2 out of 4 stars
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So This Is What Life Is... by Peter L. Campo reflects on the downside of the advancement of technology. Henry, the protagonist, is madly in love with Cecilia. In his head, he is far from a perfect man, but he does not wish to exhibit any sign of weakness to her. Therefore, he keeps his insecurities (mainly related to his job) hidden from her. Although his job has made him a rich man, it does not provide him a feeling of fulfillment. To distract himself from this disappointment, he indulges himself into adventurous sports. Cecilia does not like his over-indulgence in these sports as she does not wish to see him getting hurt. However, this does not stop Henry from trying every dangerous sport. One such sport caused him to become unconscious for a very long time. When he wakes up, he finds himself on an island where humans are devoid of any signs of humanly attributes. On this island, the Machine (as they call it) tells them what to do and how to do it.
The plot of So This Is What Life Is... is not unique but it is intriguing, nonetheless. The development of the plot is quite impressive. The description of the world controlled by a machine is flawless. It was really fascinating to read how the humans would act if they had no purpose in their lives. The thought of having to do nothing is extremely pleasing, but the reality of it may not be as amusing. The author has explained all the tidbits related to this bizarre situation in a very convincing manner. The transformation of Henry from a self-centered man to the savior of the mankind is amazing.
The imagination of the author deserves appreciation. His words described this future world excellently. I was able to create an image of this world and its people very clearly, and this enhanced the overall experience of reading it. However, I could not make a very good connection with the characters. The part of Cecilia was very small, but I could only connect with her. Henry's dialogues and thoughts were more or less repetitive, and this bothered me.
Moreover, the book needs a round of editing and proofreading. The quotes of the dialogues start and end at wrong places. Sometimes, the dialogue is written with no quotes; in some other places, a non-dialogue sentence appears in quotes. There are incorrect sentence structures present here and there. These errors distracted me, as a reader, many times and decreased the overall experience of the read.
If it were not for the grammatical mistakes, punctuation errors, and the repetition of the same concept (or thought) over and over again, it would have been an excellent read. The plot of the book is really thought-provoking. The author's innovative approach to solving all the problems that the machine and humans have created is highly impressive. Because of these reasons, I would rate So This Is What Life Is... 2 out of 4 stars.
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So This Is What Life Is...
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