A River Sutra by Gita Mehta
To feed my appetite for books, I take time each day to answer surveys and click on ads to collect points. Once I collect enough points, I cash them in for Amazon gift cards. Free books! Cool and right up my alley.
With a a $20 gift card burning a hole in my computer, I opened up my Amazon wish list to see if I'd wished for anything interesting. A River Sutra had been added to the list a couple years ago. The reviews looked interesting, it's set in an exotic local, and has a spiritual message. I like to mix up my reading material between styles and genres and this seemed like the perfect fit for the moment. I downloaded it.
The story is about a man who retires from his government job and takes a post at a guest house deep in the jungle along the Narmada River. A variety of people cross his path, all offering different bits of spiritual advice. Although the stories and characters were interesting, I never felt a connection between them. He would begin a conversation with a monk, or a woman or a musician and then they would say, "Let me tell you a story."
The stories had different messages for the retired man looking to escape from life. For me at least, I got to the point I didn't want to hear any more stories. I wanted to know the main character's story. It was never told to the extent I wanted to find some satisfaction. The book is beautifully descriptive of the people and places. I didn't feel the stories came together as a cohesive unit. I know I often like things to be tied up in neat little packages and life doesn't resolve itself so easily. I didn't need a pretty bow, I only wanted to see how he processed in his own mind, the lessons told by others.
A River Sutra is wonderfully written and has much to teach. I wasn't in the right mindset to learn from it even though I thought I was ready.
To feed my appetite for books, I take time each day to answer surveys and click on ads to collect points. Once I collect enough points, I cash them in for Amazon gift cards. Free books! Cool and right up my alley.
With a a $20 gift card burning a hole in my computer, I opened up my Amazon wish list to see if I'd wished for anything interesting. A River Sutra had been added to the list a couple years ago. The reviews looked interesting, it's set in an exotic local, and has a spiritual message. I like to mix up my reading material between styles and genres and this seemed like the perfect fit for the moment. I downloaded it.
The story is about a man who retires from his government job and takes a post at a guest house deep in the jungle along the Narmada River. A variety of people cross his path, all offering different bits of spiritual advice. Although the stories and characters were interesting, I never felt a connection between them. He would begin a conversation with a monk, or a woman or a musician and then they would say, "Let me tell you a story."
The stories had different messages for the retired man looking to escape from life. For me at least, I got to the point I didn't want to hear any more stories. I wanted to know the main character's story. It was never told to the extent I wanted to find some satisfaction. The book is beautifully descriptive of the people and places. I didn't feel the stories came together as a cohesive unit. I know I often like things to be tied up in neat little packages and life doesn't resolve itself so easily. I didn't need a pretty bow, I only wanted to see how he processed in his own mind, the lessons told by others.
A River Sutra is wonderfully written and has much to teach. I wasn't in the right mindset to learn from it even though I thought I was ready.
