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A review by verkisto
Bigfoot and the Bodhisattva by James Morrow
3.0
I go into some of Morrow's works knowing I'm not going to get all of it, but most of this short story (novella?) went over my head. The story is pretty much what you would expect based on the title -- Bigfoot decides to find more meaning in his life by pursuing Buddhism. His friend the Dalai Lama gives him certain tasks to complete to raise his consciousness, but he's still Bigfoot, so that goes about as well as one would expect.
The story has the sense of humor, depth, and wisdom one would expect if you're already familiar with Morrow's work. I just don't have much interest in Buddhism for it to keep my interest, and I found myself glazing over long portions of the story. Maybe that's Morrow's point, that Buddhism won't work for people who don't accept it, but it felt like a much longer work than it was (43 pages) because I kept checking out.
This might be best read by people who have an understanding of Buddhism, as they may better appreciate the disconnect between the meditative practices and a Bigfoot attempting to follow them. Me, I was looking for something closer to Shambling Towards Hiroshima or The Madonna and the Starship, where I better understood the satire because I understood the real world events that carried the satire.
The story has the sense of humor, depth, and wisdom one would expect if you're already familiar with Morrow's work. I just don't have much interest in Buddhism for it to keep my interest, and I found myself glazing over long portions of the story. Maybe that's Morrow's point, that Buddhism won't work for people who don't accept it, but it felt like a much longer work than it was (43 pages) because I kept checking out.
This might be best read by people who have an understanding of Buddhism, as they may better appreciate the disconnect between the meditative practices and a Bigfoot attempting to follow them. Me, I was looking for something closer to Shambling Towards Hiroshima or The Madonna and the Starship, where I better understood the satire because I understood the real world events that carried the satire.