Review of The Essence of Ivan

[Nzube Chizoba Okeke]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Essence of Ivan" by Stephen Day.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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The Essence of Ivan by Stephen F. Day was about the life of Ivan Nobel Lendaric. He was born in Croatia in 1896. The story explored the background of Ivan's family. It began with Ivan's father, Josip Lendaric; then, it shifted to the life of Ivan himself. Follow The Essence of Ivan to uncover the challenges faced by a boy gifted with an uncanny ability to train and nurture horses as he struggled through a harsh and challenging childhood.

The author began by introducing readers to the family background of Ivan Nobel Lendaric. This introduction would give readers an understanding of the nature and type of family Ivan originated from and how this family background shaped his life.

This book's author showcases sibling rivalry through the characters of Josip and Franjo Lendaric. The author also showcases the devastating outcome of such rivalry when backed with jealousy, hatred, and an unnatural preoccupation with the negative side of humanity. Many readers will quickly relate to this, as they might have experienced this rivalry.

The author also brings a part of history to life as he takes readers back to the lifestyle of residents and people living in Croatia in 1896. Readers will be thrilled by that period's culture and belief system. I will not give examples to avoid spoiling the joy of readers experiencing these cultures themselves.

The book was professionally edited. However, many errors were identified in the wrong spelling of some characters' names. Prominent of such errors was the character "Drajica" or "Draicula." This character had her name often misspelled as either "Dracula" or "Daricula" on many occasions. The same thing happened with the character "Mijo." There were two occasions the name was written as "Milo." This misspelling of characters' names affected my reading negatively, as I struggled to figure out which of them were the characters' actual names. I'd recommend revising this book to fix the character names problem.

I recommend The Essence of Ivan to readers who love a calm and relaxing biography. I rate it 4 out of 5 stars. One star is deducted because of the misspelling of some character names.

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The Essence of Ivan
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[holywriter]

I'm definitely interested in reading The Essence of Ivan after reading this review! The author's portrayal of sibling rivalry and its devastating consequences, backed by jealousy and hatred, sounds like a compelling conflict that will keep me hooked.