Alright, let’s be honest. You read the entire title for Live Laugh Love by Kristin Kobes Du Mez and probably had feelings. Let me go ahead and cut to the chase and answer what I believe each audience might ask.
I am a devout Evangelical. Is this book just some trashy and targeted takedown of my sincerely held beliefs by taking things out of context?
Absolutely not. Du Mez does not write a hateful screed about Evangelicals. She doesn’t attribute everything bad on earth to Evangelicals. That said, you’re probably not going to like this book for reasons in my next answer.
I am an Exvangelical. I think the country is going to hell in a handbasket because of this strain of religion. Will I be happy?
No, probably not completely. Du Mez keeps her writing factual and devoid of personal opinion. However, what she chooses to include and the connections she makes says oodles about what side of the fence she would land on if she gave her honest opinion.
I’m none of the above. I want a book that tells me why some things on social media seem strangely coded. What about me?
Ding ding ding! You are the optimal audience for this book and will enjoy it immensely. The other groups might still like it, but your lack of familiarity (or some might say baggage) with the subject means you will get a lot out of this.
Du Mez goes way back in time to show how, specifically, White Christian women of a certain persuasion would create something like the phrase, “Live, Laugh, Love” and make it impossible to miss. As with anything that covers a possibly controversial topic, people may argue about how all these pieces come together. Maybe something like Little House on the Prairie didn’t mean as much to the Evangelical movement as Du Mez attributes. However, this is not a hit piece with outlandish connections. I will say that it starts slow. Du Mez needs to condense quite a bit of theology and characters to create the foundation for the rest of the book. Du Mez explains in the introduction that she intended to make a lighter narrative than her previous book, but soon realized she needed to add a lot more. The beginning feels like having to eat your vegetables before your steak. We all know what we want to get to, but the vegetables are important. Blech.
In the end, this is a good book, but be honest about which audience you are and how much you want your worldview challenged (if any).
(This book was provided as a review copy by Liveright Books.)
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