Ms. Hen reviews Now is the Time to Open Your Heart

Ms. Hen at Muir Woods

Now is the Time to Open Your Heart

Alice Walker

Ballentine Books

2005

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel because Alice Walker is considered a Northern California writer, even though she is originally from the South. Ms. Hen wanted to read a woman writer from the area, so she chose this book. She didn’t get around to reading it until she returned from her vacation to San Francisco, however.

Ms. Hen wanted to like this novel. It’s about a woman, Kate Talkingtree, and her spiritual journey: she decides to go down the Colorado River with a group of women trying to find themselves, then she goes to Brazil deep in the Amazon to drink ayahuasca. She tries to find the meaning of her own life, but she gets involved in listening to other people’s problems. Her partner, Yolo, goes on vacation to Hawaii, and has his own transcendent experience.

Ms. Hen thought this story was bland. By the end of the novel, she was bored with the characters, and didn't think they know anything about the real world. They’re too involved with their issues and their own problems, and they have excess time to ponder their lives. Ms. Hen admires people who would attempt to go on spiritual journeys, but she thinks they should be realistic, because she doesn’t believe in magic or weird things. She would like it if there could be magic, but she has spend too much time in their real world, dealing with the tedium of everyday life, to know that there is little magic in the world. People who believe in fairies and the dream that there is a cure-all for everything need a wakeup call.

The one aspect that Ms. Hen liked about this novel was the description of the process of ayahuasca. She has heard of this, but it’s difficult to imagine if a person hasn’t experienced it. This is the only novel Ms. Hen has read that talks about the drug. Ayahuasca is a drink that makes a person have a spiritual experience; it’s a hallucinogenic, but it’s therapeutic at the same time. Ms. Hen has decided that she doesn’t need this, but she thinks it’s fascinating that people do, and pay a shaman in Brazil to take drugs to help them have a journey.

Ms. Hen didn’t like this book. She feels badly because she knows Alice Walker is one of the great American writers. But she still doesn’t recommend it. Some writers just write bad books, or books that not everyone enjoys.