Cury aims to encourage people to rise above their problems, enact change and seek improvement in their lives. Message heard,...
A mysterious traveler and his disciples provide enlightenment in Cury’s second book in the Dreamseller series (The Dreamseller: The Calling, 2011).
The Dreamseller is a modern-day philosopher whose journey helps others realize that what mankind has produced is often more harmful than good, but humans have the power to change for the better. Liberated from his own past, he uses teachable moments to gently point out many of the failures that we as individuals and societies have created: a value system that teaches that when we give, we should expect to receive something in return; an educational system that fails to encourage students to engage in critical thinking; a social system that deems some people more important than others. Whether his group is dining at the home of amputees or performing for the most hardened criminals, this modern-day messiah has a message to impart, and very few of these are messages that you haven’t already heard. What makes this book distinct isn’t necessarily the message; it’s the way the writer chooses to convey each message. Cury, an award-winning Brazilian author, psychiatrist and psychotherapist, is out to espouse his views, and he’s created an excellent vessel for doing so. Instead of a dry, textbook approach, he employs a ragtag crew of relatable and amusing characters who bring their own spin to the story, the “anonymous” heroes. These disciples have all traveled different paths and include former sociology professor Julio Cesar and two buffoonish alcoholics, Bartholomew (Honeymouth) and Barnabas (the Mayor), who provide comic relief and exhibit undying loyalty when they risk their own lives to aid their Master during a life-threatening situation. But the characters, situations and twists (most of which are fairly predictable, but not all) are only a means to an end.
Cury aims to encourage people to rise above their problems, enact change and seek improvement in their lives. Message heard, loud and clear.Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4391-9605-2
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2012
These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942
ISBN: 0060652934
Page Count: 53
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943
This first novel, ostensibly about the friendship between two boys, Reuven and Danny, from the time when they are fourteen on opposing yeshiva ball clubs, is actually a gently didactic differentiation between two aspects of the Jewish faith, the Hasidic and the Orthodox. Primarily the Hasidic, the little known mystics with their beards, earlocks and stringently reclusive way of life. According to Reuven's father who is a Zionist, an activist, they are fanatics; according to Danny's, other Jews are apostates and Zionists "goyim." The schisms here are reflected through discussions, between fathers and sons, and through the separation imposed on the two boys for two years which still does not affect their lasting friendship or enduring hopes: Danny goes on to become a psychiatrist refusing his inherited position of "tzaddik"; Reuven a rabbi.... The explanation, in fact exegesis, of Jewish culture and learning, of the special dedication of the Hasidic with its emphasis on mind and soul, is done in sufficiently facile form to engage one's interest and sentiment. The publishers however see a much wider audience for The Chosen. If they "rub their tzitzis for good luck,"—perhaps—although we doubt it.
Pub Date: April 28, 1967
ISBN: 0449911543
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1967
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