Home is Always the Place You Just Left: A Memoir of Restless Longing and Persistent Grace [Paperback]

Betty Smartt Carter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2003

In the tradition of Anne Lamott’s Traveling Mercies, this memoir chronicles one woman’s tumultuous quest for a meaningful faith. With candor and wry wit, Carter recounts her spiritual journey, from her conservative evangelical upbringing, to the struggles and doubts of early adulthood, marriage, and motherhood, to an experience of grace that would bring healing to the broken places in her life, and profound joy.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this expressive spiritual autobiography, the author circles from the implanted Christian faith of her evangelical past to a mature faith born of self-awareness and suffering. A novelist and book reviewer for Christian journals like Books & Culture, Carter has the ability to empathetically chronicle the conservative faith of her childhood while appreciating its idiosyncrasies and parochialism. The youngest child of a homemaker mother and an oft-absent conservative Presbyterian pastor, Carter was driven by the need to find people who would make her feel completely loved and wholly known. "No simple physical or intellectual desire could stand up to this emotional one-and that was to become drunk on another soul, on the very being of someone outside myself." With persistent candor, the writer recounts her times of sadness, of relational obsession, and of sporadic family discord. At book's end, Carter sees herself as the object of longing for a pursuing and loving God. Has Carter that rare gift of writing a memoir that compellingly engages readers with the mounting rhythms of spiritual crisis and resolution? The answer would have to be: sometimes. Though she doesn't yet have the extraordinary quirkiness and turn of phrase of an Anne Lamott, or the theological subtlety and wry wit of a Frederick Buechner, at 37 Carter is still young in the confessional tradition. Give her credit for being an evangelical both willing to honor her roots, and to continue her journey in faith.
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Review

A ruthlessly unsparing spiritual autobiography by a writer with deep evangelical convictions. -- Books and Culture, November 25, 2002

Her memoir leaves you having made a remarkable new friend whose life you hope never to lose touch with. -- Frederick Beuchner, author, Speak What We Feel

Like all the best memoirs, this book's subject is not principally Betty Smartt Carter. -- Lauren Winner, author, Girl Meets God

Ruthlessly honest and seriously funny. . . one of the finest contemporary spiritual autobiographies. -- John Wilson, Editor of Books and Culture

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Paraclete Press (MA) (May 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557253234
• ISBN-13: 978-1557253231
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,599,412 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I can't say enough, April 17, 2003

By 

"karebear54" (Massachusetts, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Home is Always the Place You Just Left: A Memoir of Restless Longing and Persistent Grace (Paperback)

This is a book that I would recommend to just about anyone. Not only is Betty Carter down-to-earth, she is incredibly funny! I don't normally laugh out loud while reading, but several times I found myself shaking in my chair trying to contain my laughter.

Her honest account of her own struggles proves that there is hope for all of us.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Friend for your bookshelf, May 16, 2003

By 

Kathryn Shannon (Massachusetts, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Home is Always the Place You Just Left: A Memoir of Restless Longing and Persistent Grace (Paperback)

I would reccommend this book for anyone in their 20's or 30's especially, anyone who has ever felt alone, anyone who has ever almost wanted their parents to catch them doing something they shouldn't - just so they could talk, and anyone who has ever asked "does God even care that I exist?"
Betty Smartt Carter has my respect and admiration for sharing so courgeously! This book deserves to be read! I wish I was rich enough to stand on a street corner and give copies away! Don't miss it.