Official Review: Dark Hearts by Chinwe OBrien

[dhomespot]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Dark Hearts" by Chinwe OBrien.]

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Chinwe O’Brian’s novel, Dark Hearts, is a coming of age story based in Africa. While it is a work of fiction, I am not sure that corruption does not occur there as it seems to do in other areas.

John is in his beginning year of college and looking forward to the new experiences he faces at this prestigious school. His only trouble is an inner demon that seems intent on making him fail at everything he tries. While he had the highest scores on the entrance exams, he finds he is not able to do well. John’s family is also struggling with issues that seem to make dividing lines within the unit. Chaos, strife, bullying, corruption, redemption, and forgiveness are all covered in this poignant tale.

While I enjoyed this story and could not wait to see what happened to John, I also had a hard time following the story line. The story itself seemed to jump all over the place at times. This could be just because of the information that was being given. I think if more information was given about that culture, I may have had a better understanding of some of the subject manner.

I would give this book 2 out of 4 stars on a rating scale. The story was interesting in that you definitely wanted to see what happened to John. You definitely found yourself empathizing with him. There were however several grammatical errors. There were also sentences that were repeated after each other, usually with one or two words added. These sentences combined together would have given a better flow to the story. Where the word “will” should be used, the word “would” is used. This sometimes made it hard to follow the text.

What I liked about this book was that it showed that bullying, while bad at schools, is evident in all aspects of our lives. Mr. O’Brian also shows us that if enough people stand together, the bullying can be stopped. Just like John, each person has to find their inner strength to overcome those things which hold us back. It also shows us how communities can still work together to make it.

I am not sure that I would recommend this book to someone without there being revisions done. While the story is good, the errors are likely to turn the reader off and make them not want to finish an interesting book. This is a good subject because we all have to fight our inner demons. This author has added a touch of reality to open people’s eyes.

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