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| ISBN 978-1951214982 |
Beulah thinks she is an all-powerful Queen. She travels through wondrous ‘Watery Realms’ where she encounters ‘loyal subjects’. All the while, she's blissfully unaware that those subjects are trying to tell her something: that she’s neither powerful nor a queen! Things change when Beulah meets unruly visitors who send her on a journey of self-discovery — a journey destined to explode her vision of reality and connect her with awesome powers of the Spirit.
Beulah's story is entertaining for young and old. In a fanciful and lighthearted manner, it brings to life the wisdom of mystical texts such as the Yoga Sutras and the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
- Back Cover Blurb
Beulah woke to the fathomless Blue Below.
- First Sentence, Chapter One
Beulah sang the Song of Creation. And the Universe responded with a glorious music that underpinned everything material and non-material, It brought together the forces of things below and things above, and, in that one thing was the tingling, buzzing, ecstasy of Life.
- Memorable Moment, Page 31
MY THOUGHTS ... The tale of Beulah who, well, who thinks she is something other than what she is actually is.
According to the synopsis, 'Beulah's story is entertaining for young and old', look on the publishers website and you'll find it amongst the books for children and young adults.
Hmm!
According to the synopsis, 'Beulah's story is entertaining for young and old', look on the publishers website and you'll find it amongst the books for children and young adults.
Hmm!
Whilst the title, the cover and indeed the synopsis do indeed speak of a book written with children/young adults in mind, open it and, though the story and illustrations on the face of it appear to be aimed at older children, there are some surprisingly deep concepts that I'm sure they might struggle with ... and that's to say nothing of the use of words such as 'scintillations' and 'recalcitrant' which I'm certain the vast majority will struggle with.
Alas, I'm afraid that as much as I personally thought this a thought provoking read full of Eastern wisdom, that it is marketed as being for the young and the not so young alike, well, it just didn't somehow work for me.
SUMMED UP IN A SENTENCE ... Surprisingly deep for a novel of only 149 pages, I would however question its suitability for readers both young and old.
MY sincere thanks to the team at the New York- based Adelaide Books who, having stumbled across Pen and Paper, thought I might be interested in sharing my thoughts on one or two of their books. My thoughts on their Radical Acceptance by Bonnie E Carlson is to follow on Monday 18th of May.
4 comments:
At least this sounds different. I guess sometimes a book lands between adult literature and young adult. I suppose that sometimes that can lead to some writing to be a little awkward.
Felicity,
Although the book definitely sounds
thought provoking, I am sorry that
it did not work for you. And thank
you for your nuanced, critical review.
Raven
Even before getting to your thoughts on this story, it wasn't really "speaking" to me. As always, I appreciate your honest reviews.
I like the sound of this one in theory. It definitely sounds like it may be lost on the young in some respects--or perhaps is a story to be read by a child with an adult or vice versa?
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