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se_wigget's review
adventurous
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
3.0
If the subject weren't so fascinating--Madame Blavatsky, that is--I'd give up because I really don't like the author. He sprinkles his fatphobia throughout the book so frequently that I lost count how many times--before I reached page 75.
Even though the book was published in 2012, not prior to the 1990s, he uses the "default male" pronouns only, never alternating between "he" and "she." I also see why readers on StoryGraph and/or Goodreads say he jumps around chronologically.
I've decided I don't want to read anything else by this author.
On that note, the book has plenty of fascinating information and paints a vivid picture of Madame Blavatsky, who was as eccentric and bohemian as I expected. I had no idea she was ace and pretty much Buddhist. I read a few pages about her in Toil and Trouble: A Women's History of the Occult by Lisa Kroger and Melanie R. Anderson, so it's exciting to read an entire book about her. The more I read, the more I want to know.
The final chapter is less about Blavatsky--it's about Theosophy after she died, and it's about the mysterious "Masters" and whether they were real people (according to Blavatsky they were) or spirits. If I wrote something fictional inspired by this stuff, I wouldn't make the Masters (urgh, a cringey word) characters all male.
Page 162 (and probably others): As a high school English teacher said years ago, "If it's 'needless to say,' don't say it." That phrase is useless.
Page 264: Eye roll. Theravada Buddhism isn't about "ignoring the suffering of others" and only saving oneself. If that were true, it wouldn't include metta, a.k.a. lovingkindness meditation. I'm sure I've mentioned this in other book reviews, but I'm sick of la-de-da Mahayana Buddhists demonizing Theravada Buddhists just because the Bodhisattva comes from Mahayana Buddhism. Theravada Buddhism is the closest we have to what the historic Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, practiced. So when you insult Theravada Buddhists, you insult the Buddha.
prof_pelon's review
1.0
so I got this book for free from the publisher and so I feel like I needed to like it. and I tried. but I just couldn't enjoy it. I never really attatched to Blavatsky ... I couldn't even hate her. at the very least I want a biography to make me feel something about the subject... Lachman failed at it completely. probably cause I spent most of the time trying to follow him. hopefully in the final editing they will fix those problems but as of now I would only recommend this book to people who already have a very deep interest in the occult and alternate life styles. otherwise not worth the time. sorry.
valkyriejmu's review
2.0
To say this book kinda jumps around a bit is an understatement. I was able to stick with it, but I'll admit that many times I wasn't sure why. It's clear (and Lachman admits throughout) that he could no more get a handle on Blavatsky than anyone else who has tried, but, in this case, sometimes you wish that he was slightly less objective, as that may have organized his thoughts a bit better. The book kind of reads like a debate on CNN -- you grapple with one side, then the other and Lachman then chooses to "leave it there" so he can move on. It's about as annoying in book form as it is on CNN.
We get it -- the woman is complicated and may be a charlatan but may be real and there are people who argue on both sides and nearly all those people have an agenda, etc. But I don't think Lachman really did a great service to anyone by writing such a jumble of a book.
We get it -- the woman is complicated and may be a charlatan but may be real and there are people who argue on both sides and nearly all those people have an agenda, etc. But I don't think Lachman really did a great service to anyone by writing such a jumble of a book.
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