I came across this book when I was going through a really bad time in my life and I just want to talk about it like a normal person, not like some fancy critic lol.
So basically the story is about this lawyer named Julian who has a heart attack in the middle of a courtroom (I think it was a courtroom, something like that) and after that he just disappears. Like sells everything, even his Ferrari, and goes off to India to find himself. Later he comes back and tells his friend John everything he learned from these monks in the Himalayas. That's basically it. Simple story but it's not really about the story, it's about the lessons.
I picked this book up when I was in a really low place. I don't even remember who told me to read it, might have been my cousin or someone at work, honestly I forget now. I wasn't in the mood to read anything at all but I just started it one night because I couldn't sleep anyway. And I don't know, something about this tired sad lawyer guy just made sense to me. I wasn't rich or successful like him or anything but I understood that empty feeling he had. Like everything looks okay from outside but inside you feel like nothing.
The writing isn't like super amazing or anything, I'm not gonna lie... Sometimes it feels a bit cheesy honestly, and the friend character John doesn't really do much except sit there and listen... But I think that's kind of okay because the book isn't trying to win some literature prize, it's just trying to tell you stuff you need to hear in a way that sticks in your head and there's this whole thing with a garden and a rose that's supposed to be your mind, and a lighthouse, and even a sumo wrestler eating raspberries lol, I know it sounds weird but somehow I still remember all these things even after finishing the book, so I guess it worked the way it was supposed to.
There was this one part that really got me, where it talks about how people ruin their health trying to get money and then spend all that money trying to get their health back later. I literally just sat there after reading that line, didn't move for like a few minutes. Because that's exactly what I was doing to myself, except not really with money, more like with trying to prove myself to everyone all the time and never resting.... I actually cried a bit reading that part which doesn't happen to me a lot with books.
Honestly what this book did for me was give me permission to just slow down... I know that sounds small but for me it wasn't small at all because i always thought resting was something lazy people do, like you have to earn it first but this book kind of showed me another way of thinking, like taking care of yourself isn't lazy, it's actually necessary.
I'm not saying this book fixed my whole life or whatever, that would be a lie. I still had bad days after I read it, lots of them actually. But it kind of planted a little seed in me that things could be different if I actually made some changes, even small boring changes like sleeping properly or not saying yes to everything.
I wrote down a few lines from the book in my notes app and I still look at them sometimes even now.
I wouldn't really call this book "great writing" like award winning stuff, but for me personally, it came at the right time and that's all that really matters I think. Sometimes you don't need the smartest book, you just need the right book at the right moment, and for me this was that book.
Rating: 75/100
Originally posted through scrobble.life/books.
