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So I finished Patriots . . . .
All I can say is:
DON'T WASTE YOUR BLOODY TIME!!!
Wow. That was one of those rare books that makes me feel less intelligent by the end. I am now dumber for having read that book.
It is sooo dis-jointed, it really feels like he was sitting around thinking up scenarios, and when he thought of one he liked, he'd jump up and write a chapter. There is almost no attempt made at making a cohesive story-line, it really just boils down to a bunch of scenarios strung together; they are all sort of interchangable up until 3/4 of the way through the book.
In the last quarter of the book, we finally begin to see a plot line, but then it is largely abandoned, forsaken as just an excuse to introduce more unrelated scenarios, this time focused largely upon guerilla warfare.
There are also a number of timeline glitches and contradictory elements. A woman winds up with a new-born who had just been on a raid the month before . . . huh? Not likely. There are suddenly three babies when it was only mentioned that one person was pregant. Early on, it is established that the country fell apart in the fall of '08 and the elections were post-poned and then never happened. But then several chapters later, Obama is blamed for his policies. I don't like the guy at all, but how did he get into office if not elected? Not by his "charm"!!!
The character development is largely non-existent. Almost all of the main male characters are interchangable, and after their introductions, most of the women are as well. It will be noticed early on that anyone who carries a Bible is going to be a good guy. Which leads me to my next gripe.
I am a Christian. Catholic, in fact, so if you believe the Pope (which is happening a lot less with ol' Benny than with JPII), the only "real" Christian. I've read the Bible, front to back, several times. I've read different versions of the Bible. My wife teaches high school religion at a Catholic school, and I often help her in preparing classroom discussions. I've spent most of my life in Catholic schools, I've researched a lot of different religions, spent time with all sorts of different faiths (Protestants, Baptists, Lutherans, Jews, Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Wiccans, Buddhists, even a bunch of Witness nutjobs.) so please believe that I love studying religion and it's effects upon people. But, holy crap!!! Every time someone sneezes or stubs a toe in this book, "Oh, you have survived stubbing your toe! Let's all pray and recite Psalms!" It gets more than a little tiresome. As I said earlier, it is made pretty clear early on in the book, that if you carry a Bible and have accepted the Lord, Jesus Christ, as your personal saviour . . . you must be a good guy. "Oh, you just wandered into our compound? We don't trust you . . . oh, you have a Bible? Praise! C'mon in! You MUST a good person!"
Now, it must be said that there is a lot of good information in this book. Just not a good story. There is actually an index in the back of the book to direct you to where in the book various things are discussed, which makes it a fine reference book. But it is valuable only as that.
I regret not just buying Rawles' how-to book, as he obviously knows what he is talking about; the subject matter is very solid. Unfortunately, he does not excel at turning facts and knowledge into a good story.
Bottom line Skip the novel, buy the how-to book.
All I can say is:
DON'T WASTE YOUR BLOODY TIME!!!
Wow. That was one of those rare books that makes me feel less intelligent by the end. I am now dumber for having read that book.
It is sooo dis-jointed, it really feels like he was sitting around thinking up scenarios, and when he thought of one he liked, he'd jump up and write a chapter. There is almost no attempt made at making a cohesive story-line, it really just boils down to a bunch of scenarios strung together; they are all sort of interchangable up until 3/4 of the way through the book.
In the last quarter of the book, we finally begin to see a plot line, but then it is largely abandoned, forsaken as just an excuse to introduce more unrelated scenarios, this time focused largely upon guerilla warfare.
There are also a number of timeline glitches and contradictory elements. A woman winds up with a new-born who had just been on a raid the month before . . . huh? Not likely. There are suddenly three babies when it was only mentioned that one person was pregant. Early on, it is established that the country fell apart in the fall of '08 and the elections were post-poned and then never happened. But then several chapters later, Obama is blamed for his policies. I don't like the guy at all, but how did he get into office if not elected? Not by his "charm"!!!
The character development is largely non-existent. Almost all of the main male characters are interchangable, and after their introductions, most of the women are as well. It will be noticed early on that anyone who carries a Bible is going to be a good guy. Which leads me to my next gripe.
I am a Christian. Catholic, in fact, so if you believe the Pope (which is happening a lot less with ol' Benny than with JPII), the only "real" Christian. I've read the Bible, front to back, several times. I've read different versions of the Bible. My wife teaches high school religion at a Catholic school, and I often help her in preparing classroom discussions. I've spent most of my life in Catholic schools, I've researched a lot of different religions, spent time with all sorts of different faiths (Protestants, Baptists, Lutherans, Jews, Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Wiccans, Buddhists, even a bunch of Witness nutjobs.) so please believe that I love studying religion and it's effects upon people. But, holy crap!!! Every time someone sneezes or stubs a toe in this book, "Oh, you have survived stubbing your toe! Let's all pray and recite Psalms!" It gets more than a little tiresome. As I said earlier, it is made pretty clear early on in the book, that if you carry a Bible and have accepted the Lord, Jesus Christ, as your personal saviour . . . you must be a good guy. "Oh, you just wandered into our compound? We don't trust you . . . oh, you have a Bible? Praise! C'mon in! You MUST a good person!"
Now, it must be said that there is a lot of good information in this book. Just not a good story. There is actually an index in the back of the book to direct you to where in the book various things are discussed, which makes it a fine reference book. But it is valuable only as that.
I regret not just buying Rawles' how-to book, as he obviously knows what he is talking about; the subject matter is very solid. Unfortunately, he does not excel at turning facts and knowledge into a good story.
Bottom line Skip the novel, buy the how-to book.