Wealth of Time

 

Wealth of Time – by Andre Gonzales

Although the late James Michener mainly wrote fiction, he included a lot of real history and facts when writing about his subject matter. In the late 1980’s, Michener wrote a book ABOUT writing a book titled “The Novel”. One of the more interesting tidbits I remember is that Michener stated that out of every 900 unsolicited manuscripts a publisher receives, they reject 899 of them. That’s a scary fact for an unpublished author.  The bad news is that in the electronic age, I would imagine the publishers are even more inundated since it takes a lot less effort to send over a raw novel.  The good news, though, is that maybe with a much larger array of platforms in the digital world, it might just be a bit easier for a struggling author to get their work to the masses.

I mention this because this novel seemed as though it probably fit into such a category. I don’t know the background, but several of this author’s works are free with Amazon Kindle Unlimited, and after reading this book, I would find it difficult to believe that there was any sort of bidding war going on between the major players of the publishing field for this book.  That sounds crass, and that really isn’t my intention. This isn’t a bad book, but it’s a far cry from what most would consider a “great” novel.  If publishers truly reject 899 out of 900 novels, maybe this book would have made the cut if they only rejected, say 850.

This is a “time travel” book.  It’s a very obvious rip-off of Stephen King’s 11/22/63.  The similarities are everywhere, and if one were to read these two books side by side, I think you would clearly be able to comprehend the point I made in the first two paragraphs.  Had Gonzales had, say, a co-author to give him ideas and pointers, this book would have been much better.  His ideas and directions that he takes with the book are nicely done, it’s just that the journey with pen and paper (or word processor) is a bit forced and laborious.

The main problem is that the author doesn’t let this story breathe.  It’s a 300-page book that really needs about 800 pages to be properly told and have a strong impact on the reader.  Less isn’t always more when it comes to the printed page, and brevity can actually be a hindrance. You get the feeling the author is trying to hurry up with writing this book so he can quickly move on to the next one (I think he’s written at least 5 others in this “series”).

Example, after our protagonist goes back in time 22-years (the reason isn’t necessary to mention here) he quickly meets a woman.  They have an interaction that almost sounds as contrite as this:

 

Man: Hi. My name is Martin and I need a girlfriend to fall in love with in order to make this story that I’m in more interesting. Would you be interested?

Woman: Sure. I guess. Why not?

 

So Martin quickly gets a love interest so we can take our plot in a certain direction that wouldn’t have been possible if he didn’t have a steady sweetie.  This book needed about 35-50 more pages so we could explore the chemistry between these two individuals, but the author, again, is more concerned about quickly reaching the finish line then spending an adequate amount of time allowing us to know and care about his characters.

Of course, ANY time a fictional character goes back in time, they can’t resist visiting the global events that made headlines and shocked the world – good or bad. Martin isn’t any different. He strays from his “mission” as he revisits a well-known horror that happened 22 years ago, and he wants to change the outcome and prevent the eventual suffering.  Sounds like a good idea, but as Stephen King taught us in 11/22/1963, the past is obdurate. It doesn’t like people trying to change it.  This world of time travel is no different.

Once we get to the big “ah-ha” at the end, and Martin learns the reason behind the event that he came to witness, it again seems rushed and forced.  Had the author spent a few more chapters talking about these people that we eventually encounter, some motivations, and maybe a few more characteristics, it would have been a much more satisfying conclusion. It’s simply too much “check of the box and move on”.

Again, the story being told is a good one, the storyteller himself, though, could use a bit of polishing.  The book ends with the potential for “more adventures” and I believe there are a total of six “Wealth of Time” books.  Whereas I don’t think I’ll be reading any of the others, if these books were picked up by a television producer, they just might be able the flesh these things out a tad better and make something really good out of what is here.

So yes, it’s very easy to criticize the author and the writing style, but with James Michener telling us just how rare a breed that published authors are, you get the feeling that Andre Gonzales is still probably better than most.

 

Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas

 

Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas by Elaine Pagels

You’ve heard the axiom “You can’t judge a book by its cover”.  This book is an example of “You can’t judge a book by its <I>title</I>”.  As enjoyable as this book was, I confess I’m quite confused as to why author Elaine Pagels chose this particular title.  When one picks up a book with a title such as this, they might expect that they would read about the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas, which was recently discovered in clay jars in the caves at Nag Hammadi in upper Egypt in 1945.  They may even believe that this gospel is extensively examined, or at least perhaps quoted.  Nope.

In fact, the Gospel of Thomas seems rather a cornerstone to the main historical narrative that Dr. Pagels chooses to expound.  This book is rather a study of the early church, and how fractured and diverse these new Christians could be.  We mainly read about the brilliant early church father Irenaeus of Lyon, and his power struggles with other followers of Jesus as to how they felt Jesus and God should be revered and worshipped.  The Gospel of Thomas, with its gnostic tendencies, seemed a bit “far out” to Irenaeus, and he preferred that a work such as the Gospel of John should be the foundation of the faith.  In fact, we read an awful lot more about the Gospel of John in this book than we do the Gospel of Thomas.

Supposedly, the Gospel of Thomas contains (what was then considered) secret insights to the Kingdom of God, whereas the Gospel of John was a much more straightforward (but non synoptic) account of Jesus, his accounts, and his teachings.  So one wishes that Dr. Pagels had chosen a different title even though the subject matter is highly interesting and well discussed.  One of her assertions is that politics played a big role in the canonization of scripture as opposed to any of the writings being “divinely inspired” to be chosen.

She tends to drift an awful lot as well. Sometimes she strays a bit too much from her current topic of the particular chapter.  It’s a rather minor sin as she never bores her reader, but it still can leave one scratching their head.  Think about talking to a friend with the goal of telling them about a movie you just saw, and you accidentally drift in your narrative and wind up talking about restaurants. Yes, that happens a lot when people converse, but one would think a serious book might warrant a tad bit more care to stay on topic. The last chapter of the book (there are only five) “Constantine and the Catholic Church” doesn’t really even mention Constantine nor the Catholic Church until well over half the chapter has been complete. 

As long as the reader keeps note of this tendency of the author, the overall book is still quite resourceful and enjoyable. Early Christianity is a topic that doesn’t seem to get nearly enough attention concerning how prevalent the faith is.  Therefore, I look at any well written account of the first few centuries of Christianity as a welcome narrative.

The book is rather small and short, but it’s quite dense. I found that I couldn’t really read more than 20 pages or so in a single setting.  The prose isn’t difficult nor mundane, it’s just that there’s a lot of people and places that are talked about, and if one wants to truly savor the reading experience, one who doesn’t possess a lot of knowledge of the particular time in history should take their time.

I would recommend this book, but if you’re really wanting to read anything remotely connected to the Gospel of Thomas as opposed to the politics of early church history, I would strongly suggest you look elsewhere.

Billy Summers

 

Billy Summers – by Stephen King

If you lived in this make-believe world that Stephen King created and you knew who Billy Summers was, odds are you wouldn’t like him.  Notice I said “knew who he was”.  If you knew him personally, you would probably like him. You’d like him a lot. You’d cheer for him. You’d feel sorry for him. And you would want Billy Summers to succeed.   Often when we know of someone with a questionable behavior – often immoral or illegal – we immediately pass judgement.  Stephen King knows better. He knows everyone has a story. Everyone has a past, and a lot of what life deals us, we don’t have much control over; especially when we’re very young.

This is a very good Stephen King offering. Those who have read the majority of his 60 or 70 books know that a “good book” by Stephen King is not necessarily a guarantee anymore.  King writes a lot in the horror and/or supernatural vein. That in itself isn’t a bad thing.  Strangely, King often proves that when he just tells a straightforward story without ghosts, demons, or visits to the twilight zone, he can often produce something very special - even better than many of his “weird” tales.  Such is the case here.  Apart from a couple of references to a creepy hotel in Colorado that once stood where Billy Summers happens to travel, this book has a story about as believable as they come.

It also helps when he tames down the “gross” factor.  King can get a bit childish when he writes with his littered profanity and fascination with bodily fluids and functions. One learns that they should not read a King novel while eating a meal or recuperating from a stomach ailment.  This book is rather “clean” thankfully.   Oh sure, there’s lots of R-rated stuff here, but when we encounter adult situations in this story, it always seems quite necessary as opposed to a juvenile distraction.

The book still has minor annoyances that can frequent a Stephen King novel.  I find that he still struggles with believable dialogue between characters.  It’s been my experience that when a person starts a new job and goes out to the food court down the street during the lunch hour, the strangers don’t automatically start conversing, telling stories, and becoming friends overnight.  Maybe the world was once like this.  Or, when someone moves into a new neighborhood, usually all the neighbors don’t start suddenly appearing inviting the new person to cookouts, bringing over pies, or having the new adult neighbor come over and play with their children.  Sure, that happens, but usually not within the first few days after the new person arrives. Again, maybe the world was once such a place.

Stephen King is best when he describes people and what they’re feeling or going through – without the dialogue.  We read a lot about Billy Summers when he’s alone and we discover a lot of things about him.  Summers has been around the block a few times and knows how to look out for himself and be on guard when he knows he’s about to be cheated.  Early in the story, Billy has a job to do, and the reader may initially think that this “job” will be the subject of the entire book.  It probably takes about 1/3 of the story, and the rest of the book takes some twists that I had initially found forced and unnecessary, but as the story went on, I warmed up to Billy and the few other characters that he teams up with during his journey.

We get a lot of flashbacks of Billy’s life.  Some can drag on a bit.  King is such a gifted writer that it times he fails to realize that less can actually mean more.  When Bill plays a game of Monopoly with his neighbors, I found it a bit tedious when King feels it’s necessary to give an entire ¾ of a printed page summarizing all of the events that happen during the particular game.  A couple of sentences will do.  We know Monopoly, and we really don’t need so much detail as to how many hotels a person bought, how many doubles they rolled, why they prefer owning railroads instead of utilities, and on and on and on.

So yes, this 500-page book could have been easily trimmed to 450, but this is a minor transgression.  Overall this is a wonderfully introspective tale and really drew me close to Billy and the characters he aligns with during the story.  You end up feeling really good about Billy and even though the book may not end the way you would want, it’s a rich satisfying tale that tugs at your heartstrings and gives you a little more optimism from what can be a cold gray world.