Friday, September 4, 2009

Does the Dog Die? A Brief Review of Enlightenment for Idiots, by Anne Cushman

After reading the wildly enthusiastic review of this book in the Washington Post, I waited and waited and waited for Enlightenment to come out in paperback. And … I was very disappointed.

I was expecting it to be in full what it was in part: an amusing, sometimes thought-provoking story of a young yoga teacher and writer who travels to India on assignment to write a guidebook about attaining enlightenment. That part was great — the protagonist, Amanda, encounters a range of perplexing, amusing, and contradictory situations, accompanied by her new friend, Devi Das, whom I loved.

What I didn’t like about the book was that it became yet another whiny-girl-misses-assy-ex-boyfriend-who-got-her-pregnant story. It even came with the requisite monster mom who never understood Amanda. This element became the focus, and it wasn’t very interesting.

At least the cover was pretty.

Nothing really dreadful happens to animals except for a sacrificial goat that’s noted in passing and a mention of some fish dying. So if whiny-pregnant-girl stories don’t bore you and you want to read this book, you can rest assured that it is SAFE for animal lovers.

[Via http://esheley.wordpress.com]

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