The eighth—and one hopes the last—book about Castaneda's apprenticeship with the Yaqui Indian sorcerer Don Juan Matus. By now, Castaneda's bestselling engine is running on empty, at least to judge by this lackluster entry, which adds fuel to the argument that the Don Juan books are fiction and that their author has passed his creative prime. Gone is the vivid sense of wonder as Don Juan escorts Castaneda into a new world of mystery and magic; gone the crisp presentation of esoteric ideas; gone the crackling tension between teacher and student. What remains is a token representation of Don Juan, guffawing at Castaneda or smacking him on the back, and a cloud of confused teachings about the world of dreams. Taking control of one's dreams, says Don Juan, is the key to a sorcerer's power. But what kind of sorcerer? Don Juan makes a distinction between the ancients, who manipulated the world for personal power, and moderns—such as himself—who ``search for freedom.'' Castaneda must thread his way between these two opposing camps, balancing his thirst for truth and his personal ambition. In so doing, he passes through three ``gates of dreaming'': becoming aware of falling asleep; waking from one dream into another; seeing yourself asleep. Castaneda barges through these portals in his typically bumbling fashion, all the while communicating with—and being used by—``inorganic beings'' that look like thin tree trunks and give the sorcerers their secret knowledge. His journey ends with a perilous confrontation with a ``death defier,'' a Methuselah-like male sorcerer in the guise of a woman. Castaneda is rescued from this and other dangerous encounters by his fellow apprentice, the beautiful Carol Tiggs, who at book's close vanishes into the world of dreaming. Will Castaneda rescue her in the next volume, playing Orpheus to her Eurydice? Tune in, if you care. The Art of Dozing is more like it.
Pub Date: Aug. 4, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-017051-4
Page Count: 272
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
“One of the best ways to change,” announces Siegel, “is to act as if you are the person you want to become.” His newest book from the author of Love, Medicine, and Healing offers a series of brief, avuncular, often witty suggestions about how to alter one’s life and find happiness. While the prescriptions themselves offer little to quibble with (“Learn what you can and can’t control”), there’s also little enough of substance in his breezy narrative to provide detailed help for someone in real pain. Still, given the success of Siegel’s previous works, it’s likely that his audience, which made those books bestsellers, will turn once again to Siegel for another dose of effervescent good feelings—and for suggestions about what to do when, as he says, “the merry drops out of the merry-go-round.” (Author tour; television and radio satellite tour)
Pub Date: Oct. 16, 1998
ISBN: 0-06-019196-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1998
Allen’s first book is an alternately intense and funny memoir that will touch a chord for anyone who has experienced the pain of a loved one’s addiction and violent death. Allen decided to remain in Iowa City after graduating from the Iowa Writers Workshop, and it was there that she met Jim Beaman, a wonderfully quirky neighbor who worked construction. For Allen, it was love at first sight; the two began spending most of their free time in long conversations and eventually formed an intimate relationship (which was first consummated outdoors in a thunderstorm, while she was leading a Girl Scout field trip). In love and engaged to be married, Allen closed her eyes to many of Jim’s underlying problems, including his alcohol and cocaine addictions. (Throughout their relationship, he was also dealing cocaine in their idyllic Iowa community.) One afternoon not long after their engagement, Jim shot himself through the head. Shocked by his suicide, Allen began the excruciating process of self-examination, which led her to confront her own denial about how serious his addictions had become. While Allen wisely avoids trendy terminology like “enabler” and “codependency,” she does draw upon key concepts of the recovery movement to pinpoint how she had unwittingly licensed Jim’s addictions. Her own healing process took years and included a stint in a psychiatric ward after she had “blue dreams” and felt she was communicating with a still-addicted Jim through the veil. These contacts (which Allen is still not entirely convinced weren’t real) led to bizarre communications with other, more malevolent spirits, first through “automatic writing” and then in the form of incessant voices in her head. Emerging from this dark period, she concludes that she was “stronger, clearer, [and] happier after my visit to the underworld.” Engrossing but never self-indulgent or sensationalist. Allen’s demons make for a compelling tale. (First printing of 50,000)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-679-45460-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
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