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A review by marthagal
Devotion: a memoir by Dani Shapiro
4.0
This book was great. I thought it was going to be another project-for-a-year-memoir (like [b:Eat, Pray, Love|19501|Eat, Pray, Love|Elizabeth Gilbert|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1269870432s/19501.jpg|3352398] or The Happiness Project), this time about finding spirituality. But it's much better than that - instead of being a formulaic project, it's a book-length meditation on the meaning of life, on joy, on mortality, and on God and faith. It's beautifully written and deeply absorbing.
Early in the book, it's clear that the author is a pretty anxious person:
"Nothing - absolutely nothing I could put my finger on - was the matter. Except that I was often on the verge of tears. Except that it seems that there had to be more than this hodgepodge of the everyday. Inside each joy was a hard kernel of sadness, as if I was always preparing myself for impending loss."
Um, hello, that's me. I struggle with many of the questions and feelings that Shapiro does, and I found it really comforting to read this book. Both because I identified with her, and because though this book doesn't offer any answers, I feel like I understand just a little bit more how I want to live and how I want my life to be.
Early in the book, it's clear that the author is a pretty anxious person:
"Nothing - absolutely nothing I could put my finger on - was the matter. Except that I was often on the verge of tears. Except that it seems that there had to be more than this hodgepodge of the everyday. Inside each joy was a hard kernel of sadness, as if I was always preparing myself for impending loss."
Um, hello, that's me. I struggle with many of the questions and feelings that Shapiro does, and I found it really comforting to read this book. Both because I identified with her, and because though this book doesn't offer any answers, I feel like I understand just a little bit more how I want to live and how I want my life to be.