I heard this was a terrific book passed like gold between fellow women of a certain age. All I can say is that the marketing department should get a very large Christmas bonus...
I tried to read it, honestly I did. In the end, after forcing myself to read meticulously through the firsts 150 pages, I did the unusual for me and flicked through huge boring sections of it until the last 30. For the life of me I can not understand why this book is so popular. It is SO derivative, and ridiculous. I can see that the writer knows how to do research here and there, and there is a fairly impressive bit of background and history thrown in, and also, she knows how to construct a novel which is what stops this yawn from being merely a rant.
But still!!
So she got fat while eating, no expense spared in Italy for three months. Then went to some reclusive ashram place in India and tried to be empty of all but herself - this is where I started skimming, to leave the poor woman alone! Then, literally, our poor tragic heroine rents the sweetest little place in Bali and "hangs out" for the final three months, talking to some old faith healer she had met on a previous magazine assignment, going t to various parties and get-togethers and then meeting the predictable dark handsome stranger.
What a total indulgent luxury!! All the while, this book is pierced with the agony of her miserable divorce. and, just in case we think her too shallow, she manages to raise an undisclosed sum of money to buy a piece of land for a single mother in Bali who happens to be a herbal healer of some sort. This plot is more or less disclosed on the back of the book before you start reading it, so don't worry, I have not given anything much away.
I know women who have gone through all this emotional pain and had to just get on with normal life at the same time, no breaks, no meditation, just bills, and sick family, and day jobs they hate, yet need to do. Yet, after a year or two, they come out of it too. WOW! What a miracle...
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