Reviewing: “Is It Ever Enough? A Journey Toward Joyful Living” by Sarah Pachter. Feldheim Publishers. Hardcover. 371 pages. ISBN-13: 978-1680255195.
Since Sarah Pachter’s new book is conveniently presented in short, readable chapters, I cracked it open intending to read only a chapter or two. But I found myself reading “just one more” chapter until way past my bedtime.
Yet, I think I would be doing fellow readers a disservice if I didn’t discourage them from reading too many chapters in one gulp. Despite the fact that each chapter is well-written, entertaining and interesting so as to be easy reading, they are also deep—and it would be a shame not to give each chapter its due time for the ideas to sink in.
“Is It Ever Enough?” Sarah Pachter answers that question in the five sections of the book: “I have enough (Spiritual Strivings),” “I am enough (Inspiration to Get Through Everyday Life),” “I’ve had enough (Inspiration for the Holidays),” “That is enough (Difficult Relationships, People and Kids)” and “Nuff said (Winning at the Game of Life),” with practical tools and framing complex ideas in ways you can easily grasp.
We don’t need Sarah to tell us the benefits of looking at life through a positive lens, but it’s something more easily said than done. By calling attention to the addictive way people who play video games start to see those games in the world around them—such as seeing the way a cereal box in the supermarket would perfectly fill in the shelf below after hours of playing the video game Tetris—we can also learn to see positivity wherever we look. I’m sure you want to know how, so you’ve got to read this book.
After dealing with a particularly difficult person, I flipped open the section on difficult relationships and was struck by this line: “We can forgive or move on, not because what they did was so small; rather, because we are so big.” I found myself nodding along as I read it, appreciating Sarah’s knack for accessing the truths we all feel deep down.
But far from being preachy or talking down to you—you feel like Sarah is there with you sharing her struggles openly and honestly, inviting you to peek in on her journey. She’s a friend extending a hand so you can climb the hill together with her.
Sprinkled throughout the book is the research and the science that remind us that the Torah knew what the author was talking about thousands of years before the data was being assessed. Never heavy or hard to follow, a well-placed statistic has you saying, ‘Cool, I never knew that, but, boy, does it make sense.’
In the first chapter, Sarah shares her struggle with perfectionism as she searched for the perfect title for this book, until she made peace with the fact that there is no perfection and likewise, no perfect title. But on this point, I’m forced to disagree.
“Is It Ever Enough?” is indeed the perfect title for this book that answers the questions you never even knew you had—with a resounding “yes!” It is always enough.
By Penina Steinbruch
