CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD FOR TEENS

Conversations with God is the sixth instalment in the 'Conversations With God' series. The idea is that teenagers all over the world have put forward questions they would like to ask God and NDW has assumed the role of middle man and translated the answers for us. Being a teenager myself, I find that any book with the phrase 'for teens' in the title is to be approached with caution; I therefore struggled not to be prejudiced as I embarked on my task. The foreword, by Alanis Morisette was not encouraging. Although clearly well meaning, Ms. Morisette is highly patronising. Thanking the reader for 'being exactly who they are right now' is obviously intended to be encouraging, but her gushing about what wonderful people we all are is positively nauseating. Her attempt at being 'trendy' by using only lower case letters is bizarre. I thank Ms. Morisette for her concern, but people under twenty DO understand Big Letters. The introduction to the main text continued in a similar vein. Describing itself as 'maybe the best book you've ever read' did nothing but lower my expectations. Once into the questions and answers, however, the book improves significantly. One of the many concepts put forward is that, despite the existence of God, we are in full control of our own lives. God is there to assist if called on, but is more like an informed spectator than a divine controller. This, and many other equally fresh ideas, is put forward simply and clearly, making it easy to digest. What lets this book down is not content, but presentation. Many replies to questions begin: 'Oh X, my lovely friend....' which I found irritating and strangely invasive. The ideas behind the book are interesting, but, quite frankly, it would have been far better had it been written by someone else. I would recommend this only to those who feel they can resist the urge to rip pages out long enough to recognise occasional sensitive and unusual points. Walsch claims that this book comes to no reader by accident; that we have 'called this book to us'. I for one will not repeat the mistake.