Book Review: Dreams of Dying: A Tragedy, Two Realities, One Divine Truth by Shaman Elizabeth Herrera

August 21, 2016 by Rouge

Book: Dreams of Dying: A Tragedy, Two Realities, One Divine Truth

Plot: Sometimes our greatest tragedies offer our greatest lessons. After losing her family in a tragic car accident, Lisa Watson vacillates between two lives…before and after the car accident. As she struggles between realities, Jesus Christ suddenly appears and offers her unorthodox guidance. He accompanies her to the grocery store and for walks on the beach, while answering some of life’s toughest questions. His answers challenge her traditional beliefs and repeatedly emphasize there is no death, only dreams of dying. Dreams of Dying takes you on a fantastical journey with Jesus, who leads the way through an alternate interpretation of his ancient teachings and applies them to one of our worst nightmares…losing the ones we love.

Rating: 5/5 stars

Review:

Completely different and a kind of its own

First of all a huge thanks to the author for providing me with the copy of the book and secondly a huge hug for being so kind and patient when I have taken so long to leave my review of the book

Dreams of the Dying is a very unique book as the theme and the story is not something that you would come across usually. So let me be honest and say this. When you approach the book, be open minded and then you will be able to enjoy the book as the theme and treatment of the book is very spiritual, religious and something that requires embracing other person’s view and respecting it.

The reason I am saying is because the book is about a character’s growth and transition with the help of Jesus. Ours is a world going through a time were beliefs and affiliations towards religion and the concept of supreme power vary from person to person and some strongly place their belief in it and some doesn’t. So to be fair to the book, I believe the readers should leave whatever their beliefs and concepts about life, god and after-life at the door for a while so that they can read the book in its pure form without their personal beliefs conflicting with that of the book.

The book is a short story about transitions, emotional and psychological strengths and should be treated in that way and done that, it would actually prove to be a delightful, fun and quick read. One of the pleasant things about the book is that the language is the smoothest and the pace doesn’t halt or breaks anywhere so it is easy to sail through the entire book in one breath.

The story is susceptible to clash with individual opinions and hence the reason why I recommended to not indulging into the story, while riding high and upholding your personal beliefs so much that it obstructs the basic message and purpose of the book. I was able to enjoy the book because I wasn’t trying to find the practicality of whether it could happen in real life or not. I didn’t spend contemplating whether really Jesus would appear or do things as mentioned in the book and I believe that is what made my journey with the book so simple, elegant and beautiful.

I would say this is a book meant for the heart and not for the brain, so one should pick this book up to extract the subtle yet powerful message left by the book which would only be possible if you approach the book with open heart and lesser urge to find the reasons and proof behind everything said and shown in the story.