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Wednesday 11 April 2012

Conquering Your Goliaths - A Parable Of The Five Stones by Kathryn Jones

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I should perhaps have taken greater notice of the content of this book before deciding to read it.

I’m not a spiritual person, I’m not a religious person, and I’m not one of those people who feeds off self-motivational material.  I’m very grounded. So, I found this a very hard short story to read – you need to be spiritual, Christian, God-fearing to appreciate it.  I am none of those things.  So for those of you that are, you will probably enjoy this short parable, you’ll understand the message, and in all likelihood learn something from it. So, look away now.

It just wasn’t my cup of tea.  Ms Virginia Bean loses her job at the local doughnut factory.  She lives alone and hasn’t had much excitement in the love department either.  ‘God’ gives her direction and challenges her with the gift of 5 stones each representing something different and to which she then looks to help her find a new job, new skills, and new friends.  I thought this was totally unrealistic, and ultimately, Virginia thoroughly irritated me, because she couldn’t take a positive step without running it past ‘God’ or looking to the stones for ‘guidance’.   Why ‘God’ had to throw in a bit of tragedy to help her to her path of employment and fulfilment, I just couldn’t see, and of course, not being very conversant with the bible, the significance of the parable was lost on me.

The story is short and to the point and reasonably well written.  I can see that there would be an audience for it who I’m sure will enjoy it.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t one of my top reads.

1 comment:

  1. Oh boy - how I enjoyed this review. I love honest declarations of this kind: the kind that does not skirt a personal preference.

    My personal stance matches yours, Cathy - I don't 'get' spiritual fiction. Although I understand there are many who thrive on this kind of motivational material, it just isn't for practical, pragmatic types like me.

    Although I sometimes envy those who have a channel, or seem to derive solace from some kind of belief, I know I must solve my own problems. Ultimately, we all have to.

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