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The Salt of the Universe: Praise, Songs, and Improvisations Hardcover – August 6, 2024

by Amy Leach (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars 15 ratings
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Named a Recommended Read by The New Yorker

A book of mischief and improvisation that answers fundamentalism with rage, music, and delight in this earth.

A book of mischief and improvisation, The Salt of the Universe answers fundamentalism of all kinds with rage, music, and delight. It asks questions that are urgent, impossible, necessary, and irresistible: Where does freedom live? Why does it sometimes feel so good to be told what to do? What on heaven and earth is the Apicklypse?

These and other inquiries arise from Amy Leach’s experience: playing fiddle and piano (and sometimes the organ); her childhood in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and its many prohibitions (coffee, dancing) and emphasis on the apocalypse. After listening to thousands of sermons from a variety of pulpits, here Leach is offering one of her own. She borrows the words of an old hymn, and says: “This is my story, this is my song.” Accompanied by four-year-old mystics and six-year-old geologists, bears and butterflies and willow trees, she praises not obedience but freedom, not secondhand but firsthand thoughts, not homogeneity but heterogeneity. She champions Emily Dickinson and Jesus over interfering prophets, questions over answers, the soul over the institution, Miles Davis over miles of marching.

The Salt of the Universe argues against argument, and against restrictions of all kinds and their limiting effect on our humanity. In this whirlwind of linguistic cartwheels, philosophical shenanigans, and praise songs to the cosmos, Leach reminds us: we must run toward mischief, music, love, the wonders of nature, and the wild joys of all that we don’t yet know.

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  1. Print length
    240 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Farrar, Straus and Giroux
  4. Publication date
    August 6, 2024
  5. Dimensions
    5.35 x 0.85 x 7.8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0374607923
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0374607920
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From the Publisher

Praise for The Salt of the Universe: Praise, Songs, and Improvisations by Amy Leach

The Salt of the Universe Amy Leach Aimee Nexhukumatathil quote

The Salt of the Universe Amy Leach Raven Leilani quote

The Salt of the Universe Amy Leach Eliza Griswold quote

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The Salt of the Universe is an incandescent book that is at once timeless and also exquisitely made for this moment. Its magnificence and effervescent wordplay delight and surprise on every page―in other words, Amy Leach has gifted us with another stunner of a book.”
―Aimee Nezhukumatathil, author of World of Wonders

“Comic essays.”
―The New Yorker

“An exuberant and frequently delightful exploration of what a freer, less fundamentalist approach to life can be.”
―Bryan Ness, Spectrum Magazine

“Whimsical, frank, funny, shrewd, and ever unpredictable, Leach’s phrasing and concepts continue to surprise, delight, and edify . . . Playful, celebratory, wise, impertinent, Amy Leach turns her lyricism and wit on a fundamentalist upbringing and the wealth of experiences beyond.”
―Shelf Awareness

“A madcap, whip-smart theology of joy.”
―Darcey Steinke, author of Flash Count Diary

“I was recently giving a sermon and found myself spontaneously quoting from Amy Leach’s singular and surprising new book. I expect many readers will find their own lives troubled (in the Biblical sense) and enlightened by her fresh perceptions. She has lived into a hard-earned and entirely credible wisdom, the best evidence for which is her irrepressible sense of humor. One feels companioned by this book, and sorry when it ends.”
―Christian Wiman, author of Zero at the Bone

“The Salt of the Universe is a closely observed account of belief, obedience, and dissent. Amy Leach writes about faith with warmth and wit.”
―Raven Leilani, author of Luster

“Lover of Shimmer the hamster and loather of dogma, Amy Leach offers her readers a dazzling world in these earthly parables. They are, in their tender humor, the finest of wisdom teachings.”
―Eliza Griswold, author of Circle of Hope

“Essays that explore fundamentalism, nature, music, and wombats . . . [with] wit [and] humor.”
―Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Amy Leach is the author of The Everybody Ensemble and Things That Are. She grew up in Texas and earned her MFA from the Nonfiction Writing Program at the University of Iowa. Her work has appeared in The Best American Essays, The Best American Science and Nature Writing, and numerous other publications, including Granta, A Public Space, Orion, Tin House, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. She is a recipient of a Whiting Award in Nonfiction, a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award, and a Pushcart Prize. Leach lives in Montana.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Farrar, Straus and Giroux (August 6, 2024)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0374607923
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0374607920
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.35 x 0.85 x 7.8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 out of 5 stars 15 ratings

About the author

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Amy Leach

Amy Leach

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Amy Leach grew up in Texas and earned her MFA from the Nonfiction Writing Program at the University of Iowa. Her work has appeared in Orion, A Public Space, Granta, Tin House, The Best American Science and Nature Writing, and numerous other publications. She is a recipient of a Whiting Writers' Award, a Rona Jaffe Foundation Award, and a Pushcart Prize. She is the author of Things That Are, published by Milkweed Editions, and The Everybody Ensemble, published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. Leach lives in Montana.

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15 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Joyce Williams
    5.0 out of 5 stars There IS life after Adventism
    Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2025
    What a wonderful book for this former obedient little Adventist girl who is still, after 50+ years, yearning to break free. And that is only the sense I got from reading the few pages offered by the sample. I can't wait to order and devour the entire thing. I guarantee my copy will end up covered in highlights. Thank you to the author for affirming for me that there IS life after Adventism!
    One person found this helpful
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  • K or M
    5.0 out of 5 stars A real keeper of a book
    Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2024
    This book is not a standard spiritual memoir. It's not an expose or a takedown. If you want this book to be those things, or if you insist that those things are what this book should be, then this book is not for you.

    This book is for people who want to take a romp with the English language. For people who think seriously about funny things and are willing to laugh at the things everyone else thinks are sacrosanct. It's for people who want to resist any institution that insists its institutional interests are more important than you or you or you.

    Leach is a positively brilliant prose artist. She's hilarious and then so dang serious. She's one of the most aphoristic writers out there today. It's a heck of a book. Going to keep my copy forever.
    7 people found this helpful
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  • Kate
    2.0 out of 5 stars Great sense of humor - but reads like unedited journal
    Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2024
    Leach has a talent for being playful with the English language and a sense of humor that I appreciated at the beginning. Spiritual journey stories is one of my favorite genres, no matter which religion (or none) is being discussed. However, I lost interest quickly as the author’s meandering, stream of consciousness structure was more akin to reading an unedited journal. Her disatisfaction with her Seventh Day Adventist church felt more voyeuristic than relatable. I’d love to see her turn her experience into a humorous and more relatable novel with a character driven and plot driven structure. Thanks to Netgalley for approving my request for this book. I’m sorry I can’t give it a better rating.
    One person found this helpful
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