Enlightenment for Idiots: A Novel (Hardcover)

by Anne Cushman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Cushman, coauthor of the nonfiction From Here to Nirvana and contributing editor to Yoga Journal, has written a hilarious take on the quest for truth that manages to respect the journey while skewering many of the travelers. Amanda, a 29-year-old fledgling yoga teacher, ekes out a living as a freelance writer in San Francisco and seizes the chance to go to India when her editor assigns her to research a guidebook about enlightenment. Soon she's traipsing around India pursuing trendy gurus and yoga masters and scoring insightful encounters with ordinary folk along the way. She also collects a traveling companion: the sweet-natured, celibate truth seeker Devi Das, who, upon viewing the polluted Ganges, advises Amanda to Think holy, not E. coli. The discovery that she's pregnant makes Amanda's quest for meaning all the more poignant, forcing her to review her choices while she struggles to uncover the elusive secret to happiness. Cushman brings devastating wit and a thorough knowledge of her subject to her first novel, evoking an India that fills the senses and stirs the spirit even as it occasionally turns the stomach, and making it possible for the reader to both laugh with and root for Amanda as she comes to terms with her messy life. (Apr.)
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From Booklist
*Starred Review* Cushman’s engaging debut novel follows Amanda, a 29-year-old yoga teacher in northern California, on a tumultuous journey to India and back again as she researches a guidebook on finding inner peace. Her quest becomes as much a personal journey as a writing project as she attempts to shake her attachment to her fickle photographer ex-boyfriend, Matt, and discover her own role in life. While in India, Amanda meets Devi Das, a celibate hippie with flowing dreadlocks who is looking for meaning in life following a personal tragedy. Together, they travel to ashrams and yoga centers from Bangalore to Mount Arunachala, all the while searching for elusive enlightenment. Cushman brilliantly interweaves snippets of Buddhist teachings with the mishaps and successes of their journey, infusing the book with wisdom and humor. Devi Das, an amusing philosopher-king who uses the royal “we,” helps her accomplish this goal. As for Cushman’s protagonist, when unexpected circumstances arise and Matt turns up in her life again, Amanda is forced to reexamine her search for enlightenment and where it may take her. Over the course of her quest, she realizes enlightenment may be closer to home than she imagined. --Katherine Boyle

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Shaye Areheart Books (April 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307381641
• ISBN-13: 978-0307381644
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #287,307 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chick Lit Spirituality, July 7, 2008

By	Mommy Mystic "www.MommyMystic.WordPress.com" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

I found this book accidentally at my local library, loved it, and recommended it to students in meditation classes that I teach. As the main character travels through India, she encounters virtually every spiritual tradition taught there, from hot yoga, to Vipassana Buddhism, tantric sexuality and complete renunciation. What I really love about the book is that it offers a real education on all of these traditions in an easy to read context. It actually reads like your standard chick-lit summer fare, but in the end, the concepts it is covering are more than a little sophisticated. It affectionately paradies many of the most famous (or infamous) contemporary spiritual teachers, such as Amma, Sai Baba, and Gangaji, and some of their more over-the-top devotees (all of whom I think I have met!) It manages to do this in a way that doesn't diminish these teacher's spiritual lessons, but does pose important questions about what true faith and spiritual inquiry is. If you want a read my full review, go to http://mommymystic.wordpress.com/2008/07/07/book-review-enlightenment-for-idiots/ . In any case, if you are interested in yoga, meditation, or all things India, check it out.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everywoman Yogini, May 3, 2008

By	K. M. Bernett (Gladstone, MI USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In Amanda's journey, I saw a lot of my own short year's journey into yoga. There was in all of Anne Cushman's characters a kind of manic searching as they tried to experience everything about yoga right now. The story worked for me like a total immersion in the yoga culture: wanting to understand the philosophy, wanting to perfect your asanas, dreaming about visiting India, looking for THE guru. All the characters felt real to me, and I enjoyed following their growth from start to finish. I will miss them and hope that Ms. Cushman brings them back in another novel.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read: "Enlightenment for Idiots", July 12, 2008

By	A. Garrett "dc yogi" (washington, dc) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Enlightenment for Idiots' is my favorite novel of 2008. Much of it made me smile but the denouement was very moving. For those of us with a passion for yoga or for seeking alternative spaces; this is a must read. The characters were unique and the plot carried one along; wanting to know how it would all turn out. Initially, I was suspicious that the novel would be way too lite. I was pleasantly surprised and then some. The author, Anne Cushman, is well known to many of my friends who read Yoga Journal, Tricycle, etc. I was not familiar with her work but now I am.