“People’s days could change to be reminded of mercy,” Anne Lamott told PW while discussing her new book, Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy (Riverhead, Apr.). “I hope to offer an alternative path or maybe a wakeup call to people who cannot figure out why they feel so separated from their own selves, their own heart and soul, their own children, their own community,” she said.
Lamott’s reflections on finding—and trying to practice—mercy in a sometimes chaotic, hypercompetitive, and frightening world were sparked by one of her favorite biblical passages, “What doth God require of thee but to do justice and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:8), and by a 2012 gospel song by soul and gospel singer Candi Staton, which provided the book’s title.
Lamott describes mercy as “radical kindness” that is undeserved. “Merciful and mercy are just two beautiful, profound words that you just get immediately,” Lamott said, adding that they remind her to “stop fixating on all this external stuff, getting the surface just right so that people think we’re doing well and get into this tenderness, openness, and awareness of the mercy that exists abundantly.”
The prolific writer, whose works include seven novels, two memoirs, six books on looking for God, and more, describes the messiness and sometimes tragedy of everyday life in Hallelujah Anyway. Lamott’s accounts of imperfections, the difficulties of simply being alive in the world, and the ways her faith sustains her lend a sense of spiritual direction and a steady critique of contemporary values. “What the culture tells you will make you happy, or thinner or just more attractive on every level of existence is all just a total lie, that something outside of you is going to heal, restore, redeem, or comfort you,” she said.
An alternative path, according to Lamott, is to begin practicing mercy. She explores how mercy has shown up in her daily life, such as when she sought distraction after an argument with her son by shopping, and a clerk unexpectedly brought her “the tiniest paper cup of water”— a small gesture of kindness that began to heal her heart.
Nevertheless, practicing mercy is hard. “[As children] we come merciful, we come with a big open heart, we come with a huge, ridiculous amount of generosity,” Lamott said. “But society and sometimes our families and sometimes our educational systems really get us focused on how we’re doing and how we can get ahead.”
More important than being right or being successful, however, is to “develop a gentle and generous heart, which is realistically the only thing that’s ever really made anybody very happy for any length of time,” she said.
The first steps towards practicing mercy could be as simple as putting down one’s phone, according to Lamott. “If you have your entire telecommunications empire with you at every given moment, so that you can stay abreast of the external world, you may be part of the problem; you may be adding to the frenzy and the separation.”
Being kind to others “takes you away from your multitasking and your spreadsheets and the gym to be focusing on living in a much more actively radically merciful way,” she said. “I believe it would just change the whole dynamic of this nation.”
Especially given the current national mood, Lamott aims to bring hope to readers with her message about mercy.
“I think in these days where we feel just sort of pummeled by darkness and fearfulness and bigotry and things being taken away from us that we and our parents and grandparents fought for, we need to see the goodness all around us and we need to claim that it’s who we are,” she said. “We need to love the abundance, reality, and life-changing energy of mercy in the world, and watch for it, look for it, and to walk humbly. Not my strong suit, but just to think of it gives me my operating instructions for that day.”
Hallelujah Anyway has an initial print run of 100,000 copies, and the marketing and publicity campaign will include a national book tour, coverage in print and online media outlets such as NPR, ad placement in academic and library journals, and targeted outreach as well as promotion on social media.
