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Greetings from Utopia Park
March 2018: Autobiography
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Greetings From Utopia Park by Claire Hoffman -- 3 stars
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Hmmm, how did you come to choose this one to read, Nicole? I haven't heard of it or the author . . .I confess that it strikes me as pretty funny that there was a transcendental meditation mecca in Iowa. I thought all that type of stuff happened on the coasts.
A friend read it and really liked it, so I read it based on her recommendation.
Nicole R wrote: "A friend read it and really liked it, so I read it based on her recommendation."Ahhh, always the best way to learn about new books . . .I know it is bad, but if I don't see a book mentioned here on PBT, it's like its completely off my radar.
I am typically the same way! But, I do have one RL Friend who matches up nearly 100% with my reading tastes. In her defense, this is the first one she has recommended that I didn’t love. I also listened to it on audio, which I think tempered my experience a bit. The narrator wasn’t great.
Nicole R wrote: "I am typically the same way! But, I do have one RL Friend who matches up nearly 100% with my reading tastes. In her defense, this is the first one she has recommended that I didn’t love. I also l..."
That's really nice to have a friend like that! We all have a miss now and again. I have a number of IRL reader friends, but I will say none of them matches remotely near 100%, and the best of the bunch by far is here on PBT with us.
What would we do without PBT?!? I would maybe never read a book I truly loved ever again. 😢
Every now and then even the closest of reading twins can have a split in the gene pool. I guess that’s what makes us different and therefore interesting.
Nicole R wrote: "What would we do without PBT?!? I would maybe never read a book I truly loved ever again. 😢"Ha ha, seriously . . .
3 stars
This is one of the hard books to review because it was just....fine. It was okay. Middle of the road. I read it, it was a pleasant way to spend some time, but that was it.
Claire Hoffman was raised in the Transcendental Meditation mecca in Fairfield, Iowa: Utopia Park. She describes growing up with her mom and brother, her mom a true TM believer who works many jobs to support her kids. Claire is a devote TMer until her high school years when she rebels, big surprise, and then she comes returns as an adult to make peace with her childhood.
I did not know much about TM before reading this book, so it was interesting from that perspective. But, otherwise, Claire seems like a typical rebellious teenager. She describes her youth in detail then skims through her high school years, and it felt unbalanced.
Eh. I don't know what else to say.