Aama in America: A Pilgrimage of the Heart

click here for more details, find new or used items	Broughton Coburn Our price £6.51 (£7.23) New from £3.56 Used from £0.49 Pages: 320 (Paperback) ISBN: 0385474180 Pub: Anchor Books Pub date: 1996-04-01 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 432977

Reader Reviews:

Coburn is an organ grinder and his book... (0/0 people found this helpful)

Mr. Coburn is an organ grinder and his book is a parade of his toy, Aama, a diminutive woman from a primitive culture who tours with the author and his other woman on a string, his girlfriend, Didi, throughout selected sites in our "advanced civilization" (his terms), America.

This travel book had so much potential to become a seering analysis of the destructive forces of our culture that has us caterwauling out of control, but Mr. Coburn seems to be too enraptured with himself and the esteem that he seems to gather while traveling with an entourage of two very different women.

Coburn introduces Aama to air travel, to Disneyland, to the forests and farmlands of America. The octagenarian woman from Nepal responds to these American landmarks with childlike humor and dismay and always with cute simplicity. When Aama speaks with criticism about Americans, Mr. Coburn, et. al., chuckle and chortle and do not take the primitive woman seriously--of course, until it is too late and she is no longer here.

Further, Mr. Coburn relates a sub-story in his book, relating how difficult it is for him to commit to any lasting relationship to his girlfriend and travel partner, Didi. He keeps her at bay--no, worse, he abandons her for a month-long fling in Seattle, only to wind up desolate and destitute and remorseful. This book seems to be a record of his see-saw emotions: I want to have a commited relationship with her v. I think that there is someone else that just might be better for me. It is so tasteless that in his postscript to the book, he relates his "score!" by stating that he finally had a child with his girlfriend....but nothing else.

Sigh. I was hoping that this book might be a probing analysis of just how bankrupt we have become in these technologically advanced times. But the author seemed more concerned about what the elder visionary meant to his own status--How typically American!

Take a break from the fast lane! (0/0 people found this helpful)

It's the kind of book you think about weeks after having read it. It is inspiring and makes you stop to realize that there is so much more to life than the hustle of trying to keep afloat. It is funny and at times sad. I truely enjoyed it!

Explore your value system by learning about Aama's (0/0 people found this helpful)

This book is a must read for anyone who feels there must be another way of looking at life besides malls and television. The author grapples with his own value system as his Aama experiences and comments on parts of life in America that he had taken for granted. Aama is uncensored and without pretensions as she relates her perceptions of places and customs across 25 states. I dare you not to love this book!

A wonderfull story only live can tell (0/0 people found this helpful)

I was so amazed about how many things we are so used to and don't even think about it anymore. It is a very eye opening book but also very funny and never boring because it is a real story. I will always read it again.

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