While timely, too far-fetched and erratic to maintain readers' attention.
Habib’s debut political thriller explores the nature of religious extremism, detailing the gathering threat it poses to America and its unsuspecting allies.
Purportedly based on a true story, this complex tale follows Samuel Joseph from his troubled, abuse-addled infancy in India to his prosperous adulthood in the United States. Samuel undergoes a youthful spiritual awakening, eventually converting from Islam to Christianity. His siblings’ fanatical commitment to killing non-Muslims leads to the endless, macabre abuse of Samuel, his mother and his wife. The narrative centers on a labyrinthine plot to destroy the U.S.—and much of the world—by inserting undetectable explosive devices into the breasts and buttocks of female suicide bombers as well as releasing a deadly virus through a variety of means. Threaded through this, Habib offers a quasi-journalistic account of the history of modern jihad, replete with scholarly reflections on the allegedly bellicose message of the Quran. Initially, readers may be impatient for the novel to begin, having waded through an opening prayer, a dedication, a foreword, a preface and an introduction. When it does kick off, the story leaps back and forth in time. The narrative occasionally addresses readers directly to provide commentary, entreat the U.S. government to foil the impending attack on its soil, or solicit help from readers in rescuing Samuel’s mother from her captors. The book is most effective when describing Samuel’s spiritual maturation as he discovers tolerance and love in a world darkened by contempt for difference. However, the remainder of the story is implausible and grindingly repetitive. Readers may find it difficult to stick around until the conclusion.
While timely, too far-fetched and erratic to maintain readers' attention.Pub Date: Dec. 6, 2011
ISBN: 978-1468040845
Page Count: 212
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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