Loser Letters [Kindle Edition]

Mary Eberstadt (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The Loser Letters draws inevitable comparisons to C.S. Lewis' classic The Screwtape Letters, and rightly so.....a provocative, compelling case [made] with rare grace and conviction."
--Claire Gillen, The Washington Times

"The Loser Letters is an instant classic." --Nancy Piccione, The Catholic Post

"...[C.S.] Lewis now has a rival: The Loser Letters, by Mary Eberstadt.... this is witty and wicked satire." ---Scot McKnight, beliefnet.com

"[T]he engaging author....deftly channels C. S. Lewis's Screwtape Letters through the voice of a fictional twentysomething survivor of college hookups, detox, and Facebook relationship etiquette."  --Joan Desmond, The Weekly Standard

"Eberstadt brilliantly defends the faith from radical New Atheism with wit and humor....more than a match for Hitchens and Dawkins and their flying spaghetti monster." --Matthew Archbold, National Catholic Register

As a Christian humorist, Mary Eberstadt is the rightful heir and assignee of C.S. Lewis, and her heroine in The Loser Letters is the legitimate child (or perhaps grandchild) of "the patient" in The Screwtape Letters. - --P.J. O'Rourke, Author, Parliament of Whores

Mary Eberstadt is one smart cookie. If you don't believe me, ask Satan. --George Weigel

This is a wise, funny, and winning book. --Michael Novak

Product Description

A wickedly witty satire, The Loser Letters chronicles the conversion of a young adult Christian to atheism. With modern humor rivaling that of the media lampooning Onion, found on college campuses all over America, A. F. Christian’s open letters to the “spokesmen of the New Atheism” explain her reasons for rejecting God and the logical consequences of that choice. Along the way she offers pithy advice to famous atheists such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, in the hope of helping them win over more Christians.

“Of course we score big time with the young guys who aren’t responsible for anything, and don’t really care about anything besides spending most of their time in the basement playing video games and texting girls,” A.F. Christian points out. But what about all those serious, thoughtful people who are Christian believers? If the New Atheism is to make real headway, she argues, its advocates must do more to persuade intelligent theists living meaningful and fulfilling lives.

Amid the many current books arguing for or against religion, social critic and writer Mary Eberstadt’s The Loser Letters is truly unique: a black comedy about theism and atheism that is simultaneously a rollicking defense of Christianity.

Echoing C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters and Dante’s Divine Comedy, Eberstadt takes aim at bestsellers like The God Delusion and God Is Not Great with the sexual libertinism their authors advocate. In her loveable and articulate tragic-comic heroine, A.F. Christian, Dawkins, Hitchens and the other “Brights” have met their match.

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 171 KB
• Publisher: Ignatius Press (February 25, 2010)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B003A2C3N2
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #149,331 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

71 of 87 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intimidating Intelligence Dims the Brights, March 30, 2010

By 

Gayle Trotter - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Loser Letters (Paperback)

In an anything-but-apologetic apologia, Mary Eberstadt challenges the many spokesmen (and they are almost all men) for the New Atheism in her satire, The Loser Letters. Reminiscent of Ted Turner's infamous comment that Christianity is a religion for losers, the Loser in this book is God.

The intimidatingly intelligent Eberstadt has established herself as an incisive writer who engages explosive and controversial topics. She critiqued the practice of administering strong drugs to schoolchildren in an effort to promote better school performance in Why Ritalin Rules and extended her treatment of the topic in her book, Home Alone America.

She has exposed the effects of the sexual revolution and has chronicled developments from Anglican acceptance of contraception at the Lambeth Conference in 1930 to the denomination's current warfare over homosexuality. She presents a uniquely perceptive view of pop culture with arresting titles such as Is Food the New Sex? and Eminem Is Right. She makes frequent, and provocative, contributions to the Wall Street Journal, Policy Review, Commentary, and First Things.

The Loser Letters, Eberstadt's first published work of fiction, draws on a long satirical tradition from Juvenal to The Screwtape Letters. Eberstadt's protagonist, a young woman named A. F. Christian (as in, "A Former Christian"), details the journey of her enlightened abandonment of her "cradle Dullness" (namely, her Christian faith) and her adaptation to atheism. Christian writes excited, star-struck letters to the self-described so-called "Brights" of the New Atheism, in which she gushes about the Brights' superiority while candidly evaluating the weaknesses that limit the New Atheism's ability to win new converts. With this device, Eberstadt delivers a gripping story line with a chilling twist at the end and, in the process, administers a smackdown of the New Atheism.

The Loser Letters is a must-read for anyone interested in the current atheism debate, for believing parents, and for readers who enjoy a good black comedy with deep themes. I, for one, cannot wait for the response from the Brights. Bring it on!

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars so much potential... unmet, August 24, 2010

By 

Elizabeth Rose Augustine "Bibliophile" (Whidbey Island, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Loser Letters (Paperback)

I was happy to start reading this book and was hoping for a bit of wry humor... the subtleties of Screwtape Letters are what make it great. But it wasn't to be found here.

The premise is very promising. Atheism could use an intellectual combat in the Screwtape style. And that's what I was hoping for.

Instead, the whole book is little more than a giant joke. The tone is so sarcastic and off-putting, that it really does very little good for Christianity. I couldn't make it past the first few chapters.

Unfortunately, while Eberstadt's letters make some very good points, the "voice" is so annoying that all intellectual nuggets are lost.

For example when talking about how she doesn't like the Judeo-Christian God, she says this:

"Now on the other hand, a deity who would let me smoke and drink as much as I want, drop five pounds without going a-rex again, string up that judge from juvie court... a god who turns bread into iPod minis and water into Grey Goose vodka-- now we're getting somewhere. THAT'S what I'm talking about, if you know what I mean."

This is typical of the entire book... it's very pop-culture littered to the point of just being mush.

Too bad because I had high hopes for this book. If you want teeny bop humor, sure. But if you are looking for something real and useful... skip it.

47 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You have *got* to read this, March 17, 2010

By 

George Copeland (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Loser Letters (Paperback)

I read these letters when they were first published on National Review Online. I had never cared for apologetics before this, but for me, this opened up a whole new way of looking at the subject. Every time I describe these letters to someone, they are always shocked and amazed, just like I was. The dark twist in these letters is exquisitely gut-wrenching. I can't imagine why anyone would not love this book.