Review of Lessons Learnt

Drianie · Post by **Drianie** » 15 Apr 2022, 20:01

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Lessons Learnt" by Sibusiso Kumalo.]

1 out of 4 stars

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Lessons Learnt by Sibusiso Kumalo is a non-fiction book where the author attempts to share the wisdom that he has obtained throughout his life. Now a successful writer and director in the entertainment industry, he has worked on renowned shows such as Bone of My Bones and Isidingo. However, reaching this success was not easy while growing up in Soweto under challenging circumstances.

This book is a short and easy read, spanning only 91 pages. The lessons take the form of quotes and are divided into eight chapters. These lessons aren’t grouped according to themes or topics but are a mixture of statements that revolve around relationships, success, motivation, inspiration, and advice.

From my first impressions, I got the idea that this would be an enjoyable read with insightful nuggets of wisdom that I can apply to my own life. I believe that the author has an interesting story to tell based on his background and the success he has achieved in his life. However, I was disappointed for a few reasons.

Firstly, I didn’t like that there was no coherent structure to the lessons. One lesson can be a bitter statement about relationships, while the next can be uplifting, giving helpful advice to the reader. This mixture of tone and themes made it difficult for me to connect with the book. Maybe grouping similar lessons underneath chapters with a specific topic would make it easier to read and fully appreciate. Apart from this, many of the statements are quite generic. Without some depth or background from the author as to how he learned these lessons, it just didn’t make as big of an impact as it could have.

Secondly, this book will benefit from another round of thorough editing. I found many errors, such as missing punctuation and single words cut off into two separate sentences. Some lessons were repeated several times. Many of the quotes also convey the same general message. This made my reading experience tedious at times, as I felt like I was reading the same thing over and over again.

Lastly, the biggest problem I had with the book was the few negative remarks made about black people and women in general. The author states the following: "Being black is a curse, we enjoy destroying one another."(p.6). "Black people only criticize and bring down other black people but they still think they will reach the promised land." (p.16). Harsh and unnecessary statements like these made it difficult to find value in my reading experience.

I cannot recommend this book to other readers due to the reasons I mentioned above. In the end, there wasn't anything I particularly liked or enjoyed about the book. I strongly suggest the author spends some time revising his content and removing the negative remarks and general errors. Taking all the above into consideration, Lessons Learnt achieves a rating of 1 out of 4 stars.

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Lessons Learnt
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Edit_or · Post by **Edit_or** » 17 Apr 2022, 13:41

Not a book I'll love to read though the review is awesome. Thank you

Lawrence+2 · Post by **Lawrence+2** » 17 Apr 2022, 15:45

So many errors for my liking..nice review though

Israel10 · Post by **Israel10** » 17 Apr 2022, 17:42

Books which share vital tips and advice from the author's personal life prove to be more helpful and practical than others. Great review.

Gideon Olomofe · Post by **Gideon Olomofe** » 17 Apr 2022, 17:43

Well done for a honest review. I wouldn't want to take this book then

Ikechukwu+12345 · Post by **Ikechukwu+12345** » 19 Apr 2022, 01:42

This book will be an interesting one in the sense it talked about every aspect of the human sphere which are relationship, career etc. The author needs to do more work on the book. Thanks for an honest review.

Aisha Yakub · Post by **Aisha Yakub** » 19 Apr 2022, 05:48

Thank you for the honest feedback.

wmeki510 · Post by **wmeki510** » 20 Apr 2022, 18:03

I love the patterning of this book's title. It's captivating.

wmeki510 · Post by **wmeki510** » 20 Apr 2022, 18:04

Ikechukwu+12345 wrote: ↑19 Apr 2022, 01:42 This book will be an interesting one in the sense it talked about every aspect of the human sphere which are relationship, career etc. The author needs to do more work on the book. Thanks for an honest review.

Rightly said. I can't agree less with you.