Learning To Walk In The Dark (2014) - Plot & Excerpts
I had high hopes for this book and I have to say that I was disappointed. For a book about the depths of literal and metaphorical darkness, I found it shallow. The book talks about darkness without ever actually going into it. As the reader, you spend time with her contemplating the lack of physical light, but no time contemplating her own interior darkness or anyone else's. Sad that a topic so rich with spiritual nourishment led to a book that left me feeling full of empty calories. Saw Barbara Brown Taylor on Super Soul Sunday and was impressed with her, so bought this book. Loved the beginning. There are exquisite passages I found myself reading to friends. However the book rather devolves away from a rich personal exploration to what felt like "reports" based on intellectual research, and that the "assignment" was "darkness" so I kept losing interest. This was compounded by the author's apparently lifelong struggle with her ambivalence with The Church and its teachings, about which she has written extensively in the past I learned. I was not expecting quite so much of that and I found this a struggle I could not relate to, not having been a minister who broke away from the Church, nor did I ever reach a point of disillusionment with The Church per se. I can see religion for what it is and what it is not, and have no trouble honoring what works for me and what does not, and supplementing with my own explorations without pushing against religion. This author has not reached that, and while I do not judge her for that, her expounding on that left me skipping pages and moving past her angst. So, mixed reviews. Rather a pity considering the wealth that is in this book, but it's a bit like mining for gold.
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