Memoirs of a Spiritual Outsider

by Suzanne Clores

Cultivating a spiritual practice among hip, urbane Generation Nexters is "as unpopular as letter writing," muses author Suzanne Clores. Yet her exploration of nontraditional religions and her conversations with other seekers offer a fascinating glimpse into the hearts and minds of young women searching for meaning in a secular world. Fed up with a life that is comfortable yet lacking in substance, Clores sets out to find "authentic spirituality." By examining her own and other women's postcollege longing for spirituality, she attempts to unravel the dilemma of a generation that didn't grow up with a religious emphasis. The result is one of the first books to mirror young women's yearning for a spiritual path they can fully and wholeheartedly embrace.

Genres: Memoir, Spirituality, Nonfiction, Religion

250 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2000

Reviews

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the end, I really enjoyed it. But what a roller coaster ride! It made me laugh at times, it made me want to shake the author when she drove me crazy (which happened frequently). But in the end I enjoyed her ventures into Wicca, Shamanism, Yoga, Sufism, and her brush with Vodou and Shambhala. But she would not COMMIT to anything, a hard fact concerning those of a certain generation I suppose. Nor would she explore things further when she really needed to...to find the meaning, for her, behind the things she was experiencing. Her comparisons to these alternative practices to Catholicism were "interesting" but not necessarily what I have experienced.

[chrisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found Suzanne Clores' exploration of different types of spirituality interesting, and her discussion of the discomfort among younger generations to be openly spiritual was also insightful. However, I finished the book in the same place I started it, if that makes sense. I didn't really feel like I came away with anything new. I think this material would have made a good blog, but in book form I found myself asking why this book was published.

[Katie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Picked this up at the library on the basis of the title, well, that was a mistake. What a miserable, negative woman. She says she is a "seeker" and a "pilgrim" but seems to be actively disgusted by anyone who talks about having a direct experience of God. Dabbles in everything "alternative" and objectifies various brown skinned people as noble savages while meanwhile rejecting her native Catholicism because it wasn't what she thought it was when she was a kid. Not that she knows a lot about what it IS, just, it wasn't about Jesus being "brave" like she thought, so nevermind. What. Gave up on this one pretty quickly.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm still not exactly sure what I think about this book. The first time I picked it up, I stopped reading during the first paragraph. This time, I got through it, but I did not enjoy Ms. Clores' narration. During the author's search for a spiritual home/path, she interviewed female practitioners about their spiritual traditions and I enjoyed reading about the other women. Ms. Clores' interjections, however, irritated me. She wasn't condescending, exactly. I can't put my finger on it without giving it more thought (which I'm not going to do right now), but her voice was not compelling.