On books and their covers

After all the provocative marketing, the book finally came out.  You know--the one about the lady who took the Bible literally for a year to make fun of its teachings to women.  Predictably, the internet is all in a tizzy.

When I read the book, though, I was in for a huge surprise.  As a matter of fact, there was such a big difference between the marketing and the actual product that I might have been tempted to ask for my money back, if the book itself hadn't been so unexpectedly lovely.

I'd been led to expect a book in which Rachel Held Evans deconstructed the Bible.  Instead, I found a chronicle of the year in which the Bible deconstructed Rachel Held Evans.  I also found a bracing challenge to let the Bible reinterpret my own soul.  To take it seriously, even when it says hard and scary things.  To trust it enough to really listen.

From the introduction and conclusion, it looks like she really did intend to write the book as it was marketed... but that the writing of it changed her.

Good writing always does.