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A Short History of Richard Kline
“I woke with a gasp. And lay in the dark, open-mouthed, holding my breath. That feeling ... that feeling was indescribable. For a moment I had felt as if I were falling ... falling into bliss.”
All his life, Richard Kline has been haunted by a sense that something is lacking. He envies the ease with which some people slip – seemingly unquestioningly – into contented suburban life or the pursuit of wealth.
As he moves into middle age, Richard grows increasingly angry. But then a strange event awakens him to a different way of living. He finds himself on a quest, almost against his own will, to resolve the 'divine discontent' he has suffered since childhood. From pharmaceuticals to new age therapies and finding a guru, Richard's journey dramatises the search for meaning in today's world.
This moving and audacious novel is a pilgrim's progress for the here and now. Suffused with yearning and a sense of the mystical, this extraordinary novel is one of Lohrey's finest offerings yet.
All his life, Richard Kline has been haunted by a sense that something is lacking. He envies the ease with which some people slip – seemingly unquestioningly – into contented suburban life or the pursuit of wealth.
As he moves into middle age, Richard grows increasingly angry. But then a strange event awakens him to a different way of living. He finds himself on a quest, almost against his own will, to resolve the 'divine discontent' he has suffered since childhood. From pharmaceuticals to new age therapies and finding a guru, Richard's journey dramatises the search for meaning in today's world.
This moving and audacious novel is a pilgrim's progress for the here and now. Suffused with yearning and a sense of the mystical, this extraordinary novel is one of Lohrey's finest offerings yet.
272 pages, Paperback
First published February 25, 2015
10 people are currently reading
173 people want to read
About the author
Amanda Lohrey
27 books122 followersAmanda Lohrey is a novelist and essayist. She was educated at the University of Tasmania and Cambridge. She lectured in Writing and Textual Studies at the Sydney University of Technology (1988-1994), and since 2002 at the School of English, Media Studies and Art History at the University of Queensland in Brisbane.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
March 9, 2016
An okay book about a self-centered dude on the search for meaning in his life. I was reminded, throughout, of some sociology I read once by Adam Possamai on new age spirituality as a very self-centred and individualist pursuit. Rick Kline is the perfect example of that, and if I hadn't been sociologising him in this way I think I would have liked the book a little bit less. I didn't love the alternating perspective, one chapter in first person and one in third person. And I didn't love the very descriptive, tell-rather-than-show, conversations on meditation and spirituality with Martin towards the end of the book.
June 24, 2015
An Australian literary offering.
You can float along in this stream of a life - the people one meets, the decisions one makes, the decisions made for us..... Thoughts of a search for meaning of a masculine life may appear self-indulgent to some, but to others will chime with bells of self-recognition.
For those who want a change of pace in the writing they read.
You can float along in this stream of a life - the people one meets, the decisions one makes, the decisions made for us..... Thoughts of a search for meaning of a masculine life may appear self-indulgent to some, but to others will chime with bells of self-recognition.
For those who want a change of pace in the writing they read.
March 28, 2015
I had so looked forward to this latest offering from Amanda Lohrey. Having read several reviews I was prepared to be plunged into the inner psyche of a man on the brink, then to journey with him on his spiritual awakening - and this I did. The writing is exquisite. Protagonist Richard Kline's dislocation with the world and himself, identifiable and written with great empathy - even when Richard is at his most unlikable (which is often).
What I hadn't bargained on was the increasingly instructional approach. Towards the end of the book, meditation practice and devotion to one's Guru are described in such detail that it teeters on didactic, especially in the last section when Richard forms a disciple-like relationship with urban monk, Martin. As Martin instructs Richard, at times I felt I was reading slabs of text from a meditation manual.
None of which would stop me recommending this novel which is ultimately a heartening exploration and transformation of despair. One wonders what would have become of Richard, had he not stumbled upon meditation.
What I hadn't bargained on was the increasingly instructional approach. Towards the end of the book, meditation practice and devotion to one's Guru are described in such detail that it teeters on didactic, especially in the last section when Richard forms a disciple-like relationship with urban monk, Martin. As Martin instructs Richard, at times I felt I was reading slabs of text from a meditation manual.
None of which would stop me recommending this novel which is ultimately a heartening exploration and transformation of despair. One wonders what would have become of Richard, had he not stumbled upon meditation.
April 2, 2015
I had high hopes for this, but was disappointed - the main character starts out as a deeply unsympathetic character, which makes it a struggle to get into the book. This is intentional though, because the story is how this prickly, difficult man comes to terms with the emptiness in his life that eats away at him. Unfortunately, the spiritual struggle and transformation that comes towards the end of the book felt unbelieavable and a bit didactic to me - this is probably as much about my lack of sympathy for the vaguely mystical underpinnings of the whole transition. The struggle that the main character feels between his own cynicism and his inability to resist the lure of something deeper could be interesting, but I didn't care enough about him or his journey to really enjoy it.
December 16, 2015
I had the feeling while reading this book that it was a well disguised memoir. I thought the yearning for something beyond the material world was very well portrayed. My experiences of delving into the meditation realm were echoed in this story. The struggle I really felt. It has left me re-pondering the whole notion of a spiritual thirst which some of us seem to experience in our lives.
It was good.
It was good.
July 8, 2015
I have always admired the fierce intelligence at work in Amanda Lohrey's writing - both the fiction and the non-fiction - as well as her remarkable ability to shape character. Typically, she doesn't play for easy sympathy for her characters, as she seems to want her readers to engage with their full sensibilities awake.
Her brilliant earlier novel, "The Philosopher's Doll" is a case in point, where a surprise switch in the narrative pulls the rug out from the under the kind of mindless projection with which one usually reads (especially when the characters are so well drawn). The switcheroo acts like a kind of Brechtian 'alienation effect' to wake the reader up.
In Richard Kline she allows her protagonist to come across as quite unsympathetic, then, eschewing the facile responses usually called for by lesser writers, to bring to bear, in its place, a kind of forensic (and no less 'realistic') attention to his existential crisis.
This is far from a soft-centred New Age diatribe. Kline is drawn as a kind of successful technocrat, an IT specialist, one bugged all through his life by an underlying dissatisfaction, becoming a kind of secular Everyman who would never resort to the ready-made nostrums of conventional religion, let alone New Age hippie mythos-magick. The wisdom of the character Martin, whom some reviewers plump too easily into the 'New Age' basket, comes across to me as someone who has put a good many years into serious meditation practice, and his wisdom is ring true, seasoned with insight and experience. What a pity that readers can no longer recognise the difference! People who have spent decades in serious Buddhist meditation practice, say, and other writers would recognise the value of this characterisation and its useful differentiation as a narrative device.
Kline's gradual acceptance of some surprising guidance later in the story is well-prepared for, with convincing episodes in corporate workshops and so on, and I especially liked the way that the Global Financial Crisis, and its effect on Kline's business (an employee/colleague suicides) triggers a slide into disillusionment and a troublesome, hard-to-erase anger, in an utterly real-world way. Even if secularism has succeeded in sweeping away centuries of wrong-headed religious nonsense, we are forced to consider that there just might be needs not met by the smug, sun-drenched Aussie lifestyle.
This is a brilliant work, ambitious in its conception and measured in its execution, showing an exceptional novelist working at the height of her powers. I hope that this book brings Lohrey the kind of attention she deserves from a much wider readership, world-wide.
Her brilliant earlier novel, "The Philosopher's Doll" is a case in point, where a surprise switch in the narrative pulls the rug out from the under the kind of mindless projection with which one usually reads (especially when the characters are so well drawn). The switcheroo acts like a kind of Brechtian 'alienation effect' to wake the reader up.
In Richard Kline she allows her protagonist to come across as quite unsympathetic, then, eschewing the facile responses usually called for by lesser writers, to bring to bear, in its place, a kind of forensic (and no less 'realistic') attention to his existential crisis.
This is far from a soft-centred New Age diatribe. Kline is drawn as a kind of successful technocrat, an IT specialist, one bugged all through his life by an underlying dissatisfaction, becoming a kind of secular Everyman who would never resort to the ready-made nostrums of conventional religion, let alone New Age hippie mythos-magick. The wisdom of the character Martin, whom some reviewers plump too easily into the 'New Age' basket, comes across to me as someone who has put a good many years into serious meditation practice, and his wisdom is ring true, seasoned with insight and experience. What a pity that readers can no longer recognise the difference! People who have spent decades in serious Buddhist meditation practice, say, and other writers would recognise the value of this characterisation and its useful differentiation as a narrative device.
Kline's gradual acceptance of some surprising guidance later in the story is well-prepared for, with convincing episodes in corporate workshops and so on, and I especially liked the way that the Global Financial Crisis, and its effect on Kline's business (an employee/colleague suicides) triggers a slide into disillusionment and a troublesome, hard-to-erase anger, in an utterly real-world way. Even if secularism has succeeded in sweeping away centuries of wrong-headed religious nonsense, we are forced to consider that there just might be needs not met by the smug, sun-drenched Aussie lifestyle.
This is a brilliant work, ambitious in its conception and measured in its execution, showing an exceptional novelist working at the height of her powers. I hope that this book brings Lohrey the kind of attention she deserves from a much wider readership, world-wide.
February 12, 2017
What an interesting book - about a suburban middle-class man having a spiritual awakening. It is 'spiritual' in the sense of legit New Age woowoo, and I was intellectually resistant to the spiritual content and not sure what to do with my resistance in the process of reading. The narrative adopts a scrupulously neutral stance towards the woowoo, and I was left wondering what the author's intentions were in including it - for the level of mysticism involved in mainstream mental health services in the erstwhile strictly realist universe of this book is not (in my experience) naturalistic. As a non-mystic, I spent the whole book in a stance of polite withholding of judgement, and the book too remained perpetually in a stance of polite withholding of judgement; I was left a little unfulfilled by never being able to escape this stance.
Regardless, a wonderfully realised and compassionate psychological portrait of an intellectual, pragmatic, sometimes unlikeable man trying to come to grips with the essential ungovernability and unknowability of his emotional life.
Regardless, a wonderfully realised and compassionate psychological portrait of an intellectual, pragmatic, sometimes unlikeable man trying to come to grips with the essential ungovernability and unknowability of his emotional life.
June 25, 2020
I read this for the second time and it is still awesome. It’s such a beautifully wrought book that takes the reader with the protagonist so that by the end of the book we expect nothing, as Rick reaches that same expectation of life. It is enigmatic, emotional, and ephemeral in its discussion of the big things in life: what we are doing here and our place in the world. It gives me hope and I shall read it again.
15 March 2015
I LOVE Amanda lohrey. What a fantastic writer she is. This book about Rick Klein's ennui is beautifully rendered, as he finds himself drawn to panaceas in work, relationships, psychotherapy, meditation and then finds unexpected bliss in everyday moments. Split into alternatively first and third person chapters, it moves between hopeless and hopeful in poetic writing and rich imagery. I just had to read done sentences over and over they are so potent. Amidst neoliberal corporate workplaces and ugly cruel politics this book is something precious.
15 March 2015
I LOVE Amanda lohrey. What a fantastic writer she is. This book about Rick Klein's ennui is beautifully rendered, as he finds himself drawn to panaceas in work, relationships, psychotherapy, meditation and then finds unexpected bliss in everyday moments. Split into alternatively first and third person chapters, it moves between hopeless and hopeful in poetic writing and rich imagery. I just had to read done sentences over and over they are so potent. Amidst neoliberal corporate workplaces and ugly cruel politics this book is something precious.
August 12, 2015
A Short History of Richard Kline is the story of one man’s search for meaning, a spiritual journey. Richard Kline is a middle-aged man living in Sydney who feels something lots of people in the modern world can identify with – that there’s something missing in his life. It is the classic mid-life crisis.
“Today I would say that for much of my life I suffered from an apprehension of lack,” he tells us.
Looking back at his childhood, he tries religion, then science, then sex and girls in his search for some sort of meaning. The story travels fairly quickly, mainly in first person, through his teenage years, twenties, marriage, children and work overseas. He sees doctors for depression and then tries meditation and finally ‘cracks open’ with uncontrollable tears in the presence of of an Indian spiritual guru in a suburban church hall. So begins Richard’s quest for spiritual enlightenment with his own local guru.
Lohrey’s writing is beautifully evocative and often wise and I enjoyed the many scenes where she picked apart the way people behave. But the spiritual enlightenment stuff just left me cold.
At the writers festival, she said that Australia didn’t have much of a tradition of the meta-physical novel and I wondered at the time if readers like me are the reason why. Other reviews have noted that this story is an allegory – a literary device to convey hidden meanings through symbolic actions. I do wonder if this story would have been better as a memoir-style book about searching for spiritual meaning and travels through the gamut of Eastern philosophies.
While I enjoyed reading many of the scenes, Richard’s inner journey just wasn’t compelling enough to engage me in this story. But Lohrey’s writing is lovely enough for me to try some of her other works, with Camille’s Bread the most popular.
“Today I would say that for much of my life I suffered from an apprehension of lack,” he tells us.
Looking back at his childhood, he tries religion, then science, then sex and girls in his search for some sort of meaning. The story travels fairly quickly, mainly in first person, through his teenage years, twenties, marriage, children and work overseas. He sees doctors for depression and then tries meditation and finally ‘cracks open’ with uncontrollable tears in the presence of of an Indian spiritual guru in a suburban church hall. So begins Richard’s quest for spiritual enlightenment with his own local guru.
Lohrey’s writing is beautifully evocative and often wise and I enjoyed the many scenes where she picked apart the way people behave. But the spiritual enlightenment stuff just left me cold.
At the writers festival, she said that Australia didn’t have much of a tradition of the meta-physical novel and I wondered at the time if readers like me are the reason why. Other reviews have noted that this story is an allegory – a literary device to convey hidden meanings through symbolic actions. I do wonder if this story would have been better as a memoir-style book about searching for spiritual meaning and travels through the gamut of Eastern philosophies.
While I enjoyed reading many of the scenes, Richard’s inner journey just wasn’t compelling enough to engage me in this story. But Lohrey’s writing is lovely enough for me to try some of her other works, with Camille’s Bread the most popular.
August 1, 2016
For much of this novel, I wasn't sure what to make of it. Through the character of Kline, Lohrey explores the dissatisfaction of a certain type of middle class professional who finds much of daily life arid and pointless and yearns to find meaning to life. The partial answer to Kline's sense of futility comes through his practice of meditation and submission to the teaching of an Indian female guru. I kept waiting for this submission to be seen as false and misleading but instead was taken on a path of exploring an alternative worldview and spirituality. I was never wholly convinced though and felt that the character of Kline was allowed to be too self-indulgent.
There's a lot more to this novel and it is beautifully written. Towards the end it did carry me away and dampened down my sense of scepticism. Was that a good thing or not? I'm not sure!
There's a lot more to this novel and it is beautifully written. Towards the end it did carry me away and dampened down my sense of scepticism. Was that a good thing or not? I'm not sure!
July 8, 2015
A number of reviewers have referred to Kline as an everyman, and his Short History as a Pilgrim's Progress for our meta modern age. But this everyman is different; not easily identified with (sympathetically anyway) nor undertaking a journey of exceptional circumstances. Instead, Richard Kline is the malcontent we've all met (some of us giving him more time than others) who is searching for meaning in the mundanities of everyday life.
Though I'm not sure whether Richard's problem is angst, ennui, or weltschmerz, I am certain that Amanda Lohrey has crafted a beautifully engaging allegory for our times. Highly recommended.
And I'd be surprised if this extraordinary book doesn't feature on a range of prize and award lists in the coming year.
Though I'm not sure whether Richard's problem is angst, ennui, or weltschmerz, I am certain that Amanda Lohrey has crafted a beautifully engaging allegory for our times. Highly recommended.
And I'd be surprised if this extraordinary book doesn't feature on a range of prize and award lists in the coming year.
August 1, 2015
Look, rarely books irritate me, but what I found in 'A Short History of Richard Kline', was being forced to sit next to somebody I don't like for an entire party, without respite.
Well-written, structured, irritating.
I have been encouraged but not required to review the book 'A Short History of Richard Kline' in compliance with FTC guidelines, as I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
I won't hesitate to donate this book to the local library as I know many people will love this book, as much as it just didn't appeal to me.
Well-written, structured, irritating.
I have been encouraged but not required to review the book 'A Short History of Richard Kline' in compliance with FTC guidelines, as I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
I won't hesitate to donate this book to the local library as I know many people will love this book, as much as it just didn't appeal to me.
June 10, 2020
Although initially abrasive, the protagonist grows on you as the book progresses and as he matures. The novel provides an interesting reflection on the intersection between meditation, spirituality, and mental health and how these can shape a sense of meaning and life narrative. Changes between first person and third person can be jarring at times, but there are some deep and stimulating ideas presented here with nuance - worth reading!
March 31, 2015
A beautifully and Intelligently written story of an ordinary man searching for deeper meaning in his life. I found this inspiring and thought provoking and I am now keen to learn to meditate. Amanda Lohrey's exquisite language flows smoothly and lyrically throughout the book. An enjoyable read. Thanks to Goodreads and the publisher for this first-read-giveaway!
April 10, 2015
A beautifully written book of (in my mind) two excellent halves with a leap of faith somewhat needed for the second . Despite my initial unease and resistance to the introduction of a 'guru' ( the half way point), any potential queasiness disappeared thanks to the author's empathetic, honest and delicate insights into the spiritual journey.
November 24, 2023
I loved Labyrinth so fiercely that it belongs on my small shelf of books to keep forever and read over and over again. I then tried Vertigo and found it interesting but somehow missing something; I then read Camille's Bread (I would never have bought a book with that title if it hadn't been written by a known and trusted author, with its overtones of Eat Pray Love and that ilk) - it was brilliantly written, the characters finely drawn, the story enthralling, the descriptions of places wonderful - but I kept thinking, how did she get away with it? How did she get away with inserting pages and pages and pages of what was really instructions about the correct foods to eat, the way to meditate and exercise the body within the realm of a spiritual life? Yet she did get away with it and made it work as part of the novel. It was a wonderful book.
Then we get to A Short History of Richard Kline. Ugh. This time she did not get away with it. A novel about a man who feels empty and meaningless and seeks to find substance and meaning sounds like a fine premise for a book. This book, however, read like an instruction manual on How to Find Yourself in Five Easy Steps. I don't know whether Lohrey has recently discovered the benefits of meditation, or whether she is a lifelong devotee, but I felt that the book was written not so much to enthrall as to promote a certain lifestyle. Now I have practised meditation, yoga, tai chi, for nearly fifty years. I am interested in these subjects. But not as ballast to a novel! And this aspect really did weigh it down.
It may just possibly have worked but, bizarrely and completely unexpectedly, the book contained some really shoddy writing. Actual bad writing! From Amanda Lohrey! How is this possible? Yet there it is - hackneyed phrases, facile metaphors, repetition (I lost count of how many times we were told something was simple - simple white sari, simple altar, simple this, simple that). The descriptions of the Hindu saint were cringe-making; it read like a bad seventies depiction of a 'guru'. It got worse towards the end, with the mentors presenting as surreally calm, wise, completely interchangeable stereotypes of what spiritual teachers might look like.
It IS tricky to base a book around something you believe in. Always there is the tendency to preach, to instruct. But this is a story - at the risk of leaving out some essential step in practising Transcendental Meditation, for example, one must remember it's about being enthralling, not factually comprehensive.
Labyrinth was an exquisite book. I have high hopes for her future works.
Then we get to A Short History of Richard Kline. Ugh. This time she did not get away with it. A novel about a man who feels empty and meaningless and seeks to find substance and meaning sounds like a fine premise for a book. This book, however, read like an instruction manual on How to Find Yourself in Five Easy Steps. I don't know whether Lohrey has recently discovered the benefits of meditation, or whether she is a lifelong devotee, but I felt that the book was written not so much to enthrall as to promote a certain lifestyle. Now I have practised meditation, yoga, tai chi, for nearly fifty years. I am interested in these subjects. But not as ballast to a novel! And this aspect really did weigh it down.
It may just possibly have worked but, bizarrely and completely unexpectedly, the book contained some really shoddy writing. Actual bad writing! From Amanda Lohrey! How is this possible? Yet there it is - hackneyed phrases, facile metaphors, repetition (I lost count of how many times we were told something was simple - simple white sari, simple altar, simple this, simple that). The descriptions of the Hindu saint were cringe-making; it read like a bad seventies depiction of a 'guru'. It got worse towards the end, with the mentors presenting as surreally calm, wise, completely interchangeable stereotypes of what spiritual teachers might look like.
It IS tricky to base a book around something you believe in. Always there is the tendency to preach, to instruct. But this is a story - at the risk of leaving out some essential step in practising Transcendental Meditation, for example, one must remember it's about being enthralling, not factually comprehensive.
Labyrinth was an exquisite book. I have high hopes for her future works.
November 13, 2021
Make that ** on reconsideration (can't change it at this stage). Important, about male crises, well researched, erudite and well written (of course), but it left me cold. In terms of liking it it’s a ** job. Richard Kline is a se sentred unlikeable person who is redeemed by meditation and a weird relationship to a little know Indian guru. Even a touch of magic realism which I suppose is a way of writing about the unknowable. I know it has got 5 stars and it is by Lohrey but the situation is implausible even for an aged middle class male (me). Kline treats his wife and loved son badly, following his obsession with the Indian woman instead f his family: the fact that wife Zoe understands in the end it seem to me a device for letting Kline off the familial hook.
January 17, 2022
It’s true that Richard Kline, as some reviewers have noted, is a truly unsympathetic character right to the end. But that doesn’t detract from the novel - Kline the character is only the vehicle for this beguiling dissection of technological “man’s” search for the truth, and sympathy for, or a readers “identification” with, the character would have muddied the clear lines of Lohrey’s narrative.
Initially I was put off by having to read about a male, but Lohrey’s beautiful writing style kept me hooked. And what better way is there to investigate the dreariness of bloated modern life than making the protagonist a white, Western, middle class male? In a way, it was using the “universality” of the male form against itself for greatest effect.
Initially I was put off by having to read about a male, but Lohrey’s beautiful writing style kept me hooked. And what better way is there to investigate the dreariness of bloated modern life than making the protagonist a white, Western, middle class male? In a way, it was using the “universality” of the male form against itself for greatest effect.
July 11, 2019
I always enjoy this author and reading the blurb one might be a bit sceptical that the author could make the premise an interesting one. It centres on Richard who as a middle class professional finds much of his life pointless and boring. What follows is a series of events including girlfriends, overseas travel , marriage to his wife Zoe and the birth of his son Luke. When he embarks on a life journey through meditation and his encounter with a guru it is here that he starts to find some meaning to his existence. There is much going on in this novel and beautifully written. Highly recommended.
July 10, 2020
Ugh! I had expected so much more from this book, winner of the 2012 Patrick White Literary Award. Th story, about a man going through a mid-life crisis, offered no great epiphanies. Often, it seemed that the main character was totally unbelievable as a man. Even the resolution was unsatisfying.
I am always reluctant to give any book less than 3 stars because of the effort an author puts into their story. Additionally, most authors include some very personal facets of their own experiences, whether fiction or non-fiction. This time, ugh, sorry, two stars!
I am always reluctant to give any book less than 3 stars because of the effort an author puts into their story. Additionally, most authors include some very personal facets of their own experiences, whether fiction or non-fiction. This time, ugh, sorry, two stars!
December 4, 2023
Brilliantly written, although a departure from the other Amanda Lohrey books I've read. The protagonist, Rick, is a man difficult to empathise with. Self-obsessed to the point of analysing every thought and action exhaustively, he decides the way forward from his mid-life crisis is to embrace the spiritual. This is where the book lost me somewhat, descending as it does into the kind of new-age spiritual fanaticism which I've never really understood or cared to try.
September 30, 2018
I'm not really the target audience for this thinly disguised self help book. The funny thing is that by the end of the book, Richard Kline didn't seem to have made much progress. He still didn't engage with the wide world around him and was as miserable as ever. A funny mix between The Alchemist and Confederacy of Dunces, neither of which I particularly enjoyed.
August 3, 2019
Not my cup of tea. I’m not attracted to spirituality.
I didn’t know what this book was about when I picked it up.
I found it interesting for a while to try to understand why some wealthy middle class people find gurus. Can’t say I’m any the wiser after reading this though. And why the switching from first to third person each chapter?
I didn’t know what this book was about when I picked it up.
I found it interesting for a while to try to understand why some wealthy middle class people find gurus. Can’t say I’m any the wiser after reading this though. And why the switching from first to third person each chapter?
March 6, 2022
I found the writing flowed very well and I started out with high hopes for this book but found it ultimately unsatisfying, probably because of my past experiences I have a confirmation bias/scepticism towards all things new age as I was waiting for the other “shoe to drop” with some sort of deception to be revealed with his interaction with the guru.
November 13, 2018
I want to read more of Amanda Lohrey even though I was not altogether enthralled by the one I think it ,may be my aversion to gurus and masters (even the Christian kind). She is a great wordsmith and this kept me reading until the end.
July 6, 2023
I found this engaging and somewhat familiar---to start. As he kept on trying---and casting aside--various ideas--and partners---in order to kick start his life, I got frustrated at his lack of progress and decided to leave him to fend for himself. DNF.
6.5/10
6.5/10
May 10, 2017
If you like tedious self-absorbed people you might enjoy Richard's tale
May 28, 2022
First 100 pages or so, in particular, is superb writing as the character assesses himself and we're introduced to his state of mind
April 13, 2023
A curious marvel, almost sneaky in how good it is. There’s a lot to take in, if that’s your thing. Almost a modern retelling of Siddhartha….almost.
July 30, 2021
Wonderful
I devoured this story. Masterful writing. Believable description of spirituality . The struggles of Richard Kline are real.Many people could identify ....thank you M's Lohrey
I devoured this story. Masterful writing. Believable description of spirituality . The struggles of Richard Kline are real.Many people could identify ....thank you M's Lohrey
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews