The Great Failure

coverThe Great Failure : A Bartender, A Monk, and My Unlikely Path to Truth, by Natalie Goldberg, from HarperCollins, ISBN 0060733993. In this graceful, riveting memoir, the author of Long Quiet Highway reveals two major betrayals in her life. Goldberg candidly portrays the intricacies of her relationship with her father, an old-fashioned man's man who knew no boundaries. Soon after his death, she learns that her spiritual father, renowned Zen teacher Dainin Katagiri Roshi, has also betrayed her. Through the writing of this book, the everyday disappointments of Goldberg's life are transformed - and thanks to her gift for teaching, ours as well.