hmmm i had some major disappointment with this book. It just wasn't right from the start. It would have been totally awesome to do a story about soldiers and to get so intimate with them, but this was very poorly done in my opinion. I'm not sure if you'd call it bad writing skills or what, but I had to force myself to get through it.
anyways, you may not agree, it's just my humble opinion.
This story had me torn. I really liked what the story was written about, and I give a lot of kudos to Stephanie Gibbs to write a very real life story about what it is like for soldiers in the war. On the other hand, I was not a big fan to how it was written.
For starters, the story is about a reporter, Logan, who is sent to Baghdad to film the war. She is set up to stay with the 101 Airborne Division. She meets the soldiers and throughout the story she films the happenings of the war.
Logan gets to know these soldiers and respects and appreciates them all. She also meets the medical doctors there and forms a special bond with one in particular. I would add more to the story, but that is it. I feel as though Stephanie Gibbs did not introduce her characters well at all. She did a great job at dialoging them talking amongst each other, but I was never really interested because I felt like I was reading the dialogue of strangers. I think it is one of the most important jobs for an author to make his/her readers connect with the characters and fall in love with them; in this instance, this did not happen. Had we really gotten to know Logan and the soldiers, her dialogue would have been spectacular because you would have really had an appreciation for their personalities.For example, within the first few chapters, Logan meets the soldiers and a few pages later they are all acting like best friends; laughing, joking, wrestling, and talking about serious life issues. In reality, people don’t do that. It takes time to warm up to people and be able to become that friendly and adjust to such a new situation like war. I think that was the biggest part that made this story so unrealistic; there were no way the characters would have been able to be as intimate together as she portrayed in such a short amount of time. Everyone basically worshipped the ground Logan walked on, and she didn’t even do anything special.What I also thought was rather random was the fact that a few of the characters were born again Christians. Throughout the story, Stephanie Gibbs had them convert people. One minute the person would be making fun of the fact that so and so was so into his religion, then in the next they would suddenly have a feeling wash over them and just like that, they were ready to commit to God. I don’t buy that. People don’t do that. It is unrealistic.
Like I stated above, I really think the idea of the story is great, but I don’t think the ultimate goal was achieved here. I would not read this book again, nor recommend it.
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4 comments:
I guess everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion about this book. But to say it was poorly writing or badly writing is not fair. This book is a work of fiction, hence the word fiction.
It is not suppose to reflect real life in any way, form or sorts.
If it were it would be a Biography, one of truth or real.
I read the book and found it to be an enjoyable read and quiet well.
I would recommend this book and had done such. To read this book
without an open mind is a waste of time if you ask me. You have to take The book and see it for what it is. Not go into it trying to find every little thing that might be wrong with it. In doing so you miss the true meaning of the book and message the author is
trying to get across. It’s about finding faith, love and becoming saved in the end.
Book Lover, Texas
Book Lover in Texas,
I greatly appreciate your opinion. I love it when people actually have an opinion about the books they read, even if they are oppositite mine. So I'd first like to thank you for that! :-) I do have to disagree with you on a few things. I am a reviewer. It is my job to read through the book and find the shortfalls about it, as well as the great parts of it. I was asked by Stephanie Gibbs and/or her publisher to review her book, and i did.
As I stated in my review, I think the book had a lot of positives, but I found parts of the book that I think would cause a number of people to dislike it. You are right, it is a work of fiction, therefore there is no right or wrong to what she can put in it, but I think I owe it to her possible readers to tell them a bit about the book; both the positive and negative. Some may agree with me, some may not.
A review is not done to simply give a summary of the book, but also to talk about the writing style, skills, and format of the story, which I did.
I'm glad you enjoyed the book, I think many people would. I personally did not, but we are not all the same, and have different ideas of what makes a good story.
Thank you again for your comment
:-)
-ashley
i respect your view on the book but i read it and know the aurthor i also know that that was her first book to write and was inpressed with the finished product.the great thing about it is she still has room for improvement.
I 100% agree with you! I think there is always room for improvement within a story. I give so much credit to first time authors, (all authors actually), but especially to first timers because they are really putting themselves out there. They deserve so much respect.
To each his own when it comes to liking or disliking the plot of the story, but that is what makes us all unique and different.
I am glad to post this review on my site, as well as on www.frontstreetreviews.com because first time authors deserve all of the publicity possible for their book so that the public can hear about it and read it, then decide for themselves if they like it.
Thanks again for your honest comments :-)
-Ashley
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