7 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Read This Book
599426
You know, this book just isn't for everyone.  Here are 7 reasons why it might not be for you.

1.  You don't want to become known to the media and the world as an expert in your field.
2.  You already have enough money.
3.  You can't take about 20 minutes to read 32 measly pages.
4.  You don't want to become known to your friends as a "bookworm."
5.  You don't want to add author to your already growing list of impressive credentials.
6.  You are bound and determined that if you do write a book, it will be equal in length to "War and Peace."
7.  Your kids already think you're cool.

However, if none of these apply to you, I highly recommend that you read this short little book.  In it you will read about actual people who had the same concerns that you do about writing a book, and overcame those concerns, reaping rewards even better than what many of them had ever hoped or imagined.

Read this book and you'll discover:

*How Pete Peterson made $81,000 a year selling his book at the back of the room after he gave presentations.

*How 12 year old twin girls with learning disabilities published their first novel together and went on to win awards and sell their book all over the world.

*How Gabe Berman's book got him noticed by Deepak Chopra!

*And more!!!

Anyway, as a published author, I can attest the writing a book was the best thing I have ever done in my life and if I can do it, you can do it too.

So what are you waiting for?  Drop a measly $3.01 and buy this book!  (You can thank me later!)
3098263
If it was possible to give zero stars, I would in a heartbeat. There are so many issues surrounding this book, that I'd like to write this review in short bullet points instead of long paragraphs for your sake.

1. If you write a book, especially if the perspective is from the first person, MAKE THE MAIN CHARACTER ENDEARING. I was instantly turned off by how foul, rude, idiotic, and absent minded the main character is. It makes you want the book to be over as soon as possible.

2. When writing from the first person perspective, it is important to have a structure to the story you are telling. To keep the reader engaged, you need to have a FOCUSED NARRATIVE. If the main character sees something, and it reminds him of a memory completely unrelated to the story, its is not important to include the memory. Especially when the memory itself includes over two pages of explanation. You are torturing me and wasting my time.

3. The events of the story should give the reader a SENSE OF ENTERTAINMENT. If you write a story where the plot is predictable based on the tenancies of the main character, you lend no surprise, no arousal of interest, no intrigue. I feel like I read a book about a loser doing loser things that become a loser. Good try, Salinger.

To you, the potential buyer of this awful excuse for literature: only buy it if there is no more kindling for your fireplace to be found, or you want to torture a young adult purposefully. If you want to make someone lose their mind, lock them in a room with this book alone; They will most likely be insane by chapter three.
684137
I'm one of those people who never reads books and then tells other people not to read them either. So, whateever you do, DON'T READ THIS BOOK. If you do you might think about stuff you wouldn't normally think about. At least that's what I believe all books do, but I wouldn't know because I just critize books, I've actually never read one.
2720723
David K. Kawamoto's points about shock value and racism were right on the mark.

The other issue is your character is really just an unlikable hot headed thug, with some old stereotypical japnese samurai "honour" things tacked on, and will often do stupid things if you didn't choose the one choice the author wanted, just to forcibly end a branch (needlessly killing a woman and throwing her off the balcony, while trying to keep a low profile and operating in a limited time frame, for instance).

The other problem is, 7 of the 8 endings are bad. If you make the wrong choice at the start of the book, you lose no matter what. You can make every single decision after that perfectly, and believe you are getting through the book, but you will then a diablous ex machina will happen and you will find yourself at a bad ending. Then you can select go back to the last choice and get killed/arrested on the other branch. If you make the correct choice at the start of the book you just need to pick the choice the author essentially urges you to pick to get a good ending, or else you'll die horribly and pointlessly.

The writing is ok, but nothing stand out, and the book is short, though not unreasonably short for its price.. I guess. If you are desperately looking for a choose your own adventure book for the Kindle, and you don't mind something with immature, sterotypicaly, and perhaps offensive writing, with the choice aspect being fairly weak, you can do worse than this book, I guess.
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4289036
The Short:
I disliked this book. I hated everything about this book. I didn't like the characters or the story. It was just bad. If I didn't have to read it for school, I would never have finished it. I feel like the author was trying to be deep and eye-opening, but this book was completely trash.

The Long:
From the start of this book I knew it was not a book that I would like. I didn't connect or even like any of the characters. They were ALL flat. There was no change in how any of the characters acted. If there was an interesting character, I may have liked reading this book. I didn't like either of the girls POV (even if the POVs were done well). They were very bland. To describe the girls in one word it would be pleb.
The plot was dull at its best. It never got to the point where I HAD to keep reading. I was always dreading picking up the book. Literally, the whole plot was the husband getting mad and the girls trying to make it better. NOT GOOD!
I don't know if people actually like this book if they have read it, but it was not for me.
4235250
If you read books as a break from life and responsibility then this is not for you.  If you like books that tax you mentally and make you question what you REALLY think, then find a comfy chair and dive in.
841537
what an awful book. I read this because it was recommended by our social worker. I am the adoptive mother of a 5 year old. If I had read this when we first started to think about adoption it would have scared me to death. This book is mainly the authors opinion and sad story. There are millions of happy well adjusted adoptees in the world. THIS BOOK IS SCARY AND UNTRUE. If I could give it 0 stars I would. There are many wonderful books about the adoption experience. Do NOT READ THIS ONE!
533238
This review is about the content of the book. Not the physical book itself.

It's a great book if you're :

1. Housewife/stay at home mom looking for a poorly written, repetitive "thriller" with a lack of vocabulary

2. A teenager who doesn't want to ever pull out a dictionary and look up a word--but wants to know what his/her life would be like as a drunken, unemployed stalker; a cheating husband; a woman who clearly has not lived enough and finds excitement through the lust of new relationships; or a nagging cocky housewife/anal mom

3. Bored and looking for a highly overhyped story, only to be interested enough to finish, but not interested enough to tell a friend about the book.

If you're any of the above, you'll loveeeeee it. If you're anything like me, you'll be appalled at the fact that people found this author's writing style similar to Gillian Flynn's.
780866
Please do not read this book. It's very damaging to our LBGTQ children, family and friends. If you are looking to truly educate yourself, read the book "Walking the Bridgeless Canyon" by Kathy Baldock.
948693
1) Being told from the first party perspective covers a lot of duplicate ground
2) The ending is VERY unsatisfying and not entirely clear and comes suddenly
3) The reason for the revenge is out of proportion, the other protaganist really did NOTHING that would call for consideration of revenge
4) The book does move slowly, fell asleep several times reading it
IF YOU INSIST ON READING THIS, GET IT FROM THE LIBRARY, DO NOT PURCHASE
3038185
DO NOT READ THIS BOOK.
IT IS DANGEROUS.
This book is moreaddictive than the tincture of Laudanum that has consumed the lives ofinnumerable poor mortals.  Of greatest concern is that it is just one book in a whole series, with each being more captivating than the last.  The poor unfortunate reader is sucked into a world so vivid that it is almost impossible to return.  Sleep, loved ones, money, vocation all take second place to O'Brian once the first words have been sampled.
Heed my warning. Do not read this book if you value your free time.
915325
Don't read this if you want no spoilers.  The plot has already been given away in later reviews but I'll try to be careful.  This book infuriated and irritated me for several reasons.

First, the multiple point of view did not work in this book.  She should have had a chapter heading with Candace or Joy at top because I had trouble every time POV switched figuring out who was talking.  I would have to reread the beginning of the chapter several times and this was annoying.

Second, the hideous thing Weiner did on page 344 was mean, manipulative, and not at all necessary.  Yes, she certainly jerked some tears out of me but they felt like they were forced at gunpoint because the event she used to produce them didn't fit with the book at all.  It was just purely manipulative and wrong.  A cheap shot and a cheap trick rolled into one.  Peter is beloved and did not deserve what Weiner did to him.  To deprive him of experiencing the fruit of their efforts was just mean.  It ruined the end.  Just ruined it.  I couldn't be happy about Charlie in any way.

And don't get me started on Joy.  OK, I'll start anyway.  What a brat.  Spoiled, rotten brat.  It made me sick how Candace sucked up to her and accepted any amount of bad behavior from her.  It was obvious that she had been a good mother and her snotty little daughter was using her feelings to crucify her at will.  She should have had a knot jerked in her tail long before the little stunt she pulled with the white credit card.  No telling how much her little California tantrum cost and then Cannie takes her shopping for the dress she wanted?  But says she is not rewarding bad behavior.  How does she figure that?  Especially when Candace was right:  spaghetti straps, bangles and beads is way too old for a thirteen year old.  Talk about mixed messages.  Candace says she doesn't want Joy to have a big expensive party that obscures the meaning of the event then buys her a designer dress that she will wear once.  I just shook my head so many times at what this kid got by with.

Joy somewhat redeems herself by the end but by that time the book has so gone off the rails you don't really care.  The book has slapped you in the face one time too many.

Not well done Weiner, not at all.  I wish I had never read this one.
4643144
Please don't read this book.

It's not for the plodding writing, which I attributed to shoddy translation.

It's for the lurid, disgusting instances of violence, mostly against women.  It's worse than the sklooshy CSI images and stories of dead, raped women with bullet holes or other damage to their lifeless bodies.  It's just relentless misogyny.

Don't believe the hype.  It's not good.
3101684
At least 5 people mentioned this book to me.  None of them had finished it.  And I can see why.  It's poorly written.  It's repitive. It's not worth reading through to the end.
I'm the only person I know who has read the entire book. And that was a painful experience.  There's not much worthwhile in the book.  To summarize: men and women are different, view and see things differently, be aware of this when dealing with your spouse.
That's all he wrote using the 'catchphrases' of Mars and Venus.
To sum up the book - don't buy it - if anything take it out of the library.  Then read any 2 chapters.  The rest are all the same.
And don't recommend this book to anyone if you don't read it entirely.  You'll find that you won't be recommending it.
1675956
I had to stop reading about half way through.  The author makes claims like "looking better won't make you happy" and then provides evidence by comparing countries' self reported happiness with cosmetic sales, or using the "science" of the polygraph (lie detector) to support his claims.

Also, while this book may contain some good advice (avoiding materialism, drugs, etc), some is absolutely awful. DO NOT contact someone you "don't like" and arrange a meeting with them to tell them why you resent them. This is probably the worst advice I have ever read outside of internet forums. If you don't like someone and they aren't in your life, then let them be.

Avoid reading this book, especially if you are happy. At times it almost feels like he is trying to convince you that you aren't actually happy and you need to follow his rules to change.
386263
I am not a wuss, and I love horror novels.  The authors are correct in warning people about the graphic, and I personally find, unnecessarily grotesque and graphic imagery.  This is not horror, but a description of sick, unnerving mental problems and extremely personal violence.  The average person should probably not be exposed to this imagery.  I'm not sure why anyone would want to read something like this.  It's not entertaining and any written skills the writers do have could be applied to a much more beneficial thriller product.  They've simply wasted their time.  Being disturbing does not qualify something a good literature.  I do not recommend this book to anyone, and I would discourage Amazon from making such a text available for free.  Many people will find this upsetting.  I strongly suggest avoiding it.
3643963
This was not a great book. Im going to do my best to tell you why, but understand that I bear the author no ill will. More on that near the end.

As a general warning to all of you, there might be spoilers in the text. I encourage you to read forward with that in mind.

Okay, to begin.

There were several things that were complete deal breakers for me. Ill try to take them in order of importance.

1. The Language.

The use of language in this book drove me completely up the walls. Why some authors think its a good idea to make their books less accessible to their readers is beyond me. What she has created here, is some sort of funky pidgin dialect that seems to have as its motivation the idea that everyone is completely retarded. So not only is it difficult to read, it also makes absolutely no sense within the confines of the book, itself. Reading through the intentional misspellings and funky sentences is sort of like the first time you trying to read through Chaucer in Middle English  only without the overall sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.

2. The Plot

There isn't really a plot. Obviously, thats a bit of a flaw. Now, there are stories  and authors  who get along without any plot at all, thank-you-very-much. Those stories are character-centric. That just doesnt fly in this book, where the characters are on about the same level as cardboard cutouts. The conflict is central to how the story is supposed to unfold and the entire premise for the conflict is well not very clever. Oh, the big brush strokes are there, but that somehow just makes the premise more irritating, not less.
What we do know is that the author is very down on Authority and the Church  who are BAD and EVIL (and crazy)  and big on love and togetherness.

MAJOR SPOILERS

As far as I can tell, the important point of the story is that the BAD and EVIL people made the population of an entire city dig a BIG PIT, then forced everyone to jump into it before they lit it on fire. Because children. And stuff.

Also, the city sounds sort of like it was just one, big hippy commune.

Only, a couple of people escaped  I forget how  and one of them has twins named Luke and Leia, who will one day save the world from the Imperial Storm Troopers, or something. Honestly, I couldn't really figure it out. Which leads me to the next point.

3 . Pacing.

There is none. The author is so busy moving through the story as fast as she can, that she doesnt bother to stop and EXPLAIN anything. My goodness, you're only at the end of Book 1, and youve already wrapped up several quest lines that could have taken up entire books, in and of themselves. Because of the crazy pacing  and the lack of explanation  most of the characters come off as complete sociopaths. I mean, the ones who aren't BAD and EVIL, and who are already depicted as complete sociopaths who (literally) foam at the mouth.

The relationships between the characters make no sense  they're too forced. Why? Because of the insanely fast pacing. It gets very confusing. You know time is passing, but you don't really know how much  and there simply isn't enough explanation to guide you along. On the one hand, the characters personalities are constantly changing as they learn to grow, but on the other, they're all incredibly static  especially Wil, our titular hero.

Moving On:

I just couldn't appreciate this one. The language was an unnecessary addition that COULD have been interesting, I suppose, if it had stopped at some point. Unfortunately, there is every indication that, no matter how much time passes, the main character is going to remain perpetually retarded. So, thats fun.
The plot seemed like something cobbled together from Star Wars and  Im guessing  the Hunger Games, since it involves REBELLION and REVOLUTION (my spelling), but with no where near the same level of thoughtfulness.
After looking at the authors site, I get the impression this is her first book. And thats okay. Everyone has to start somewhere. That being said, Id give this one a pass. It just isn't worth it.