Status Updates From A Severe Mercy

And, on further reflection—that Van shares his emotional affair with Jane *with Davy* strikes me as high-handed emotional abuse. He pins Davy to a standard of unconditionality that he himself would not have tolerated. The shared journal disturbs me. The obsessive need to know all each other's thoughts and movements... Not healthy. My husband and I agree that the sharing is admirable in some ways, not in all...

the first third was emotionally devastating & inspired a great deal of thoughtfulness about the bond of marriage & all that a marriage can be

getting around to the conversion I find myself hackles-up, highly suspicious of the nigh-self-congratulatory attitude of the intellectually-Christian crowd (partly because this describes many of my own camp, self included, and it's one of our besetting sins)

Second time through, this time as an audiobook. This is such a rich book, and reading it again at 28 after encountering it first at 15 adds so much depth and texture to their lives and experiences.

Could this be the most beautiful book ever written?