“The Clifford Goldstein story” | Book review
May 23rd, 2022
“The Clifford Goldstein story” is addressed to those who, ever so often, feel the need to read something about experimentation, because it is not about theorising a rebellious young man’s search for the path of life, but rather a true-life story.
Clifford Goldstein grew up in a secularised Jewish family, and “The Clifford Goldstein story” is an autobiography. In addition to the 18 books published to date, the author’s resume includes significant journalistic activity as editor of Shabat Shalom and Liberty magazines, between 1984 and 1997. Goldstein also found success as a TV producer, his show on Hope Channel being a demonstration of energy in presenting philosophical and theological concepts relevant to the current affairs of the day.
Written with attention to detail, “The Clifford Goldstein story” gives you the feeling that you are a witness not only to events, but also to the typical reactions of the witness to what is happening—the anguish of the search, the anxieties of each stage, and the final joy of finding meaning.
Due to the author’s colourful and colloquial language, the volume feels like a conversation on a walk in the park; sometimes it even seems that the reader is invited to sit on a bench for a while to reflect. In the end, the reader is left alone, with their thoughts, on the bench at the end of the park, watching the author walk away.
I enjoyed the open ending which gives the impression that it is still being written. Perhaps that is the shortcoming of an autobiography with the author still alive—that the reader no longer has access to what follows after, in the present. Nevertheless, this is exactly what makes such a journalistic approach so charming: like any autobiography, it finds its purpose not as a travel diary, but as a plea or a pretext for the reader’s own search.
The book is written with a relatively easy-to-identify target audience: those who are inspired by non-Christian sources and those who take on a Christian ideological background, but do not integrate this into everyday practice. That being said, the volume is definitely addressed to those who occasionally feel the need to read something about experimentation, because it is not about theorising a young and rebellious man’s search for the path of life, but rather a true-life story.
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