Buddhaland Brooklyn

May 28, 2012
Morais’s latest (after The Hundred-Foot Journey) follows Seido, a Japanese Buddhist priest whose attachment to ritual fortifies him against the heartbreak of his youth: days after his induction into the priesthood, at age 11, his family was killed in a fire. Years later, when he is transferred from his temple in Fukushima, Japan, to Brooklyn, he finds a congregation of American misfits starved for spiritual counsel. Jennifer, his assistant, grieves her fiancé’s death; Michael, a disturbed college student, lives in fear of his mother; and the temple’s benefactors jockey for influence and power. But by leaving the austere orderliness of Japan and entering the noisy hodgepodge of Brooklyn, Seido finds, for the first time, a community. With patience and sacrifice, he learns to communicate his faith and rediscovers it for himself. This is a breezy read that ably moves to a predictable feel-good resolution, yet Morais often indulges in purple prose and cultural caricatures. An uncomfortable propensity to exoticize Seido—whose most profound observations are expressed in Yoda-like bromides and haiku—undermines the sublimity of his spiritual awakening and his fullness as a character. Agent: Richard Pine, Inkwell Management.