Customer Reviews

Prayer and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance

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Above, Miller says that he attempted to write a christian book with a secular pen. I agree with him that he has succeeded in doing this, and praise him for it. Prayer and the art of Volkswagen Maintenance is a rarity. It is a truly well-written Christian book. I was very happily surprised.

It is a novelized journal of a pilgrimage-trip, and Miller does an excellent job of moving back and forth between plot narrative and inner reflection. Sometimes, the close attention to detail is tedious, but it's livable. Touches of Annie Dillard, Ernest Hemingway, CS Lewis and John Steinbeck can all be found here. Miller has a gift for dialogue and many passages are really funny, maybe because they feel real.

A nice blending of fun, troubles, and thought and reflection like we all know is possible, but have a hard time capturing. Bravo.

A passage:

"Pretty big church, is it?"

"Yeah, it is. We've got about 200 people there."

A smile comes to my face as Paul's definition of large collides with mine. "Two hundred people would make for a good Sunday school class in Texas. I hate to break it to you, but unless a church has a gym and a bowling alley, they're really not fulfilling the work of the Lord. A church has to have a gym and a bowling alley because people play basketball and bowl and if they do it at church they are more likely to accept Christ. Widows and orphans especially, they play basketball a great deal."

"Is that right?"

"Sure it is."

Okay, after reading the amazing book titled Blue Like Jazz, I wanted to buy all of Don Miller's other books. Prayer and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance was his very first book (written well before Blue Like Jazz) and has been out of print for some time. For a while there, you could not find it for under $40-50. But, I have good news! After I purchased Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller, I quickly discovered that it is in fact "Prayer and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance" that has been reprinted with a new title under Don's current publisher! He explains it on the front dedication page to his mother. Hooray! Now you know, and you can get his first book for much less then the out of print version.

As a FORMER Volkswagen owner, tie-dye wearing camp counselor, and CURRENT coffee addicted, 30-something Northwesterner...I HAD to get this book. I read it aloud on a plane ride (seemed appropriate since we were headed for Texas) to the delight of fellow sleepy-headed travellers. I laughed along with passengers B&C, dogeared my favorite pages (pps. 44, 111, 118, 123, 272, & 289) and enjoyed vicariously the physical and spiritual odyssey of two guys, a van and one heck of a road tip!

My thanks to the author for his honest attempt to process & put words to the deafening struggle for understanding our minds wrestle out in the quiet confinds of our souls. "Searchers" will find themselves relating to Miller's quest for answers to the "big" questions in life and empathize as they unravel themselves among the mechanical details of everday living. You'll enjoy the ride!

There's something about the idea of "finding oneself" on the open road that really gets me going. I'm a sucker for any book along those lines, whether it's about a spontaneous summer road-trip across the States, or the tale of an epic backpacking journey around the world. There's a special place in my heart for the somewhat rare Christian-themed story of this nature, and that's where this excellent book comes in.

Adventures like this tend to be lived out by the younger crowd - those in their late teens or early twenties, anxious to see what's "out there" in the world and learn something about themselves in the process. In "Prayer and the Art of Volkswagon Maintenance," the two protagonists fit this description to a tee. Donald and Paul are young twentysomething Christian men, and they have a desire to know God in a deeper sense. Their solution - a road trip! Starting from Texas, they decide to head off to Oregon in Paul's beat-up VW van. Along the way, they discuss the usual questions that young men wrestle with - relationships with women, their future, and so on. They also meet a number of interesting characters on the road, usually when struggling with their somewhat unreliable vehicle.

However, since this book has a Christian slant, there is spiritual depth as well. Both of these guys really do want to go deeper with God, and they end up digging into some serious meat along those lines. Donald, driven by intellect and facts, repeatedly explores the book of Ecclesiastes during the trip in an attempt to make sense of the time we are given upon this world. Paul is more in tune with his feelings and emotions, and goes to a deeper level with God via prayer during some tense moments. Together they make the perfect team for this type of excursion, and both come to know more about themselves and their God. All of this is expertly chronicled by Donald's outstanding writing - he made me feel that I was right along with them every step of the way.

The neatest thing about this book for me was their detour through my hometown, and the awesome consequence of that seemingly insignificant decision (SPOILER HINT: it has to do with marriage). How cool is that?! Absolutely recommended!

I don't read many novels, but this one was well worth my time. It is unusual to find a Christian book that is so honest about disappointments and a yearning for something deeper with Christ. It was comforting to find someone else thinking through the same questions I have and watching them find answers. This book was engaging, funny ( I laughed out loud!), beautifully written, but most of all thought provoking. I highly recommend it to anyone who's tired of having a luke warm experience of GOD!

as a new northwesterner, i was interested int the physical journey from texas to oregon.(mine was tennessee to oregon) but as a christian looking for something deeper than sunday-go-to-church religion, i found a book to help me on that never ending trip. it encouraged me to look deeper than the cultural christianity so many use to feel good, to really examine my relationship with god. pick this up for a good soul-searching story of self discovery.

I'm very impressed with Donald Miller. Prayer and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance is fun to read and also thought provoking. Very appropiate for youth and college group book discussions.

I was given this book by my husband, who is a friend of Miller's from their years at Good Shepherd. Since I'm the fiction reader in our family, I was a little skeptical by Pepper's overwhelmingly glowing review (I wanted to decide for myself, you see). It took me only until the middle of the first chapter to become deeply and totally engrossed.
In retrospect, I can say that I enjoyed the book on a number of different levels. First, the geographic odyssey that the boys took wends its way into my home state and, more specifically, through my hometown region. Miller writes about the splendor of the country through which they drive with the appreciation of a true adventure seeker. (Especially enjoyable was his account of their trek into--and out of--the Grand Canyon.)
Second, his writing style--a combination of his dry humor and his characters' witty repartee--kept me guessing as to the next conversational twist. His characters are real and they are believable; I deeply appreciate that. I also enjoyed the honesty that his first-person perspective offered. I was pleasantly surprised by how captivated I found myself while reading about the journal entries and silent musings of his main character.
More than anything, however, I enjoyed the spiritual aspect that the book offered. By the end of the book, I, too, felt that I had taken a spiritual journey, met with a crisis of faith, and been sated by the Father's love.
I highly recommend this book. Miller is on his way to great things, and I eagerly await his next book.

this book is worth it's weight in gold. i was struggling with the whole church/God thing. i identified with miller's frustrations with not knowing whether he really knew God or was just living what he was raised to live. so this book helped me resolve some very old issues i had been dealing with. i also agree with what other reviewers have said about miller's ability to write. i don't know if he is the next C.S. Lewis, but he is the next something, that is for sure.

I had so much fun reading this book and I could relate so well to the story that I couldn't put it down. I didn't cry, but I laughed alot. It was entertaining to read the author's impressions of my home state of Oregon. I was only disappointed that they stopped in Eugene briefly to make a phone call and fill up on gas. I guess they had to go see about a girl... Kudos!