Angry Conversations with God: A Snarky but Authentic Spiritual Memoir

What do you do when you're 40 years old and at spiritual rock bottom? You take God to couple's counseling to find out what's wrong with your relationship! Casting herself as the neglected spouse, comedian and NPR essayist Isaacs faces her "inner nag" and offers a running commentary on the ridiculous expectations she puts on God. Faith-affirming! Hardcover.

Disillusioned, disenfranchised, and disinterested in anything churchy, Susan Isaacs knew of only one thing to do when she hit spiritual rock bottom at age 40. . . . She took God to couples counseling.
In this cuttingly poignant memoir, Susan Isaacs chronicles her rocky relationship with the Almighty--from early childhood to midlife crisis--and all the churches where she and God tried to make a home: Pentecostals, Slackers for Jesus, and the über-intellectuals who turned everything, including the weekly church announcements, into a three-point sermon. Casting herself as the neglected spouse, Susan faces her inner nag and the ridiculous expectations she put on God--some her own, and some from her "crazy in-laws" at church. Originally staged as a solo show in New York and Los Angeles, ANGRY CONVERSATIONS WITH GODis a cheeky, heartfelt memoir that, even at its most scandalous, is still an affirmation of faith.

Susan E. Isaacs is a comedian, actress, and writer with many credits in TV, film, stage, and radio. She is an alumna of the Groundlings comedy troupe and contributing essayist for NPR's Weekend America. She has written specials for DirecTV & is a contributing essayist for Sit N Spin at the Comedy Central Stage and Show and Tell at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. Susan teaches screenwriting for the Act One Program and has spoken at PepperdineUniversity's Screenwriting Weekend, International Arts Movement, and Inter-Mission: NY. She and her husband, Larry Wilson, live in Los Angeles. For more information, go to www.susanisaacs.net.

God in couples counseling? Sounds sacrilegious, but in the adept hands of comedian, writer and actress Isaacs, it’s a success. Isaacs reached bottom at age 40: no job, no boyfriend, no home. Of course, she blamed God. So off they went to counseling with the ever-patient therapist Rudy. Isaacs moves easily between recounting her life story and her counseling sessions. She describes encounters with the Nice Jesus of her Lutheran upbringing; the “Oakie” Pentecostal church and the militant counselor; the “Rock-n-Roll” church and the “Orthopraxy, Dude” church, plus her rocky acting career and her love life, including guilt-ridden sex and Mostly Mister Right. Isaacs readily admits to being snarky, but she’s honest about her quest and its conclusion: “I saw now all too clearly why I had married God: for the power and the glory. For the money.” Isaacs goes on a Job-like search for explanations from God, but instead finds the problem to be her. She’s funny, biting, earthy and brilliant. (Mar. 12)Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

"If King David were a woman, and were funny, he'd be Susan Isaacs. And the thing about this book is it surprises you. There are lines in it you won't see coming. You'll be handing this book to somebody else about a month from now thinking, Maybe this will help them understand me. You'll do that because it helped you understand yourself first."

"Susan's brilliant comic idea of taking God to couples therapy is a terrific framework for the story of her personal journey of faith."

"Face it, folks, the church is made up of messed-up people all trying to deal with life. I appreciate writers like Susan who creatively face their issues with honesty and humor. ANGRY CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD is a really fun read."

Average Rating:

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Reviewed by Brandy (Anchorage, Alaska), July 24, 2009

I loved, loved this book. I wish there were more like this out there. It is completely honest. Even more impressive, it is well-written! I recommend it to anyone who has been hurt or embarressed by a fellow Christian.

Reviewed by Chad Estes (Boise, ID), April 15, 2009

This book wasn't what I expected. The author, Susan Isaacs, is a moderately successful actress/writer/comedienne who has worked on movies and TV shows you would be familiar with. Why don't you know her on a first name basis? That is part of the fuel for the fire of this book. In telling her lack-of-success story Susan is "snarky," her cover is cute, and even her book title is clever. I imagined that it would be a humorous read, something fluffy like Oreo filling that I could enjoy between the hard shell theology books on my plate. But this ended up being a book that has significant substance. Susan has some questions; like when her pastor encouraged her not to act in a film that was too dark, but then later used the same movie in a sermon illustration once it was released; and when all the people around her found the success that she didn't; and when all the relationships she invested in came up bankrupt; and when each of the churches she attended became cliché, full of hype, and self-serving; and especially when Susan decided that the God she knew was nothing but cruel. This isn't a book about blame. Susan takes accountability for her issues and her honesty about them will make some readers blush. Other readers may not be embarrassed but will envy Susan of her candor and freedom. And some readers will admire that Susan was brave enough to drag the God she was married to into couple's therapy. That is one of the things that makes Susan's memoir different than the others I've read lately. After writing about a chapter in her life, Susan, God and her counselor have a discussion on how they feel about what has just been shared. It is a like hiding in a closet listening to your sister and her husband verbally vomit on their therapist. But if you're like me, if you open the closet enough to peer out, instead of seeing Susan in the room you may just see yourself.

Write a review of Angry Conversations with God: A Snarky but Authentic Spiritual Memoir

Author: Susan E. Isaacs
Located in: Los Angeles, California
Submitted: November 15, 2008

    Tell us a little about yourself.  I'm an actor and a writer, I've appeared on TV and film and have written some TV specials and contributed essays to NPR's "Weekend America." By the way, the actual subtitle is "A Snarky But Authentic Spiritual Memoir." The publisher changed that about a year ago. :)

    What was your motivation behind this project?  I've been a Christian since I was a child and was always involved in church. But at age forty I hit a major crisis and began to question everything about my faith; it was my dark night of the soul. I'd read a popular book that said I should look at my relationship with God like it was a marriage. And I cattily thought, "well then God and I need to go to counseling." So I used that as a framework for reviewing my life and the relationship. There is a 'fictionalized' therapy session with God at the end of every chapter: that is the God I had built up in my head. Through the book I have to confront my misconceptions about God as well as the expectations I had put on him, on what my life was supposed to look like.

    What do you hope folks will gain from this project?  I hope that readers will have the freedom to be completely honest with God, to air their grievances and heartbreaks, and know that God does care about us! I also hope the reader will bravely at the expectations we actually put on God, of what we think he's supposed to "do for us." I thought if I was good, God would bless me with success, happiness and fulfillment. I picked that up through society but also through the church. When in fact the real path to spiritual maturity is not through ease but through difficulty and heartbreak. It's the only way to really get free. As Rick Warren said, "it's not about you." I went kicking and screaming, but in the end I am so glad God torched my life from all my foolish expectations.

    How were you personally impacted by working on this project?  I have been so blessed to read my book in front of Christians and non-christians, believers, skeptics, people disenfranchised from faith because they've been burned or hurt. I feel like God has given me a purpose far greater than anything I would have chosen on my own.

    Who are your influences, sources of inspiration or favorite authors / artists?  Anne Lamott, Donald Miller, David Sedaris, Monty Python, Eddie Izzard, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Leo Tolstoy, CS Lewis, NT Wright, Mark Heard, Elvis Costello, Steve Taylor, Phil Keaggy, Sara Groves, Radiohead.

    Anything else you'd like readers / listeners to know:  The book is funny. I promise!

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