Rebirth: A Fable of Love, Forgiveness, and Following Your Heart
By Kamal Ravikant
Published by Hachette Books, 2017
Print: $26
Ebook: $13.99
After fulfilling his father's last wish for his ashes to be spread over the Ganges River in India, pre-med student Amit realizes that he doesn't want to go home in America. After wandering north for over 2 months, he hears about a 500 mile long hiking pilgrimage in Spain called the Camino de Santiago. On the spur of the moment and lacking any other direction in his life he decides to do a 7 day trek along the route just to get his feet wet and then return home to America to.....well, who knows? He's kinda wondering if being a doctor is the career for him. Honestly, he doesn't know what he's supposed to do anymore. Amit has been so traumatized by the slow and agonizing death of his cancer stricken father that he's lost faith in life because of the suffering the universe inflicts on people. He's also dealing with some of the abuse issues his alcoholic father inflicted on him and his mom back in the day.
As he walks the Camino de Santiago he begins to meet other travelers much wiser than him and learns how to deal with the seeming randomness of life and renew his spiritual purpose. Some of those he meets have suffered at least as much or even more than he has. But they have found ways to move on with their lives.
The author of the novel based his work on his own experience walking the Camino.
What I loved about this book was the sense of community that the pilgrims of the Camino had. It just seems like everyone was trying to help Amit find what he was looking for, even though they might not understand all the details of his searching. I guess it's just part and parcel of meeting people on a pilgrimage. Even though they might not be there for the exact same micro reason, they are all there for the same macro reason, namely of finding enlightenment or learning about themselves or life. I thought it was also cool that the pilgrims usually knew enough to sense when a traveler needed their own space to soak in the trail and prefer to walk portions alone.
Ravikant isn't the first writer to ponder the meanings of life and death but I enjoyed his Zen-like and laid back writing style which reminded me of a leisurely walking pace. But don't get me wrong, this book isn't all about tummy rubbing aphorisms. It also is not afraid to look Death and suffering in the eye, recognize it, and say "I accept Death, but I'm not going to let it ruin Life". If you're a cold hearted cynic, you will hate this book. If you approach it with an open heart, you will love it.
My Grade: B
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