A wide-ranging discussion that will help readers discover a richer spiritual life.
This rather unusual read is an excellent informal introduction to the work of various historical figures.
The unique premise of this debut book is sure to catch readers’ attention: John and Martha enter a heightened state of psychic connectedness as a means to gain access to their desired interview candidates. From the moment of ascension into this other realm, John and Martha build a portrait of each figure’s life and contributions to the world, while adding their own interpretations of that subject’s work. The authors convey the content as a nonfiction experience, although most readers may have to suspend disbelief. John assembles a list of writers, scientists, holy people, world leaders and philosophers, omitting no discipline or ethnicity. The list of candidates for interview is impressive: Albert Einstein, Jesus of Nazareth, Plato, William Shakespeare and Mohandas Gandhi. All of the guests speak modern, informal English, regardless of their native tongues, which makes the narrative more accessible, allowing the reader to feel connected with the subjects. There’s not a particular feeling that the exchange is happening in another world, although one goal of the book is to bring readers into this other world. The authors strive to build a bridge between the mortal and the divine, endeavoring to foster a deeper understanding of human design. John and Martha raise equally thoughtful questions as they encounter esteemed scholars and philosophers from all cultures throughout the history of the world. At times, though, the text reads as a support of John’s own intellectual musings. He brings to each conversation his personal experience and understanding of the interviewee’s work, even asking for affirmation that his intellectual summations are correct. Unsurprisingly, each candidate is unfailingly impressed with John’s work and intellectual acumen, and they encourage him to continue sharing his ideas and experiences with the world. The narrative commences with a humble air, yet as it progresses, the tone tends to become didactic as the finer points of the interviewees’ research or philosophies are tested and questioned. While many of the conversations illustrate John’s and Martha’s depth of knowledge, readers are also urged to familiarize themselves with the corresponding original texts to fully benefit from applying the philosophies discussed herein.
A wide-ranging discussion that will help readers discover a richer spiritual life.Pub Date: Aug. 12, 2012
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 337
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A short, simple, and sweet tale about two friends and a horse.
A novel tells the story of two spirited girls who set out to save a lame foal in 1952.
Mary, age 12, lacks muscle control of her legs and must use a wheelchair. Her life is constantly interrupted by trips with her widower father to assorted doctors, all of whom have failed to help her. Mary tolerates the treatments, hoping to one day walk unassisted, but her true passion involves horses. Possessing a library filled with horse books, she loves watching and drawing the animals at a neighboring farm. She longs to own one herself. But her father, overprotective due to her disability and his own lingering grief over Mary’s dead mother, makes her keep her distance. Mary befriends Laura, the emotionally neglected daughter of the wealthy neighboring farm owners, and the two share secret buggy rides. Both girls are attracted to Illusion, a beautiful red bay filly on the farm. Mary learns that Illusion is to be put down by a veterinarian because of a lame leg. Horrified, she decides to talk to the barn manager about the horse (“Isn’t it okay for her to live even if she’s not perfect? I think she deserves a chance”). Soon, Mary and Laura attempt to raise money to save Illusion. At the same time, Mary begins to gain control of her legs thanks to water therapy and secret therapeutic riding with Laura. There is indeed a great deal of poignancy in a story of a girl with a disability fighting to defend the intrinsic value of a lame animal. But this book, the first installment of the Dream Horse Adventure Series, would be twice as touching if Mary interacted with Illusion more. In the tale’s opening, she watches the foal from afar, but she actually spends very little time with the filly she tries so hard to protect. This turns out to be a strange development given the degree to which the narrative relies on her devotion. Count (Selah’s Sweet Dream, 2015) draws Mary and Laura in broad but believable strokes, defined mainly by their unrelenting pluckiness in the face of adversity. While the work tackles disability, death, and grief, Mary’s and Laura’s environments are so idyllic and their optimism and perseverance so remarkable that the story retains an aura of uncomplicated gentleness throughout.
A short, simple, and sweet tale about two friends and a horse.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Hastings Creations Group
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Therapeutic, moving verse from a promising new talent.
Keridan’s poetry testifies to the pain of love and loss—and to the possibility of healing in the aftermath.
The literary critic Geoffrey Hartman once wrote that literature—and poetry, in particular—can help us “read the wound” of trauma. That is, it can allow one to express and explain one’s deepest hurts when everyday language fails. Keridan appears to have a similar understanding of poetry. She writes in “Foreword,” the opening work of her debut collection, that “pain frequently uses words as an escape route / (oh, how I know).” Many words—and a great deal of pain—escape in this volume, but the result is healing: “the ending is happy / the beginning was horrific / so let’s start there.” The book, then, tracks the process of recovery in the wake of suffering, and often, this suffering is brought on by romantic relationships gone wrong. An early untitled poem opens, “I die a little / taking pieces of me to feed the fire / that keeps him warm / you don’t notice that it’s a slow death / when you’re disappearing little by little.” The author’s imagery here—of the self fueling the dying fire of love—is simultaneously subtle and wrenching. But the poem’s message, amplified elsewhere in the book, is clear: We go wrong if we destructively give ourselves over to others, and healing comes only when we turn our energies back to our own good. Later poems, therefore, reveal that self-definition often equals strength. The process is painful but salutary; when “you’re left unprotected / surrounded by chaos with nothing you / can depend on / except yourself / and that’s when you gather the pieces / of the life you lost / and use them to build the life you want.” The “life you want” is an elusive goal, and the author knows that the path to self-definition is fraught with peril—but her collection may give strength to those who walk it.
Therapeutic, moving verse from a promising new talent.Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-72770-538-6
Page Count: 196
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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