Book Review: The Noticer

Title: The Noticer
Author: Andy Andrews
Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Recommended: The Noticer offers a little perspective and hope that greater things are still to come.

It’s all about perspective. Whether you see your life as being the worst it can possibly be, if you see your influence as tiny or insignificant, it all depends on your perspective.

That, in a nutshell, is the heart of The Noticer by Andy Andrews.

I’ll be honest, I was nervous about reading this book. I don’t much care for Christian/inspirational fiction, in large part because it can too easily go off the rails theologically.

Fortunately, this book doesn’t do that.

The Noticer is a deceptively easy read. It’s prose is pleasant and fast-paced; a book you can blast through in one sitting (about two hours).  And while it’s a fast and easy read, it’s impact is anything but. The book repeatedly asks the question: Are you seeing your life with the right perspective? The vignettes that make up the book’s 10 chapters implicitly demand that readers’ examine themselves and understand that as long as they have breath, there is hope, and there is work to be done.

However, The Noticer’s greatest strength is also it’s greatest weakness. Because it’s written as a series of vignettes connected by a loose narrative involving the enigmatic Jones (just Jones, no “Mister”), it gets a little repetitive. Whether that’s a problem depends on your perspective, I suppose.

The Noticer is a great book, although the cover blurb stating that it’s the best book Nancy Lopez has ever read might be overstating it’s quality. It’s message definitely warrants careful consideration, reflection, and action.