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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Really good,
By corndog57@hotmail.com (Minneapolis, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Karate is a thing of the spirit : a novel
The heroine of this novel is a beauty pageant regular who practices karate by smashing her knuckles against a wooden board in a dried-out Florida swimming pool. She is perhaps the least dysfunctional person in the book. Watching Crew's characters abuse themselves and their counterparts is a privilege.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Karate is a thing of the Spirit,
By
This review is from: Karate Is a Thing of the Spirit: A Novel (Paperback)
Karate is a thing of the Spirit was a good read. The Author Harry Crews obviously had a limited understanding of Karate but still captured the essence and deadly effectiveness of the discipline that is practiced in the true way. Along with the internal view of Karate, Crews told a great story of coming of age in a realistic manner. Not every 19 year old stay with mom and pop and has a nice home life. Some decide to adventure out and find themselves and in this case someone else.I read this book when I was 16 years old and I never forgot the title or the Author. I decided about a year ago to re-read it and see if it was really that good. It was and I am sure I understand the thrust of the message better now at 48 years of age than when I was 16. I plan to read more of Crews work and I recommend this book to martial artist and non martial artist alike. Yours in Tao, Lee Peacock
5 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
IF THIS BOOK WERE A HORSE ... I'D SHOOT IT...,
By
This review is from: Karate Is a Thing of the Spirit: A Novel (Paperback)
This book is so bad at so many levels that its a challenge to think of where to start. I know, I know, Crews fans are nashing their teeth and wringing their hands... Unless they happen to have a real martial arts background...And can read.First,In order to classify the instructors "unique" persona, Crews gives him the name,"Belt". If you're ever in the market for a Karate school,and the Sensei introduces himself as "Belt"...leave immediately.The guys obviously a loon. Second, Crews seems to suffer from rather intense homophobia. Shakespears quote from Hamlet comes to mind."Me thinks the lady protests too much".Just what is Crews trying to convince the reader of ? Third,I've always thought that any author worth his salt should be able to develop characters and define them through their interplay with the story. That this gives the character depth, and the story a certain amount of life... You have to look pretty hard for any degree of character development here. These participants in Crew's delirium lack the depth of the average wading pool.The story seems to be a hotbed of stereotypical characters with indistinct or questionable motivations.This chemistry causes a fever dream like atmosphere.If this was the effect Crews was going for,well...he got it. I could go on. But why bother? This is a VERY BAD BOOK. Its an insult to Karate practitioners everywhere.The martial arts in the truest sense, is about eradication of the impure ego.Thats why so much of the sport karate out there is so counter productive.But the "Dangerous loners learning to kill" is just as bad.It comes off sounding like a "True Detective" or "Argosy" magazine article from the 60's. After reading this..."novel"... I came to the conclusion that the only spirit that had anything to do with this story probably had the name "Dewers" or " Chavis", related with it somehow. A real turkey,best avoided, and hopefully forgotten. I felt taken by this book and wonder if I could ever be compensated for buying it and the time wasted reading it. Some people,(like the guy who relisted the same comment to this review no less than three times), are an example of the problems and confusion that a book like this causes the neophyte.The response of this individual proves my point.
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