1 out of 4 stars
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The title called it. I am rating this book 1 out of 4 stars.
Followed my Star is a nonfiction book which I would classify as persuasive writing or an opinion piece. The author spends 71 single-spaced pages talking about "the middle", by which, she means the happy medium or the middle ground. This is book 3 of a series of similar books. It can be read by itself.
The author, of Iranian birth, draws upon her experiences as an Iranian woman during her various travels to different countries to form strong opinions on a variety of topics. She argues that there is too much extremism in the world; hence, it is necessary for everyone to work towards the middle ground. While it is positive, this is not a significantly unique message and there are no attempts to provide practical examples or steps on how to achieve the middle ground. The book has an unclear structure, with chapters that have no specific topic, making the reader feel like they were randomly labelled. In terms of tone, the book reads like a long rambling rant about society. Sometimes, it tries to be balanced by offering different perspectives; however, most of the time it is dismissive, prone to generalizations, and name-calling. The weakest part of the book for me was the call to be in the middle which devolved into a call for everyone to become part of the middle class, because the rich and the poor classes are extremes.
Aside from the numerous digressions in the book, there are a lot of typos and grammar errors that could have been eliminated or minimized with thorough and multiple edits. Examples include excessive use of commas, fragments, run-on sentences, and mistakes in subject-verb agreement. There are multiple instances of using the word "aso" instead of "also", "portrait" instead of "portray" or "portrayed", and "freighting" instead of "frightening".
The lone star in my rating is because there were some topics in the book that sparkled for me. I liked the call for the middle way, moderation, or happy medium. I liked that the author shared that she had survived through trials then exhorted us to learn from history. My favourite parts include the discussion on humanism, giving back, and voting with your money in Chapter 14.
On the other hand, the middle way was painted as a utopia instead of a compromise. Therefore, with no practical steps given, I found it difficult to think of the type of reader who would appreciate this book. There are very strong opinions on diverse topics that a reader might agree on one, disagree vehemently on another, and get offended by yet another one. There is a lot of labelling, binary generalizations, and name-calling, such as saying that people are stupid, that Republicans are inhuman, and that the Law of Attraction is evil. She implies that homosexual people are imperfect, dismisses the Bible and the Quran as "an old book" in Chapter 4, and explains how she is pro-choice with a condition. I cringed at the part where the author says arranged marriages lead to regular marital rape.
This calls to mind a quote in the book that says, "Mostly people with their negative opinions have too much time on their hands to destroy other people's lives. It's not your life so it is not your business." This is a 71-page book of mostly negative opinions, which brings me to my next point: the hypocrisy in this book. If it were not an opinion piece, they would be called inconsistencies. In one breath, the author says she is not judgmental; in her next breath, she starts name-calling. In Chapter 3, she talks about not judging somebody by their countries then continues on to bash the American concept of freedom, the European measures of success, then she speaks for Canadians. Because of all these, it was difficult for me to be receptive to her opinions, much less to finish the book. I would not recommend this book or invite readers to follow this star.
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Followed my Star
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