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. (May)
