Review by Booklist Review
Williamson, the best-selling author of A Return to Love (1991) and other self-help books that reference A Course in Miracles, a New Age bible, here reframes her message for baby boomers, of whom she is one. And in true boomer fashion, she wants readers to know that midlife and beyond does not have to be a time for winding down but, rather, a period of rebirth. This, however, is not a given. For the last half of life to be transformational, it must be examined. Williamson offers a spot-on review of the typical boomer's twenties and thirties, with many references to her own experiences, and explains how the Sturm und Drang of those years can be alchemized to the highest manifestation of our talents; something useful to not only ourselves but others. For a New Age guru, Williamson is an elegant writer, and her skill with words and phrases is evident here. She does, however, have a problem with repetition, both between the covers of this book and in terms of the similarity of all her works. The message of both Williamson's works and The Course in Miracles is love, forgiveness, and the ways to prevent separation from God. As important as these ideas are, there are only so many ways for one author to express them. The focus on midlife, at least, does give this retelling a slightly different tilt. Expect much interest from Williamson's devoted following.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2007 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Williamson is unarguably one of the most visible and influential writers in spirituality and almost as puzzling as the book that was her inspiration and the foundation of her early fame, A Course in Miracles. Raised in a Jewish household, Williamson, after a string of personal mishaps entirely typical of American life, found her way to the Course, a book dictated by, so its "medium" Helen Schucman claimed, the voice of Jesus. Williamson's book-length exposition of Schucman's curious post-Christian mysticism, Return to Love (1992), became a best seller. Williamson's later work has distanced itself from the Course, and The Age of Miracles is hardly an exception to this later practice--it is a grab bag of anecdote, precepts, and bland advice on middle age (Williamson herself is in her middle fifties). Its publication, although it scarcely mentions the Course, will coincide (or perhaps the better word is converge) with Williamson's new lectures on the Course on Oprah Winfrey's radio channel, XM 156. The force of Oprah's approbation is so great as to render review almost irrelevant, but we will say that The Age of Miracles is more of the same for the persuaded and will not damage innocent minds. For most collections. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
