4 out of 4 stars
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Have any of you ever wondered why life is so good to people who cheat and that it does not come back to bite them? Well! William H. Coles will walk you through this, in his outstanding book, the McDowell. This book seriously had something to say and I noticed there were a lot hidden meanings. What I found so captivating was that this book contained some very insightful, mind-bending and transformative experience that it offers to its reader. The book is separated into two parts, and the first, the rise of the protagonist and the second, his fall. The book consisted of 72 characters and each chapter was strikingly eventful that it won't fail to reduce the interest of the reader.
Background of the plot was set in Nepal and the United States; it also reflected on the customs and the cultural background it was enriched in. The plot questioned about morality, to a certain extent and it also highlighted how messed up the key characters lives were. Skills of the author were unquestionable since in his book, he was very successful in capturing every topic that sometimes may be considered a taboo in other societies. The book consisted of adultery, revenge, conspiracy, sabotaged and forbidden relationships, broken childhood, corruption, anything that is illegal and unacceptable to the society.
The story is about a man who is ambitious, self-centred and an obnoxious person named Hiram McDowell, who carried an l-don't-give-a-damn attitude was a typical character; a cheating husband that never respected relationships, an irresponsible father and an untrustworthy colleague. He worked his way to power by corruption and deceit until one day when the tables turned. The matter got worst when he committed euthanasia and was sentenced for 25 years. During his imprisonment he broke free and escaped to the wilderness, cursing all the people that made his life so hard until one day, when he meet someone that challenged him on what he though.
The book is exceptional! Even though it has been said that the rise of Hiram is in part one and his fall in part two; I personally believe that the rise of the protagonist was in part two. The best thing that ever happened to Hiram's life was the jail-break, which brought him away from corruption and deceit. The flow in his life after the jail-break was when he really started to live.
The book was very insightful! I personally found my self admiring different characters who taught him different things about life, changing his views and perspectives. Some advices were very powerful that moved me, e.g. “... you need to think about who you are, what you want in life and what you want now. How your desires and dreams might have caused wrong decisions on your way to the top... don't let your emotions cloud the truth”. My attitude towards the protagonist was, is-this-man-for-real? He clearly lacked the human affections a person is supposed to have, which resulted in me sympathizing him, since in reality he was truly lost.
The author has used a narrative approach, where he communicates with his reader to tell the background of the story and what runs in the characters mind. The story is straight forward that does not leave anything in a suspenseful state that would trouble the reader. This suite the plot exceeding as it is a continuous flow of the protagonist life. The author has used an introductory picture in each part which pretty much tells the follow-up stories.
The author also took the opportunity to highlight the issues in the corporate world, specially favouritism; and how favouritism is gained by sex. There were no explicit details on this subject matter, but only mentioned. Therefore, I can recommend it to anyone. I can honestly give this book a 4 out of 4 stars, even though there were vocabulary errors it does not create any hindrance for the reader; I believe a final touch up would help. Finally, I would like to share an interesting detail that I came across when I was reading this book and I quote, “it’s no good if people seek success and money only for their own satisfaction and self-worth. People content in themselves learn to give selflessly, without concern for personal gain, to learn the joy of being human. How many times a day do we do things for others that are really for our own pleasure and advancement?”. I believe it is something for all of us to think about!
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McDowell
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