I'm not sure where to begin with this one, or how to communicate everything I'd like to without re-typing the entire text here.
I laughed - both that genuinely amused kind of laugh and that startled out of my comfort zone awkward laugh. I teared up - both from heartache and gladness. I underlined and bracket-ed and read pages at a time out-loud to my poor, unsuspecting husband. I gushed and I quit writing before I ever really began because Wilson has captured everything that is both horrid and beautiful in the world in every perfectly-crafted phrase I could have ever dreamed to pen.
So let's start here: buy this book.
Wilson uses words like Rembrandt used hues to establish himself as the 21st century's C.S. Lewis. The 21st century's C.S. Lewis, with an extra shot of eccentric. Notes From The Tilt-A-Whirl presents life and creation as God's greatest masterpiece by evaluating the work as a whole, musing on the Artist Himself, and analyzing every colorful or dreary detail. Wilson's Notes will expand your view to appreciate creation at large, and focus your gaze to relish the details - soft and fuzzy, or dark and painful - at the same time.
And the language is wonderful. The whimsical cover and first taste of the Preface combined to make me wonder if this wasn't going to be a little pretentious, self-important, and/or exhausting. If this wasn't just a guy who likes being a little silly and a little random trying to use his gift with words to justify an entire book. That fear was quickly relieved. Substance upholds immaculate style, without waivering, for 200 pages.
Wilson confesses early on that he writes to believers. He references scripture and theology without much explanation or hesitation, but the book may still be a delight for spiritually-minded non-Christians who enjoy good art. My only regret is that he does not make a stronger, clearer case for salvation in Jesus in the one chapter that does address eternity. Admittedly, that's not his aim with the book, but part of me wonders if it isn't a missed opportunity. (The other part of me wonders if his gentle, almost vague approach isn't exactly what some people need to hear, so I hand Holy Spirit His job description back.)
I started this book on Monday evening and finished it Wednesday. And I think I might just start at the beginning again. It's encouraging, amusing, and heart-warming. Notes makes me want to live louder, love deeper, and laugh harder - to throw back my head and let go of the safety bar because we all know it's just for show anyway.
