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A review by jaclyn_sixminutesforme
The Believer by Sarah Krasnostein
4.0
The deeply engaged and personal conversations Sarah Krasnostein is able to have with individuals from such vastly different walks of life is truly incredible. Religion, terminal illness, incarceration, UFOs, ghosts... Krasnostein casts her net widely in putting together perspectives on which to examine “belief.”
Admittedly my first thoughts as a reader engaging with this book was from a perspective of subject matter interest—my connection to the six stories covered being tempered by my own proximity or preconceived notions, my biases on “belief” essentially. I definitely connected to some narratives more than others—while UFOs are not my wheelhouse, I don’t think I’ll ever forget the woman that is called Lynn and her experience of incarceration and life post-release.
But as I moved through THE BELIEVER, my engagement shifted and I started thinking about *why* these six stories worked so seamlessly as they interwove, why the scope of belief was so well interrogated across such vastly different experiences. Krasnostein delivers such an intimate snapshot into these lives and perspectives, I can only infer from the open-minded and unbiased way she writes them that her questions and conversations with her sources were equally respectful. I think there’s a lesson in that alone about approaching belief! There’s also this vulnerability that she brings to her own engagement with belief—her own lived experiences and faith and response to the research process.
What I took away ultimately was that while the content of our beliefs is deeply personal, there is a shared element in how much it drills down to the very core of your being engaging with what you want out of life and how you want to go about living it. How you’ll deal with what you encounter in your life, and how much you’ll let that shape you and your ethics and values. That despite our views different, that we are all seeking meaning and connection and this complete alignment of that with our lived experiences. I think this would be a truly fascinating bookclub read!
Many thanks to @text_publishing for sending me along a copy of this to read
Admittedly my first thoughts as a reader engaging with this book was from a perspective of subject matter interest—my connection to the six stories covered being tempered by my own proximity or preconceived notions, my biases on “belief” essentially. I definitely connected to some narratives more than others—while UFOs are not my wheelhouse, I don’t think I’ll ever forget the woman that is called Lynn and her experience of incarceration and life post-release.
But as I moved through THE BELIEVER, my engagement shifted and I started thinking about *why* these six stories worked so seamlessly as they interwove, why the scope of belief was so well interrogated across such vastly different experiences. Krasnostein delivers such an intimate snapshot into these lives and perspectives, I can only infer from the open-minded and unbiased way she writes them that her questions and conversations with her sources were equally respectful. I think there’s a lesson in that alone about approaching belief! There’s also this vulnerability that she brings to her own engagement with belief—her own lived experiences and faith and response to the research process.
What I took away ultimately was that while the content of our beliefs is deeply personal, there is a shared element in how much it drills down to the very core of your being engaging with what you want out of life and how you want to go about living it. How you’ll deal with what you encounter in your life, and how much you’ll let that shape you and your ethics and values. That despite our views different, that we are all seeking meaning and connection and this complete alignment of that with our lived experiences. I think this would be a truly fascinating bookclub read!
Many thanks to @text_publishing for sending me along a copy of this to read