4 out of 4 stars
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[Following is a review of And Then I Met Margaret by: Rob White]
The book “And Then I Met Margaret” by Rob White, consist of 195 pages and published by Mind Adventure Inc., is the author’s personal story anthology. This is a non-fiction book and categorized as a driving force chronicle.
The subject matter of this book includes the sequence of events of the author's life who live in a small town and grew up surrounded with the mindset of must work as a factory worker after graduating high school. His environment has a tradition of “Like father like son and follow me where ever I go mentality.” The anguished on his mind just to be a good son put him to a bigger challenge if he will just go with the flow of the wind. But his situations never stop him from dreaming and getting his aspiration. In the end he just followed his heart and was able to finished college in the University and became a Teacher.
As I described this book a driving force chronicle, many of the stories are overflowing edification cultured from the people he had met while setting his mind to achieved important goal in life. One of the best scenes I have read is when the Author took his final exam in English Lit 101. He signed up for a literature course and figured out that the course is easy sailing. He didn’t bother to check the reputations of various professors before enrolling for their courses. But he found out that the teacher of English courses is labeled as being “Executioner.” One of the teachers is Dr. Tucker and he learned that many of the students who enrolled on his subject flunked out of college. The author is so practical and he didn’t want it to happen so he decided that he is going to “Cheat.” The decision satisfied him when he notice that one of the student by the name Norman had never shown studying and described as being lazy and only love partying. Norman told the secret by telling him “If you can’t beat them, cheat them.” But the idea never succeeded and Dr. Tucker caught him cheating during the exam. Dr. Tucker did his action on a very humane approach. He invited Bob White to visit his office the following day and instructed him to bring the cheat sheet he has. During the confrontation, Dr Tucker ask Mr. White where he came from, what his dad do for a living and reason for wanting to attend college. The author answered the two question briefly but unsure on the third. The final verdict of Dr. Tucker after the confrontation is allowing him to repeat the exam without the cheat sheet. The author finished the exam and got the B-plus. The parting word told by Dr. Tucker is, “This is not about me, it’s about you. You can use your brain correctly or you can use it to destroy your life.” The author felt sorry for himself, and he cried for the second chance he got.
The writing style of the author made this book more interesting because at the end of every chapter he expound the “Myth” he believed in and the “Reality he discovered.” It makes every chapter contain in this book more logical. I agree with the author when he said, “Stand for what you believe, and you have the power to persist.” Because to succeed in the game of life, is not a matter of starting it, but a matter of finishing it. When I read this book I can relate because during early age of my life the most popular topic of most of my friends is to graduate from High School. Get their Graduate Certificate or Diploma and go abroad and find their luck. If this not happened, then work for the factory. It has never in their mind a topic about entering college. Because what they believe is work early to support the family.
Though I found some error such as double word and wrong spellings, but it doesn’t affect my understanding on reading this book. And it doesn’t affect giving this book a rating of 4 out of 4 star rating because all the way from chapter one to twenty one, the content of the book is really inspiring. I recommend this book to those who love to read personal and rug to riches story.
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And Then I Met Margaret
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