The Announcement By: Michael J. Gajda (Book Review)

(((I received this book to review but it will in no way influence my review and rating)))

Summary:

You drive down a road for the hundredth time and notice a house you've never noticed before. You look at a picture and never saw that green spot before. You pick veggies or fruit and think you've cleared the area, then go back and see all the ones you missed. It's all in your point of view. There's a new perspective, a different angle - and you see things differently. And that's where The Announcement comes in. It provides that different point of view, that new perspective, that different angle, and does so with a purpose, It's for anyone who would like to see the world be a better place, but will challenge your ideas of what ""better"" is. And when you're done, and have had a chance to absorb The Announcement, think of others who would hate this book. Then give it to them and cajole, bribe, beg or whatever you have to do to get them to read it, because they are the ones who desperately need it.

I truly don't know where to start with this review. Normally, I would have some sort of a organized structure. But I guess my review will be as chaotic and erratic as this novel. I don't want to be mean but as I have always been with my reviews, I will be very honest and truthful. I am so fucking happy I finally got this monstrosity out of the way and I can finally move onto better and more enjoyable books. It took me quite a few years to read this book cover to cover. Normally, I am a fast reader but not when what I'm reading is not enjoyable; it takes 10x longer to read. 

And just as it took forever for me to finish reading this book, it is taking me long to finish writing up this review. It took me over 3 years to finally finish reading this disaster of a book. Unfortunately, I'm that type of reader who has to finish a book, no matter how painful it is to read. I cannot express to all of you how happy and excited I am to finally be done reading it. 

I don't know if the way this book was structured was done purposely but what I can tell you is that from start to finish this "book" was chaotic and overwhelming. It wasn't overwhelming because I was bombarded with information because that wasn't the case. The reason why it felt overwhelming was because the writer was addressing me "the audience" with what seemed as pity and I felt like I was being talked down to as if I was too stupid to comprehend the political and social problems that are greatly affecting and influencing our society. I felt patronized and reading this horrid piece of trash felt so condescending. 

Dear Mr. Gajda,

You're not enlightening and you are not ahead of the game. You are a writer who instead of coaxing and gently guiding readers into the right direction yells at the reader and just throws them into a room where every inch of space is filled with pages of your book that should be considered gospel when in reality it's newspaper that you let your dog piss on. 1, Because it's insignificant paper and 2, You still gotta give that paper some use. You had some good valid points but they were overshadowed by your writing style. Pestering and badgering your readers does not give them a great reading experience. 

You want to enlighten and guide readers towards the right direction? Try mending your writing style and next time you write a book have a better structure put in place because reading your novel felt like I was being yelled at. Not a great reading experience at all. 

This book covered social and politic issues that are plaguing today's society such as; the division of one's self and the assimilation we go through to 'belong', the use of religion in war and the corporate greediness that vastly influences a country's society. All of these subjects are valid and still are ongoing issues that we have to deal with. But despite it's validity, the writing style overshadows any authentic information that is useful and eye-opening. 

We all know, unfortunately, that religion and war goes hand in hand. For thousands of years, men have gone to war, fighting for their own religion. Stripping others of their beliefs and implementing their own. Many mistake the words of gospel and misinterpret them to justify their horrid actions on man-kind. We know this and we know that many wars and crimes committed were due to men misinterpreting sacred books to justify their agenda. I'm sorry to say this but Gajda didn't enlighten us on this issue. We are also very aware of the big Corporate entity that seems to rule our daily lives. It's essentially this big ass wheel that has a reach in almost every aspect of our lives. And if anyone should break this wheel...well wouldn't that be chaotic? We are aware how greatly it controls our lives and yet we openly accept it and play the game. Trust me Mr.Gajda, we are aware of the Corporate entity we just decide to accept the situation for what it is. 

But one thing I do have to praise Mr.Gajda about is the fact that we do compartmentalize and assimilate ourselves to our society to fit in. He's right that we do so much to belong and to accept a group or tribe's beliefs that we'll exchange our own beliefs for theirs. We do realize we give up a part of ourselves to fit in but after reading this book I never realized just how much of our selves we give up in the process. It’s to the point where we just spew the same bullshit that everyone in our circle says and there’s nothing left of ourselves that is authentic.

Rating: 

I am going to give The Announcement 1 star on 5. Do I really need to justify why I gave this book such a poor rating? If I could I would give it zero stars but he did make some good points. But his condescending and badgering tone was too overwhelming to overlook. If you want to save yourself a headache and frustration please avoid this book at all costs.