Beth Bonini's Reviews > Dusk, Night, Dawn: On Revival and Courage

I first read this book in May 2022, not long after it was published, and just as the world was coming out of the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. I was helping my mother recuperate from brain surgery, and the ideas of “revival” and “courage” were especially appealing and necessary. I was a huge fan of Anne Lamott’s in the 1990s - when her sage, humorous advice on writing and parenting found parallels in my own interests and stage in life - but I lost touch with her ongoing output when I moved to England in 2006. So this book was an Anne Lamott revival for me, and I’ve read it at least three times in the past two years.

The book begins with Lamott’s musings on her late middle-aged marriage - her first marriage, in fact, and thus a significant commitment to trust, hopefulness and courage to make in the “set in one’s ways” 60s. She is self-deprecatingly honest about both the comforts and annoyances of living with your favourite person in the world, and I appreciate the way that she describes the constant battle between the petty, self-protective ego and the larger attempts towards love, acceptance and forgiveness.

Lamott never shies away from revealing her anxieties; indeed, they are the basis of her work. In this book, the things that are keeping her awake at night include global warming, the state of democracy in the US, social inequality, cancer, illness in general, and worries and children, grandchildren and dogs. I suspect that most of us have the majority of these on our worry list, but the whole point is how do we acknowledge and work with (or around) the troubles of modern human existence whilst at the same time not getting bogged down in them? How do we maintain trust, hopefulness and courage? Lamott has some ideas about that, and she shares them through a series of personal anecdotes, aphorisms and stories.

“Stories can be our most reliable medicine,” says Lamott in this book and she beautifully, compassionately and humorously illustrates that. Her books are worth re-reading, for my time and money, because, as she says: “We need the same message over and over again - we have to be reminded of it.”

I have many Anne Lamott quotes in my phone notes and I like to read them from time to time. On the subject of “time,” she writes:

“Forgiveness will take time. Time takes time. I hate this!”

(I hate this, too, Anne - and that’s why I find it such a comfort for you to point that out so I know that I’m not the only impatient one to want healing and want it NOW!)

This particular bit of salty wisdom and Lamott style Christianity kind of sums her up for me:

“The great prayer: Help me not be such an asshole.”

I really cannot think of another writer who is so willing to look at her own flaws and make a story out of them for her fond readers’ edification.