We got a new review on the anglobaptist.org blog, which is subtitled “conjectural navel gazing; jesus in lint form” and is written by Tripp Hudgins. I have copied it below – Weighed Words appreciates the nice remarks and promotion!
A review: Solace in So Many Words
Where or when do you go when you are seeking solace? Are there stories you tell or memories you hold dear? Personally I go right for poetry. But when one is looking for solace we’re likely to look almost anywhere for anything. The collection of stories and poems found in Solace in So Many Words is a wonderful assortment of all the ways, beautiful and disturbing, that our souls might find solace in this life.
Poems, essays, and short stories…
She gently took my hands and used them to make shadow figures on my walls, and told me that everything we are exposed to casts a shadow. If an experience is pleasant, we can rejoice in it. If it is painful, it can form scars. If it is overwhelming, it can reduce us to shadows of what we are.” (from “Nagasaki Shadows”)
I find that I have to read one or two entries at a time. The emotions and perspectives are raw. For solace to be honest, so too must the need for it. It’s taken me a long time to get through the collection, but I also find that I come back again to some of the stories. I keep looking for more. My soul reaches out to the souls on the pages.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I was given my copy by a member of my church who has a story published in it, “Heartbeat.” The story is about the pain of loss and gain, of a chance to start…not again, but to begin. Life is a series of overlapping beginnings and endings. We never really get a clean slate. Yet, grace comes anyway. J. Scott Smith writes beautifully and straight as an arrow. It’s a great example of what the whole collection does so successfully.
Get the book. Take it with you for your commute or read a story when you have a quiet moment in the evening. You’ll find that it offers you just what it claims: Solace.
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