Arthur presents an extensive compendium of advice and information that can be utilized by readers seeking to change their lives for the better.
While Arthur’s work seeks to be a book about crisis management, promising to help “a person in a crisis situation to become stable, healthy and joyful,” it is so exhaustingly thorough in defining and addressing the myriad of crises one might encounter—from miscarriage to torture—as well as the many possible ways one’s life might be improved—from finding the right job to getting a good night’s sleep—that it’s unlikely to be of much value to a reader truly in crisis. A rape victim, for instance, would be better served by a book about rape than one that also includes extensive, if accurate, information about self-mutilation and mental illness. This book could, however, prove quite valuable to its other intended audience, “those that are in their comfort zones and have decided it is time to make some positive changes in their lives.” The material, on a vast range of topics, from time management to meditation, financial health to food safety, as well as snoring, addiction, humor, brain development and countless others, is well organized and lucid, if frequently un-sourced. Advice like “[w]henever you seek something better in your life, you may have to let something else go in order to get it” doesn’t need to be referenced. But the claim that “orange improves social behavior” surely should be, but is not. Nor is the reader provided with any biographical information about the author, such as what his credentials are or how he came to write this book. While there is little that is new in these pages, and it’s too broad and encyclopedic to serve a reader in the midst of coping with a real crisis, there’s enough useful information and sound advice here to make it a good choice for the reader who wants to work toward a life that is more “stable, healthy and joyful.” Though much sifting may be required, Arthur’s book is a valuable resource for those looking to better themselves.
Pub Date: Dec. 31, 2010
ISBN: 978-0979335716
Page Count: 350
Publisher: Balance Integration Group
Review Posted Online: Jan. 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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