Writing: 5 Plot: 4.5 Characters: 4.5

69-year old leading Cambridge economist Professor Chandra is a shoe-in for the Nobel prize in Economics — except that he doesn’t get it. Divorced, distant from his three children, and frustrated with the new tenor of academic life, this “non event” coupled with a silent heart attack sends him off on an unintended, Siddhartha-like quest for personal enlightenment (naturally starting with a sabbatical at UC Bella Vista in Southern California).

His journey takes him to unlikely places — both physical and emotional. He is tricked into attending a weekend workshop at Esalen; he visits his ex-wife and new, annoying husband in Boulder in order to see his troubled daughter Jasmine; he searches for a way to reach his middle daughter Radha — an angry Marxist who hasn’t spoken to her conservative father in over two years; and visits his son Sunil’s highly successful Hong Kong-based “School for Mindful Business” (based on principles completely antithetical to his own). He learns that he is human and not infallible and finds himself more OK with that than he would have expected.

Excellent and insightful writing — wry and witty with deliciously pithy and often hysterical articulations of his evolving viewpoints. Lots of interesting commentary about psychology, economics, spirituality, achievement and the personal search for meaning and happiness. I appreciate that while he learns more about himself, his priorities, and his relationships, he does not relinquish his intellectual interests or accomplishments.

Some great lines:

Brief but scathing summary of the identity politics Radha adheres to:
“‘West’ … ‘bourgeois’ … ‘capitalist’ … these words would fly from her lips like tiny swastikas, her knuckles turning white, her jaw clenched, her eyes hard as Siberian pickaxes as she sentenced most of the world to the gulag for their crimes against ideology.”

“An Indian Miss Havisham with an Emeritus Professorship and a takeaway menu.”

“… but he couldn’t help believing meditation was best suited to those with less mind to be mindful of: sociologists, for example, or geologists”

“Humans were like those snowflakes against the window, buffeted by winds no one understood.”

“Chandra accepted the phone as if he’d been handed a small but quite genuine lump of plutonium.”

“They seem to come pre-offended, forsaking any analytical content in favor of emotion and outrage.”

“But the undergraduates were even worse than in Cambridge: arrogant, unhygenic, and brazen, convinced that lazy platitudes and fallacious arguments would earn them nothing but praise if delivered with sufficient conviction.”

“King’s was Chandra’s least favorite college. It was the intellectual equivalent of a Disney princess, fluttering its eyelashes at tourists who didn’t know any better.”

“It was what Chandra loathed most about liberals — their shameless self-righteousness, as if the species’ failings were always someone else’s fault, while anything they did, murder and arson included, were heroic acts in the service of liberty and justice.”

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for this arc.

I usually read mysteries / thrillers / action adventure stories..... usually much faster paced books. But I found this to be a very nice slow read. First though, I must comment that the reader have at least fifty years under their belt so they can properly enjoy it. This is an adventure story of sorts. Professor Chandra has reached the acme of his professional life and has to reconcile with himself that he may never attain all of his earlier professional dreams and aspirations (the Nobel Prize). This book is the story of his reassessment of his life, his world, his place in that world, his family and where he fits into all of it. Fortunately, he has opened his mind and his story forward is very engaging.

Professor Chandra has been passed over, once again, for the Nobel prize in economics. His children don't treat him as he would wish. His health deteriorates and he needs to learn to relax and take life easier. This is an enjoyable tale of how he learns to take life as it comes and to get along with his family and others.

This is an interesting take on generational differences, aging parents, unconventional lives and the opportunity to assess one's values both within and without our families and work. This cranky professor did indeed change his views as he followed his bliss.

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would! It starts off a little slowly but then we realize we need the build-up to see Professor Chandra's take on his life and his family which has slowly crumbled a little. His wife has left him for another man, his children have taken different paths in life, and we see his academic life shattered when he doesn't win the prize he hoped for. He's incredibly intelligent, arrogant, and "0ld-school," and yet there's a vulnerability we see from the beginning that we know he must come to recognize if he's to become a happier man. As a parent, it's both heartbreaking and heartwarming to see that he attempts to reconcile his life as an aging professor with the fact that his children are adults and don't always buy into the concepts that he has ingrained in their lives. Generational differences are always hard to accept. As an aging parent myself, I have always believed that you can never take credit for your kids' successes or take blame for their failures. We can only instill in them the belief that we are all only human and we should strive to be the best we can be--and accept others as they are. So hug your "children" and read this book! It's inspiring!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for a copy of book. It deals with insight and enlightenment which can change long held beliefs and relationships for the better. It was not the light hearted, amusing book I was expecting. 3.5 stars

The story gives us insight into our self image may be a drawback into seeing our true selves and how much more we could be.

Professor Chandra’s work has been built around his life as one of the world’s foremost experts in economics. He is egotistical, argumentative and a workaholic. He expects each year to win the Nobel Prize which he feels at age 69 would validate his life and profession. His wife has left him for another man and moved from England to California and he is estranged from his three children.

After being upset the Nobel Prize for Economics has again been awarded to others,he pretends he doesn’t care. Following an accident he is in hospital where the doctor tells him he needs to take it easy and ‘follow his bliss.’

Chandra decides to go to California and work as a visiting economics lecturer. He tries to reconnect with his ex-wife,Jean,and their troubled teenaged daughter. Another daughter is traveling and will have no contact with Chandra or let him know where she is. His son is in Hong Kong running a very successful business based on the concept that positive thinking will bring financial rewards. After an altercation with Jean’s second husband he is manipulated to spend time at a New Age self help retreat. He begins to gain a more positive attitude towards himself and change his attitude to how he relates to others.

He feels that his own father’s relentless pushing him to succeed has affected his life and work. He believes he has caused his own children to try to keep up with him and as a result they have rebelled against his economic beliefs and lifestyle.

He visits his son in Hong Kong, and finally the entire family reconnects at an isolated meditation retreat in the mountains for Christmas. It was pleasing to see the changes in Chandra and how his family now understood his past attitudes and became more accepting of him. The family had also transformed and relationships were better. Chandra could now reassess his life and establish a better future for himself after returning to his home in England.

I would have liked more humor between all the economic discussions and arguments and all the self help classes and meditation,This was a well written book which might cause the reader to reflect on their own attitudes towards themselves, relationships with others and their careers.