Review of The Space Lottery
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Goodness Richman
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- Latest Review: The Space Lottery by Stefanos di Moor
Review of The Space Lottery
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Space Lottery" by Stefanos di Moor.]
The Space Lottery by Stefanos di Moor is a fictional memoir of a fictional character, Valentin Jean-Pierre. The storyline follows Valentin's life starting from his life as a little Haitian boy in Haiti with his parents. Their family was poor but content. Haiti was majorly unstable due to gang violence and political instability. At a time, transient peace was established, thanks to the Kenyan forces. However, this didn't last so long, as a few years later a tyrant ousted the president with the military's assistance and brought horror to the Haitians.
After his father, brother, and sister were unjustly killed, Valentin, together with his mom and aunt, secretly flees Haiti to New York, America, alongside thousands of other Haitians. Three of them settled in Brooklyn's Little Haiti. Valentin thrived in America, school-wise and otherwise. In fifth grade, just twelve days after his twelfth birthday, he won a space lottery that entitled him to a flight to space. This made him famous. He was also later awarded an academic scholarship by the company's CEO. Later on in life, in his teenage years, after watching the news on Haiti's ongoing suffering, he vows to his mother that one day, he'll do something about the tyrant.
I like many aspects of this book. First is the book's imagery of the American Dream. Valentin, who suffered terror as a little boy, including losing his father and siblings to violence and having to secretly flee his home country to America as a refugee only to be very successful there. I appreciate the themes portrayed through the life of Valentin, including resilience, hard work, determination, and sense of purpose. I won't fail to mention the emotional depth, which provoked a lot of empathy in me while I read, especially in his life in Haiti and the reminiscence of that life while he was in America.
Another highlight is the author's choice of words and style of writing. They were straight to the point, yet conveyed the empathy as it should. This narrative is set in a near future filled with high tech like hoverbikes and holocasters, particularly under the purview of the mega-corporation MetaStratos, which is said to have even absorbed NASA.
Despite the likes I mentioned about this book, I have some dislikes too. One is that the character development of Augustin the tyrant is very shallow. As the antagonist of the narrative, I think he should have been more explored. Another thing is the brevity of Valentin's life in America, his education. It felt a lot too summarized, unlike his story in Haiti. Finally, the resolution of conflict is just non-climactic. Probably, what I call dislikes are the author's efforts to make the narrative short, but I still think it could have been better. Also, I noticed many errors while reading this book, which shows that it was not professionally edited.
I rate this book 3 out of 5 stars for the reasons I mentioned above. I recommend this book to readers who enjoy a quick read featuring the inspirational American Dream.
******
The Space Lottery
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
The Space Lottery by Stefanos di Moor is a fictional memoir of a fictional character, Valentin Jean-Pierre. The storyline follows Valentin's life starting from his life as a little Haitian boy in Haiti with his parents. Their family was poor but content. Haiti was majorly unstable due to gang violence and political instability. At a time, transient peace was established, thanks to the Kenyan forces. However, this didn't last so long, as a few years later a tyrant ousted the president with the military's assistance and brought horror to the Haitians.
After his father, brother, and sister were unjustly killed, Valentin, together with his mom and aunt, secretly flees Haiti to New York, America, alongside thousands of other Haitians. Three of them settled in Brooklyn's Little Haiti. Valentin thrived in America, school-wise and otherwise. In fifth grade, just twelve days after his twelfth birthday, he won a space lottery that entitled him to a flight to space. This made him famous. He was also later awarded an academic scholarship by the company's CEO. Later on in life, in his teenage years, after watching the news on Haiti's ongoing suffering, he vows to his mother that one day, he'll do something about the tyrant.
I like many aspects of this book. First is the book's imagery of the American Dream. Valentin, who suffered terror as a little boy, including losing his father and siblings to violence and having to secretly flee his home country to America as a refugee only to be very successful there. I appreciate the themes portrayed through the life of Valentin, including resilience, hard work, determination, and sense of purpose. I won't fail to mention the emotional depth, which provoked a lot of empathy in me while I read, especially in his life in Haiti and the reminiscence of that life while he was in America.
Another highlight is the author's choice of words and style of writing. They were straight to the point, yet conveyed the empathy as it should. This narrative is set in a near future filled with high tech like hoverbikes and holocasters, particularly under the purview of the mega-corporation MetaStratos, which is said to have even absorbed NASA.
Despite the likes I mentioned about this book, I have some dislikes too. One is that the character development of Augustin the tyrant is very shallow. As the antagonist of the narrative, I think he should have been more explored. Another thing is the brevity of Valentin's life in America, his education. It felt a lot too summarized, unlike his story in Haiti. Finally, the resolution of conflict is just non-climactic. Probably, what I call dislikes are the author's efforts to make the narrative short, but I still think it could have been better. Also, I noticed many errors while reading this book, which shows that it was not professionally edited.
I rate this book 3 out of 5 stars for the reasons I mentioned above. I recommend this book to readers who enjoy a quick read featuring the inspirational American Dream.
******
The Space Lottery
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: The Space Lottery by Stefanos di Moor
