Thursday, July 28, 2005

The Wet Engine "Look, I don't know much, but I know these things uncontrovertibly and inarguably: One: I know stories matter waaaaay more than we know. Two: All stories are, in some form, prayers. Three: love is the story and the prayer that matters the most." --Brian Doyle A few years ago, I met an aquisitions editor from Paraclete Press--a gem of a publisher-- and since then she has been kind enough to send me various things Paraclete publishes. I recently received a book by Brian Doyle called The Wet Engine: Exploring the Mad Wild Miracle of the Heart. Last night, trying to fight off a depression that's been biting at my ankles, I sat down to read this slight volume, hoping that a plunge into the regions of the heart through a different door other than evangelicalism might be just the thing. It didn't stave off the depression, not completely, but what a book. In The Wet Engine, Doyle does a brilliant literary riff on the physical and emotional life of the fist-size muscle sitting in our chests. His starting point is history of his son's faulty heart. The boy was born with a single ventricle, instead of two. Enter a pediatric cardiologist named Dave McIrvin, and the miracle that is the doctor and his field of medicine and the amazing heart that holds his attention comes flying into view. Doyle's soulful attention to detail, his storyteller's flair, and his ability to turn the inner workings of the bloodstream into a windswept journey of sea and sail all make for a beautiful meditation on what God hath wrought inside of us. ...a beautiful book... 11:28:07 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2005 Jeff Berryman .