Review: An indirect look at Shamanic perspective
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 23, 2014
This book is a review of the book Surfacing by Margret Atwood, although this fact is only clearly stated in the title of the book.  This book reads like it was written as a senior  thesis college project. The main character is not named, but she is referred to as “She”, and this makes, Stopping the World, difficult to follow. Toward the end we are told the narrator (of atwoods book) is nameless. This ought to have been stated toward the beginning to eliminate  confusion. Then we are told the nameless narrator is a device to pull readers into the story:“Read as living myth, Margaret Atwood's fine novel becomes the nameless narrator's service to her community, which now includes us, the thoughtful reader.”It is difficult for readers to identify with a nameless narrator, but it is challenging for a writer to dare to do this.In this essay, a layered cake is used as the metaphor for the world and our perception of it. The icing represents our surface only existence. Only Shamans can break free to explore all the inner layers.  In the end we are encouraged to take the plunge into knowledge and awaken humanity to the fullness of existence.This book was a confusing book, (and probably also Atwood’s Surfacing book, which I did not read) which explains/applies the brilliant concepts which are clearly detailed in Joseph Campbell’s book, Hero of a Thousand Faces.  If you want to learn to be the hero in your own life and digest the pure concepts of shamanism, read Joseph Campbell’s book, Hero of a Thousand Faces.