Book Review: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Twins long separated after the death of a cousin and a family scandal reunite, but the sorrow doesn’t go away. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, retells the childhood experience of a set of twins in which seemingly insignificant things shape behavior in unexpected ways in the backdrop of postcolonial India and the lingering effects of casteism.

Roy’s debut novel relates events in 1969 and 1993, with backstories for each, in a disjointed narrative that while taking a little bit getting use to overall didn’t hurt my understanding of events as many times they were explained before we saw them unfold. The antagonist, or the character who is the most villainously influential in conjunction with the societal norms that negatively impact the two protagonists, is hard to miss because of how ugly she is though seen through the eyes of one of the traumatized twins turned adults it could be influencing the description of said individual. There is sexual situations that run the gambit of healthy to bad, very bad which could be off-putting to some readers and frankly when I read the one of them I wish I hadn’t even though I knew a head of time it would be alluded to but didn’t know I actually read it as it happened. Overall, I’m a bit conflicted about the book, I appreciate that Roy showed the societal conflicts of postcolonial India, the characters were interesting, but some of the situations that “we see” I somewhat wish we were told instead. To me personally this is a one-time read, but this is not a book I would re-read.

The God of Small Things looks into how a culture tries to keep its traditions in a time of increasing globalization through the eyes of children and their grown up selves recounting how what appeared as insignificant things impacted their lives dramatically one awful night.

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Book Review: The Federalist by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay

The Federalist Or, the New Constitution by Alexander Hamilton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The United States was in dire need of a form of government that worked better than the Articles of Confederation, in the summer of 1787 a convention in Philadelphia produced what would become the Constitution of the United States but its ratification wasn’t guaranteed especially by the most important states in the Union. The Federalist is a collection of 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay to convince the citizens of New York to support the ratification of the Constitution that also explained for the historical record what two of its framers believed how the government it created would work and why.

The essays making of The Federalist are a look into both political theory, as three men expound how the proposed government would work in practice and refute allegations against it, and also political history as with two of the Constitution’s Framers and another prominent Founding Father defending it we see how important in the time and day they believed this document was. This is the culmination of almost a quarter century of political writing since the start of the tax dispute with Britain in which the arguments of political thinkers Locke and Montesquieu were prominent as they were within the writings of Hamilton, Madison, and Jay. There are several famous essays known by their numbers (#10, 14, 39, 51, 70, and 78) that become the standards of American political thought to this day. While students of political history and readers of political theory read The Federalist to understand the arguments for the Constitution and to glimpse the thinking that lay behind the document, was it’s intended purpose successful? While New York ratified the Constitution, it was the last of the big four and the overall eleventh state to do so, the Constitution was operational, and the state convention was packed with opponents but being left out of the new government was too much to handle. It could be argued that the essays didn’t sway New York, political reality did, but why is this collection famous? Hamilton and Madison, two young men instrumental in getting the Constitutional Convention called, attended and debated, and then influenced the new government they created over the course of the next quarter century.

The Federalist is a collection of 85 essays planned out to show the need for and defend the Constitution sent to the 13 states to be ratified and create a new government. Written by three prominent Founding Fathers, these essays are in the words of history Richard B. Morris, “a classic in political science unsurpassed in both breadth and depth by the product of any later American writer.”

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Book Review: Jeremiah by Timothy Joseph Golden

Jeremiah by Timothy Joseph Golden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The long career of Jeremiah was not a fun, rewarding experience for the prophet born into a line of priests, but one of profound personal sadness, humiliation, the constant threat of death and more. Jeremiah: The Prophet of Crisis is the supplemental book of the Adult Sabbath School Bible Study (4th Quarter 2015) by Timothy Joseph Golden covers Jeremiah’s prophetic career of warning Judah of the coming divine punishment and how his life mirrors that of Christ in several areas. In 143 pages Golden covers the career and book of Jeremiah that space allows, bringing out important lessons that we today can learn from while also covering the history of the last five kings of Judah before the Babylonian Captivity. This was the first supplemental book that referred to the contents of the weekly lesson in the quarterly and not having a copy means I couldn’t get background—however given I this book is almost 10 years old mean it couldn’t be helped—but regardless the chapters were still good reads. Overall this is was a good read.

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Book Review: The Discoverers by Daniel Boorstin

The Discoverers: A History of Man's Search to Know His World and Himself by Daniel J. Boorstin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Today in our interconnected global community we take for granted how much we know about the world around us, but not so long ago every aspect of our modern world would have been considered fantasy but through individuals who expanded the knowledge of their time our world was made. The Discoverers by Daniel Boorstin is a historic tale of individuals that pushed the boundaries of human discoveries in the physical realm and more theoretical ones.

Boorstin begins his book with how the calendar came about and finished with how the atom went from concept to fact and in between he covered how time got measured, how the earth was measured then fully mapped out, how plants and animals were classified, and finally how everything about man from the inside out and his creation of science shaped himself and the world. In almost 700 pages Boorstin explores how individuals—all men to be honest—built on the work of others even if it meant they undercut that had come before to revealing something new and unknown, even if it went up against “the establishment” whether that meant the academic consensus or the all-powerful Church, with each segment focusing on a different avenue for discoveries near seamlessly transitioning from one to another. Boorstin’s focus is on the West, he does give China a spotlight early one though to show a cultural contrast, and one needs to come into the book with full knowledge that it will be European-focused.

The Discoverers is the first of a trilogy series by Daniel Boorstin on “Knowledge”, a hefty book that covers a wide range of human adventures into their world.

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Book Review: Lore Olympus Volume Four by Rachel Smythe

Lore Olympus: Volume Four by Rachel Smythe
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The complicated relationship between the goddess of spring and the king of the underworld has entered its fourth day and not only are the two protagonists that are having trouble, but it also seems all of Olympus is starting to have issues. Lore Olympus Volume Four by Rachel Smythe finds Hades and Persephone attempting to navigate their various feelings, traumas, and daily tasks while also figuring out whatever is happening between them.

Covering episodes #76-102 of her webcomic, Smythe begins developing the backstories for both Hades and Persephone while also expanding the roster of Greek gods in her retelling of the ancient mythos. However, this doesn’t stop the progression of both main character’s ongoing “present-day” stories and how they are dealing with the increasingly annoying gossip mill building around them amongst the citizens of Olympus as well as their family members and friends. Smythe continues to build the subplots that are expanding and filling out Olympus giving the world more depth. The artwork continues to be excellent and engaging, which given the format of the media is a must. However, for some reason while I enjoyed the filling in of the main characters’ backstory, the introduction of more gods, and the slow building of other subplots there was something this entire volume that just wasn’t clicking with me and I don’t know what exactly.

Lore Olympus Volume Four by Rachel Smythe continues storytelling whose quality I’ve enjoyed up to this point, however for everything I liked while reading there was just something that wasn’t clicking with me the entire book.

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Book Review: The Shaping of America by Page Smith

The Shaping of America: A People's History of the Young Republic by Page Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The struggle against the political encroachment of Britain and the ensuing military struggle led to independence, but now the real problems began how to follow up. The Shaping of America: A People’s History of the Young Republic is the third volume of Page Smith’s A People’s History series going over the history of the United States with this volume covering the aftermath of the 1783 Treaty of Paris to the deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson in 1826.

Smith viewed the young nation caught between two intellectual consciousnesses—the Classical-Christian of the Revolutionary generation, whose last gasp brought about the Constitution, and the Secular-Democratic inspired by the Enlightenment in the generation that followed the Founders, though ironically led by a few of the Founders. Though Secular-Democratic thought came out on top, it was deeply influenced by the intellectual viewpoint it had replaced especially as the international scene saw the resurgence of absolute monarchism in the aftermath of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. Though politically the Secular-Democratic intellectual view was victorious, socially the Protestant Christian emphasis on redeeming the world was a major thread in the American tapestry and eventually come up against the issue that the Founders and the next generation didn’t want to confront, black slavery. As Smith ended this volume, he highlighted the growing cloud that slavery was becoming for those in the North and South while the “original” West was beginning to pick sides. But once again I found Smith’s facts about Native American tribes inaccurate in some instances that I was shaking my head, and I don’t know much about that subject which speaks volumes. Overall, this was a well-written and fascinating look at the history of the young republic, while Smith’s analysis or chosen themes might not be for everyone but that is the point as it reveals the uncomfortable facts that need to be addressed.

The Shaping of America follows up the two-volume history of the American Revolution with a fascinating and engaging look at the young republic as Page Smith reveals all facets of the United States over four critical decades.

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Book Review: Where God and I Meet: The Sanctuary by Martin Probstle

Where God and I Meet: The Sanctuary by Martin T. Preobstle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The sanctuary is essential to the distinctive Adventist doctrine of the investigative judgment and from the beginning the sanctuary has been where God has come to meet with his creation first in Heaven then on Earth. Where God and I Meet: The Sanctuary is the supplemental book of the Adult Sabbath School Bible Study (4th Quarter 2013) by Martin Proebstle reveals God’s character and His plan of redemption through Jesus’ death. Through 144 pages divided into 13 chapters, Proebstle goes over the Heavenly Sanctuary, the various earthly sanctuaries (yes more than the Israelite tabernacle and Temples), the meanings of the sacrifices, the yearly Day of Atonement, and finally everything connected with the Investigative Judgment doctrine. This is a fascinating combination of Biblical history, a look at the plan of redemption, and finally how God had a plan to solve the sin problem from before it appeared.

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