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As a child growing up in the Hollywood Hills during the 1950s, Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson thought it was perfectly normal that a guru named Paul Brunton lived with his family and dictated everything about their daily rituals, from their diet to their travel plans to his parents’ sex life. But in this extraordinary memoir, Masson reflects on just how bizarre everything about his childhood was–especially the relationship between his father and the elusive, eminent mystic he revered (and supported) for years. Writing with candor and charm, Masson describes how his father became convinced that Paul Brunton–P.B. to his familiars–was a living God who would fill his life with enlightenment and wonder. As the Masson family’s personal guru, Brunton freely discussed his life on other planets, laid down strict rules on fasting and meditation, and warned them all of the imminence of World War III. For years, young Jeffrey was as ardent a disciple as his father–but with the onset of adolescence, he staged a dramatic revolt against this domestic deity and everything he stood for. Filled with absurdist humor and intimate confessions,My Father’s Guruis the spellbinding coming-of-age story of one of our most brilliant writers.… (more)
User reviews
He answered difficult questions with silence, which the Massons accepted as proof of his higher level of enlightenment. But as Jeffrey got older, he started to see that many of PB's claims to a doctorate, to wisdom, to the rest, didn't hold up. Was PB a con man? He allowed himself to do things, like marry, that he forbade his disciples. His students readily paid for his expenses. Did he believe his own bullshit? It's hard to know, and Masson doesn't really try to prove anything.
There's a little bit of the "Oh, I always hated Woody Allen even before the scandal broke" in some of his descriptions of moments of doubt, but overall it's a great narrative of trust and belief and how those can be lost.