Review of Daniel, The book, The life, and the story

[Catarina Luciane Silva]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Daniel, The book, The life, and the story" by Justin Johnson.]

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1 out of 5 stars

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This is one of my hardest reviews to write. That's because I read the book with certain expectations and I usually like this type of book, but I was disappointed, so I have more negative points than positive ones to describe. I'll start by saying I gave it a 1 out of 5 rating because the reading didn’t match my expectations at all.

Daniel, The Book, The Life, and the Story! It is a work by J. Johnson that explores Daniel's childhood in the 1980s and 90s in Essex, England, highlighting his daily struggles, family interactions, and adventures with friends. I was very excited when I started reading it since I usually like this type of book: it seemed like a family adventure, written in diary format, about the family's day-to-day life and the illness of the eldest son. However, I can't describe the experience as entirely positive. Despite the captivating characters and the very cute plot, I was disappointed to notice the number of grammatical errors and organizational problems in the book. The lack of a professional edition is disappointing and is evident in simple typos, which could be resolved with a professional proofreader. I identified several other problems in the edition I read through the Everand subscription (i.e. I read it in e-book format). Some mistakes were more irritating than others. The character’s name, “Sian”, was so often mistaken for “Sain” that I started questioning myself which one was the right name. Taking the writing style out of the equation, I believe that several unintentional mistakes that need to be revised were made, which hurt the experience in general.

In addition, I found it innovative (not to say odd) that almost every chapter is followed by an “analyzing the N chapter”. I just read the chapter. I mean, I think I am capable of drawing my conclusions and highlighting my own points of reflection without needing help. It did break the flow for me a bit, as I was more eager to move on to the next part of the story rather than reanalyze what I had just read.

Also, regarding this proposal for comments from the omniscient narrator about the chapter we have just read, the events are not revisited at later moments. Even events mentioned in this analysis, such as the war, only serve as a momentary backdrop and have no consequences for the characters or the historical development. For example, we learn information about the school, the church, and the other families, which seem extremely important at the time of the description, because the narrator explains them in depth, but those are not used later. My impression is that the author uses this style of omniscient narrator to give exhaustive opinions about each character, detailing things that are not necessarily essential for the reader to know.

I usually like this type of book, and it reminds me a lot of “Meu pé de laranja lima” (My Sweet Orange Tree), a Brazilian book that describes the adventures of a boy, about the same age as Daniel is, from São Paulo, who also has a younger brother and also suffers a very sad event. In the case of the book I mentioned, the event was a car accident involving a dear friend of his, while in Daniel, The Book, The Life, and the Story! the sad event was Daniel's Secondary Raynaud's Disease. In Daniel's book we are in contact with the child's uncertainty of not knowing exactly what the problem is, but feeling that he is different from other children. Even though the little boy is active and plays normally, when the weather gets colder he immediately feels the backlash of his problem: his feet and hands feel freezing and get purple. The author also deals with this disease – which honestly was not a surprise, because, for me, it is a very specific condition for an author to randomly choose to write about.

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Daniel, The book, The life, and the story
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[Gerry Steen]

It is unfortunate for any author who has something important to share that it is not conveyed in the best possible manner with good grammar, organized recounting of anecdotes, and engaging storytelling. When this does not happen, the important messages get lost. I hope the author takes your critiques into account and rewrites this book.

[Arshadq]

I believe anyone who writes a book should put more effort into the editing and organizing of the book. Reading a book that is just very grammatically incorrect and also has an unorganized plot can really make the reader uninterested. Perhaps the author is new and doesn't have that much experience in writing books, but he should pay more attention to these aspects. Your criticism should be taken into account by the author. Thank you for your honest review!