Devotion - by Dani Shapiro (Paperback)

About the Book

In this spiritual detective story, Shapiro explores the varieties of experience she has pursued--from the rituals of her black hat Orthodox Jewish relatives to yoga "shalas" and meditation retreats--and the surprisingly joyful quest she undertook to find meaning in a constantly changing world.

Book Synopsis

"Devotion's biggest triumph is its voice: funny and unpretentious, concrete and earthy--appealing to skeptics and believers alike. This is a gripping, beautiful story." -- Jennifer Egan, author of The Keep

"I was immensely moved by this elegant book." -- Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love

Dani Shapiro, the acclaimed author of the novel Black and White and the bestselling memoir Slow Motion, is back with Devotion: a searching and timeless new memoir that examines the fundamental questions that wake women in the middle of the night, and grapples with the ways faith, prayer, and devotion affect everyday life. Devotion is sure to appeal to all those dealing with the trials and tribulations of what Carl Jung called "the afternoon of life."

From the Back Cover

Settling into the responsibilities and routines of adulthood, Dani Shapiro found herself with more questions than answers. Was this all life was--a hodgepodge of errands, dinner dates, e-mails, meetings, to-do lists? What did it all mean? Having grown up in a deeply religious and traditional family, Shapiro had no personal sense of faith, despite her repeated attempts to create a connection to something greater. Set adrift by loss--her father's early death, the life-threatening illness of her infant son, her troubled relationship with her mother--she recognized the challenge at the heart of her anxiety: What did she believe?

Devotion is a spiritual detective story, a literary excavation to the core of a life. At once poignant, funny, intensely personal, and completely universal, it is the story of a woman whose search for meaning in a constantly changing world ultimately leads her home.

Review Quotes

"Shapiro is a thoughtful observer, and her writing is lovely." - Juliet Wittman, Washington Post
"Brave, compelling, unexpectedly witty. . . . Stunningly intimate journey. . . . Thanks to Shapiro's excruciatingly honest self-examination and crystal clear, lyrical writing, the journey--as secular swami Steve Jobs once famously said--is indeed the reward." - People (4 out of 4 stars)
"At a certain age (heading-into-middle) and level of income (upper middle), Americans are prone to ask themselves, in the tradition of Peggy Lee, "Is That All There Is?" This tendency has spawned a subgenre of Seeker books-like Kathleen Norris's "Cloister Walk." Anne Lamott's "Traveling Mercies" and, of course, Elizabeth Gilbert's "Eat, Pray, Love." With Devotion, Shapiro joins their ranks. . . . In short, lyrical bursts of prose, Shapiro explores various flavors of belief. . . . Shapiro is a gifted chronicler of frayed nerves." - Judith Newman, New York Times Book Review
"This is a beautiful, wry and moving story about one intelligent woman's journey into her own life, to the corners where intelligence doesn't always help." - Amy Bloom, author of Away
"The one book that anyone over, say, 35 needs to read right now." - Jesse Kornbluth, Huffington Post
"[A] lovely mosaic of a memoir. . . . Courageous, authentic, and funny. . . . Devotion is the best kind of memoir--although it's about someone else's life, it makes you shine a flashlight on your own." - Amy Scribner, Bookpage
"In Devotion . . . Shapiro movingly unravels her personal history . . . and her subsequent quest to resolve a spiritual unease and to satisfy her son's questions about God. . . . Shapiro's spiritual inquiry digs at doubts many of us face about our place in the universe, and her struggles with the God question serve as a hopeful reminder that a belief system can begin with an individual manifesto: less a set of rules than a matrix of bits and pieces that form the 'patchwork of our lives.'" - Kari Wethington, Elle
"I was immensely moved by this elegant book, which reminded me all over again that all of us-at some point or another-must buck up our courage and face down the big spiritual questions of life, death, love, loss and surrender. Dani Shapiro probes all those questions gracefully and honestly, avoiding overly simple conclusions, while steadfastly exploring her own complicated relationship to faith and doubt." - Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love
"I was on the verge of tears more than once in the course of Dani Shapiro's impeccably structured spiritual odyssey. But Devotion's biggest triumph is its voice: funny and unpretentious, concrete and earthy-appealing to skeptics and believers alike. This is a gripping, beautiful story." - Jennifer Egan, author of The Keep
"I was immensely moved by this elegant book, which reminded me all over again that all of us-at some point or another-must buck up our courage and face down the big spiritual questions of life, death, love, loss and surrender." - Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love
"Dani Shapiro's novels and nonfiction are always rich in honesty and intelligence, about the psyche and lost hearts and families, about messes and shame and what calls us to transcend." - Anne Lamott, author of Grace (Eventually)
"Dani Shapiro's novels and nonfiction are always rich in honesty and intelligence, about the psyche and lost hearts and families, about messes and shame and what calls us to transcend; and how painfully we find out who we are, and how inadequate and stunning the journey is, how it goes both so slowly and in the blink of an eye--how dark and then what (against all odds) so brilliantly lights the way." - Anne Lamott, author of Grace (Eventually)
"Dani Shapiro takes readers on an intense journey in search of meaning and peace. Her story of hope is eloquently told and unflinchingly honest." - Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle
"This is a book for people who pray, for people who breathe deeply as a form of prayer, for people who have no idea why or even how some people pray. This is a beautiful, wry and moving story about one intelligent woman's journey into her own life, to the corners where intelligence doesn't always help. Devotion is a book for anyone who knows or suspects that they are, to paraphrase Carl Jung, thoroughly unprepared to step into the afternoon of life." - Amy Bloom, author of Away