om love: a novel

by George Minot

From the author of the acclaimed debut novel, "The Blue Bowl" a new novel--a love story as moving as it is sensual--set in the downtown New York yoga world at the turn of the millennium.
Billy, a once trendy artist who's lost his bearings, finds his life reinvigorated by his new yoga practice--and his barefooted yogi teacher. They fall in (ananda / blissful) love and she becomes his muse. But when real life forces its way into their transformative dream zone, everything Billy thinks he knows about himself, and everything he has learned, is called into question.

Genres: Fiction

357 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

George Minot lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Dona's Books]

DNF @ 2%

This is definitely, without a doubt, for sure, not the book for me lol.

I won't be providing a review or reading notes for this book. But I will say that I can get by a subject I'm not interested in, and I can overlook a style I find distracting or ill-fitting, but I can't do both at once!

I really wanted to read this because I'm a huge fan of Susan Minot, who is sister to George. I thought there was a chance he had her magic! And I do intend to try to read his other novel, THE BLUE BOWL.

DNF at 10 pages.

[Dragana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Needed several deep breaths before writing this longer than usual op piece. Book's pretty much what cover intimates: fragmented, sexualized, free-spirited (and freely punctuated) story that's so pretentious that I would've fashioned it into a block if it weren't for nuggets like these, redeeming in their very self-consciousness: "You know one of these moments when it happens. The heart registers. Fixes the sappy copper old gold sepia," or: "Advice to guys out there whose wives.girlfriends or boyfriends are into yoga. who are talking a lot about some yoga friend? Get yourself a mat." Or, in logical sequence: "If you've never done couple's therapy, here's the dealio. None of us know how to communicate well."

Welcome insights from a voice that, from the outset, is rather adolescent-horny. This, as such, needn't be an impediment, when done entertainingly. You decide whether it fits the bill: Downtown New York artist (what else, before Brooklyn got cool) past his prime but still young(ish) gets into yoga big time, gets into yoga receptionist-cum-teacher bigger time, they bike, they bone, they don't drink, they're vegan, they're cat people. Still with me? She's unbearably cute, though the author doesn't give much in support of the oft-used adjective. She sports a blond bob (okay), and she's always barefoot, unless in ratty Birkenstocks or wet socks. Cute?!? Later, when Conflict finds them, she's delinquent with therapy homework, and also not the brightest bulb on the tree ("what's an oncologist?")

Lest you think me heartless, worry not: There are plot twists, not many plausible, but the streaming thoughts, while bogging down in mass and form, do pull some weight in the end, which, if more stringently edited, might've come sooner (another note to editor: the iPhone that the lovely yogini naturally chucks when she gets one? They didn't come til 2007, so if this is turn-of-millenium, it doesn't fly). 2.5 stars, but since I'm in an Om state of mind, I'll check 3.

[✨Fallon Rasinski✨ · Rating 1 out of 5]

**FIRST DNF**

YALL😭😭
I’ve never DNFed a book, ever.
But this is horrible.
Miserable.

I gotta move on and stop wasting my time on this nonsense.
The writing? Choppy.
The wording? Odd.
Characters? Nothing has sparks.

I can’t.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars.

Mehh. As I myself am a 30-something white woman who has practiced yoga in the US for several years, I'm acutely and sometimes painfully aware of how commercialized, privileged, and faux-spiritual the community can be; this book, unfortunately, seemed to highlight and represent all of those negatives for me.

The story is perfectly fine, about the rise and fall of a relationship between two people in love and then out of it, but it's also frustratingly male-gazey, pretentious, and composed almost entirely of short, choppy sentence fragments and overly stylized punctuation that I simply couldn't stand. There were sections that held my interest more than others (incidentally, the ones written in a more traditional, full-sentence style), but these were few and far between. The timeline was confusing and I found myself not caring enough to go back and try to figure out what George Minot was doing.

(Read Harder challenge #9: A book published prior to January 1, 2019, with fewer than 100 reviews on Goodreads)

[Ellen Mcgrath · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this during my two-week journey in Europe, which began with a yoga retreat in Tuscany. The protagonist, B., is an ashtanga yogi who is trying to sublimate his intensity, career frustrations, and addictive-controlling personality traits through his practice in NYC in the late 90s, "[b]efore yoga mats were a de rigueur accessory [. ...] seen carried on every other block, like so many personal battering rams. to battle the mortal ills. slings and arrows. lovers and bills." It is essentially a love story: initially directed at a fellow yogi but ultimately directed at letting go. The protagonist structures his life rigorously: the yoga studio, a box of bodies ("Eclectic downtown hothouse [. ...] On a floating island just off the coast of America"); the "art box" where he works in his art studio and later, as the relationship ends, tries to transform his loss into visual art and writing (the book becomes very self-reflexive in its later pages); the boxy space of NYC movie theaters where B. and Amanda, the beloved, meld together at the height of their physical fusion; even the compartmentalized boxes of healthy food B. always has on hand. In terms of plot, the novel begins with B sexualizing his early yoga practice in his stream-of-consciousness observation of the bodies of his "yoga crushes," reaches cruising altitude when he couples with Amanda, experiences turbulence in the relationship, then introduces cancer into the plot. This plot element in the novel probably didn't have to happen; the narration itself becomes self-conscious of it, I think, when it makes reference to Erich Segal's Love Story, that seventies book and movie that those who survived it are never quite sure how they feel about it. A better plot element involves the rupture of 9/11 in the lives of the characters, mainly because it gives so much to the novel's stylistic texture (This is really a novel of style, with sections of long sentences, sections of sentence fragments, short prose blocks, walls and pages of uninterrupted prose paragraphs). As a novel of style, it is also a commonplace book of yoga wisdom, with snippets from that body of spirituality worked into the narrative, reflection, and description. Each chapter in the novel is devoted to place. Initially, the places are literal places in New York; with the play on the title of the 9/11 chapter, "Disaster Place," triggers a move toward a more psychic, spiritual understanding of place—as well as the recognition that the lovers' dyad will physically separate—with the ensuing chapter titles referring to place in a more abstract way ("The Middle Place" of transition, "The Quiet Place," where B. seeks to heal from loss). The novel's treatment of time is fluid, which makes sense given the central focus on yoga's liminal yet absolutely vital existence in relation to time. As a yogi who also has tried to "translate" yoga into writing, I value this book and will no doubt re-read. The prose/poetry line is blurred in this writing, the reading of which is, for the most part, a kind of meditation.

[Cassidy Matter · Rating 3 out of 5]

i liked this book. kinda pretentious but I liked it

[kaja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Om Love, while being a fun read, is excruciatingly white. The running theme of the yoga studio was utterly uninteresting and basically became so unrelatable that I started to skim those passages. This is, however, not as bad because of the way this book is written, which carries many interesting twists and descriptions, even though it is written largely in short sentence chunks. I wanted this book to be touching, but it felt like the struggles here were very one dimensional.

[Crimson0sky · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has a lot of information, I guess you could say. You'd forget the paragraph or chapter you just read because in my opinion, there is much thought and sensation. It's like a train of thought in your brain, really. But you'd remember the main points or a majority of what of what you read- and let the rest of the little extra 'details' slip.

This guy(the main character) had such deep thoughts, such an actualized sense of viewing things, but I'm not sure if like him. The way he is with his girlfriend.. And how he sees padticular things, like butts and women. I'm not quite sure. Maybe it is just me, maybe his point of view is a hint of how most men think?

But his relationship with the girl, Amanda, is kind of like real life. Live, learn, let go.

It was alright. A different sort of writing, but altogether it is a very deep reflection of not only the guy's, but his life in NY and offers us a full on view of his perspective concerning various things.. (Like yoga)

[Sarah Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

om love is a stream of consciousness novel that can be difficult to comprehend chronologically, but can be fun if you're a little bored with traditional prose. The story itself is pretty creative, although I got a little annoyed with the main character's whining, especially toward the end. If you're studying for the GRE, like me, it's a good pick for learning vocabulary words. Several of the words I learned from reading this book have made their ways onto my practice tests.

[Tami · Rating 1 out of 5]

most of this book is presented in fragments of sentences and i found that to be completely without redemption. then one section was kind of well written - the sentences were complete, mostly, and i started to care about the narrative. but then, wham, back to words and phrases. it pissed me off, mostly, but the subject matter - yogis and yoginis - kept me going.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a tough read at first and although it got better, I found myself wanting more of the yoga parts, more about the studio, and more about how he felt doing yoga. While I'm not against sex scenes in books, I could have had less sex in the book. Not a bad read, but not easy either.

[Camellia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was an entertaining love story.

[Ako31 · Rating 5 out of 5]

The contemporary James Joyce. The novel reads like Ulysses. On my all time top ten list.