Official Review: A Campfire Conversation by Luther Brooks

Juliana_Isabella · Post by **Juliana_Isabella** » 30 Mar 2020, 17:42

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "A Campfire Conversation" by Luther Brooks.]

2 out of 4 stars

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A Campfire Conversation by Luther Brooks is a short story about the author’s interaction with a mother and daughter who needed to hear God’s voice through him. Luke is a retired bachelor who decides to spend a weekend at the lake in his camper. As he’s sitting by the campfire, he sees a teenage girl wander by, looking forlorn. He asks God for the ability to help this girl, and eventually strikes up a conversation with her when she walks back by his campsite. After a couple of conversations, he finds out that her uncle recently killed himself, and her mother is forlorn. To make matters worse, her father is a serviceman stationed overseas. Luke talks to the mother and daughter about God’s plan for them and for her uncle and develops a relationship with them that leads him to support them until her father can return home.

The simple, genuine nature of the narrator and author made me like and trust him immediately. The story opens with him just wanting to have a weekend in nature, but he jumps at the chance to help another person. I liked how the story revolved around his relationship with God, and he would often include his silent and spoken prayers in the narration. He addresses God like an old friend, and this endeared him to me.

Although the protagonist is very likable, the story doesn’t give a lot of information about the other characters. Despite learning some very personal information about the mother and daughter, I don’t feel like I got to know them as people. The plot of the story is also very slow, as the author spends almost fifty pages explaining what happened at the lake over the course of three to four days. Each conversation is painstakingly related along with all of the author’s thoughts that happened while the conversation was going on.

In addition to the extremely slow pace of the story, the actual writing had some issues as well. The author alternates between present and past tense from sentence to sentence. He also alternates between first-person and third-person narration from sentence to sentence, addressing himself both as “I” and “Luke.” These two issues led to me being confused about the timeline and the author’s identity at different points in the story.

Overall, I would rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. I liked the protagonist’s down-to-earth nature, but the story flowed extremely slowly. Besides the issues with tenses and point of view, I also found a variety of mistakes in the book, so it was obvious that it wasn’t professionally edited.

I would recommend this book to people who like easygoing, Christian narratives. It’s a feel-good story with a happy ending, but there’s certainly no action or drama. If you don’t mind the issues mentioned above and would like a short but slow-paced read, you might enjoy this book.

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A Campfire Conversation
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Cynthia_Oluchi · Post by **Cynthia_Oluchi** » 02 Apr 2020, 15:27

It is very sad that a beautiful as this is not professionally edited. I'll have to pass until the needful is done. Thanks for the honest review.

kdstrack · Post by **kdstrack** » 02 Apr 2020, 22:15

The author relates an interesting story of how he was willing to help heal a heart. This looks like an interesting read once the errors are fixed. Great review!

Carolreads30 · Post by **Carolreads30** » 03 Apr 2020, 05:54

The storyline sounds like a book that I would enjoy, but since you say it is a slow read and that it is not well edited, I don't think I will add to my I want to read shelf. It's sad that a good story has not been professionally edited. Thank you for your honest review.

Letora · Post by **Letora** » 05 Apr 2020, 05:51

I absolutely love this cover! I don't like to read about books with religion involved though and the secondary characters don't seem to be very established. Thank you for your review.

khaulah · Post by **khaulah** » 05 Apr 2020, 21:50

I really liked the title of book, it's unfortunate that the book had writing issues. Thanks for your honest review!

Laura Lee · Post by **Laura Lee** » 06 Apr 2020, 17:16

The title of the book drew me, but I think I'll take a pass as this isn't a genre I really care for. Thanks for an interesting review!

Splendour0606 · Post by **Splendour0606** » 30 Apr 2020, 17:11

It sounds like Luke is a prophet, I am glad he came into their lives to solve their lives puzzle.The book really had lots if errors, but I commend your review.

bookreviewmi1111 · Post by **bookreviewmi1111** » 07 May 2020, 03:17

This actually sounds like a nice book to me, it brings me some peaceful imagination. What the character thinks during his conversation might be interesting to me though. But I understand that books should be well-edited.
Thanks for the honest review.