The House is Full of Yogis

The House is Full of Yogis by Will Hodgkinson (2015 Borough Press paperback 326pp)

 

 

After reading his excellent study of 1970s music “In Perfect Harmony” I had a look at what else Will Hodgkinson had written. One book stood out to me and I quickly got hold of a copy. “The House is Full of Yogis” is a memoir of his early teenage years in the 1980s and covers a period of massive upheaval for his family and him.

The book starts with a couple of chapters introducing us to the Hodgkinson family. His parents both journalists, host a dinner party and then take the family on a disastrous boating holiday. Throughout the author refers to his father as Nev which initially lead me to believe he was a step-father or maybe just a boyfriend of his mother’s but apparently not. Just a little jarring for me to read a 12-year-old calling a parent by their first name.

Another dinner party goes terribly wrong after a mix up with some chicken leads to half of those attending coming down with Salmonella. Will’s father becomes seriously ill and has to spend weeks in hospital then some time away in America to recover. When he returns to the family, he’s a changed man. He gives up his position as a newspaper’s medical correspondent and intends to write a book about alternative medicine. The biggest change is that he’s joined an Indian spiritual group the Brahma Kumaris. The Kumaris, run entirely by women, believe in a mish-mash of Hindu and Western ideas – their universe runs in 5000 year long cycles, eventually returning to a fabled Golden Age after a repeating apocalypse. To them people are just eternal souls temporarily located in an earthly body trying to become one with God and the universe.

Will, his semi-obnoxious brother Tom and his Mother all react differently to Nev’s conversion. Will after at first being terrified at the looming doomsday (not helped by watching the nuclear war drama “Threads” on television) becomes curious about the faith and goes along with his father to some extent. Tom dismisses it all as rubbish and their mother seems to tolerate Nev’s search for enlightenment for now.

Meanwhile other things are changing in Will’s world. He falls for one of his friend’s sister and agonises over the pseudo-relationship like only a teenager can. He’s sent off to a horrendous summer camp and is moved to a permissive new boarding school. To everyone’s surprise he thrives in the new school environment but not before starting a small crime wave of his own.

Nev goes deeper into the Brahma Kumaris and soon the family home is being used as a permanent meeting place for the sect. He buys a new run-down property with plans to renovate and moves the family in there. His wife, meanwhile, becomes a media star after she writes a book called “Sex is Not Compulsory” something that causes young Will no end of embarrassment and hassles at school and beyond.

Will dabbles in and out with the Kumaris, attending some of their training sessions and even joining his father in a visit to their headquarters in India. In the end the lure of worldly things is too much for him and he says goodbye to the order forever but still treats them with respect

Things come to a head when Nev tries to write the family out of his and his wife’s wills and make the Kumaris sole beneficiaries. This leads to an acrimonious divorce and the family splitting up. An epilogue set at Christmas many years later ends the book on an upbeat note.

This is a very warm and engaging read. Each family member reads like a living, breathing character in their own right and we can all relate to Will with the ups and downs of our own teenage years.

If memoirs are your thing this book is very much worth a read.