Review by Kimberly Fox -- Mixed Blessings by J.M. Muse
-
Kimberly Fox
- Posts: 15
- Joined: 06 Apr 2020, 18:11
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 15
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-kimberly-fox.html
- Latest Review: We are Voulhire: Someone Else's End by Matthew Tysz
Review by Kimberly Fox -- Mixed Blessings by J.M. Muse
[Following is a volunteer review of "Mixed Blessings" by J.M. Muse.]
Mixed Blessings is a fictional book that describes racial wars in the USA. Different religious leaders who represent different races are in conflict with each other. Kublai Khan, the head of the church of Jeremiah and the representative leader of the black community in Detroit, together with other representative leaders of the Hispanic and Asian people, unite to form a plan of ousting the whites in population by making many interracial babies. These babies would be the future majority race of the American population. The main adversary to this plan is pastor Dalton who leads a congregation of white people who believe they are the superior race. Apart from this, it describes the life of Kimberly, a Hispanic who marries Ahmed, a member of the house of Jeremiah. The book also describes the racism that an Asian - black woman, Star, experiences at a Japanese beauty pageant show and the consequences of this.
The main theme in the book is unsurprisingly that of racism and conflict. J.M. Muse tries to portray a world where racism has run rampant mainly attributable to the teaching's of the religious leaders. What makes the story-line stand out is how each party is portrayed as having deep beliefs that their incentives are right and that they are the only victims. The followers of these leaders are shown as fundamentalists who are incapable of even questioning the choices and authority of their leaders. It is quite ironical that all these top religious leaders, who apparently worship the same god( and should therefore have the same principles), could not even make a peaceful compromise.
Characters in the book are moderately developed. Pastor Dalton, leader of the whites is shown as a very racist man. He truly believes that the white race is the superior race as "acknowledged by god." He is also very delusional. He believed that a certain dream was a message that called for the killing of the mixed race babies and proceeds to launch a gruesome attack on the ”birthcamps" of these babies. Kublai Khan is portrayed as a principled man who follows both the teachings of the Bible and Qur'an fanatically. He is also shown as very manipulative and calculating. The world building in the book is not great. There are very few details describing a place.
I really liked how the plot of the book was put down. The author is not biased to a particular group of people and this allows for an open-minded approach while reading the book. It is clear that one group in the conflict is just as racist as the other side. This is ultimately seen as the conflict goes unresolved by the end of the book. Kublai Khan, in an effort to make the black community of more significance in the country, goes too far by organizing and endorsing the literal breeding of black men with asian women to create as much mixed race babies as possible. At the end of the book, it is quite disappointing to realize that the conflict is never really resolved. Nevertheless, I think this was the author's goal in the first place.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone. In as much as it is a fictional book, it highlights real world issues today that really need to be resolved. The book is short but interesting. I completed reading it in a day! There are a few graphical sexual scenes although they are not overtly pornographic. I did not encounter any spelling or grammatical errors. It was obviously edited well. Mixed Blessings definitely gets a 4 out of 4 stars rating from me.
******
Mixed Blessings
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Mixed Blessings is a fictional book that describes racial wars in the USA. Different religious leaders who represent different races are in conflict with each other. Kublai Khan, the head of the church of Jeremiah and the representative leader of the black community in Detroit, together with other representative leaders of the Hispanic and Asian people, unite to form a plan of ousting the whites in population by making many interracial babies. These babies would be the future majority race of the American population. The main adversary to this plan is pastor Dalton who leads a congregation of white people who believe they are the superior race. Apart from this, it describes the life of Kimberly, a Hispanic who marries Ahmed, a member of the house of Jeremiah. The book also describes the racism that an Asian - black woman, Star, experiences at a Japanese beauty pageant show and the consequences of this.
The main theme in the book is unsurprisingly that of racism and conflict. J.M. Muse tries to portray a world where racism has run rampant mainly attributable to the teaching's of the religious leaders. What makes the story-line stand out is how each party is portrayed as having deep beliefs that their incentives are right and that they are the only victims. The followers of these leaders are shown as fundamentalists who are incapable of even questioning the choices and authority of their leaders. It is quite ironical that all these top religious leaders, who apparently worship the same god( and should therefore have the same principles), could not even make a peaceful compromise.
Characters in the book are moderately developed. Pastor Dalton, leader of the whites is shown as a very racist man. He truly believes that the white race is the superior race as "acknowledged by god." He is also very delusional. He believed that a certain dream was a message that called for the killing of the mixed race babies and proceeds to launch a gruesome attack on the ”birthcamps" of these babies. Kublai Khan is portrayed as a principled man who follows both the teachings of the Bible and Qur'an fanatically. He is also shown as very manipulative and calculating. The world building in the book is not great. There are very few details describing a place.
I really liked how the plot of the book was put down. The author is not biased to a particular group of people and this allows for an open-minded approach while reading the book. It is clear that one group in the conflict is just as racist as the other side. This is ultimately seen as the conflict goes unresolved by the end of the book. Kublai Khan, in an effort to make the black community of more significance in the country, goes too far by organizing and endorsing the literal breeding of black men with asian women to create as much mixed race babies as possible. At the end of the book, it is quite disappointing to realize that the conflict is never really resolved. Nevertheless, I think this was the author's goal in the first place.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone. In as much as it is a fictional book, it highlights real world issues today that really need to be resolved. The book is short but interesting. I completed reading it in a day! There are a few graphical sexual scenes although they are not overtly pornographic. I did not encounter any spelling or grammatical errors. It was obviously edited well. Mixed Blessings definitely gets a 4 out of 4 stars rating from me.
******
Mixed Blessings
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: We are Voulhire: Someone Else's End by Matthew Tysz
