THROUGH PAINTED DESERTS Light, God, and Beauty on the Open Road

In the manner of Jack Kerouac, the author heads out on a three-month road trip of self-discovery. And in the style of Kerouac—but with a clearly Christian perspective—he produces an almost stream-of-consciousness examination of his outer surroundings and inner thoughts. The fundamental question author Donald Miller explores is whether there is more to life than a 9-to-5 existence and what that life should involve. His writing has an almost poetic form, and Scott Brick takes his cue from that, reading it almost as an epic poem, rather than a work of narrative prose. In this regard, the book probably is easier to listen to than to read. There are a few occasions, though, where the writer continues on and on. A reader would be screaming, "A period! A period!" Brick, though, doesn't lose his breath and makes such long passages palatable for the ear. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2008]