"In this portrait of the Metaxas as a young man, deeply serious matters exist most comfortably with great wit and maximum humor. As enjoyable as it is to follow him from birth through the fog of his twenties and into the sunlight at their end, you will see that you have also painlessly embraced a wonderful complexity. Even the title represents multiple meanings woven throughout the book and, as in the solution to a mystery, unified and made clear at its end. A delight. I read it in the sunshine, which was entirely appropriate." -Mark Helprin, NY Times bestselling author of many books, including A Winter’s Tale and A Soldier of the Great War

"Eric Metaxas [is] one of our nation's most brilliant and morally serious public intellectuals." -Robert P. George, Princeton University

"Metaxas is a major writer. Not to be missed." -Dick Cavett

"What do Robert Plant, ice fishing, Yale, the 1953 earthquake in Greece, John Cheever, Valium substitutes, house painters, and Bradlee’s Department Store have to do with Eric Metaxas's search for the meaning of life? In a word: Everything. This memoir of one of our best writer's coming of age is a beautiful thing: deeply intelligent, spiritually acute, and laugh-out-loud funny." -Bret Lott, bestselling author of fourteen books including Jewel, an Oprah Book Club selection

"Truth really is stranger than fiction—stranger, less predictable, often (though not always) funnier, and weirder. Reality is not fastidious, doesn't pay any attention to opinion polls. Hence the appeal of this memoir by Eric Metaxas, an account of his formative years, in which John Hersey (“Mr. Hersey”), Larry David, and other unexpected figures appear: a zany tale of literary aspirations..." -John Wilson, Books & Culture editor (1995 to 2016); contributing editor for the Englewood Review of Books; senior editor at the Marginalia Review of Books

"With his inimitable intelligence and wit, Eric Metaxas recounts his formative years as a first-generation immigrant, the crucial development of his ability to think for himself rather than following the herd, and the process of learning to follow his heart and mind wherever the truth leads..." -Jill Lamar, former editor-in-chief of Henry Holt and curator of new titles for Barnes & Noble

"A delight! Eric Metaxas has crafted for each discerning reader a personal gift: A richly detailed, lovingly remembered American story that faces squarely serious issues to which every one of us should attend. From the struggles of immigrant families to bullying in school, from the trauma that victims of war and totalitarianism carry to the hunger for meaning that postmodern students face in college, Eric uses his own experience to illumine enduring, important questions. He does so with humor [and] moral insight..." -John Zmirak, editor at The Stream.org

2020-11-18
The acclaimed biographer turns to memoir.

Metaxas, whose works include bestselling books about Martin Luther, William Wilberforce, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, narrates the story of his own life up to 1988, when he was 25. That year, when his true conversion to Christianity occurred, serves as a significant demarcation point in his journey. In a narrative reminiscent of Saint Augustine’s Confessions, Metaxas delivers a warts-and-all exploration of his youth—including discussions of elements of his early life on which he looks back with regret—in order to explain how his faith altered his trajectory. Like Augustine, Metaxas recounts his mostly secular intellectual development, which created a foundation for his later spiritual conversion and nourishment. Whereas Augustine stole pears from a tree because his friends were doing it, Metaxas ostracized another boy in his class because of a desire to fit in. “I think I would do almost anything to go back there now to try to undo what I did,” he writes, “to befriend him or show him some love or kindness.” While Augustine recounted how he lived with a concubine and had a child with her, Metaxas relates the story of a girlfriend’s abortion. Throughout, the author records his experiences in excruciating detail, creating a book that will be illuminating to his family, friends, and readers of his previous books but that will struggle to find a general reading audience. The most interesting sections involve the author’s Greek heritage, tales of a childhood spent in a Greek Orthodox church, and his on-and-off flirtations with faith. Some will be disappointed that the book ends at the most intriguing point—the author’s rather sudden conversion story, which would dramatically change the direction of his life and the purpose behind his work—but perhaps another volume is in the works.

An exhaustive cliffhanger for devoted Metaxas fans.