Isn't Kaia a beautiful name? I love it. And I love Kaia's book THE
JOY PLAN. As a woman who has been on a Joy Journey for close to 10 years, Kaia's book is right on target with my own joy plan. Her book is a wonderful story of finding joy in difficult circumstances--which is what I've been saying and writing about myself!
The one thing that interests me the most about THE JOY PLAN is that Kaia is clearly not a Christian. She doesn't pretend to be and is clear that while she believes in a higher power, she is not a believer in the sense that Christians are. I respect her honesty and I sincerely appreciate that she doesn't try to pretend to be someone or something she's not. With that being said, that means that much of Kaia's information comes from a very clinical, scientific, and psychological perspective on JOY. All of which is truly fascinating and more interesting than I thought it would be. It is truly eye-opening to read about how the brain works and how we can train our brains to help us have more JOY.
As a believer--Christian, I do want to say that while I agree with Kaia's scientific explanations, I see through the eyes of someone who believes that JOY comes in knowing and having a relationship with Jesus Christ. That He gives us JOY unspeakable and full of glory.
I am not arguing with Kaia's premise in any way. I hope you will read THE JOY PLAN. All I'm saying is that while Kaia comes at her JOY journey from a clinical perspective, I come at mine from a spiritual, faith-based perspective. As she clearly states in her book, everyone's JOY journey is different. The important thing is that we are on the journey.
In case you're interested, here is my own blog about My Joy journey: https://joyregardless.blogspot.com/
Thomas Cullinan took on a very interesting undertaking when he chose to write THE BEGUILED, especially considering the fact that there are 7 women in the story and only one man. As promised, the story is one of a beguiling nature and it is a challenge to figure out just who is the beguiler and who the beguiled. I decided to read this book because I saw the trailer for the movie version with Nicole Kidman. Since I really like Kidman, I was intrigued. Once I learned that it was a book first, I had to read the book before I see the movie!
I am disappointed to learn, though, that Sophia Coppola (the writer and director of the movie) has omitted one of the two sisters and the black housekeeper/cook, and she added a 6th girl to the school. (I had a difficult enough time keeping up with the girls, students, with only 5! How in the world will I manage with 6 girls?!) Granted, I do agree that all the characters in the story are not absolutely necessary to the story as a whole. I'm just not sure--before I see the movie--that I completely agree with Sophia's choices there. We'll have to see how I feel after I watch the movie....I do think that a story like this will transfer brilliantly to the screen. It practically begs to be SEEN rather than read.
I was pleasantly surprised to note that the book is not overtly sexual nor does it have much foul language. I don't need to read the specifics in order to understand that things of a sexual nature are taking place. As with clothing, it is more often than not better to leave a little to the imagination rather than reveal the whole package.
There really isn't anything in the story that happens that wasn't expected. It's an incredibly predictable. That didn't take away from my enjoyment of the read, though. Sometimes predictability can still be interesting, especially when it is such a beguiling story. ;) (Sorry, not sorry.) I highly recommend THE BEGUILED as a book.
I'll let you know about the movie after I see it.
