Review of Sunshine Among the Clouds

[Mary Longeway]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Sunshine Among the Clouds" by Dan "Axe" DeKruif.]

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3 out of 5 stars

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“There are two sides to every coin,” is a saying that readily comes to mind after reading Dan “Axe” DeKruif’s latest book SUNSHINE AMONG THE CLOUDS. This memoir is a tribute to the woman in his life who taught him the value of appreciating and embracing all of life’s moments whether they be good or bad; big or small; happy or sad. The chronicling of one’s life from the vantage point of these opposite perspectives provides the basis for DeKruif’s remembrance. Although unique in its approach of concentrating first on the negatives and then the positives in his life, this bifurcated examination becomes tiresome. It doesn’t provide the reader with the insights or wisdoms that I believe the author wished to convey, namely that life is a balancing act. Instead this message gets lost due to the book’s construct. By concentrating the focus of the first part of the book on fear, failure and self-loathing, it becomes dark, depressive and overwhelming. It is all of life’s lows and none of its highs. In the second part, the same events are told but this time through the rose colored lens of self-confidence, success and pride. Love and happiness abound on every page. The reality is that life is not like this. The push and pull between the positive (high) and the negative (low) forces in our lives need to be managed and evened out. In the Afterward the author finally tries to impart this message by tying the two sections together with his observations and his declaration that “Love is the ultimate high, the most painful low is loss, and somewhere in the balance, we find life.”

I generally enjoy reading this genre of books but SUNSHINE AMONG THE CLOUDS was not among my favorites. It appeared at times to be nothing more than a recitation of events from the author’s day planner. It had moments of insight yet the poor editing with page after page of typos and the polarizing format used to tell this story did not make this book an enjoyable read. For these reasons I gave the book a 2/4 and 3/5.

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Sunshine Among the Clouds
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