Customer Reviews

Long Quiet Highway: Waking Up in America

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As a child of one of those self-absorbed feminist lesbian therapy-goers of the seventies, yes, this book is a little more self-absorbed than I can handle at times-- HOWEVER, put into its historical perspective (which Natalie talks about, being a child of the indifferent suburbs), you understand why this baby boomer generation had to navel-gaze so much in order to figure out what the 1950s did to everyone. It's okay because in the end, you've got to admit that years later, they came out of all those retreats and communes with really good insights. Even the ones in SUVs.

Natalie's book, WRITING DOWN THE BONES, is a gift, New Age navel-gazing be damned, no matter what you say. And you've got to hand it to any one who's willing to then show you her flaws, as she does in this book, and how she got to such a place as to write BONES. Like some of those punk guys say, brilliant guitar playing never did anyone any good. It's inspiring to see that we're just as human as a well-edited artist who's been quietly refining herself for years. In this book she shows us years of work and conversations and thoughts it took to write her famous writing books.

You can say she's self-absorbed. Okay, fine. We all are. It's better than women going around feeling guilty and trying to read minds, or men drinking beer and talking about bombing Bin Laden. But this book is a gift that she's showing you all the work that it took to get where she is. Writing/art is a process and don't expect human beings to bang out WAR and PEACE every weekend! You only hurt and separate yourself from the art by making it intimidating and expecting too much. You give up.

I only give the book four stars because it's a sweet read, and I'd say an important part of her collection. It's raw and honest, sometimes like a journal or having lunch. Everything doesn't have to have a blasting five stars or whatever. I lost my mentor and found this book by accident. Because of her own relationship with her mentor, it spoke to me like a casual friend and it's sweet.

I'd have to reserve the five stars for her writing books. And don't put down teaching, either, whoever did that. I'm a writer and I'm too self-centered to actually teach. It's exhausting and generous to help others get over their hang ups. Those with patience are blessings.

All Natalie's ever talked about is a little compassion. Try a little tenderness... especially with yourselves.

Though it's been several years since I first read this book, it remains one of my all time top 10!

Often it's hard for spiritual books to adequately convey the real life path of muddle, muddle, diversion, muddle, muddle, diversion - breakthrough! muddle muddle...quality of the spiritual path. Natalie's teacher was so vivid, so alive to me by reading this book.

I just finished '"Crooked Cucumber " this weekend while visiting Tassajara Hot Springs (a Zen center in California), which also goes on my top 10 list. It's the biography of Katagiri Roshi's dharma brother, Suzuki-Roshi, who started the SF Zen communities which Katagiri Roshi was intimately connected with.

Both books involved me emotionally and were a very easy readable way in to Big Concepts I might never have grasped had not these personal stories been so compelling.

At the end of each, I cried and cried, feeling as if I had known each of these men. I'd say this is about as good as it gets, for a reader.

Highly recommended! Don't miss out!

Imagine running a marathon for 1000 days in 7 years. Sound crazy to you? Well, there is a Japanese order of monks who did just that, and immediately following the marathon they fasted for 9 days; that is, they had no food OR water and NO SLEEP. Sound extreme? Perhaps, but it is a practice which is said to completely awaken these monks, heightening their senses such as keenness of their noses and ears.

Like these monks, Natalie Goldberg has a marathon of her own to keep her senses sharpened. She writes, and does so very often. Her writing allows her to understand her own life experience in a concrete way. This book is like a chronicle if Goldberg's life, a fascinating tale of peace work and Zen practice. We all have something to learn in another's experience, especially when there is a very human quality to it. Very personal. Because that's our own life, and like Natalie uses her experience to help others we likewise can do the same. Goldberg has written a myriad of books on writing as a spiritual process, and this is possibly her very best one. Enjoy!

I often grab this book when I go to catch the bus or walk to a coffee shop. I've read it through so many times that now I can open it to any page and greet it like a friend.

Natalie Goldberg tells the truth in this book, even when it strikes her on the surface as boring or embarrassing. The result is a voice that reaches out from the heart and makes me laugh, and ache, and just sit with how life is.

I don't know if you would have the same experience with this book. But if you would, it would be a shame to miss it.

"Long Quiet Highway" is a beautiful book that snuck up on me. Natalie Goldberg writes of her life in a in a slow, quiet methodical way and then BOOM, an ordinary moment expands into a moment of absolute clarity and beauty. This book teaches one about writing, and Zen, and what is is to be truly human.

She may not be the archtypal Buddhist (if there is such a thing) but Goldberg illustrates with startleing clarity the beauty and difficulty inherent in the practice of Zen, which she effectively juxtaposes with the trials of an exceptional writers life. "Long Quiet Highway" is a breif disquisition on what it means to be human--specifically a literature loving dharm bum type of human. While Goldberg's "highway" is more emotive than contemplative (though she spends a lot of time contemplating her navel) there is little in the way of extraordinary events to satisfy the more fickle attention spans. No where does drugs, violence or explicit sexual information galvanize the text's content, so the strict adhearent to MTV sensibilities need not apply. It is, after all, a "quiet" ride, but an interesting and important one.

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.

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.

I have made a heart friend this summer by reading this incredible book. I read it in so many special "places." I didn't want to finish it because the "experience" of reading Long Quiet Highway was profoundly enlightening. I felt the truth of the author's life through her writing. Her ability to pull you into her life so vividly made you want to walk with her on her journey.

Ironically, I've had this book in my home for 3 years and it has been signed by Natalie. A very dear friend of ours brought it as a gift. Erich lives in Taos and brought us this treasure.

This summer was the right time for me to read this book. I highly recommend this compelling book. Natalie's down to earth brilliance in word, thought, heart and soul style of writing can not be matched. Thankyou Natalie and friend Erich.

Talk about disappointing! Goldberg is supposedly an up-and-coming writer, and after hearing about her for a while I decided to check out Long Quiet Highway.

In fiction, it's usually a good idea to make your main character an enjoyable one. In non-fiction, you may not like the main character, but she should at least have some redeeming qualities. Goldberg is not only difficult to like or sympathsize with, she is also boring. I forced myself to finish reading, but the only thing that I could remember afterwards was the author complaining about how difficult it was to go to school because all of the other kids where eating peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches while she was forced to eat tuna. Oh, the pain of it all!

If you have a strong interest in Zen, this book might hold some value for you. But there better Zen books out there.