Official Review: No Place for Eco-Sinners by Racheal Bates

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ALynnPowers
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Official Review: No Place for Eco-Sinners by Racheal Bates

Post by ALynnPowers »

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "No Place for Eco-Sinners" by Racheal Bates.]
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No Place for Eco-Sinners by Racheal Bates is a unique short novel in a category all on its own. Suitable for young adults (or even more mature middle-grade readers, with caution due to strong language), this story combines elements from the real world with paranormal themes. Based on the summary I read before starting the book, I assumed that this was a parody, and I dove into the story expecting nothing but satire and humor.

Set in Nova Scotia, Canada, No Place for Eco-Sinners follows young Robyn over a few years of her life, starting at age thirteen. Robyn is a rather unexceptional girl, though her love for pollution sets her apart from others her age. Yes, you read that right. She loves pollution. Because of her refusal to recycle and conform to the environmental-friendly conventions of modern society, Robyn is an outcast with no friends. Then one day, Robyn meets Syd, another kid who loves pollution just as much she she does. However, Syd is not an ordinary boy; he is the personification of the Sydney Tar Ponds, a nearby site of waste pollution from a steel factory. Though Syd is merely the product of Robyn’s imagination, an imaginary friend of sorts, to Robyn, he is very real. Unfortunately, pesky environmentalists are working to bury the Sydney Tar Ponds and replace it with a park. Their success equals death for Robyn’s best friend.

The first thing I noticed when I opened this book was the unconventional formatting. At least three different fonts appeared within the book, none of which would be considered acceptable within the academic world, and one of which I can only describe as “childish chalkboard print.” All of these fonts were, to put it bluntly, ridiculously large. Even set to the smallest option, I couldn’t tolerate reading this book on my Kindle because only thirteen lines would fit on a single page, with an average of five words per line. I had no choice but to read on my PC, where I could zoom out to a more reasonable size. The margins of the page were also very large, allowing fewer words to fit on a single page and increasing the overall page count. Paragraphs were centered on the page in some chapters and aligned to the left in others. The depth of paragraph indentation also varied chapter to chapter, if paragraphs were indented at all. Either the author knows nothing about proper formatting, or she intentionally chose to slap the publishing world in the face by doing things her own way.

Because of all of this non-standard formatting, this book was actually much shorter than I anticipated and resulted in an extremely quick read. During most of the hour that I spent reading this story, I was trying to figure out whether this was truly a parody or not. My instinct told me that it must be a parody – certainly the author is trying to point out how silly and insane it is for someone to support pollution – and I couldn’t help laughing out loud at the absurd situations presented throughout the story.

However, the prologue indicates that this is a “true story,” so there is always the chance that it is not meant to be a parody. If not, it’s nothing short of extremely disturbing, and I can’t imagine that anyone would take it seriously or hold it in high regards. Aside from the unprofessional formatting, there are too many other problems with the story. The characters are flat without much development at all, and conversations between teenagers and adults are childish and unrealistic. Then, out of left field, paranormal elements appear without any follow-up explanation, and the story suddenly ends without any sort of resolution.

I am giving this story an official rating of 2 out of 4 stars. I am only rating it this high because it made me laugh so much. If you choose to read this book, I recommend going into the same way that I did. Think of it as a parody and enjoy laughing at how silly it is. Then don’t forget to properly sort your recycling.

***
Buy "No Place for Eco-Sinners" on Amazon
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Post by CapeBretonBookLover »

Thank you for the review, and for being honest. Syd was my imaginary friend, so it definitely isn't a parody, but thank you for reading it.
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Post by ALynnPowers »

I want to give you bonus points now for being such a sweetheart and not getting all upset with me!
And I didn't even mention it in the review because I didn't see it until now, but the cover of the book is super cute! I saw one of your books somewhere else (probably on this site!) and I loved that cover as well! Do you make them yourself? Want to make some for me? Hahaha, kidding. But seriously, I love them!
And your avatar is adorable as well. The eyes are creeping me out a little bit, but I like it. 8)
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Post by CapeBretonBookLover »

thank you, the book covers I made are for my grade 11 art class this year. :)
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Post by ALynnPowers »

Dang! For real?!?! PSH... When I was in art class it was like, here draw this boot. I wish I had learned real art like this! And by real I just mean cute and amazing.
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Post by CapeBretonBookLover »

thanks, I'm glad you like them :D
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Post by jhollan2 »

I am weirdly intrigued by this review. It sounds like such a strange concept, that I almost feel compelled to read it and see for myself. I can honestly say I have never read a book promoting pollution before...unless you count a children's book I seem to recall about a goat who ate garbage. Thank you for your honest and well written review.
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Post by ALynnPowers »

jhollan2 wrote:I am weirdly intrigued by this review. It sounds like such a strange concept, that I almost feel compelled to read it and see for myself. I can honestly say I have never read a book promoting pollution before...unless you count a children's book I seem to recall about a goat who ate garbage. Thank you for your honest and well written review.
To be honest, the more I think about it, the more I really like the concept of this book for this exact reason.

Something I would like to beg the author to do (if you are still following this, please take note!) is give more reasoning and insight as to why the main character loved pollution so much. There was a little bit in there, but it kind of felt too little too late, and there was so much potential there. I would love to delve deeper into Robyn's fascination with pollution. And what kinds of pollution she prefers. Is one kind better than another? It's so interesting, actually!
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Post by CapeBretonBookLover »

To be honest, the more I think about it, the more I really like the concept of this book for this exact reason.

Something I would like to beg the author to do (if you are still following this, please take note!) is give more reasoning and insight as to why the main character loved pollution so much. There was a little bit in there, but it kind of felt too little too late, and there was so much potential there. I would love to delve deeper into Robyn's fascination with pollution. And what kinds of pollution she prefers. Is one kind better than another? It's so interesting, actually!
[/quote]

It was actually a memoir, to tell you the truth. Robyn is a fictional character I created and Racheal Bates isn't my real name, because when it comes to the topic of liking pollution, I wasn't sure if using my real name would be a good idea since so many people hate pollution. I highly doubt it'll ever be on a bestseller list or anything, I just wanted to see what other people thought of my opinion on pollution so I wrote a book about it.
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Post by Gravy »

Some of the way this is described makes me think of tulpas.
Personally I love the idea behind tulpas and think it would be an interesting subject for a book.
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Post by ALynnPowers »

Graverobber wrote:Some of the way this is described makes me think of tulpas.
Personally I love the idea behind tulpas and think it would be an interesting subject for a book.
She actually mentioned that in the book!!!!! Well done, my genius friend!!!
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Post by CapeBretonBookLover »

Graverobber wrote:Some of the way this is described makes me think of tulpas.
Personally I love the idea behind tulpas and think it would be an interesting subject for a book.
Syd, the imaginary friend based on the polluted site in the book, was my tulpa, although referred to him as an imaginary friend in the book because I wasn't sure if using the term "tulpa" would confuse readers or not.
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Post by Gravy »

Wow :shock:
I feel so smart right now :mrgreen:
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Post by ALynnPowers »

I felt like Sid was more real than an imaginary friend. Tulpa is a better term, but since it's not so common in English, it probably would have confused people. Not Graverobber though. She would get it. 8)
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Post by Gravy »

ALynnPowers wrote:I felt like Sid was more real than an imaginary friend. Tulpa is a better term, but since it's not so common in English, it probably would have confused people. Not Graverobber though. She would get it. 8)
I agree it is a foreign concept...
I love weird things so I've tried to learn about them as much as I can.
Just about anything supernatural/paranormal.
Aliens, ghosts, fey, shapshifters, tulpas, astral projection, psychic phenomena...
If it's weird, strange, or unusual, I'm interested.
I'm also a bit macabre...too many scary movies *shakes head*
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