Plan B by Anne Lamott
It was Lamott’s honest writing that made me laugh, who wrote perhaps the best book on writing ever called Bird by Bird, and has helped me with her writing be more honest, funny, and hopeful. So needless to say I was thrilled when her new book of essays called Plan B came out, I was one of the first people to go buy it. And after finishing it, I can now say she’s on top form.
For those unfamiliar with Lamott’s work, she is very self-revealing in her writing, be it writing about growing up in an alcoholic family in Marin, her father’s death of a brain tumor, getting sober at age thirty-two, being a single mother, and finally becoming a liberal born again Christian. She became well known after writing a popular column for the online magazine Salon, from which many of these pieces originated.
Plan B is no different, telling stories of Lamott as she tries to keep her faith when her mother dies, friends become sick, and the beginning of the Iraq war.
The essay about her mother’s death called “O Noraht, Noraht” (The incorrect spelling of the name is due to the mortuary misspelling her mother’s middle name) After having a difficult relationship with her mother, Lamott honestly says that “my life has been much better since she died, and it was liberating to be so angry, after having been such a good and loyal girl.”
Yet she talks about her sadness as she goes through her mother’s purse to find her wallet, cookies and “her house keys, which made me feel such griefâÂ?¦” In the essay Lamott writes about the difficult relationship with her mother, but also writes well about how she wants to forgive her mother, and move on with her life.
“Holies of Holies” Lamott writes about starting a Sunday School at her church, but finds herself sometimes burned out by the experience in incredible funny details as when a child makes fun of her dreadlocks: ” ‘âÂ?¦please don’t say critical things about me. It hurts my feelings.’ He gaped at me, and said, ‘You’re freaking me out, Octopus Head.'”
And yet, Lamott can describe taking the children in the school to the beach and tells beautifully of “The Ocean is so femaleâÂ?¦ and the waves and sand scour you like a mother with a washcloth.”
Being a liberal Democrat, Lamott is less than thrilled about the current president in the White House, saying that President Bush “[is like] a dangerous member of the family, like a Klansman, or Osama bin Laden.” Although the details can be funny, Lamott’s continual bashing of President Bush can be considered the only flaw in Plan B.
Although I’m no fan of the president myself, even I wanted to say to her: “Um, Annie? Can we give him a break? Just this once?” But Lamott can make it up by talking about how at age 50 she feels like she has found true happiness in her life, and how “I have survived so much lossâÂ?¦your heart will be badly brokenâÂ?¦but there is also good news.
The person lives forever, in your broken heart that doesn’t seal back upâÂ?¦ you learn to dance with the bandaged up heart.” Reading this brought tears to my eyes. That is Lamott’s gift: To tell how grief can always hurt, but it lessens.
If you’re looking for something funny, yet serious at the same time, you cannot go wrong with Plan B. And trust me, when you are done, you will be like one of those girls that loved the Beatles: Laughing, crying, and then thanking Anne Lamott for telling her story yet again.
