Book Review: enLIGHTened by Jessica Berger Gross
A few weeks back when Jessica Berger Gross' enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer (Skyhorse, 2009) hit Canadian shelves I snapped up one of two copies from my local Indigo faster than you can say Downward Facing Dog. I'll admit I came to this book a little biased. I've been editing Jessica's Mama's Boy column for Literary Mama for the past year, and in that time I've grown very fond of her. No matter how hectic her life, she consistently turned out thought-provoking and often humorous columns about mothering her first child, M.B. (Mama's Boy!)
I knew Jessica was a vegetarian, and that she was seriously into yoga, but I only knew a bit about the circumstances that led to her estrangement from her parents. In this book she goes into more detail, detail that sometimes pained me. I can't imagine not having a relationship with my parents, but had I been in the same environment growing up, I think I might have made the same choice as Jessica and moved on. I couldn't relate to a lot of the things she went through, especially the spaghetti sauce from a can anecdote! I guess I take for granted the garden vegetables and homemade pasta that I was brought up on. And I've never really struggled with my weight either, apart from that one year after giving birth, while simultaneously trying to keep my strength up for marathon nursing and trying to shed that baby weight.
So what's in this book for me, anyway? Although I love my veggies, I also love my mint chocolate chip ice cream. And I have a few yoga dvds that get some play a couple times a week (usually the winding-down routines). Fast? The last time I did one of those was when I had a blood test at eight o'clock in the morning and stopped eating twelve hours before. But the test of any good book (in my opinion) is the ability to get your reader to see herself in your story. And I did with this book -- I saw a woman struggling to find herself, to gain inner peace while still keeping both feet firmly planted on the yoga mat. I recognized someone facing her demons and telling them matter of frankly, "You can't hurt me now."
Along with the personal story, this book includes tasty vegetarian recipes and helpful illustrations by Bobby Clennell of yoga poses to be done in sequence. The emphasis throughout is on physical, spiritual, and emotional health. As the book jacket claims, "Go beyond trendy diets, unsustainable exercise routines, and the quest for the "perfect" figure. ... enLIGHTened will set you on a journey to self-acceptance, peace, and long-term health."
I knew Jessica was a vegetarian, and that she was seriously into yoga, but I only knew a bit about the circumstances that led to her estrangement from her parents. In this book she goes into more detail, detail that sometimes pained me. I can't imagine not having a relationship with my parents, but had I been in the same environment growing up, I think I might have made the same choice as Jessica and moved on. I couldn't relate to a lot of the things she went through, especially the spaghetti sauce from a can anecdote! I guess I take for granted the garden vegetables and homemade pasta that I was brought up on. And I've never really struggled with my weight either, apart from that one year after giving birth, while simultaneously trying to keep my strength up for marathon nursing and trying to shed that baby weight.
So what's in this book for me, anyway? Although I love my veggies, I also love my mint chocolate chip ice cream. And I have a few yoga dvds that get some play a couple times a week (usually the winding-down routines). Fast? The last time I did one of those was when I had a blood test at eight o'clock in the morning and stopped eating twelve hours before. But the test of any good book (in my opinion) is the ability to get your reader to see herself in your story. And I did with this book -- I saw a woman struggling to find herself, to gain inner peace while still keeping both feet firmly planted on the yoga mat. I recognized someone facing her demons and telling them matter of frankly, "You can't hurt me now."
Along with the personal story, this book includes tasty vegetarian recipes and helpful illustrations by Bobby Clennell of yoga poses to be done in sequence. The emphasis throughout is on physical, spiritual, and emotional health. As the book jacket claims, "Go beyond trendy diets, unsustainable exercise routines, and the quest for the "perfect" figure. ... enLIGHTened will set you on a journey to self-acceptance, peace, and long-term health."
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment