OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Eden Shrugged" by Eamon Mc Ghee Jr..]

Reviewer's note: while there is a great deal of vulgarity and explicit sex in the novel, I will keep such vulgarity out of the review. However, the book is absolutely only for those 18 and over!

Eden Shrugged by Eamon Mc Ghee Jr. tells the tale of 18 year old Melissa Stark (no relation to Tony Stark) and her growing family. We're introduced to Melissa as a girl with only one thing on her mind - a particular body part on her stepbrother. The 183 pages of story within tell not only of Melissa and her acceptance of her lewd tendencies, but of her mother, stepbrother and a growing number of loved ones as well.

The book flows through three main phases that repeat throughout - graphic sex, thoughts or discussion of politics or religion and the story itself. Sometimes these things cross over a bit (like the mother using a particular bible verse to explain to her daughter that oral sex is good), but for the most part are completely separate - almost unnaturally so. The political and religious portions in particular completely break the drive of the story. These segments are typically either one person speaking or a character in their mind, and they often go on for half a dozen pages at a time with few, if any, paragraph breaks. It just felt awkward to read Melissa, for example, go on for 7 pages on the evils of pornography and then, after only a 2 page break, read her mother speak to her across 11 pages about abortion.

It's a shame that these portions of the book took up so much space, because the story itself is heartwarming and sweet. While the coincidences are incredibly far-fetched and unnecessary, they don't take away from the story enough to bring it down. It even picks up some steam toward the end, but by then the cast of characters has bloated and none of them seem to have their own distinct personalities, so names become easy to confuse for one another and it becomes impossible to truly care about any of them.

I really wanted to like Eden Shrugged. I enjoy romance and philosophy, and a combination of the two sounded fantastic. Unfortunately, the book never found its balance and ended up broken because of it. I have to reluctantly give the book 1 out of 4 stars because, while the story itself had promise, it was buried beneath needless vulgarity and pages upon pages of one-sided dialogue. People who enjoy reading erotica, especially erotica within non-incestuous family (all stepfamily) may get a few kicks here regardless.

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Eden Shrugged
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That was a very honest review. The author had a good idea in mind but needs to polish his writing particularly character development.

Agree, a very honest review. Such a shame the concept is good but the characters need fleshed out more. Thank you.

Great job on this review. This review was very well done and specific on your issues with the book. I enjoyed reading it, even though I would not choose to read this novel.

I enjoyed reading your review. It's disappointing when you think you are going to love a book and things don't turn out that way. It's hard to like a book when it's difficult to care about the characters.

I am very confused what this book is about. This is not because your review, CataclymicKnight. The review is very clear and well-written. I am confused with the book itself. Graphic sex and quotations from the Bible - that is something I never heard before.

Thanks everyone for the kind words and/or agreement, it's always nice to know I'm not the only one who feels a certain way

chytach18- wrote:I am very confused what this book is about. This is not because your review, CataclymicKnight. The review is very clear and well-written. I am confused with the book itself. Graphic sex and quotations from the Bible - that is something I never heard before.

This is it, right here, I think. I have nothing against sex and religion together, and I believe there's a spirituality there with the closeness that people get with intimacy. But it just.... didn't manage to pull that off here, which is sad. Hopefully future books by Eamon can pull it off

Very nice detailed and well-written review Cataclysmic Knight. I like your overall critique of this book and even though you rated it 1, the review didn't come off as negative or mean (I struggle in the 1 star review department), but constructive.

Cee-Jay Aurinko wrote:Very nice detailed and well-written review Cataclysmic Knight. I like your overall critique of this book and even though you rated it 1, the review didn't come off as negative or mean (I struggle in the 1 star review department), but constructive.

Thanks very much for saying so! My brain doesn't seem to know how to rate 3s, so I understand your pain to some extent. I think that even a 1-reviewed book, while it means I wouldn't suggest it at all myself, doesn't mean the author doesn't have some great potential in the future! Also wow at how badly that sentence I just wrote is... Which is why I review instead of write