Tag: Christian

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Review: Chasing the Avatar

Chasing the Avatar by Jovan Jones

Sadly, I give this book a 2.

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Maya is an educated and highly successful black woman who is somewhat lost in her life. In search of meaning and higher purpose, Maya latches on to Cha Ma, a believed avatar for the Hindu goddess Kali. The story that follows is a recount of any and everything Maya is willing to do to reach enlightenment, but then there’s also the presence of Maya’s Christian praying parents.

Initially the idea of this story had me more than intrigued. I read a few pages in the bookstore just to get a feel of what the narrative would be like, and what I sampled, pulled me in. Unfortunately, trying to read the whole story wasn’t so exciting.

So, here’s the good. The descriptions in the book are amazing and full of life and emotion. Seeing the difference and, oddly enough, the seminaries of worship and praise rituals between the Hindu faith and the Christian faith were astounding. If someone were completely foreign the ideas of Hinduism and Christianity, they may have trouble deciding which they’d prefer, given that both are depicted in such a powerful way in the beginning of this book.

My favorite parts of the story quickly became the passages describing Maya’s day to day encounters while staying in India, but they didn’t remain my favorites for long.

Also, the contrast of Maya’s adventures in India and her parent’s struggle back home started out as this epic spiritual battle that was entertaining to see unfold, but alas it didn’t end that way.

The bad came on so slowly, I almost didn’t see it until I realized that reading the story was starting to make me angry. Everything in the beginning of this story was so powerful, and vibrant, and new, but after a while everything became repetitive. The back and forth spiritual struggle, while entertaining at first, became monotonous. Maya didn’t start off the story being an especially likable character, but she was an interesting character with a spiritual dilemma that many could possibly relate to, but after a while, she just became annoying.

I could go on debating the many aspects of this story that I truly appreciated in hopes not to turn others away, but in the end, I just didn’t enjoy this reading experience. For anyone who’s read any of my other reviews, it shouldn’t come as too much of a shock that I was also annoyed that this book had no conclusion. It leaves you hanging on for the next book, but it doesn’t exactly leave you with a cliffhanger. I also have to be completely honest and admit that I’d already started skipping around through the book when I discovered the ending was lacking.

I have a feeling that my tendency to read a lot of fantasy and sci-fi may have had something to do with why this reading experience was so unpleasant, but I’m not putting all the blame on that. I’ve been expanding my reading horizons lately and this book just didn’t keep my attention, even though it had so much potential.

I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book unless you happened to be interested in religious mash-ups and spiritual warfare, but I do have a few people in mind that I’m going to share this with.

This review has been posted to GoodReads. If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

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Books

Review: The Oath

The Oath by Frank Peretti

I give this book a 4.

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This book is not what I thought it would be, but I liked it. The Oath tells the story of a town with so many secrets that people are beginning to die because of them, but maybe this has been going on for a while. At the beginning of the story, it is a stranger from out of town who’s the victim of a horribly violent death that begins to bring light to the existence of the Oath.  The Oath itself is a little difficult to grasp, but it seems that the people of this town have collectively decided to do whatever they want at any time and never speak of it, proudly defying the notion of consequence or sin. As everyone knows, no secret is kept forever and in Hyde River, the silence has manifested itself with terrifying results.

This book was a short and easy story to traverse. The imagery was in-depth, but not wordy. I felt as if the whole story was delivered in a matter-of-fact kind of way, as if the author was telling you the story at your house over coffee. I think what I liked best about the book was how real it seemed. I’m pretty sure I’ve been to that small town on more than one occasion. A place where people point the finger at one another, but never actually says anything.

From a fantasy perspective, the physical manifestation of sin is one of the scariest monsters I’ve come across in a while. I was intrigued by the hunting sequences and the whole predatory and prey struggle. There is absolutely nothing vulgar about this story, but it does touch on many sensitive subjects such as: infidelity, substance abuse, greed and pride, and more.

Me being me, I also liked the spiritual aspects of the story. This is definitely an adult read, but while younger children may not be able to understand the imagery or handle the dark elements, and some teens may not be able to grasp the maturity of some themes, I think this is good story for anyone.

This review has been posted to GoodReads.

If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

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Excerpts Spotlights

Author Spotlight: Milton Kelly 1.3

spotlight

An excerpt from

The Real Purpose Of Networking

image provided by author

“You need to find your purpose for networking and attending networking events. There are so many reasons for attending networking events. Regardless of what your reasons or purpose is that you need to have an understanding that it is not about getting sales at the networking events. The purpose of attending networking events is the process of building relationships. Remember people will only do business or give opportunities to those individuals that they know and trust. The purpose of networking is to understand the power of people. Networking is about concentrating on the focus on bringing together successful, motivated professionals to help each other to become even more successful by meeting new people to create connections that will take their careers or business to the next level and beyond. The purpose of networking should be about growth. If you are not looking to achieve growth then you are wasting your time of networking. The purpose for networking should be about community for business like minded individuals. It should be about support from both ends. Support should go both ways. Networking with professional individuals is working as a team. There is no “I” in the team. Another word you should all be working together. There should be unity or harmony when you are networking. The purpose of networking should not be about hanging out business cards trying to hustle people for business. Networking is generally a community of support, concern, upliftment, and empowerment. Networking should consist of the following components such as Professionalism, Consistency, Reliability, Intelligence, Resourcefulness, Strength, and Forward Thinking.”

You may find this book at the following links:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble Nook |CreateSpace

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords