Review by ruchy ndi -- The Vision of Jenny Merkus
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ruchy ndi
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Review by ruchy ndi -- The Vision of Jenny Merkus
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Vision of Jenny Merkus" by Hadassa Mor.]
What first attracted me to The Vision of Jenny Merkus by Hadassa Mor, was its cover and the fact that it was a historical biography. Fans of the genre might appreciate this book, although, I do not recommend it to those who are not familiar with the same.
SUMMARY- Jenny Merkus, a firm believer of God, receives a vision to build a house, for Him and a hundred and forty thousand people who would receive Him when Doomsday strikes, in Jerusalem. On her path to fulfilling this mission, she encounters various hardships, including her involvement in a few wars and legal battles.
I rate this book 1 out of 4 stars. I almost rated it 2 stars, but what ultimately changed my mind were the long, unnecessarily drawn out chapters and the dull story line. When I first started this book, it took me so long to get through the first two chapters that I almost gave up. But, I believed the writing would improve, and so would the book. I was utterly wrong.
My first complaint was the extremely long paragraphs with tedious and unrelated information. I am not sure if it was because of the lack of material on Jenny Merkus, but I found such examples throughout the book. What irked me, even more, was the lack of breaks in the ones that had valuable information, which made even the interesting bits a pain to read.
I was also disappointed that the author did not uphold the rule of thumb 'show not tell' and so her descriptions of many things were lacking. Moreover, the humor was terrible. To provide some examples, let me quote a part of a conversation that took place between a hotel employee and Jenny.
“We aren’t only imprisoned in our kishleh. But also in the kishleh of our environment, our work, and even our family.” Both of them burst into cheerful laughter, repeating the last possibility -- the kishleh of our family -- ha, ha, ha.
[The Vision of Jenny Merkus 2 (Kindle Locations 238-240).]
Further, Jenny was described to be severely affected by her childhood. And that her relationship with her family members projected in her decisions in the latter part of her life. However, I could not sympathize with her. Not once did I get to read about the dynamics of her relationships. Her bonds with her siblings, Katrine van Ries, Mićo Ljubibratic and so forth; all her connections seemed superficial and bland to me.
An editing mistake, I would like to point out, was the use of quotations in dialogues; which I saw throughout the book. To provide some examples;
Guillemot offhandedly replied that, “Of course, he could.”
[The Vision of Jenny Merkus 2 (Kindle Locations 1102-1103). ]
And again,
she screamed her refusal: “No one could dismiss her, she was a fighting hero, how dare they!”
[The Vision of Jenny Merkus 2 (Kindle Locations 3130-3131).]
Lastly, something I liked the most was the bits and pieces of information I got from reading it; the war between Jews and Arabs, the intricate history of Jerusalem, Turkish rule and its exploits, etc. Something I disliked most was Jenny's naivety and mishandling of her fortune.It frustrated me to see her make ignorant mistakes; ultimately leading to the suffering of others.
******
The Vision of Jenny Merkus
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
What first attracted me to The Vision of Jenny Merkus by Hadassa Mor, was its cover and the fact that it was a historical biography. Fans of the genre might appreciate this book, although, I do not recommend it to those who are not familiar with the same.
SUMMARY- Jenny Merkus, a firm believer of God, receives a vision to build a house, for Him and a hundred and forty thousand people who would receive Him when Doomsday strikes, in Jerusalem. On her path to fulfilling this mission, she encounters various hardships, including her involvement in a few wars and legal battles.
I rate this book 1 out of 4 stars. I almost rated it 2 stars, but what ultimately changed my mind were the long, unnecessarily drawn out chapters and the dull story line. When I first started this book, it took me so long to get through the first two chapters that I almost gave up. But, I believed the writing would improve, and so would the book. I was utterly wrong.
My first complaint was the extremely long paragraphs with tedious and unrelated information. I am not sure if it was because of the lack of material on Jenny Merkus, but I found such examples throughout the book. What irked me, even more, was the lack of breaks in the ones that had valuable information, which made even the interesting bits a pain to read.
I was also disappointed that the author did not uphold the rule of thumb 'show not tell' and so her descriptions of many things were lacking. Moreover, the humor was terrible. To provide some examples, let me quote a part of a conversation that took place between a hotel employee and Jenny.
“We aren’t only imprisoned in our kishleh. But also in the kishleh of our environment, our work, and even our family.” Both of them burst into cheerful laughter, repeating the last possibility -- the kishleh of our family -- ha, ha, ha.
[The Vision of Jenny Merkus 2 (Kindle Locations 238-240).]
Further, Jenny was described to be severely affected by her childhood. And that her relationship with her family members projected in her decisions in the latter part of her life. However, I could not sympathize with her. Not once did I get to read about the dynamics of her relationships. Her bonds with her siblings, Katrine van Ries, Mićo Ljubibratic and so forth; all her connections seemed superficial and bland to me.
An editing mistake, I would like to point out, was the use of quotations in dialogues; which I saw throughout the book. To provide some examples;
Guillemot offhandedly replied that, “Of course, he could.”
[The Vision of Jenny Merkus 2 (Kindle Locations 1102-1103). ]
And again,
she screamed her refusal: “No one could dismiss her, she was a fighting hero, how dare they!”
[The Vision of Jenny Merkus 2 (Kindle Locations 3130-3131).]
Lastly, something I liked the most was the bits and pieces of information I got from reading it; the war between Jews and Arabs, the intricate history of Jerusalem, Turkish rule and its exploits, etc. Something I disliked most was Jenny's naivety and mishandling of her fortune.It frustrated me to see her make ignorant mistakes; ultimately leading to the suffering of others.
******
The Vision of Jenny Merkus
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: My Trip To Adele by R.I.Alyaseer and A. I Alyaseer
