The Well-Read Minister discussion

In an afterword in my copy, author Elizabeth Strout writes, "Time is needed to learn that our view of the world is exactly that: our view, and not a view belonging to someone else. And our view is, and should be, continually open to change. Books help. They help by allowing us to imagine the realities of another person's inner -- and outer -- life . . . Readers can see more clearly aspects of themselves and of others if the writer has been scrupulous in crafting a fictional truth. It is not 'good' or 'bad' that interests me as a writer, but the murkiness of human experience and the consistent imperfections of our lives. To present this in the form of fiction helps make our humanness more acceptable to the reader; this is my wish."

YES! This is why I read fiction -- to enter, if only for a while, someone else's point of view, to understand another's foibles, fears, joys, and triumphs. Strout does this as well as anyone. In The Burgess Boys, as in Abide with Me (another favorite of mine), she has created beautifully flawed and wonderfully real characters and allowed us to see them at their worst and their best -- and, yes, to see ourselves in all our complexity with compassion and understanding.

This seems to me to be a good goal for preaching as well -- to see ourselves and others with both clarity and compassion.

Have others read Strout? Would love to hear what you think.

I haven't read anything by Strout but will add her to my reading list. I appreciate her take on fiction and how it helps us to see people other than ourselves.