Long Quiet Highway: Waking Up in America

"People would rather read about how to become a writer than read the actual products of writing: poems, novels, short stories," says Natalie Goldberg in the opening chapter of this, her third and, I think best, memoir. Her first two bestsellers, Writing Down the Bones and Wild Mind, are disguised as how to books for aspiring writers, so she should know what she is talking about when she says this, laughing all the way to the bank. Perhaps reading about how to write is related to watching cooking shows on television while ordering takeout. The idea of cooking, the idea of writing are appealing. The hard work, not so much.

In Long Quiet Highway Goldberg goes into much more detail about her journey from her Long Island childhood to a career show more as a writing coach in New Mexico and as a student of Zen Buddhism in, of all places, Minneapolis. She talks about her writing practice and teaching methods without prescribing them and ties her methods in to her meditation practice and study with Dainin Katagiri Roshi at the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center.


There is a great contrast between Goldberg's exposition of the practice and the benefits of Zen meditation and the "ancient secrets" that Dan Brown describes in his novel The Lost Symbol. Granted, Brown's book is fiction and deals with the Judeo Christian tradition, yet when Goldberg describes her exploration of Judaism, she finds a direct similarity to what she was taught by Katagiri, not some kabbalistic mumbo jumbo. The inner peace and sense of belonging in the world, the rightness, that she discovers in the zendo, is the same thing that she finds in the ritual practices of Judaism. Neither is easy, though. Both take a lot of work.

Just do your practice for it's own sake, just be who you are with no expectation of reward, these are the lessons Goldberg brings to her book. The hard work, to her, is it's own reward. Getting up a four in the morning to walk six blocks to the Zen center in mid Minnesota winter and sit on a wood floor. This is her work and she learns to love it. Sitting down every day for several hours with a pen and a notebook and putting words down on the pages without pre-judgment is also her work. Somehow Goldberg makes books happen this way but you'll need to read the other two books to learn how.

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Reminiscences of her life, how she began meditating, the influence it has had on her. Not on what Buddhist philosophy is (tho some of that is mentioned), which is fine with me--I learn better by seeing it put into practice. And that also seems to be how Buddhism is taught: by the example of the teacher, how well they are grounded in their practice, how it shines through them.
As a writer who teaches writing, she relates everything to how one writes, but it can also be read as how one follows any path--just substitute in your personal passion each time she says "write".
There were many lines that spoke directly to me, lines I underlined to come back to, and a few lines that I disputed. The feeling state of her childhood is mine, that show more despair at not fitting in, not being recognized for who I am. show less

I first discovered Goldberg in a college creative writing class that used Writing Down the Bones as a textbook. I instantly fell in love with her gentle-yet-firm "just write it" philosophy. I read several of her other writing books and her novel, but am only now getting to her autobiographical works. Here, she talks mostly about her life as a Buddhist and her relationship with her teacher while she lived in Minnesota. It's actually a really interesting glimpse into a life that is so completely foreign to me. I've never lived in a hippie neighborhood or taught sixth graders or spent entire days in meditation or even ever visited the parts of New Mexico, Minnesota, and New York where Goldberg lived. This is certainly not an exciting book show more by any stretch of the imagination, but I really enjoyed joining Goldberg on this quiet journey from childhood through love and loss until finally finding her true home. show less

i really enjoy natalie goldberg, although reading all of her stuff means a bit of repetition. (things worthy of reading/hearing multiple times, so i don't mind.) i give this book 3 stars because the beginning and end of this book were 3, but the middle was 2 for me. i believe that to be a reflection not of the book, but of myself and my lack of presence while reading the middle section, which is why i give this a 3. i did enjoy her other books more, but i find her a valuable voice.

My mom got this for me, shoved it in my hands, told me to read it. I'm glad she did. Damn good book. Goldberg is an amazing writer.

I have read this book more than any other. It resonates with me. I appreciate Goldberg's style and her candidness in sharing her path. I read the first section to graduate students studying literacy theory, because she tells her own sort of literacy story in it. I haven't enjoyed Goldberg's other stories nearly as much.

This is lovely book about Goldberg's journey to writing and Zen Buddhism. It's very refreshing to the spirit, I've read it several times.