A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

This is probably one of the more interesting fiction books I have read in awhile. It is a story written in a memoir style in the perspective of a man, Johnny who is recollecting the years of his childhood and early adulthood and particular his best friend Owen Meany. The memoir-like fashion is believable as a real story because the narrator seems to have difficulty setting events out and starts by telling the reader everything and then trying to more realistically separate the story out into parts.

Owen is a dwarf-like child, incredibly small for his age with an incredibly unique voice which is a symbol throughout the book for both his power and what turns out to be his "destiny." Owen throws what seems to be an ill-fated baseball at the beginning with astonishing results and this also becomes symbolic of his role throughout the book in relation to the narrator. As the book progresses Owen becomes more and more convinced of something - that he is the guiding hand of God and that his fate is entirely in the hands of God. The book also contains some useful testimony about religion - Owen does not behave like a monk or anointed one but rather is critical of the presentation of different religions in his hometown and in his experiences.

As the boys grow up into the era of Kennedy and the Vietnam War, Owen becomes more and more convinced of what he is meant to do. An interesting concept emerges - that of blindly following what he believes to be his destiny while believing it wholeheartedly and the question seems to beckon - how can someone have a destiny if there manifests a choice whether to follow it or not?

I think this novel was slightly too long, although it did keep me reading all the way through because of what I knew was coming. The voice of the narrator begs to the very end but in the last few chapters I was beginning to wonder if there would ever be a forseeable conclusion.

An enjoyable read, none the less.

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything

I am still in mixed minds about this book; people seem to either love it or hate it but I am somewhere in the middle. It follows a journey undertaken by the author after going through a difficult divorce and a difficult break-up. The book is separated into three sections: Eat details her time in Italy, Pray goes through her time at an ashram in India and Love covers her final leg of this journey to find herself in Bali.

I think the first leg of the journey in Italy was my favourite, it got a little too wishy washy for me after that. The book has been criticised for being too self-absorbed or narcissistic but I didn't really find it like that. The explanations at the beginning seemed to be just showing her reasons for taking this random trip around the world. I definitely don't think that she was asking for any pity or saying it was anything worse than what other people go through as has been suggested.

First of all the writing in this book was impressive, she took you on her journey every step of the way, with humour, sadness and all those other emotions. However, some of the claims to recall exact conversations with people kind of had me doubting the truth of the book. Unless the woman was carrying a dictaphone around with her in all her journeys and sexual experiences!? The conversations in the book were so detailed, they sort of reminded me of the conversational excerpts from A Million Little Pieces which were later found to be figments of the author's imagination. The other thing that annoyed me about this book is well it sort of irked my inner feminist and my inner atheist. It seemed like in this book, she divorced, rebounded, broke up with the rebound then immediately felt her life to be pretty empty and turned to God. I guess that may have been why I liked the first leg more than the others. She was independent, she relied on herself, she enjoyed food. It just seemed to me for a lot of the rest of the book there either had to be a higher power or a significant other. I rest in the truth that there doesn't have to be either and that dealing with being alone is a thing everyone has to face and overcome which she didn't seem to do.

At the same time, there were some impressive excerpts in this book which I wanted to shout to the world, paticularly in the first leg. Leaving a long-term relationship is really hard, and she did it with strength and tried to leave it behind. Again, however, the jump into a rebound relationship irked me a little. I guess what I did like is that she knew the relationship was not working and she got out of it instead of just remaining and being sad. The author has also been criticised for getting a large advance on this book before leaving on her trip. To be honest I don't blame her in the least, if I had the writing talent she has I would not hesitate to find something to fund my journey of self discovery. Seems like a good plan to me! She came through, published a book which has influenced a lot of people and that a lot of people have enjoyed so it was not like the money was undeserved.

Suffice to say, I think it's an intriguing read. It falls somewhere in the realm of a travel book, self help book or memoir. There are passages of the book I definitely think are impressive things that everyone needs to read.

Up next: To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

Siddhartha, Demian and other writings by Hermann Hesse

Siddhartha:
This tells the story of a young man in the time of Buddha who seeks a personal transformation through first learning and consequently creating his own version of the journey through life.

Before beginning this book, some part of me didn't feel like I was educated enough to understand all the underlying meanings, however the way in which the books are written (remembering that they are translated) seemed to reverberate in me somehow. It is still completely possible though that I have entirely missed the point so I apologise in advance.

The book begins with Siddhartha leaving home to join the "ascetics" with his friend Govinda. This seems to be a sort of separate civilisation where spirituality and finding truth in one's own actions and surroundings becomes the most important goal of life.

Him and Govinda later leave to join Gotama "the illustrious one" who speaks and enlightens both of them. Siddhartha continues his journey still though, becoming certain that he cannot live his life through another's teachings.

To continue the entire book would give it away. I found the tone and the calmness of this book amazing though, the themes running through it seemed to me to suggest the importance of independence in one's spirituality or spiritual means. That to truly understand your spirituality, you must find it yourself rather than seek it in the words of others.

Demian
Demian to me seemed to be a novella on self-discovery and finding yourself as cliched as that sounds.

Through traumatic childhood experiences, friendships gained as a result and continual advice throughout his life; the protagonist, Emil begins to awake to his own self aided by the mentoring he receives throughout the book. Women in this book seem to be viewed as ideal, something to pull one out of destroying themselves. Women continue to be valuable throughout.

The book also refers to the long lost (as far as I'm aware) concepts of Gnosticism and the opening up of the mind to spirituality, in the same sort of way (but obviously different too) as in Siddhartha.

I would definitely recommend both of these. No matter what they give you, and they will give you something. I was very skeptical about these books as have not heard of them from anyone else but they relaxed me, they made me think.



Next up: Madness: A Bipolar Life by Marya Hornbacher

The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac

The introduction to this book provided the clear case that it much of Kerouac's work was autobiographical, based on both his own experiences and those of his friends. This book serves as a journey of self discovery for the main character, Ray as he becomes familiar with a changed life under the multicoloured aura of Zen Buddhism.

When I first started reading this I thought it would be very full of facts about Buddhism, as I have never read Kerouac before. Although it did give a lot of insight into the philosophies surrounding it, the book itself was about the joys that immersing yourself in nature can bring you. The prose in this book is absolutely amazing, akin to that of Virginia Woolf, very visual, very powerful and wholly beautiful. Looking around my surroundings after reading some passages from this book really makes you realise the beauty that the main character, Ray is able to find within himself, his friends and the world around him.

Keeping in mind the autobiographical stance of (apparently) most of Kerouac's work, the only thing I didn't like in this book is the way women were treated. It may be a signal of the time in which it was set, or of Kerouac's beliefs and I'm not well read enough to say which one. His fellow traveler Japhy comments at one point in the book about having to get someone drunk before she'll give up and have sex with him, all the females in the book are used by the men, although it gives a reason of women being celebrated, it didn't quite sit right with my inner feminist.

The book explored very well the experience of solitude. At one stage, Ray climbs up to Desolation Peak and spends too months there by himself, something that preceding his own spiritual journey throughout the book he would have found very difficult. His experience of this complete solitude is very well mastered in this book, through the poetic style of writing and the clear enjoyment (although not at first) of Ray's experience.

The character of Ray is also evolved brilliantly, describing himself as old at the beginning you soon forget this as he travels the country, enjoying every minute and discovering who he really is and what sort of life he wants to lead. The issue of suicide is also taken into account, and the possible reasons behind it as well as the utter distress of the people involved.

I would recommend this book, definitely, it was a beautiful read and it really did make me look at things a little differently.

NEXT: Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil by Hannah Arendt.