kjboldon's review
5.0
Love this book about writing, yoga, seeking, fearing, and more.
Feb 2017: still love this book, perhaps even more for a slow read to examine how it was put together.
Feb 2017: still love this book, perhaps even more for a slow read to examine how it was put together.
honeydewfelon's review
3.0
Some interesting meditations on religion and spirituality. The author’s journey from Orthodox Judaism was insightful, and I have noted some books she quoted from for future reading. A lot of emphasis on yoga and meditation retreats and the purchase of a large house and property in the countryside of Connecticut. Hard to relate to. Some references have not aged well since first publication. I loved Inheritance, which is a far more profound and provocative book than this one.
lauraa06's review
4.0
Shapiro's quest to reconcile her Orthodox Jewish upbringing with her yogi/Buddhist mindset and lifestyle. Gorgeous, lyrical writing.
hopeslowik's review
5.0
“They lived—literally—by the book. I loved by an eclectic array of rituals, by many different books.”
Including this one.
Including this one.
jeanneblasberg's review
4.0
This is a very honest and poignant memoir about Dani Shapiro’s search for a spiritual anchor. It combines so many facets of life, however, weaving a tapestry of experience and rumination that I found extremely relatable. I devoured this book and highly recommend.
suequeblue's review against another edition
2.0
As I get older, I am trying to find ways to become satisfied with who I am, and if I am not satisfied, to change. I was looking to this book to portray another 40-something woman, trying to come to terms with who she is. Unfortunately, it didn't really ring true to me. I agree with another reviewer, who stated that if you weren't Jewish or knew of the Jewish customs, you were kind of left in the dark. So I felt like I missed out on a lot of the book, not understanding where she came from or where she was trying to go.
However, I did like some of the information she shared from the other yogis and I will be looking to some of their books to gain some insight.
However, I did like some of the information she shared from the other yogis and I will be looking to some of their books to gain some insight.
blairewithane's review
4.0
Shapiro searches for what her Jewish identity means to her and what aspects of it she wants to incorporate into her family life and what is meaningful to her. She explores traditional Jewish concepts as well as Buddhism and meditation. She does all this while studying her own family history and contemplating the why behind life’s events when faced with health scares and death in her family. Interesting to read about her relationship with her father given her latest book - inheritance.
kevinsmokler's review
4.0
Lovely, sublime, beautiful. Read it, if you've got a searching in your heart for meaning and your place in the world.
notrachel's review
5.0
I wanted to call this indulgent...and that reading someone else's memoir was uber-indulgent. But I loved it. As I loved Shapiro's Still Writing. (new favorite author?) Hit with me so many times, showing me that so many of our differences are on the surface and wish we could say that many times the same things drive us...and hold us back.