Apex Review Of Camelot Down Berkeley 1969 (Jim Perkins)

Feb. 19, 2016 - PRLog -- Camelot Down Berkeley 1969

Jim Perkins

CreateSpace

ISBN: 9781514820476

Reviewed By John Dollar

Official Apex Reviews Rating:   4 Stars

The novel Camelot Down Berkeley 1969 by Jim Perkins tells the story of Paul Morrison. Paul is a young highway patrolman in the year 1969 who falls in love with Christie Yeager, a student majoring in journalism at University of California, Berkeley. Using Paul’s story as the focal point, Perkins takes the opportunity to teach about all the civil unrest that was prevalent across America in the late 1960s in protest for a wide variety of causes, including ending the Vietnam War and promoting minority rights.

There were several good points about Camelot Down Berkeley 1969 that drew me in as a reader; however, one of the best parts was the love story between Paul and Christie. From the very beginning, the reader is aware that the relationship between the two is doomed. With Paul being a police officer and Christie reporting the injustices done against the protesters, it’s obvious they’ll inevitably clash. Yet just like a car accident, you just can’t tear your eyes away. Although it’s no Romeo and Juliet (warning: it can get a bit sexual at times), the tragic story of Camelot Down Berkeley 1969 engages the reader to the point where it’s hard to tear your eyes away.

That being said, this novel has some flaws. While the time period presented in Camelot Down Berkeley 1969 was very fascinating to read about, the book would at times use specific terms and vocabulary without adequately explaining them. Though this does indicate the author is very knowledgeable on the subject, it felt at times like Mr. Perkins was expecting the same level of knowledge from his readers; instead, the reader could often be left confused and be forced to look up terms like “teach-ins” in order to completely understand the various historical events occurring in the novel. For a book whose main goal is to inform the reader about a point in history, not explaining the basic vocabulary to the readers is close to a cardinal sin and is certainly failing in its overall goal. The novel should have approached the subject like the readers have almost no knowledge of the time period, so there could have been less confusion. In addition to not explaining the subject enough, there was a huge amount of basic spelling and punctuation mistakes which further detracted from the reading experience. Mistakes like misspelling “on” as “om” and forgetting periods were spread throughout the novel. It gave an almost unprofessional air to the book, making it seem like the author rushed through either the writing or editing process. Although this seems like a minor complaint, the sheer number of these kinds of errors quickly became annoying and drew the reader’s attention away from the story itself. Rather than focusing on the story, a reader could accidentally become engrossed in trying to spot the next mistake.

In the end, this book has a lot of potential. The period presented is certainly an exciting one, and the story itself can pull at a reader’s heartstrings.