Review of The Crack Between Stars
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Bethel Saint Bright
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Review of The Crack Between Stars
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Crack Between Stars" by Victoria Shamaki.]
"The Crack Between Stars" is a story of loss, pain, courage, and faith. Victoria's life took a devastating turn after the death of her husband, Sunday. She knew that her husband had sickle cell anemia but hoped that they would manage it and still have a long and loving marriage. Unfortunately, Sunday had an episode six years into the marriage that he did not recover from. After Sunday's death, Victoria had to face battles on many fronts. She had her late husband's family to deal with; they wanted to take everything she and her husband had. She also had to battle with breast cancer. How did she navigate this tumultuous period in her life?
This book is very emotional. Coming from the same country as Victoria, I can connect to some of the things she went through, especially in the hands of her in-laws after her husband's death. I also can relate to the betrayal she faced at the hands of her brother-in-law, who claimed to be on her side only to get information for her husband's family to use against her. I know I had someone do that to me when I lost my dad. He was there with me throughout the funeral process, only to facilitate the loss of one of my late dad's properties. Many Nigerian women (even in many parts of Africa) have these experiences in different shades and colors. I like that the author is bold enough to put these experiences in print for many people to know how women are treated in Nigeria when they lose their husbands.
I like that the author begins each chapter with an encouraging quote from the Bible. It might disconnect those who don't believe in the Bible. However, the quotes are relevant to the story in the book. It also shows that the author drew strength from God throughout her ordeal.
Unfortunately, I have some issues with this book. I'll use the following two paragraphs to talk about them.
The official author of this book is Victoria Shamaki. However, the story is written in the third person. The main character's name is Victoria. I suspect this is the story of the author. However, I can't understand why this book is written in the third person. It affects the personal connection readers usually have when reading memoirs. It feels like the author is reporting what happened to someone else with the same name. If this is the author's way of making the memoir unique, the purpose is defeated.
The writing also needs improvement in terms of readability. There are many run-on sentences and punctuation issues. Though they are not objective grammar errors, they affect the reading flow. Readers may have to read some sentences twice or more to understand them. Here's one example out of many: "The memories of him were all she had to warm her heart on the days that she felt lonely, sad and depressed, she would smile when she looked at pictures of Sunny laughing at the beach when they spent time in Lagos or putting a large spoon of rice into his mouth at a friend's wedding."
Due to the issues in the last two paragraphs, I deduct two points from the rating. I rate this book a 3 out of 5.
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The Crack Between Stars
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
"The Crack Between Stars" is a story of loss, pain, courage, and faith. Victoria's life took a devastating turn after the death of her husband, Sunday. She knew that her husband had sickle cell anemia but hoped that they would manage it and still have a long and loving marriage. Unfortunately, Sunday had an episode six years into the marriage that he did not recover from. After Sunday's death, Victoria had to face battles on many fronts. She had her late husband's family to deal with; they wanted to take everything she and her husband had. She also had to battle with breast cancer. How did she navigate this tumultuous period in her life?
This book is very emotional. Coming from the same country as Victoria, I can connect to some of the things she went through, especially in the hands of her in-laws after her husband's death. I also can relate to the betrayal she faced at the hands of her brother-in-law, who claimed to be on her side only to get information for her husband's family to use against her. I know I had someone do that to me when I lost my dad. He was there with me throughout the funeral process, only to facilitate the loss of one of my late dad's properties. Many Nigerian women (even in many parts of Africa) have these experiences in different shades and colors. I like that the author is bold enough to put these experiences in print for many people to know how women are treated in Nigeria when they lose their husbands.
I like that the author begins each chapter with an encouraging quote from the Bible. It might disconnect those who don't believe in the Bible. However, the quotes are relevant to the story in the book. It also shows that the author drew strength from God throughout her ordeal.
Unfortunately, I have some issues with this book. I'll use the following two paragraphs to talk about them.
The official author of this book is Victoria Shamaki. However, the story is written in the third person. The main character's name is Victoria. I suspect this is the story of the author. However, I can't understand why this book is written in the third person. It affects the personal connection readers usually have when reading memoirs. It feels like the author is reporting what happened to someone else with the same name. If this is the author's way of making the memoir unique, the purpose is defeated.
The writing also needs improvement in terms of readability. There are many run-on sentences and punctuation issues. Though they are not objective grammar errors, they affect the reading flow. Readers may have to read some sentences twice or more to understand them. Here's one example out of many: "The memories of him were all she had to warm her heart on the days that she felt lonely, sad and depressed, she would smile when she looked at pictures of Sunny laughing at the beach when they spent time in Lagos or putting a large spoon of rice into his mouth at a friend's wedding."
Due to the issues in the last two paragraphs, I deduct two points from the rating. I rate this book a 3 out of 5.
******
The Crack Between Stars
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Climbing Bubbles by Patrick Sanaghan
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Cyndi Jones
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I share the reviewer's dismay with the author's distracting writing style (use of 3d person, run-on sentences, and punctuation) that takes away from a very serious topic that many in the western world are unaware exists. In some countries, women have no status without a husband and indeed lose any status they had if a husband dies.
