HYPNOSIS a return to the past

The author sent me a copy of her novel to read and review:

I think Maria Ines Rebelo’s first novel was somewhat of a menza menza effort for me. I never really felt any empathy for any of the characters. They all seemed one-dimensional with little, or no depth. The story was not exciting for me and I wasn’t sure what the purpose of the novel was. Why did the author spend the first 39 pages describing the hypnotist’s family...it was boring. And it wasn’t until page 68 that the hypnotist and his mysterious patient finally met. Poor editing (it threw me off-kilter) and misspellings annoyed me, such as hiss for his, di for did, and theyears without a break between the words. And on page 36, how can librarian Georgine Gunderson be “5 feet 25 tall?” I understand that writing a novel is difficult. I’m sorry that my review is not what the author probably expected, but the novel wasn’t fully ready for publication. At this point, I normally tell the author what I think she/he did well. In this case, I was going to pass, but then I thought that wasn’t fair since every writer has some attribute that can be nurtured. Ms Rebelo’s X factor is in storytelling. While still in it’s raw form, I think that it can be developed with (in my opinion) a better story. The author states, “Through reading her books she hopes that her readers acquire a different view of the power of the human mind, or mankind itself.”

Marcus Belling was a world famous hypnotist with his own TV show and private practice. Anne Pauline Roux was a troubled twenty-five year old woman. Marcus tries to help patients that have “trauma from dreams of past lives” via hypnosis sessions. Anne was a sad and anguished patient. “The dreams of past lives seemed to invade her nights, year after year. Try as she might, she could not prevent the same, familiar man’s voice putting in her mind a set of questions that did not seem random: Who are you? Are you able to travel to the past? Do you want to discover what exists there?” Anne was aware of the long dispute between Marcus Belling and his rival hypnotist, Josef Salvaterra, but she decided to seek treatment from the more famous Marcus Belling. Is Salvaterra going to muck this up? Anyway, Anne finally starts treatment with Belling on page 79. Her first hypnosis takes her back to 1785 as Aurelie Caen, a renowned scientist/chemist from the 18th century. “Even though she was in trance, Anne Pauline could clearly see and hear the two newly arrived persons. To Anne’s surprise, the woman was her, but living in another time!” The Caens’ and their assistant Rosalie were attempting to turn base metals into gold. While hiding under a table, Anne was watching the experiments when the unthinkable happened. Rosalie saw Anne! How was this possible? Although this novel mostly bored me, do you see how the right words in my review can make this novel exciting?

“Anne panicked. She could never imagine that someone in a past life could be able to recognize her in this different time and space and while under a hypnotic trance! She did not know how to react, but the green-eyed girl from the future was sincere as she begged to the Caens’ assistant: no-one could know that she was there. Rosalie was moved by this mysterious hiding woman’s despair and decided not to denounce her to the scientists.” When Anne came out of the trance, she decided to withhold this incredible information from Marcus. The novel was off and running...so to speak. So listen, as you know, I wasn’t thrilled by this story, but that doesn’t mean (that) you will not like it. So I do recommend this novel if the subject matter interests you.

RATING: 3 out of 5 stars

Comment: I remember a movie I saw in 1970, On a clear day you can see forever, starring Barbra Streisand and Yves Montand. It was a typical musical comedy/drama that Barbra starred in many times. In this movie she sees a psychiatrist about breaking her five pack a day smoking habit. She accidentally gets hypnotized and recalls fifteen different past lives. The psychiatrist falls in love with one of Barbra’s past lives, which causes a problem when Barbra’s character, Daisy Gamble, finds out that he is in love with a past life and not her. At her final meeting with the psychiatrist, she informs him that in a future life (the year 2038) they will be married. It was a fun movie.