This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.
Passionate about writing, food and travel, his love of adventure led Joel to hitchhike from Kenya to South Africa, whitewater-raft the Zambezi River, canoe the Okavango Delta, explore the Ngorongoro Crater, climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, and hike the Chimanimani Mountains. The thrill and terror of those first-hand experiences are brought to life in Lot's own adventures.
Joel began his career as a government bureaucrat and erstwhile journalist and is now making amends to society as a starving author. He shares his non-existent garden in Tennessee with endless hordes of mosquitoes, mobs of psychotic squirrels, three jack rabbits, a ravenous herd of deer and an elusive mole named Darwin.
Reviewed by Claudia Coffey for Readers' Favorite
In Long Road Out of Ur, Joel Thimell introduces us to Abraham, Lot and Sarai before they became the archetypal biblical characters of the Old Testament. This epic tale, told by the elder Lot in flashbacks, begins in the Hursag Mountains of Ur (Samaria) with Lot and Abram as shepherd boys working under the guidance of Terah, the family patriarch. Lot is the nephew of Abram, but is 5 years older and so is responsible for 12-year-old Abram. Although Lot loves Abram dearly, he is at times jealous and resentful of Abram who is beloved by all, even Jehovah Elohim, the God of Noah. Abram even gets the girl - the tall and beautiful Sarai - who was originally intended as Lot’s betrothed upon his service of seven years apprenticeship. Lot is witty but outspoken and impulsive, many times speaking and acting before he thinks it through, which often gets him in trouble. Although many respect Lot’s wit, they don’t always love him. Maimed in an early incident in trying to protect Abram, Lot’s outspokenness and failure to work with the family eventually gets him exiled from his family and his village. Lot’s journey through the Bronze Age Middle East could have been ripped from the cuneiform clay tablets of Sumeria, calling to mind the epic travels of Gilgamesh, Odysseus and even Huckleberry Finn.
The glossary, map, memory jogger and advance reviews written by ‘some famous dead guys' add a touch of humor and assistance to the story, and Thimell’s writing in Long Road Out of Ur reminds me of stories by Neil Gaiman and Mark Twain. The sentences flow together in a real-time mode, giving the reader the sense of being there. Some of the supporting characters are in the Bible and some are created; the author wittily gives a prophet the name Mal’ak, which is the Semitic word for angel. Great dialogue throughout, although Thimell’s tendency to lapse into modern vernacular is somewhat disconcerting. Long Road Out of Ur is an engrossing read which I highly recommend.
