Customer Reviews

Thunder and Lightning: Cracking Open the Writer's Craft

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have read one other of Natalie's books and at one point during that first book, I was a bit put off by the journal-style, flow-of-consciousness writing. At the time, I was searching for a quick fix or perhaps I just wanted nuts-and-bolts direction. And sometimes, encountering a lot of chatter over a writer's psyche, I do want to say, "Oh what's with all the melodrama? Just tell the wanna-be that they need to be damned good story-tellers and be done with it!"
But then, Natalie Goldberg practices Zen meditation. She grew up in the 60s, too, a time when inner musings were given their due in the public forum of Hippie-dom. And if you know anything about Eastern philosophies, you should at least garner that patience is a virtue and that you are not reading Strunk and White.
Anyway, after a chapter or two, Natalie began to discuss exactly the problem I was having with my novel, a problem I'd just begun to point out to myself but still wasn't quite sure what it entailed. And then Natalie described herself in the same place at one time. Problem: stalling in one's story because the writer is trying too damned hard to control the characters, who they are, etc. It helped, exceedingly, to learn her explanation for it.
The same thing occurred in the next chapter, and the next.
I've read many how-to writing books over the years ( you can put off writing indefinitely so long as you got something to read) and that I came across this book at this time could be deemed one of those little coincidences. These may have been some obscure how-to questions; not every writer may ask and another author might have brushed past them.
So don't knock the Zen. When the student is ready, the teacher appears.

A babbling stream of zen consciousness nonsense. This book may be interesting to those who like new age poetry but if you're primarily looking to improve your writing craft - seek elsewhere. There are a few nuggets of helpful wisdom here, but they are buried by reams of meandering memoir.

I would have thought that Natalie Goldberg would have had the decency to hire a professional reader for this book. I like some of the things that she says about writing but they lose their credibility because I am constantly holding back my right index finger from hitting the "eject" button on my car's tape player simply because her voice is incredibly annoying! I can only listen to about 10 minutes of this at a time. Also, if you are a guy, you have to get past all of the more feminine comments such as her calling herself "Natalie, darling" a half a dozen times along with other assorted Natalie-only references such as talking about eating, chocolate, and her book "Bananna Rose". I would say that 50% of this book is kind of a self-serving memoir written by Natalie Goldberg (although to hear her say "memoir" still makes me cringe). If you have a convenient "fast-forward" mechanism on your tape player, then there is much that she says that holds water. You just have to wade through a lot of overhead to get to it. If you can't stand the sound of a New York accent then KEEP AWAY! In a regular book your imagination can choose to use whatever voice you are comfortable with - in an audiocasette, you have to listen to the one that's on the tape and in this case (even though I love most of her work) her voice is best kept for scolding kids or shouting across busy poolrooms.

Natalie Goldberg has published one novel, a book of poems, and half a dozen books about writing. Is she case of "those who can't do, teach?" I wondered myself, until I listened to audiotapes of this book on a long cross-country drive. Once I got past the author's accent, which deterred even this ex-New Yorker, I found sparkling gems of wisdom that shone more brightly on a second read-around. The hardcover edition was even better.

Like all Goldberg's nonfiction, this book is a series of short essays and memoirs, which can be read randomly, but I recommend taking the chapters in order. Goldberg begins by throwing cold water on a dream. Writing won't bring you a living, a solution to life's problems, a bowl of raspberries. Writing is, after all, just writing.

Natalie herself was not an overnight success. The author's mother encouraged her to get a teaching credential because "you can write in the summers." Young Natalie taught elementary school, worked in a restaurant, and briefly ran a catering business. At twenty-six she discovered zen practice, which transformed her life and literally gave shape to her writing. After thirteen years of "writing practice," she published her first book, a small-press release that became an unlikely best-seller.
Thunder and Lightning offers wonderful glimpses of Goldberg's famous writing workshops as well as the way she wrote her one novel, Banana Rose. Anyone who has tried to create can understand the need for a practice, getting past a "block" and taking criticism in stride. You have to find a way to go on and if you do, the work takes on a life of its own.
As Goldberg says, in perhaps the most important insight of this book, readers are fascinated by process. Books about writing often out-sell the products of writing -- novels and poems. And that is why her own books are so successful.

Thunder and Lightning is the real deal. Zen practice gives the author a genuine spiritual foundation, not a cosmetic cover-up. In writing about writing she touches on careers, vocation, family, opening up the self to growth. In the end, Thunder and Lightning is not about writing. It's about life.

Studying Natalie Goldberg's books has provided me with a tremendous number of insights as I embark on my own writing journey. I particularly enjoy listening to her books on audiotape while taking my daily walks. There is also a bonus with the audiotapes ---> Natalie often is interviewed afterwards and provides additional, fresh perspectives on her writing principles.

Fellow reviewer Tesslyn stated that, although Natalie is "at opposite ends of the spectrum on God, philosophy, and morality," she nevertheless derives a great deal of enjoyment and knowledge from her books. Likewise, I sometimes think about how I too have so many divergent views about life; yet I continue to learn from Natalie's works and am enchanted with her authenticity, honesty, struggles, epiphanies, etc. While I don't always agree with her viewpoints, I respect them and gain relevant new insights into my own writing.

Although I do not follow Natalie's tenet of rigorous "writing practice" every morning---I prefer to start off with writing in my journal---I have applied her free-flowing principles when I begin new chapters, scenes, etc.

In Thunder and Lightning, Natalie goes past the hype of "let's all be writers and discover our true inner selves" and exposes the reality that writing, in and of itself, will not provide us with total fulfillment. Nevertheless, the process of communicating can be rewarding and the results can have a positive impact on our readers. And we fulfill that strange calling that compels us to write.

Thanks Natalie for your efforts to inspire and incite us.

I've read all the customer reviews thusfar. Those who look at this new Goldberg book as more of a memoir are the ones who seem to have gotten its message. As with fiction that touches us because we see our own struggles in the characters', so it is with THUNDER AND LIGHTNING.

Ms. Goldberg has never said anything about HOW to write except that we SHOULD. As in, just do it. And keep doing it even when you feel like a big weenie.

The best teaching is your own experience, and that subjective view is precisely what Natalie Goldberg offers us with her latest book. Take it or leave it, but it's nice to know we as writers are not alone on the long path.

Natalie Goldberg is an incredible writing teacher, and this book really gets down to the nuts and bolts. How to really "be" a writer. The "chapter" (they're more like essays) on mentoring really got to me, and made me realize how much I've gained from reading Natalie's books over the years, using her as a non-present mentor, and how much my mentors have meant to me. This is a great book for anyone who cares about writing and words, and I'd recommend all of Natalie Goldberg's work.

I hear a lot of negative things about this book; mostly that it's not as good as her first two on writing. But I think it's just as strong--it just needs to be read from a certain perspective. Writing Down the Bones and Wild Mind are wonderful books, especially for the beginning writer, who needs lots of exercises to get started. But I think it's equally wonderful to read Thunder & Lightning and see how Natalie Goldberg's thoughts on writing are changing as she grows as a writer. I read this book when it first came out, and I didn't really understand what she was trying to say. Recently I read it again and I understood perfectly her thoughts on writing within a structure and persevering despite the fears that writers come up against over and over, even after years of good writing. Don't be too quick to dismiss this book.

After reading some of the reviews here at Amazon, I was a bit hesitant to try this one. But as with movie reviews, I've learned that the opinions of others can often be misleading. And I'm glad I went with my instincts! I LOVED this book! Written with Natalie's trademark simple, straightforward honesty, it confronts life "after" _Writing Down the Bones_ & _Wild Mind_. Where does all the free writing & mind exploration lead? What's the point of it all? She takes us there in this book.

Natalie & I are at opposite ends of the spectrum on God, philosophy, and morality, but I've never found a writer who can motivate me to write quite like she does. Her willingness to "tell it like it is" is refreshing and inspiring.

Buy this book!

Reading one of Natalie Goldberg's books on writing is like having a chat in a cafe with a dear friend. I'd read her first two and wondered what more she could have to say on the subject. The answer: lots. In this book she moves the reader beyond writing exercises, into how to tame that creative impulse into writing a finished product.

Oh, and reading this gave me two inspirations on how to fix problems in the book I'm currently revising. Thanks, Natalie!