Long Quiet Highway: Waking Up in America [Paperback]

Natalie Goldberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1994

The author of Writing Down the Bones recounts her journey awakening from the profound sleep of a suburban childhood, describing her fifteen years as a student of Zen Buddhism, her writing, and resistance to change. Reprint.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Goldberg's effective, unadorned account of her own development and transformation through the practice of writing and the study of Zen Buddhism.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Goldberg's two previous books, Writing Down the Bones (Shambala, 1986) and Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life ( LJ 10/1/90), offered practical advice on how to be a writer and gave a clear description of how the process of writing, approached as a spiritual exercise, can be a means to gaining insight into the order of things. Her new book is an autobiographical work in which she describes, in beautiful and simple prose, how she came to this discovery and particularly how her time with the Zen master Katagiri Koshi influenced her life and work. Many writers are indebted to her for pointing the way for them to open their hearts in their writing. In this book Goldberg opens her heart to us. Recommended for all types of collections.
- Mark Woodhouse, Elmira Coll. Lib., N.Y.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (February 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553373153
• ISBN-13: 978-0553373158
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #414,004 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Natalie Goldberg lived in Brooklyn until she was six, when her family moved out to Farmingdale, Long Island, where her father owned the bar the Aero Tavern. From a young age, Goldberg was mad for books and reading, and especially loved Carson McCullers's The Ballad of the Sad Cafe, which she read in ninth grade. She thinks that single book led her eventually to put pen to paper when she was twenty-four years old. She received a BA in English literature from George Washington University and an MA in humanities from St. John's University.

Goldberg has painted for as long as she has written, and her paintings can be seen in Living Color: A Writer Paints Her World and Top of My Lungs: Poems and Paintings. They can also be viewed at the Ernesto Mayans Gallery on Canyon Road in Sante Fe.

A dedicated teacher, Goldberg has taught writing and literature for the last thirty-five years. She also leads national workshops and retreats, and her schedule can be accessed via her website: nataliegoldberg.com

In 2006, she completed with the filmmaker Mary Feidt a one-hour documentary, Tangled Up in Bob, about Bob Dylan's childhood on the Iron Range in Northern Minnesota. The film can be obtained on Amazon or the website tangledupinbob.com.

Goldberg has been a serious Zen practitioner since 1974 and studied with Katagiri Roshi from 1978 to 1984.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Zen in the art of writing . . ., April 17, 2001

By 

Dave Kinnear "Executive Leader Coach" (Lake Forest, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Long Quiet Highway: Waking Up in America (Paperback)

Waking up in America. Natalie Goldberg weaves a wonderful book based on the details of her life and times. At the same time, this book is perhaps the most interesting explanation of Zen practice that I've read in a long time. By weaving her own story of Zen practice with the principles of writing and giving vision to how each is connected to the other, Goldberg draws the reader into an appreciation of both disciplines.

I found myself mourning just as she described herself to be at the loss of Kitigari Roshi. Somehow, Goldberg had gotten me to be as much in love with Roshi as she, and so the loss was real when she described the events leading up to and then his actual death. But that is exactly what she tries to explain in the Long Quiet Highway, that we have to experience now, and be open to the present fully, unconditionally. The beauty of this book is that it not only explains in mere words the principles she espouses, but it elicits those feelings directly through the very words we are reading.

Easy insight comes also from her teaching experiences. That is not to imply that the lessons learned were easy for Ms. Goldberg, but rather that her word pictures make it easy for the reader to understand and visualize what actually happened, what lights went on with the students, and how she managed to make that happen. I thought that I would perhaps be a bit bored with this, her fourth book for me, but I could not have been more incorrect.

This book has inspired me to go back and re-read some of the Zen texts I've collected. At the same time, it has encouraged me to make time for my own writing practice - no excuses, no postponing, just do it.

45 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This little book is big., December 27, 2000

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Long Quiet Highway: Waking Up in America (Paperback)

I recently read this book as part of the required reading for a university course on Zen. Understand that I'm no stranger to Zen philosophy, have sat and talked with monks, and have studied Buddhism for years. However, for me, this book provided a wonderful and necessary insight: practical application. It lets the reader see precisely how Zen can be incorporated into the lives of an "everyday individual" such as Natalie Goldberg. One might think of it as a case study on the practical application of Zen. I did.

I was also sad that the book ended. Then I recognized the sadness and laughed: All things are impermanent. Therefore it is fitting that the story came to an end. However, the lesson which this book embarks upon need not end with the closing of its covers...

Why should one read this book? If one is interested in Zen, read it. If one is interested in New Mexico, read it. If one is interest in writing, read it. If one is interested in the cultural transformation of America, read it. More importantly, if one is interested in life, READ IT.

This little book is big.

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A spiritual journey of self-discovery, December 17, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Long Quiet Highway: Waking Up in America (Paperback)

This is the spiritual journey of the author, Natalie Goldberg. Natalie goes from high school teaching, to a commune in Taos, to a Zen center in Minnesota. She learns how to write, and teach others to write. The book focuses on a relationship that develops between Natilie and her spiritual teacher, a Zen monk. Natalie questions her spirituality, as a student of Zen, a member of the Jewish faith, and a grieving writer. Her attention to minute details, her description of her spiritual dilemnas, and her grief for a man who gave her his love leave the reader with an understanding of what makes life special and worth living. I was left with an overwhelming feeling of Natalie's loss, and the illumination of what it means to be alive, and present. Natalie's prose is beautiful, that alone is worth the read.