The Last Guru is told in two parts, called movements because they have different narrative patterns and different subjects. The first part tells how Harold gains his great wealth and how he and his parents flee to a remote Himalayan village for privacy, and the next part begins with the arrival of the monks of the Silly Hat order who start Harold on his spiritual mission. These two very different narratives give the novel a broken-in-the-middle feel that can be somewhat disconcerting, although issues like health food fads that arise in the second movement are initiated in the first movement. It is as if Pinkwater tells us the first story in order to be able to recount the story he is really interested in.

Pinkwater's ability to make his descriptions both informative and funny is impressive, as is his deft touch in melding vivid images with...