Review of Beyond Our Beliefs

[Eunice Geres]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Beyond Our Beliefs" by Traci-ann Barron.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Beyond Our Beliefs by Traci-ann Barron is a story of lessons learned, conquered struggles, and hope for the future. In hopes of showing the youths the difficulties of being involved with the wrong people and the wrong substances, the author wrote her own experiences and the challenges she had to face every day.

What I liked the most about this autobiography is that the author offers a lot of experiences that the readers can learn from. She’s been abused, she lost her home and custody over her son, and she’s been addicted to drugs and alcohol. She also openly discussed the abuses she’s been through and the mental illnesses she’s battling. But the most inspiring thing about this autobiography is how the author shares her dreams. She is so hopeful, and she’s doing everything she can to turn her life around for her and her son.

From the technical perspective for this review, I noted many issues that made this book hard to read. One problem is that there are so many grammatical mistakes. Another issue is that there’s no structure in the autobiography. The ideas and the stories the author shared are sometimes discussed randomly or just repeated. The book is full of digression. The story kept jumping from one account to the other. And what made it even harder to read is that there’s no concrete timeline. I was most of the time confused about what year or age the author is in during the story she’s sharing.

For the things I didn’t like, the author mentioned some topics that I think are entirely unnecessary. The author said something about “sharing” a partner with someone. And she talked about it like having the main girl and side people, and why is it the norm. I can tell that the author is talking about a polygamous relationship. But from what I’ve read, she almost described it as cheating openly. Another thing I didn’t like is how she had to mention this: “Do you agree with the new system of genders? Do you understand what is going on with all the new identities suddenly?” I just wished that she never mentioned these gender and social topics if she doesn’t know what it entails and how misunderstood some readers going through these struggles may feel. These topics are also so out of place in the whole narrative.

With all of that said, I would rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. I knocked off one star because it was not wonderfully edited. The absence of commas in some sentences also irked me, and the grammatical mistakes are more than 10. I knocked off another star because of the reasons I’ve discussed in previous paragraphs.

I would recommend this to someone going through a tough time in their life. I think many people, young or old, would feel great knowing that someone who has made a lot of mistakes and trusted people that are not trustworthy stood strong and hopeful.

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Beyond Our Beliefs
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[Aisha Yakub]

This sounds inspiring. I believe it would be helpful and insightful. Thank you for the review.

[Regard003]

I think this book might deserve three stars. But I won't object to the two stars because grammatical errors can be annoying in books too. The book seem helpful. Honest review

[Amenrodion]

A worthy read I think