Bowing to Elephants - by Mag Dimond (Paperback)

About the Book

A travel memoir with a twist, this is the story of an unloved rich girl from San Francisco who becomes a travel junkie, searching for herself in the world to avoid the tragic fate of her narcissistic, alcoholic mother.

Book Synopsis

In Bowing to Elephants, a woman seeking love and authenticity comes to understand herself as a citizen of the world through decades of wandering the globe. During her travels she sees herself more clearly as she gazes into the feathery eyes of a 14,000-pound African elephant and looks for answers to old questions in Vietnam and the tragically ravaged landscape of Cambodia.
Bowing to Elephants is a travel memoir with a twist―the story of an unloved rich girl from San Francisco who becomes a travel junkie, searching for herself in the world to avoid the tragic fate of her narcissistic, alcoholic mother. Haunted by images of childhood loneliness and the need to learn about her world, Dimond journeys to far-flung places―into the perfumed chaos of India, the nostalgic, damp streets of Paris, the gray, watery world of Venice in the winter, the reverent and silent mountains of Bhutan, and the gold temples of Burma. In the end, she accepts the death of the mother she never really had―and finds peace and her authentic self in the refuge of Buddhist practice.

Review Quotes

2020 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Gold Winner in Cover Design, small format, nonfiction 2019 Kirkus Reviews' Best Indie Book Awards--Best Indie Biographies & Memoirs "A beautifully crafted memoir, weaving vivid descriptions and inner truths, suffering and celebration, into a tapestry of family revelations, love of the details of life, and worldwide adventure." ―Jack Kornfield, author of No Time Like the Present and The Wise Heart "A beautiful, sensitive, intense exploration of the restless human heart, searching for peace, love, and home. Wandering far and wide―some of us only do this in the imagination―Dimond physically travels to those foreign places to find her true self, and we get to come along with her. A moving memoir full of food, paintings, landscapes, human hope and yearning." ―Natalie Goldberg, author of Writing Down the Bones and Let the Whole Thundering World Come Home "More than your average travel memoir, Bowing to Elephants elegantly weaves together the author's love of exotic locales with her internal quest for meaning and reconciliation with the past. A beautifully written, evocative, and moving literary journey." ―Sean Murphy, Hemingway Award-winning author of One Bird, One Stone and The Time of New Weather "This beautifully written memoir is a chronicle of inner and outer adventures, grounded in deliciously detailed descriptions of fine food and fine art, of city streets and wild landscapes, of architecture and literature, and exalted by the author's quest to respond to the cries of the world with compassionate action." ―Mirabai Starrr, author of Caravan of No Despair and God of Love "The prose is gorgeous and novelistic. . . . A luminous, engrossing meditation." ―Kirkus Reviews, starred review ". . . the vein of Eat, Pray, Love . . . Dimond is a craftsman, filling her book with potent images." ―Indie Reader Reviews "A beautifully crafted memoir, weaving vivid descriptions, inner truths, suffering, and celebration into a tapestry of family revelations, love of the details of life, and worldwide adventure." ―Jack Kornfield, author of No Time Like the Present "This is a book worth savoring, with deftly told stories of childhood loneliness and neglect woven along vivid tales of people encountered at the ends of the Earth." ―BlueInk Review, starred review "Each place is depicted in great visual detail, and all five senses are played upon, make the related experiences tangible. The text also illustrates a deeper sense of a place, recalling the emotions of particular moments and evoking how the visited locations are special. Such details make Dimond's travel writing deeper than most." ―Foreword Reviews

About the Author

Mag Dimond has been a world traveler since her mother took her to live in Italy from ages eleven to fourteen. She traveled extensively in Europe and Central America, and ventured to such exotic landscapes as India, Cambodia, Bhutan, Japan, Kenya, China, Burma, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cuba. After a career teaching writing to college students in San Francisco and Taos, she now volunteers as a writing tutor at 826 Valencia, an esteemed literacy program launched by David Eggers. She is a practicing Buddhist and dedicated member of Spirit Rock Meditation Center north of San Francisco. Excerpts from Bowing to Elephants have been honored in American Literary Review, Travelers Tales Solas Awards, the Tulip Tree "Stories that Must be Told" awards, and the 2017 William Faulkner Wisdom Awards. Additionally, Dimond has published essays at Elephant Journal, an online magazine with a readership of almost two million. You can find her essays on her website, www.magdimond.com.