Life is Mostly Edges

Reviewed by Jennifer.

I don't usually care for poetry - I feel like I don't have the patience.  Nevertheless, I remember loving reading Calvin Miller's "The Singer" back in college.  So I recently purchased his memoir as a gift for someone.  That 'someone' never read it, and I got tired of that book sitting on the shelf.  (That 'someone' lives in my house, you see.)

I removed the book from the shelf and admired the pretty dust jacket - and felt that I had to crack it open.  I found that I really loved the writing style in the prologue, and so I continued, unable to put it down.  At times I really empathized, at times I laughed out loud.  This is a poet's book, but it is not poetry.  It is Miller's artistic storytelling style that keeps you reading through his very poor Oklahoma childhood, through his experiences with denominations, through his struggles as a young minister and onward.  Miller is in his seventies and has a lot of wisdom as he looks back over the various turns taken in his life.  A great joy to read.

Here is one of many underlined passages: "... I believe that our intensity always produces a focus that destroys our perspective.  Such a tight little squinting of the eyes gobbles up our peripheral vision.  It steals the panorama of what we might have seen if we had laid down some of our busy agenda and looked around a bit." - page 371.  Don't be daunted by the size of this book - it goes by much too quickly and is thoroughly inspirational and enjoyable in so many ways.