Book Review: The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

Look Inside Amazon UK here
Look Inside Amazon US here

A very short book, only 133 pages published in 1926. To be honest I have no idea why I downloaded this. I have a vague memory of listening to a radio programme on the author some time ago, which I found interesting, so it must have been that!  Gibran is described in Wikipedia as, 'the third best selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Laozi.'  

The book is written in bible-esque so if you are not a fan of that or indeed of religion it may not be a book for you.  On the other hand and bearing in mind this was published in 1926 almost every passage can be related to every single one of us and our lives today.

There are no chapter numbers in this short volume but they are defined by the questions asked of 'The Prophet' by the assembled town folk as he prepares to leave them, returning to his 'home'.

Marriage

Children

Giving

Eating and Drinking 

Work

Joy and Sorrow

Crime and Punishment 

Freedom

Reason and Passion

Pain

Teaching

Friendship

Good and Evil

Prayer

Pleasure

Religion

Death

So many of the words written by Gibran over 80 years ago, must surely, if you are tempted to purchase this book, resonate with something in your life today and his simple but reasoning outlook will remind you to step back and reflect on how you look at life and maybe think that there is something that you can do to change, for the better, on how you interact with others and with yourself!

I'm not saying that I have had a religious or moral epiphany while reading this book, I personally still have no idea whether I am an atheist, agnostic or just a plane old fence sitter waiting for something different or better to come along, if that is indeed possible.  I did write somewhere in regard to the Bible, and I suppose in the same tone the Koran would be included, that I look upon the former as a good novel and if only more people would read it (them) without the religious zealotry and bigotry surrounding it (them), the world would probably be a far better place for all humankind, but that aint gonna happen.  But that should not take away from the fact that there are important life lessons in these works that are as relevant today as they were when they were written, as Mr Gibran's words, I believe, fall firmly within that description.

Enjoy..... 

Editing for Kindle: 4 out 5 

Reading Enjoyment: 5 out of 5
Plot:
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5
Chapters:
Page length: 133 

 

A Wandering Cloud

Cirrus clouds. (Picture taken by Marylin Warner)

Caught up with some blog posts during my lunch break today.  As usual in the office a bit fed up but as usual after reading a few of my twitter friends posts I was in a better mood.

Marylin Warner over at 'Things I want to tell my Mother' wrote another inspiring post entitled 'The Way to Love Anything', calling on a past conversation and painting session with her mother, on cloud formations as the theme.  Marylin's Mom suffers from Dementia and her blog is her weekly letter to her Mom reminding her of the life she enjoyed as a mother and friend and teacher. Marylin's post, inspired me to this little bit of nonsense

cirriform, cumuliform and convective

rolling and rippling in the sky above

Nina, Pinta, and the Santa Maria rolling, rippling and stumbling in the seas around us

clouds in heaven painting our imagination and being, sometimes, our inspiration

Ships in the sea of a bygone era slowly bringing to us men of inspiration

Well that’s the best I can come up with, but as usual your posts seem to bring out something in me and make me do what I usually avoid,......

Marylin liked it, so I thought I would share 

You can read Marylin's post here