Book Review: Angry Conversations With God

Note: I'm continue to be on hiatus from this blog, but have paused briefly to share a book with you here.I'm still breathless from reading Susan Isaacs' book, "Angry Conversations With God: A Snarky but Authentic Spiritual Memoir." I'm not sure where to begin describing it, but "highly intelligent, insightful, funny and heartbreaking" is a good way to begin.

Isaacs, an actress, comedian and scriptwriter, refers to the book The Sacred Romance and relates that in her life she came to the realization that if her relationship with God was like a marriage, God was a deadbeat spouse and she and God needed to go for couples therapy.

And so Susan and God meet for counseling. Susan chooses Rudy as their counselor. He is a disillusioned former Baptist preacher, and his fees are cheap because he's trying to rack up counseling hours for his licensure. They meet in the corner of a cavernous Baptist church basement with pictures of "nice Jesus"--the Sallman painting--on the wall.

As Susan works her way through recalling her life with God, she also recognizes her issues with her father, her mother, her siblings, her art, her spiritual search, her addictions, and her unrequited longing to find the love of her life. Along the way, Isaacs' characterizations of American Christianity (at least, in southern California) are incisive, funny, and in my opinion--having lived in that area during the era she describes--dead-on.

Let me clarify, lest you be misled: reading this book is not simply walking through a counseling series with Isaacs while she "deals with all her ugly junk." Instead it's a journey of discovering who God really is and taking responsibility for our own characterizations and resentments towards Him. I found myself rounding a corner or two in her story and being surprised at what I found. I have not lived a life like Susan Isaacs' life, except for a few little pieces, and yet I had some opportunities to confront my own self, coming to some new understandings about my own story. And the experience of doing so has been exciting and hopeful.

Here's one little interaction from the book that may not have the punch for you that it had for me, coming into it on page 224 within the context of the whole book preceding it, but let's try it, because it hit me in the stomach:

Rudy: Does that mean God might be coming back to counseling?
Susan: I don't want to rush him, or me. I have to count the cost.
Rudy: Are you afraid to find out what God is really like?
Susan: Uh-oh. You mean he might really be evil or something?
Rudy: No. He might really be good.

What a devastating thought. If God really was good, then I had to let go of every expectation and every grudge. I could no longer defy him or manipulate him. I might even have to let him love me.

So there you are. The subtitle is truly representative; it's both snarky and authentic, something a conservative, traditional Christian might wince at now and then. And I could hardly put it down in the two days it took me to finish it. Two thumbs up, still shaky from the impact of such a good, meaningful read.


**Snarky, according to the online dictionary, is a word derived from "snide remark." God says repeatedly in this book, "Sarcasm is a viable form of communication," a comment that became increasingly delightful as I read.