The Reincarnationist by M.J. Rose
Short Summary: Josh Ryder is hurt in a bomb explosion and begins reliving past lives. As he tries to work out the anxiety he feels from these past life moments, he encounters other people with past lives who intersected with his own past lives. Through the course of this book, you will meet power-hungry rich folks, devout archaeologists, lusty pagans in Rome circa 391 A.D., and jumped up New Yorkers at the turn of the century living out their own Hamlet-inspired life.
Oh yeah, and a kid.
Hmm, and romance.
Ooh, it also has—oh forget it… this book has a little bit of everything.
I used to read thrillers all the time. Now, I generally read them when I’m flying or if I’ve heard a lot about it. When the opportunity came up to review this book, I signed up because the idea of a past life in Rome sounded interesting. As far as airplane reading goes, this book lives up: a compelling weave of plotlines, action, adventure, and characters to create drama and excitement for me while I’m sitting in between two strangers in my cozy Southwest Airlines seat, chugging Ginger Ale and eating cracker sticks and cheese dip. There is a scene where a man strategically places large gemstones on a woman before making love to her, and let me tell you, when you’re reading that, you do not care that the thigh of the somewhat overweight woman next to you is resting on your own thigh and making movement virtually impossible (heh, I had the last laugh, though, because she had NO IDEA how dirty my jeans were).
Basically, the book is entertaining and interesting. She could have sped up the beginning a bit. If I had been in a library and only read the first couple chapters, I might not have checked it out and brought it home, but since my only other option was to cheat on the middle level crossword puzzle in Spirit magazine, I kept reading. I’m glad I did, because it really picked up.
In some parts, I thought it made too much emphasis on HOW IMPORTANT THE DISCOVERY IS. I honestly tried to go with this idea that “the Church” (if the book ever becomes an audience participation movie, you would all say “booooo” right now) would explosively lose their minds and world chaos would ensue if it could be proven beyond scientific doubt that reincarnation does exist (GASP!!!!!), but alas, I wasn’t biting. Ms. Rose could have removed the entire Church-vs-reincarnation and the book would have been fine for me. In fact, if she had removed all the Church-vs-reincarnation bits and replaced them with sex, it probably would have been much better (cue the 9 1/2 Weeks score).
So, there you have it. A book to read on your next airplane ride. Hope you’re going somewhere fun. And give me a call if your rental car floods. I know how to handle that now.
Things to know about this book:
Buy the book here.
More on the author here.
Want to read books like this? Go here.
I end with a spoiler/warning: superfluous rape scene on p. 13. Only a few sentences a long. I hate reading them, especially when they’re thrown in for no good reason.
