BookBrowse Reviews Somehow by Anne Lamott

BookBrowse:

Anne Lamott presents essays on love: its ability to change us, uplift us, and keep us safe.

Anne Lamott knows a thing or two about love. In fact, there is so much of it exuding from her essay collection Somehow, you'd be forgiven for feeling wistful and misty-eyed just reading some of her descriptions. They act as a form of time travel, showing us scenes from Lamott's life that have proven to her the essential nature of love as a feeling, and how it affects each of us in both minute and enormous ways.

In twelve essays, Lamott exhibits her famed intellect and bright humor, inviting us on a journey past the many faces of love. One gets the feeling while reading her interior monologue that she has a dark streak and no interest in concealing it. She frequently returns to self-loathing and fear, eventually talking herself out of it, always with the assistance of love: the only true balm for pain. It's apparent she grew to this maturity past the tender seedlings of a young naivety, and now she's a sage, offering self-deprecating wisdom with a wink and knowing smile. Referring to an old flame, she says, "I don't throw out the meager reminders of us — a card, an ugly ring, a Polaroid, because all that pain got me to where I am now."

She's self-aware and accepts life with grace, continuing past the stumbles. She always gets up and always loves, no matter the consequences. Lamott is deeply religious, but she never preaches. Her love of God is assured and never pushy. She is an author who's been there, and if you've read any of her other work, including the subliminal Bird by Bird (in which she navigates the writing process with hilarious tirades that offer smorgasbords of advice), you'll know she loves to play with language, and it's always satisfying to witness:

"Usually grace in its guise as spiritual WD-40 gets in and loosens the tight knot that has formed in the tangled gold chain of my best thinking. But not today." 

"... I had to wonder if maybe I have too many bite marks on my soul's dorsal fin to ever feel free."

Reading Somehow, you might find yourself in awe of her fine-tuned senses. This awareness is a mysterious gift only a handful of writers really possess, and Lamott is one of the great ones. We see ourselves in her writing, and she nods along with us. The core of Somehow contains experiences we can all recognize: the repercussions of our childhood or a rock bottom year, the people who loved and left us and the people whose love we betrayed, the communities built on love, the person who healed us with love and allowed us to grow. "Love gives us a shot of being the person we were born to be," says Lamott. And, at the end of the day, love really is all around us. Elsewhere, she recalls:

"My husband said something a few years ago that I often quote: Eighty percent of everything that is true and beautiful can be experienced on any ten-minute walk. Even in the darkest and most devastating times, love is nearby if you know what to look for ... familiar signs of love: wings, good-hearted people, cats (when they are in the right mood), a spray of wildflowers, a cup of tea."

Love, then, is simple, satisfying warmth. It is a safe and comforting place, a place you want to live until your last breath. The final line of Somehow is a familiar one and sums up the message of the collection in five simple words: Love is all you need.

This review first ran in the June 5, 2024 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.