3 out of 4 stars
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And Then I Met Margaret: Stories of Ordinary Gurus I Have Met by Rob White is a non-fiction, motivational book. The author tells the story of his life, highlighting people he has met who have inspired him.
Written from the first person point of view, Rob describes his childhood in a small town. As he matures, the setting changes to different places where he studies and works. In spite of the frequent change of scenery, he has a feeling that something is missing. Each chapter describes someone special that helped alleviate these feelings that plagued Rob.
The major portion of the book is upbeat and positive. The writing is done well and makes the reader participate in the situations described. The conversations are believable and interesting. I did feel, though, that the pacing of the chapters became repetitive. Rob meets someone. This person does something that impresses Rob. Rob passes this lesson on to someone else. There is no variation in this format throughout the book.
Margaret is actually one of the last people we meet. She is a young girl who teaches Mr. White to be selfless and to put others first. I was puzzled that Margaret, as the title indicates, should be singled out as the person who changed his life. The lesson he apparently learned from Margaret was the same lesson taught by Aunt Theresa when he was a child. Both Margaret and Aunt Theresa helped him to learn the lesson of putting others first. Aunt Theresa taught this lesson by her personal sacrifice. Margaret taught him this lesson by her self-centered attitude. It is the same lesson, just from different ends of the spectrum.
One of Rob’s inspirations comes from a friend who refused to die. This leads the author to realize that “all life has incredible purpose.” If all life has purpose, why did the author think the actions of the Maasai mother were “upright”? This seems contradictory. Even though I find this to be the focal chapter of the book, I did not find this chapter to be inspirational. Assigning worth to a dandelion while observing and remaining silent while a beating heart stops manifests a confusion of values.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. The book is well written but the repetition of the format in every chapter with only a change of names made me lose interest. The author admits he has not advanced very far in his spiritual life. This indicates that all the inspiration he has experienced was only fleeting. I recommend this book to people who enjoy reading autobiographies as Mr. White has enjoyed many interesting experiences in his life.
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And Then I Met Margaret
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