Review of Hopi B&B

[That Reviewer]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Hopi B&B" by Tom Jernigan.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Taiowa, the creator, instructed the Hopi people to keep the corn seeds given to them safe and unpolluted by the world. The Hopi people took this instruction to heart. They had been doing this religiously for so many years, refusing to use modern fertilizers on them or even selling them to foreigners. Their tradition was at stake, as some groups of foreigners sought the corn for themselves. Could the Hopi people protect their corn from being polluted? Find out in Hopi B&B.

Meanwhile, the Hopi people have deemed the Bacli family strange as they have embraced more modernity than most Hopi people. Their daughter Gloria Sunshine Bacli is deemed even more strange and is thought of as not a true Hopi. An opportunity has come for her to prove herself as a true Hopi. Will she succeed?

Hopi B&B by Tom Jernigan is a book that exposes the reader to Hopi Indian culture to a certain extent. The story is told so that it almost seems like there is no element of fiction in it. From the story, the reader gets to know about the Hopi culture, especially regarding their sacred corn.

An attribute that I greatly admired in the book was the way it was written. The story was told in such a simple, engaging, and realistic manner that I found it easy to follow despite the many characters involved in the story. This created a level of excitement during the read.

Although I found the book exciting, some attributes turned me off. One of them was the avalanche of avoidable errors, which I noticed while reading. This showed that the book wasn't well edited, as a professional editor wouldn't miss such errors. This slowed down my reading pace, as I had to stop to take notes. I'd suggest that the book undergo a round of thorough and detailed editing.

Another issue I had with the book was the development of some characters. Earlier in the story, when Kourash and Arash arrived in the U.S, Kourash was seen as not able to speak English, as he had to draw a picture of a gun and money to show the waitress that he wanted to buy a gun. Yet, in the latter part of the story, he was seen talking freely with FBI agent O'Rourke. If he couldn't speak English initially, how then was he able to communicate without a translator?

While reading, I also noticed the picture of a bar chart on page 49. It was in no way related to the story and wasn't explained by the author. I kept trying to make sense of its inclusion. Unfortunately, it became effort in futility.

There was also a way some sentences were written that I couldn't make out if they were errors or deliberate actions by the author, as they appeared severally in the book. Here would be two instances from the book: "D, did you know that cell phones don't work out there." and "Th, they might be in danger of d, dying." You would notice that the first vowel or consonant of a word was placed before the word in both instances. I hope the author clarifies this.

Sadly, due to the issues I had with the story, I would be rating the book 2 out of 4 stars. If those issues weren't there, I'd probably have given it a perfect rating of 4 stars, as it was an exciting and educative book. I would recommend the book to readers interested in native Hopi culture. Tourists and history lovers would also love the story.

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Hopi B&B
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[Theana De lima Araujo]

Hi thank you for the excellent and informative review. Hopi B & B seems like an overall good book. I like the story of the group protecting their agriculture and their heritage. However, I won't be reading it on account of the lack of logic in character development, that would bother me. Have a lovely day.

[Adego 002]

Reading about Indian culture in this book is interesting. The transition from traditions to modernity isn't frequently talked about. Lovely review.