Book Review: The Noticer

I recently signed up to be a Book Review Blogger for thomasnelson.com Here is my first official Book Review for their website!

I finished reading "The Noticer" by Andy Andrews this afternoon. Subtitled "Sometimes all a person needs is a little perspective", this book is all about, well, perspective. I've never read any of Andy Andrews others books, so I can not compare this work to any of his past works. This is a book that I would suggest for anyone who wants a fairly quick, easy read. Although the concepts and "perspectives" in this book can be pondered for hours at a time, this book uses very simply vocabulary. One of my favorite aspects of a book that I felt like this lacked was beautiful descriptions of the people and places that make up the setting of the story. I love to find my mind playing a book out like a movie in my head, being able to see, smell, and taste the excitement happening in the story, but unfortunately that never did happen for me in "The Noticer".

I felt like this book was almost a collection of short stories, all sharing the same main character. Each chapter was the story of a mysterious man who helped a different person during a rough point in their lives. Although it was the same mysterious man, there were very few other overlapping characters throughout the book. One chapter toward the end was almost verbatium a chapter earlier in the book, at which point I found myself more skimming the story rather than reading because I had just read it yesterday!

"Jones", the mystery man seems to me to be in the likings of Jesus...popping up, sometimes speaking to large crowds, other times to invidiuals. When he speaks everyone listens, even when their logical mind is telling them not to. They always hear what he has to say, they always understand, and they always make a life change. I felt like the story had several good quotes...here are a few of my favorites:

"A view just gives us a glimpse of our next destination—our next target. But to hit that target, we must come off the mountain, go through the valley, and begin to climb the next slope. It is in the valley that we slog through the lush grass and rich soil, learning and becoming what enables us to summit life’s next peak."

"Remember, whatever you focus upon, increases.”

"I say to you that, as you lay your head down tonight, you are sleeping on fertile ground. Think. Learn. Pray. Plan. Dream. For soon . . . you will become.”

"The Noticer" is full of great concepts to ponder. Some I had heard in the past, others were new to me. Again, if you're looking for an easy, quick read that won't bore you out of your mind, this is a good one. It's a great, light hearted, encouraging story.