My Year Of Everything

There’s just no real structure to “Sundays In America.” Just as Shea’s itinerary takes her around the country in a scattershot manner (Northampton to Fort Lauderdale to Vegas, for example), the narrative doesn’t move forward. There’s no geographical context to her religious experiences- we never really learn how these churches reflect or contrast to their regions.

The story ends when she leaves each church and doesn’t pick up again until she enters the next, so we don’t get to see how these various experiences are enriching her own spiritual life. 

Worst of all, she doesn’t engage with the churchgoers or staff outside of the church service itself, so it’s a little like reviewing movies by watching their trailers.

Because I feel like a terrible, miserable crank panning this book, I will say this: there are a few churches Shea makes me want to visit (there’s a John Coltrane church in San Francisco!), but overall it was like one long Mass without even the possibility of church giggles.