Publisher: Harper
Date of publication: June 2016
When Claire Hoffman’s alcoholic father abandons his family,
his struggling wife, Liz, tells five-year-old Claire and her seven-year-old
brother, Stacey, that they are going to heaven—Iowa—to live in Maharishi’s national
headquarters for Heaven on Earth. For Claire’s mother, Transcendental
Meditation—Maharishi’s method of meditation and his approach to living the
fullest possible life—promises world peace and Enlightenment just as their
family is falling apart.
At first this secluded utopia offers warmth and support, and
makes these outsiders feel calm, secure, and connected to the world. At the
Maharishi School, Claire learns Maharishi’s philosophy for living and meditates
with her class. With the promise of peace and Enlightenment constantly on the
horizon, every day is infused with magic and meaning. But as Claire and Stacey
mature, their adolescent skepticism kicks in, drawing them away from the
community and into delinquency and drugs. To save herself, Claire moves to
California to live with her father, breaking from Maharishi completely. After
she works for a decade in journalism and academia, the challenges of adulthood
propel her back to Iowa, where she reexamines her spiritual upbringing and
tries to reconnect with the magic of her childhood.
Greetings from Utopia Park takes us deep into a
complex, unusual world, illuminating its joys and comforts as well as its
disturbing problems. While there is no utopia on earth, Hoffman finds, there
are noble goals worth striving for: believing in belief itself, finding inner
peace, and reaching a firm understanding that there is a larger fabric of the
universe to which we all belong.
Greetings from Utopia Park is a memoir about the author's time growing up in the Transcendental Meditation Movement headed by Maharishi. The largest headquarters in the US is centered in Iowa. Her story is one of poverty, trying to fit in and figuring out how meditation can help her in her life.
I have read other memoirs about growing up in cults/religious organizations and I really enjoyed them. While this one was well written, I had a hard time connecting with it. I think I was expecting more of something along the lines of Troublemaker by Leah Remini. I'm not sure after finishing the book that I really got a sense of the organization as a whole. The author hints several times at possible scandals but never really provides a lot of background on them. I also got the sense, that while she questioned a lot of the teachings and rituals put forth by Marharishi, she was reluctant to really commit to saying anything bad about it.
I am not a meditator, but I have friends who do and they fully believe that it helps calm them and focus them throughout the day. I was glad to see that while the author doesn't live in "Utopia" anymore, she does still use mediation. The ending was a bit fast. I would have liked to see her life with her father in California and college to see how it contrasted with life in Iowa. But sadly, that is kind of glossed over.
I think that people who like memoirs will find this one interesting. While it isn't the best memoir I have read, I still felt compelled to read the whole book.
I have read other memoirs about growing up in cults/religious organizations and I really enjoyed them. While this one was well written, I had a hard time connecting with it. I think I was expecting more of something along the lines of Troublemaker by Leah Remini. I'm not sure after finishing the book that I really got a sense of the organization as a whole. The author hints several times at possible scandals but never really provides a lot of background on them. I also got the sense, that while she questioned a lot of the teachings and rituals put forth by Marharishi, she was reluctant to really commit to saying anything bad about it.
I am not a meditator, but I have friends who do and they fully believe that it helps calm them and focus them throughout the day. I was glad to see that while the author doesn't live in "Utopia" anymore, she does still use mediation. The ending was a bit fast. I would have liked to see her life with her father in California and college to see how it contrasted with life in Iowa. But sadly, that is kind of glossed over.
I think that people who like memoirs will find this one interesting. While it isn't the best memoir I have read, I still felt compelled to read the whole book.
About Claire Hoffman
Claire Hoffman writes for national magazines and holds a
Master’s degree in Religion from the University of Chicago, and a Master’s
degree in Journalism from Columbia University. She was a staff reporter for the
Los Angeles Times and has reported for the New York Times. She serves on the
board of her family foundation, the Goldhirsh Foundation, as well as ProPublica
and the Columbia Journalism School. She lives in Los Angeles, California.
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I've tried meditation a few times and found it very helpful. I can definitely see the appeal.
ReplyDeleteThanks for being a part of the tour!