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Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace

Anne Lamott (Goodreads Author)

3.89 · Rating details · 8,681 ratings · 1,267 reviews

The New York Times bestseller from the author of Help, Thanks, Wow, Hallelujah Anyway and Almost Everything, Lamott's long-awaited collection of new and selected essays on hope, joy, and grace

Anne Lamott writes about faith, family, and community in essays that are both wise and irreverent. It’s an approach that has become her trademark. Now in Small Victories, Lamott ...more

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Hardcover, 286 pages

Published November 10th 2014 by Riverhead (first published November 1st 2014)

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Feb 09, 2015 Bill Kerwin rated it really liked it

Somewhere in this volume of personal essays, Anne Lamott remarks that she has always wanted to write a book entitled People I Still Hate: a Christian Perspective. This comment embodies many of the virtues of Lamott's writing: witty, ironic, honest, self-deprecatory, and filled with the knowledge that grace flows from our encounters with people—each as fallible and infuriating as ourselves—and that we, through humility and forgiveness, must prepare ourselves to receive that grace.

The first two
Somewhere in this volume of personal essays, Anne Lamott remarks that she has always wanted to write a book entitled People I Still Hate: a Christian Perspective. This comment embodies many of the virtues of Lamott's writing: witty, ironic, honest, self-deprecatory, and filled with the knowledge that grace flows from our encounters with people—each as fallible and infuriating as ourselves—and that we, through humility and forgiveness, must prepare ourselves to receive that grace.

The first two thirds of this book-- “Companions” and “Families”--could have been published under the title Lamott suggested. She narrates in clear, apparently effortless prose—another of Lamott's virtues—stories about her encounters with friends and relatives, and what those encounters tell us about human and divine love. She is never self-righteous or preachy, and she is always specific: it is precisely in the details of everyday life that the miracle of love occurs.

I like every essay in this section of the book, but my favorites are the two about her parents. In “Dad”, years after the death of a father she loved, Ann is confronted with a diary of his last days in which he wrote unkind things about her. In “Mom,” Ann eventually makes peace with her difficult mother's spirit when she gathers together with family to spread her mother's ashes. (The essay has two parts, their headings reflecting the movement from resentment to forgiveness. The first part is entitled “Noraht”, after the mis-spelled version of her mother's name affixed to the box from the crematory, and the second is called “Nikki,” her mother Norah's favorite nickname.)

The last two sections of the four--”Airborne” and “Ground”--contain accounts of spiritual experiences high and low not necessarily related to forgiveness. They are filled with fine essays, but not quite as good as those in the first two sections.

Anne Lamott--although she never uses the word—delights in the “sacramentality” of daily life. Her writing is filled with the everyday things that shape our personal encounters—the hugs we give, the food we share, the ashes we scatter—and she shows us how grace uses them to move our hearts toward Love. ...more

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Nov 16, 2014 Taryn rated it it was amazing

I'm not sure how exactly to classify Anne Lamott's nonfiction books--they're part memoir, part religious reflection, part pep talk. All I know is I love them and I'm always thrilled to find out she's publishing another one. I highly recommend any and all of them--and you definitely don't need to read them in any certain order.

Basically, Anne Lamott is the only Christian writer I can read even when I'm completely disillusioned with the church and the people in it. No matter how jaded I am, no ...more

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Dec 19, 2014 Lane Willson rated it liked it

Shelves: memoir, faith, spirituality

Anne Lamott’s latest work, Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace, is beautifully written, combining honesty and vulnerability to create an inspiring strength. This is the DNA in all her writing.

However, Small Victories brings with it a truth about Ms. Lamott that I found so disappointing. Her perception of the world has in it’s lens a political litmus test that filters her entire life. It first becomes visible in her essay about dating, and grows stronger and more virulent as Anne Lamott’s latest work, Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace, is beautifully written, combining honesty and vulnerability to create an inspiring strength. This is the DNA in all her writing.

However, Small Victories brings with it a truth about Ms. Lamott that I found so disappointing. Her perception of the world has in it’s lens a political litmus test that filters her entire life. It first becomes visible in her essay about dating, and grows stronger and more virulent as the book progresses. Each person that crosses the pages is quickly judged and deemed left wing or right wing, and quickly accepted or rejected.

To be fair to Ms. Lamott, my sensitivity may spring from the fact that I’m a conservative, and admiring her writing, am disappointed in my potential rejection. The male ego is never far away when rejection is at the door. Ms. Lamott is one of the rare people whose beauty is like light in that it not only shines and draws one’s attention, but illuminates and adds quality and clarity to the world around it. It is ever so much more than just being just, or smart, or any other adjective that hides the limitation it places on it’s recipient with a polite compliment.

I’m quite sad when I think about the friends I would lose were I to filter them based on their politics, theology, or any single aspect of who they are. They are the folks who force me to look at who I am and what I believe. In the process I either grow stronger in my understanding of the things I believe, or change. Those friends who share my beliefs are dear and caring to be sure, but rarely do they offer new opportunities for personal exploration. They offer compassion, understanding and grace, making that exploration safe.

I will continue to read Ms. Lamott’s work, and relish in it’s insight and understanding. I just won’t use her ideas as a part of my political platform. Regardless of your platform, read anything Ms. Lamott has written and you will be blessed.
...more

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Jul 20, 2014 Rebecca rated it really liked it

Shelves: memoirs, theology-religions

This collection has a mixture of new and classic (“Barn Raising” and “Ham of God”) essays. The thematic divisions don’t make all that much sense, but never mind. More so than in previous books, we get Lamott’s thoughts on aging and her changing family dynamic. As usual, there is a recurrent emphasis on both being kind to oneself and learning the art of forgiveness. Sometimes it seems like her every friend or relative has cancer, but this makes her sensitive to common human failings: “Bodies are ...more

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Jan 19, 2017 Erica rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: People who are not me.

Recommended to Erica by: Overdrive

Shelves: biographical, behold_my_coneofshame, dead-friends-and-family, mysterious-disease, non-fiction, short-stories, audiobook, it-came-recommended, meh, dying-to-death

I’m not a Lamott fan (I know. I KNOW, ok?) but I’d also only ever read the articles my friends, mostly women, post on Facebook because they found those articles inspiring and uplifting. I never do. I’m always left with a bad taste in my mind after reading whatever it is she’s written. However, I’ve never given her an actual shot and when Overdrive told me I’d probably like this based on my listening habits, I figured may as well give her a try.

In this compendium, she starts most of her essays by I’m not a Lamott fan (I know. I KNOW, ok?) but I’d also only ever read the articles my friends, mostly women, post on Facebook because they found those articles inspiring and uplifting. I never do. I’m always left with a bad taste in my mind after reading whatever it is she’s written. However, I’ve never given her an actual shot and when Overdrive told me I’d probably like this based on my listening habits, I figured may as well give her a try.

In this compendium, she starts most of her essays by making herself seem unlikeable and awful (they call it self-deprecating humor but I'm not sure that's what it really is) and then ending them with a “But I was human all along!” twist so that we can see she’s not awful, we’re not awful, and it’s ok for us, all of us, to be human. Either that or she learns a lesson and sees a truth.
Also, she has a lot of first world problems.

This book focuses heavily on illness, dying, and death. It's supposed to illustrate the small lights and moments of grace (see title) found in all the dark places but, to me, it sounded more like she is trying to come to terms with the things that burden her like pain and grief, love that doesn’t last and love that is overwhelming. More than anything, she seems to highlight her unhappiness with so many things. Especially George Bush. To me, it all seemed less like noticing little bits of grace and more like a laundry list of miseries with the "I suppose it could be worse" tagged onto the end.

This is how I felt most of the time while listening:

There was a point in each essay I strongly thought, “Shut up, Anne Lamott.” (I don’t really want her to shut up, she makes so many of my friends who feel broken, lost, off-kilter, wounded, and on edge feel better, terribly understood, and safe. I just won’t be able to listen to her, myself, after this, partially because I'm not a fan and also because her sleepy, afterparty-hangover (I'm not saying she was hungover, I'm saying she sounded hungover) voice grates on my nerves)

Beyond the cut are the thoughts I had while listening to each essay. In them, I'm as judgemental and snarky as she is, but without the self-deprecating humor, so there's really no need for you to read any further. They're here for my future use, more than anything.
(view spoiler) ...more

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Nov 10, 2014 Kelly Hager rated it it was amazing

I am a huge fan of Anne Lamott. There are a ton of reasons for this, but they can generally be boiled down to this: she makes me want to be a better person (especially a kinder person) and she makes me feel like it's incredibly possible for that to happen.

She's very open about the fact that she's not always a kind person herself, but she continually strives to do better (and from where I sit, it seems like she's succeeded).

I'm loving her recent books, all slim volumes on faith (this is the ...more

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Oct 06, 2014 Diane Barnes rated it really liked it

I wasn't all that thrilled with Anne Lamott ' s last two books, it seemed like she had lost her edge, just not as funny and honest as usual, almost like she was holding something back. But this one has her trademark mixture of humor and despair, mixed with a hard but real honesty. This is a mixture of old and new essays, and yes, she still hates George W. Bush as much as ever. Yay, she's back!

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Dec 12, 2014 Charlotte rated it did not like it

Only made it through the preface and first essay. Do we eventually get tired of being so tirelessly inspired? Lamott is such a wonderful character, always so warm and flawed and funny and utterly lovable—certainly that hasn't changed. But neither has anything else changed, there's no sense of progression or challenge. There are totally quotable, marvelously written blurbs, but what holds it all together just reads like a lot of filler.

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Jan 12, 2015 Karla rated it it was ok

Shelves: nonfiction, 2015

This is a collection of essays by Lamott. Some were good, some were not. I happen to agree with most of Lamott's very liberal political views, but I have a problem with the disdain she seems to hold for those who do not.
I also didn't like the superficial criticism of her mother's weight, makeup and clothes (the horror of clothes bought at "Monkey Wards")

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Jul 03, 2017 Annie rated it it was ok

This was my first Anne Lamott book and I have to say that I hated almost every minute of reading this book. I really wanted to like this book because Anne is actually a very engaging writer (which is why I gave it 2 stars instead of one)

However, I was constantly annoyed by the author throughout this entire book. Some may call it "self-depreciating humor" but it came off more like "I'm a mean and judgmental person!"-- and I just didn't find that funny.

Anne prides herself in being a different This was my first Anne Lamott book and I have to say that I hated almost every minute of reading this book. I really wanted to like this book because Anne is actually a very engaging writer (which is why I gave it 2 stars instead of one)

However, I was constantly annoyed by the author throughout this entire book. Some may call it "self-depreciating humor" but it came off more like "I'm a mean and judgmental person!"-- and I just didn't find that funny.

Anne prides herself in being a different kind of Christian-- Democratic, at peace with saying the F word over and over and "disarming spiritual sincerity" (like the back of the book say). Half the book is about how much she hates George W. Bush and Conservatives. It felt like she was trying too hard to say "Look at me! Not all Christians are those awful homophobic, misogynistic Republicans who refuse to curse or question God's will!" It came off like she was trying to show off too much that she is a "cool" Christian and that was just annoying.

Again, the back of the book talks about Anne's "disarming spiritual sincerity". I wholeheartedly appreciate sincerity when it comes to being vulnerable and transparent about what's really going on in our lives and our doubts and questions about God. However, Anne's constant sarcasm felt sacrilegious and bitter to me. I feel as if Anne took the things she likes out of the Bible-- like grace and forgiveness-- and left the things she doesn't to form her own kind of distorted view of Christianity. This felt very misleading to me.

Finally, the book is called "Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace" yet the entire book feels more of a rant letter about Anne complaining about life. The book has a heavy focus on death, disease and family and while I found her writing to be very engaging and made me stop and think, I was constantly annoyed by her discouraging, bitter complaints about life.

Overall, I wanted to like this book SO badly. But I found myself constantly forcing myself to finish the book because I just couldn't deal with Anne's self-centered, mean, bitter tone. I'm disappointed to say this will definitely be my last Anne Lamott book. ...more

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Oct 30, 2014 Julie rated it really liked it

This collection of essays is more fleshed out than her previous two. I love Lamott's casual style and self-deprecating manner. She makes grace and spirituality approachable. I particularly like the essays on her troubled relationship with her mother. Not often do you read about keeping your mother's ashes in the closet on the same shelf as your dog's ashes! There are many sad and tragic things in life, but Lamott captures them with humor and heart.

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Dec 26, 2014 Ron rated it it was ok

Shelves: cancer-bookshelf

This is maybe unfair, but Lamott annoyed me with this book. Her last one, on prayer, had me laughing and crying with relief. But this one left me kind of cold. I found her personal accounts too much like the sensational revelation of memoir and hard to identify with. I wearied of her frequent references to her dysfunctional family (her portrayal of her mother is uncomfortably harsh) and her recovery from alcoholism.

The Christianity she practices (and moralizes from) seems not very deeply ...more

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Nov 25, 2014 Wendy rated it liked it

Shelves: 2014

I was so looking forward to reading something new from Anne Lamott, and so disappointed to discover very little new in this book. Most of it I had already read in previous books and magazine articles. I was taken completely by surprise, which I shouldn't have been. It clearly says at the bottom of the dust cover, "New and Selected Pieces." I guess I should have paid better attention.

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Sep 13, 2016 Melora rated it really liked it

I think this is my favorite Lamott yet. Short pieces from over a long stretch of time (and sometimes the backing and forthing through time Does get a little confusing -- her son, Sam, is grown and a father, then back to being a preschooler, etc. -- but the confusion is minor). I really love her emphasis on forgiveness, grace, love, and acceptance. This would have been a five star book for me if it weren't for her incessant griping about the Bush presidencies. I didn't like the Bushes either, and ...more

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Mar 01, 2015 Alina Borger rated it really liked it

Shelves: memoir

When a book starts by telling you that the worst thing you can do when you’re feeling self-satisfied, depressed, or anxious is to go for a walk with a dying friend… you know you’re reading Anne Lamott.

And when even the STORY of a walk with a dying friend has the power to drag you out of your own self-satisfied, but depressed and anxious existential crisis-of-the-moment…you know you’re glad you’re reading Anne Lamott.

I’ll keep on being glad till I’m finished reading the book, I’m sure.

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Nov 22, 2014 Lisa rated it it was amazing

I love Lamott and always will. She writes fiction and non-fiction, but I especially enjoy her nonfiction which is often about spirituality, life's struggles and finding grace amidst the chaos that is life. It's also about finding yourself amidst life's busyness, forgiveness, being imperfect, and love for family, of one's own choosing and by blood.

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Jul 06, 2016 Rebecca rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, age-adult-books, audio-recommended, 2016-read-harder-challenge

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 2016: Read a collection of essays. There was a lot to take in here. I really like Anne Lamott's life views, and in this book, the essay "Forgiveness" is one I need to re-read. But, oh my, does everyone she knows have cancer? I know this was nonfiction, so I'm trying to frame it as "this will be my life, too, as I get older." She reads the audiobook herself, and at first (my ears accustomed to professional actors) her almost-monotone delivery bothered me. But I got ...more

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Feb 03, 2015 MaryAnn rated it really liked it

one of my favorite quotes:
"...Saint Augustine said that you have to start your relationship with God all over from the beginning, every day. Yesterday's faith does not wait for you like a dog with your slippers and the morning paper in its mouth. You seek it, and in seeking it, you find it."
Great reminder for each new day.

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Mar 02, 2017 John rated it it was ok

I have a older friend who forwards me emails weekly with inspirational (to him, at least) stories and reflections that often end with a comparison between America's soldiers and Jesus. I cringe as I read them, sometimes actually reading between the fingers held across my eyes.

Conservatives don't hold a monopoly on uncomfortably mixing Christianity with politics. Anne Lamott is an incredibly gifted writer. She has a wonderful ability to tell a story, inviting you in with a jarring transparency I have a older friend who forwards me emails weekly with inspirational (to him, at least) stories and reflections that often end with a comparison between America's soldiers and Jesus. I cringe as I read them, sometimes actually reading between the fingers held across my eyes.

Conservatives don't hold a monopoly on uncomfortably mixing Christianity with politics. Anne Lamott is an incredibly gifted writer. She has a wonderful ability to tell a story, inviting you in with a jarring transparency and ironic wit. But those gifts weren't able to overcome the hand-over-eyes level discomfort at times as she mixed her liberal politics with her Christianity. This leaks out in a number of ways, including her disdain for George W Bush ("everyone I know has been ruined by Bush's presidency" Lamott grieves, and later she suggests she was suicidal because of Bush's presidency) and her unwillingness to date men who even identify as "independent"-- which she claims is the label of wolves (conservatives) in sheep's (liberals) clothes. Yikes.

The book is about small victories in our growth in grace and forgiveness. Unfortunately, Ms. Lamott's understanding of grace and forgiveness is not Christian, or at least not deeply Christian. It is rather a moralistic and therapeutic understanding. This lack of understanding is scattered throughout the book, but perhaps most evident in Lamott's explanation that Easter is about "imagination and hope." The resurrection and our hope stemming from the resurrection is grounded in history, not in our imagination. Her faith, it appears, is much more tied to the practices and liturgy (both good things) of her Christian tradition than of Christianity itself. It's unsurprising, then, to find Ms. Lamott tied in knots and holding on to petty grievances. While her transparency in sharing is endearing, it is also disheartening that she doesn't understand the power of God's grace and forgiveness found at the cross.

"Small Victories" closes with Lamott at an anti-war protest, marching and filled with hope and encouragement about this "small victory." This final picture is the crescendo for Ms. Lamott, the most palpable moment of hope in the book. "God, I love the Democratic party," Lamott swoons. That this is Ms. Lamott's greatest moment of hope, the shared experience of political alignment and effort, is for me what makes Lamott's book so empty. May we experience a hope so much grander than this feeble hope, a hope not rooted in political ideology, but in a Savior who is bringing about his Kingdom, not ours. ...more

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Dec 29, 2014 Hanje Richards rated it really liked it

Shelves: memoir, essays, nonfiction

This is my favorite book so far in the Essay Reading Project. I have been a fan of Anne Lamott for some time, and appreciate the fact that she has published a new book of essays to read just when I was becoming discouraged by the essays I have read so far this year.

Anne Lamott is also the only person who writes about god in a way that doesn't make my teeth hurt.

Does Anne Lamott understand the world in a way that no one else does? Maybe.

Does Anne Lamott have a more palatable view of god and his ...more

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Oct 28, 2014 R.C. rated it it was ok

Shelves: wisdom

Note: If you are a fan who has read all Lamott's previous books, you might want to skip this one simply because about half of it is material from the other "thoughts on faith" books.

It is all good material, quintessential Lamott, written with sympathy and honesty and love. (I do warn that it is a bit depressing, as so much of the "victories" described were about her friends and family's diseases and deaths.) But it really was a mishmash of things, presented out of chronological order, so ...more

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Sep 27, 2015 Kathryn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2015

First sentence: The worst possible thing you can do when you're down in the dumps, tweaking, vaporous with victimized self-righteousness, or bored, is to take a walk with dying friends. They will ruin everything for you.

Favorite quote: My pastor, Veronica, says that peace is joy at rest, and joy is peace on its feet, and I felt both that weekend.

This is my first Anne Lamott book and it was pure joy to read. Her take on the daily living of our lives is so well written, that I found myself ...more

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Feb 07, 2016 Jo rated it it was amazing

Shelves: memoir, essays

Brilliant! You know how poetry and sometimes humor can cut so close to the bone? Reveal shades of life that are so exquisitely captured that you might gasp or laugh out loud or pause to savor an intensity of sweetness or presence that only the very best writing can conjure? This. I'm an instant Anne Lamott fan.

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Mar 19, 2016 Janice rated it it was amazing

Shelves: great-audio-books, books-of-2016, on-my-shelf

I love Anne Lamott... She is so real! I enjoyed reading this book thru twice and I definitely want to live life spotting these improbable moments! Life is hard and we are all in this together. So let's help each other find the grace and be always asking and looking with new eyes!!

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Jan 04, 2016 Rick rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Reading Ms. LaMott is like sitting down with a very wise, yet unpretentious, friend. This book is life-affirming, speaks to kindness and compassion, and directs us toward human connectedness without ever being preachy.

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Feb 14, 2015 Betsy rated it really liked it

It was not 100% new material; otherwise I probably would have given it the fifth star. It is honest, wise, heartrending, and at times laugh out loud funny. She is always good company for the journey.

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Dec 13, 2014 Candy rated it it was amazing

Spending time with Anne Lamott is like kicking back with a close friend. She's painfully honest enough to bring tears to your eyes and funny enough to make you laugh out loud.

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Jul 24, 2018 Kricket rated it it was amazing

Shelves: memoir-ish, 2018, lamott, religious-searching

I was pretty sure I hadn't read this book before, and yet every essay seems so familiar? Two possibilities:

1) I read it and forgot to log it, although I own a copy and it seems awfully pristine. Still, I am often a forgetful dingaling.
2) These essays were all published elsewhere (magazines? salon? facespace?) and I read them before?

Not that I really mind, because I tend to read Lamott's work over and over and over again. I'm just confused!

Update: I figured it out. Many of the essays in this ...more

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Dec 09, 2015 Christine rated it really liked it

Shelves: book-club

This is the first of Anne Lamott's work that I've read. In this day and age where the state of our country and the world seems to be in constant turmoil, I've noticed myself looking more and more for things to brighten my day, whether a book, a smile, or a few minutes to be grateful for what I have.

While I don't consider myself religious, I grew up in the Christian Baptist church, so I'm familiar with the messaging. I found Anne's take on being a religious person refreshing, something that in my ...more

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Jul 25, 2018 Jane rated it it was amazing

Shelves: memoir, spiritual, essays

I think that I think this book is outstanding because it was exactly what I needed at this particular moment. I've read all of Anne Lamott's books, except two novels. I love her memoirs. They are so cynical, generous, dark, hopeful, argumentative, engaging, "shit-this" and "thank you, world. This one demonstrates Lamott's unique voice and perspective beautifully. She is self-effacing, filled with complaints, and shining with love...like a real person, like each of us. I've been snapping at my ...more

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About Anne Lamott

Anne Lamott

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Anne Lamott is an author of several novels and works of non-fiction. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, her non-fiction works are largely autobiographical, with strong doses of self-deprecating humor and covering such subjects as alcoholism, single motherhood, and Christianity. She appeals to her fans because of her sense of humor, her deeply felt insights, and her outspoken views on topics such ...more