Rating: 
Summary: I hated this book!
Review: I have long been a fan of Starhawk and although I wasn't crazy about the Fifth Sacred Thing (after all, it's not o.k. for the "good guys" to be violent, but o.k. to manipulate others to be violent on their behalf?) I really disliked this book. I think Starhawk is getting carried away with her own sense of self-importance and I was especially offended by the effete sense that the truly spiritual can easily relate to the moutntains but not the desert. Ask yourself, how much damage did the protestors do to the Earth in the context of their protest against damaging the earth
Rating: 
Summary: A bit disappointing
Review: I liked this book - even better than 5th Sacred Thing. It's really great, and it subtly uploaded all kinds of valuable things into my brain. Good stuff. A little soap-operaish at points, but it's most for the sake of character development. I might recommend reading this before 5th Sacred Thing. It's good! Taught me alot.
Rating: 
Summary: I liked it.
Review: I liked this book - even better than 5th Sacred Thing. It's really great, and it subtly uploaded all kinds of valuable things into my brain. Good stuff. A little soap-operaish at points, but it's most for the sake of character development. I might recommend reading this before 5th Sacred Thing. It's good! Taught me alot.
Rating: 
Summary: A beautiful tapestry of stories woven into a novel.
Review: I really enjoyed the collage of reading Maya's current journey to try and reconnect with her sister along with the journal entries and letters from her lover and long ago boyfriend. I would have liked to see more references to magic and the time she spent in NY with Sylvia but still found the book very satisfying. I devoured it in a matter of days. I wish that there was more fiction out there that was written about modern day pagans and witches. I did like the fifth Sacred Thing (especially the Melissa) but found it a bit too sci-fi. Maybe thats why I really liked watching the transformation of Maya from a Maiden to a pre-crone. Yet still searching for truths and connectedness. I would highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: awesome
Review: i wish it would have been longer, i didn't want it to end!
Rating:
Summary: Evocative and Magical
Review: I'd never read any of Starhawk's work before. So to read this, with no preconceived ideas about the characters, served me well. It was inspirational, reading of Maya, and of her journey (both personal and spiritual). This book changed my life, and has called me to travel to Nepal, simply to experience the places that were described so vividly in this book.
It's the amazing journey of one woman.
Rating:
Summary: Better than Fifth Sacred Thing!
Review: I'm sure I'm in the minority when I say this, but I liked this better than The Fifth Sacred Thing. That book was about a future utopia/dystopia, which was entertaining, but this book was about the here and now, which made it so much more relevant. This book is all about personal transformation, evolving spirituality, dealing with disappointment, overcoming hardship, and the realities of families and friends. I loved the juxtoposition of time, and her descriptions of Nepal were so beautiful and vivid that I felt as if I'd actually visited the place by the time I was finished reading. Brava!
Rating:
Summary: Split review
Review: In reality I would need two different ratings to give this book it's proper review. I read it after reading "The Fifth Sacred Thing", which I liked, though with some reservations. I personally did not care for "Walking to Mercury", however I can see that someone who grew up in the same generation as Maya probably would. As our major character she is very caught up in the times and the culture of the '60's, and anyone who was familiar with the '60's and sympathetic to that variety of idealism would probably find it very good reading. Unfortunately for my enjoyment I come from another generation down the line (born in 1969). The baby-busters. Known briefly as Generation X, until the advertisers realized there weren't enough of us to bother with, and started using the term to refer to the baby-boomlet that occured right afterwards (hence proving the point the name was coined to highlight). For me, Maya Greenwood the crone in "The Fifth Sacred Thing" was an enjoyable character. Unfortunately the same person in her 20's and 30's just made me want to shake her because she was being so blasted stupid. The sheer pointlessness of Maya's entire "spiritual journey" up until 3/4's of the way through the book made me want to scream. I was simply struck by the self-aggrandizement, selfishness, and ultimate pointlessness of most of the behavior of most of the characters in the book. It's very hard to like even a well written book, when you don't like most of the people in it. The book does redeem itself somewhat towards the end. You get inklings of how Maya begins to deepen into the far more interesting person she is by "The Fifth Sacred Thing", and her relationships begin to metamorphose into something more worthwhile - just about the time the book ends. So not entirely awful, but mostly for those who lived the 1960's.
Rating:
Summary: Split review
Review: In reality I would need two different ratings to give this book it's proper review. I read it after reading "The Fifth Sacred Thing", which I liked, though with some reservations. I personally did not care for "Walking to Mercury", however I can see that someone who grew up in the same generation as Maya probably would. As our major character she is very caught up in the times and the culture of the '60's, and anyone who was familiar with the '60's and sympathetic to that variety of idealism would probably find it very good reading. Unfortunately for my enjoyment I come from another generation down the line (born in 1969). The baby-busters. Known briefly as Generation X, until the advertisers realized there weren't enough of us to bother with, and started using the term to refer to the baby-boomlet that occured right afterwards (hence proving the point the name was coined to highlight). For me, Maya Greenwood the crone in "The Fifth Sacred Thing" was an enjoyable character. Unfortunately the same person in her 20's and 30's just made me want to shake her because she was being so blasted stupid. The sheer pointlessness of Maya's entire "spiritual journey" up until 3/4's of the way through the book made me want to scream. I was simply struck by the self-aggrandizement, selfishness, and ultimate pointlessness of most of the behavior of most of the characters in the book. It's very hard to like even a well written book, when you don't like most of the people in it. The book does redeem itself somewhat towards the end. You get inklings of how Maya begins to deepen into the far more interesting person she is by "The Fifth Sacred Thing", and her relationships begin to metamorphose into something more worthwhile - just about the time the book ends. So not entirely awful, but mostly for those who lived the 1960's.
Rating:
Summary: Split review
Review: In reality I would need two different ratings to give this book it's proper review. I read it after reading "The Fifth Sacred Thing", which I liked, though with some reservations. I personally did not care for "Walking to Mercury", however I can see that someone who grew up in the same generation as Maya probably would. As our major character she is very caught up in the times and the culture of the '60's, and anyone who was familiar with the '60's and sympathetic to that variety of idealism would probably find it very good reading. Unfortunately for my enjoyment I come from another generation down the line (born in 1969). The baby-busters. Known briefly as Generation X, until the advertisers realized there weren't enough of us to bother with, and started using the term to refer to the baby-boomlet that occured right afterwards (hence proving the point the name was coined to highlight). For me, Maya Greenwood the crone in "The Fifth Sacred Thing" was an enjoyable character. Unfortunately the same person in her 20's and 30's just made me want to shake her because she was being so blasted stupid. The sheer pointlessness of Maya's entire "spiritual journey" up until 3/4's of the way through the book made me want to scream. I was simply struck by the self-aggrandizement, selfishness, and ultimate pointlessness of most of the behavior of most of the characters in the book. It's very hard to like even a well written book, when you don't like most of the people in it. The book does redeem itself somewhat towards the end. You get inklings of how Maya begins to deepen into the far more interesting person she is by "The Fifth Sacred Thing", and her relationships begin to metamorphose into something more worthwhile - just about the time the book ends. So not entirely awful, but mostly for those who lived the 1960's.
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