Sydney West by R. McKinsey

A bit of a slow start, I thought, but only at first. Reading into the actual story I realized this was necessary to setting the plot. This is a book unlike any I've read.

A very unusual story, who is this man Sydney West? I almost felt that the author was playing games with the reader, which somehow made me want to learn more. There are a number of clues scattered throughout the book if you take the time to see them for what they are. Otherwise, Sydney West is a complete enigma. Sydney not only marches to a different drummer, his feet take him where he doesn't know he wants to be. I feel I've fallen down the rabbit hole, Sydney is the white rabbit and as Alice would say "Curiouser and curiouser." Who or what is Sydney? No matter the whys and wherefores, I am intrigued. How did he play such a wonderful piece on the piano when he doesn't remember it? How does he know one thing and not another? This is not just a case of amnesia, but perhaps something much darker.

Sydney attends university, has a friend, maybe even a few friends, young people who he meets along the way while trying to figure out why he is there. Who knows if they are truly friends? He is someone he is not, so how can he trust others? This book is not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but maybe a tea of a different flavour is good. In my opinion this would be a great book for discussion, for readers looking for something completely different in a mystery, readers who like puzzles, and those who enjoy conspiracy theories. Don't get me wrong, this bizarre book is character-driven and the main character is fascinating. A complicated character, one who we'll be seeing again. Rebecca McKinsey is definitely a storyteller. A challenging and imaginative debut series for this author.

Thirteen Virtues to a New Life: A Journey Around the Medicine Wheel by Ralph P. Brown (Tawennihake)

Published by BookSurge Publishing
Illustrations by Ralph P. Brown
Reviewed for Review the Book

A little book with large motivation, the tales told and lessons to be found in this book can propel us to our goals. As quoted in the beginning, "One man dreamed of becoming something. Another remained awake and became." Ralph Brown (Tawennihake) is of the Mohawk nation, his research has taken him through several nations, including Mohawk, Lakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Cherokee and Navajo, meeting with many storytellers and Medicine Men. He has collected some of these tales, some might call them morality tales, through his travels, and some of the interpretations found in this book

These tales are incorporated into the Thirteen Virtues of the Medicine Wheel. These are profound and mysterious until with patience the reader begins to "See" with new eyes, eagle eyes that are so clear and can see so many ways and so far, the need to passionately seek whatever their goals are. The book is written in such a manner that reading once you only see part of the whole. It should be read more than once to take the most from it. As mentioned, this is a small book, it does not require much time to read, but it needs to be reread to get the whole of the journey. These tales, or fables, are all representations, there are more ways than one to interpret them, but the author is very clear in describing how to perceive everything that is there. He does not tell you what you must see but provides guidelines to help you to perceive whatever the representations mean to you personally.

These are life lessons that most of us have heard in one form or another, but have we really understood them? Have we "Seen" everything there is to see and have we actively set a goal and gone after it? Or have we denied ourselves that goal by not perceiving the way to look at it, to achieve it. The book gives us the guidelines to finding that perception and obtaining our goals and regain balance in our lives. This book is entertaining, educational, and completely natural, not technical in any way. Life is natural. This book can help us retain or regain our connection with the natural world. Well-written, non-demanding, it is a book well worth reading.