Review of “Angels, of Course” by Win Tuck-Gleason

Score: 87/100 (8.7 out of 10)

This is a delightful little read with some beautiful and impressive art. The stylistic choices are also a treat for the eyes in this case.

Let's just get this out of the way: for practical applications (as a self-help book), this really doesn't do much other than remind and inspire. Inspiration is valuable, yes, but what exactly the author wants the reader to do to help themselves is left a little vague. We gather that it can be summed up in the following: know that God has his angels looking over you, have faith, pray to God for guidance and protection, and trust God. Now, we know that's a lot, but it's also quite abstract. Prayer is actionable. It's something you can do. Concepts like faith and trust are abstract. That's not to say they aren't meaningful. In fact, these concepts have kept human beings alive through the darkest of times, whether just psychological, physiological, or straight-up supernatural.

The author shares some interesting stories about the times that her faith and trust in God has saved her. Perhaps the story that stands out to us the most is the one in which a blizzard causes traffic to veer off of the road, presumably to a ditch, and the driver found that they were stuck in this death trap. All she could do was pray. And, with her special ability to see and hear angels, she saw them intervene to save her.

That's right, the author has a gift. We're not going to be too hard on her because we get it. Let's just say that one of us had a gift at one time too. Many of us know of at least one person who had or claimed to have had a sixth sense. Well, this author was apparently one of them. From a young age, she could see things, presumably angels. She never learned how or why she had this gift, humorously proposing that her Dutch grandma must've prayed them over her a long time ago.

Now, there are probably many rational and hypothetical explanations for having a sixth sense—psychological reasons like schizophrenia, electromagnetic fields, or just purely the human imagination. However, we like to consider the idea that magic (or the supernatural/paranormal) is just science we don't understand yet. Who's to say that there isn't some mirror dimension rubbing up against our universe whose inhabitants appear from time to time? Who's to say that there aren't other beings we conceive of as “spiritual” who are simply visible to some and not others?

We don't want to jump on the author knowing what we know and just shout, “she's just crazy!” That would be unfair, but it would probably be the conclusion that many would come to. We tried to give her the benefit of the doubt.

With that said, in analyzing her claims, many of her descriptions of these angels sound very familiar because these angels look and dress like they do in famous works of art. There are descriptions that sound a lot like works by Gustave Dore and Michelangelo. Many of the warrior angels dress like soldiers from ancient Greece. There's even the appearance of typical Cupid-like Cherubs you'll find depicted in a jewelry store. The singing angels wear white robes because of course they do.

However, these descriptions are some of the most interesting things in this book. One of the most fascinating things the author describes is their faces, because she says they're hard to make out.

One very important thing in this book is that even while talking about angels, the author is wise enough to remind her mostly-Christian audience that angels aren't to be worshiped or thought of over God and Jesus. She reminds the audience that Jesus is still what makes Christianity Christian and that the angels are merely Christ's servants. That's probably important to note.

All in all, this can be an interesting book to some with a spiritual or religious inclination, or just those who are curious about these things.

Check it out on Amazon!