Customer Reviews

Time Trials

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I remember when Monty Python movies came out.They were something completely different with a certain brand of humour underlying some very serious questions about life, the universe and everything. They were also not everyone's cup of tea. "Time Trials is of this nature. Either you will love it, or you will hate it. But you certainly will not feel ambivalent about it. The author takes us on a journey through Miriam's eyes as she travels through South Africa in the months leading up to that country's realization of a fully fledged democracy. The book functions on many levels. Firstly through our own evolution from hunter-gatherers, to herders, an agrarian society to an industrial society and finally reaching the space age. What is of importance here, is that these societies still all exist simultaneously in real life within the country itself and these groups are working towards a harmonious existence without negating each others right to exist. Secondly, the book explores the political scene where the underlying message is that South Africa, and the world at large has, is and will continue to move away from tribal and nationalistic models based on race, place and religion towards more diverse societies. The aauthor goes so far as to quote Oliver Tambo's famous statement that we should work towards unity in diversity. But in order to get to this point, South Africans have gone through an incredible amount of violence. There are many who might find the authors blunt descriptions quite shocking in places. Lastly, "Time Trials" explores our evolution towards what is commonly known as New Age philosophies. Synchronicity, intuition, telepathic communication and the ability to use the sixth sense, or rather, go beyond the five senses of the body. The author also makes Biblical analogies, which might be offensive to some. "Time Trials" is quick, concise and prosaic in many places and ..........something completely different.

The style of writing in Time Trials takes a bit of getting used to but, once you're into it, you're hooked. Dealing with the search for something to believe in and handling the hypocracies of established religious organisations, Gail Evans touches on a multitude of issues and, to add an extra dimension, sets her story in South Africa in the Mandella era.

I'm happy to recommend this one.

"When I review a book I look for the insightful mesage from the book; what it does for me and also what could be its potential for other readers.I liked the conclusion of Time Trials, based on Marianne Williamson's A Return to Love; glorifying our existence as children of God and the author's wanting to share this message with others around her. On various occasions she has also subtly touched on transformation, love, inner spirit, supreme spirit, eternity and meaning of life etc. Her approach to stay in touch with reality even in the midst of hard cruel happenings is not only enlightening but also reaching the inner being. There is a great message of returning to what we truly are; loving-vibrant-aware people. All of us can benefit from it's underlying essence of freedom that we all cherish and mutual respect for one another. A great message in a short vibrant book." -- Ram Varma, self-empowerment & meditation Group Facilitator and author of "This Splendid World of Yours."

It's difficult to know where to start with a book like Time Trials, particularly since I seemed to get from it something which other reviewers clearly did not. First of all lets get the negative bit out of the way... the book is short - too short in my opinion. It could have benefitted from more depth of scene.

Okay, that over with, let's move on to the bright points, and there were many of them. First of all, as I say, I think I gained something different out of Time Trials. Not for me the 'love-vibrant-spirit-quest-eternal' message (though good luck to those who saw it this way). For me, it was a confirmation of all that is wrong with conventional religious preaching - the lack of tolerance - the hypocrisy - the whole 'beggerment' factor (Gail Evans uses a different word!). And I think that the author may well share some of these views with me. Though she lifts her heroine above this conformist mess, her book is filled with tiny snippets that would indicate her awareness of all that is wrong with conventional belief. I get the impression that she would fit well in a family of modern Quakers - hard-working, tolerant, generous, warm and sensual.

For me, Time Trials would have been perfect if Miriam had discovered and embraced the fact that she was spiritually alone - that there was no all-seeing, all-knowing greater power. But then, this was Gail Evans' book, not mine, and she sums up perfectly why it is that people are more and more shunning the churches and more and more despising the duplicitous rhetoric of politics.

The great strength of Time Trials is that it offers a message of hope. Clearly, different readers get that message from different viewpoints. Maybe that was the way the author intended it. Maybe Gail Evans has the tolerence to leave her book sufficiently ambiguous that the reader can interpret as he or she will. Either way, Time Trials is an excellent narrative of one person's search for truth in a world full of extremes.

When I review a book I look for the insightful message from the book; what it does for me and also what could be its potential for other readers.I liked the conclusion of Time Trials, based on Marianne Williamson's A Return to Love; glorifying our existence as children of God and the author's wanting to share this message with others around her. On various occasions she has also subtly touched on transformation, love, inner spirit, supreme spirit, eternity and meaning of life etc. Her approach to stay in touch with reality even in the midst of hard cruel happenings is not only enlightening but also reaching the inner being. There is a great message of returning to what we truly are; loving-vibrant-aware people. All of us can benefit from it's underlying essence of freedom that we all cherish and mutual respect for one another. A great message in a short vibrant book." -- Ram Varma, self-empowerment & meditation Group Facilitator and author of "This Splendid World of Yours." ....

A book I'm proud to keep alongside my Tom Robbins collection, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe and Like Water for Chocolate books. This wonderfully whacky and yet thought provoking gem of writing about Mirium's life journey kept me chuckling at newspaper headlines for days after reading it - and when I joined the "oh so serious" human race again, I went back to Time Trials and re-read it. Highly recommended and I can hardly wait for another book from this remarkable author.

Well, I waded through it and got to the end, but I have to say that neither the writing style nor the story would attract me to seek the author's next book. I'm sure it's the sort of stuff some people might appreciate, but the sense of humor is somewhat 'specialised' for my own liking.

I found this book through a friend who asked me for my opinion. She had difficulty with the material and the author's style and wanted to know what I thought.

This book is a mess. The language tries to soar, but fails due to the weight of the words. The story tries to be something it's not, too. I consider myself open-minded and willing to consider most any idea that would explain the madness of the world, but I couldn't follow the plot of this work.

I noticed the book was published by Writers Club Press. Do they print anything? It would seem so.