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Monday, February 15, 2010

Hear No Evil ~ an attempt at a review

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I get to be a part of the blog tour for this book’s release on Tuesday. Yay me!

I am not a literary critic. I am a voracious literary consumer, but critic, I’m not. That being said, I still get to review this book.

So, to cheat and copy from Bryan Allain’s format for book review, I shall cannarf. That is a rating system based on your expectations. 0 is even with expectations. -1 means it did not meet expectations. +1 means it exceeded expectations.

I really like this format for a book review and hope I don’t get stoned (see, that ups the Biblical value of it) for my “borrowing” it.

Book Name: Hear No Evil My Story of Innocence, Music, and the Holy Ghost by Matthew Paul Turner.


I’m Glad it Wasn’t Called: Funny Stories about Crazy Rules Regarding music with Lots of Love for Amy Grant Thrown in.

Book Synopsis in Twitteresque 140 characters or less: Matthew chronicles his lifelong relationship with music. Plus, he wanted to be the Michael Jackson of Christian Music.

Where I Bought It: I didn’t buy it! This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.*

Paid for With: What you are reading right now.

How Long it Took Me to Read: 4 days. I really related with this book, so it kept drawing me back in my free time. That + my being a slow methodical reader = 4 days.

Who I WOULD NOT recommend this book to: Anyone who does not like Amy Grant. Seriously. You will just be irritated with Matthew’s obsession…erm, I mean zealous love for her.

Who I WOULD recommend this book to: Anyone with a love for music. Anyone who enjoys a good memoir of faith. Amy Grant groupies.

What I used for a bookmark: The slightly ripped half sheet of paper stating the details of the blog tour that came with the book.

What were some interesting stories from the book: There were many. I loved his piano teacher who encouraged his imagination. I also enjoyed his being diagnosed with faith-based narcissism. My favorite story was about a mother. Her daughter with no talent got the chance to shine and it warmed Mom’s heart. “My little girl is happier that I’ve seen her in years, and it’s been a tall glass of mercy for me.” I just think that you never know how some small kindness will impact a person’s life. I’m glad that story was included.

What were some interesting stories NOT from the book: I don’t really know enough about the author to answer that. I follow his blog and twitter, so I know that he recently went to Uganda. I’m sure there are lots of interesting stories there. I know that he is the “Jesus Art” go to guy for the world wide web. There’s a lot of interesting stuff there.

What was the 1 thing I’ll take from the book: Imagination is not a bad thing. Being different from the norm often comes with creativity. To quote Ms. Lansing, Matthew’s piano teacher, “Without the imaginations of artists, the church will die or lose its ability to help people. I believe that.” I’m with you Ms. Lansing.

Expectations Going In: I expected it to be funny. I think I expected a laugh riot. Don’t get me wrong. It has many funny moments. It also has many thought provoking moments.

Cannarf Rating: It seems to me that there is a theme of grace and mercy throughout the book. It was a lovely read. It exceeded my expectations by giving me much to noodle over. And it brought the funny. What more can you ask for? The Rating: +2 cannarfs. (what’s a cannarf?)

*This is the disclaimer the Federal Trade Commission requires. There, I fulfilled that obligation. Here’s another. I’m supposed to link to this website in return for the free book.

This post is linked up at Matthew Paul Turner’s blog.

Thanks for reading this. Now, go read Hear No Evil for yourself.

1 comment:

Bryan Allain said...

I cry tears of joy whenever my Cannarf rating system is used. Extra points for using my book rating questions too. I am honored.