STITCHES
A handbook on meaning, hope and repair
By Anne Lammott
Hodder and Stoughton. 96 pages. £12.99
ISBN 978 1 444 789 140
Anne Lammott is a popular American novelist and non-fiction writer.
Stitches, a ‘New York Times’ best-seller, is an autobiographical reflection on suffering. Lammott frequently uses the metaphor of stitches and textile repair in her thoughts. The book is a fairly short read, a non-chronological meander through tales of Lammott’s own experiences of life’s challenges. These are interspersed with poetic metaphors and vague suggestions of how we can learn or overcome.
It is spiritual in the very broadest sense, with some biblical allusions: ‘If there is a god and most days I do think there is, He or She does not need us to bring hope or new life into our lives, but keeps letting us help’. Lammott tentatively suggests rather than dictates: ‘the search for meaning will fill you with a sense of meaning’. The overall tenor of her reflections is that we find solace and support through each other: ‘This is who I think we are supposed to be, people who help call forth human beings from deep inside hopelessness’.
This book hovers, questions, and paints with words at times with some delicacy. But disappointingly the author never points us or herself directly to Jesus Christ. Written in artistic, attractive prose but lacking in spiritual depth.
