Candice
This should probably come with content warnings because I honestly had no idea who the fish guy was when I started reading... but also the fact that I didn't know made it all the more of an eye opener.
Holy shit.
The second half of the book was definitely in the category of “why the fuck wasn't I taught this in school?!”
I mostly enjoyed this. It was a quick read and while it is a little dated now, I thought it did a good job talking about how things have gotten more progressive and how each movement has evolved.
But.
There is a single line of semi-acknowledgement in it that I think is probably going to make people throw it in the trash. And maybe that's why I don't see this book on any reading lists when it otherwise was great?
Hint: It's about Messianics.
I read all the pages, so I'm marking it read. I have a rough idea about who a few characters are and how a few characters died, but it's still very much a work in progress because I have eleventy-billion notes that I need to digitize so I can search them more effectively. I have a pretty good idea of how individuals are clued and referred to and introduced, so we'll see if I can submit a solve by December.
If you liked this type of puzzle book, may I also humbly recommend you go buy “S.” by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst? You won't regret it. And also because I need people to talk to about it with the furor that people talk about this book. (ETA: While an audiobook does exist, sort of, you need a print copy.)
3.5⭐️? — It's a bit dated now and the size of the book is awkward to handle, but there were some interesting insights in it. I liked how there were many suggestions for each mitzvot and some were listed in stages of increasing difficulty of observance, so someone could choose to start with a manageable change. The footnotes with book suggestions and Appendix with the Talmud page and other info were helpful too.
Meh.
There are a lot of lists to read which felt more like word count filler.
The themes are weak (RANT: Louis chooses his freedom over safety in the zoo, but is also totally fine “donating” his cygnets every year to ensure his freedom.... so apparently the cygnets's freedom means nothing. E.B. White rationalizes this by saying he should donate his “defective” cygnets so the zoo can take extra good care of them.......but Louis was also “defective” at birth and his dad went above and beyond to care for him instead of dumping him at a zoo...)
He has his foot surgically mutilated to play more notes and that's totally fine in a kid's book I guess?
He's in love with a vain swan he can't even communicate with just because she's pretty.
Sam Beaver is constantly compared to looking like “an Indian” for no apparent reason??
I could go on, but it's not worth my time.
If you want exact instructions every step of the way and want to be told exactly which curricula to buy for every grade for a classical, Christian, education at home, then this is for you.
It's not for me.
I did save a lot of resource ideas, but definitely skimmed a large part of the book once I established this wasn't what I was looking for.
Solid meh.
Almost 400 pages of small talk with forgettable people and NPCs. There's a “Love in the time of Cholera” feel about the situation with the male character, but even less endearing.
First page is great, ending would have been great (or at least worthy of a cheesy 90s Tom Hanks romance) if the middle had actually had any character depth, banter, or real INTERACTION OF ANY KIND between the protagonists.
