Review of Portals

[Soumya Chauhan]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Portals" by Jon Zimmer.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Portals by Jon Zimmer is a story of a young man, Joe Huntley, who aspires to bring a revolution in the prevailing education system. Joe is a footballer and belongs to a family that has enough resources to fulfil his needs and his higher education in college.Soon,Joe discovers that not everyone in the country is as blessed as him as most of them can not afford a tution fee for their children. This was the point when Joe just knew that he had to do away with this culture of colleges charging exceptionally high tution fee.He shares this idea with the love of his life, Mary, who is totally supportive of his decision.

As Joe moves forward with his education, he becomes more concerned about his cause and often can be seen in a dilemma thinking if he is on the right path or not.He soon adds another cause to his focus, that being the climate change, that will have adverse effect on human race in the future.The story takes you on journey on a philosophical path and unravels the true intent of a human life.

The writer uses death and escape as the two pillars of the story. Each time,Joe has a choice to make that will affect his future and life.I personally believe that the writer overdid with the use of portals.Even when Joe made a certain choice everytime, it still brought him to the same place and the whole cycle continued till it became monotonous to read.Also, Joe was concerned much about his causes but did nothing at the primary level,at least to achieve a point to start things with.He just wanted a big revolution,forgetting that "Charity begins at home".He could have helped his friend who was not able to afford the tution fee at least.

The plot is a simple one with no major twists,in fact, there comes a time when you already know what is to follow.The third person narrative makes the story philosophically rigid.

There are a few grammatical and typographical errors,one being addressing Donald as David on Page 4.There is no use of obscene or foul language and no erotica is involved but I personally think the plot could have been better.I will give it a 2 out of 4 stars.The book might appeal to readers who are into philosophy and want to read a simple book with no major plot twists.

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Portals
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