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Praise for Bowing to Elephants:
“A beautiful, sensitive, intense exploration of the restless human heart searching for peace, love, and home...”
Book Description
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.
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.
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.
“The prose is gorgeous and novelistic... not merely an account of strange lands and novel adventures, but also a moving saga of a woman wandering the world in search of home. A luminous, engrossing meditation on family love and loss”
“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.”
“... in the vein of Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert’s story… Dimond is a craftsman, filling her book with potent images…”
“This is a book worth savoring, with deftly told stories of childhood loneliness and neglect woven among vivid tales of people encountered at the ends of Earth ... the author employs clean, muscular language, and acute attention to sights, smells, personalities, and spiritual teachings...”
“More than your average travel memoir… A beautifully written, evocative, and moving literary journey.”