Lisa C says, "I read it in a day, and I laughed out loud, cried, dog-eared passages, and felt like there was someone in the world aside from me who probably carried her passport in her backpack at all times."

 

Heart-stopping prose and crackling observations on a spiritual journey toward a life rich in love and freedom.

Stuck in a dead-end relationship, this fearless narrator leaves her metaphorical baggage behind and finds a comfort zone in the air, “feeling safest with one plane ticket in her hand and another in her underwear drawer.” She flies around the world, finding reasons to love life in dozens of far-flung places from Alaska to Bhutan. Along the way she weathers unplanned losses of altitude, air pressure, and landing gear. With the help of a squad of loyal, funny, wise friends and massage therapists, she learns to sort truth from self-deception, self-involvement from self-possession.

At last, having found a new partner “who loves Don DeLillo and the NHL” and a daughter “who needs you to teach her to dive and to laugh at herself”—not to mention two dogs and two horses—“staying home becomes more of an option. Maybe.”

 Lisa C says:

"I love the way Pam Houston writes. From Cowboys Are My Weakness, to Sight Hound - I have laughed out-loud, cried, nodded, shuddered and enjoyed every word. Her newest novel (autobiographical as the main character/narrator is Pam Houston) is Contents May Have Shifted. I read it in a day, and I laughed out loud,  cried, dog-eared passages, and felt like there was someone in the world aside from me who probably carried her passport in her backpack at all times. (You never know when a spur of the moment escape might be possible, and I too find myself praying for one).

The novel's chapters are broken into mini chapters.  It's an interesting way of telling the story because at first you think - this is jumping around from place to place and time to time, but then you think well, that's sort of the way many of us tell a story. It works.

As the story flows, we learn about Pam's life, much like we did in Sight Hound. She thrives on world travel; she teaches writing at U.C. Davis and commutes home to Creede, Colorado. She has a narcissistic, dishonest, boyfriend who takes much more from women than he gives.  Like many women who think they can change someone - it takes her quite a while to get shed of Ethan. 

Pam travels from the tropics, to the rugged shores of Newfoundland to New Zealand to Tibet, Bhutan, and Laos. During the trips she reflects on the culture, Buddhist teachings, and her life lessons. She also endures some horrendous airplane experiences and nature's fury. Pam has questions to answer - some about suicide, its effects on the loved ones left behind, what's written in the notes, the pain, and the friends she's lost. Houston writes about various therapy sessions - not only counseling, but water, Reiki and massage that seem to reach into Pam's soul and yank out the hurtful past so she can let go and heal. She relies on her supportive friends and finds a new love.

 Houston is a wonderfully honest storyteller. Her writing is lovely - like poetry in many parts of the book. "The owl stops me in my tracks, makes me take a breath of the cold night air, and when I do I think, I am breathing in the stars."  

Pam Houston will appear, Wed. Feb. 15^th at 7:30pm at the Tattered Cover Book Store in LoDo.  Don't miss her."