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    Through Painted Deserts: Light, God, and Beauty on the Open Road
    Through Painted Deserts: Light, God, and Beauty on the Open Road
    Through Painted Deserts: Light, God, and Beauty on the Open Road
    Audiobook (abridged)4 hours

    Through Painted Deserts: Light, God, and Beauty on the Open Road

    Written by Donald Miller

    Narrated by Donald Miller

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    From the author of Blue Like Jazz comes a road-trip memoir about three months spent crossing the country in a Volkswagen camping van, wondering out-loud if there is more to life than nine-to-five jobs, than the ruts the entire world seems to be stuck in. Follow Don and Paul as they dive headlong into the deepest of human questions and find answers outside words?answers that have to be experienced to be believed.

    Day 1: "Trips  like ours are greener grass left unknown for fear of believing trite sayings; sayings that are sometimes true. But our friends back home live an existence under the weight and awareness of times; a place we are slowly escaping; a world growing fainter by the hour and the mile."

    Day 13: "It feels again that we are leaving who we were, moving on into the people we will become, hopefully, people with some kind of answers, some kind of thing to believe tht makes sense of beauty, of romance. Something that would explain the red glow against Paul's face, the red glow that seems to be coming off the console . . . 'Did you notice the engine light is lit, bud?' I ask . . ."

    Day 83: "I sit in the van, waiting for her to come out when I notice a window in one of the classrooms open, and a backpack comes falling out, spilling a few books onto the lawn. After the backpack comes Elida, falling atop the pack and laying low, peeking back into the window to see if the teacher noticed. She gathers her books, reaches into the classroom and closes the window, then runs toward the van as though this were a prison break."

    As you read Through Painted Deserts, you'll soon realize this is not just one man's account of finding light, God, and beauty on the open road. Rather, this book maps the journey you're already traveling . . . or soon will be.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarper Horizon
    Release dateJun 30, 2009
    ISBN9781418575120
    Author

    Donald Miller

    Donald Miller is the CEO of StoryBrand and Business Made Simple. He is the host of the Coach Builder YouTube Channel and is the author of several books including bestsellers Building a StoryBrand, Marketing Made Simple, and How to Grow Your Small Business. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee with his wife, Elizabeth and their daughter, Emmeline.  

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    Reviews for Through Painted Deserts

    3.5/5

    220 ratings11 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Enjoyable view into a trip across country, wherein love, girls, food and friendship are opportunities to think on creation and God.
    • 2/5
      Through Painted Deserts: Light, God, and Beauty on the Open Road was written after Blue Like Jazz but the events in the book took place mostly before Blue Like Jazz. Whoever thought it was a good idea to make a movie from Blue Like Jazz must be the same person who thought it be a good idea to have Don read his own audio books. He has a monotone way of reading that puts you to sleep, but it's generally my preference to hear the author tell his own story.Don and his friend Paul take a beaten up Volkswagen van from Houston to Oregon and encounter the kind of people you'd expect along the way: Strangers who help them fix their car, people who work in roadside cafes, old friends, etc. They hike and camp and talk about love and life. Nothing really insightful. Occasionally, Don will have an epiphany about God and write a few paragraphs about it. This book is basically his journal of that road trip, and I suppose his publishers would think people would find it interesting because his Blue Like Jazz journaling sold so well.I listened to this book primarily on subway rides in Ankara. The first few chapters annoyed me because it was so self-centric of a couple of middle class, white Southerners to think the world revolves around them and their road trip idea. Eventually, I warmed to the book as their encounters led them places and they resolved interpersonal conflicts and such. At the end of the book when they're sleeping in a tent in the woods and working summer jobs at a nearby pool, Don as a janitor, I'm struck by how easy it is in Oregon to live like that. Don doesn't talk much about his janitorial duties, but I suppose taking on such dirty work gave me a respect for him I wouldn't have otherwise.But much of this book is like a boring reality TV show where you're sort of a voyeur into these guys pretty tame lives. The fact that people look to this book for spiritual insight really disturbs me, there's really not much there. They don't seem to spend much of their time looking at Scripture much, so much of what passes as spiritual insights (only about 10% of the book) are Don's own opinions on how God runs His universe. That Don would be some sort of hero to some people for writing about the ordinary tells me that American 20 somethings must really be bored or worse. Maybe I should write a book, see how it sells.I give the book 2 stars out of 5.
    • 3/5
      As with all authors there comes a time when even our favorites disappoint us and this is mine. Through Painted Deserts is Miller's version of a travelogue and as such is not bad but doesn't really go anywhere. To be honest most travelogues are not supposed to go anywhere, it is more about the journey than it is the destination, which Miller explores How and Why with his usual Christian snarkiness. Somewhere along the way this version has more whine than depth exploration and reminded me of a Philip Roth novel. By the way, in my opinion, Miller is the one person that could write a fabulous Roth style novel and out Roth Roth. If you think this book sounds familiar, its original was Prayer and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance, which had some marvelous bits in it. He cuts some material and added some new and release Painted Deserts. This would have been a better read and write if he'd kept the original and just added the additional excerpts.
    • 3/5
      Honest, entertaining, self-deprecating Donald Miller's story of his travels in a van and journey to faith during his early adulthood.
    • 2/5
      Not as good as Blue Like Jazz but still incredible. Makes you want to drive across country with no job, no responsiblity, no air conditioning. Ok, maybe not the last one.
    • 5/5
      I read Don Miller's Blue Like Jazz about a year ago and really liked it. I read Searching for God Knows What last week and found it to be borderline depressing. I picked up Through Painted Deserts last night, and I couldn't put it down! This book is different from Miller's first two in that it is a continuous narrative and the chapters follow each other in chronological order. What this creates is a compelling story with peppered with plenty of the thoughts and musings one comes to expect from Miller. You find yourself laughing at the situations and conversations throughout the book, but at the same time you are impressed with the somber spirituality of the journey. I don't camp, I hate the desert and truckstops, and car travel is my least favourite mode of transportation; despite all this I'm considering taking my own journey through the desert, if only to find the perspective on life that Miller was fortunate enough to gain. In my opinion, a must read for anyone!
    • 4/5
      Although I am no younger generation emergent church type person, this book is definitely to my taste. I enjoy pilgrimage books (like BLUE HIGHWAYS) like this. There must be something of the voyeur in me that enjoys a literal and figurative journey together with someone I don't know. I found MIller's descriptions and use of language really beautiful and inspiring. His questioning of his faith was honest, as were his answers. It made me wish I had gone on this kind of journey when I was much younger, so I would be further along in my life today. Or maybe that's a hang-over from being a part of the hippie generation! Even though I am 20 years older than the author, I appreciated his metaphors and learned from him. I originally read the book for my women's book club, but I have reread the book for the sheer pleasure of the reading.
    • 5/5
      Relying on the metaphors of nature (e.g. light) and human experience (e.g. relationships), Miller offers poetic reflections on the God of all creation. "Through Painted Deserts" traces the journey (spiritual and otherwise) of Don and Paul as they travel in VW van from Houston to Oregon. One of my favorites: well told, profound, touching. A+
    • 3/5
      I heard questionable things about this book, but I thoughroughly enjoyed it. Miller doesn't have quite as much spirituality in this book as compared with Blue Like Jazz, but at least it has a running story that captures you.
    • 4/5
      A meandering pilgrimmage. I enjoyed savouring the journey.
    • 5/5
      This is a nice, comfortable read -- kind of like being on a road trip with a good soundtrack playing with the windows rolled down. His messages regarding life and faith are subtle; he has you read four or five chapters of interesting road trip memoir before he slips in a simple life lesson he's been pondering along the way.