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Summary: ****NOT SUPPORTED BY INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS*****
Review: *****WARNING, NOT SUPPORTED BY INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIA************ Any publication from this author with supposed Indigenous content is not supported by Aboriginal Australians....if you want to read works written by Indigenous People...instead of titles using them as fodder for some B grade storyline, I suggest getting in contact with either Magabala Books or Jukurrpa Books...really, this whole Ms Morgan thing is getting tired don't you think?
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Summary: ONE OF THE VERY BEST BOOKS I'VE EVER READ
Review: A FICTION BASED IN FACTS. KEEP AN OPEN MIND. READ "MUTANT MESAGE DOWN UNDER" YOU'LL HAVE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THIS BOOK. I'VE SHARED THESE BOOKS WITH MANY FRIENDS WHO HAVE FOUND A LOT OF INSPIRATION AND GUIDANCE FROM THEM.
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Summary: Sad, Painful, Uplifting, Flawed
Review: A young Australian aborigine woman gives birth to twins somewhere in the wilderness. It is a time when the aboriginal culture is rapidly being decimated by well-meaning but oppressive whites. The little girl is shipped off to a cruel Catholic boarding school. The little boy is shuffled here and there but eventually ends up in America, with an adoptive family who treat him with unbelievable insensitivity. Ultimately he finds himself imprisoned on death row.
The struggles of the two children are portrayed with clear, lucid prose in the first half of the book, a tale of great sadness and pain. In the second half, Beatrice, the girl, runs off in search of her ancestral roots, and finds The Real People, a handful of aboriginies who still live in the bush and are trying to maintain the old ways. Unfortunately this part of the book is not believable. The characters are one-dimensional, too, too good; and their coversation consists of long speeches full of new age jargon. The language they use is totally out of character with the simple people they are supposed to be. The author describes a utopian society of people with great wisdom and psychic powers, set against the cruel, intolerant and bigoted white society.
At the conclusion of the book, brother and sister are reunited, at least make contact, and she leaves him with a document that tries to summarize all the wisdom she has learned from the Real People.
In fact, some of it is good. The author has some wisdom to share and it is indeed uplifting. But it is not written in a believable and coherent way. Does any of this really come from Australian aboriginal culture? Or is this Celestine Prophecy Down Under? Hard to say. The presentation is just too one-sided, too slanted, to be really convincing.
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Summary: "Message From Forever" is a Gift
Review: Dr. Darryl Pokea l998I begin writing this review in the moment of having finished reading, "Message From Forever" by Marlo Morgan. The gentle process of transformation and return to what we really are is renewed and refreshed for me in reading this work. The book emphasizes the reverence and respect we are to show for ourselves and others. Throughout the story, we are reminded that each of us is guided in our path by the Creator if we let ourselves. For many of the characters, replacing fear with the courage to trust Oneness, models the Guidance available to each of us as we let go of fear. When we despair by separating, this work of fiction "re-minds" us of the connection we have with our Self, one another, and the Creator. Through this literary vehicle, Marlo Morgan captures the process of recovery from woundedness, the joy of real healing, and genuine transformation that we all eventually find. So many of the paradigms that we have wrestled with from the past in these changing times are dissolving because of their failure to bring about peace of mind and heart. Even the least bit of contemplation, brings us to the realization that something is out of balance in the way we treat one another, the earth, and all the diversity within Creation. "Message From Forever," not only raises consciousness of the imbalance, but assist in looking at the many paths that can heal and transform our species towards healthy equilibrium. One cultural paradgm illustrated in the book, is the assumption that the Aborigines, "needed to be rescued from, 'themselves'." This assumption is still made towards Native Americans and other cultures. We not only judge cultures, but we judge one another. We each have known others who do not accept us because we do not think or behave according to their expectations. Throughout the book, the Aborigines are respectful and reverent of the many talents in each human being. They respect each person's decision to express those talents, or even change and express different ones any time of their life. This is in contrast to Western culture which suggest only one career or talent for an entire lifetime. As illustrated in the book and throughout history, prejudice, which is motivated by deep underlying fear, leads to attempts to compartmentalize people and hinder the multi-dimensional expressions of the Creator possible in all of us. These mind-sets can easly be disguised as "trying to help" others that are "misguided", "unfortunate", or as a "menance" to our culture. The mind-set can consciously, unconsciously, and intergenerationally be passed on until the fear is resisted and replace by courage. Paradoxically, we may need works of fiction to disarm our egos and defenses so that we are "rescued" from the illusions of ourselves. The Story places the highest value in trusting emotions. This is illustrated in the story where the Aborigines teach that we are to use all six senses, including intuition. Even more profound throughout the story, is the use of the olfactory sense; a sense too often ignored in the process of discernment. Our sense of smell can be used as a powerful tool to know, not only what is healthy for the body, but also to discern whether a particular path or decision smells pleasant or repugnant. The principle illustrated in the story is consistent with our actual neurological makeup. The olfactory bulbs are located just underneath our emotional brain and have some of the deepest connections to emotions and memories. The receptors in our nose are so sensitive that they can actually sense particles as small as several atoms. This sensitivity can help us know whether something is healthy or unhealthy matter. The lessons in learning to trust one's feelings, via all the senses, were wonderfully express throughout, "Message From Forever." The use of the senses in decisions is not fiction. Many creative people integrate this process into their endeavors, even in the technical and business world. The former president of Sony Corporation, Iwamah Kazuo, made his business decisions through his gustatory sense (sense of taste). He simply noticed whether the idea of a technical product or research was something that he could "stomach" or not. He based decisions on this sensory visceral response. The Aborigines teach that understanding and deepening the senses allows for more conscious awareness. As the story unfolds, it is taught that it is possible for all human beings to become sensitives. The understanding that certain emotions can make us sick, is illustrated in the story by both drawing and teachings. The clarity and simplicity of the sketches and lessons associated with different types of congested emotions, reminds each of us how every thought and feeling can release chemicals which can damage the tissues of our body or restore them. The main character, Beatrice, is taught how to deal with the residues of emtions, such as hate, rage, and vengeance. She is guided, as is the reader, on how to heal the wounds created when we judge. Marlo Morgon nicely bridges these concepts and their implementation to assist the reader in understanding the process of transformation away from past hurts. The shift from judgment to observation leaves the reader with the understanding that forgiveness is needed only when there has been judgment. When observation replaces judgment, there is no need for forgiveness. The uncondition Love and acceptance replace the cycle of judgment followed by forgiveness. "Observe without judging" is one of the Aboriginal, "you should/"thou shalt" rules for all humans. I leave you, the reader, to discover the other nine "you should'/"though shalt" rules that Marlo Morgan presents with beautiful simplicity. As we become One with the Creator words fall away. "Message From Forever," left me feeling reverent and peaceful in my own life circumstances. This message is a gift, for all who are open to receive it
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Summary: This book is a sham!!!!!!!!!!
Review: I am a australian aboriginal, I find this book very offensive,it demeans our culture and spirituality,it also demeans my people. It was quite a shock for me that "intelligant" people would take the word of a new age "guru" over that of the aboriginal community,I also have personally seen a letter from and signed by Henry"Burnum Burnum"Penrith severing all tie's with marlo morgan and her book's. So do you continue to play an active part in the desecreation of "OUR" spirit or do you stand aside and allow "US" to tell "OUR STORY" in a way that we find culturally correct and acceptable. My sympathy to the soul's of those who choose not to listen to thier inner voice and respect the oldest "LIVING" culture in the world and dare to destroy a continual link through the generation's to the time of creation, I hope the creator forgive's those who would make our people suffer for no other reason than to make money and to inflate thier already bulging ego's . I hope you have the courage to print this, our people shall watch with interest, thank you.
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Summary: A most thought provoking story that can change your thinking
Review: I came across this book accidently when on vacation and found it to so riveting that I could not put it down until finished. I have told others who would appreciate Marlo's openness to the experiences that unfolded to her. How fortunate she followed...what else could she have done! She was called!
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Summary: Second novels are seldom as good as the first
Review: I couldn't wait to start this book, and I couldn't wait to finish it. Mutant Message Down Under, Marlo Morgan's first "novel," (which she claimed was fictionalized to protect the Aborigines she wrote about) was wonderful...I think back on it fondly--despite the scathing reviews some amazon.com readers provided (check out these reviews if you want to see divided opinion in action). Now I know what the "ones" were talking about: she simply does not write well. Morgan's statement of Australian Aboriginal beliefs and lifeways is informative, and the message is one we may need to hear as an antidote to Western culture's self-destructive flameout...and for that, this book deserves three stars. You're not likely to hear this particular slant anywhere else. But then to end the book with a ten-point paradigm of what we should be as a people, based on some truths she may have extracted from Abo wisdom but more likely from a distillation of most that we've read in pop psychology over the past two decades, was a bit too celestine prophecy-ish for anyone's sensibilities. The characters could have had intricate development, but instead we get page-long quotes coming out of their mouths which are simply long descriptions of what she claims is Abo philosophy...so we don't really care about how the book ends or what happens to the characters, one of whom we somehow lose track of about halfway through the book. Morgan shouldn't do fiction: she doesn't know how to. This is not an honest book...it's a nice description of her interpretation of Aboriginal beliefs about the world, but one gets the sense that it is couched in fiction as a selling point. And it doesn't work.
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Summary: A transformation in progress.
Review: I liked this book even more than her first book. I hope it gets the same reception that 'Mutant Message From Down Under' got because it deserves to be read and enjoyed. I suspect that some people might feel uncomfortable with the events forced on the two main characters early in the story, because many of us are still inflicting similar crimes on indigenous people (and ourselves) today. When you get to chapter 33 you will realize that we should stop feeling uncomfortable about our cultural holocaust and do something to change what is happening now. Because, there is a lot we can do now. Think about that stranger who cut you off on the freeway last week...might be your 'twin brother/sister'...If we viewed each other with this respect in mind, then we might not be in the situation today, where people in our culture behave as they do. This book ends with a 'new book' starting...A 'book' that is up to us to 'write'. Let us write this new story better than the story we have been creating for the past ten thousand years.
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Summary: A gripping, moving and compelling story
Review: In so many ways Australia is a world apart. It's literally on the other side of the world. Their seasons are the opposite of ours. They speak that crazy Aussie English. But we have a lot in common too. We are both former British colonies founded mainly by people England wanted to be rid of. And when those settlers arrived in both places, they annihilated the dark skinned "savage" natives. When actual genocide had its limits, the settlers engaged in wholesale social, cultural and religious genocide in the name of "civilizing" and "Christianizing" the "savages". It's an indelible stain that both nations can never wash away.
This is the fictional account of an Aboriginal set of twins. Shortly after birth, this brother and sister were permanently robbed of the essentials that all children need to grow and thrive--loving parents, a family, personal identity, love, acceptance, and a nurturing culture and society. As a mother, I wept when I read this book. Even though this is fiction, I wept with the knowledge that what happened to Beatrice and Geoff happened to tens of thousands of Aboriginal Australians over several decades. This book is a must-read for anyone who cares about others.
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Summary: A valiant effort to repeat her first success, but it fails.
Review: Ms. Morgan, the story-teller, spins some good yarn, presents a few ideas and generic truths - but she is no writer.
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