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Review title: Too many speeches, not enough focus on character & narrative flow
Product review: 2-1/2 stars. It obviously took much research and skill to write such a book in such a manner, but that doesn't mean its the most readable thing ever written. I can only go through so many speeches about whether laughter is good or evil and whether purposely not owning anything beyond the clothes on your back is good or evil before boredom sets in. The monastic setting of this book is fascinating and in addition to being very educational, technically the plot is action packed with a monk getting killed every day and a predecessor to the Sherlock Holmes & Watson team trying to figure out the mystery before the next death. Yet it manages to read like a dissertation on religion in the days of yore rather than an edge of your seat whodunnit, and that kept me from rounding up to 3 stars.
