Elephant à la Mode: An Epicurean Guide to Life

T. Roy Nakai
Outskirts Press (2009)
ISBN 9781432745776
Reviewed by Carol Hoyer, PhD, for Reader Views (03/10)

 

Many of us in life have made wrong choices or have been dealt a bad hand, and that is no different for the author. When life throws us obstacles we sometimes have the free will to make choices and sometimes others make them for us.

The author was born in an American concentration camp during WWII and learned early on what it was like to be taunted and excluded because he was from a different culture. Regardless of those taunts, his Japanese family taught him that sometimes things happen and one must learn to persevere. This is just what he did by attending college and getting his dentistry license.

Everyone knows that when you go to college you have to stay focused, be on top of your game and still have some type of life. But for Roy that was not easy. School became his life. He found that if things went crazy, as they often did, he could block it out of his mind. Unfortunately, this doomed several of his romantic relationships.  His saving grace was his daughter Leslie.  Through her, he was able to share his life and his journey. 

During the peak of his career, Roy had an accident that ended his dental career, yet he still carried on finding new ways to use his talents. His daughter died when she was 25 years-old and it crushed him like no other crisis. With the help of his therapist, Roy began to really look at his life and the choices he made. Through very detailed conversations, we are able to look at Roy’s life and how his choices affected his decisions.

What I particularly liked about this book was that the author wasn’t wallowing in self-pity; he was very direct about how his life had gone and discovered new ways to regain his strength. At the end of each chapter, the author provided lessons he had learned. Many readers will identify with Roy and all will be drawn into his world.  “Elephant à la Mode: An Epicurean Guide to Life” byT. Roy Nakai is a wonderful book to read over and over as you go through life.

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