Help Thanks Wow: A Brief Review

Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers

Author: Anne Lamott

Publisher: New York: Riverhead Books a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 2012

103 pages, ISBN 978-1-59463-129-0, Paperback

Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

Anne Lamott is a popular author whom many praise, quote and speak and blog about these days. I hadn’t read her books prior to this one, so I thought I’d find out for myself what she had to say.

   In the “Prelude,” Lamott describes prayer as “private,” and “communication from the heart to that which surpasses understanding.” (p. 1) She goes on to tell her readers that she’s not too concerned about how to name God—which may be an issue for some of her readers who believe that God should definitely be communicated with by employing specific names. She believes that one can speak with God in prayer about anything.

   Lamott is a creative writer. In this little volume, she seems, to this reader, to be a stream of consciousness writer. There is a flow to the writing. Her turns of phrase are attention-grabbers, unpredictable, humorous, insightful and more. Yet, at the same time, they are both her strength and her weakness.

   The writing is so colourful and busy that it goes off in far too many directions too rapidly and, at times anyway, for this reader more difficult to track. Overall, for Lamott, perhaps the chaos theory of existence is more attractive than the ordered theory of existence.

   Having said all of that, I do appreciate some of her turns of phrase. Here are three examples that may make readers of this review curious enough to explore Anne Lamott’s writings. 

   From the “Help” chapter, concerning seeking an answer from God: “Yet maybe if you ask God for help in knowing which direction to face, you’ll have a moment of intuition.”

   “The response probably won’t be from God, in the sense of hearing a deep grandfatherly voice, or via skywriting, or in the form of an LED-lit airplane aisle at your feet.” (p. 37)

   From the “Thanks” chapter, an insight into the nature of gratitude: “Gratitude begins in our hearts and then dovetails into behavior. It almost always makes you willing to be of service, which is where the joy resides. It means you are willing to stop being such a jerk.” (pp. 56-57)

   From the “Wow” chapter, on the wonder, awe, and amazement of life: “Love falls to earth, rises from the ground, pools around the afflicted. Love pulls people back to their feet. Bodies and souls are fed. Bones and lives heal.”

   “What can we say beyond Wow, in the presence of glorious art, in the music so magnificent that it can’t have originated solely on this side of things? Wonder takes our breath away, and makes room for new breath. That’s why they call it breathtaking.” (p. 81)

   So, if your prayer life has become stale, boring and dry and a bit too ordered; if you are looking for more creativity in your prayer life; you may want to read Anne Lamott’s book.