Day Breaks Over Dharamsala by Janet Thomas

by Janet Thomas

Book by Thomas, Janet

Genres: Memoir

Paperback

First published March 1, 2014

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a deeply moving and powerful book about a life's healing journey. The book is beautifully written (juicy I'd say) and so painfully honest -- easy to relate to even if you or I haven't suffered similar traumas in childhood. It took Janet 20 years to write this book and she finally found the way to write it when she went to Dharamsala. I had the privilege of getting to know Janet better when I took a memoir writing workshop from her a few months ago. She's as delightful in person as I experience her in this book. Some years ago I had loved her book "Battle in Seattle" about the WTO protests in Seattle. I only knew her from that book, but she apparently has written many plays and other projects that I'll be wanting to learn more about.

As I always have difficulty coming up with the words to describe something I've experienced deeply, I'm going to steal a quote from Andrew Harvey's Foreword as it describes this journey so well: "Day Breaks is the rarest kind of book, an accessible, utterly human and wonderfully unsparing and intelligent description of the hardest task that faces a human being—that of transmuting, through surrender and great longing, horror into grace, soul-stealing brutality into universal, active joyful compassion, and unbearable trauma into a burning sacred passion for all life and all beings.... (from http://www.daybreaksoverdharamsala.co...) I urge you to read the rest of his Foreword. Also, Janet had such wonderful things to say about Andrew Harvey that I'll be looking to read some of his books.

I'm looking forward to reading the book again just as soon as I get it back from a friend who borrowed it.

[Monty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't tell you how wonderful this book was to read. As its subtitle says, this story is a memoir of life lost and found. It takes place during the author's trip to Dharamsala, India, a few years ago and where the Dali Lama has been living in exile since 1959. The presence of His Holiness is very much in the story, though he never actually appears. I am so impressed by how the author weaves the story of this journey with her intensely complex and personal healing journey of recovery from ritual abuse (among other things). She deftly weaves present and past in such a way that it felt seamless to me. Her willingness to engage in her healing process (with the support of her caring and knowledgeable therapist) and to candidly share part of it with the reader, modeled how all of us can enter our own healing. I am only touching on part of this memoir. There is much more about the Tibetan people and culture, following one's intuition, forgiving oneself in order to have compassion for others, and much more that this memoir addresses.

[Nadia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I could describe India half as well as Janet. Her memoir is touching and moving. And educational! It's tough in parts, she says herself that her story is not an easy one, but the beauty weaves throughout makes it real.... And true. And who doesn't want to read something true?