Traveling is certainly one of life’s pressure points, especially navigating airports, so it is a great setting for exposing the needs of people who are stressed or struggling through their existence. And of course the visual metaphor of them carrying baggage is so apt.
The story offers a brief glimpse into the lives of three people, whose luggage gets mixed up at an airport. As well as their physical luggage, it is clear they are each also carrying weighty emotional baggage, and through the supernatural intervention of the mysterious Baggage Handler, they are gently walked through a process of being released. Their burden is lifted. They see the truth of who they are and they are enabled to let go, so as to live their own life more fully. They are freed.
I have seen this book described as a modern day parable, which it really is. It is a parable showing how people are so good at picking up and carrying unwanted baggage in their lives. Things that shouldn’t belong to us. Lies, curses, other people’s expectations or opinions. We should be walking free from them, not weighed down and limited by them. And with a little bit of help from someone who can see through the lies to the truth, we can walk in a freedom that allows us to be wholly the people we are meant to be.
The identity for the mysterious Baggage Handler is not revealed, nor should it be. The reader can overlay their own thoughts and beliefs, and I think it is a sign of good writing when the author deliberately holds back to allow the reader to think and imagine for themselves.
David has a lovely writing style, observational and humorous. The book is fast paced, easy to read and packed with all too relatable character traits and circumstances that will make the reader sit back and think about their own situations and how to deal with their own unwanted baggage.
Fun, but with a clear life message – you may well feel a bit lighter after you have read it !
