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smitchy 's review for:
The Prophet
by Kahlil Gibran
This is book 15 in my 50 book reading challenge and the first I have totally hated!! The Prophet has been continually in print since 1923 and that is quite a feat for any book, so I thought there must be something that makes it so perennially popular I have to try this book...
I am the first to admit I am not a spiritual person - religion, horoscopes, numerology, spiritualism, fuzzy thinking, ghosts, afterlife, anything promoted by Dr Oz: it all goes into the same bullshit box for me. Maybe if I were inclined toward this kind of thing it wouldn't have been such a chore, but as things are I had to force myself to finish (I had assumed it would be a quick read as there is less than 100 pages of actual text. It took me 6 days to force my way through!).
I can see why it may appeal to some; like all good spiritual texts The Prophet is so open to interpretation that pretty much anyone will be able to find somethings they a) agree with; and b) don't understand and feel that if they think about it long enough meaning will come to them (why does it not occur to people that when B) happens maybe it’s just a sign the author was just full of shit??!)
Like all good religious texts there are parts that directly contradict other parts and some bits that have not aged well. If you, like me, love logic, reason, and like more of an explanation to this life than "god did it" or “do x because god will love you” then don't waste your time. If you like beating your head against opaque text and the musings of an average writer who is clearly seeped in the sociocultural bounds of his time and religion then go for your life...
Don't say I didn't warn you.
I am the first to admit I am not a spiritual person - religion, horoscopes, numerology, spiritualism, fuzzy thinking, ghosts, afterlife, anything promoted by Dr Oz: it all goes into the same bullshit box for me. Maybe if I were inclined toward this kind of thing it wouldn't have been such a chore, but as things are I had to force myself to finish (I had assumed it would be a quick read as there is less than 100 pages of actual text. It took me 6 days to force my way through!).
I can see why it may appeal to some; like all good spiritual texts The Prophet is so open to interpretation that pretty much anyone will be able to find somethings they a) agree with; and b) don't understand and feel that if they think about it long enough meaning will come to them (why does it not occur to people that when B) happens maybe it’s just a sign the author was just full of shit??!)
Like all good religious texts there are parts that directly contradict other parts and some bits that have not aged well. If you, like me, love logic, reason, and like more of an explanation to this life than "god did it" or “do x because god will love you” then don't waste your time. If you like beating your head against opaque text and the musings of an average writer who is clearly seeped in the sociocultural bounds of his time and religion then go for your life...
Don't say I didn't warn you.