Review of Odyssey of High Hopes
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- Jones Mwaniki
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Review of Odyssey of High Hopes
This book, Odyssey of High Hopes: A Memoir of Adversity and Triumph, follows the life of the author, Cyrus A. Ansary.
Cyrus is the last born of his family, having been born in Tehran, Iran in 1933.
The memoir starts by mentioning his father, delving a bit into his nation's past when it was still known as Persia, and going into further detail about his parents and siblings. It then shifts to the writer's achievements as he matured from a teenager to an adult, as well as the events and insights he gained along the way.
The degree to which the author's life is highlighted in this book is suitably balanced. Despite being a memoir, it covers topics related to his family and the people he has met throughout his life. This highlights the things that shaped him and helps convey his humanity. As an example, in one of the first few chapters, the writer discusses his role in his family and even questions whether he has ever had a purpose at all, after learning that his birth was not precisely planned. The author then discusses a childhood event that he witnessed, which mirrored his concerns about his family's feelings toward him, in which he witnessed another child fatally hit a kitten with a rock. This book touches on these kinds of moments, which enriches it.
Overall, a reader will be able to tell that the author truly lived from this book. Additionally, a reader could develop an inferiority complex.
As for me, I am curious how anyone could achieve all that the author has managed to since he was a teenager. As an adolescent, he was able to travel alone by plane, which is not something that regularly happens. In his twenties, he also managed to launch a legal practice and play a significant role in the emergence of community banking.
Perhaps it is because, when the author was first starting out, times were different and opportunities for people were plentiful.
That being said, I give this memoir a rating of 5/5. The early chapters that explored the author's upbringing in Iran were interesting to me because they painted a picture of the country that not many people are aware of. The writing was done in a way that was effective and did not seem to drag. Additionally, I found no grammatical errors in this work, indicating that the editing was done well. I also liked how this work used images to give the reader a clearer picture and historical events to help put things in perspective.
Overall, reading this made me nostalgic, and I felt like I was learning about my parents' early years. Because of the lessons it conveys about perseverance and hard work, I would highly recommend this book. It would also be advantageous, in my opinion, for the author to have this work available as an audiobook.
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Odyssey of High Hopes
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