Review of The Merchant from Sepherad
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Review of The Merchant from Sepherad
The Merchant from Sepherad by James Hutson-Wiley is a book about life during the 12th century through the eyes of a Jew named Joshua from Sepherad. His father, a merchant wanted him to learn the trades and gave him some work to carry out in foreign lands. Unfortunately, Joshua's experience is terrible. He faces religious discrimination suffered by the Jews in those days. More so, he encounters dishonesty and violence which he was not accustomed to. In short, Joshua finds that he has to learn everything the hard way. His exposure to the outside world enables him to understand different cultures and even start to question his own beliefs. However, in all this chaos, Joshua falls madly in love. Will his pursuits suffer the same bad luck that seems to follow him wherever he goes?
This book is a reflection of what happened during the 12th century in the Mediterranean areas and those surrounding them. It is about the wars among the people for territories and power, including how religion was used as a weapon in these fights. Joshua's story is an emotional one. It is filled with great sadness and joy at the same time. It is also full of many life lessons, especially if one is a believer in God.
I liked this book because the author is a good storyteller. The story was intriguing and everything was explained in such great detail that it felt as if I was present. I also appreciated the vast amount of knowledge that I got from reading this book. On top of learning many new words, I learned a bit of history about what happened during that era. This is because the author used some true historical events to shape his story. In addition, this enabled me to understand better some of the conflicts in the world today. Last but not least, I appreciated the great amount of research the author must have put into writing this book.
What I disliked about the book was the author's reference to God in short form. I found this a bit distracting as I had to constantly remind myself of what it meant. Apart from this, I did not dislike anything else about the book. It had a couple of unintended grammatical errors which did not affect my enjoyment of the same.
I rate this book 4 out of 5 because it was a wonderful story and I learned a lot from it. It kept me captivated and interested from the start to finish. Unfortunately, I found more than 10 typos hence my removal of one star.
I recommend this book to adults because it has several gruesome scenes which are not suitable for a young audience. I also recommend it to individuals who do not mind stories about religion and God.
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The Merchant from Sepherad
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