The Fourth Fisherman by Joe Kissack [book review]

The Fourth Fisherman: How Three Mexican Fishermen Who Came Back from the Dead Changed My Life and Saved My Marriage by Joe Kissack

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Summary

This is the story of Kissack's life from 1997 to 2006, as well as the story of 3 Mexican fisherman that survive 9 months lost at sea. Kissack writes about how he lost control of his life, and how religion saved him. He also writes about the tale of 5 Mexican fisherman that get lost at sea, and the 3 that survived the ordeal.

Thoughts

This is supposed to be a touching tale. I didn't find it so. The way Kissack writes the first 98% of the book is more like listed facts, put into sentences, and then sealed so he wouldn't have to deal with it. Reading it, I didn't see much emotion. It was "I did this... I did that... This happened, that followed." When it came to writing about the fisherman, there was a little more emotion to the writing, but not much. It was still nearly a list of fact and like reading a long piece in the news.

When I started this book, I didn't really know what to expect beyond it to be somewhat of a memoir. That much it is. I found out about Joe Kissack, whom I'd never heard of before. I found out about his addictions, and how he runs from one addiction to another. I know about his faith in a god, though I don't know if it's Catholic, Evangelical, or some other faith he turned to. I know that he valued the story of the fisherman, and believes it's his god, putting him on trial to prove his faith.

As for the story of the fisherman, I was intrigued. I did a bit of research on the Internet to find out more about the story, but there is really not much more than what you'll find in the book. I don't think this book, nor Kissack's writing style gave enough emotion to the fishermans' tale to make it very exciting to read.

The most that it seemed like Kissack wrote with emotion in the entire book was in the last 2% of it, right before the end, when it was like an epilogue of what he and his wife were doing and how their family was healing. It's a good place to have emotion, but it makes it seem like the rest of the book was even more dull.

One more note: In the last 1/8 of the book, the author describes his trips to Mexico, what sort of things he has to go through, and repeatedly mentions how much money it costs and how worried he is that it's draining the family savings. The topic of money is mentioned quite possibly more frequently than how Kissack felt challenged to do his god's deeds. This, plus the writing style mentioned above, gave me the distinct feeling he was writing the book to pay some bills, not to get the word out about his new found faith and the story of the fisherman.

View all my reviews

~*~*~
I'd like to add some more notes of a personal style that don't have much to do with the book here. As an atheist, I read this book with a grain of salt. I thought it was rubbish that he would suddenly feel "clean and light" the same night his friend prayed with him. Could it be the copious amounts of drugs leaving his system to create this feeling? I would say so. After all, when you're hopped up on drugs, the world is a might bit fuzzy, and when you go off of it, it doesn't take too long to start feeling "clean and light" if you aren't focused on the withdrawal. I've seen many atheists go through similar.

My cynical nature noticed that Kissack still wrote mainly about himself. I suppose that's only fair because he wasn't one of the fisherman, and he couldn't have been there. However, it still felt awkward that he would claim the fisherman saved his life and marriage in the title when in the book he claimed his GOD saved it in the book. The title is absolutely misleading in this regard. I must remember never to do this in my own writing.

Alas, I had hoped to learn from this book how to portray a more religious experience for my own fictional writings that differed from my anthropology of religion books. I didn't learn that at all. Instead, I learnt that when writing a book about someone else's experiences, it's rather narcissistic sounding to tie your own life in if it takes up more than 50% of the tale. I also learnt that if you can't coerce someone to make a movie according to your whims, then you can always write a book and hope they buy it and make a movie out of it.

I also learnt more than I didn't want to know about some chap named Joe Kissack that was apparently rich (and famous?) in American TV syndication. I wish I knew more about the Mexican fisherman rather than getting this glossed over version of who they were as people. I'd like to know how they emotionally and mentally survived their ordeal beyond "belief and faith" since two of them didn't start out religious. What about their struggles to get over the death of their fallen comrades? I don't think Kissack did their part of the tale justice at all. I must remember that if I do a book in similar fashion not to gloss over an important part like that.

Kidnapped the Wrong Sister by Marie Kelly {book review}

Kidnapped the Wrong Sister by Marie Kelly

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

With my cat old and dying slowly, I needed a viable distraction, so I turned to my rarely used B&N Nook collection of free books. I chose this one at random (and because it was a very short book) for some unknown reason. It's obvious by the cover that it was going to be literotica, and I dislike erotica in general. They are usually written so horribly that you just can't get through them.

Shockingly, this one was only partially bad. It was mostly a cheesy romance between a British nurse and a Greek business god, but do not distress, there was sex. And lots of it. However, unlike literotica that's a horribly written porn script, this book had a storyline. *gasp* Gasp again... the storyline even made sense.

Diona flew to Greece to prevent her younger sister from marrying a man she'd met just that week, which is only sensible. Before she gets a chance to really talk to her sister, Daryle, or even meet the man she was about to marry, Alexis (yeah, I was confused by the gender switching of names too), she is manipulated into staying at Alexis older brother's house. Enter the Greek business god, Nikias.

Now, Nikias has the same intentions as Diona, which is to stop the marriage. Except, he does it by kidnapping Diona, whom he assumes to be Daryle, and confusion, lust, and romance ensues. OK, so more sexual tension and lust than the other parts.

What about the characters? Well, they actually had personalities, not just pretty looks and awesome bedroom moves. Diona is your classical spunky heroine, Nikias is your typical gorgeous/handsome chauvinist pig turned Mr. Right. Alexis and Daryle are just there for the set up of the romance and storyline development, but they even have vague personalities that almost might have identified with something other than bubbly, caring, warm personalities if the author had bothered to spend much time with them.

By the end of it, everyone's happy, the couples fall madly in love and get together. What? You were actually going to read it to find out how the story ends?

View all my reviews

Knocking on Heaven's Door by Katy Butler [book review]

Knocking on Heaven's Door: A Daughter's Journey Through Old Age and New Medicine by Katy Butler

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Disclosure: I choose to read this book for review because I have an healthy fascination with death rituals which stems from studying anthropology. I also have several friends that are going into the medical field or are already there. While reading this book I was looking a relaxed, informational way of portraying the information and cultural attitudes about death, while also looking at any "how they did it" sort of information.

Knocking on Heaven's Door is a memoir of what Butler and her family went through after her father's stroke, and details the tribulations of dealing with the corrupt medical system. I applaud Butler for having the guts to write this book. Anyone would find the subject matter personal and extremely difficult to write. However, Butler uses that to infuse the writing with eloquence and passion. Several times I caught myself wishing I could help her and her family during their crisis as any human being would want to help another that is suffering.

During this impassioned writing, Butler does a fairly good job at explaining the medical system, and how the system is set up for allowing a good deal of corruption and pressure from the biomedical industry. During which, she specifically explains Medicare, the pace-maker industry, and how doctors are monetarily rewarded by the industries for putting mechanical parts in people, rather than spending a little extra compassionate time with the patient. Despite having been so affected by this sort of drama, Butler shows heroic constraint when detailing the set up and how it affected her family. You can tell it's biased, but it is far from inflammatory. The descriptions are simply matter of fact with a personal anecdote.

Butler also recounts the difficulties inherent with getting a life saving medical treatment, such as a pacemaker, turned off when the patient is suffering and miserable, but unable to communicate these thoughts. This is quite possibly the most tragic and interesting parts to me from an anthropological point of view. Butler notes all the people she talked to on the ethics committees, and all the steps they take to ensure that it's not a murder to turn off the medical equipment. She also notes the limitations of a hospice and a "do not resuscitate" bracelet may affect the various medical decisions along the way. These little notes of wisdom of what the Butler family faced may help others facing similar situations, as well as offer compassion and understanding.

Butler also repeatedly mentions another aspect that I found quite interesting from an anthropological point of view: She notes that her parents grew up in an age where medical advancements were really just starting, and the whole of their generation was enamoured by science, but there wasn't the healthy dose of skepticism yet. Butler notes the changes coming to such an attitude as information and experiences are had and shared.

There was one part of the book that I thought completely irrelevant, and that was when Butler spent a whole chapter explaining how she and her mother found Zen Buddhism. Not that being a Buddhist is irrelevant, since that aspect shows how she and her mother approached things from a pacifist way. We all know that we are influenced by our beliefs, so that part is relevant. But to spend an entire chapter on the finding of Buddhism shuffled into the middle of the book struck me as not relevant. After this point, my interest in the book dwindled.

Alas, despite the one chapter that threw my attention off, it was a pretty decent book. It was good all the way to the last 2 chapter, which then diverted from the memoir to more of a commentary on "slow medicine" and "good deaths". In Butler’s opinion, as well as my own, slow medicine for those nearing death and a good death are more important than expensive last ditch efforts to extend life by a day, even if that life is miserable.

As a final note, Butler mentioned in the book that her age was in the early 50s as she went through this ordeal. This information is definitely in a past tense, and there may be advancements in ethics committees and the regulations that Butler didn't mention. I do hope that a lot of people read this book, and when they do, they have the courage to ask their doctors for more information, then really evaluate their options to live out life the way they want to live through their twilight years.

This was a truly good book, but due to the chapter on how the Butler women came to Buddhism making my attention flag in the middle of the book and the ending chapters being less passionately written than the others, I did not give it 4 or 5 stars. I'd give it 3.5 if Goodreads had allowed it. It's an enlightening and academic book as much as it is a heart warming and, at times, a heart wrenching memoir.

View all my reviews

Reader's Digest {2000, vol. 1} [book reviews]

Black Notice by Patricia Cornwell

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

OK, lets start with the good part: It doesn't have werewolves like I feared it might from the story and description in the first half of the story. Instead, it sticks with real life, albeit the weirder parts of life. The author used a real disorder called hypertrichosis, as well as the very real idea that this is what gave birth to the idea of werewolves.

Now, this story is about a medical examiner. However, it's like reading an outdated version of Bones (the TV show). They use AOL for interoffice stuff, of all things. I was thinking, this book was written in 2000, and they are still talking about using AOL and chat forums? That's stuff so outdated.

At least the science in it wasn't too bad. I mean, it was all CSI, and not even really that accurate. I don't know if it was just the Reader's Digest version, of or if the full length book also sounded like a bad episode of a crime show. Even the characters were shallow, one dimensional, and not worth reading about at all. Either it's a bad book, or a bad job of condensing.

Eddie's Bastard by William Kowalski

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I don't often rate Reader's Digest's books so high, but then again, I rarely come across one worth reading. Eddie's Bastard was a simple story about a boy who is orphaned on his grandpa's steps as a baby. When he is found by his alcoholic grandfather, it changes their lives. The old man struggles to regain himself and his family, the boy struggles to find himself and his family. Together, they fail and succeed.

What struck me most about this story is that it didn't end on necessarily a happy note. It ended on a hopeful one, but it wasn't all rainbows and sunshine. Billy, Eddie's bastard, didn't win the love of his life, his grandpa died, and he still didn't have all the answers. Grandpa, on the other hand, managed to redeem himself before dying peacefully and gracefully.

I actually want to buy this book some day.

Boundary Waters by William Kent Krueger

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Another RD book that was just so-so. It was a mystery that involved chasing after the bad guys while trying to figure out who's the puppet master behind the problems. The twist involves that it was on Native American reservation, and had touches of Native American culture to the story. It wasn't a bad story, but I'm not so sure I was attached to any of the characters. That's possibly the fault of RD condensing it badly, though.

The Innocents Within: A Novel by Robert Daley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a historical fiction book based on real events that happened during WWII in France. I was completely blown away by it's presence in a Reader's Digest book, so I enjoyed it while it lasted. I've always had a thing for historical fiction and military history, so combing them probably puts me in a biased mood for a review.

Nonetheless, this was a great story about what happened in France during the height of the war and Nazi invasion. It is the story of a pastor that saves Jewish lives, it's the story of a pilot that found love after his plane went down. It's about struggles and survival in a time of complete oppression. It's also about redemption.

I shall have to seek out the full version of this book since this condensed version seemed lacklustre in parts. I'm hoping the full version brings about more of the details and emotions.

View all my reviews

Quiet by Susan Cain [book review]

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Disclosure: When I signed up to read Quiet, it was because I wanted to learn more about the differences between extroversion and introversion so I could be a better business owner and work with my employees better. I also wanted to be able to write characters in books better. It is with these to things in mind that I read the book and I write this review.

Quiet is an interesting book in the topic, but it is nothing so new as to be completely stunning to me. Anyone that has taken a psychology or personality test knows that there are introverts and extroverts. We practically grew up with the terms through our youth. At least here in western cultures. And that is precisely the point that Cain makes with Quiet.

The first 2/3 of the book is really about what introversion is, how people that are considered introverted and quiet are different from extroverts fundamentally and in personality, and what makes us introverted genetically and culturally. Cain does a wonderful job of laying all three of these points throughout the third, then expounding upon them for the second third of the book. You'd think this could drag on and get boring, but it really doesn't. Instead of writing this in a dry academic tone, Cain writes in a popular science sort of way, but her own quiet confidence shows through. I suppose in parts one could find it boring, as I did not find it necessary to constantly run to pick up the book every second I had free. It is a smooth read, thoughtfully laid out, and with a LOT of well researched information.

The last 1/3 of the book was more of a self-help feeling. I can say I wasn't impressed by this part, but that does not mean it wasn't bad, nor was it helpful. It just seemed like common sense to me. When you read it, and surely you will, you'll see that Cain goes through one chapter about how to comes to terms with and work with the introversion in adult people. These are focused around interpersonal relationships as well as in the work place, so it's quite useful for those that are not as intuitive to both sides of the introversion-extroversion argument. Another chapter is devoted entirely to the raising of and working with introverted children. I found this section much more helpful as Cain brought up the school system, and I just happen to be an educator. She points out that children are just miniature adults, and should be treated and worked with accordingly, perhaps with a lot more care for the most sensitive of the bunch.

Despite of me feeling that this stuff was obvious, I also realise it is very necessary to state many of these things. It is a very good book for people that would like to know more about the whys and hows of introversion, how to step into or out of your own introversion or extroversion to the other side, and how to work with people that are introverted or extroverted. Not only does this book has a lot of applicable use to it as a psychology book, it really celebrates those quiet, reflective introverted moments of everyone's life.

Disclaimer: I was given this book to review by WaterBook Multnomah Press. I am under no obligation to give a good review, just an honest one.

View all my reviews

Surveys, religion and you

This is an interesting situation, really. I volunteer to read books and blog about them all the time. Rarely do I get a survey about my religious beliefs, which later turns into an offer for a book to review. OK, so I've recently had an incident of this.

Anyone that knows me knows I'm not religious. I do, however, delight in learning about religion in a very anthropological sort of way. To this end, I'm excited about getting a review copy of Firsthand: Ditching Secondhand Religion for a Faith of Your Own.

The publishers say that this is a story of a religious journey of two boys that got tired of the faith they inherited from their parents, and decided to go off and discover their own that suited them. Granted, this makes me think they made a religion. I can't help but giggling over the idea of a church devoted to the baker that makes delicious cakes, or maybe someone that blends awesome tea. 

It is unlikely that it'll be something so awesome as creating a church to something non-diety oriented since it's by a Christian publisher and touted as being Christian and finding faith in their lord. But, I'm still hoping it'll be an interesting and not-too-preachy story of how two boys (brothers, I think by the name) found themselves in a religion they are comfortable with. 

First off, though, I'll be finishing Quiet by Susan Cain. Maybe I'll give my brain a break with the second book in that RD volume I was reading before wading into a book potentially full of religiosity.

Just received Quiet by Susan Cain

I just received my review copy of the book Quiet by Susan Cain. I can't tell you how excited I am to read something like this. While I'm not reading this as a self-help book, I am reading it to learn about my other half. As in, the other half of me. I can go from being amiable and somewhat out going, but only in spurts. I prefer solitude. I prefer quiet. 

My fiancée, on the other hand, is the opposite. He takes forays into the world of an introvert, but for the most part is somewhat gregarious and outgoing. He prefers being with friends and having a good time playing board games while talking and telling stories. 

Most of all, though, I'm hoping to learn how to work with people that are more introverted than myself. I'm going to run a business, and I would like to create an environment that is welcoming to all types -- including those that prefer a cave of solitude to an open room full of conversation. They are opposites, and I'm hoping that I'll learn what it'll take to make my business all it could be for the people that work there. 

I also hope to use this book to create good, solid introverted characters. Yes, I may be somewhat introverted, but only somewhat. I want to know the full spectrum of the psychology. Armed with that knowledge, I should be able to write a fully believable introverted character that isn't stereotypical. 

Now, the only decision left is to abandon the RD volume I just started or to finish at least the one story that I'm in the middle of....