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July 11, 2006
Brent Thomas says nice things about Donald Miller and captures exactly why I think so many people love to read Miller! (how's that for a title)
Brent Thomas
Donald Miller
It probably goes without saying that if you read my blog and if you read my friend Brent's blog....you know we are coming from very different positions, and we rarely see eye to eye on many occassions. But I loved this post today about his listening to the NPR show, This American Life and how it's made him realize why Donald Miller is such a great writer. Brent says:
As I listened, I started thinking how much the show was like good writing and then I realized something peculiar. These were all of the reasons that seem to make Donald Miller such a good writer.
Some of you might be thinking to yourselves, "Wait a minute, I thought Brent just wrote a critique of Donald Miller..." I did and I think he's a great writer. The two are not mutually exclusive. While I disagree with many of Miller's conclusions, I have been thinking about Miller's writing style since I read Blue Like Jazz some time last year.
Miller is one of those rare writers who is able to draw from the everyday without becoming boring, to connect with the common without lowering the standard and making the reader feel welcome without making them so comfortable that they drift off. Miller has a masterful use of details, and weaves words with an artisan's hand. Consider the oft-quoted introduction from Blue Like Jazz:
"I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn't resolve. But I was outside the Bagdad Theoater in Portland one night when I saw a man playing the saxophone. I stood there for fifteen minutes, and he never opened his eyes.
After that I liked jazz music.
Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way.
I used to not like God because God didn't resolve. But that was before any of this happened." Before any of what happened? We instinctively want to know because we've all had this experience, maybe not with jazz and a saxophonist, but something has unexpectedly stopped us and forced us to reconsider our preconceived notions. We immediately relate. Plus, "blue like jazz" is a wonderful poetic line!
Here is Brent's entire post.
If you read the top of my blog I use the phrase "aspiring author" because I love writing. I have been working on something for a long time, and every time someone asks me, what are you writing about, I have a really hard time explaining it, at least at this point. But I inevitably say something like "Donald Miller-esque you know." And they say, "What does that mean?" And I say, "You know, the writing style, the narrative, the way he tells stories." I then realize that I can't explain it....but Brent does a good job here of capturing of why I love Don's writings and why many others do as well.
Posted by rhett at July 11, 2006 11:28 AM
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Comments
Thanks for the link to Brent's post. I wanted to tell you though...that pic you have labeled as Donald Miller isn't really Donald Miller...unless he's undergone some massive reconstructive surgery.
I could very well be wrong, but I googled, and found, that picture several times labeled as Donald Miller, but it looks nothing like any of the other pictures I've ever seen.
Posted by: Amanda ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.rhettsmith.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at July 11, 2006 02:05 PM
Wow. This was a great post. I try so many times to explain Don's writitng but I can't. I did not think anyone could until I read this. Thanks for the entry.
Los
Posted by: carlos whittaker at July 11, 2006 07:20 PM
thanks for checking on the photo thing...but I'm pretty sure that's him...and we had him out to speak last year and I'm pretty sure that's him...but I changed the photo anyways...I like this photo of him better anyways...
rhett
Posted by: Rhett Smith at July 11, 2006 11:14 PM
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