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HALL WAYS REVIEW: When
I first heard from author Lisa Johnson about her book, Postcards from
Lonnie, I was intrigued by the premise – and who wouldn’t be? She and her
homeless brother corresponded, via nearly a hundred postcards, over the course
of four years. Wondering about the logistics alone is enough to pique anyone’s
interest. But the immediate questions that arise from just the basic fact that
the author’s brother was homeless, and my need for answers, made this book a
must-read for me.
“Living on the street was
not something he fell into, or slid into. He wanted to be clear: It was a decision
he made.”
While it’s easy for a reader’s
first, uninformed response to this situation to be judge-y, it’s impossible to
stay that way for long. Lonnie’s story isn’t complicated; the bottom line is
that he chose homelessness. The reasons for his choice are slightly more
complex if viewed from a wide lens that encompasses his childhood and young
adult years, and in reading Lonnie’s answers to the questions his sister Lisa
poses, and in Lisa’s elaborations of each postcard, we get a better explanation.
However, a real understanding of Lonnie’s deliberate decision eluded me – and I
think it’s safe to say, it mostly eluded Lisa, too.
“Our lives, so intimately
intertwined at the deepest levels, were almost completely severed at the
day-to-day level.”
Lonnie’s love for his little
sister Lisa shines through on every single postcard, but there is a juxtaposition
of his adoration and his inaccessibility. Lisa never doubted how deeply Lonnie
loved her, but she craved a sibling relationship where they could be present
for each other. She couldn’t call and chat with him, or drop by his place for a
cup of coffee, or ask for his help as their mother was dying. Lisa desperately
wants Lonnie to want her help to get out of homelessness, but he doesn’t want
out. This puzzles her – and will puzzle readers as well – but at the same time,
there is almost an envy of the life Lonnie leads, free from responsibility to
anyone and dependent upon no one but himself (in his mind, anyway).
“Lonnie’s story would have been
a report not on how Jesus
helped him get off the street, but what it was like
to live on the streets with Jesus.”
There are many parallels
between the young and older versions of Lonnie, and through reading Postcards
from Lonnie I became rather fond of him, and by book’s end, I really miss
him and am sorry he’s not a part of this world anymore. His answers to the
questions Lisa poses often lead Lisa to having more questions and speculation
as to what his answers may mean. She is able to add context to each postcard,
which adds a rich layer to Lonnie’s story. He is mostly thoughtful and grateful
and finds beauty in his world, and he rarely complains. His life, including the
bad and the ugly, is what it is, and that’s fine with him.
Author Lisa Johnson’s observations
are insightful, and her writing style is relaxed but intelligent. Lisa feels
like a gracious host, ushering readers into her living room to hear the story. And
she is a keen observer and interpreter of Lonnie’s life and actions and
articulates her observations in a relatable way. While she exposes Lonnie’s life as
best she can, Lisa and readers are left with unanswered questions, of course. Be
prepared to also have unanswered questions about the author, who remains a bit
guarded with her feelings. But this makes sense because this is Lonnie’s story,
after all.
By including images of the
actual postcards, where readers see the dramatic changes in Lonnie’s
handwriting and tone (but the ever-present love for Lisa), readers feel
connected to Lonnie and the homeless are humanized. Many of the cards are too faint
for these middle-aged eyes to read, but Johnson does a good job with repeating
the text in her reflections. The book could benefit from some light editing to eliminate
repetition and clean up the very few typos. Regardless, Postcards from Lonnie is a gem of a book.
Reading Postcards from
Lonnie, for me, was a perspective-changing, belief-bending, eye-opening,
enlightening experience that I won’t forget and that I highly recommend to
others.
Thank you to the author and
Lone Star Book Blog Tours for providing me a cherished print copy in exchange
for my honest opinion – the only kind I give.
