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fuelscience's review
4.0
A well written saga of a modernist, overachieving father trying comes to grips with his very different postmodern children and his ex-wife, all of whom he's unintentionally driven away.
melissadeemcdaniel's review
4.0
Noted economist, Professor Chandra, Charles, Chandrasekhar, Dad.
Chandra has spent his whole life single-mindedly pursuing success, and it isn’t until he is nearly 70 years old that he is forced to confront the question of what exactly that means. Divorced from his wife, unsuccessful in his quest for a Noble Prize, estranged from his children, and beginning to experience the health problems, he comes face to face with himself in new and uncomfortable ways.
Funny and at the same time poignant, Chandra’s path to enlightenment is heart-felt and a great deal of fun.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Chandra has spent his whole life single-mindedly pursuing success, and it isn’t until he is nearly 70 years old that he is forced to confront the question of what exactly that means. Divorced from his wife, unsuccessful in his quest for a Noble Prize, estranged from his children, and beginning to experience the health problems, he comes face to face with himself in new and uncomfortable ways.
Funny and at the same time poignant, Chandra’s path to enlightenment is heart-felt and a great deal of fun.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
lmdo's review
3.0
This isn't what I expected (I was expecting something lighter), but still really enjoyable but at times very disjointed and it never really reached any sort of ending. A lot of things in the book just seem to happen and I would have to stop and wonder if I missed a chapter. Was interesting to read about life at Esalen as well.
stephend81d5's review
3.0
a middle life novel of Chandra who re discovers his life and like the essence of the plot and the writing and the good feel faction
susiedoom's review
5.0
For years, Professor Chandra has come incredibly close to winning a Nobel prize in economics. And as he focused on the prize, he's let his wife, his children, and his health slip away from him. After being snubbed again, an accident followed by a heart attack lead Chandra to reassess his priorities and, under orders from his doctor, follow his bliss.
This book gave me all of the feel-good vibes. Chandra is a bit infuriating at times, but his earnest attempt to fix his life is inspiring and uplifting. The twists and turns of his journey are full of surprises, and I appreciate the simplicity of the storytelling. Sometimes you read a book that makes you want to be a better person; this is one of those stories, and Professor Chandra's journey to find his bliss might lead you to take one of your own.
This book gave me all of the feel-good vibes. Chandra is a bit infuriating at times, but his earnest attempt to fix his life is inspiring and uplifting. The twists and turns of his journey are full of surprises, and I appreciate the simplicity of the storytelling. Sometimes you read a book that makes you want to be a better person; this is one of those stories, and Professor Chandra's journey to find his bliss might lead you to take one of your own.
paulasnotsosecretdiary's review
4.0
Professor Chandra has reached a critical juncture in his life: professionally unfilled, asked to take a leave of absence due to his behavior toward his students, and estranged from his children, he is hit by a bicycle. During his forced sabbatical, he goes to a spiritual retreat, and begins the difficult process of facing some hard truths about himself, his motivations, and how any why his children have become so distant. At times funny, this is poignant portrait of how an ambitious man learns humility and begins to try to understand himself and his children. Well written and well paced, this book will appeal to readers who enjoyed A Man Called Ove and Major Pettigrew's Last Stand.
kjcharles's review
I enjoyed this massively. Chandra is a Cambridge economics professor with a failed marriage and estranged or troubled adult kids, who has failed to win the Nobel prize again and is just waking up to the realisation that he might have made a mess of his life.
This is not, let me say, a book about a middle aged academic discovering himself with the aid of a sexy manic pixie much younger woman. Nobody needs that book. Chandra is 70 and his main issue is the rising awareness that he hasn't actually done well by his wife and kids, and perhaps might not have been completely right about everything all along. The book is basically him opening up to understanding himself, trying to do a bit better and break out of toxic patterns, and understanding that he isn't the centre of the world and his changed feelings don't necessarily matter to other people.
Which sounds a bit tiresome but isn't, because Chandra is a fantastic character--centre-right, tendency to be opinionated battling with a general decency, spectacularly grumpy attitude to students that's hilarious till you see how he turned it on his kids, and a very funny narration.
He "follows his bliss" in large part by going to a Californian hippy bullshit retreat (for complicated but hilarious reasons). This is treated as both funny and serious--pampered self-indulgent Americans talking about their feelings is never not mockable, but the book also identifies real pain and emptiness, and Chandra's back and forth with the experience is fascinating because it does give him something he needs.
It's not a plot driven story, it's very much about this fractured, unhappy family who've hurt each other finding ways to get past that, which is quite enough. I cared intensely about them doing that, and basically went through this like a buzz saw.
Perfect summer reading--funny, sharp, kind hearted. I laughed out loud several times and had a little cry at the end. Can't ask for much more.
This is not, let me say, a book about a middle aged academic discovering himself with the aid of a sexy manic pixie much younger woman. Nobody needs that book. Chandra is 70 and his main issue is the rising awareness that he hasn't actually done well by his wife and kids, and perhaps might not have been completely right about everything all along. The book is basically him opening up to understanding himself, trying to do a bit better and break out of toxic patterns, and understanding that he isn't the centre of the world and his changed feelings don't necessarily matter to other people.
Which sounds a bit tiresome but isn't, because Chandra is a fantastic character--centre-right, tendency to be opinionated battling with a general decency, spectacularly grumpy attitude to students that's hilarious till you see how he turned it on his kids, and a very funny narration.
He "follows his bliss" in large part by going to a Californian hippy bullshit retreat (for complicated but hilarious reasons). This is treated as both funny and serious--pampered self-indulgent Americans talking about their feelings is never not mockable, but the book also identifies real pain and emptiness, and Chandra's back and forth with the experience is fascinating because it does give him something he needs.
It's not a plot driven story, it's very much about this fractured, unhappy family who've hurt each other finding ways to get past that, which is quite enough. I cared intensely about them doing that, and basically went through this like a buzz saw.
Perfect summer reading--funny, sharp, kind hearted. I laughed out loud several times and had a little cry at the end. Can't ask for much more.
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