Customer Reviews

No Idea: Entrusting Your Journey to a God Who Knows

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Greg Garrett is an author I've recently discovered. After reading Shame, his latest fiction offering, I was smitten with his writing style. Shame was very introspective and full of deep emotional streams and after reading No Idea, I see the connection between Garrett's fiction and non-fiction...deep introspective thoughts and emotional pools.

In No Idea, Garrett picks up his spiritual journey after his first acclaimed memoir, Crossing Myself, which I have not read. Garrett writes about spiritual topics that are both common to anyone who has wrestled with God or religious man and common reasons for people who grow disillusioned with the church.

Sometimes poignant, and sometimes slow-moving, this narrative follows Garrett's journey from the tail end of depression to seminary. Spiritual memoir junkies or Garrett fans will probably want to look further into this one.

No Idea by Greg Garrett is a striking study on learning to entrust your life to God. Garrett has a moving history of depression and failed marriages, so he has been through the dark nights of the soul. When an author has suffered the way Garrett has says that his life only improved after turning it over to God, it has the kind of power that authors with less colorful lives aren't able of invoking. Through a shortened version of his life story, he gives readers solid evidence and Scripture they can count on to get them through the valleys. I loved Garrett's humorous, mildly self-deprecating voice. It gave the book a certain immediacy and relevance.

I said of Greg's earlier book, Crossing Myself, that it feeds my soul. This is more soul food. Greg has a real gift for sharing himself with his readers. His gift of himself keeps on giving by providing the reader with new insights and openness to seeing God at work in their own lives.

Truthfully, I had a lot of trouble with this book. I've been trying to read it for weeks now. I've at times found it a very helpful companion to my conversation. It brought me the word `cerebral' to describe my approach to life.

It is also a book I think is almost impossible to get though. I have about 40 pages left, and I've finally given up. Although Greg is hard to get through, it isn't just because of his approach, it is because he is smart. I have found Greg Garrett to be somewhat like a very depressed C.S. Lewis. I think he really does put an interesting and theological spin on things, but for the most part, he is just depressive. The hardest part of the book was the first part, which read something like the outline of someone's fourth step. It was just too much personal information outside of a confessional, close friendship or counseling relationship.

There is one group of people that I think might get a lot out of this book: Those with mood disorders - but not until Spring or Summer (providing that SAD is part of your makeup). Greg fully admits his mood disorder, and discusses in detail how he has worked with it. I think it might be like going to a group session and listening to someone else talk about their issues.

Sorry, I rarely give a negative review, but I have to do so for this one. I'd like to read some of Greg's other work however, because I did find him to have a very sharp mind and believe that he would be very engaging outside the realm of the emotional.

Greg Garrett's first memoir, Crossing Myself, covered his issues with depression. This book, No Idea, is a follow-up, discussing how to live faithfully now that he has made the decision "to live," as he puts it. It's a conversational style of book, and once you get an idea of his background, I think the chapters can pretty much stand on their own, since the topics are varied and all over the board. While his Episcopal beliefs are prominent, there is much in the book that a Christian of any denomination can gain from.

Garrett grabbed me with a quote on the first page: When his fiction-writing students ask where to begin, he usually tells them, "As late as possible. Right when things start to happen and not a moment before." Not that I've done a lot of writing, but whenever I start any memoir type of writing, I always start at the beginning. I'll have to keep this advice in mind!

One topic of the book is discernment, or the process of discovering what God's path in your life might be. I like one of the questions Garrett brings up in this process: "Does the path you're on bring you joy or pain? Note that the question is not, Is this what others think I should be doing? It's not, Is this what makes me look good - or makes me a lot of money? It's not even, Is this what other people whose walks with God I respect are doing?"

Garrett touches on the topic of mistakes in marriages, as well as the subject of suicide, specifically Christian suicides. One of the most motivational chapters in the book is the challenge to "Go to Nineveh," or to follow God outside our comfort zone.

He also brings up the concept of God's creativity. This is something I've never thought much about - I don't consider myself to be creative, and I don't spend much time "enjoying" what I've created. Yet I can picture artists simply enjoying their creations; creating for that enjoyment; and for the first time I'm picturing God doing the same thing. And if I want to be like Him, I could also start creating for enjoyment and enjoying my creations! Something to think about.

I enjoyed this opportunity to get to know Garrett better through his book. And he's given me a lot to think about in my own journey.