Review of The Dark Star of the Dorothy Curse
Posted: 12 Sep 2021, 09:42
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Dark Star of the Dorothy Curse" by Steven Rood.]
In The Dark Star of the Dorothy Curse, Steven Rood is telling the story of the curse that affected his life, the lives of his family, and even the lives of strangers. The curse began when his grandfather had a child out of wedlock. The author believes that this child, named Dorothy, brought a lot of evil into their family. Whenever Dorothy came into their lives, bad things would happen, and when she wasn’t around, their lives flourished. The curse manifests in the form of bizarre events, such as people getting sick out of a sudden, splitting with their partners, or simply having continuous bad luck.
I picked up this book because I like reading about curses and inexplicable events, so the description appealed to me. At 143 pages, the book was short and easy to get through. The author’s familiar tone felt like he was talking to me directly. However, the flow of the writing was disrupted by an incredible amount of errors. The book is in dire need of some serious editing, as there seems to be none right now. Punctuation errors, unnecessary capitalizations, and misspelled words, such as “were” instead of “where,” are among the most common ones.
Unfortunately, the book had many more flaws that can’t be ignored. I expected an introduction to the author’s family, but there was no such thing. Sparse descriptions and details were offered on the way, making things even more confusing. I recommend adding a family tree for more clarity, as it’s almost impossible to keep track of all the family members, like “my cousin Kevin’s Father’s third wife’s sister.”
The author talks about how the curse affected different people, even those who never met Dorothy. He divided people into categories and then proceeded to talk about each of them. While this sounds good, the author seemed to jump through the years, presenting a lot of events in just a few sentences. The information is too much to process, leading to misunderstandings and confusion. Also, many phrases or even whole events are repeated throughout the book. In this case, you would think that repetition could help the reader understand better, but the events are repeated in the same confusing way, so it’s just more frustrating.
The point of the book was to let the world know about the curse. However, I can’t say the author convinced me entirely. There are thousands of children born out of wedlock, so I would’ve liked a better explanation of why Dorothy would be cursed. What he offered as the ultimate proof could still be debunked, as well as some of his stories. Just because there is no obvious explanation for a disease or a fire, it doesn’t mean it was the devil’s doing. After all, these events happened to other people, so he only recalls their tellings. However, the number of bizarre events and their timing are better arguments that I can’t dismiss. A big section of the book is about people who are supposed to be “the devil’s messengers.” From the author’s descriptions, all those people had problems with alcohol, gambling, or just some other psychological issues. In my opinion, the best solution is to avoid such people, so I didn’t see the need for this section.
The book brought me a lot of negative feelings. This is because it is fully focused on evil. It’s nothing but page after page of horrible events. God is only mentioned two times in this book, while the devil is mentioned on almost every page. This goes further, as the author attributed a woman’s recovery after a bad surgery to the devil. In his perception, she only got better because the devil wanted her to do more of his work. Thus, people with strong Christian beliefs would certainly not enjoy this book.
The only nice thing I can say is that the ending provided some sort of closure as things calmed down. It was pleasant to read about the author’s passion, which is his music. It felt like the only good thing in a sea of evil. I often find myself saved by music, so that part was quite relatable. However, the book’s subject wasn’t music, so it won’t change my opinion.
In its current state, the only rating I can give this book is 1 out of 4 stars. Besides the book needing professional editing, the author also needs to better organize his arguments. I can’t recommend it to anyone until then. I would’ve preferred if the book had a storyline, but other people could relate to the author’s peculiar experiences, provided that the book is properly edited.
******
The Dark Star of the Dorothy Curse
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
In The Dark Star of the Dorothy Curse, Steven Rood is telling the story of the curse that affected his life, the lives of his family, and even the lives of strangers. The curse began when his grandfather had a child out of wedlock. The author believes that this child, named Dorothy, brought a lot of evil into their family. Whenever Dorothy came into their lives, bad things would happen, and when she wasn’t around, their lives flourished. The curse manifests in the form of bizarre events, such as people getting sick out of a sudden, splitting with their partners, or simply having continuous bad luck.
I picked up this book because I like reading about curses and inexplicable events, so the description appealed to me. At 143 pages, the book was short and easy to get through. The author’s familiar tone felt like he was talking to me directly. However, the flow of the writing was disrupted by an incredible amount of errors. The book is in dire need of some serious editing, as there seems to be none right now. Punctuation errors, unnecessary capitalizations, and misspelled words, such as “were” instead of “where,” are among the most common ones.
Unfortunately, the book had many more flaws that can’t be ignored. I expected an introduction to the author’s family, but there was no such thing. Sparse descriptions and details were offered on the way, making things even more confusing. I recommend adding a family tree for more clarity, as it’s almost impossible to keep track of all the family members, like “my cousin Kevin’s Father’s third wife’s sister.”
The author talks about how the curse affected different people, even those who never met Dorothy. He divided people into categories and then proceeded to talk about each of them. While this sounds good, the author seemed to jump through the years, presenting a lot of events in just a few sentences. The information is too much to process, leading to misunderstandings and confusion. Also, many phrases or even whole events are repeated throughout the book. In this case, you would think that repetition could help the reader understand better, but the events are repeated in the same confusing way, so it’s just more frustrating.
The point of the book was to let the world know about the curse. However, I can’t say the author convinced me entirely. There are thousands of children born out of wedlock, so I would’ve liked a better explanation of why Dorothy would be cursed. What he offered as the ultimate proof could still be debunked, as well as some of his stories. Just because there is no obvious explanation for a disease or a fire, it doesn’t mean it was the devil’s doing. After all, these events happened to other people, so he only recalls their tellings. However, the number of bizarre events and their timing are better arguments that I can’t dismiss. A big section of the book is about people who are supposed to be “the devil’s messengers.” From the author’s descriptions, all those people had problems with alcohol, gambling, or just some other psychological issues. In my opinion, the best solution is to avoid such people, so I didn’t see the need for this section.
The book brought me a lot of negative feelings. This is because it is fully focused on evil. It’s nothing but page after page of horrible events. God is only mentioned two times in this book, while the devil is mentioned on almost every page. This goes further, as the author attributed a woman’s recovery after a bad surgery to the devil. In his perception, she only got better because the devil wanted her to do more of his work. Thus, people with strong Christian beliefs would certainly not enjoy this book.
The only nice thing I can say is that the ending provided some sort of closure as things calmed down. It was pleasant to read about the author’s passion, which is his music. It felt like the only good thing in a sea of evil. I often find myself saved by music, so that part was quite relatable. However, the book’s subject wasn’t music, so it won’t change my opinion.
In its current state, the only rating I can give this book is 1 out of 4 stars. Besides the book needing professional editing, the author also needs to better organize his arguments. I can’t recommend it to anyone until then. I would’ve preferred if the book had a storyline, but other people could relate to the author’s peculiar experiences, provided that the book is properly edited.
******
The Dark Star of the Dorothy Curse
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
