4 out of 4 stars
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And then I met Margaret is an inspirational book written by Rob White which serves as an excellent self help guide as well as a life time experience sharing many pearls of wisdom in a striking manner. The title of the book might suggest it could be a book belonging to romantic genre where the writer’s journey of union with his beloved might be the gist of the story but it is a self-motivating book comprising of 21 chapters each with its respective and unique but of course, related themes. The writing style of the author is something that readily catches the attention of his readers as the entire book is written in a storytelling style where an innocent child is seen shattering the barriers imposed by his society and elders. He tends to live on the edge by taking risks for his better future, living a life full of healthy adventures to strengthen his goals and position in life and squeezing out the most meaningful words of advice from each and every person he comes across in his journey of life.
In this book, the writer describes his journey of self-realization; from a small town to money making, from being a motivational speaker to achieving life time fame as an influential writer. The way he continues to fight against the odds and establishes a place for himself in the society by earning the respect of his folks and winning the hearts of the millions unknown is commendable and impressive. He voices out his experiences with such intuitive ability which ripples across many lives in their journey for transformation. His humble attitude towards life and an equally mature approach in harnessing the true worth of even the ordinary people he meets along is truly inspiring and enriching.
He knows how to make good use of the wisdom gathered from people belonging to diverse settings, backgrounds and work environments in his favor. He is a living example of a wise person who spreads his wings by learning through the experiences of others and sees the world from their lens. It shows his inner quest for lifelong learning and to take the reins of his life as he is his own guru. He is the man who knows the art of alchemy; to turn the lead of trials and hardships into gold of wisdom and intellect.
This book raises the level of self-awareness and convinces its readers to achieve the higher order goals and success that is immeasurable. It has the fair prospects and potential to set the ambition of many hearts ablaze and mold those souls seeking a spiritual guide for the enlightenment of their souls and beings for the higher purpose. His words are a food for thought for all of us because at one point or the other in our lives, we experience the same desire to be self-efficient and independent which we are often seen to repress due to the lack of confidence and faith in ourselves and the divine plan. Therefore, his words echo the hearts of millions of readers out there.
The writer uses a mix of a handful of phrases, a collection of contemporary idioms and a plenty of metaphors to ornament his manuscript and enrich its meaning. A few of my favorite picks from the book are “rare species that’s in huge demand”, “treasured the card games”, “choosing the old-maid cards”, etc. The vocabulary he uses is so powerful with carefully chosen emotive words like “spiritually bankrupt”. In short, he has learnt to master the art of playing well with the words. In addition to these, he lightens up his words with a casual, light yet sensible humor as is evident from the sentences like “enjoyed playing cards with me and my sisters at the kitchen table, sometimes for a whole hour!”, “i soon stopped avoiding open spaces when the clouds darkened”, “he wasn’t even in the course catalogue”, “he had a brain part missing until you spoke with him”, “opted out of a perfectly arranged marriage”, “and if I fell short, i was prepared to be struck dead by a bolt of lightning” to quote a few.
Apart from the strong and deep concepts the book discussed with its readers it was throughout an equally enjoyable read particularly the strange and peculiar traditions like adopting the gait of one’s father and throwing stag party been mentioned were very interesting. One of the many charms of this book is its empathetic nature to the readers as it is layered up with beautiful and memorable experiences of the author and the lessons learned from the life as a whole especially the story of his uncle Fred which shared a valuable and optimistic life lesson in a simplistic manner.
The writer has an inkling of technical scientific terms such as “escape velocity”, “centrifugal push”, centripetal pull”, etc. and merges them beautifully with the content to elaborate its meaning. Lessons learned were presented in chronological order to engage the readers in cherish able memories. Among all these inspirational words, facing the crowd and setting your goals higher were my most favorite. Font of the book is eye catching and appeals very much to the visual senses.
However, the myth busting concept at the end of each chapter could have been more appropriately described only with the lessons learned instead of using those showy and glittery puns as some of them were too oddly structured. A few of the words and abbreviations posed slight difficulty in conveying their meaning such as EST, NLP, etc while the others like DOL, on the other hand, were properly transcribed. There were quite a few typographical errors such as “a whole a new me”, “paints” instead of pants” as well as the repetition of “i was” on page 131 and 126 respectively.
The book took me back to my early childhood days of grandmother’s moral stories and the first drop capped word of each chapter reminded me of my daily newspaper reading. Hence, this book is a wake-up call for those who are busy in making money and aims at people who view success as a shift of focus towards materialism. I would gladly rate the book 4 out of 4 stars and would recommend it to every person i can reach out to give it a read, instill power and confidence and get transformed for the better.
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And Then I Met Margaret
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That's really interesting to hear you also thought the same as i did when i first chose the book for review lol but i think the way it transforms you and fills you up with the lessons is a way more effective than a love story would have had been. I hope you agree
