This is an interesting book, but not one I think that would appeal to the masses. I'd say this is more intended for the soul-searching hippie crowd, because that is who it will resonate with. Happily for the author, I'm one of those people.
The book is divided into two sections, pretty much a "before and after" view of Billie Bartholemew.
In the first half of the book, we meet Billie as a child. Her father was rich, angry, beat the crap out of her mother regularly, and sexually abused Billie starting at the age of 3. Her saving graces at the time were her older sister Callie and her hippie aunt Lillian, though one wonders why neither of them ever tried to take Billie away from her crappy home environment. Billie grows up to become a therapist, trying to help other people. She has all kinds of sexual/relationship issues, of course. Her sister Callie becomes a famous singer and goes on to have a happy life while Billie stays in Manhattan taking care of their jerky mother. This is all told in pretty short vignettes that hop along in time. I'm not sure how I felt about the vignettes- I didn't like that style of hop, skip, and jumping through a tale, but I don't have a better suggestion for how to get across 50 years' worth of pain for Billie (before we move on to the meat of the story) either.
In the second half of the book, one of Billie's clients, Mei-Mei, has a spiritual revelation involving the goddess Quan Yin. And it pretty much cures her of her issues to have this experience. Mei-Mei immediately dedicates herself to Quan Yin, quits therapy because she feels better now than she ever did in 4 years of therapy, and invites Billie to a meet-n-greet with the goddess at her house. Billie is naturally shocked/worried/intrigued about the whole thing and goes... and has her own spiritual experience/awakening, involving a dying homeless woman named Maria that Billie's (unsuccessfully) tried to help over the years. And she learns to throw off her own shackles and fly. For that aspect of the story, it's awesome. If you are into spiritual conversation, this is a good read. I particularly liked the bit about everyone having a goddess nature.
I'll give it three and a half stars overall.
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