3 out of 4 stars
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For many folks, becoming a better person is something one strives for on a regular basis. Be it for religious or spiritual reasons, karma or just to feel better about oneself, self-improvement may even be the true meaning of life. We can find this in many different forms of media - it can be buried beneath the main story as a boy discovers he's a wizard and learns the importance of friendship, bravery and standing up for what's right, or, like Journey to the Celestial City, it can be the entire premise.
Journey to the Celestial City, by Buddhadeb Basu and Lynn Gray, tells the tale of Mind, a poor Brahmin bachelor from Pride City. Mind is sick of the sinful ways of his neighbors in Pride City and finds himself called to go on a 2 year pilgrimage to the Celestial City to find enlightenment and divinity, but his journey certainly isn't easy. On the way he faces mental and physical challenges of all sorts; even Mind's own mind attempts to derail his journey! The tale reminded me very much of parables told to me as a child, and while some of the lessons aren't so clear immediately (like the Celestial City itself), in the end all is made clear.
As I mentioned, this is very blatantly a story of enlightenment and self-improvement, but I mean that in the best of ways. The story moves at a very quick pace from place to place with Mind typically overcoming whatever challenge he faces very quickly, teaching both Mind and the reader a life lesson. Characters are named things that essentially explain what they embody like Hope, Evangelist, Crook and Knowledgeable, but sometimes someone named something good conceals someone sinister or vice versa. The story blends Hindu and Christian thoughts, and although a lot of references lean toward the Hindu side and I majorly lack knowledge there, it still made enough sense as the lessons are universal.
While I wouldn't hesitate to suggest the book to anyone, it has its share of flaws. In a book where so many life lessons should be taken to heart, things that seem misleading are extra rough to read, and at one point the book felt rather sexist; the hardest part for me to read in the entire book was: "Suppose she seduces you. There will be a scandal, and her father will blame us. As usual in any scandal, men are mostly accused, even though the fault lies with the opposite sex." Temptation may be sinful, and there are times a man or woman can be entirely to blame, but to flatly say "as usual" is rather harsh in a book that is otherwise so full of enlightening lessons. Also, because of the ease of reading and quick pace of the book, none of the characters have any real depth to them. This is made most clear in the end, when Mind reflects on his journey - I suddenly realized that, while Mind did learn a lot, none of it was revealed in character growth because he didn't really have much character to begin with. This is something that is typical of parables, however, so it's easily forgiven.
Journey to the Celestial City successfully accomplishes the goal it set out to achieve - it left me wanting to be a better person, reflecting on past actions and feeling called to be more kind and gracious in the future. Mind's adventure will stick with me for a while, and his lessons even longer, which makes it easy to give it 3 out of 4 stars. I'd absolutely suggest anyone give the book a read - the bits of violence are not gory and there's no sex to speak of to make it unfitting for teenagers, and its easy-reading, quick-moving pace seems to lend itself well to reading aloud to kids. The fact that the book had a terrific ending certainly doesn't hurt!
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Journey to the Celestial City
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