Mandy Reviews: A View from a Height by J. E. Murphy

ASIN #: B004K1EWTK

File Size: 1339 KB

Copyright: January 19, 2011

Publisher: Portraits of Earth Press

Book Summary:

(Taken from Amazon)

Here is a love story. But it is not the usual kind of love story. It is about the kind of love that can send the world spinning in new directions without the world even knowing that it was done. A discovered manuscript tells of a life that bridges the spirit world and the physical world. This manuscript tells the story of how, after a near death experience, a young Chinese girl develops the ability to observe and affect events at a distance. Her use of these psychic talents may change the world for good or evil.

While traveling out of her body, Xiao Chen becomes involved in a heroic struggle of incarnate spiritual beings to undo a terrible mistake - a mistake of a previous life that is having devastating consequences in this one.

A fantastic adventure that takes place in the real world of today, this is a tale of the undercurrents of existence of which we may be totally unaware. This volume includes The Dakini and The Bodhisattva, complete in one volume.

Mandy's Review:

I don't know where to begin ... I guess with the simplest statement: I hated this book. I have never been so glad for a book to be over.

Have you ever read something and it just seemed so "heavy" that you were mentally tired and had to stop reading it just to give your brain a rest? This book made me feel this way. After the first three chapters, the main character, Xiao Chen, had died twice, been locked inside a Chinese prison, lost both of her eyes and mastered the ability to travel, via meditation and dreams, to different times and places to help people. That was only 18% of the book according to Kindle. Trust me, she endured and experienced a lot more during the remaining 82% of the book.

Now, I realize this book was probably written for the purposes of getting people to think about life and how we all interconnect with everybody else. For a non-believer of reincarnation, though, it seemed way too dense and complicated and overwhelming. There were many times I almost stopped reading the book, but I continued on in the hopes that it would get better.

By the time I got into the second book of this two-book collection, the plot and characters were a little more interesting. However, having to struggle my way through the reading of the first book took whatever pleasure I would've had out of the second.

I'm sure there are people out there interested in reincarnation and the interconnectedness of all things, living and non-living. Apparently, though, I am not one of these people. I am just so grateful that I've finished the book and no longer have to read it.