Book Review: Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman and Andrew Winegarner

Quote: I call myself a warrior--a Peaceful Warrior--because important battles we face happen inside us. And even now, as we speak, invisible forces--forces of light and darkness--are fighting a great battle.
But what does always have to do it-- A great work and sometimes we won by a single battle. The battles been fought right now, Dan . . . Inside you.

A book picked up in a mad frenzy called Bookfair. I bet I fell for the cover and the words graphic novel and didn't bother reading the blurb. Three years later it is haunting me.

Adapted from apparently a famous book of the same name, which has been dubbed classic. This book is a part autobiographical and fictional story of spiritual coming of age story of a young athlete called Dan, who meets a weird old man in a gas station who changed his being.

Karate Kid plot meets Robin Sharma spiritualism meets Paulo Coelho's language meets White Man's idea of eastern philosophy meets armature art in a poorly constructed storyboard.

Dan loses his father, he does poorly at the gymnastic finals, dreams about an old man, with whom he has a chance meeting when he goes super biker mode and runs out of gas. Finds him jumping from roof to ground in seconds, Dan ends up calling the old man Socrates. Meets a lively girl called Joy who serves nothing to the plot beyond romantic interest and vanishes from Dan's life without an explanation and with a sunset goodbye.

Art is amateur, the pen and ink needed more balance, some panels were beautiful when they were drawn around nature, the athletes performing were drawn well, but overall it was very schoolbook oriented art. It didn't help the story anyway.

If eating vegetarian and fasting, running, abstaining from sex made one a peaceful being, the whole world would've been a better place. The sycophancy of self-help authors with cosmic harmony, and fighting evil within is nauseating. From fighting imaginary samurai to sewing to maintaining a journal to calm one's mind in graphic novel form was torturous. But I ain't no quitter, so I finished the book with an angry mind and sadly not with a peaceful heart. This was borderline a bad reading companion.

Comments

Book Review: The Tiny Wife by Andrew Kaufman and illustrated by Tom Percival

Book Review: The Tiny Wife by Andrew Kaufman and illustrated by Tom Percival Quote: The robbery was not without consequences. The consequences were the point of the robbery. It was never about money. The thief didn't even ask for any. That it happened in a bank was incidental. Can we take a moment and appreciate the cover! The only reason I picked this book from my friend Ashwin's bookshelf; the cover and the adorable illustrations inside. The Tiny Wife is a modern-day fable, it definitely is a weird and witty book! A perfect short distance read. It's the story of Stacey and David, Stacey gets robbed in a bank, where this flamboyant purple hatter robs an item of sentimental value from victims. David, Stacey's husband narrates the story, a smart narrative choice: a spectator and commentator. Each of the victims has their own 'shit' to deal with after the incident. Dawn's lion tattoo springs into life! Grace's husband turns...

Book Review: When The River Sleeps by Easterine Kire.

Book Review: When The River Sleeps by Easterine Kire. Quote: Perhaps the answer lay not in striving but in being. In simply accepting that the loneliness would never be eliminated fully, but that one could deal with it by learning to treat it like a companion and no longer an adversary. Ville a hunter wakes up from a dream, ventures out to search for the heart-stone; that holds the power of the river that's asleep. And this stone is guarded by wailing-angry-widow-spirits. Many attempts have been made at magical realism in Indian English writing, and I didn't like them. My personal opinion is that magical realism needs a deep connection with nature, maybe never explicitly explored in the text, but the traces of that connection always shows in the words written. And I have always argued that North East India is the most fertile ground to plant the seeds of magical realism in. Easterine Kire, pens our deep connection with nature for the national readership to gawk...

Webcomic Review: Fools by Yeongha and Bagdam

Webcomic Review: Fools by Yeongha and Bagdam Quote: If this were a relationship between a male and a female, wouldn't it be safe to assume that we were 100% attracted to each other? But because I'm a male and just an underclassman, Eungi Hyung would never consider anything like that, would he? Fools is a Korean Webtoon written by Yeongha and adorably illustrated by Bagdam. A weepy and heartbroken teen Choi Jeongwoo meets Kwon Enugi one night, where the latter ends up comforting and advising the teen. A few years later, Jeongwoo is a freshman in the university where Enugi has returned for his final year after completing his military service. Enugi comes off as a standoffish young man while Jeongwoo the pretty boy is always smiling and super friendly. After hearing Jeongwoo cry on his phone to his boyfriend during the welcoming party, Enugi can't stop but worry about him from then on. By the twist of fate they end up having breakfast tog...

KhepiAri

Search This Blog