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kstephensreads's review against another edition
5.0
I love this book so much. This was at least my fourth time through- it’s the one I reach for when I’m grieving and feel like the world is cracking apart beneath me. Pretty soon the entire book will be highlighted since new things strike me fresh each time.
rebeccasarine's review against another edition
4.0
Poetic, witty, and insightful! I laughed, I awed, I was made to really think, I got lost on the tilt-a-whirl, I found myself again, and in the end, I enjoyed the ride. The author calls us to think about the world differently. To see it all as God's story unfolding and ALL beautiful. There is no accident and God is an artist.
themauvereader's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
I found it profound while also being imaginative and down-to-earth. It’s a book that’s hard to describe but also easy. It’s a wondering book, but also a telling book. I say it wonders because Wilson asks questions and then answers them, but not in the way you’d expect:
“What is the world? What is it for?
It is art. It is the best of all possible art, a finite picture of the infinite. Assess it like prose, like poetry, like architecture, sculpture, painting, dance, delta blues, opera, tragedy, comedy, romance, epic. Assess it like you would a Fabergé egg, like a gunfight, like a musical, like a snowflake, like a death, a birth, a triumph, a love story, a tornado, a smile, a heartbreak, a sweater, a hunger pain, a desire, a fulfillment, a desert, a dessert, an ocean, a leap, a quest, a fall, a climb, a tree, a waterfall, a song, a race, a frog, a play, a marriage, a consummation, a thirst quenched. (pg. 83)
It reads like a journal. It is almost stream-of-consciousness, but it is coherent in that Wilson seizes the narrative in this tilting and whirling existence, and he shows how it is threaded through the various enigmas that are reality on this planet Earth. I like the subtitle: “Wide-Eyed Wonder in God’s Spoken World.” Wilson brings a magnifying glass up close to the ugly and the beautiful alike and sees the creator’s fingerprints in it all. I came away with a renewed sense of appreciation for the struggle and for the triumphs of this thing called life.
rheren's review
5.0
This is a fascinating and unusual book. The best I can describe it as poetry written as prose, at least that's how I was thinking of it as I wrote it. Very lyrical, allegorical, whimsical, with random observations and asides thrown in somewhat stream-of-consciousness. I'm sure it's a style that you either love or hate, but after getting used to it, I was impressed by it. As much as it sounds like a jumbled mess from how I'm describing it, it does have a definite structure to it, and makes it's points very effectively, if in an unorthodox manner. It definitely changed the way I think about life and God and the world around me, and I very much appreciate the insights he shares in this book, far more than I expected.
kaylarust94's review
4.0
I just really enjoyed this book. I thought it was a unique idea to combine artistic writing and theology in such a way that the reader is lead to praise the Creator of this Tilt-A-Whirl we all live on.
enolas's review
4.0
I like the sentiment and the overarching theme, but his particular brand of poetic writing isn't to my taste.
brandypainter's review
5.0
This book is a work of art created by a poet who sees the world in amazing ways. Reading it was like experiencing a tilt-a-whirl. It was exhilarating, scary, delightful, overwhelming. I am still processing it. The subtitle of the book is Wide Eyed Wonder in God’s Spoken World. This is not merely lofty language it is what Mr. Wilson has expressed in every paragraph and it is what he makes the reader think, feel and experience. My words can’t do this book justice. Read it yourself.
laurennicole316's review against another edition
2.0
Not my taste I suppose. I didn’t like the style of writing here but I’m sure many others will find the raw stream of consciousness refreshing.
oschrock's review against another edition
5.0
In the preface to this book, Wilson writes, “What excuses can I possibly make for this book? ...I do not (to my knowledge) have a diseased brain…” Of course, as we later found out, Wilson was in fact suffering from a brain tumor. What bothers me is that I do not (to my knowledge) have a diseased brain, and so what excuses can I possibly make for enjoying this book so much?
This is a very “abnormal” book dealing with the problems of evil and suffering in a world governed by a Holy and Sovereign God. The book needs to be read as a whole; it is basically impossible to pick out little nuggets of quotable truths throughout, but the sum total of the book is very powerful.
This is a very “abnormal” book dealing with the problems of evil and suffering in a world governed by a Holy and Sovereign God. The book needs to be read as a whole; it is basically impossible to pick out little nuggets of quotable truths throughout, but the sum total of the book is very powerful.