“What Everyone Believed” promises to be the heartfelt memoir of a woman who turned her life around, from an unhappy marriage and career to a future filled with happiness that holds the potential  answers to life that the world has been searching for. What it delivers instead (at least for the first half of the book) is a cryptic mess. As a reviewer, I take no pleasure in that description, but I am afraid it is apt. The book does improve in the final few chapters, but by then the reader is likely to have long stopped reading.

The overall problem with the book lies with its narrative description of how the author reached her goal of spiritual awakening. First, she fails to explain with any detail key elements that are vital to the change, for example, her reliance on the Counsel of Light for guidance. The Counsel of Light is only fully explained once the journey is over, making it challenging to the reader to see any value. Second, the author chronicles the events of her life (her strained marriage, her children, her refusal to get a job in her field while undergoing her journey, an extra-marital affair) in a way so haphazard as to question the value of any of the lessons she is seeking to impart.

What the book could have used is a serious content editor, someone to look at the stories and anecdotes with a subjective eye and a red pen. Just a few minor examples: Throughout the book, her extra-marital love interest is referred to a J (just as her husband is called W); however, at some random point, he starts to be called Jon. Another example is a quote from the band Metallica; shortly thereafter, the author starts referring to a “Mr. Metallica” and imparts ideas about his potential journey. It was hard to know whether to take this seriously or see it as some strange injection of humor. Then there was the story of a dead bunny, which kept mysteriously moving. Was it dead or not? Does the reader even care? There were plenty of stories of drain pipes and the need for new tires that failed to inspire.

Then there are the final few chapters, which stand head and shoulders above the rest, that make up the core of the book. If some of the wisdom and insight found on these final few pages of  “What Everyone Believed” had been imparted throughout the memoir, it might have been a different book (and a different review) altogether.

Critics don’t like to give bad reviews, and this review is no exception. I came to the book with high hopes, but was disappointed. Normally, I would also feel anguish for what the author will experience as well, once they read the review. However, in author Christine Hoelich’s words, “Incidentally, most enlightened folks realize that critiques aimed at them often have little or nothing to do with them, but instead reflect the fears, misconceptions, proclivities, or unexamined conditionings of the critics—usually unknown to them.” Looks like the only worry I (and others) need have is for our own lack of enlightenment.

The above review was contributed by: Christine Zibas. Christine has spent all of her life in love with books, and most of her life working with words. She has a B.A. in Political Science from Western Illinois University and did advanced studies in politics and publishing at WIU, Oxford University, George Washington University, and Stanford. To read more of Christine’s Reviews CLICK HERE  

For many years Christine was an editor in the think tank world, editing books and reports on international relations and military studies. She worked at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. and the Johns Hopkins Foreign Policy Institute, where she served as director of publications. In London she was the editor at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.