Publishers Weekly
07/18/2022
“All human divisions... can begin to be healed through listening and sharing stories,” writes Yaconelli (The Gift of Hard Things), the founder of a nonprofit that helps communities organize storytelling events, in this poignant meditation. Telling one’s personal story can help with grieving, making sense of the past, and spotlighting injustice, Yaconelli posits, and the stories that follow, many from his nonprofit work, exemplify “how speaking... can liberate us individually and collectively.” In one instance, an 18-year-old’s powerful story about visiting her father in jail before he was deported to Mexico humanizes the danger of listening to “fear-based, one-sided” narratives. In another, a grieving community gathers a year after a school shooting to discuss how “those lost and wounded are loved”; such events have led to that community growing closer in the tragedy’s wake, Yaconelli writes. The author also shares his own experience as a child, when he learned to “speak in compelling sentences and dramatic plotlines” to hold his father’s attention and “garner his love.” The vignettes are in turn heartbreaking, funny, and consistently well written. The result is a moving testament to the power of confession. Agent: Kimberley Cameron, Kimberley Cameron & Assoc. (Aug.)
From the Publisher
"The vignettes are in turn heartbreaking, funny, and consistently well written. The result is a moving testament to the power of confession." ——Publishers Weekly
"This is an immersive, elegant meditation, an offering of grace. Mark Yaconelli ushers us into rooms full of authentic stories, where facades fall and suffering and joy are metabolized." ——Kirsten Powers, CNN Senior Political Analyst and New York Times bestselling author of Saving Grace: Speak Your Truth, Stay Centered, and Learn to Coexist with People Who Drive You Nuts
"This tender book invites us to create vulnerable and life-giving spaces in which to spill our own stories and to stumble onto each other's deepest and truest selves." ——Presbyterian Outlook
"For a world so afflicted with isolation and disconnection, this beautiful book is medicinal. Yaconelli reminds us how we find our way home." ——John Pavlovitz, author of If God Is Love, Don't Be a Jerk
"Mark Yaconelli shows how our stories can form bridges to greater understanding and compassion. Between the Listening and the Telling will give you renewed hope and inspiration for how storytelling can bring people closer together. I highly recommend this book to anyone doing community work or leading organizations." ——Mandy Yeahpau, director of social media, IllumiNative
"I have spent my life around stories and storytellers, and Mark Yaconelli captures the vibrancy and necessity of the storytelling world. The beauty of this book lies in its perception, its acuity, its warmth, and its authenticity." ——Lisa Consiglio, CEO and cofounder of Narrative 4
"Scientists, artists, mathematicians, wanderers, dreamers, and the rest of us have been searching for meaning. Mark Yaconelli finds the answer in the heart of the one democracy that we all share—our stories. A lot of things can be taken from us—our houses, our bank accounts, even our lives—but Yaconelli recognizes that nothing can take away the power of storytelling." ——Colum McCann, National Book Award winner for Let the Great World Spin
"Between the Listening and the Telling is vulnerable and moving, humorous and humble, beautiful and wise. Story by story, Mark Yaconelli reveals the ancient path that leads to greater love, hope, connection. If you're wondering in this time of alienation and divisiveness whether we still have a common humanity, then this book is for you." ——Melissa Wiginton, vice president for Education Beyond the Walls, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
"Beautiful, inspiring, timely. Mark Yaconelli invites vulnerability by being vulnerable, courage by being courageous, tears by revealing heartfelt truths, and laughter by being damn funny." ——Max Gimbel, director of The Institute for Community Building, The Ford Family Foundation
"Between the Listening and the Telling does more than tell about the goodness of stories; it shows us how our stories can make sense of difficult and joyous experiences, how stories can remove the separations between 'us' and 'them.'" ——Tim Shapiro, director of The Center for Congregations
