Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This month’s Amazon First Reads, at first glance, was not impressive in the least. I pored through the blurbs three times before selecting “The Broken Circle.” I was not in the mood for a memoir, especially of a woman from another country. For such a story, thought I, all I needed was to recollect meeting, courting, then marrying my wife, while I lived and worked in Egypt. The primary difference, in my mind, was my spouse was an Egyptian Christian, and the author of this book was an Afghani Muslim woman, now living in Texas. Just seemed a little too close to home for me, at this time. Brother, was I ever wrong. “The Broken Circle” is now my favorite memoir. Even more touching than was “Never Stop Walking,” or “Three Against the Wilderness.” Try this on for size: If you loved Patrick Swayze in “Red Dawn,” or the primary story of “Sound of Music” with Julie Andrews, you will have a front row seat into Enjeela’s early childhood during the late 1970’s and 1980’s. At this point, just let her story creep into your subconscious… The only way this story could have been better appreciated, by me, would be to have listened to her narrate it as an Audible Edition. Now, on with my review… BLUSH FACTOR: There is no reason to shy away from reading this to anybody you like. No profanities, wild sex or gratuitous violence. In fact, I would home everybody would form circles of friends and kin and take turns reading this aloud as an inspiration to us to do God’s will. WRITING & EDITING: As with many memoirs, the early going can seem a trifle slow. However, the writing and editing are professional and the story unfolds in a manner to ensure maximum effect. Slow as the start was, it was sensitive enough that I found a tear or two trying to escape. Then, I came to page 68 and knew I loved this story and the dream, if it was a dream, Enjeela chose to share with the world. (See the excerpt below). POV: First person. Excerpt: ‘…It was one of these freezing winter nights that I saw the man with the white horse. He walked right out of Ahmad Shah’s closet toward me. He was an old man, a very old man, with a long white beard, and his clothes matched the brilliant white of his horse, who had a princely saddle, full mane, and a bushy tail. He stood tall and strong next to the man. At first I was certain they were ghosts. But we had been telling ghost stories all night long, so then I thought I must be asleep and it was a dream. “I can see you,” I said to him. The man stopped and stared down at me. He held the horse’s reins as if he were taking it out for a midnight ride to see what was left of the city. “Are you awake?” he said, a lilt of surprise in his voice. I told him I was. “Who are you?” I asked, suspecting already that I might know who he was. “You can see me, little one?” I sat up and nodded. He was as real to me as my sisters and brother sleeping beside me. “You must be very special to see me. No one sees me.” He smiled at me and tugged on the reins of the horse. “I must go,” he said. “Go back to sleep before the others wake up.” His voice was warm and caring. None of the others even stirred. Before he left the room, he turned to me. “Don’t tell anyone you’ve seen me.” “I won’t.” I watched him disappear back into the darkness of the closet. The next morning, I woke up slowly as I tried to make sense of my dream. It had to have been a dream, but it was so real, so alive. The bearded man in white had been so close to me, and I thought I could smell the musty odor of a sweaty horse. I saw him several more times before we moved. He told me many times how special I was that I could see him, and for the first time I understood that specialness as something I could do that my sisters and Zia couldn’t—I could see the bearded man with his white horse and warm smile and gentle voice. Ahmadi-Miller, Enjeela. The Broken Circle: A Memoir of Escaping Afghanistan (pp. 68-69). Kindle Edition. BOTTOM LINE Obviously, I loved this memoir and recommend it for everybody. It just might change your life and, if enough of us read it, it just might help bring our nation back together, even if only for a moment. Five stars out of five. I am striving to produce reviews that help you find books that you want, or avoid books that you wish to avoid.