Friday, October 1, 2010

Seeds of Turmoil by Bryant Wright





Wow, I have not been on in about a month. I feel terrible. I have to do a lot better.

I do not normally read non-fiction books. There is just something about them that I do not like. But I choose to read this book because it had an interesting premise, and overall I enjoyed reading it.

Seeds of Turmoil begin with an account of the biblical history of Abraham, his wife Sarah, and Sarah’s maid Hagar. God promised Abraham and Sarah a child, and when it appeared to be taking too long, Sarah suggested Abraham have a child with Hagar in order to help God along. Hagar gave birth to Ishmael, then, after 13 years, Sarah gave birth to Isaac. From Isaac came the Jewish religion, and from Ishmael came Islam. The book explains the relationship between these two religions and the efforts the Jewish had (and still do) to be able to live in Israel.

As mentioned before, I do not normally enjoy reading fiction books, but this one I liked. The book is a quick read, but the problem I had is it is somewhat repetitive. For example, the author writes about Sarah suggesting to Abraham to have a child with her maid Hagar. The author tells the same story from each point of view (Abraham’s, Sarah’s and Hagar’s). Doing this in various ways throughout the book made me feel like I was reading the same thing over and over again. I believe that if the repetition was cut out, the book would be about 25% smaller. But overall, this book was very informative. I thought I knew the story of Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael, but I was wrong. In reading this book, it makes me believe even more that God has a plan for all of us, and all we need is to believe in Him and be patient and we will see our reward.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”