Saturday, February 13, 2010

A Million Miles...

Donald Miller is one of my favorite authors, and his latest work "A Million Miles In A Thousand Years" only deepened that favor. Still with his unique writing style and self deprecating humor, but seemingly less entailed to appease the church crowd. Although the book is not written in any sort of Christianese language, it still lasers in on Don's own faith while subversively inviting the reader to evaluate how his or her life as an expression of their own faith. This is all done through the lens of story, more specifically the principles which make a great story. A Million Miles finds Don in a funk after the huge success of Blue Like Jazz and the moderate success of his next couple of offerings (although I personally found Searching... and To Own... beautiful). Now with writing deadlines staring him in the face, Don finds himself sick of writing about himself and unable to stop watching Oprah. A phone call from a couple of movie producers with an offer to turn Blue Like Jazz into a feature film begins a new chapter in Don's life. This chapter has him reviewing the story that his life has been, and is currently telling. Through this process we all learn together what a great story lived is like, and the book essentially becomes an invitation into editing our own lives to tell the best possible story. This is about self examination without self absorption. It's looking at our own life by seeing beyond just ourself. It captures the heart of Abraham being blessed to be a blessing, but without all the Christianese, which makes this book accessible to everyone. The book is deeply challenging and yet full of humor and beauty. I'm looking forward to Don's forthcoming rework of "To Own A Dragon," which is titled "Father Fiction: Chapters for a Fatherless Generation."

2 comments:

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Jane, The Suburban Philosopher said...

Great review, Wally! Can you believe I've never read DM yet? [Scandalous, I know!] I'll have to add this one to my ever-growing list :)