Review by Yoyis_cuquito3 -- Bedu: Bedouin Boy, Poet King
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Yoyis_cuquito3
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- Latest Review: Bedu: Bedouin Boy, Poet King by David W. Sutherland and Paul McKellips
Review by Yoyis_cuquito3 -- Bedu: Bedouin Boy, Poet King
[Following is a volunteer review of "Bedu: Bedouin Boy, Poet King" by David W. Sutherland and Paul McKellips.]
An inspiring, vivid, and soulful story with realistic characters and an educating plot. Bedu: Bedouin Boy, Poet King is a story written by Colonel David W. Sutherland, who is a former soldier who fought in Iraq War and Paul McKellips; McKellips also fought bravely at the Iraq War and is a dear friend of COL David W. Sutherland.
The book narrates from a third-person point of view the magical and transforming journey of a young Bedouin poet boy, Bedu, who has to accomplish certain missions assigned by King Melchior and his father, without knowing that, in the process, he will discover himself and who he truly is, instead of insisting that who he is what he does. Bedu knows he learned something new every time he looks at the stars and a new one is perceived by his vision. It contains themes of ethics, love, bravery, culture, honesty, humbleness, and obedience.
The narrative contains a deep, yet simple, motivating message awaiting everyone who wants to read it. While reading, I feel like I gain new insight into life, since it shows how sometimes we feel ashamed of little things that we do and that are superficial, rather than noticing the substantial qualities which define our identity. If you feel like that, this book will make you feel better about yourself and fill you with important values along the way, which in my case, I somehow manage to forget from time to time.
In all honesty, the plot is quite boring when you commence the reading since the pace is slow; however, as I continued and after one-third of the book approximately, the conflict broadens and you feel more attached to the plot. There were no plot holes and the antagonist in this story is the random situations in life that work as obstacles. There was not a meticulous world-building, but there was also no need since it is based in places that did exist, such like Damascus, Hebron or the Jordan River, so while reading, you can get an idea of the settings and it is one of the things I liked the most, aside from the realistic characters.
I liked that the author respected and depicted the real position of a woman in society in Yasmin and not the old idea people had (which is mostly depicted in Yara and Amira) but still conserving the respect. Yasmin, who is a princess and granddaughter of King Melchior, played an essential role in the story by constantly reminding Bedu of his great value and acting as a strong, productive woman. In general, the characters were very realistic.
Despite having great elements such as the former ones, I felt the writing was a little rough, which is what I disliked the most. For instance, sometimes the author used sentences like “Bedu had felt anything before like what he was feeling now.” instead of: "Bedu had felt nothing like that before", and these usually make the reading pace slower. In addition, sometimes and I don’t know why, events were omitted without a warning. I get that some events or dialogues can be implied, but it made some parts confusing since there were no ellipses, double spaces, or any signs at all that indicated the omissions.
To sum up, I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. In general, the story was quite touching and inspiring, besides the simplicity of the plot and great character development. I love that it matches with historical events and places such as the Bsharri District in Lebanon and the speech of Jesus Christ near Capernaum. However, the book was not perfectly edited since it had some grammar errors and typos. It is a pleasant piece of work overall, just not perfect. I recommend it mainly to a young audience, but if you want to read a simple and motivating story about who we really are, this is for you.
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Bedu: Bedouin Boy, Poet King
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An inspiring, vivid, and soulful story with realistic characters and an educating plot. Bedu: Bedouin Boy, Poet King is a story written by Colonel David W. Sutherland, who is a former soldier who fought in Iraq War and Paul McKellips; McKellips also fought bravely at the Iraq War and is a dear friend of COL David W. Sutherland.
The book narrates from a third-person point of view the magical and transforming journey of a young Bedouin poet boy, Bedu, who has to accomplish certain missions assigned by King Melchior and his father, without knowing that, in the process, he will discover himself and who he truly is, instead of insisting that who he is what he does. Bedu knows he learned something new every time he looks at the stars and a new one is perceived by his vision. It contains themes of ethics, love, bravery, culture, honesty, humbleness, and obedience.
The narrative contains a deep, yet simple, motivating message awaiting everyone who wants to read it. While reading, I feel like I gain new insight into life, since it shows how sometimes we feel ashamed of little things that we do and that are superficial, rather than noticing the substantial qualities which define our identity. If you feel like that, this book will make you feel better about yourself and fill you with important values along the way, which in my case, I somehow manage to forget from time to time.
In all honesty, the plot is quite boring when you commence the reading since the pace is slow; however, as I continued and after one-third of the book approximately, the conflict broadens and you feel more attached to the plot. There were no plot holes and the antagonist in this story is the random situations in life that work as obstacles. There was not a meticulous world-building, but there was also no need since it is based in places that did exist, such like Damascus, Hebron or the Jordan River, so while reading, you can get an idea of the settings and it is one of the things I liked the most, aside from the realistic characters.
I liked that the author respected and depicted the real position of a woman in society in Yasmin and not the old idea people had (which is mostly depicted in Yara and Amira) but still conserving the respect. Yasmin, who is a princess and granddaughter of King Melchior, played an essential role in the story by constantly reminding Bedu of his great value and acting as a strong, productive woman. In general, the characters were very realistic.
Despite having great elements such as the former ones, I felt the writing was a little rough, which is what I disliked the most. For instance, sometimes the author used sentences like “Bedu had felt anything before like what he was feeling now.” instead of: "Bedu had felt nothing like that before", and these usually make the reading pace slower. In addition, sometimes and I don’t know why, events were omitted without a warning. I get that some events or dialogues can be implied, but it made some parts confusing since there were no ellipses, double spaces, or any signs at all that indicated the omissions.
To sum up, I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. In general, the story was quite touching and inspiring, besides the simplicity of the plot and great character development. I love that it matches with historical events and places such as the Bsharri District in Lebanon and the speech of Jesus Christ near Capernaum. However, the book was not perfectly edited since it had some grammar errors and typos. It is a pleasant piece of work overall, just not perfect. I recommend it mainly to a young audience, but if you want to read a simple and motivating story about who we really are, this is for you.
******
Bedu: Bedouin Boy, Poet King
View: on Bookshelves
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karemmaar
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Reading your review made me want to read the book. I think the topics you mentioned it has, the settings of the book as well as the characters make the book a lot more interesting for the readers. I loved your review, thanks for writing it!
