Angry Conversations with God: A Snarky but Authentic Spiritual Memoir [Hardcover]

Susan E. Isaacs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 12, 2009

Disillusioned, disenfranchised, and disinterested in anything churchy, Susan Isaacs knew of only one thing to do when she hit spiritual rock bottom at age 40. . . . She took God to couples counseling.
In this cuttingly poignant memoir, Susan Isaacs chronicles her rocky relationship with the Almighty--from early childhood to midlife crisis--and all the churches where she and God tried to make a home: Pentecostals, Slackers for Jesus, and the über-intellectuals who turned everything, including the weekly church announcements, into a three-point sermon. Casting herself as the neglected spouse, Susan faces her inner nag and the ridiculous expectations she put on God--some her own, and some from her "crazy in-laws" at church. Originally staged as a solo show in New York and Los Angeles, ANGRY CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD is a cheeky, heartfelt memoir that, even at its most scandalous, is still an affirmation of faith.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. God in couples counseling? Sounds sacrilegious, but in the adept hands of comedian, writer and actress Isaacs, it's a success. Isaacs reached bottom at age 40: no job, no boyfriend, no home. Of course, she blamed God. So off they went to counseling with the ever-patient therapist Rudy. Isaacs moves easily between recounting her life story and her counseling sessions. She describes encounters with the Nice Jesus of her Lutheran upbringing; the Oakie Pentecostal church and the militant counselor; the Rock-n-Roll church and the Orthopraxy, Dude church, plus her rocky acting career and her love life, including guilt-ridden sex and Mostly Mister Right. Isaacs readily admits to being snarky, but she's honest about her quest and its conclusion: I saw now all too clearly why I had married God: for the power and the glory. For the money. Isaacs goes on a Job-like search for explanations from God, but instead finds the problem to be her. She's funny, biting, earthy and brilliant. (Mar. 12)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"If King David were a woman, and were funny, he'd be Susan Isaacs. And the thing about this book is it surprises you. There are lines in it you won't see coming. You'll be handing this book to somebody else about a month from now thinking, Maybe this will help them understand me. You'll do that because it helped you understand yourself first." (Donald Miller, New York Times bestselling author of Blue Like Jazz )

"Susan's brilliant comic idea of taking God to couples therapy is a terrific framework for the story of her personal journey of faith." (Jim Gaffigan, actor and comedian )

"Face it, folks, the church is made up of messed-up people all trying to deal with life. I appreciate writers like Susan who creatively face their issues with honesty and humor. ANGRY CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD is a really fun read." (Tony Hale, actor )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: FaithWords; 1 edition (March 12, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1599950626
• ISBN-13: 978-1599950624
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #637,161 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Susan Isaacs is a writer, actor and comedienne with TV and film credits including Planes Trains & Automobiles, Scrooged, Seinfeld, The Drew Carey Show, and My Name Is Earl and more. Susan is an alumnus of the Groundlings Sunday Company and holds an MFA in screenwriting from the University of Southern California.

Susan has contributed her essays to Weekend America, Fresh Yarn, Burnside Writers Collective, and wrote DirecTV's holiday specials hosted by NASCAR champ Darrell Waltrip. Susan lives in Southern California.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 58 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Suddenly Susan! April 14, 2009

By Chad Estes

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book wasn't what I expected. The author, Susan Isaacs, is a moderately successful actress/writer/comedienne who has worked on movies and TV shows you would be familiar with. Why don't you know her on a first name basis? That is part of the fuel for the fire of this book. In telling her lack-of-success story Susan is "snarky," her cover is cute, and even her book title is clever. I imagined that it would be a humorous read, something fluffy like Oreo filling that I could enjoy between the hard shell theology books on my plate. But this ended up being a book that has significant substance.

Sometimes I get the impression that the Christian authors I read just want to sell books, to see their name on a book spine, or to appear to the rest of us that they are ahead of the pack. They produce books full of outlines that if followed will solve all the answers to church growth problems, deal with leadership issues, nail down how to live as a modern Christian in the post-modern world, and provide seven steps to get to whatever. And though I'm sure there is much value in these attempts, sometimes I just want to relate to someone who is asking the same questions that I am.

Susan has some questions; like when her pastor encouraged her not to act in a film that was too dark, but then later used the same movie in a sermon illustration once it was released; and when all the people around her found the success that she didn't; and when all the relationships she invested in came up bankrupt; and when each of the churches she attended became cliché, full of hype, and self-serving; and especially when Susan decided that the God she knew was nothing but cruel.

This isn't a book about blame. Susan takes accountability for her issues and her honesty about them will make some readers blush. Other readers may not be embarrassed but will envy Susan of her candor and freedom. And some readers will admire that Susan was brave enough to drag the God she was married to into couple's therapy.

That is one of the things that make's Susan's memoir different than the others I've read lately. After writing about a chapter in her life, Susan, God and her counselor have a discussion on how they feel about what has just been shared. It is a like hiding in a closet listening to your sister and her husband verbally vomit on their therapist. But if you're like me, if you open the closet enough to peer out, instead of seeing Susan in the room you may just see yourself.

Who is this book for?

* People whose dreams and ambitions are stuck in neutral.
* People who believe in God but aren't so sure that he loves them.
* People who feel angry at God- not irreverent, just angry.
* People who don't have the answers to all of life's questions.
* And even people who think they have all the answers and would like to set Susan straight- she has a special place in her heart for you. (Yes, that was snarky.)

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Should Come With A Warning Label. May 18, 2009

By L. E. Deason

Format:Hardcover

1. Not for anyone looking for Christian platitudes or easy answers.
2. Will cause sustained periods of uncontrollable laughter.*
3. Reader may not be able to put this one down...

...and if you do, your friends will steal it. Trust me. I'm currently awaiting a second copy, and I'm pretty sure I know who will want to "borrow" it next.

Susan Isaacs delivers the goods with Angry Conversations. It's wonderfully insightful, refreshingly honest, and completely hilarious - in short, a Christian book I can actually recommend (at long last).

Buy one - or three - today.

*If uncontrollable laughter persists beyond four hours, call your doctor.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars What a Ride! May 19, 2009

By HawleyEdit

Format:Hardcover

Who does not bring their own checkered past and frustrations to this kind of story? Who has not wondered what God can possibly be up to, in view of the dubious ways he shapes our paths? -- That said, here's my disclaimer: Part of the impact this outstanding book has on me was due to the many ways I relate to the pilgrimage Susan Isaacs relates. But (a corollary disclaimer) I'm confident anyone in our schizoid society who knows the meaning of honest doubt will be transfixed by this story as I am.

My advice is to get hold of "Angry Conversations" and strap yourself in. You will see the amazing, probing questions Susan has asked, but you'll be asking your own as well -- and learning more about the amazing God who inspires and welcomes such questions, both from hearing the author's statements observations comments and riffs but even more from bearing your own struggles before God without a precondition.

One lesson this book teaches, by demonstration, is far beyond price: how costly and precious it is to finally achieve the utter openness that a true encounter with the Almighty requires. As if that weren't enough, the book also teaches how to smile and even laugh through the tears wrung from the pain of healing, a process that often includes debridement (cutting away dead tissue) and cautery (purifying wounds with fire). Part of what has to burn up is the humanly distorted view of God every one of us has, and everyone faces a unique struggle to come to terms with their own self-deceptions about God and find the joy of handing them over to be torched.

I won't presume to quote any of this sparkling book. In my view it would diminish the place of each quote in the sweep and wonder of the story (no disrespect to any reviewer who does use quotations). I might only reduce a quote to a one-liner, when in reality it's probably the crown jewel of a set piece that may go on for pages. Trust me: You'll find the great lines, and they will pay off as you meet them, in the heart of the story, whether they are howlers, groaners, or jaw-dropping moments of revelation that let you feel the gale of the Spirit roaring through the vastness.

I compare this book favorably to "The Spiral Staircase" (by Karen Armstrong) and "Crazy for God" (by Frank Schaeffer) as a top-tier memoir of Christian frustration and discovery. In contast, however, Susan is one of us, neither a triumphant but finally disillusioned nun nor the equally disillusioned son of an Evangelical statesman.

In the course of reading Isaacs's book, I was reminded of the implacable Anne Lamott and her series, "Traveling Mercies," "Plan B," and "Grace (Eventually)," which series one may hope is to be continued.

If you know and love the searing, uncompromising reflections of any of these writers, you will treasure "Angry Conversations with God," welcome Susan Isaacs to their bracing company -- and advance a few leagues along your own pilgrimage into the bargain.