Book Review: Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller

Disclaimer: I am not a professional book reviewer or anything fancy like that. Just a guy who likes to read and has opinions about said reading. That said, let us begin.

I am a graduate student studying theology so most of the reading I do is fairly academic and complicated. That is why reading Through Painted Deserts: Light God and Beauty on the Open Road by Donald Miller was sweet relief from textbooks and systematic theologies during my spring break this year. I was first introduced to Miller’s writing in the summer of 2006 in the form of his popular book Blue Like Jazz, and have since read Searching for God Knows What and A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. In their own unique ways, each of these books does something for me that deep theological writing does not. Let me be clear, I am not saying that Donald Miller writes about non-complex, unintelligent topics. What I am saying is that he brings freshness, humor, serious consideration and his own personal reflection to the complexities of life and it makes for a great read.

Through Painted Deserts is Miller’s recollections of a road trip he and his friend Paul took from Houston, Texas to Oregon. It was originally published as Prayer and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance because the vehicle used for the journey was a near-death Volkswagen bus. Miller recalls leaving the massive, urban jungle that is Houston late at night and setting off on a trip with no real agenda other than eventually ending in Oregon, where Paul was from. The dialogue between Don and Paul demonstrates their close friendship which is characterized by brotherly sarcasm and wit. However, their conversations also take them into serious territory like the meaning of life, God, girls and marriage. Like a third protagonist along the way, the VW serves not only as transport but as a place to sleep and is constantly malfunctioning. From the check engine light coming on, to leaking fuel , to dying in the Mojave Desert it frustrates as well as endears itself to Don and Paul. The van takes them through open stretches of land between Texas and Oklahoma, and eventually to the edge of the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

Miller’s tale of hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back out made my feet hurt. During a visit there I hiked into it for only a few miles and felt the ache in my legs. The beauty of his writing is that it does more than explain what happened. It illustrates it. “My toes are sliding into the front of my boots and my heel has not felt shoe in an hour.” I know that feeling, and even for those who do not it’s easy to imagine. Imagine is a good word for what Miler’s writing invites readers to do.

The narrative continues as Paul, Don and the VW continue through Las Vegas, into California, with a pit stop in Visalia that involves hitting and throwing golf balls at each other, and eventually into Oregon. I read this book with a highlighter, which I do with my texts books as well. However, in this book the goal was not to highlight things I should remember for tests or finals. It was to mark out beautifully written descriptions of events as well as the inner workings of the mind of an artist. I won’t lie, I am jealous of Donald Miller’s writing style. He uses beautiful language and forms words together ranging from torrents of prose to winding streams of poetry. It’s so nice to read, especially if you enjoy good writing. He is a word architect. His prose comes to life and turns the simple act of driving at night into a paragraph filled with power and poignancy. A simple encounter with a stranger humanizes and etches their unique personality into a lasting memory of the moment.

This book is not about God. It is a book about life and all of its deep, rich and meaningful experiences. Which makes it as much about God as anything can be. The point isn’t, “this is what God is like” or “here are the answers to life’s hard questions.” The point is that life makes us ask hard questions and search to understand the God who put us here. And sometimes we have to go on a journey to figure that out. We have to leave the familiar and the safe and head somewhere else. If you can read this book and not want to go on a road trip, something is wrong with you. I know I do.

I want to go east and see the mid-west and drive on highways where you don’t see another car for one hundred miles. I want to see mountains and rivers and oceans and be speechless in the presence of their beauty. I want to see the sun set over Badland deserts and rise over Pacific cliffs. I want to go home to eastern Washington and see the mighty Columbia and the windswept deserts. I want to drive all day and think about the incredible world I live in and the God who spoke into existence so his image bearers could have a fantastic place to reside. But a road trip is not the only way to go on the journey. It may just be that we need to try something new, or interact with someone who is different than we are. We are on the path of life and it’s a shame if we don’t let it carry us somewhere new and exciting. Somewhere we can wrestle with what we believe not so that when we arrive we can have all the answers, but so that we can say, it was good to realize there were questions.

Written on: April 2^nd, 2011

At: The Commons, WJU

Listening to: Coldplay-Parachutes