Anne CushmanRecensioni

The be-all, end all guide to Yogis and gurus, ashrams and temples -- the low down on food, facilities, and bringing your own mosquito net, as well as where to go, what to pack, and how to get there -- from the foothills of the Himalayas do the Malabar coast. From here to Nirvana is the first comprehensive book on the art of the pilgrimage in the subcontinent.

Liked it. Fun and kind of funny. Good writer. Plot in a sentence: A writer is sent to India to research/write a for-dummies style book about reaching enlightenment, staying at a completely commercialized,big business ashram. Can maybe recommend to the [b:Eat, Pray, Love|19501|Eat, Pray, Love|Elizabeth Gilbert|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1269870432s/19501.jpg|3352398] crowd looking for a novel, but I liked this take on it all better (no one would go on Oprah and talk about their life changing experiences after this -- and that is immensely refreshing; it's just a well-written story).

A heartfelt memoir of motherhood as a spiritual practice by a longtime yoga and dharma teacher.

Sutra is the Sanskrit name for a short spiritual teaching, and it comes from the same root as the English word suture, or stitch. This story of motherhood as a path to awakening is, says yoga and meditation teacher Anne Cushman, “an homage to the long threads that run through all human lives, stitching up what’s shredded in our hearts.”

The Mama Sutra spans an eighteen-year journey through motherhood as a spiritual practice, chronicling Cushman’s first pregnancy, her daughter's tragic stillbirth, the joyful birth of her son, the “home retreat” of early motherhood, the challenges of parenthood, the diagnosis and gifts of her son’s developmental differences, the meltdown of her nuclear family and its reconfiguration into a new and joyful form, and more. This is a powerful story of the rawness and beauty of life.

Moving Into Meditation by Anne Cushman
An e-advance copy of this book was made available by Shambhala Publications and NetGalley.com.

Anne Cushman merges the latest wave of interest in yoga fitness with the peaceful sense of self found in a deep meditation practice. She has written a cogent 12 week program that offers step-by-step methods to develop a deepening awareness of self in heart, body and mind. Her humorous style and clear step-by-step descriptions guide a yoga practitioner through a union of mind and body.

The core strength of the book is in the development of a "mindful" experience. Mindfulness is shown as enrichment to every activity from pleasure to pain control.

Her text is sprinkled with references to online videos and guidance forming a well blended method of self-directed growth. The book begins by providing an interesting history of yoga and its deeply spiritual nature. The author shares her knowledge and experiences that will help devotees enhance every aspect of their lives.

Although the book is written for everyone, those with some familiarity to yoga asanas and pranayama will benefit the most.

I rated this book with only 3 stars because I feel it can't truly stand alone without the online help. There are portions of the book that would be better served with illustrations. My advance copy did not include these. If the book is released with instructional graphics I would upgrade my approval to four stars in a heartbeat!

Lets be clear, if you are in the mood for some quintessential chick lit, this time about yoga, this may be precisely what you are looking for. This is Brigit Jones goes to India. Twenty something woman trying to find her feet in the world takes a commission to write a book about the ashrams of India. Travels around meeting people and making amusing mistakes while obsessing about why her boyfriend wont commit. Bing.

If this sounds like fun, you will enjoy this book. It is well written and amusing. If this sounds annoying, you will hate this book. It will be unbelievably annoying. All about what you are looking for really.

Turns out this wasn't what I was looking for. I thought I'd try something lighter after a spate of books where a bunch of people die, but this one was just wrong for me. I think I'm done being amused by self conscious girls who can't get themselves together but everybody thinks they are just so adorable falling over their feet that in the end it all works out okay. I just wanted to hit her with something large. Over and over.

Ah well.

Funny and entertaining. Easy to relate to.

This book was an interesting one, for ladylit (as I like to call chick lit)...the characters were more well-drawn than ones I have read before, and the serious and somewhat melancholy tone of the work were what set it apart from others of its ilk. A nice rainy day read.

Everyone needs a little chic lit from time to time. The main character in this book is believably dumb. You watch her go from one bad decision to the next, all the time hoping she pulls her act together. The book was actually longer than I expected, and in true chic-lit form has a happy ending. It is the perfect “lounging by the pool on a hot afternoon” kind of read.½

This the the perfect chick lit book. The characters start out a little slow and by the middle of the book things start falling together. By the end of the book, I didn't want it to end.

Buddhism is a new found interest of mine so Enlightenment for Idiots sounded like a great read. And it was. And it wasn't. First, Cushman is a great writer. She writes good descriptions and good dialogue. Where the book left me a little dry in the mouth was the juxaposition of it's very meta-cognitive look at Buddhism and the lighthearted rompiness of chicklit. And the plot was fairly predictable too. I loved the idea of the book and again think that Cushman is a great writer. At times the plot seemed forced like an editor WAS baring down on the writer (just like the main character experiences) asking for a more popular storyline because let's face it, mass market and Buddhism don't quite sound like best friends. And sometimes I think they weren't in this book. Cushman knows a great deal about her subject: yoga, meditation, Buddhism, but for a mainstream audience to pick up this book I think they would have trouble understanding all the references and insights. I loved the look at religion that she took because I've recently begun exploring this same topic. I just wish that the book had picked one path. I like the way Cushman writes and I would like to see a pure Buddhism book by her with no chicklit in sight or maybe even vice versa.

I received an ARC of Enlightenment for Idiots: A Novel
It was possibly bad timing to start this story just after listening to the Will Write for Wine podcast about goal and motivation. See, Amanda has sort of fallen into each job by accident almost (which I actually might resemble a bit). And Amanda grew up with a mother who got burned by her first love (Amanda's dad). So, finding a globe traveling commitment-averse guy for a boyfriend, is well, not a huge shock. I am a firm believer in a phenomenon Jodie Foster once spoke of: that the pattern of your life is often only visible in retrospect. However, I have my limits.
After two weeks (which is an insane amount of time for me, I am a fast reader), I am only halfway through.
See, Amanda decides to split (again) with the commitment-averse guy because, well, she really kinda wants commitment. Or at least monogamy. And she accepts a job to write a guide about enlightentment (hence the title) especially since it involves a trip to India. And she sort of picks up a scraggly guy in India (traveling companion only, so far). And she goes to places various people suggest - fellow travelers, taxi drivers, other yoginis. But, Amanda makes very few decisions or plans. She's blown by the wind a lot. And I recognize that this is her journey right now, but I am apparently not in the right frame of mind to read about a decision-averse character. It's a shame, because I really like the writing style. I just can't get into the story right now.
Review also posted here: http://talkandrant.blogspot.com/search?q=enlightenment

I enjoyed this book for the most part but I found it hard to really connect with the main character's lack if direction. The story lacked some cohesion and was kind of long. If you are looking for something light and airy to read I'd say go for it.

Amanda is a 29-year-old single woman who writes "idiots" guidebooks. She is a crunchy yoga instructor residing in San Francisco, and her publisher chooses her for the next project, "Enlightenment for Idiots." She is given an advance on the forthcoming book and expected to travel to India, searching for "enlightenment" by visiting ashrams, yoga centers, and gurus. She leaves her dead-end, on-again, off-again relationship with Matt behind and heads East. Early on in her journey, she discovers that she is pregnant with Matt's baby, and not surprisingly, he has no interest in being a father. In her humorous romp around India with her colorful new friend, Devi Das, she struggles with being pregnant in a foreign country, having regrets over lost loves, and feeling frustrated that she has never known her deadbeat father. The novel is meaningful, without being too serious, and it shares several similarities with "Eat, Pray, Love," although between the two, I prefer this one. The lesson that I took away from this fun read is that enlightenment CAN be found, it just may not be where or what you are expecting it to be. This is a light, easy, and quick page-turner that is a perfect choice for beach, gym, or plane reading. I would recommend this novel to women who enjoy chick lit with substance and heart.

Enlightenment For Idiots is an entertaining example of chic lit. The story is well paced and a would make a great beach read. Cushman's detailed accounts of Amanda's mis-steps makes her real without being pathetic. However, I did find myself warming towards the peripheral characters more than the protagonist. The excerpts that described the in depth yoga positions were a bit much for the novel, but they did pique my interest. Overall, the story was a little farfetched, but I guess that's what made it so entertaining.

This was a pleasant read. I liked the characters well enough although I thought they all were a bit flaky. My favorite was Devi Das, who was the only character I felt really warm toward. I think my enjoyment of the book was hindered by my inability to identify with any of the characters even though I liked them. I think some of my reformed Neo-hippy friends from college would probably like this book more than me.

I thought the story story was well paced and held my interest. It arrived just before I left on vacation and turned out to be good vacation reading. I enjoyed the excerpts which described different yoga poses. My husband found it very amusing to watch me try them out, and I was surprised to find that I can still stand on my head, even if only for a few seconds. ;-) I think readers will find it delivers just what you would expect from the title.½

This was probably my first wandering into chic lit....and it was a pleasant surprise. The characters here are entertaining and surprisingly real for all their mis-steps. I will say that the in depth yoga descriptions were a bit much for me at times since it's not something I'm particularly familiar with, but it did pick up my curiosity. I'm not sure that all of the story was entirely believable---particularly as I got farther into the book--but it was a pleasant diversion. There are also a few very interesting characters in this book who I'd certainly pursue if Cushman chose to write books looking more into some of their adventures. Overall, I did enjoy the writing and the book....it just felt a bit unbelievable at times, and a bit forced at others. At times, I felt as if Cushman was forcing the book toward fitting into a chosen genre (chick lit.? romance?) and pleasing a particular audience as opposed to following where the story and given characters wanted to go. By the end, this feeling got stronger, and hurt the overall impression of the book for me.

Overall though, I enjoyed it, and it certainly gave me some sight into yoga and a different type of lit. Probably not something I'll go back to though. Overall, if it sounds interesting, I'd recommend it. But if it doesn't sound like something up your alley....it's probably not.

Enlightenment For Idiots by Anne Cushman is a delightfully fun read. I found myself laughing out loud while I read certain passages and I believe the best writers are the ones that can tug on our emotions, especially laughter. The story is about twenty-nine year old Amanda whose personal life is a mess. When she is given the job of writing an Enlightenment for Idiot book she takes off for India, happy for the opportunity to get away and find some enlightenment of her own. So begins Amanda's hilarious and touching adventure. While the book has it funny moments I also enjoyed the beautifully descriptive writing style and the underlying message of hope, struggle and the real enlightenment of knowing that life doesn't always go the way we plan. Anne Cushman has come through with a talented and enjoyable book that I would gladly recommend.

I was looking forward to reading this. It wasn't exactly what I expected. The protagonist and narrator, Amanda, is a yoga student, and is contracted to write a book about enlightenment. She travels to India to find enlightenment herself so she can write about it. The author describes yoga poses exquisitely. Those passages (which were usually short italicized paragraphs at the beginning of each chapter), made me want to go back to a yoga class. The rest of the book was okay - it felt as though those passages about yoga were in one style. Then Amanda narrates her travels and travails, and that seemed...contrived. The voice didn't seem authentic to me. It seemed as though the author was trying to make Amanda be a real mess (and in dire need of enlightenment!), which itself isn't contrived, but just the way Amanda 'spoke' didn't seem authentic to me. And then there were the 'sample chapters' from the book Amanda was writing on enlightenment. I thought they were awful. Waaaay too cutesy. Fortunately, there were only a few of those. While it kind of came together at the end, the book didn't really work as a whole for me. I work in a bookstore. I have to say that I'll have a hard time recommending it wholeheartedly. The back cover (an advanced reader copy) says that it is being marketed to yoga studios and in yoga periodicals. I think people who have some familiarity with yoga will enjoy it more than those who don't.

Amanda, an author who has weathered a stormy relationship and subsequent break-up with the love of her life, Matt... is sent on a trip to India by her editor to gather information for her new book "Enlightenment for Idiots". She decides this will be more than a work assignment, this will actually open the door of spiritual enlightenment for Amanda herself, and she will find the meaning of her mixed-up life.

Early on in the book she meets up with an unlikely traveling partner, Devi Das....a dreadlocked celibate who is also seeking the truth via India. They begin their search, going from yoga master to "divine mother", hither and yon, etc., trying to discover nirvana.

After weeks of feeling intermittently nauseous, Amanda soon discovers that she is pregnant with Matt's baby. Unsure of what to do, she continues on with her trek. Weeks turn into months of laborious travel over rugged terrain, through hills and valleys, caves and mountaintops....all the while, Amanda's pregnancy begins to slow her down and make her wonder what the heck she is doing running around India in her condition.

Without giving away the ending, the book turns out to be a very well written journey of both body and mind....I, as the reader, felt connected to the characters as they wandered about and I could envision all the sounds, sights and smells of the land of India. I could understand and feel the conflicting thoughts that Amanda had about returning to America to have her child, versus staying and continuing to pursue the true meaning of life.

I really liked this author's wit and style....lots of humor was interspersed throughout and really added alot of fun to the book, and to the journey.

I look forward to reading more by this very talented author!

Let me begin this review with the statement that I enjoyed the book. While I did not find spiritual enlightenment, I feel sure that I now know something about the idea of enlightenment from a variety of perspectives. My only complaint about the book is that it is too long – the details and descriptions are individually stunning, but I think some could have been shortened or deleted for the sake of the book’s readability.

Enlightenment for Idiots by Anne Cushman follows twenty-nine year old Amanda as she travels across India looking for enlightenment. As she tries to untangle her failing relationships with two men, she accepts a book contract for a tourist guide to enlightenment in India. With her advance money and a somewhat broken heart, she begins her quest. The author’s descriptions of the people and places of India are stunning – from the sights, the smells, and cultural mores of the country to the sense of confusion as she navigates from place to place. To further complicate matters, she finds herself pregnant. I loved that she persevered with her journey despite recommendations from friends and family that she should return home immediately. She is sustained emotionally by a friend she met along the way – Devi Das, who has his own story. Ultimately, Amanda returns home to have her baby. Still in love with the father, she finds that things do not always work out the way you had hoped and that sometimes that is good.

Hoping to learn a little more about the author, I Googled her and found that she co-authored another book From Here to Nirvana which is a non-fiction guidebook to traveling in India. The introduction to this work gives wonderful insight to the author’s own experiences which are then filtered to Enlightenment for Idiots.

"The guidebook should give elaborate directions – complete with train schedules and hotel rates – to the sites of fleeting and unrepeatable incidents: a blessing from an ash-covered sadhu by a funeral pyre, a vision of Kali in a dream on the cramped top bunk of a sleeper train. It should advertise as coming attractions events that happened thousands of years ago: the Enlightenment of Buddha under the Bodhi Tree; Krishna seducing the milkmaids on the riverbanks near Vrindaban. And in the midst of an indecipherable bus schedule, a verse from the Upanishads should be printed, so shimmeringly beautiful that it precipitates sudden enlightenment. … A spiritual journey to India is inevitably a swan dive into the unknown." (Cushman and Jones, 1998, From Here to Nirvana, pp. 1-2)

Overall I really enjoyed the book – the author’s knowledge of yoga gave an authenticity to her writing that was very evident to the reader. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this title. I will definitely recommend it to others.

Also posted on my blog: http://libraryscatbooks.blogspot.com/

Enlightenment for Idiots by Anne Cushman follows Amanda, a twenty-nine year old wanna-be yoga instructor who pays the bills by writing instruction manuals for the “For Idiots” series of books (as in Computers for Idiots, etc.). Like many twenty-somethings, Amanda is struggling with the realization that her life doesn’t look or feel anything like she thought it would back when she was younger. She lives in an apartment filled with beat-up furniture; has eccentric hippie roommates; is struggling to make ends meet; and she left her “perfect on paper” fiancé for a rootless photographer named Matt who makes her heart race but after three years says that he doesn’t believe in labels like “girlfriend”.

After Amanda and Matt decide to take a break from their tumultuous relationship, Amanda accepts an assignment in India where she is supposed to find enlightenment and write about it in a book called Enlightenment for Idiots. Amanda discovers more than spirituality and enlightenment in India and her life is forever changed by the monumental and unexpected discovery that she is pregnant .

Cushman’s descriptions of India are so expressive and vivid that I could almost taste the curry, see the Ganges, and smell the crowded streets of New Delhi. Cushman does a superb job of capturing the essence of India and of those who travel there to find spirituality or whatever it is they are looking for. She is masterful at capturing and conveying both the good and the bad aspects of this complicated country and it’s people – both foreign and native.

Cushman also does an exceptional job of developing her characters. This might be due in part to the fact that this novel is most likely a fictional autobiography (Cushman spent time in India writing a guide very similar to the fictional Enlightenment for Idiots). Amanda is a sympathetic and relatable figure to whom most twenty-somethings will be able to identify with. Cushman’s descriptions of Amanda’s relationship and travels through India with her friend Devi Das are touching, entertaining and humorous; as is her portrayal of Amanda’s relationship with her mother-hen-like friend, Lisa.

My only criticism of this book is that it is a bit too long. Cushman could have pared down the book by about 100 pages. I got the impression that Cushman was so moved by her own real-life travels in India that she didn’t want to leave anything out in her fictional re-telling of her adventure.

Overall, Enlightenment for Idiots is a well-written and entertaining book which highlights the joys of finding your own path and playing the hand you’re dealt with grace and acceptance that nothing is or will be perfect or the way you thought it would be. Instead of finding enlightenment, Amanda finds her true self and knowledge that acceptance of yourself and the way things are is the only true way to find nirvana.½

I loved this book.

Another book covered in less than 24 hours! It was definitely a page-turner.

I ended up underlining and sticky noting on several pages. There were a couple of powerful passages.

But in summary, I thought Ms. Cushman through her main character, Amanda, was trying to show the pain in identifying with the past and in trying to rush ahead to the future. You miss out on the important present moment. It is in the present moment where real life happens. (p 124 - "I wanted to run screaming out of the house and into my future... So why now - riding a train through India, inhabiting the future that was my fantasy then - was I suddenly filled with nostalgia?")

Amanda tears all over India to research her book and in search of the best teachers so that she can find enlightenment. But she'll only find enlightenment within the present moment in stillness. Her best teacher comes along in the birth of her baby, who will keep her firmly rooted in the present moment.

Ms. Cushman did a fantastic and sometimes realistic, sometimes fantastical job with this novel. It was fun and funny, and yes, insightful too. As I mentioned earlier, it reminded me of the Bridget Jones books through its humor, and because of the lead going off to research her work and getting in a bit over her head.

I will recommend this book to friends.½

What a delightful surprise (Enlightenment for Idiots) by ((Anne Cushman)) turned out to be!!!

Amanda, is a 29 year old single woman who receives an advance to travel to India in order to gather information about how to find enlightenment. The paths she follows, the people she meets, the experiences she has are hilarious, but not so funny that you forget what the story is about.

Humor is hard to write. Humor is also subjective. What is funny to one is not always funny to another. I read parts of this outloud to my husband and we both laughed!

I do have a question to the author....is any of this book based experiences she has had? Is it realistic to think that a person, in the condition of Amanda, the main character, would subject herself to some of the physical feats and endeavors that Amanda did on her search for enlightenment?

I do recommend this book. Great reading for this summer at the beach or in an airport or on a plane. I loved it!!!

This is an interesting story about Amanda, a 29 year old yogi student who writes guidebooks for idiots. Amanda has found life complicated when it comes to love. She has been sent to India to write about how to find enlightenment. She travels from one center to another searching for enlightenment. While searching for enlightenment, she discovers that she is pregnant. Amanda struggles with pregnancy in a foreign country, feelings about love and her childhood, while trying to find enlightenment under a time line. The book is a easy read with inspiring quotes for each chapter.