Through Painted Deserts: Light, God, and Beauty on the Open Road
Selected Book Details
- Paperback
- Edition: Later Printing
- Author: Donald Miller
- Publisher: Thomas Nelson
- Release Date: August 2005
- ISBN-10: 0785209824
- ISBN-13: 9780785209829
- List Price: $14.99
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Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon
SummaryFueled by the belief that something better exists than the mundane life they've been living, free spirits Don and Paul set off on an adventure-filled road trip in search of deeper meaning, beauty, and an explanation for life. Many young men dream of such a trip, but few are brave enough to actually attempt it. Fewer still have the writing skills of Donald Miller, who records the trip with wide-eyed honesty in achingly beautiful prose. In this completely revised edition, he discusses everything from the nature of friendship, the reason for pain, and the origins of beauty. As they travel from Texas to Oregon in Paul's cantankerous Volkswagen van, the two friends encounter a variety of fascinating people, witness the fullness of nature's splendor, and learn unexpected lessons about themselves, each other, and even God. "A record of a classic road trip. Miller's tale is full of serendipitous adventures and thoughtful Christian reflection . . . offering the sort of deep-thought wanderings into meaning and significance that are the meat of college-age existence . . . a reminder that life was meant to be lived, not just gotten through." (Publishers Weekly) |
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Love a good road trip Honest.. open .. refreshing view on God
Rating:
this book was a very open and honest christian memoir. I love his perspective on things and the honesty of searching -but-not-searching-for God is refreshing.
He gives so downright funny stories about his trip cross country and the sometimes smart ass mouth that gets him in deep trouble at truck stops.
I like how God loves these boys in their mess and Paul is constantly challanging Don to be and do better.
Recommend Blue Like Jazz too.
Eloquent and beautiful...
Rating:
Just reading the Author's Note was inspiring enough for me. Pensive and reflective, Donald Miller has a non-confronting way of making me rethink the way I see things. And that is surely enough.
Fans of Blue Like Jazz, Avoid
Rating:
I loved Blue Like Jazz, and liked Searching for God Knows What a lot, but this left me very cold. The sort of feigned modern-day Kerouac thing just comes off as pretentious &, worse, dull. Neither Miller nor his travelling companion are very compelling characters. Their adventures are not all that interesting. The insights sprinkled through the narrative are few & far between, and really not all that insightful. It was if he wanted to merge a Bill Bryson travellogue with Blue Like Jazz - but forgot the humor found in both. Instead, we get a couple of really fairly dull guys limping along the American West in a beat up VW van. Miller is witty enough that I can't quite give him only one star, though probably should. Call it 1.5 stars. Not good.
The First Steps of a Long Journey
Rating:
I finished this first book Miller wrote, which answered the background questions I had after reading "Blue Like Jazz." In actuality,
"Through Painted Deserts" had originally been published as "Prayer and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance." I like the original title, but don't think I'd like the first working. It had been edited to leave out the raw, to leave out some of the questions, to leave out the whole truth. But when Donald had the publishing success with Blue he gained the clout to rewrite the book with his original words intact.
The book is about friendship, about leaving home, about new experiences, long hikes, broken down VWs and Oregon. I read the book during three road trips around Oregon myself. It stretched the reading out over a year and a half, but it was more fun that way.
This book is his most poetic, and I can see the seeds scattered on this trip that have blossomed in his writings that followed.
My Favorite By Miller
Rating:
The best of Donald Miller's work, probably because it caught me at a time when I wanted to be him, traveling the country in search of God.
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