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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I can't tell what the author's intentions were, whether it was to write a nice little story about following your dreams, or if it was meant to represent bigger ideas. People are calling it a self help book based in the law of attraction, but I thought it was just a simple fable. Overall, it was okay, didn't love it or hate it.
I read this book at what feels like just the right time and it really was magical. I felt like I was a kid being read a story. Sometimes you need to be reminded of the simple lessons in life because they are so important. I just loved this book. “Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.”
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
fast-paced
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I'm a sucker for modern stories that are told as if they were fairy tales. So this one hooked me in at the start. I loved the material in here from the beginning, through the fabulous (pun intended) interview with King Salem, and then everything in Tangiers, especially with the narrator's growth in the crystal shop. I even liked the beginning of his trek through the Pyramids until he reached the Oasis. But all through these parts, while enjoying the book a great deal, I had a feeling that something was going wrong.
And from the Oasis on, it just got worse and worse. From a nice tale, this became nothing more but the continual preaching of stuff that is trite and annoying. Follow your dream (Personal Legend), and the universe will conspire to assist you as it does everyone who follows theirs. It's pure Hollywood pablum and there is basically nothing to temper it. Of course, the trouble is the converse -- if you fail, that means you did something wrong. You gave up, or you lacked courage, etc... So the successful have succeeded because they deserve it, because they listened to their hearts, and everyone who is not successful is morally inferior.
Then the book got a bit better with its climactic scene, and then by the revelation when the narrator achieves his quest. With one glaring problem in the structure of the book. It tells us over and over and over the verse from Matthew: "where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." And this is supposed to be true, but it's not what happens in the book. If anything connected with this, then I would be tempted to say that the narrator is unreliable and this was a deliberate subversion. But there's nothing I see that points in that direction. Instead, it feels to me like, for all its preachy, preachy BS, the book is just confused.
And from the Oasis on, it just got worse and worse. From a nice tale, this became nothing more but the continual preaching of stuff that is trite and annoying. Follow your dream (Personal Legend), and the universe will conspire to assist you as it does everyone who follows theirs. It's pure Hollywood pablum and there is basically nothing to temper it. Of course, the trouble is the converse -- if you fail, that means you did something wrong. You gave up, or you lacked courage, etc... So the successful have succeeded because they deserve it, because they listened to their hearts, and everyone who is not successful is morally inferior.
Then the book got a bit better with its climactic scene, and then by the revelation when the narrator achieves his quest. With one glaring problem in the structure of the book. It tells us over and over and over the verse from Matthew: "where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." And this is supposed to be true, but it's not what happens in the book. If anything connected with this, then I would be tempted to say that the narrator is unreliable and this was a deliberate subversion. But there's nothing I see that points in that direction. Instead, it feels to me like, for all its preachy, preachy BS, the book is just confused.
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated