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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN num: 9780307381644
ISBN number: 0307381641
Label: Shaye Areheart Books
Manufacturer: Shaye Areheart Books
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 384
Printing Date: April 15, 2008
Publishing house: Shaye Areheart Books
Release Date: April 15, 2008
Sale Popularity Level: 17365
Studio: Shaye Areheart Books
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Product Description:
Nearing age thirty, Amanda thought she’d be someone else by now. Instead, she’s just herself: an ex-nanny yogini-wannabe who cranks out “For Idiots” travel guides just to scrape by. Yes, she has her sexy photographer boyfriend, but he’s usually gone—shooting a dogsled race in Alaska or a vision quest in Peru—or just hooking up with other girls. However, she’s sure her new assignment, “Enlightenment for Idiots,” will change everything; now she’ll become the serene, centered woman she was meant to be. After some breakup sex, she’s off to India to find a new, more spiritual life.
What she finds, though, is an ashram run by investment bankers, a yoga master who trashes her knee, and a guru with a weakness for fashion models. She escapes a tantra party at the Taj Hotel, has a nasty argument outside the cave where the Buddha used to meditate, then agonizes through the ten-day silent retreat that’s supposed to make her feel better.
No, India is not what she had pictured. But she finds a friend in Devi Das, a redheaded sadhu who refers to himself as “we.” And when a holy lunatic on the street offers her an enigmatic blessing, Amanda realizes a new life may be in store for her—just not the one she was expecting.
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Rated by buyers 
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This enjoyable yogic chick-lit novel has three parts - the Pre-India, India and Post-India sections. The best part, and the bulk of the story, lies in protagonist's India travels...in all their poverty-stricken, rotten-corpse-floating-in-the-Ganges glory.
Amanda, a part-time yoga instructor/part time guidebook author, is sent by her dragon-lady publisher to India in search of enlightenment. She ultimately finds the problem with packaging enlightenment into a "Dummies" book is that spiritual paths don't run on deadlines. :)
Amanda jumps both feet very first into India, fortunately befriended by an ex-pat, barefoot Sadhu (renunciate spiritual seeker). They travel across the Sub-Continent together, sleeping under mosquito netting on questionable mattresses, poling up the filthy Ganges and watching cows eat garbage in the streets. There's an odd mix of the holy and the grotesque. The author's voice seems genuine; she transports us with her to an honest view of India.
Amanda's comic-desperate journey takes her from one promising enlightenment guru to the next. Each spiritual master takes a different tack on "The TRUTH"...hard core yoga, loss of individuality (who is the *you* who is asking about your truth?), strict ashram schedules and even ashrams with no leader (where the main activity, at least for Amanda, is sleeping in). Amanda finally backpacks in to an ascetic in a mountain cave who might actually possess the truth...and is suddenly, painfully sent home.
I found the India segment fascinating - I could have traveled with Amanda and Devi Das stumbling for enlightenment for years. Following her back to the states was a lot less fun.
The denouement was a bit of a let-down after all the colorful traveling and exotic misadventures. Back home, I sensed Amanda missed the sacred chaos and strange purity of her quest. I missed it too.
Amanda DID find what she was looking for, in a sense, and so did her publisher. And it's really all we can hope for ourselves. :)
Rated by buyers 
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"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.
Rated by buyers -
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.
Rated by buyers -
I was halfway through this book when I realized how much I loved it. Part of me couldn't wait to finish it, but the other part didn't want it to end.
The dishes weren't getting done, nor was the laundry; my kids were starving. OK, that last bit is an exaggeration, but I hated to put the book down, even to sleep.
(Right after I finished reading it, I had a big "Ah-ha" moment in the shower. Coincidence? Probably not.)
Rated by buyers -
Loved it! I had to keep skipping ahead to find out what happened (a bad habit of mine). Then I had to go back and read the whole thing again to get the parts I missed. Very, very funny, a great read.
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