Synopses & Reviews
A witty, original tour of the billion-dollar self-help industry that explores our uniquely American devotion to self-improvement — even as the author attempts some deeply personal improvements of her own.
As Jessica Lamb-Shapiro points out in this powerful blend of memoir, journalism, and social commentary, everyone is affected by self-help, an industry that generates a billion dollars a year by trading in the many aphorisms that we encounter every day in the media, on coffee mugs and t-shirts, and in conversation with family and friends.
Raised by a child psychologist who is the author of numerous self-help books, Lamb-Shapiro found herself at once repelled and fascinated by the industry to which her father had contributed so much. Did all of these books, tapes, and weekend seminars really help anyone? Why do some people swear by the power of positive thinking while others dismiss it as hokum? In the name of research, she attempted to cure herself of phobias, followed “The Rules” to meet and date men, walked on hot coals, and even attended a self-help seminar for writers of self-help books. But the more she delved into the history and practice of self-help, the clearer it became that her interest was much more than academic. Forced to confront her silent grief over a childhood trauma, she realized that sometimes we convince ourselves we know everything about a subject — only to hide the fact that we know nothing at all.
Promise Land is irreverent, fascinating, funny, and deeply personal — a work as quirky and surprising as the world it brilliantly profiles.
Synopsis
A witty, original tour of the billion-dollar self-help industry that explores our uniquely American devotion to self-improvement--even as the author attempts some deeply personal improvements of her own.
"In writing this book I walked on hot coals, met a man making a weight-loss robot, joined a Healing Circle, and faced my debilitating fear of flying. Of all of these things, talking to my father about my mother's death was by far the hardest."
The daughter of a widowed child psychologist and parenting author, Jessica Lamb-Shapiro grew up immersed in the culture of self-help, of books and pamphlets and board games and gadgets and endless jargon-filled conversations about feelings. It wasn't until she hit her thirties that Jessica began to wonder: if all this self-improvement arcana was as helpful as it promised to be, why wasn't she better adjusted? She had a flying phobia, hadn't settled down, and didn't like to talk about her feelings.
Thus began Jessica's fascination with the eccentric and labyrinthine world of self-help. She read hundreds of books and articles, attended dating seminars, walked on hot coals, and attempted to conquer her fear of flying. But even as she made light of the sometimes dubious effectiveness of these as-seen-on-TV treatments, she slowly began to realize she was circling a much larger problem: her mother's death when she was a toddler, and the almost complete silence that she and her father had always observed on the subject.
In the tradition of Augusten Burroughs, Jessica Lamb-Shapiro illuminates the peculiar neuroses and inalterable truths that bind families together, whether they choose to confront them or not. Promise Land is a tender, witty, and wise account of a young woman's journey through her own psyche toward the most difficult stage of grown-up emotional life: acceptance.
Synopsis
“In writing this book I walked on hot coals, met a man making a weight-loss robot, joined a Healing Circle, and faced my debilitating fear of flying. Of all of these things, talking to my father about my mother’s death was by far the hardest.”
The daughter of a widowed child psychologist and parenting author, Jessica Lamb-Shapiro grew up immersed in the culture of self-help, of books and pamphlets and board games and gadgets and endless jargon-filled conversations about feelings. It wasn't until she hit her thirties that Jessica began to wonder: if all this self-improvement arcana was as helpful as it promised to be, why wasn't she better adjusted? She had a flying phobia, hadn't settled down, and didn't like to talk about her feelings.
Thus began Jessica's fascination with the eccentric and labyrinthine world of self-help. She read hundreds of books and articles, attended dating seminars, walked on hot coals, and attempted to conquer her fear of flying. But even as she made light of the sometimes dubious effectiveness of these as-seen-on-TV treatments, she slowly began to realize she was circling a much larger problem: her mother's death when she was a toddler, and the almost complete silence that she and her father had always observed on the subject.
In the tradition of Augusten Burroughs, Jessica Lamb-Shapiro illuminates the peculiar neuroses and inalterable truths that bind families together, whether they choose to confront them or not. Promise Land is a tender, witty, and wise account of a young woman's journey through her own psyche toward the most difficult stage of grown-up emotional life: acceptance.
About the Author
Jessica Lamb-Shapiro has published fiction and non-fiction in The Believer, McSweeney's, Open City, and Index magazine, among others. She has been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony and the New York Foundation for the Arts. She lives in New York City and Columbia County, NY.