response to why i hate the celestine prophecy

The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield. More popular than The
Bridges of Madison County, more philosophical than Socrates, and it
rivals onlu R.L. Stein's Fear Street series in bad writing. It's a "novel of
ideas" says Kenneth Moyle in his very critical essay "Why I Hate the
Celestine Prophecy." "A novel of ideas;" that's a good phrase for this
"novel." I read it twice during this assignment: the first time I thought he
had great ideas and themes to live by; the second time I still thought he
had great ideas, but a terrible way of presenting them. Moyle says " for
all intents and purposes, this is not a novel but rather a New-Age
manifesto " That just about sums it up. This is a great book for
someone looking for direction and conflict resolution. However, if you're
looking for a book with depth and literary merit, you'd be better off with
Danielle Steele. First of all, Redfield's characters are more
two-dimentional and unbelieveable than Barbie paper dolls. "The
characters are featureless mouthpiecesfor the monotone authorial
voice," says Moyle. A major problem I had with reading The Celestine
Prophecy was keeping track of who was who; the characters have little
or no distinction between them, and it was a bit confusing because he
keeps encountering the same people in different situations. Another
thig is Redfield repeats himself and the insights, and I'm assuming he
does it on purpose but it gets monotonous. Moyle calls it "considerate,"
but I think it's just plain repetative. The only way I got complete
understanding was to make notes and think about it a LONG TIME.
"This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown aside
with great force," says Dorothy Parker. I don't feel that strongly about
The Celestine Prophecy. "I think there is indeed something to this book,"
as says Moyle. I think the insights may actually have something to them.
I know that our energies (positive and negative) affect other people,
things, and situations. The insights helped me put it into a clearer
perspective. Another thing that helped me is the insight about control
dramas. Although I don't really see myself in any that Redfield talked

about, I now realize that I do have one that I need to get out of. Despite
the poor writing and chracterization, this book helped me to realize all of
the love around me, and how to be a more positive person. I think
Redfield's ideas are great, but if he wanted to write an adventure, he
should have gotten some help.