The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness
Joel ben Izzy (Adult Biography)
“There are some stories that make you feel warm and good inside, leaving you with the sense that all is right with the world. There are others that simply make you laugh. And then there are those you just don’t know what to do with, the kind that pass through your psyche like a mouse moving through a snake.” This is a story about a man who lost so much only to gain even more.
Joel ben Izzy is a storyteller and a very successful one at that. He has traveled the world delighting audiences with his folktales and stories. He has a wife, two beautiful children, and is happy…until a routine operation robs him of his voice. Just when our storyteller believes he has lost everything, his old teacher resurfaces to remind him that what is really important isn’t lost, but has yet to be found.
Joel ben Izzy combines his remarkable journey with tales about a lost horse, a jumping cricket, a border guard, Silence, Truth, and Death. Through witty, poignant, and heartbreakingly honest writing, ben Izzy demonstrates why he is so remarkable and successful at what he does. Very seldom does a book leave me absolutely charmed, entranced, and hopelessly smitten. Such was my gift from this truly skilled storyteller.
ben Izzy’s former teacher once told him that his story was in the hands of a masterful storyteller. There are those of us who believe this about our own story—that it is already written and we are merely being guided, chapter by chapter, to our final page. Throughout our life, we hope that this storyteller is kind, merciful, generous, has a sense of humor, and perhaps suffers from bouts of amnesia. But through it all, we pray for the courage to keep turning the next page—ever anxious to discover what the storyteller has in store for us next.
Rating: 5/5
* Book cover image attributed to http://www.amazon.com
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