Book Review: "The Lightness" By Emily Temple

The Lightness was one unique and interesting perspective on Buddhism and Munks with a different take all together on levitation entirely.

Who knew so much destruction, emptiness, heartbreak existed like this ....

This book was truly anything but light which is ironic because it touches upon very sensitive discussions about female relationships, female expression, suicide, drugs, separation/divorce, abandonment, sexual orientation, virginity, pornography, prostitution, sexual exploration, sexual abuse, religion, religious practices,strangulation/suffocation, runaways, teen issues, and so much more.
"Emptiness is what makes levitation possible.."

It all begins with Olivia's father leaving her for a meditation retreat only to never return aka abandonment. Her mother was very controlling at the time and so Olivia ran away to this so called Levitation Center in the mountains.

Turns out this isn't the real name of the place and furthermore there's plenty of spiritual and guided leadership talks with numerous programs being offered that take an all in approach.

There's also 4 groups of girls split into the Lions, Tigers, Garudas, and Dragons. Each group focuses on specific traits or characteristics such as traditional association, satisfaction, freedom, and power.

"Lightness is the antidote."

Girls like us can not be protected or saved.

I'd remind readers that so many things relate to suffering. Life is suffering. Pleasure is suffering. Desire is the root of all suffering. 

Mind you-"suffering is caused by clinging to things."

Now during Olivia's parents marriage she did hear arguing but always believed mommies and daddies worked it out. 

Things didn't go as planned as they separated and consequently divorced and as we learn later the father shacked up with another woman.

The mother was found hanging and it was listed as a suicide but that's not the end...no!~It's just the beginning as Serena and Luke both go missing.
Luke is eventually located but not until his time was up -or so we can say- and Serena...Ahhh Serena! Well, her image is nearly everywhere these days. 

There's a powerful secret between Olivia and her father known simply as "our secret."

Now, I know this isn't the only secret as Luke is quite the 'charmer' and he gets around while sowing his wild oats.

Ladies and Gents- I almost didn't finish this one because my older Samsung 5 acted up and froze up causing me to lose my place in reading. I downloaded a second time with Bibliotheca and reread the entire thing. 

I'm so glad I did as I wasn't going to give this a high rating. In fact, as a strong female who prefers heroic characters with brutal strength I was taken back.
I settled on 4 stars because of the ability to lead me astray and take me along for the wild ride on topics that are cringe worthy but important.
So, for that reason alone it was worth the higher rating.
The writing was good, the plot thickened but was lengthy and slow, till it picked up pace near the end.

All in all a good solid read that I came around to it's varying lines of thinking because quite frankly 'we all have weaknesses.'

Thank you to Bibliotheca for this e-read copy.