2 out of 4 stars
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The Banned Book About Love by Scott Hughes is a book about both love and hate. Particularly in regard to criminals. The book was banned from Amazon because of strong reactions to its original title I Love Brock Turner. Brock Turner is a young man who was convicted of 3 felonies including sexual assault. Many people assumed the author was pro-rape without looking further into the book. Mr. Hughes says it’s not about the specific crime he chose to write about but about the principle he is trying to teach.
Mr. Hughes shares his opinion that instead of throwing their energy into protesting and punishing criminals, people should instead focus on loving them. I believe his point is that people expend their time and talents on fruitless activities such as gossiping about crime and trying to make criminals pay for what they’ve done. Instead they should be spending their time changing society so that there are less crimes. In essence, he says criminals are still human beings who need love.
The author spends much of the book talking about the importance of making a difference in the world through unconditional love for people. I wholeheartedly agree that this is very important. We do need to spend more time individually, as families, as communities, and as a nation thinking about how to teach better morals and prevent crimes like rape from happening. I like this book for that reason. However, I can understand why a lot of people were offended by the original title and even some of the content of the book.
This book would probably not appeal to rape victims or their families. Unless they were searching for healing and forgiveness. The way the author sequenced his ideas, though it did flow well, seemed counter-intuitive to his point. As if he were writing to shock people and then explain what he meant. I feel the matter could have been handled more delicately. Mr. Hughes also seemed to gloss over the seriousness of the crime—any crime. He basically said that justice is another term for vengeance—that people only want criminals punished out of hate. He asks, “Does 3 months or 3 years cure a murderer?” No. Obviously not. There really is no way for us to know what a just punishment is for a given crime. Still, I believe if you break a law there must be a consequence. Mr. Hughes just doesn’t seem like he cares whether they be punished or not.
I would rate this book a 2 out of 4. Though I liked the main point of the book I did not agree with the arguments behind it. I felt the main point was not solidly stated and yet was expounded upon more than necessary. I also felt the beginning was written in a carelessly offensive way even if that was cleared up by the end of the book. This book was thought provoking and will prompt heated debates.
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The Banned Book about Love
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