Review of Toward Happier Choices
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Keith Mbuya
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Review of Toward Happier Choices
[Following is a volunteer review of "Toward Happier Choices" by Michael Oborn.]
Being members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints, Michael Oborns' parents brought him up to be a Mormon. Like any other religion, the Mormons have their various customs and beliefs, Michael was brought up to know better than to go against any of his church's beliefs. It was not a choice but an obligation to uphold his parents' expectations of him to the church, of course, as a Mormon. In his book Toward Happier Choices, Michael Oborn explains what it's like to have no control over your life. To grow up believing what you parents choose for you and practically living a life they choose for you, all this heavily influenced by their religious beliefs. Is this relatable to you? Has this happened to you? Then you should get yourself Michael Oborn's memoir Toward Happier Choices. Michael writes about how he lived most of his life in fear of pursuing his dreams while attending to his church's obligations, eventually abandoning the church and facing the consequences that came along with it.
Michael Oborn's choice of words is good. His wide range of vocabularies makes the book interesting and engaging. I find some of his sentences long enough to make the reader lose track of his message, with the fact that this is a non fiction book, or to be precise a memoir, this may really encourage the reader to stop reading Toward Happier Choices. But if you look beyond this and hold on to his words to the end, there is some flow of ideas, I mean, his message is perceivable. You will like his picturesque descriptive way of his real life scenarios.
When Michael finally chose to leave the Mormon church, he lost a lot of things. Family and friends among them. He was treated like an outcast with no one willing to associate with him. He relocated to a different place leaving behind his wife and family. It was a hard choice to make, but he was happy he was no longer a slave to religion. Most of the societies we live in have been brainwashed by different social organizations, mostly the government and religion and have been programed to think in a specific way. While some of the ideas instilled in the society by these organizations may be good, others are bad. Michael's story is an eye opener for those religiously oppressed. Take your stand and live your best life before it is too late.
Toward Happier Choices is divided into three sections. The first section Michael writes short stories about his life encounters. He explains a lot about the influence of the Mormon church on his choices, including why he left the church. He is very open with the details about the practices and beliefs of the church, in fact, some people may mistake this for disrespect to the Mormon church. Others may see this as an expose of the Mormon church. But I think he is basically expressing his ideas about the questionable practices in the church, he is creating awareness about them. The second section Michael writes about his opinions and beliefs on various practices that oppress people. He does a great job in this section to highlight women empowerment too. The third section he writes about the people who impacted his life in different ways. I must say, these two sections were not very engaging to me.
What I did not like about Towards Happier Choices is the way some sentences were long and almost made no sense. Some of the issues Michael addressed under his specific subtitles also made little sense. The three paragraphs on abortion have a vague message. I found one grammatical error in the book. For the second section, their is evident poor structuring of sentences. I rate it 2 out of 4 stars. Religious scholars, activists and lovers of non fiction books will enjoy reading this book.
******
Toward Happier Choices
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Being members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints, Michael Oborns' parents brought him up to be a Mormon. Like any other religion, the Mormons have their various customs and beliefs, Michael was brought up to know better than to go against any of his church's beliefs. It was not a choice but an obligation to uphold his parents' expectations of him to the church, of course, as a Mormon. In his book Toward Happier Choices, Michael Oborn explains what it's like to have no control over your life. To grow up believing what you parents choose for you and practically living a life they choose for you, all this heavily influenced by their religious beliefs. Is this relatable to you? Has this happened to you? Then you should get yourself Michael Oborn's memoir Toward Happier Choices. Michael writes about how he lived most of his life in fear of pursuing his dreams while attending to his church's obligations, eventually abandoning the church and facing the consequences that came along with it.
Michael Oborn's choice of words is good. His wide range of vocabularies makes the book interesting and engaging. I find some of his sentences long enough to make the reader lose track of his message, with the fact that this is a non fiction book, or to be precise a memoir, this may really encourage the reader to stop reading Toward Happier Choices. But if you look beyond this and hold on to his words to the end, there is some flow of ideas, I mean, his message is perceivable. You will like his picturesque descriptive way of his real life scenarios.
When Michael finally chose to leave the Mormon church, he lost a lot of things. Family and friends among them. He was treated like an outcast with no one willing to associate with him. He relocated to a different place leaving behind his wife and family. It was a hard choice to make, but he was happy he was no longer a slave to religion. Most of the societies we live in have been brainwashed by different social organizations, mostly the government and religion and have been programed to think in a specific way. While some of the ideas instilled in the society by these organizations may be good, others are bad. Michael's story is an eye opener for those religiously oppressed. Take your stand and live your best life before it is too late.
Toward Happier Choices is divided into three sections. The first section Michael writes short stories about his life encounters. He explains a lot about the influence of the Mormon church on his choices, including why he left the church. He is very open with the details about the practices and beliefs of the church, in fact, some people may mistake this for disrespect to the Mormon church. Others may see this as an expose of the Mormon church. But I think he is basically expressing his ideas about the questionable practices in the church, he is creating awareness about them. The second section Michael writes about his opinions and beliefs on various practices that oppress people. He does a great job in this section to highlight women empowerment too. The third section he writes about the people who impacted his life in different ways. I must say, these two sections were not very engaging to me.
What I did not like about Towards Happier Choices is the way some sentences were long and almost made no sense. Some of the issues Michael addressed under his specific subtitles also made little sense. The three paragraphs on abortion have a vague message. I found one grammatical error in the book. For the second section, their is evident poor structuring of sentences. I rate it 2 out of 4 stars. Religious scholars, activists and lovers of non fiction books will enjoy reading this book.
******
Toward Happier Choices
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Rulers of the Galaxy by Tayma Tameem
