Review of “The Seven Gifts That Came to Earth,” by John Mellor
“The Seven Gifts That Came to Earth,” by John Mellor is a philosophical exploration of human character and behavior under the guise of seven short stories.
On the grand scale “The Seven Gifts That Came to Earth” is about a young boy and an Angel. The Angel directs the boy to read seven books. Each book is a story about a gift that was bestowed upon the Earth by its “guardian.”
“Custer’s Last Band” tells the story of a retired rock and roll musician who leaves his hermitic refuge in the mountains to play one last gig at the Princess’s birthday party. But his song isn’t quite what the people were expecting.
“Seven Days in the Death of Nellie Matilda” shows an old woman who is ready to die, but the doctors and nurses at the hospital won’t let her. They are determined to save her life using modern technology despite the fact that she is ready to move on.
“Charlie’s Angel” tells the story of a shipwrecked sailor who finds himself marooned on a small island. On the island the sailor raises a seagull from an egg and names it Charley. When the sailor is finally rescued by a passing ship he finds that after his time on the island he can not stand the petty foolishness and cruelty of humans anymore.
“The Flight of a Honey Bee” is a strange story about an angry young honeybee who pilots a spacecraft to explore a distant planet. This strange planet reflects everything that is directed toward it or done to it. This planet can be either deadly or helpful depending on what you do on it. For the honeybee it will be a learning experience.
“The Philosopher’s Stone” is the story of a philosopher, a stone, and a magician. The stone wants to have a brain like the philosopher, and the magician is willing to help it. But what no one realized is that what the magician really wants is the philosopher’s brain.
“George and the Weed” is about a persecuted gardener who can not deal with the weeds invading his garden. It seems that he can do nothing to stop them. But then he makes a deal with an old woman who promises to help him. She can get rid of all the weeds in his garden except for one, but that last remaining weed must not be damaged under any circumstances.
“The Beauty of the Beast” is about a dolphin who helps sailors escape the dangers of the open sea. The dolphin guides ships through reefs and rocks to a safe harbor. But the local shipwreckers can not stand for this.
Each story that makes up “The Seven Gifts That Came to Earth” is followed by a brief passage in which the fantastic events of the story are explained by the Angel and are finally decoded by the young boy. These intervening passages are like lulls in a powerful storm, and provide a chance for both the readers and the characters to recoup their strength.
I must say that “The Seven Gifts That Came to Earth” is a highly unusual book. To use an expression coined by a character from “Antsy Does Time” by Neil Shusterman it does a tremendous job of “walking that fine line between profound and insane.” After reading it I’m still not quite sure if the book is an amazing piece of literature or a nothing more than a collection of disconnected passages of text.
“The Seven Gifts That Came to Earth” is definitely a book that you have to reread a couple times to absorb fully. It reminds me to some extent of the books by Madeleine L’Engle. It took her years to get her first book “A Wrinkle in Time” published simply because it was so strange. However, it was eventually accepted.
In my final analysis I would say that “The Seven Gifts That Came to Earth” is a book that is definitely worth reading.
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