I had never read or heard of Andy Andrews until his publisher’s CEO, Michael Hyatt, started raving about this book, so I decided to give it a read.

The Noticer is described as “part fiction, part inspiration and part allegory” and you leave it with a deep sense of how important perspective can be in life. Too often, we get down into the “trees” of our lives, and can’t see the bigger picture.

An allegorical tale written from a Christian perspective, the center of the story is an old man named Jones – “no mister, just Jones” – who carries around a tattered leather suitcase and always seems to show up at the right moment.

Jones is always sharing his gift of perspective with people blinded by their own challenges. Some are on the brink of divorce; another suicide; still another bankruptcy; or young people just giving up on life.

At each stage, the solution is to look at things differently. He gives books on great people in history to those young people; counsels the couple headed to a divorce on the differences in their love languages; and helps the near-bankrupt businessman see that treating his employees well and doing right by his clients will pay far greater dividends than his short-term perspective has.

If you view this book allegorically, it seems to work. But in truth, there was an element of the story that just wasn’t deep enough for me. My faith teaches me that God is massively big in comparison to the problems I face in life. That doesn’t mean everything will be peachy – but it does mean that I don’t have to solve these problems in my own power. (Which is good, because I’m incapable of doing so!)

Ultimately, that’s the lack of perspective that I often deal with, and despite its roots, this book didn’t really lay that foundation.

That’s my only criticism, though. The Noticer is still a valuable tool, and one that reminded me of the need to surround myself with people that I trust, who can “notice” things that I lack the perspective to see. It was also an entertaining page turner, and I look forward to reading future work from Andy Andrews.

» Check out The Noticer by Andy Andrews

Note: I was given a free copy of this book in the hopes that I would review it. I also am a member of Amazon.com’s affiliate program. You can review my disclosures page for more information.