The Search for a Life of Passion, Purpose, and Joy
Starred review from April 1, 2012
While this could easily be called an informal guide to what it takes to be happy, that would be too simple a description for such a wise book. As the popular author and lecturer Chittister notes, most of us seldom have the economic or social freedom to find that something that fulfills us. So how can we know what we're meant to do with our lives? That is the core question, and Chittister spends the bulk of the book sharing stories from those folk brave enough to change course, sometimes relatively late in their lives, while offering her own insight on the meanings of happiness and purpose. She has her own definition of happiness, of course ( Happiness, she writes, comes from the inside ), as well as what it means to be successful; but the essence of the book concerns itself with the fundamental concept of call, that is, of discovering where we doand do notfit in. Essentially, Chittister's slim volume deals with how to lead a meaningful life at any age (whether early adulthood, middle age, or later on); No one else can answer for us, she observes, since finding our own way is a unique journey. Sure to be a modern classic of its genre.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)