with loss, grief, heartache, and Buechner tells of his own, inviting us to explore our memories and to find in them not only meaning, but hope. His stories focus primarily upon his family, the loss of his dad, the death of his brother, the difficult relationship with his mother. Rather than keeping such memories tucked away and hidden from view, he brings them in to the light, allowing them to breathe, to emerge, and to do their work.