Official Review: Twisted peace by Dennis beggs

[L_Therese]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Twisted peace" by Dennis beggs.]

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1 out of 4 stars

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Twisted Peace: Colors Hidden in Shadow by Dennis Beggs is comprised of two parts. The first is a collection of snippets - small reflections, which, although in the form of prose, seem almost poetic in nature. The second part is the first six chapters of Mr. Beggs’ novel Cain: The First Drop. For this review, I will address each part separately and then together.

In his introduction to Twisted Peace, Mr. Beggs explains a little of his thought process for writing his quasi-poetic blurbs. He explains that “the darkness of the soul” is the contrast to the “vibrant colors” of beauty and happiness, and only by acknowledging and focussing on that darkness can the colors be truly appreciated. The snippets that follow are highly emotional and definitely trend toward negative emotions such as anger, loneliness, sadness, and frustration. To me, they recalled meditations: a paragraph or two intended to promote introspection. Some seemed designed to be poetic, but all were formatted as prose.

I was not the ideal audience for Twisted Peace. I love poetry, but my love of poetry comes mostly from two places: a love of words, and a love of seeing things from a new vantage. I don’t mind when poetry is dark if it shows me beauty or revelation in darkness, and I don’t mind if poetry is prosaic if it shows me beauty in prose. (A fabulous example of the latter would be the choral chapters in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath.) However, I found neither of these things in Mr. Beggs’ writing. To me, it sounded more like wallowing in unproductive emotion, dismissing beauty as irrelevant. This may work for some people, but unfortunately not for me. I kept waiting for the moment when darkness would be used to accentuate light, but it never came.

The second part of this selection was the first six chapters of Cain: The First Drop. Cain (of the Biblical pair, Cain and Abel) was punished with vampirism for murdering his brother. He was condemned to wander the earth for eternity tasting no food and drinking only blood. The first six chapters give the account of how this curse came to pass, including the sin that provoked it (a fictionalized interpretation of the Bible story). The novel seems set up to challenge ideas about God and justice, since Cain now has eternity to stew over his punishment and whether or not it was truly deserved. There is little I can criticize about this section because I only had access to the beginning, but I was a bit disappointed so far. The novel is narrated by Cain as if he is recording his experiences long after the fact, including the major event in the section (the murder of Abel), but his version of the facts is contradicted by some kind of vision or hallucination that Cain seems to accept as truth. It is confusing because Cain’s narration should logically follow the events he believes true or express doubts as to what actually occurred. The storytelling is consequently awkward and the importance in this case is paramount because it determines whether Cain is truly innocent or guilty of his brother’s murder. Even if the fact cannot be known or revealed to the reader, it is important to know whether Cain feels guilty or innocent. This dilemma definitely hurt the novel as presented.

Both the section of meditations and the beginning of Cain share this fixation on negative emotions like loneliness, alienation, anger, and unhappiness. Some of the snippets also reference or hint at vampirism as a theme. Mr. Beggs clearly is working on a distinct theme, using the supernatural to highlight the darkness and evil in the world. One could hope that Cain will eventually offer the promised contrast from the introduction to Twisted Peace wherein the “colors” look brighter against the darkness. It’s hard to imagine to whom I could recommend this work. The only people I imagine enjoying it would be angst-ridden teenagers, but I don’t like encouraging their angst too much on principle, and these selections would surely only fuel their negative reflections. Unfortunately, I feel like I can only give this book 1 out of 4 stars because I can’t envision myself recommending it to anyone.

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Twisted peace
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[zeldas_lullaby]

Great review! The title seems to say it: Twisted Peace. Like, the author is at peace in a twisted sort of way.

[Ealasaid]

Interesting review, thank you.

[bookowlie]

Nice review! It's sounds like a strange book with one part being the first 6 chapters of a different book.

[dennisbeggs]

Thank you for the review. Sorry you didn't like it It is true I am a little dark. Not everything has a happy ending. I do however believe that once you said that this book wasn't for you the judging should have stopped it was a little to much to say you wouldn't recommend it to anyone. But what's done is done and it was a risk that I would take again given the chance. Thank you for at least giving it a chance. I do appreciate your time and effort. Dennis

[EdgarAllanVoltaire]

Well, I read this review twice, unfortunately it comes off as tremendously biased. I can't for the life of me figure out why your personal preference for a brighter theme and/or color, as you put it, would reflect so largely in a book review, which I assume would be unbiased. I understand we live in a world where we give trophies for participation now, but not every story ends happily, and not every book has a bright theme. Ever heard of bands like, nirvana or well, virtually any metal category band? Pretty dark, not only for angsty teens as you might imagine. Or perhaps shows like the walking dead and game of thrones, biggest shows on tv, unhappy endings, dark and unhappy themes. All in all too biased for a true review I feel you should" review" your objectivity.

[dennisbeggs]

Thank you that's the point I was trying to make. D

[L_Therese]

I think deliberately acknowledging a potential bias is more honest. It allows people who disagree with me and have contrasting opinions to recognize that such a disagreement might exist. Preferences affect the way people see things, and I think it is relevant to a review because it acknowledges a bias. You may disagree, and that's okay, but I try to be honest when I write, even when that means I feel like I need to say things that aren't what people want to hear.

[JungHaeju]

Nice review! It's sounds like a strange book with one part being the first 6 chapters of a different book.

Is that right? Well that's...different(?)

[bettybug35]

Nice review! I think I'll be skipping this book.