Official Review: A Kind of Homecoming by Charles Murray

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[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "A Kind of Homecoming" by Charles Murray.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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A Kind of Homecoming by Charles Murray tells the absolutely true story of a young boy discouraged from exploring the things that interested him most: tennis and cooking. Despite being told that he could not accomplish his dreams by nearly every authority figure in his life, Charles grew up defying the odds every bit as much as he defied every existing negative expectation of him. From a very young age, Charles began to overcome the same types of limitations that would have kept thousands of people just like him from reaching their full potential. Although each day came with new setbacks and challenges, nothing could stop him from trying to reach his goal of becoming both an able tennis player and a professional chef.

There were a lot of things that I truly loved about this book. First and foremost, I found the story of the author’s life to be extremely fascinating and engaging. Further, the narrative itself was not at all slow, as can often be the case with biographies and autobiographies. Instead, Charles tells his story in such a way that the reader can't help but be swept up in the narrative. Also, because the book was short and easy to read, with stories told in detail but no need for "fluff" or irrelevant details, it is the perfect book for readers who like to read but who do not necessarily like to read for extended periods of time.

The only thing that I truly disliked about this book was the frequency of avoidable errors, especially in terms of spelling and punctuation. Although the story on its own is generally well-edited, the introduction at the beginning of the book and the (seemingly good) recipes at the end contain a lot of errors. Further, the recipes are somewhat hard to read, largely because they are formatted with the ingredients and instructions clustered together, but changing the formatting even slightly will make them much easier to read.

I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in nonfiction and autobiographies, as well as those with an interest in topics like race, success stories, tennis, and/or food. However, I would not recommend this book to younger readers or to anyone who might be triggered by the use of expletives, including the n-word, and the inclusion of instances of drug and alcohol abuse.

I decided to rate A Kind of Homecoming by Charles Murray 3 out of 4 stars. Although I feel that the story itself very nearly makes up for the amount of errors sprinkled throughout it, there were simply too many errors for me to rate it any higher than 3 stars. Otherwise, I believe that this was a very good book, and I highly recommend it.

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A Kind of Homecoming
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[J_odoyo]

This book sounds like an interesting one. I like it that the story of the author’s life was extremely fascinating and engaging. Thanks for your wonderful review.

[Splendour0606]

It really hurts when people you look up to don't believe in you, it is enough to make you give up, but I applaud Charle's courage to pursue his dreams. A good book to read.Thanks.

[Kachi_Ejiogu+_]

Aww. I'm liking Charles' personality already. He remained resilient, proving everyone wrong and reaching his full potential. I like your review. Quite an excellent job you did.

[Jajachris]

It would be nice to read about how he overcame the negatives, to achieve his dream even though he was quite young.

Tennis and cooking do not interest me though.

[Nujudee]

You mentioned cooking?
I'm interested already.
Thank you for an impressive review.

[Adanna Inya]

You're your only limitation. And the author displayed that in this book. I wonder why some people discourage those who look up to them.
...and I'm interested in cooking. So, I may take a look.

[Ediomis_Enwongo01]

I really cherish the resilience and perseverance of Charles to defy all odds to become who he had dreamt to be. Thanks for the excellent review.

[Magnify3]

Encouraging that Charles managed to defy all odds to make his dreams come true. Pity about the errors that could have been avoided. Thanks!