The First Ten Focus Group Feedback for Pour L'amour de Dieu: For the Love of God Why I'm Still Alive
Because Pour L'amour de Dieu was Book of the Day, some of our most trusted members have carefully looked over the cover, the description, and other aspects of this book as a part of purchase-intent focus group. We then asked each participant in the focus group if they planned to buy and read the book, and why they planned to buy and read the book or not. Their answer to that question and reasons are displayed below. We call this awesome feature The First Ten Focus Group.
Keep in mind, the responses from the members are not reviews. This is purchase-intent focus group which means the participants are people who have NOT yet bought or read your book. A purchase-intent focus group is an important and extremely useful marketing tool for any product, not just books. For other products, you might walk on the street and show people an item in a package and poll them about whether they would buy if or $X or not. These kind of focus groups are one of the ways big marketing companies find the ideal price points for products and test the effectiveness of different packaging. The focus group can help you identify your market so you how to target ads of your book, and it can (but may not) provide you new useful info about your "packaging" (e.g. your book cover, your book synopsis on Amazon, etc.). The point of the focus group comments is to give you information from people who have not bought or read your book about why they plan to buy your book which will help you in marketing the book. These are not reviews or critiques of your book because they are not from people have read the book. This is a marketing tool, not reviews. The trick of book marketing and book advertising is that you have to convince people who have not read your book yet that your book is worth buying and reading. For marketing, it doesn't matter much if people love your book after reading it if you cannot convince potential buyers before they read it that they will love it.
IMPORTANT: Any score over 10% is considered very good. And any score above 0% is acceptable. This is because we only poll about 20 or so readers, and all readers have to say "no" to almost all books. Over a million books are published each year. Even a very active reader cannot come close to even reading 1% of books out there.
This is also why publishing books is such a tough industry.
Dolor
Since I never knew that this memoir has photos inserted within its contents, I wouldn't have wanted to read it without The First Ten program. I feel like this book could have a better cover than it has now. Reading the first ten pages made me decide to keep on flipping for the photos inserted. Those photos were in black and white designs. The first ten pages talked about the the author's childhood memories of his father, grandfather, sisters, and most of all, his own delinquencies. I noticed that the book needed a layout improvement especially the table of contents. The "Personalities Who have Affected my Life" should have come after the table of contents. I saw a sentence that was cut by an ENTER key: With his (ENTER key was randomly pressed here) log mill, he helped to build the Church of St. Anne of Madawaska, New Brunswick, Canada. This is a fragmented sentence: My Grand Papa from dad's side and my dad himself. This has a wrong grammar: Hell, I can still see him doing all the crazy stuff he's has done in his lifetime. I have finally decided to read on to see more photos. The author had sparked my interest by his narrations. Pour L'amour de Dieu by T-Jean Robert Pelletier is an #Autobiography of the author's #Life, #Adventures, and #NearDeathExperience. It chronicles his close-death experiences from the moment he exited his mother's womb with his feet first until the latest, when he was rescued from drowning in the Colorado River in August 2015. "Pour L'amour de Dieu" means “For the Love of God” in English translation.
First Ten review added on December 29, 2018, at 4:35 am by Dolor.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!
Annelore Trujillo
I would not have sampled this book without this program. I very rarely read non-fiction books, and autobiographies aren't really my thing. The Amazon blurb also didn't seem to be edited. The OBC review would not have changed my mind. After reading the first ten pages, I will not be finishing this book. I thought the wording was a little short, and the stories jumped around. In just a couple pages, it went from talking about a broken nose to getting a haircut to being punished for lighting a fire. There didn't really seem to be that much connection between each anecdote. I also would have liked to see captions on the pictures. I did really like the pictures; I just wasn't sure who each person was. The book did seem to be professionally edited.
First Ten review added on December 29, 2018, at 3:43 am by Annelore Trujillo.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Gravy
I would not have looked at this book. Despite the fact that I enjoy memoirs, between the amateurish cover, and the overall premise, it just wouldn't have interested me.
Sadly, while I enjoyed some of the sample, it did not change my mind.
There was a review for this book, but my opinion would be the same without one.
There were errors, though the author's voice does a good job of distracting the reader from them. I especially liked the part about cutting a hole in the ceiling/floor for the Christmas tree...oh dear. I can just see it.
Anyway, the errors include things like missing commas, a specific example is an extra 'the' in this sentence: "For the all the people and friends..."
With a round of editing to clean this up, and perhaps a small rewrite to make the flow a bit tighter, I believe this could be a great book. (I would also suggest a better cover.)
Because I have a lot of books on my list already, and the fact that this is only peripherally related to my reading tastes, I do not plan to read this. I would, however, reevaluate after a good edit.
First Ten review added on December 29, 2018, at 2:00 am by Gravy.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Sharill Rasowo
If I had not read the sample, I probably would not have read the book. This is because I am not really interested in memoirs right now. The official onlinebookclub review did not change my mind. Reading the sample, I was amused by his story of breaking his nose as a child as well as sticking beans up his nose. Nevertheless, I would not buy and read this book as it did not interest me that much.There were some typos such as stories I get from my sister instead of got and pasties instead of pastries.
First Ten review added on December 29, 2018, at 1:52 am by Sharill Rasowo.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
CrescentMoon
After reading the blurb, I wouldn't pick this book up because I like reading fiction and suspense and mystery. I don't tend to read autobiographies or other nonfiction books. After reading the first ten pages, I didn't see any spelling or grammar errors. I enjoyed the pictures a lot and the direct and straightforward writing style. I thought it was very easy to read and I really enjoyed how the author started off the story about knowing about the big nose and stories from childhood based on what the siblings and parents have said. I think people who enjoy reading autobiographies would definitely enjoy this. I also like the French phrase of the title based on what the father said on his deathbed. It's a light-hearted and enjoyable saying. However, I don't think this book is for me.
First Ten review added on December 29, 2018, at 1:09 am by CrescentMoon.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
KRay93
While the final message of the book is optimistic, I'm not entirely sure if the design of the cover is appropriate for the military tone and the closeness with death posed by the blurb. The official review speaks of an autobiography that encompasses many events and of a humble author when it comes to describing himself. The first ten pages include a summary of the people who most influenced the author's life along with a series of incidents in his childhood, which include a broken nose and a fire. The prose is fluid, intimate, and appropriate for the genre. As for the edition, the table of contents in the sample is badly formatted and the photos are interposed in the middle of the paragraphs. Both the brevity of the text and the author's way of approaching the theme did not convince me, which is why I will not continue reading this book.
First Ten review added on December 28, 2018, at 11:35 pm by KRay93.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Heidi M Simone
If it wasn't for this program, I would not have sampled this book. The cover doesn't seem professional, the title isn't English, and the blurb has several errors included. For example, the line, "...I though that I have over for close calls." is not only confusing, but has an error in the word, "though". I believe it's supposed to be, "thought". In addition, memoirs aren't usually my genre of choice, and the customer and OBC ratings do not affect my opinion of the book. Based on what I read, the book could use another round of editing. Toward the end of the "Personalities Who have Affected my Life" section, the line, "...I can still see him doing all the crazy stuff he's has done in his lifetime.", incorrectly uses the contraction, "he's"; "he's" includes "has", so including another "has" in the sentence is redundant. It's always nice when there are pictures included in memoirs. By including them, it gives readers a deeper connection with the author. I found it a bit crazy how the author and Candid set the curtain on fire as kids. On the other hand, I'm not feeling very connected to the stories the author shares about his upbringing. I believe it's the writing style more than anything else. For instance, as a seven-year-old, the author learned that his best friend, Roger, was killed by a truck was shocking, but it was hard to feel for the author. Perhaps it was because the comment of Roger's death was mentioned in passing and glossed over quickly. Overall, the writing style isn't to my taste and I'm not in the mood to read a memoir. Therefore, I do not plan on buying and reading the book.
First Ten review added on December 28, 2018, at 11:17 pm by Heidi M Simone.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Fu Zaila
The cover and title failed to appeal me and so did the poorly edited blurb. But the sample read fine and I liked the humorous tone in it. The author as a child sure seems to have been extremely naughty. I like her sisters Carmen and Marielle and how they take care of the rest of the children. There wasn't anything to dislike. The book seems to be sloppily edited since there were a lot of awkward sentences like "One day a neighbor told my dad how cute a “little girl I was.”" I would definitely like to read the rest of this short book.
First Ten review added on December 28, 2018, at 8:03 pm by Fu Zaila.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!
MarisaRose
After reading the Amazon blurb for 'Pour L'amour de Dieu,' I was not interested in reading the book. The blurb is chock full of grammatical errors, which makes me think the book is not professionally written. Further, 'near death' experiences don't really interest me all that much, so the general content of this book wasn't something that piqued my interest. That being said, an OBC review would not sway my opinion in this instance, simply based on how poorly written the book blurb is. I would not purchase this book blindly. After sampling the first ten pages, my initial impressions about the book didn't change. Although I found the sample to be better edited than I had anticipated (I didn't notice any misspellings or punctuation errors), the writing is incredibly simple. I prefer books that have more style and nuance to the writing, unlike this book which is made up entirely of simple sentences. Further, the stories in the sample didn't endear me to the author. For example, I didn't find the story about the author breaking his nose funny, nor did I enjoy the story about how his neighbor thought he was a girl. Maybe these stories are funny when retold in person, but they came across as flat and unentertaining in the sample. Based on the simplistic writing and my lack of connection to the author, I don't plan to buy this book.
First Ten review added on December 28, 2018, at 4:01 pm by MarisaRose.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Alice Heritage
I was interested when I thought this book might be in French, but otherwise would probably not have sampled it without the program as I don't normally read memoirs. I won't buy and read it on the basis of the first ten pages because it seems to consist of a string of anecdotes; I don't normally read that kind of thing, and there was a sad account of someone dying. The sample seemed well edited apart from some errors like "Grand Pere' " (I would expect a grave accent in French) and "Grand Papa arms" where the apostrophe was missing. I liked the author's anecdote about being taken for a girl because of his hair. In terms of what could be improved, the author first says he was the youngest of eight and then later, when he was older, he says there were six children. I guess two died or were much older but it isn't explained, which would be helpful. Otherwise, this would probably appeal to someone who likes memoirs, but those aren't normally my cup of tea. I didn't see an OnlineBookClub review, which didn't affect my decision.
First Ten review added on December 28, 2018, at 3:14 pm by Alice Heritage.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Vickie Noel
Depending on my mood, I may or may not have sampled this book outside the program. The title and book cover aren't particularly striking to me. After reading the sample, I'm quite sure I wouldn't be purchasing it to read. If it's a free gift, though, I could consider reading further. My conviction is based on the fact that it just seems to be a good ol' autobiography of someone, having nothing spectacular to offer. The stories I read are everyday occurrences, and while they made for pleasure reading, they aren't teaching anything in particular. I could write my own life stories similarly. Also, I was disappointed with the reckless errors in the book, especially as they were very easy to rectify. For instance, the first word, "I" on page one was a different size or font. There were mismatched tenses in the sentence, "I learned it from the stories I get from my older sisters." "Got" is the right word. There were omitted commas like in the sentence, "There Candid handed me a fist full of matches..." Cases of wrong spellings included "back yard," "grand papa" and "baby sat," all words that are written as one, not split. In the story about a baby goat, part of a sentence was duplicated. These errors should be properly managed by a good editor. The OBC review was riveting, and I'd been quite stimulated to check out the author's near-death experiences, but the sample held nothing as exhilarating as what I'd been expecting to read. Perhaps the thrill comes along much later in the book, but I saw no reason to stick around to find out.
First Ten review added on December 28, 2018, at 2:39 pm by Vickie Noel.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Scerakor
From the cover, blurb, and review of this book, I wouldn't have read it. Although I've read some interesting memoirs before, only a few pieces of this one sounded interesting (special operations military service for one). After reading the first 10 pages I didn't change my mind and therefore will not be buying and reading the rest of this book. I liked that this book was coming from the heart. The stories the author tells early on a riddled with memories and emotions. From his first haircut, to receiving lashes after the curtains were set on fire, everything was a tale of passion. Despite this, I won't be reading it. The writing style got on my nerves immediately. The sentences were short and choppy and even the chosen spellings (Xmas, Grandpere, and "Sacka blue" for example) bothered me. The book seemed well written and edited besides these points and the official review did not affect my decision at all.
First Ten review added on December 28, 2018, at 1:13 pm by Scerakor.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Kendra M Parker
I don’t enjoy reading memoirs. While this one has a great title and the review is very positive, it’s not really enough to truly attract me to this book. As I read the first ten pages, I did not find any errors in them. The author’s voice and sense of humor as he shares these stories about his childhood is quite fun, though. I especially enjoyed the way he told the story about his first haircut at age 3. It sounds exactly like something that would have happened in my family, especially with the outrage of his mother and sisters over losing his curls without warning. While this book does have some high spots, I have a huge reading list, and this just isn’t the genre I prefer, nor does it really call out to me as something I need to read. I’ll pass on this one.
First Ten review added on December 28, 2018, at 11:17 am by Kendra M Parker.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
OloladeO
Based on the cover and title, I would not have read the sample because I am not a fan of non-fiction. From the sample, there are several incidents that led up to him having a big nose which he now appreciates. When he was about 2 or 3, he was playing soccer outdoors with his siblings. He ran after the ball and fell into the cellar. Laurence, his sister, found him with a broken nose. One time, he stuck 10 beans into his nostrils. Most times he and his siblings go to visit their grandparents. Each time they visited, they had to pay their respects to their their grandaunt, Ma Taut Elise, who lived with their grandparents. There was a water pump with a cup with a hook. They had to pump it twice and use the cup for a drink. Not wanting to catch what their grandaunt had (baldness, toothless and blind), they would turn the cup 180 degrees to drink from it. That evening they noticed that their grandaunt also turned the cup 180 degrees and they freaked out. The book seems well edited. The OBC reviewer gave it a perfect rating, but I would not be reading the rest of the book for the reason I stated earlier. I am sure that those that favor its genre would find it entertaining as the reviewer did.
First Ten review added on December 28, 2018, at 8:57 am by OloladeO.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Yoli García
The theme of this book does not interest me, so I would not have sampled it without this program. Even though it was perplexing reading that the author had approximately 12 near-death experiences, the OBC review did not convince me of reading the book. I think that the book needs another editorial round. The table of contents has formatting issues. I also found grammatical errors. An example is that a paragraph begins the following way: "morning. But come lunch time,..." I thought the author was wild as a child or did not have enough adult supervision. He broke his nose after falling into a cellar. Candid, his brother, and him started a fire inside the house. Although the stories are charming, I will no read the book because it does not interest me.
First Ten review added on December 28, 2018, at 7:13 am by Yoli García.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
va2016
The cover and the title are very much indicative of the theme of the book. There are 6 Amazon customer reviews. The Amazon summary is captivating. Since I like the theme of the book, I would have chosen to sample the book even if not for the First Ten program. As I sampled through the book, I found the author T-Jean narrating many instances of their childhood experiences with their family members (mostly grandpa and grandma). These are separate instances but put together as a narration. Although these pages do not make me very curious about the book, since the Amazon summary mentioned about the near-death experience, I am going to read the book in full and find out what happened. I found the book professionally edited, although I found one formatting issue where a sentence ends "that morning" continued by a newline and then again the word "morning" appears. Other than that, I didn't find any grammatical or mechanical errors. What I liked most about the book is the near-death theme. I could not find anything that can be improved with the book. Although I found an OBC review that gave 4 out of 4 stars rating for the book, my decision to read the book in full is based on my own sampling.
First Ten review added on December 28, 2018, at 4:38 am by va2016.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!
Catherine Hsu
If I had not read the sample, I would not have read the book as I do not really read Nonfiction. After reading this sample, I have changed my mind. I really enjoyed how the book read like a fiction story. As it was just Christmas, I also enjoyed reading the bit that was "The Best Christmas Ever" as I was in the mood for some holiday stories. It was professionally edited. I did not read an official review but that did not affect my decision.
First Ten review added on December 28, 2018, at 2:37 am by Catherine Hsu.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!
ladycraic
Seeing as the phrase on the cover intrigued me from the get-go, I probably would have chosen to sample Pour L'amour de Dieu apart from First Ten. I actually had the pleasure of knowing a veteran who had also escaped death multiple times. I hold him close to my heart and I enjoyed hearing of his tales. That personal experience factored in my rapid-growing interest in Pour L'amour de Dieu, especially after I read the blurb and got more scoop on what to expect from this book. For sure, it's saying something when your family thinks your stories are worth sharing! I really enjoyed the first few pages of this story - the tone was conversational, and the adventures that T-Jean shared, even just the less thrilling stories he told, were very pleasant to digest. From what I gather so far, this book will just be a collection of stories that help us readers understand why T-Jean's existence today is a complete miracle! I would love to read more of his adventures but I'm going to have to wait and see if I can get any discounts. This book seemed professionally edited and I didn't notice any grammatical errors.
First Ten review added on December 28, 2018, at 2:00 am by ladycraic.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Jsovermyer
The title is interesting, but the cover picture could be improved. I'm not sure what it represents. The official review rated this book highly and it is professionally edited as I found no spelling or grammatical errors in the section that I read. The author has certainly led a colorful and interesting life. It is amazing that he has survived so many brushes with death. This book inspires me to start writing a book about my own life to share with my daughter. Although I enjoyed the stories about the author's childhood, I will not be finishing the book.
First Ten review added on December 28, 2018, at 12:40 am by Jsovermyer.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
revna01
Citing stories and close-up death episodes from throughout his life, the author mentions a fire in the house, and Xmas at his grandparents' home during the first ten pages. I didn't notice editing errors, per se, but the writing could definitely use some cleaning up. It's not especially flowy or polished. I did like that the author's personality really shines through. I don't care much for the lengthy title or haphazard cover art. The Online Book Club reviewer enjoyed this book, but in my opinion the sample wasn't strongly written, at least not enough to cause me to want to purchase the book.
First Ten review added on December 27, 2018, at 11:05 pm by revna01.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
cpru68
The opening pages of this book contain various stories from the author’s childhood including how he fell down into the coal cellar and broke his nose, his grandpa making a large hole in his ceiling to accommodate the top of a Christmas tree that was too tall, and how he and his brother set fire to the curtains in their home while under the care of their sister. Also, when he was seven, he lost his good friend Roger in a sledding accident when he gave him a push on an icy hill during recess. Roger went into the street and got hit by a truck. As a young child, he tried to understand death and where Roger’s spirit would be.
I am not going to be finishing this book. While I generally read non-fiction, this one didn’t pique my interest enough to want to keep reading more. While the review indicated that the book was a four star rating, the grammar usage seems poor throughout. For example in this sentence: “Mom told us kids to go outside.” I saw “us kids” or “we kids” used a lot. A better way to express this would be to say: Mom told us to go outside. Also referring to Christmas by writing it as “Xmas” seemed a bit unprofessional and it should be written out fully as the proper word. I would suggest a round of editing to change some of these expressions to give the book a polished quality.
I probably wouldn’t have found this title searching for it on my own as the market is flooded with books of this genre, so I am grateful for the chance to read it and give it a look.
First Ten review added on December 27, 2018, at 9:02 pm by cpru68.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
LV2R
The book cover was a little wordy and I didn’t know what the French title meant. I thought that the book might be in French and was relieved to see that it was in English. The Amazon Blurb had a few errors in it but I liked that the author adds in the meaning of the title from his dad, nearly 100 years old, on his deathbed. I read the sample and was a little surprised in the way it was written by just telling different stories, starting from when the author was two or three years old. I had thought it would be one big story with all the stories inside it. I best liked the story of when the author and his siblings got to go with their grandpa to pick out the Christmas tree to chop down. The author remembers that he got to ride in the toboggan while his siblings put on the snowshoes that their grandpa had made them. I do not think that the book was professionally edited because I noticed some formatting problems and some errors in the sample. One example is the very first word “I” on location 75 or 4% of the sample. It is in a smaller font than the rest of the text, and on the same page the author does not spell out the numbers under ten: … for two or maybe three years old … The OBC review stated that the meaning of the French title was “For the Love of God”, which is on the front of the book as well. The review mentioned that the author shared his 12 near-death experiences and that he has had 20 professions of jobs through his life and teaches desert safety survival now. The review actually changed my mind about the book because I am interested in the author’s short life stories in which he has seen God’s protection first hand. I want to read this book since it has many different short stories of an adventurous and dangerous life that the author shares about narrowly escaping death.
First Ten review added on December 27, 2018, at 8:41 pm by LV2R.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!
Chelsy Scherba
I loved the cute pictures of the author and his siblings as kids. They helped me imagine the antics of the happy little boy who had long, curly hair and a crazy grandpa who cut a hole in his own ceiling to accommodate an over large Christmas tree. I love cute stories like this, and I’m interested in the many close calls the author had. The review definitely caught my interest and made me curious to see how God’s hand has been on this man since his birth. The editing looks great with no noticeable errors. I love the title and it’s translation. I’ll definitely be adding this book to my list for future reading.
First Ten review added on December 27, 2018, at 7:55 pm by Chelsy Scherba.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Nelsy Mtsweni
I love reading about people's near-death experiences, so I would have chosen to read this book. Having read the review and the sample, I found the book to be worth reading because there are a lot of life lessons that one could take home. Robert Pelletier has cheated death on many occasions in his life. In this book, he shares about those experiences. He also shared how he came out of his mother's womb by his feet instead of his head like most babies. I am planning on reading the book entirely so that I can learn a thing or two about life from his life. Of the first 10 pages that I have read, I did not notice any editorial errors. Thanks.
First Ten review added on December 27, 2018, at 6:58 pm by Nelsy Mtsweni.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!
Samantha Simoneau
Prior to sampling the book, I thought the title was wordy, but interesting - Who doesn't want to hear people's stories of brushes with death? However, the blurb really hurt my interest due to several errors in it related to spelling, punctuation, etc. This immediately gives me the impression that the book will also lack proper editing, which I always find distracting when I read. There are very few customer reviews, but they're all positive. I get the sense that most of them were written by his friends and family, though. On to the sample. The author's use of capitalization is strange and inconsistent. Not all of the chapter titles in the table of contents are properly linked to the corresponding page in the book. Between "mind" and "My" there should be a colon, not a period. There is a "broken" sentence in the introduction, where it says "with his" and then there's a line break before "log mill." I enjoyed Pelletier's description and reflections on his grandfather, but while quoting him, there are not always quotation marks at the beginning of each paragraph within the quote. There are no commas between lists of adjectives preceeding and describing the same noun, like "big tall" and "thick foggy." There should be a comma between "Now" and "my." La-Z-Boy is rendered incorrectly as "La-Z-Y Boy." There should be a comma between "another" and "and." I can already tell that lack of editing would keep me from reading further. I am interested in his life experiences and more family stories, because they obviously had long, eventful lives, but I wouldn't pay to download this as-is. If the book undergoes thorough editing, though, I would definitely be more likely to purchase it.
First Ten review added on December 27, 2018, at 6:44 pm by Samantha Simoneau.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
MsTri
I knew when I saw the cover and title that I would not be interested in this book because I do not care for autobiographies or memoirs. Neither the Amazon synopsis nor the OBC review (the only one I read) contained any information to change my mind, but I will say that the idea of the author surviving so many near-death experiences is interesting.
Upon reading the sample, I was happy to see that it seems to be professionally edited. Even though I will not finish reading this tome, I don't have any suggestions for changes because it's written well for what it is. The one part that I DID like was the scene where the author and his siblings accidentally set fire to the red curtain in their father's office.
First Ten review added on December 27, 2018, at 6:09 pm by MsTri.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
micoleon13
While this is an intriguing title which got my attention, the cover page looks almost childish and unprofessional. I would not choose this book to read. The OnlineBookClub review was complementary and outlined an autobiography of a man who has had so many near death experiences, he should be long dead. However, due to the fact that it is such a short story at less than a hundred pages, I wasn't all that interested in reading it. The pages which I read were well written and edited, although I didn't like that Christmas was spelled "Xmas" in all instances. The book doesn't seem to have much of a storyline, with just instances being retold such as breaking his nose and setting the curtains on fire. I would not be interested in continuing with this book and a suggestion for improvement would be to change the cover page and title font.
First Ten review added on December 27, 2018, at 5:58 pm by micoleon13.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
britt13
The official review had a very positive reaction to this book. I usually do not read autobiographies because I have found them annoying. This one sounded kind of interesting though with the near-death experiences so I set off to read the first ten pages. I enjoyed the introduction with the nose stories. The writing reminds me of my great aunt's, it is not very strong but the stories are. I found no errors per se but if I was editing this book I would reword quite a few sentences. Unfortunately, I was not impressed enough to keep reading because of my issues with the writing.
First Ten review added on December 27, 2018, at 4:54 pm by britt13.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Kajori Sheryl Paul
'Pour L'amour de Dieu' by T-Jean Robert Pelletier is an autobiography. The title, blurb, the OBC review, and the customer reviews in Amazon did a good job of convincing me to give the book a try. However, I am not interested in reading a book of this genre as of now.
The first ten pages of the book leads me to believe that the author had quite an adventurous life. I liked the quaint way of living referred to in the book. I also liked the relationships the author has with his family. I have to mention that I found a few errors in the first ten pages. For example, the author had written, “..baby sat..” instead of “..baby-sat..” This leads me to believe that this book was not professionally edited. Though I like the premise of the book, I will skip it for now as I am not in the mind-frame to read a book of this genre.
First Ten review added on December 27, 2018, at 4:11 pm by Kajori Sheryl Paul.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Cristina Chifane
If it hadn't been for the first ten program, I wouldn't have sampled this book since I wasn't planning on reading an autobiography. I like the cover, but the title is much too long. I would have preferred only the French version for the title. With no editorial reviews and only 6 customer reviews, I'm not sure if this is the right book for me. The sample made me realize the author is not a storyteller. His style is too simplistic and the stories come one after another without any transition that would make reading easier and more pleasant. I noticed a few punctuation errors in the sample (see the extra apostrophe: "Getting it back home was more fun because everyone but Grandpere' was riding [...]" - loc. 30% of Sample). Some of the stories do carry the emotions and nostalgia for the author's childhood. It must have been both a challenge and a joy to be part of a large family. I particularly liked the story of the Christmas tree they picked together with their grandfather. However, some of the stories were too tough like the story of Roger's accidental death. Despite the 4-star rating of the official OBC reviewer, the book did not catch my attention enough to add it to my reading list.
First Ten review added on December 27, 2018, at 3:52 pm by Cristina Chifane.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
ritah
Based on the title and genre, I wouldn't have sampled the book because I don't usually read books in this genre. I read the official review and then sampled Pour L'amour de Dieu. I liked that Marielle's quick actions stopped the two little boys from getting burned and burning the house down. I did not notice any obvious grammar/ punctuation errors, but I did notice formatting issues where an image would be inserted within a sentence. Example, Location 87. For [Insert Image Here] some reason, I began to put them up my nose. I won't be reading the rest of the book because the book isn't for me in terms of content and genre.
First Ten review added on December 27, 2018, at 12:19 pm by ritah.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Mercelle
Judging by the cover, I wasn't going to read this book, but the OBC review urged me on when it mentioned that this is an autobiography about a man who survived twelve near-death experiences. When I read the first ten pages, I liked that the author recounted his childhood and appreciated working in his grandfather's shed while the older children worked outside. The text needs a round of editing because I noticed one error, a misspelled word on loc. 94, "pasties" instead of "pastries." That is the only thing I would change about the bit I read. I will, however, not read the rest of the book because its contents don't appeal to me.
First Ten review added on December 27, 2018, at 11:52 am by Mercelle.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Laura Ungureanu
"Pour L'Amour de Dieu" is an autobiography that tells of the many near-death experiences the author had during his life. It impressed me to learn that the title comes from the last words his father said to him before dying at almost 100 years old. The first incident that the author speaks of is how he broke his nose when he was about 3 years old. Later, he stuck about 10 white beans in his nostrils. These stories are fun to read and they go well with the old pictures. One word caught my eye in the next sentence: "Carmen and Marielle baby sat the other seven kids." The word "baby sat" should be written as "babysat" because the reader might get confuse when he first reads the sentence. Other than that, I found nothing wrong with the first pages. I wouldn't have tried this book because I don't usually read autobiographies. For the same reason, I won't continue to read the book.
First Ten review added on December 27, 2018, at 11:39 am by Laura Ungureanu.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Sonya Nicolaidis
At first glance, I was really unsure about this book. Firstly, the French title put me off and I wasn’t sure what to expect. Even the cover was not particularly exciting. However, the OBC review gave me an outline as to what the book was all about, and this was very encouraging. Generally, the reviews made me more optimistic, but nothing could have prepared me for this wonderful, honest collection of anecdotes. It is more than a memoir; it is more like a collection of short stories which tell in an honest and amusing way, of the author’s life experiences (and there are many!) and his close calls with death. I particularly liked the story about his pet goat in the sample, and also about how tragedy befell his friend, Roger. In fact, there is nothing I didn’t like about this sample. The only improvement that I might suggest would be to refine the writing style a little, as it is sometimes a bit awkward to read. It was surprisingly well edited, with only a couple of small mistakes. One of these was the misplaced apostrophe about a third of the way into the sample with the word Grandpere’. I will definitely read this book, in spite of my early doubts, as it is charming and highly entertaining, and some experiences I find I can relate to. Full credit to this author for a wonderful book.
First Ten review added on December 27, 2018, at 11:28 am by Sonya Nicolaidis.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!
lesler
Looking at the cover, this book does not interest me. Reading the sample, I liked the stories of the author growing up, but not enough to keep reading. This book appears to be professionally edited, with no grammatical errors or typos that I noticed. I liked the pictures the author included, and reading about their upbringing in general. I did not like the story about how the author's friend died. I know that's a part of life, but the nonchalance writing style of the author watching their friend get hit by a truck was disturbing. I will not be reading this book.
First Ten review added on December 27, 2018, at 11:11 am by lesler.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
sarahmarlowe randomeducator
Well, the title surely got my attention! I would have certainly picked this book up because of that. After reading the first half of the book, I don’t think I will read more. This is a fun memoir beginning with cute stories from the author’s childhood. Living with seven siblings certainly made for a lively house! This is just not a genre I enjoy. I found no editing issues, and I have not read an OBC review of this book.
First Ten review added on December 27, 2018, at 11:10 am by sarahmarlowe randomeducator.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
HRichards
I normally wouldn't have picked this book up, as folksy memoirs aren't really my genre. Having read the sample I won't be continuing on with the book as I wasn't wasn't that interested in it. The sample deals with the author recounting some of the hair raising mishaps he had as a child since he seemed rather accident prone. The old pictures the author includes are interesting and those who like memoirs might enjoy this. I didn't find the story to my taste. I noticed a grammar error in the line "2 or maybe 3" where there should be a comma after the 2. I have not read any other reviews of this book.
First Ten review added on December 27, 2018, at 10:17 am by HRichards.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
gali
I wouldn't have sampled this book because this is not my typical read. I don't read autobiographies, and sampling the book did not change my mind. The blurb wasn't adequately written and had grammatical errors. The book would benefit from another round of editing. While the sample was delightful, some of the phrasings were awkward. Also, it had too many line breaks between lines. Ex: "This book is about my life and all the events, the places where I have been…". I liked the author's humor when he described his near crush with death. The first one was when he was two years old! Imagine that! I won't read the book, as it isn't something that interests me. The OBC review did not sway my decision either way.
First Ten review added on December 27, 2018, at 10:12 am by gali.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Camille Turner
I don't think I would have sampled this book without the program. Based on the cover, title, and Amazon blurb, it's clearly a memoir about someone who has had many near-death experiences, and that topic doesn't sound interesting to me. After reading the first ten pages, my impression has stayed the same because while the anecdotes are funny and contain good details, I don't believe I'd like to read a whole book of them. It's just not something that personally appeals to me, so I won't be buying the book today. I think it will appeal to others who enjoy all types of memoirs, so I don't think I'd necessarily improve anything. I did like the variety of stories told, but at the same time, I almost wish the book didn't jump between them so quickly. My favorite of the stories I read was the one about the author's grandfather cutting a hole in the ceiling so that the Christmas tree would fit. On a side note, I'm not sure if the book was professionally edited or not because I did note the occasional error. For example, one sentence reads "Marielle baby sat the other seven kids." I believe "baby sat" should be one word, not two.
First Ten review added on December 27, 2018, at 9:55 am by Camille Turner.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Total ~ 18%
Pour L'amour de Dieu earned a score of 18%.
In other words, out of the top-level reviewers who read at least the first 10 pages of this book, 18% plan to read the whole book.
IMPORTANT: Any score over 10% is considered very good. And any score above 0% is acceptable.
Over a million books are published each year. Any given person could not even read .0001% of the books out there. This means readers have to be very selective. Even taking the time to look over reviews and blurbs, let alone read samples, is more time than most readers can afford for most books. The First Ten is a powerful focus group that addresses those issues. It creates a helpful tool for authors, publishers, and other readers.
Go to main Bookshelves page for Pour L'amour de Dieu
