Rising up

Potevka's Gifts (2012)
Ramsdell, Mike
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7/10 stars
warnings: Prepare to laugh a little.

This book is a sequel to A Train To Potevka, which was the last book I wrote a review on. This book is not like your average sequel though. Potevka's Gifts is a bunch of short stories about his experiences as an author of A Train To Potevka at book signings, while being a keynote speaker, and at experiences while making the magnificent book A Train To Potevka into a movie. He shares stories of people he meets, times where he meets old friends while speaking in places, and even silly book clubs that he goes to.

In Potevka's Gifts Ramsdell points out that if you believe in yourself then you can turn out as successful as he has been in his life. He also points out that you never know how much you can affect other people's lives until you try.

Ramsdell has a little bit of a different style of writing in this book than his last book. In this novel he writes in a similar way to the Calvin And Hobbes books, funny and short stories. However, he gives a  real perspective of what it might be like to stand right at his side through each and every experience. He gives such great details of  the people he encounters or the situation he is in. I also think that Ramsdell is a unique author because he is able to share all of his thoughts while still making it clear about what is going on.

Ramsdell wrote the novel for the mid-teens and older age groups. Even though he is telling funny or unique stories, he still uses more of a mature vocabulary. I also believe that only the people who have read the first book and liked it will be able to understand and enjoy this book, because then you would be able to understand some of the references and the bits of Russian sayings that he puts into some of the stories.

Ramsdell does a smooth job in this story of keeping you interested and entertained. Just when you are practically eating out of the palm his hand, he ends a story and allows you to be able to put the book down  and pick it up later and not miss anything and keep you entertained. The online site, thebookdepository.com says "Mike Ramsdell is a great story teller", and I couldn't agree more. I never found myself saying bad things about it. Ask anyone and I would bet they would rate this novel well. In fact Google Books says "What an awesome book! Loved this as an interim book between A Train to Potevka and Russia Rags and Riches - Spies and Lies." These are only a fraction of the infinite compliments there are for this book. And that is why I recommend this it as well.