I read this book over such a long period that during the first couple of chapters I was in essence a "Christian", but by its end I was more of a Neo-Platonist/stoic-deist? Funnily enough Augustine spends a fair chunk of the book criticizing and attacking such beliefs, I don't think I've ever been convinced of an idea by a criticism of it, but there's a first time for everything,

Augustine has some fantastic insights, especially during the first half of the book, and interesting theological questions mixed with reflective life stories turn out to be quite a nice mix. Like many other readers have echoed, the uncanny thing about reading The Confessions is how much it can make you relate or sympathise with a man who's been dead for almost 1700 years.

That's really what I'm after these days, not so much complicated questions of life or existential rabbit holes, but rather a fascinating glimpse into the brain of a human from a time and culture thats long since passed and gone.

There's a double meaning to the word "confession" in this work: confessing to himself concerning his conversion to a new life and new religion, and confessing to God about his sinful past. It starts being grounded in his personal affairs and life experiences, with each subsequent chapter getting more introspective and abstract until the last three chapters, which are entirely a meditation on the nature of God and His world.

I really appreciated the first half of the book, especially when he's reminiscing on memories of his friends, his relationships, his tutors, and especially his mother. However, when he starts getting introspective or goes on a lengthy monologue to God, it can either be enlightening or REALLY boring. And with the last three chapters it felt more like the latter as it can be hard to grasp what he's getting at. It helps to be scripturally literate, which I'm not as a nonbeliever.

Whether you are of his faith or not, I think you will get something out of the Confessions because of how immediately personable he is on the page, which makes this book a real oddity in Latin literature as a "modern" island from an otherwise antiquated world.