When I first posted how I felt about Ishmael and started writing here, I got some interesting reactions.
I was told by really good friends that they had read the book and thought it was boring. How could I possibly like it? was the implication.
Hmm. Not upset about it ... I came to the conclusion that you had to be in the right place to get anything out of it. Like the teacher was there but the student wasn't ready yet.
Another woman who has a popular blog wanted me to write a review.
I told her no, that it was the sort of book you had to read for yourself.
That was a couple of weeks ago. I don't think she's read it for herself.
This lady is pleasant enough, but her attitude is very common among Takers -- instead of living life, you delegate someone to live it for you.
Here's what I mean: the ideal life to a Taker is to have someone else do your work for you. We have people haul our trash to the dump, have people process our feces and urine, have people grow and pick and package and cook our food. We go to people -- religious and secular -- who will (for a price) give us the secrets to having a happy life instead of us figuring it out ourselves. We have people teach our children, tend our yards, make our clothes, take care of our problems with others via the police and courts ... if we're really rich, we even have people clean our homes for us!
Our ideal life is one where we don't have to live life, just "relax" and "play" in manicured golf courses, sit around pools of artificially-cleansed water taken care of by others, be fed by someone else, be driven around by someone else ... you get the picture.
I'm not offended at all by her request for a review -- most people would be flattered. She has way more readers than I do. But it set a light bulb off in my face, because how in the world would you really explain the book?
Maybe I should have her direct her readers over here. ;)
