Emma Wall

Book pages from “We Love You” by Andy Min and Thomas Sullivan.

“We love You: an optimistic guide to life on a rock floating through space” was released on Oct. 28. Andy Min and Thomas Sullivan, the authors of the guide, opened my perspective on the world we currently live in through this book. “We Love You” isn’t a traditional story book with characters and plot, it’s an optimistic guide to life.

Sullivan and Min are the optimistic best friends behind this book. They explore their existence, connect with nature, and strive to discover the meaning of everyday life. Min and Sullivan incorporate essays, poems, mindfulness activities, dialogue, scenes, artwork, photography, and reflection questions into their writing. These elements challenge me as a reader to look at the world around me as if it was the first time. As a reader, I also felt encouraged to engage with the book because of the way it is written. Min and Sullivan talk to you instead of at you. This creates an easy to read environment that makes me feel involved. The book has questions to not only get you to think but to include you in the conversation. I appreciated the narrative scenes that put me at the moment as I was reading, “You may notice sticks, crushed leaves, acorns, or the decaying exoskeletons of ants and flies, if you’re lucky a bold little worm may appear,” Min and Sullivan write. I could picture the mud as I read, each detail helped the picture in my mind become clearer. I began to think of mud as a reminder to look at everything as if it were the first time. If we look at everything that way we start to view everything in the world around us without numbness.

Each chapter was insightful and challenged me to pause and wonder. Although the last chapter “Hope” resonates with me and stands out from the others. This chapter being the last, takes all the concepts in previous chapters and ties them together. The passage from “Hope” revealed to me the foundational message Min and Sullivan create. My perspective was widened by the passage; my idea of hope deepend and expanded. Min and Sullivan explain hope as something everyone has. “Here at the end you realize you have had hope all along, hope that the sun will rise tomorrow,” Min and Sullivan write. This line allowed me to acknowledge the small details in life that indicated hope I hadn’t seen before. When Min and Sullivan mention everyone’s hope that the sun will rise tomorrow along with, hope that flowers will grow from the dirt in spring and, the hope that with each breath you are genuinely alive. I found myself appreciating the knowledge of tomorrow. I am happy I now understand that hope is built into life not something you do or don’t have, like Min and Sullivan said. I hope the sun will rise tomorrow and I take pleasure in that because now I have something to look forward to. Hope makes life meaningful because although we have struggles, loss, pain and doubt, hope won’t take those things away, but it helps us persevere through them and gives us a reason to pursue life. This chapter helped me understand that hope is built in, and I don’t have to search for it.

If you are part of Sullivan and Min’s devoted online community you will enjoy this book because they express the same opinions and views in this book they do online. I believe this book is for all ages from 12 to 70, many people will benefit from reading this book. Although they go in depth on their views it is not specific to religion which opens this book up to many different people. I would rate this book a 4 out of 5 because it is insightful and leaves you with meaningful ideologies. I took this book with a grain of salt because not everyone has an identical perspective. Although I did learn a lot from this book, I strengthened my beliefs and found new ones to consider.