A potentially absorbing tale that’s hampered by a breadth of characters, a shortage of poignant descriptions, and...
Debut author Amari draws on real-life events in a novel about the difficult life of a girl named Beulah.
Born with a heart condition and cone-shaped head, Beulah’s parents leave her in the care of her maternal grandparents in Moose County, Georgia, shortly after her birth while they go to work on her paternal grandparents’ farm. Her first five years of life with her grandparents, whom she loves dearly, are a happy time until she’s taken away to live with her parents and five younger siblings. Forced to work on a farm and consistently suffering due to her parents’ abuse, Beulah finds solace in playing the piano. As her musical skills develop, she begins to play for numerous churches. Seeking to escape her father, she marries a boy from her high school, Heth, only to find herself plunged back into similar mistreatment at the hands of her new husband. Beulah struggles to find strength from God to continue living life the best she can. The author’s introduction acknowledges that some events in this book are “based on truth,” with names changed, while other parts are completely fictionalized “to stir the emotions, and hold the reader’s attention.” The first chapter provides a thorough accounting of Beulah’s family members, although the sudden rush of introductions and back stories may make it difficult for readers to keep track of who’s who. Additional confusion arises when the narrative lapses into lengthy descriptions of various buildings or provides miscellaneous facts about relatives and friends that hold little relevance to the plot. Despite this, the characters themselves are compelling, and the side stories about Beulah’s great-grandmother Monroe and her first boyfriend, Dennis, are inviting. Still, Amari often cursorily describes events, without the complexity and depth necessary to fully evoke the story. Numerous grammatical and spelling errors (“The Woodall family was humble, quite, poor, and Godly people”) make it even more challenging to follow.
A potentially absorbing tale that’s hampered by a breadth of characters, a shortage of poignant descriptions, and distracting errors.Pub Date: May 16, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4897-1163-2
Page Count: 158
Publisher: LifeRichPublishing
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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