Michael Warden's Reviews > Faith, Hope and Carnage

Nick Cave is a gift. I say that as one who has never followed his music (though I'm starting to listen to him a bit now). I'm talking about his spoken words. He has this way of capturing the essence of what people are feeling but don't quite know how to express. A hundred times through the audiobook I found myself pointing to the speaker and saying, "Yes! Yes! That's it exactly!"

I felt validated and grateful listening to this book, as will anyone who has experienced loss, and knows the terrible intimacy of the wordless landscapes of grief.

The audiobook is unique in that it's actually more of an extended podcast interview between Nick and his friend Sean. It's a series of conversations, wide ranging in their scope and depth. Much of the content focuses on Nick's creative process as a musician, which was absolutely fascinating on its own. But woven throughout everything were deeper elements of Nick's life and experience — the loss of his son, his deep and tumultuous relationship with God, his love for his wife, his deep friendships and troubled bandmate experiences, his addictions and journey of recovery. It's all in there, beautifully drawn out by Sean over 6+ hours of conversation.

I loved it. I felt enriched by every chapter, and left feeling like a better person than I was when I started.

Highly recommended, particularly the audio version.