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A Glimpse of Eternity
A Glimpse of Eternity is edgy, jungle-dank backpacker fiction infused with philosophy, ecstasy and a dark sense of humour.
Nick is a twenty-seven-year-old high school teacher who has lost his way. Anxious, depressed and frustrated, he travels to South America in search of his life's purpose and hopefully, through the use of powerful psychedelic plants, a mystical experience.
At an ayahuasca centre deep in the Peruvian Amazon, confronted with the raw, overwhelming power of "the medicine", Nick must learn to traverse the dangerous path on which he finds himself, or risk toppling over into insanity and despair.
This is a raw and unflinching novel about a young man's search for a meaningful existence - a joyful, ecstatic journey of transcendence, tempered by the darkness and gut-wrenching horror of the path he must walk to get there.
Nick is a twenty-seven-year-old high school teacher who has lost his way. Anxious, depressed and frustrated, he travels to South America in search of his life's purpose and hopefully, through the use of powerful psychedelic plants, a mystical experience.
At an ayahuasca centre deep in the Peruvian Amazon, confronted with the raw, overwhelming power of "the medicine", Nick must learn to traverse the dangerous path on which he finds himself, or risk toppling over into insanity and despair.
This is a raw and unflinching novel about a young man's search for a meaningful existence - a joyful, ecstatic journey of transcendence, tempered by the darkness and gut-wrenching horror of the path he must walk to get there.
280 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 20, 2022
8 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 30, 2022
Couldn’t put this book down. It spoke to me on so many different levels. The setting descriptions transported me and when we get a glimpse into Nick’s family life and upbringing it brought me to tears. Some interesting characters and my heart ached for Nick and his journey! Incredible.
November 2, 2022
The feeling of “loss of self” is one we may have all felt at some time, and this is the sentiment that drives “A Glimpse of Eternity” by Alejandro Tuama. Nick, a 27-year-old Australian man, feels like he is all over the place — leaving a job as a high school teacher (unsure he’ll return); at the tail end of a relationship he ruined; still reeling from the reverberations of the breakdown of his family since his parents’ divorce; and with a general sense of “I-don’t-know-what’s-next-for-me.”
Having had some experience with psychedelic drugs, Nick believes that this may be the answer for him, and he travels to South America to seek a spiritual, mystical experience through a series of ayahuasca ceremonies at different retreat centres. As he says to a woman he meets:
“I just sense that ayahuasca is the key to sorting me out... There’s something wrong with me but I don’t know what it is. I feel like I’ve lost something from when I was a child. I can’t really connect with anything. And I feel there’s this big, golden ball of power inside me, waiting to be unleashed into the world. I just have to figure out how to do it.”
The novel unfolds describing his experiences on his own, with his friends who share part of the journey with him, with women he meets, and with passersby that he connects with on his journey throughout South America as he moves from one retreat centre to the next.
The author is extremely talented at description, taking you right there to the scene — you can almost feel the heat in the air, the pollution and pungent smells of the area, the meagre accommodations, and environments at the centres, and so much more. Every ceremony is described in such detail that it captures both the typical general knowledge of these types of spiritual retreats, but we are also seeing it through Nick’s eyes with a certain level of skepticism, which adds to the overall feeling of realism as he reflects on the experience.
There is a sense of adventure as we follow Nick’s travels, but also we connect to his inner thoughts, which are in constant battle to understand himself and the world around him, to tap into that mysterious meaning of life:
“Nicholas. Nicky. Nicko. Nick. How many different people am I trying to be? I’ve been leading so many lives, playing so many roles, that I’ve forgotten who I actually am. Who is the person under all the layers? [...] What do I care about? What do I live for? Why do I even bother getting up in the morning? I know there’s a reason. Even if it isn’t immediately clear. I know there’s something more to this life. [...] I know that it’s there, the great... ‘it’. But what is ‘it’? I don’t know yet. But I’m close.”
There were many moments where a poignant or memorable viewpoint was conveyed, such as our tendency to obsess with social media just to say we’ve had an experience because we get social validation from being “witnessed” doing something, whether or not we get validation from the experience itself; another was his reflection that you need to be whole and complete in yourself, else you will only attract other damaged and incomplete people.
While I enjoyed the novel, I do wish to warn other readers that the descriptions of bodily fluids are constant and visceral throughout (at times perhaps even gratuitous!), so bear this in mind if this factor isn’t to your liking. Also, the novel’s structure focuses on an experiential description rather than a linear action-driven plot, so don’t expect a typical plot arc or shocking twist — I myself was kind of “waiting for something to happen” but eventually realized that wasn’t the point; the journey was more important than the destination!
Overall, “A Glimpse of Eternity” is an engaging story that makes you want to keep on reading because as readers we are transported to a startling experience most of us have never had, along with a refreshingly honest point of view from a young man. I did see many similarities with the novel/film “Into The Wild” (and there’s some intertextuality when the author mentions this title in passing through a comment from one of Nick’s friends); this novel captures the same combination of a sense of adventure, and flawed masculinity fighting to overcome the depths of depression and self-doubt. I would recommend this particularly to male readers who identify as millennials, as I feel this would resonate particularly with them.
Having had some experience with psychedelic drugs, Nick believes that this may be the answer for him, and he travels to South America to seek a spiritual, mystical experience through a series of ayahuasca ceremonies at different retreat centres. As he says to a woman he meets:
“I just sense that ayahuasca is the key to sorting me out... There’s something wrong with me but I don’t know what it is. I feel like I’ve lost something from when I was a child. I can’t really connect with anything. And I feel there’s this big, golden ball of power inside me, waiting to be unleashed into the world. I just have to figure out how to do it.”
The novel unfolds describing his experiences on his own, with his friends who share part of the journey with him, with women he meets, and with passersby that he connects with on his journey throughout South America as he moves from one retreat centre to the next.
The author is extremely talented at description, taking you right there to the scene — you can almost feel the heat in the air, the pollution and pungent smells of the area, the meagre accommodations, and environments at the centres, and so much more. Every ceremony is described in such detail that it captures both the typical general knowledge of these types of spiritual retreats, but we are also seeing it through Nick’s eyes with a certain level of skepticism, which adds to the overall feeling of realism as he reflects on the experience.
There is a sense of adventure as we follow Nick’s travels, but also we connect to his inner thoughts, which are in constant battle to understand himself and the world around him, to tap into that mysterious meaning of life:
“Nicholas. Nicky. Nicko. Nick. How many different people am I trying to be? I’ve been leading so many lives, playing so many roles, that I’ve forgotten who I actually am. Who is the person under all the layers? [...] What do I care about? What do I live for? Why do I even bother getting up in the morning? I know there’s a reason. Even if it isn’t immediately clear. I know there’s something more to this life. [...] I know that it’s there, the great... ‘it’. But what is ‘it’? I don’t know yet. But I’m close.”
There were many moments where a poignant or memorable viewpoint was conveyed, such as our tendency to obsess with social media just to say we’ve had an experience because we get social validation from being “witnessed” doing something, whether or not we get validation from the experience itself; another was his reflection that you need to be whole and complete in yourself, else you will only attract other damaged and incomplete people.
While I enjoyed the novel, I do wish to warn other readers that the descriptions of bodily fluids are constant and visceral throughout (at times perhaps even gratuitous!), so bear this in mind if this factor isn’t to your liking. Also, the novel’s structure focuses on an experiential description rather than a linear action-driven plot, so don’t expect a typical plot arc or shocking twist — I myself was kind of “waiting for something to happen” but eventually realized that wasn’t the point; the journey was more important than the destination!
Overall, “A Glimpse of Eternity” is an engaging story that makes you want to keep on reading because as readers we are transported to a startling experience most of us have never had, along with a refreshingly honest point of view from a young man. I did see many similarities with the novel/film “Into The Wild” (and there’s some intertextuality when the author mentions this title in passing through a comment from one of Nick’s friends); this novel captures the same combination of a sense of adventure, and flawed masculinity fighting to overcome the depths of depression and self-doubt. I would recommend this particularly to male readers who identify as millennials, as I feel this would resonate particularly with them.
September 8, 2022
I have just finished reading ‘A Glimpse of Eternity’.
For me - this book was an utter joy to read from page 1 through to the end. I was able to reminisce on the hilarious moments being a young Aussie male on the South American Gringo Trail.
True blue swears n all this book is a cultural artefact as it captures male strayin culture as it meets South American culture, and in particular medicine culture.
Poor ol’ nick, I feel his pain, his confusion, in this odd world where it often feels hopeless and like no one really gives a fuck so why should we ? ..
And I feel his triumph, as he overcomes the inner obstacles to find meaning and beauty in life again.
A highlight for me is the way that Alejandro captures the deep and ineffable moments on the medicine. I have always struggled to recollect and communicate what on earth happened to me during an ayahuasca journey. But here in this book is a treasure trove of viscerally-depicted, hauntingly real, and guttural reflections of the ayahuasca experience. Capturing several archetypes of the ayahuasca experience, and also maintaining integrity to Nick’s individual experience, this book is ideal reading for someone interested to know ‘what is this ayahuasca-business all about, what does it feel like ?’
This book may serve as a guide for how to ‘meet the medicine’ and gives a rarely-given honest account of just how difficult it can be to do right.
For me - this book was an utter joy to read from page 1 through to the end. I was able to reminisce on the hilarious moments being a young Aussie male on the South American Gringo Trail.
True blue swears n all this book is a cultural artefact as it captures male strayin culture as it meets South American culture, and in particular medicine culture.
Poor ol’ nick, I feel his pain, his confusion, in this odd world where it often feels hopeless and like no one really gives a fuck so why should we ? ..
And I feel his triumph, as he overcomes the inner obstacles to find meaning and beauty in life again.
A highlight for me is the way that Alejandro captures the deep and ineffable moments on the medicine. I have always struggled to recollect and communicate what on earth happened to me during an ayahuasca journey. But here in this book is a treasure trove of viscerally-depicted, hauntingly real, and guttural reflections of the ayahuasca experience. Capturing several archetypes of the ayahuasca experience, and also maintaining integrity to Nick’s individual experience, this book is ideal reading for someone interested to know ‘what is this ayahuasca-business all about, what does it feel like ?’
This book may serve as a guide for how to ‘meet the medicine’ and gives a rarely-given honest account of just how difficult it can be to do right.
April 18, 2023
What a fantastic journey! Following our protagonist, Nick (a depressed and anxious, 27-year-old Australian who has lost his way) into the Amazon jungle to experiment with plant medicines, one might expect a poetic and mystical journey of deep realisations about the nature of the universe. And whilst this is true, Tuama’s story is much more than that.
It’s a gritty, sweaty, vomitty and real journey of one man’s courage in the pursuit of a closer encounter with the self… with the universe. With all of the fear, self doubt and disappointment that comes along with the snippets of insight.
For me, it was a metaphor for any spiritual journey. When we choose to do the work to face our demons, to lean into our difficulties and continue to show up… That’s when we catch a glimpse of who we are… A glimpse of eternity!
Loved it!
It’s a gritty, sweaty, vomitty and real journey of one man’s courage in the pursuit of a closer encounter with the self… with the universe. With all of the fear, self doubt and disappointment that comes along with the snippets of insight.
For me, it was a metaphor for any spiritual journey. When we choose to do the work to face our demons, to lean into our difficulties and continue to show up… That’s when we catch a glimpse of who we are… A glimpse of eternity!
Loved it!
November 9, 2022
Alejandro Tuama's first-person account of a young man's journey of self-discovery through plant medicines, is highly recommended to anyone with an interest in the subject, regardless of what stage they are at in their own journeys.
The line from this book that stuck with me the most, came when Nick, the story's protagonist, had been through his first round of ceremony and had later caught up with his traveling companions. When discussing his ayahuasca experience, and one of his friends asked "Is it dangerous?", Nick replied (after a pause) that, all things considered, it would probably be more dangerous to live your life without ever having drunk ayahuasca.
The account of Nick's journey is given warts-and-all. Many of those who are interested in ayahuasca, but are yet to experience it, will have heard about the amazing spiritual experiences, incredibly complex and beautiful visions, and extraordinary healings which ayahuasca can bring. But it can also bring disappointment, disillusionment and despair along the way - "it's not working", "nothing is happening", "I haven't gone anywhere!" Herein, I believe, lies the book's greatest strength - it neither glosses over nor plays down the very difficult aspects of an ayahuasca journey, rather, it examines them in fine detail, and provides the impetus for those who may have begun their journey in disappointment, to persist. For the rewards are great.
This is a book that could only have been written from first-hand experience, and it shows in every word. It is perfectly paced, a real page-turner. Adding to that, it is factually accurate and properly researched. I can't recommend this book highly enough, and with Christmas just around the corner, what a great gift idea!
-Nick Palmer
The line from this book that stuck with me the most, came when Nick, the story's protagonist, had been through his first round of ceremony and had later caught up with his traveling companions. When discussing his ayahuasca experience, and one of his friends asked "Is it dangerous?", Nick replied (after a pause) that, all things considered, it would probably be more dangerous to live your life without ever having drunk ayahuasca.
The account of Nick's journey is given warts-and-all. Many of those who are interested in ayahuasca, but are yet to experience it, will have heard about the amazing spiritual experiences, incredibly complex and beautiful visions, and extraordinary healings which ayahuasca can bring. But it can also bring disappointment, disillusionment and despair along the way - "it's not working", "nothing is happening", "I haven't gone anywhere!" Herein, I believe, lies the book's greatest strength - it neither glosses over nor plays down the very difficult aspects of an ayahuasca journey, rather, it examines them in fine detail, and provides the impetus for those who may have begun their journey in disappointment, to persist. For the rewards are great.
This is a book that could only have been written from first-hand experience, and it shows in every word. It is perfectly paced, a real page-turner. Adding to that, it is factually accurate and properly researched. I can't recommend this book highly enough, and with Christmas just around the corner, what a great gift idea!
-Nick Palmer
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews