Holy Smoke

by Anna Campion, Jane Campion

This is the story of a beautiful young woman, Ruth, who falls under the spell of an Indian guru. Desperate to rescue her, her family tricks her into returning to Australia, where she is forced to submit to deprogramming. A tough battle of wills ensues.

Genres: Fiction, Audiobook, Religion, Australia, Own, Contemporary

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Bachyboy · Rating 2 out of 5]

How is it possible for two people to write a novel together! Can't say I enjoyed this - maybe the film is better, The blurb describes it as gripping and erotic but Ruth's deprogramming from an Indian cult was neither. What got me was how fast the cult specialist crumbled into lust.

[Panthère Rousse · Rating 3 out of 5]

La mère d'une jeune fille australienne sur le point d'épouser un gourou en Inde va la chercher là-bas et la ramène à la maison en lui faisant croire que son père est sur son lit de mort. À l'arrivée, ce n'est pas un père malade qui l'attend, mais un «déprogrammeur» qui a assuré à la famille qu'il suffirait de quelques jours pour la ramener à la réalité. Il s'enferme avec elle dans une maison isolée et la lutte de pouvoir commence... Jane Campion en a fait un film (avec Kate Winslet et Harvey Keitel) que j'avais bien aimé, mais j'ai préféré le livre.

[Herbert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Het boek valt behoorlijk tegen deprogrameren wat eigenlijk een liefdes verhaal wordt en eigenlijk als platvloerse sex wordt neergeschreven. Voor mij duidelijk een tegenvaller.

[joão miguel · Rating 2 out of 5]

it's not awful, but considering this is one of my favourite films, its novelisation didn't really work for me…

[Satanakoga · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Elspeth Rushbrook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again, screen and novel can't be separated. And being written concurrently by the same people - it's both Anna and Jane (some versions on here only have 1 sister) - makes this quite rare and interesting.

Overall, I think the film is more successful. I've been watching it probably annually since it came out, but only recently purchased the novel, more as "I'd better before it disappears" and a way of extending the film viewing by evoking its screen sister.

The novel begins with faxes. It's written in present tense. Its syntax is odd, and yet they put a ' by 'round which doesn't go with the modern style that prefers commas to any other form of punctuation. It feels it's aiming to be a trendy creative writing school product.

There's some deep ideas and emotions - it was the faith aspect that drew me. I disagree with some reviews here that say religion disempowers and robs you. It also empowers and enriches. I don't think this story says that religion is dangerous or bad - I can think of quotes to support it.

Not so much a battle of the sexes - that's a crude way of explaining it. Sexual yes; sexy - not sure. Not on the page so much as in the film.

The film is funny, the book is not. The film is quirky and its soundtrack memorably exotic, ecstatic, and when Neil Diamond's in it, magisterial. The book has no prose equivalent or compensation for that. And yet it still draws me to stay in its world...

I've still some questions, after all those reads and watches. Some are about the end and what happens to PJ - which on one level I'm very satisfied by; some are why the family chose such a potentially abusive and understandably illegal method of rescuing their daughter.

I felt more anger at the family and the deprogrammer in my most recent read, and more sympathy with why Ruth is often hard and defensive - but wouldn't you be?

I'd love to discuss this with other readers.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely interesting

The plot is simple actually. There's this chick (Ruth), who wondered around India for a long time and apparently has been 'brainwashed' by some Indian Guru guy, and her family wants her back. So they kidnap her, and hire some American psychologist guy (This whole book takes places in Australia) to reprogram her. Ruth is extremely ruthless and tough, not an easy cookie to break. So the whole reprogramming thing is tough, but so is the American guy (PJ). In the end he is successful, but at a price, Ruth now has complete control over him. She has brainwashed him into loving her and he is completely at her mercy.


My favorite quote from the book

"I made him love me, that was my worst; my worst was that I didn't love him."

At frist I thought it was just some trashy sex novel. However while reading the book, I found myself questioning certain concepts such as: Brainwashing, love, caring, violence, sex, whores, and how these things interacted. Is Ruth heartless? Did PJ deserve to get brainwashed back? Are we all just brainwashed anyway? It's amazing that Ruth was able make the guy love her, I've seen people do that, very sociopathic. It wasn't your typical novel in anymeans.

Also it should be noted that the novel was written very differently than most books I read. There were fewer descriptions, it's mostly dialogue, and fast action moments. The reader directly hears Ruth and PJ's innder diologues and consciouness. There's something very real and acuarate at their inner diologues, remindes me of how people really think, not how novels are written.

[Leanne Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I started this book, I was confused about where it was going. then, when the story actually began to take shape, I became fascinated. There are basically two strands of narrative in the novel—one being the story of a young girl undergoing a debriefing process after running off to a very questionable Indian ashram and the other being about the developing sexual relationship between the girl and her exit counsellor. Both are very entertaining but for totally different reasons.

I particularly enjoyed and appreciated the in-depth treatment of the debriefing process. Religion and how it can rob a person of his or her power is of special interest to me. In this case, the girl has completely surrendered to her guru and won't hear anything negative said about him, which makes her defensive towards her family and her counsellor, not to mention internally conflicted because she is denying so many other aspects of her life. The process of debriefing is derailed by the tension that arises in the counsellor/client relationship, a turn of events I found somewhat disappointing, simply because the trajectory of the intervention had so much potential for added exploration.

Even so, the sexual dynamic in the book keeps the reader hooked and is pertinent in its own right. Without giving too much of the story away, let me say I found the conclusion very satisfactory in terms of what the exit counsellor was trying to achieve, even if it didn't go as planned.

Recommended for readers who enjoy books with a psychological or spiritual angle.

[Mairi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The protagonist is in her early twenties and has been traveling in India, where she visited an ashram, met a guru, and experienced a spiritual awakening. Her (dysfunctional) family don't understand why she's happy and think she's gone mental, and coerce her back into coming home to Australia. They've hired a deprogrammer, whom they are paying to deprogram Ruth out of her belief in eastern spirituality and her adoration for her guru.

Things kind of fall apart - PJ's partner can't make it, so it's just him and Ruth alone in the desert, and they play semi-interesting psychological games with one another.

I first read this when I was 13, and at the time it was shocking to me - the sex! the twisted complicated fractured relationship between Ruth and P.J.! Now that I'm 27, it's no longer shocking, but it's still an interesting read.

[Ape · Rating 4 out of 5]

2008 bookcrossing review:

Hmmm... strange little book indeed. I don´t remember the film so well, so I can´t remember how closely this follows the ending - which is actually a relevant thing to say in this case as the sisters who wrote the book did write the screenplay as well.

It´s an odd Australian drama about a young woman, Ruth who gets sucked into this cult in India. Her family manage to get her back to Australia, where this American, PJ Waters comes over to deprogramme her in his 3 day deprogramming scheme. Except something goes wrong somewhere because he ends up being very obsessed about her. And the book gets really wierd. Quite a bit of sex from then on. Feel a bit like I missed the point with this one, if there was a point.

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

disappointed. What could have been an incredible, subtle, mind-twisting book stayed absolutely on the surface of the personalities. the language was pedestrian, there was nothing about the characters that wasn't about the major action, so they never really became complex human beings. I am quite interested in cults and the kind of shifts people have to make internally to accomodate themselves to them--but the book stopped far short. It began to go there, but then it felt it had done enough and moved on. Like someone showing you a house by flashlight. Wait! Wait! I felt these authors were in too much of a hurry to 'tell the story,' rather than unpacking what they had begun to create. haven't seen the movie, but feel that good actors might bring a lot to this thing, flesh it out.

[Melanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this really quickly with a sense of anticipation that in the end was not satisfied. What could have been an insightful study on desire, sexual perversion & politics and the self's need for validation & meaning ended up more of a pointless & long winded love tiff.

I hope there was more Anna & less Jane in this, as usually the latter Campion sister has an incredible knack for creating intimacy between character & reader.

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not really enjoy this book although the premise is interesting and the book had it's entertaining parts. I found myself quite frustrated and irritated. Was compelled to finish it though. Am glad it is over...

Some small slices of thought regarding cults, which could have been interesting if more developed and not so rushed...

[Aischa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Because I loved the film. Not sure how this will be given some of the reviews. It will be nice to read this, and then watch the film again, which I haven't seen since conversion. I wonder if it will come off different.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this while I was searching the Overdrive collection from my local library. I didn't find this to be as funny as other works by Pryor but it's still good to get to hear his work. Glad this is available in a digital format.

[Katie Hazard · Rating 2 out of 5]

interesting plot, horrible writing style

[Kristie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is extremely strange and just not worth it.

[Ank Harms · Rating 1 out of 5]

Niets aan! Blijft een oppervlakkig verhaaltje, raakte me nergens.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read partly for research. Quite a scatty narrative voice but clear distinction between the two characters. Atmospheric, graphic in parts.

[Lola Montgomery Marley]

My first professional audition was for a role in the movie.
There are some close-to-home parallels in the subject matter and I found the novel to be quite disturbing.

[Patrick · Rating 1 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook. I remember watching the film so years ago and quite enjoyed it.
To me, this story started out well. I have a male friend that became a Rajneesh sannyasin, so I could identity with the story. In my friend’s case, he was the son of wealthy parents. They were increasingly worried about his situation in India and I spoke with a bloke, who was a close school friend. He was asked by the parents to write letters to him about home etc and promised a valuable painting for his troubles. He return to home country but was totally ignorant of the knowledge I was party too. So in light of this, I was really getting into the story when the sexual thing started and in my opinion totally derailed what was a really interesting story. That such things can happen, we all know but in this case, it ruined the story for me. They are almost two different stories within one.

I felt the first part of the story was quite confronting about the nature of belief. Ruth’s experience was contrasted with her dysfunctional family and the book seemed to explore just what is the normal experience of life. This was done in a very powerful way.
I agree with one of the other reviewers that the writers seemed to go right off track.
What a shame.

[Dasha Clarke · Rating 1 out of 5]

Probably the worst book I ever read. Teenager on a rebellion thinking she understood this life after spending 2 months with Indian guru (all her wisdom presented in the book is basically a Wiki article on Buddhism) and a "professor" who charged $10K for 3 days of work for bringing her back to the family.
The only visible merit of this is that it reads very quickly. If there were more pages in it, it would be suitable only as a weapon during the night robbery and that is because I am against burning books. You will also find a boring murder and dismemberment of logic and common sense, empty dialoges, lousy written, completely fictitious bed scene (because the main male character, like a real professional, is not familiar with the concept of professional ethics and can not hold a willy in his pants). Oh yeah and the the ending, which not only looks like a spit-out of cotton candy floss, is also not very clear where it got out of, because there are no prerequisites.

[Sally · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ridiculous premise, this book did not engage me at all.

[Leon Baxter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember listening to Richard Pryor comedy albums/ casette tapes when I was a teen. I loved his humor. When I selected this audiobook, I assumed it was a book, but in reality it was stand-up from the 70's, stuff I had heard in the 80's. I did laugh at the interview bit, but the rest of it didn't resonate with me as it had in my teens. I think comedy has changed a lot during the decades. I don't know how much he had written versus him just talking and trying to be funny on the spot. Was he doing drugs during these tapings?

The audience seemed to laugh out of expectation. They already knew Richard Pryor was funny. You know how that is. You have a friend who always makes you bust up, or you see a funny actor in person, and even the slightest attempt at humor makes you laugh, even if it's not really funny. I think Pryor had that going for him, especially the first half of this recording.

I know some will be angry with my assessment, but it wasn't that great. Years have changed comedy expectations, and he seemed to get a pass because he was notorious already for his comedy.

[Carlos Reghis · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can you say about a legend? I know Richard Pryer.

[Andy Mckinney · Rating 2 out of 5]

Listened to the audiobook on the LibrariesNI Overdrive app. Richard Pryor was very funny but I could take this or leave it.

[Brian · Rating 1 out of 5]

Video much needed. Hard to imagine without it

[Gina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not worth the read