The Blog's Mission

Wikipedia defines a book review as: “a form of literary criticism in which a book is analyzed based on content, style, and merit. A book review can be a primary source opinion piece, summary review or scholarly review”. My mission is to provide the reader with my thoughts on the author’s work whether it’s good, bad, or ugly. I read all genres of books, so some of the reviews may be on hard to find books, or currently out of print. All of my reviews will also be available on Amazon.com. I will write a comment section at the end of each review to provide the reader with some little known facts about the author, or the subject of the book. Every now and then, I’ve had an author email me concerning the reading and reviewing of their work. If an author wants to contact me, you can email me at rohlarik@gmail.com. I would be glad to read, review and comment on any nascent, or experienced writer’s books. If warranted, I like to add a little comedy to accent my reviews, so enjoy!
Thanks, Rick O.

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

WE GOT IT ALL WRONG: death and grief, heaven and hell and mental illness

The authors sent me an autographed copy of their book to review:

I’m sure Beverly Hafemeister and Kym McBride are very discerning ladies, but I have to treat their dual work as a novel and not as a workshop type book. I didn’t see any credibility in anything I read, but it was sorta entertaining. The reviewers that gave this book five stars are obviously friends of the writers. I repeat...their story didn’t have an ounce of believability. Beverly is the healing recipient and Kym is the psychic medium conducting phone seances (for the lack of better words) between Beverly and her minister friend, Hal, who passed away the year before. Beverly has many mental problems including “fits of weeping and heavy depression followed by feelings of weighty despondency.” Kym writes that Beverly will serve as the experimental “lab rat” in this book. Beverly writes, “You will find, as Kym and I did, that we go through life unaware of our largely invisible spiritual support system no matter what our preferred religious dogma is.” That’s right, they both have spiritual guides that that help them through life. Beverly’s guide is Bob (or Cherith) who “is a master of disguises with a droll sense of humor and is the perfect compliment to an uptight client.” Kym’s guide is Timingo, who is “level-headed and rather straight laced...the perfect guide for a medium.” By the way, good news: according to Kym, we all have invisible spiritual guides to help us through life...as they would say on the TV show Laugh-In...“I didn’t know that.”


One of the main themes in this book (out of respect, I don’t want to use the word novel again...in case they are right, you never know) is the Invisible Structure. What is that? Okay, I’ll tell you what it is, but you will not understand. “It is a beautiful, organized, multifaceted support system that surrounds all people at every stage of life. This structure’s parameters guide you back to Source that is achieved through levels of enlightenment (knowledge).” If they are talking about thanking the Lord (the Source?) for watching over you everyday, then I agree one hundred percent! I’m also a little foggy on some of the invisibles, such as, a crossed spirit, which Hal (Beverly’s deceased friend) was one of. By the way, all Beverly had to do to talk to Hal was make a phone appointment with Kym and start talking to Hal after saying her name and Hal’s name three times. Anyway, “crossed spirits still have their personality, intelligence, sense of humor, and style of speaking. Their feelings of love do not stop. They still have their free will. These souls can decide if they feel a loved one is ready or not to know things about them and their transition.” But you have to understand that they are on the otherside, ghost are not. Crossed spirits cannot see ghost, because ghost are still stuck on earth. Ghost tend to be mischievous. And most importantly, “not unlike some of the living, they feel they are trapped by their circumstances.”


Kym says that she has “talked to close to 1,000 dead people” since working as a medium. At the end of each chapter, the authors summarize their life theme’s progress. Kym’s thoughts are relayed to the reader under the heading of, Kym’s Professional Journey or Personal Growth Questions. For instance on page 87, Kym asks, “What’s your attitude towards ghosts wanting to take up residence in another person’s aura? Anger, compassion, a desire for revenge? What’s triggering your feelings? What’s your opinion of the host? Are they weak-willed, a victim, empathetic, a sinner?” Wow, that’s a lot to chew on! I’ll have to get back to Kym on that later. Beverly, in one of her Beverly’s Personal Journey segments says, after a phone conversation with Kym and Hal (still dead), “Another surprise of the reading concerns automatic handwriting. I don’t feel really comfortable with that idea (I wouldn’t either). As Edgar Cayce (a non-profit Org. in NYC that runs workshops on spiritual growth) warned, you never know who’s on the other end. To whom are you connected? Oh well, maybe I’m being too much a worry wart. It should be a fun way to communicate directly.” Well I’d be a little worried myself. Anyway you get the essence of this dual written workshop type book. Obviously I’m a nonbeliever, but a lot of people do believe in the spiritual world. With that in mind, I recommend this book to all doubters and followers of the spiritual world.


RATING: 3 out of 5 stars


Comment: If anything else, the world of spiritualism is certainly entertaining. Recently I enjoyed David Jaher’s The Witch of Lime Street (see my review of 12/10/2016). Basically this novel pits Harry Houdini against Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (yes, the author) and the world of spiritualism and the mediums who oversee it. It was a true story and very entertaining.


I also read Irene Weinberg’s, They Serve Bagels in Heaven (see my review of 10/11/2016). This novel wasn’t even close to being believable, but again it was enjoyable. The novel that makes you think twice about afterlife is neurosurgeon Eben Alexander’s, Proof of Heaven (see my review of 8/10/2013). The doctor’s credentials make his story convincing.

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