Mindful of Him

About the book


Mindful of Him follows the life of Rob, a young man with a world a hurt and a love of the "truth" of scientific reasoning.  Rob loses everything, his parents, his wife, his unborn child, and sets out on a journey for find the river's birth in hopes of easing  the pain of his loss. What he finds, however, is a treasure trove of wisdom. Through his experiences with people and nature he comes to discover that the "truth" he discovered in college wasn't what he had been led to believe.

Hollis Hughes invites us to peer into the heart of a man and his struggles.  His narrative reminds us that ideas have consequences. He follows the logical thought process of Darwinian evolutionary ideas to their end; when you take God out of the equation, you are left with a big mess.

I liked:

The behind the scenes look at a struggling man's heart. Rob is a broken man. He wrestles with with what his heart yearns for and what his head has declared to be. The soliloquies are insightful in that regard.

The commentary on America (all cultures really) in this book. As I said, the theme that ideas have consequences runs throughout this book.  Characters are introduced along the way that challenge young Rob's thinking by showing him their natural end both in the personal and social spheres.  "If we are only products of change, there is no such thing as a reason for being...If the Universe is meaningless, the it follows that nothing in the universe has meaning."

I really wanted to have a lot of "likes" in this book but is not so.

I didn't like:

- The use of curse words. While I agree that curse words can help round out a character or express the vehemence of anger, I think they were not used well in this book. And if you are describing either of the latter you should be able to express the same meaning via another phrase. There were not a TON but I found my self shocked by their number. No I didn't count them but I will next time.

-It is so. stinkin. slow. The story seems to drag along.

- The theology is off. Way. off.  At the set out of this book I was hoping for an awesome salvation story where the man comes to the end of himself and cries out to Jesus to save him. I was disappointed. The further I read in the book the more suspicious I became of that moment never occurring. The people of hope and light in Rob's life are all spiritual. They even believe in one God who is roughly based off the Bible but they are not Christians. Only one of them speaks of Jesus and his "turning point" didn't describe Biblical conversion either. Yes. I was/am sad.  No repent and believe. Just be nice and know that "He" exists.

- I didn't see enough of Beth. I wanted to know more of the struggles that Rob's wife was having. After all, these things did happen to her as well.

- It isn't that well written. Not horrible but not great either. (This fact actually doesn't bother me that bad. I tend to not care. Horrid, I know.)

Favorite Chapter: 13
Favorite Character:  Paul Adamson

I would not recommend this book.  Its slowness, excessive use of (in my opinion) curse words, and its wrong theology would put me off from sharing it with a friend. Unfortunately the nuggets of wisdom on living life to the fullest and the commentary on Darwinian evolutionary thought do not outweigh its faults in my eyes.



I was given this book in exchange for reviewing it for public audience.

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