B's Reviews > Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment

As the author points out in the preface, the story of the Buddha is a story that is naturally shrouded in mystery. Over the past 2000 years, people have added to the story, embellished, and recounted the life of the Buddha in various ways. Mr. Chopra is no different. In this book, he takes these same liberties in creating his own version of the story of the Buddha. In his words, he takes the opportunity to "fictionalize" but tries to keep the book "psychologically true." In doing so, he takes the reader on a journey to an ancient kingdom, where Siddhartha grows up as the sheltered and privileged son of a blood-thirsty king. There are stories of demons, murder, lust, and rape all of which Mr. Chopra ties together in a well-connected and logical plot.

Unfortunately, I think he takes the fantasy and fiction too far and this is why I was ultimately disappointed in the book. In the preface, he points out that the Buddha story had become "chock-full of miracles and gods that stuck onto its surface" when Buddha likely "held a doubtful view of both." Then why did Mr. Chopra then write such a fantasy driven book with talking demons and such? I'm not sure, but I found it to be distracting and made the Buddha seem like more of a fictional character himself.