Review by New York Times Review
Best known for "Salvation on Sand Mountain," in which he embedded deeply with snake-handling preachers, Covington has always been drawn to danger and God. Now in his 60s, he decides to go to "places where religion bled," where he can "write about faith as an action rather than just a set of beliefs." He sets out for the site of ancient Antioch, in Turkey, following the movements of early Christians. But soon he can't seem to stop making trips across the Turkish border into Syria. The horrific violence he witnesses at the beginning of the ISIS takeover draws him into the international humanitarian catastrophe. In taut, immersive chapters, Covington broadens this war story in time and place, back to his childhood during the civil rights movement in Birmingham, Ala.; his reporting in the El Salvadoran war; and his relationship with his severely disturbed older brother. Always questioning his own motives, Covington doesn't spare readers the discomfort of his obsession with violence. "It wasn't a suicidal impulse; I knew what one of those was like. This was the opposite, a desperation to live intensely so as not to die before we were dead." The faith he finds is not steady, historical, or some kind of inner light. It is a mode of life occurring at the front lines, where people suffer most - haunted, tormented, but always intensely alive.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [August 11, 2016]
Review by Booklist Review
Violence plagues this planet. Throughout history, some of it has been committed or sanctioned by religious traditions. More recently, the news is filled with stories of horrific acts of violence, hatred, and terrorism, all committed in the name of God. Understandably, the religious beliefs of many have been shaken if not lost altogether. Covington, whose Christianity was rattled by the racism he saw in the American South, set out to search for faith as a substance rather than a belief. Counterintuitively and quite correctly, he went looking in some of the most violent places on earth. And it is exactly in those places that Covington discovered those who love the unloved, those who enter into the suffering of others, those who live the conviction that life has meaning, all under the most harrowing of circumstances. These stories do not make for easy reading. They confirm that life's sacredness, whether expressed through organized religion or nonbelief, requires acts of tender mercy.--McConnell, Christopher Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Deftly interweaving personal tragedy with reporting forays into brutal conflicts, Covington (Salvation on Sand Mountain) delivers a superb, fast-paced memoir. During his own spiritual crisis, Covington determines to discover "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." In pursuit of answers about his own faith, Covington first travels to Juarez, Mexico, where he interviews a street preacher who takes in mental patients amid drug-cartel violence as well as the city's citizens who bury the horrendous number of murder victims. Eventually, he heads to the Middle East in search of Kayla Mueller, a 25-year-old Baptist aid worker from Arizona who was kidnapped by ISIS in Syria. Swiftly sketched scenes of illegally crossing the Turkey-Syria border take readers into war-ravaged hospitals and refugee camps. Traumatically, Covington suffers a head injury from a vacuum bomb that leaves him with lasting brain injuries. He visits Mueller's parents to decipher how their understanding of God has changed as a result of their daughter's abduction by terrorists with whom their government will not negotiate. Reflecting the bleakness of the conflict in the Levant, Covington never finds Mueller, but headlines record her disturbing fate. What Covington discovers about Mueller's final weeks, when faced with seemingly impossible circumstances, rekindles a long-lost spark in his dark night. Covington's memoir is an essential, human account of the violent reactions to religious plurality in an increasingly polarized world. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A search for faith amid war, terror, and family strife. Covington (Creative Writing/Texas Tech Univ.; Redneck Riviera: Armadillos, Outlaws, and the Demise of an American Dream, 2003, etc.) purports to look for faith against the backdrop of a violent world. Though he occasionally stays on course, the narrative takes a variety of detours, frustrating readers and muddling his work. The author begins in Jurez, where drug-inspired violence has spread out of control for years. He recounts the work of one preacher who, in addition to burning an effigy of Judas to drive Satan out of the city, runs an inspiring ministry, aiding those living, and escaping from, lives of violence. Covington goes on to recount visits to Turkey, and to the Turkey-Syria border, where he encountered both victims of and participants in the violence. Covington also crossed over into Syria, witnessing firsthand the horror of war. This timely and page-turning section represents the author at his best, as he ably conveys the otherworldly scene of suffering and brutality. However, he continually reverts back to his own personal story. In page after page of self-catharsis, Covington describes growing up with his older brother, a troubled young man who ended up in mental hospitals and nursing homes; his two failed marriages; and his own mental health issues, including a lack of a will to live after returning from Syria. Though not without merit, these sections continually detract from the author's real mission. Faith, in fact, has little to do with this book. Covington does not have it, nor do most of the people he met during his travels. When he does address people of faith in the midst of violence, he is unable to report on their thoughts and motives with the depth needed for a book on the topic. Far from uninteresting but too often self-indulgent and unsatisfying. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by New York Times Review
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
