June Book of the Month: The Razor's Edge

Pastor Drew asked me to pick a work of fiction for the book of the month. Before we get into the book, let's talk about fiction for a moment. For some of you, reading fiction may be very much up your alley, for others, this may be the first work of fiction you've read since school, or maybe ever. Wherever you fall, good fiction is ultimately good story telling. Good stories pull us in. They can put us in the shoes of someone we would have never known otherwise or put us in the shoes of someone we very much relate to and identify with. They can put voice to questions and doubts and struggles and joys that we weren't able to express. God very much used fiction in my life to draw me to Himself and continues to do so.

The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham is one of those works of fiction. The story itself is simple: A young man leaves his suburban middle class life to serve in World War 1. After experiencing the atrocities of war, he returns home disillusioned and decides he doesn't want to live the life laid out for him. Leaving behind a life of luxury and ease and worldly success, he sets off on a journey to find purpose and meaning.

I mainly love this book for the questions that it raises. The first time I read it, I was wrestling with God and trying to make sense of life. Although this book is not christian and the main character doesn't arrive at the same conclusions as I did, I was drawn to his hunger and thirst for something more. His questioning rang true to me. Rejecting materialism and the status quo in pursuit of depth and meaning and true inner peace was exactly what I was after!

I hope that something from this book challenges you and pushes you towards a life of meaning.