Date read: 01.06.2017. How strongly I recommend it: 6/10
Crash the Chatterbox: Hearing God’s Voice Above All Others, by Steven Furtick on Amazon.
See my Kindle highlights here.
TAREGT AUDIENCE
I imagine a high volume of this book’s audience to be millennials. Obviously church-goers, culture-junkies, and techie-gurus. They’ll dig the sort of witty banter and pop-culture references. Readers who are looking for a deeper take on “the chatter” of the mind and the inner struggle of finding God’s voice beyond the pandemonium of life’s battles may be better suited to another title on hearing God’s voice or the like.
CONTENT QUALITY
I found the content of this book to be decent. There were not a lot of new paradigms to be had. Most of it sounded like a Sunday morning church message. That’s one of my biggest struggles with this book: a book should be written differently than the preacher’s message is articulated over the microphone on Sunday morning.
MESSAGE CLARITY
The author adamantly sticks to his course and rarely goes on bunny trails. The points that he makes are clear and concise, though not always breathtakingly strong. The message runs its course throughout the entirety of the book as purposed in the table of contents: “God Says I Am, God Says He Will, God Says He Has, and God Says I Can.” There is little deviation. Unfortunately, for a reader like myself who enjoys deeper twists and turns, I find the author’s direction a little too one note.
CREATIVE STYLE
My greatest frustration with this book is the writing style. I wanted to like this book, perhaps simply because of the high rating it received on Amazon. But throughout the entire book I felt that I was listening to the author preaching during a Sunday morning church service. That’s not my cup of tea when it comes to book reading. Starting with chapter anecdotes (Can Jay Z really be considered for a chapter anecdote?!) and weaving through the bulk of each chapter, there are an excessive amount of references to pop-culture that I personally find hard to swallow. To me, the style felt shallow because of references to Netflix, R.E.M., Starbucks, Doritos chips, Cialis commercials, and Fresh Prince of Bel Air. I found the creative style of this book severely lacking.
LANGUAGE SELECTION
Similar to my frustrations with the author’s creative style, his language selection was also overwhelmingly drab. I like to be challenged by new vocabulary. I enjoy poetic rhythm, articulate form, and the beautiful cadence of language. This book was filled with more witty banter than linguistic genius for my taste.
OVERALL IMPACT
I honestly did not mean for my review to be this harsh. I keep trying to lighten my response to this book, but I was quite disappointed overall. That being said, there certainly are nuggets and gems within these pages. I’m sure that I’ll recall many of his valid thoughts when I find myself inundated by the chatterbox: “You’re not good enough. Does God really like you? What’s the point of doing what you do?” I guess this book will appeal to the general masses. The high Amazon rating proves that. Instead I will take away a few solid truths and not be overly impacted by the book.
10 POINT RATING
I give Crashing The Chatterbox a 6/10.