Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0679447091, Hardcover)

In Godtalk novelist Brad Gooch stumbles into the gracelands and wastelands of contemporary spirituality. In the late 1990s he embarked on an unconventional odyssey to explore the spiritual movements of America. The result is a rich memoir about a "frequent flier pilgrim" who mixes with celebrities like Deepak Chopra as well as cloistered nuns and chanting Sufis. He finds committed, disciplined disciples alongside individuals who treat religions like self-help programs and mix rituals, prayers, and practices into a personalized stew. Gooch has a novelist's narrative skills and is able to pan back and give sweeping overviews. "We spent most of the week sitting cross-legged in large white plastic chairs or lying on blankets breathing carefully in and out, trying to slip into what Chopra called 'the gap'--the missed beat where bliss lies," he writes of a meditation retreat. "For anyone who peeked into the tent, we must have looked like we'd been knocked out by a powerful bug spray." His rich experiences in ashrams, monasteries, churches, and retreat centers are engaging as stand-alone chapters (some were the basis of magazine articles). Unfortunately, Gooch rarely ties these experiences all together. For readers who want their fingers on the pulse of American spirituality, this makes an interesting, but limited, armchair pilgrimage. --Gail Hudson