2 out of 4 stars
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Change is an inevitable part of life. It happens to everybody irrespective of their state of readiness. A lot of changes happened to Maurice, the main character in the book Unanticipated Life by Y.M. Johnson. He was abandoned by his parents but was lucky enough to be adopted by a woman who loved him and was committed to raising him, in spite of her own personal challenges. The tragedies Maurice faced are enough to traumatize anybody. However, through hard work and determination, he is able to build a successful business. He falls in love and marries a woman who he hopes to live with for the rest of his life. He gives that relationship his full commitment and loyalty. The challenges in that relationship redefine Maurice and his wife. The rest of the story thereafter is the story of the protagonist’s journey of self-discovery and healing. It is a story about love, parenting, selflessness, betrayal, loyalty, and friendship.
I liked the character Maurice when the book started. I found myself rooting for him to rise above the blows life threw at him. I did not really like who he became in the course of his journey. The book ended on a cliff-hanger for me because I was just about to find out if Maurice would rediscover himself and find peace. I suspect the author plans to write a sequel to this book. However, I would have liked this particular phase of Maurice’s life to end properly in this book. That way, the book can be read as a stand-alone novel.
To be honest, it was a fair read, but I was not captivated by it. I kept turning the pages hoping to find some twists in the plot that would captivate me. I didn’t. I then read till the end hoping that I would find the ending gratifying, but I did not.
There were many grammatical and punctuation errors scattered throughout the book. I think the book would have benefited from another round of editing to correct these errors. Professional editing would also have identified and corrected the glaring point of view errors in this book. An option for the author would have been to write from two or three points of view if he wanted readers to know what certain key characters were thinking. He provided information about what other characters were thinking when there was no way Maurice’s point of view could have had that information. I found that distracting.
This book had some graphic intimate scenes so I do not recommend it to readers less than 18 years old. I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars because of the grammatical and point of view errors in it.
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Unanticipated Life
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