Book Review: ILLUSIONS, The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah

A MUST read, a short, precise and mystical one but very thought-provoking. The book is interesting from the very beginning if you like spiritual, philosophical reads. The story catches on with the introduction of Donald Shimoda, the messiah, the master known for his miracles who quits being a messiah to be a mechanic and a pilot who gives people rides from one farm to another for just $3. The protagonist, Richard (author of the book, Richard Bach) who also happens to be a mechanic and flies people, meets this Messiah and urges to know how to become a master. Shimoda quite interestingly answers all his queries and makes him realize that this whole world is nothing but “Illusions” and we are happy and unhappy just because we want to be so, that the earth is solid and the water is liquid because we want it to be so. If we truly believe in something it is bound to happen in an inexplicable way whether it is possible in worldly terms or not, as everything in this world is a mirage, a false set up and we can conjure anything if we want to. Richard then finds a book previously owned by Shimoda, a saviour’s manual to become the messiah and I am pretty sure you would love each and every line quoted from the manual whether you believe in God or not. Donald tells Richard that each one of us is son of God and we are not different from each other and we all are messiah if we want. The story ends with the death of Shimoda but the ending itself is the starting of the book “Illusions”.

Quoting few lines from the manual:
There is no such thing as a problem

without a gift for you in its hands.

You seek problems because you need their gifts.


A cloud does not know why it moves in just such a

direction and at such a speed, It feels an impulsion...

this is the place to go now.

But the sky knows the reasons and the patterns

behind all clouds, and you will know, too, when

you lift yourself high enough to see beyond horizons.


Don’t be dismayed at good-byes.

A farewell is necessary before you can meet again.

And meeting again, after moments or

lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.

What the caterpillar calls the end of the world,

the master calls a butterfly.

The messiah says, “We are all. Free. To do.Whatever.We want. To do”

Book review: Love story by Erich Segal

Two things amazed me when I started with this novel. Firstly the book was so thin (only 76 pages – e-book!), a fast and an avid reader would finish it in less than 2hours, and secondly the starting, in fact the first sentence itself gave away the ending of the book, “What can you say about a twenty-five-year-old girl who died?”
Still there is something that makes go ahead and read, and when you are done with the book, it makes you believe that Love exists, Love is true and it’s so beautiful, simple and so selfless, it is much more than mere physical attraction and lust. The story is no different than any other love story, two college mates date and fall in love, go against the odds and get married, face the life’s challenges together and sail through the turbulent times, but just as they finally solve every puzzle, a bigger puzzle called as “Death” appears. It’s uncanny how the writing makes you feel the “pain” and the “love” simultaneously. A short and lively read, but efficacious indeed. If you have read Nicholas Sparks novels (a walk to remember, the last song, the notebook etc) before, this one may sound a cliché but do give it a shot.

 
A beautiful line from the book, “'Love means not ever having to say you're sorry.'”