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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
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
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
fast-paced
I liked this book. I read it in bits and pieces even though it’s short. It had good messages throughout that captured a lot of the human experience. It’s written in a simple way that to me is still poetic. My qualms are that a lot of the points were a bit obvious, so there was nothing that had me react like “oh wow.” But it’s still nice to read about things you know in a sweet story like this.
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character