The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 4 March 1998
by Lawrence Shainberg
Throughout Shainberg's life, he has followed a difficult path of spiritual exploration. Early on, this search settled on the practices of Zen Buddhism, and the reader follows his cycles of success and failure. Shainberg comes from a relatively wealthy Memphis family, so often what he describes is materially out of reach for a lot of people, particularly the time and money he can afford in his search (How many of us can afford a long sojourn in a Zen monastery away from family and work?). Nevertheless, he does an outstanding job in describing the frustration and confusion that can plague a lifetime search for meaning. The opening chapters of the book describe the pressure of a teenager in the shadow of a father on his own spiritual quest. This reader grew somewhat impatient with Shainberg's wanderings at times, but by its conclusion, was left with a powerful sense of time and the bittersweet sense of a search only partially achieved.