The River by Michael Neale

Rating

*

The book's description from the publisher's website:

“You were made for The River . . .”

Gabriel Clarke is mysteriously drawn to The River, a ribbon of frothy white water carving its way through steep canyons high in the Colorado Rockies. The rushing waters beckon him to experience freedom and adventure.
But something holds him back—the memory of the terrible event he witnessed on The River when he was just five years old—something no child should ever see.
Chains of fear and resentment imprison Gabriel, keeping him from discovering the treasures of The River. He remains trapped, afraid to take hold of the life awaiting him.
When he returns to The River after years away, his heart knows he is finally home. His destiny is within reach. Claiming that destiny will be the hardest—and bravest—thing he has ever done.

One of the most frustrating books I've read. The most frustrating spiritual book I've read.There really isn't much to say, because unfortunately there wasn't much to this book.

My expectations were much higher than what I found in The River. They were based on what others were saying about it.

 Michael Neale writes an amazing story that—I believe—will change lives.

The inspirational read encourages readers to evaluate themselves, their motives and the toxic issue of forgiveness in a fascinating story of daring adventure, letting go of the past and finding courage to step into the future.

 I think everyone can relate to the protagonist's experience of having to let go of the pain from his past in order to embrace the future for which he's destined. *

I'm looking for a better direction in my life. I have been a seeker for a very long time, for complicated reasons. I thought Neale's book could help me be inspired, if nothing else. As it is, The River is changing no one's life any time soon.

I may be a skeptic and need some convincing but who are such books written for, if not for people like me. If your intended audience is that which already agrees with what you preach, then there's no justifiable reason to not market your book as such.

Frankly, I can't imagine who will read The River and find it exceptional, with a powerful message and a potential to change lives. There was nothing revelatory in this book. The message of the value of forgiveness is rather simplistic and frankly, insulting, especially to those readers who need true inspiration and know that real life rarely serves such easy solutions as the author would have us believe. Also, contrary to what is said by the endorsers, Michael Neale is not a very gifted storyteller, at least where the written word is concerned (people stating that may be intellectually dishonest or just plain dishonest, I'm not sure which one is worse).

If I seem a little harsh, it's because I care about spirituality and inspiration, and I especially want to find them in Christian writings. Unfortunately, more and more often these books are written in a style of an 8th-grade essay, as if Christians couldn't possibly comprehend anything more complex. The River is no exception. It made me angry. I wanted to write a lot worse opinion on this book when I first finished it. I doubt I'll harm the sales any, though. I already have a feeling it will be the next The Shack, regardless of what this reader's inconsequential opinion is.

* The quotes are from several Goodreads reviews.

~~~~~~~~

FTC: I received The River from NetGalley for review.

2-in-1 - The Walk by Richard Paul Evans and A Very Private Grave by Donna Fletcher Crow

1. The Walk by Richard Paul Evans.

The book's synopsis from the author's website:

This is the first book in The Walk series, a story about the physical and spiritual journey of Alan Christoffersen.
What would you do if you lost everything—your job, your home, and the love of your life—all at the same time? When it happens to Seattle ad executive Alan Christoffersen, he’s tempted by his darkest thoughts. A bottle of pills in his hand and nothing left to live for, he plans to end his misery. Instead, he decides to take a walk. But not any ordinary walk. Taking with him only the barest of essentials, Al leaves behind all that he’s known and heads for the farthest point on his map: Key West, Florida. The people he encounters along the way, and the lessons they share with him, will save his life—and inspire yours.

The Walk is my first experience with Mr. Evans. Because of all the hype and praise I encountered about this book and this author, I expected a lot from them both. Unfortunately, my expectations weren't all met. And I do realize that it's not all the book's fault. It was an inspiring story, in a way that it actually made me want to go for a long walk (not around the block kind of walk) again. Yes, I wrote 'again'. When I was seventeen, I went on a pilgrimage to a holy place in Poland. It lasted 15 days and we walked every day for about 30 miles. It's a huge event and hundreds of people so it annually from all over the country. I loved every minute of it, even though I had to put up my own tent and take it down and carry it on my back every day. I haven't experienced anything like it ever since. Therefore, I understood how Al's walk was what he needed to learn and heal. His experiences made me yearn for my own from years ago. And while I enjoyed the writing and the story, it just didn't affect me as an eye-opening experience nor did it play on my heartstrings, at least not as much as I expected it to. I liked The Walk, I just wasn't in love with it.

2. A Very Private Grave (Book one in The Monastery Murders) by Donna Fletcher Crow.

The book's synopsis from the author's website:

Felicity Howard, a young American studying for the Anglican priesthood at the College of the Transfiguration in Yorkshire, is devastated when she finds her beloved Father Dominic bludgeoned to death and Father Antony, her church history lecturer, soaked in his blood...
A Very Private Grave is a contemporary novel with a thoroughly modern heroine who must learn some ancient truths in order to solve the mystery and save her own life as she and Father Antony flee a murderer and follow clues that take them to out-of-the way sites in northern England and southern Scotland. The narrative skillfully mixes detection, intellectual puzzles, spiritual aspiration, romance, and the solving of clues ancient and modern.

This book I also just liked. There were parts of the story that just dragged on for way too long and kept the pace very slow. It's not necessary a good thing when it happens in a murder mystery book.  I did appreciate the interesting, if obscure to me, history of the Church in England but I think that Ms. Crow just presented some of it in a very dry, almost academic way that became unappealing to me and made me wonder if I should just give up on the book altogether. The reason I didn't, was that I was intrigued by the murder plot and I liked the investigative part. And even though it is categorized as a christian fiction, it's really a cozy mystery and can be read by people who normally don't go for the christian genre. I also liked Felicity, she is a very spunky young woman and because of her, I am looking forward to the next adventure and hoping that this one will have a little more action and less 'academic theory'. If you're interested in more about this book, you can read the first chapter here.

FTC Disclosure: I bought The Walk by Richard Paul Evans.

I received A Very Private Grave by Donna Fletcher Crow from FIRST.

Nine Ways God Always Speaks by Mark Herringshaw & Jennifer Schuchmann

I am one of the people who yearn for spiritual peace but get instead spiritual turmoil. There have been times in my life when I was absolutely certain of my faith and of God’s existence, and His benevolent love towards me. Then, there have been times when I lost all my faith in a loving God (although I never lost my belief that God does indeed exist) and replaced with thoughts of Him being there for others but not for me. My difficult spiritual life, my quest for peace and contentment is probably my biggest struggle. It is therefore no wonder that I quickly reach for books such as Nine Ways God Always Speaks that may offer me some insight, something I can always hold on to, especially in times when I turn into ‘doubting Thomas’.

Nine Ways God Always Speaks by Mark Herringshaw & Jennifer Schuchmann is exactly what the title says it is: nine ways in which God communicates His will and existence to us. Each chapter directs reader’s attention to quite often very simple occurrences that might very well be in front of us all the time but we just don’t see them. We want to hear God speak to us and are so concentrated on looking for the mystical experiences that we don’t notice the everyday, ordinary events and surroundings such as nature or people we meet or we blatantly refuse to acknowledge that they are God’s messengers (even though they might not know it themselves). One interesting aspect was that God speaks to us via dreams. Dreams are still subject of many tests, analyses and theories and it was very curious for me to read about God sending us messages while we’re sleeping. Considering the serious and important premise of the book, I think that above all it was very entertaining and quite humorous. Mark and Jennifer did their best to convey the message of many people they came across by making this book very enjoyable and approachable despite the seriousness of the topic.

Was it all convincing to me? I’m not sure. Reading this book was a mini example of the struggle I talked about in the beginning. I would all of a sudden start looking for messages from God in nature after a particular chapter only to get discouraged after not finding anything that would apply directly to me. Some chapters would fill me with hope and others with complete despair. I want to believe that one of the ways God speaks is giving people like Mark & Jennifer a talent for writing and inspiration to write such a book as Nine Ways God Always Speaks. In turn, the finished product will end up in the hands of a person who desperately needs to hear the exact words that are written there. Who knows, maybe one of my blog visitors is such a person. I can objectively see how this book has a potential to open people’s minds and eyes to what’s around them and teach them how to tune in to the right frequency. Now, subjectively speaking, Nine Ways God Always Speaks added just nine more ways God does not speak to me. Sadly it did not have any revelatory value for me, only caused me to be even more discouraged. When I read about all these people, including the authors, experiencing the ‘eureka!’ moments all I felt was anger with a tinge of jealousy. It’s all nice and dandy for them but I have yet to find that crucial moment in my life where I feel the presence of God and which will influence the course of my life. I realize that I may be wallowing in self-pity here, but hey, I’m honest and I will not pretend that my life changed completely or at all after having read this book if it didn’t.

'Finding Grace' by Donna VanLiere

I think that a lot of times people go through life without stopping to wonder where they are going, what their purpose on Earth is or whether there is any purpose at all. There are also those who do know that there is a deeper meaning to life but it’s out of their grasp and they catch themselves chasing that meaning. And then there are people like Donna VanLiere, who found the meaning, is living out the plan and through her experiences shows others how to find grace.

Finding Grace is Donna’s memoir of sorts, her portrayal of journey through life with many stumbling blocks on its way. Donna VanLiere, who is mostly known for her bestselling Christmas Hope series (at least she is to me), starts off her book with her childhood and dreams she had about her future adult life. They would perhaps have been normal had they not been broken in one abrupt and terrifying moment. That episode changed a girl with a head full of dreams into a prematurely grown-up woman, confused and disillusioned about her belief in God, in his Grace and her own worth. As time progresses, Donna’s life seems to be a self-fulfilled prophecy of despair, of hopelessness and of doubt. However, Ms. VanLiere is not one to give up and she struggles to find out what God’s plan for her is, as she never really surrendered the hope that there had to be more to life than what she got. And as she searches for the spiritual truth and fights the hardships, she slowly realizes that God has been giving her His Grace freely, without waiting for Donna to earn it and all she had to do is receive it.

I treasured Finding Grace from the first page to the last, mainly because I felt it carried a personal message to me. I would read Donna’s indignant and angry thoughts about and towards God, and think that she must have had some psychic powers because those were my exact thoughts. Her struggle seemed like my struggle and in the end it gave me tremendous hope that she found the Grace and that we all can because it is waiting for us. Personal feelings aside, Finding Grace is written beautifully and flawlessly. The author’s love for writing and conviction that that is exactly what she should be doing reflect on every page. It made me cry most unexpectedly and laugh when I didn’t think I could. Yes, Finding Grace is not a tear-jerker only, there is plenty of humor which, creates just the right balance required to leave a reader with a feeling of something heavy being lifted off the shoulders and a ray of hope that maybe we are also ready to find and receive the Grace shining through the harsh and grey days of our existence.

*******

Special Thanks for Julie H. from FSB Associates for sending me a copy of this book.

You also should check out this YouTube video Donna put together as an intro to the book.

Last but not least, visit Donna's website for more info.

'Elijah's Coin' by Steve O'Brien

My life, just like, I suspect, everybody else’s, has been filled with many hardships. Some of them resolved and others still lingering. Because of those unresolved misfortunes, I need a lot of encouragement and support to keep going and trying to do the next right thing. Books I read provide me with a certain acceptance and a feeling that not all is lost, and, most importantly, with solutions. Elijah’s Coin by Steve O’Brien turned out to be one such book.

The novel is about a college-age boy, Tom who seems to have lost all hope for a meaningful life the day his mom was murdered. He is now preparing to live a life of a criminal as a way of rebellion and empty showing off that he will become a thief because he can. This kind of thinking takes a 180° turn when Tom meets Elijah King, a night watchman in a sporting goods store Tom planned to rob. Elijah gives Tom a mysterious coin and with that coin and a lesson on meaningful living, he sets Tom off on a journey that will change his life. And Tom’s life changes in ways he never thought possible.

Elijah’s Coin is a short book with a simple message: “Give to Get”. But as I have personally experienced, sometimes complicated people need simple messages. Mr. O’Brien’s style is very convincing and adds a thrill to the story, which makes it that much more interesting. There are a lot of life lessons to be taught but it takes a skilled writer to show us, students the right way to learn them. And I think that Steve O’Brien accomplished this task. Will the book transform its readers? I think that it has that capability but only if the readers are willing to be transformed. As they say, “where there’s a will, there’s a way”, and Elijah’s Coin might just show some people the way. One thing is certain: the book has a lot of spiritual depth and core messages contained within it are meaningful and important. I would definitely recommend this book, whether your life is just peachy at the moment or an absolute hell. It may open your eyes to something that was right in front of you all the time but you simply refused to see it.

*********

Special Thanks to Paula K. from AME, Inc for providing me a copy of this book.

'For Women Only' by Shaunti Feldhahn

I picked up this book because at this point I’m grasping at straws. I really wanted to find out what the deal was with successful relationships and why I can’t seem to make it work. (Okay, so I’m feeling sorry for myself, don’t we all sometimes?). The subtitle to it is: What you need to know about the inner lives of men. I am not sure what’s gotten into me that I actually decided I wanted to know anything about the inner lives of men. All kidding aside, Shaunti had a good purpose in mind. The book was written based on surveys among about a thousand men. Out of these surveys and interviews and informal conversations, some supposedly universal to men truths were discovered. I’ll get to those truths in a moment but let me first say that this book may work only in a fairly healthy relationship, where you and your husband are not on the brink of divorce and you simply notice that something might not be quite right and you desire to make your marriage/relationship work better. For Women Only is not a counseling manual for severe cases of abuse, cheating, major lapses in judgment and so forth. Most importantly, this book will work only if you make your husbands/partners read For Men Only so that you don’t create a situation where you are trying to do your darnedest to understand men, yet they give nothing in return and live their lives blissfully unaware of what your needs are.
Now, some points in For Women Only are valid, such as men need our respect more than they need love, that the burden to constantly provide for their families is weighing them down but is also ingrained in them or that they are romantic but don’t really know how to show it and we have to help them with that. Other points are quite infuriating and I still am having a hard time accepting them. The points I’m speaking of are that men are extremely visual and will pay attention to every attractive woman that walks by or is on TV and, worst of all, they probably will instantly feel the pull to imagine her naked. We as women just have to accept it and live with it because that doesn’t mean they are really cheating on us or not appreciating how we look. Men simply savor good looking women as a connoisseur might enjoy a piece of art. Well…I don’t know how this can help women enrich their relationships with their partners, but I cannot accept that the man I’m spending a nice stroll through town with really is thinking about having sex with that drop-dead gorgeous girl that just walked by and if he forces himself to not look at her, I should be eternally grateful to him for making an effort. I guess I’d just rather be single.
All and all, it is definitely not a book for me. Maybe I am just not ready to accept certain things without expecting some rewards. Ah well, call me selfish. But, like I said, if you feel that your relationship is quite all right and just needs a few improvements, then by all means you can reach out for this book and it might be just what you need.

Borrowed Words

I have decided to introduce a weekly post to my blog. It is called "Borrowed Words" because I will be posting words said or written by other people, some famous, and some not so much. What they all will have in common is that they will be words of encouragement, inspiration, spirituality or life wisdom. I have embarked on a kind of spiritual journey this year and I think that this will be a fun part of it. I will post new ones on Mondays, but there was no particular thought process behind picking a day. It simply occurred to me today, today is Monday, and so Monday it is. I hope you'll enjoy it and maybe think it fun enough along the way to post your own on your blogs.

Today, I give you words of Nelson Mandela, borrowed from his 1994 Inaugural Speech.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?"

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is withing us.

It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.

And as we let our light shine we unconsciously give other people permission to be the same.

As we are liberated from our own fears, our presence automatically liberates others.