My Ishmael by Daniel Quinn - Book Review

This unique and quirky work of fiction is considered to be one of the most influential books which tackled the conversation of solving world problems using unorthodox approaches.

Daniel Quinn wrote this, his first novel, in response to Ted Turner’s fiction work competition, in which he won $50,000.

The story is led on by a curious precocious little girl, Julie Gerchack, and a telepathic, wise gorilla, Ishmael.

The plot starts with Julie’s innate desire to save the world, followed by the finding of Ishmael, who starts to untangle for her the root causes of problems, and how to solve them.

This is by far one of the most iconic anti-culture books out there, and those unaware of the concepts explained in this book are in for a wild ride.

Reading this book for the first time can definitely lead to an altered perception of the world we live in today, who we were, and who we are at the moment.

The author uses evidence-based reasoning to portray the numerous arguments in the book that aim to awaken a sense of detachment from the emotionally-detached world we live in.

You’ll find yourself thinking long and hard about these concepts, till you fall uncontrollably out of “Mother Culture’s grip,” as was mentioned in the book.

Frankly, after reaching the 274th page, you’ll come to realize that 274 is still a small number of pages to discuss such a monumental topic, such as questioning the validity of the currently accepted way of living.

That being said, it isn’t that Quinn undercut the book, but rather that the story is so beautiful, and the logic is so enticing that you just wish there were more of it.

The real beauty of this book is that it really outplays others in its category because of how the topic is brought to the mind of the reader.