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Sculpting David #1-3
Sculpting David
Following your heart may not lead you where you expect it, but is it worth the journey?
“It is my favorite word, it is my favorite question. I always want to know why.”
David, a trust fund baby, has gone through the biggest heartbreak of his life. He is successful, spontaneous, and generally liked, yet he cannot hold onto his one true love. Trodding down a street one day, David is bumped on the shoulder. When he turns around, the individual is staring at him with the crispest blue eyes he had ever seen. Jolted from his broken heart and thrown into a world of love so different from what he has known, David ventures on a journey of self-discovery taking him across the world and through all realms of emotions.
“It is my favorite word, it is my favorite question. I always want to know why.”
David, a trust fund baby, has gone through the biggest heartbreak of his life. He is successful, spontaneous, and generally liked, yet he cannot hold onto his one true love. Trodding down a street one day, David is bumped on the shoulder. When he turns around, the individual is staring at him with the crispest blue eyes he had ever seen. Jolted from his broken heart and thrown into a world of love so different from what he has known, David ventures on a journey of self-discovery taking him across the world and through all realms of emotions.
143 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 1, 2016
1 person is currently reading
9 people want to read
About the author
Chadi Nassar
4 books5 followersChadi’s vivid imagination originated during family road trips every weekend. Anything could get his mind running, from a garbage bag swaying in the wind to the person crossing the road. Growing up as an expat in the UAE he is considered a Third Culture Kid. His adventures as a child and his ability to create a story out of any object has fueled his passion for writing. Sculpting David is his debut novel which is only the start of Chadi’s budding career.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 8, 2017
Sculpting David by Chadi Nassar
This story starts with David going through a deep depression after his girlfriend leaves him. The story is divided into three segments, each told from first-person points-of-view from David and two other main characters in David’s journey. The first segment, and the Epilogue is from David’s POV. The reader easily feels his pain and desperation. The emotional turmoil is raw and he has separated himself from everything trying to gain the strength to pull his life back together. There is a lot of repetition in this segment of the book meant to immerse the reader into David’s state of mind, and it works. However, where it doesn’t work as well is later in the story when a lot of this is repeated as he recalls his pain. Perhaps since this book was first released in three episodes the author felt the necessity for the repetition. However, with the episodes combined in this book, it’s unnecessary.
David is a unique and interesting character with several positive attributes. I enjoyed getting to know him. When David is thrown a curve ball that throws him off balance, he has to come to terms with his sexuality. At the beginning of his story he truly believed that Helen was the love of his life, and when she left he was devastated. Now, he has to reevaluate his whole life, which leads to consequences he wasn’t expecting for himself or from his family.
Time, as it often does, brings deep losses and healing. As David is settling into his new situation another curve ball is thrown and his life is turned upside down again. I did notice one character description inconsistency in this area that is integral to the story. I don’t feel like I can explain further without a spoiler, so I am going to leave it at that.
I do feel like this book is worth investing in another round of editing to clean up issues. The story is worth it. “Sculpting David” is an enlightening read, full of diverse, well-developed characters, globetrotting fun, and an emotional roller-coaster ride that will leave you contemplating life.
FYI: “Sculpting David” is the full version, containing three Episodes - that are available independently, of The David Saga. Mr. Nassar uses British spelling.
There are a few F-bombs. Sexuality is handled gently and tastefully. **Originally written for "BigAl’s Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy.** March 28, 2017
Format/Typo Issues: Several small proofing issues such a missing or extra words and the character inconsistency I mentioned in the review. I also found a few formatting issues that concerned font size irregularity, this did not distract me during reading.
This story starts with David going through a deep depression after his girlfriend leaves him. The story is divided into three segments, each told from first-person points-of-view from David and two other main characters in David’s journey. The first segment, and the Epilogue is from David’s POV. The reader easily feels his pain and desperation. The emotional turmoil is raw and he has separated himself from everything trying to gain the strength to pull his life back together. There is a lot of repetition in this segment of the book meant to immerse the reader into David’s state of mind, and it works. However, where it doesn’t work as well is later in the story when a lot of this is repeated as he recalls his pain. Perhaps since this book was first released in three episodes the author felt the necessity for the repetition. However, with the episodes combined in this book, it’s unnecessary.
David is a unique and interesting character with several positive attributes. I enjoyed getting to know him. When David is thrown a curve ball that throws him off balance, he has to come to terms with his sexuality. At the beginning of his story he truly believed that Helen was the love of his life, and when she left he was devastated. Now, he has to reevaluate his whole life, which leads to consequences he wasn’t expecting for himself or from his family.
Time, as it often does, brings deep losses and healing. As David is settling into his new situation another curve ball is thrown and his life is turned upside down again. I did notice one character description inconsistency in this area that is integral to the story. I don’t feel like I can explain further without a spoiler, so I am going to leave it at that.
I do feel like this book is worth investing in another round of editing to clean up issues. The story is worth it. “Sculpting David” is an enlightening read, full of diverse, well-developed characters, globetrotting fun, and an emotional roller-coaster ride that will leave you contemplating life.
FYI: “Sculpting David” is the full version, containing three Episodes - that are available independently, of The David Saga. Mr. Nassar uses British spelling.
There are a few F-bombs. Sexuality is handled gently and tastefully. **Originally written for "BigAl’s Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy.** March 28, 2017
Format/Typo Issues: Several small proofing issues such a missing or extra words and the character inconsistency I mentioned in the review. I also found a few formatting issues that concerned font size irregularity, this did not distract me during reading.
February 7, 2017
Sculpting David had a very slow start for me. The beginning of the book felt very abstract and philosophical (which isn't really my style) and I was concerned I wouldn't connect with Nassar's writing style. I was so wrong. The novel was a refreshing read. It is different type of book than I am traditionally drawn to, but I am ecstatic I didn't let the beginning of the novel poison my reading experience. The novel follows three perspectives into the life of David. It provides a clear and realistic look at navigating adult relationships in the modern world. It was thoughtful, heartwarming, and a little sad. Nassar eloquently navigated David's self discovery and present-day love. Add this novel to your to-be-read pile. It is a quick read with the diversity the book community still desperately needs and the full ebook is only $4.99 on Amazon.
Thank you to the Author Chadi Nassar for the opportunity to read his novel in return for a review.
Thank you to the Author Chadi Nassar for the opportunity to read his novel in return for a review.
January 31, 2017
Sculpting David is a wonderful and heartfelt journey of a man's personal discovery through all facets of love. Nassar's writing is harmonious and genuine however he takes the reader on a journey that is relatable and accessible which allows them to personalize their reading experience. I can't wait to see what further writing he has in store! Bravo!
January 23, 2017
The first part of this book was written from David’s point of view, and it was by far the part I liked the least. His thoughts were incredibly disjointed, and it made it difficult to read. There were little ** every paragraph, and to me those mean a bigger jump in time than just a shift in conversation. He also made the worst mistake of telling us everything, and Loki FacepalmCapitalising words like “in the Love” which really didn’t need a capital. Sometimes, sure, but there’s a point and it was definitely passed. What made me even more mad is that I know the author is better than that; they proved it in the next two parts! This part centred entirely on David, and I know that was the point of the book. But his “blue eyed boy” and Helen and his family had brief mentions, where he talked about the impact they had on his life. They had no personality, though, and that bothered me. I wanted to fall in love with them just as much as he had! And, oh, we’ll get to the sexuality thing. It deserves it’s own paragraph, that mess.
Part 2 was Alexander, the blue eyed boy that David was so in love with. What I want from this book is to cut part 1, and start from here, with some major edits to that ending. Maybe alternating chapters with Helen? Then we can get the whole picture, and it’d be wonderful. See, my biggest problem was that Alexander often didn’t give us any new perspective on what we’d already read, it was a lot of repetition. I wanted something new, and there wasn’t enough of that. This part was written SO MUCH BETTER though, and after struggling so much through part 1, I found it easy to stay reading this. I wouldn’t say I couldn’t put it down, but I was anxious to finish it so I could write this review, and I did that easily.
Then, we have Helen. Like I said, cutting David and giving us more Helen could have worked a lot better. Helen told us a lot about David’s past, and I found it fascinating learning so much. I love reading through the point of view of someone in love, and she wrote with that tone of awe that worked so well. Sure, I wanted to punch her a bit in the end. It was such a dumb thing to try and hide! But this was by far my most favourite part of the book, short as it was.
Okay, okay, the sexuality thing. I was told this book was about a bi man – as a bi person myself, who’s trying to read more diversely, of course I leaped to read it! And, yeah, he was bi or pan, since he was in love with both Helen and Alexander. SO WHY DIDN’T HE SAY THAT? We had the subplot of his family hating him because he was gay, and a couple of conversations about him being confused about whether he was gay, and I was like, dude, you’re definitely not gay. Remember that woman you were in love with? Remember her?!? Gay people don’t have feelings like that, not real feelings! Then he said he didn’t like labels, he just loved people for being them. Well, hey, I could get into another conversation about why I like bi/pan people using labels for the sake of representation, but I won’t. If he doesn’t feel that he’s bi, fine. But OH BOY all I wanted was for him to use that label. Just once. You aren’t gay, mate, you. Are. Bi. Or. Pan. Or something else maybe, sure, but I’m pretty sure one of those? Ughhhhh, I just want good bi representation, please.
If you didn’t get it, I’m disappointed. I think I want to read other things from this author (but not David-central things) because there’s hope. There’s potential, and I really hope this is only the beginning. I’ve given it a low low rating, but I don’t think I’d say no to reading more!
Part 2 was Alexander, the blue eyed boy that David was so in love with. What I want from this book is to cut part 1, and start from here, with some major edits to that ending. Maybe alternating chapters with Helen? Then we can get the whole picture, and it’d be wonderful. See, my biggest problem was that Alexander often didn’t give us any new perspective on what we’d already read, it was a lot of repetition. I wanted something new, and there wasn’t enough of that. This part was written SO MUCH BETTER though, and after struggling so much through part 1, I found it easy to stay reading this. I wouldn’t say I couldn’t put it down, but I was anxious to finish it so I could write this review, and I did that easily.
Then, we have Helen. Like I said, cutting David and giving us more Helen could have worked a lot better. Helen told us a lot about David’s past, and I found it fascinating learning so much. I love reading through the point of view of someone in love, and she wrote with that tone of awe that worked so well. Sure, I wanted to punch her a bit in the end. It was such a dumb thing to try and hide! But this was by far my most favourite part of the book, short as it was.
Okay, okay, the sexuality thing. I was told this book was about a bi man – as a bi person myself, who’s trying to read more diversely, of course I leaped to read it! And, yeah, he was bi or pan, since he was in love with both Helen and Alexander. SO WHY DIDN’T HE SAY THAT? We had the subplot of his family hating him because he was gay, and a couple of conversations about him being confused about whether he was gay, and I was like, dude, you’re definitely not gay. Remember that woman you were in love with? Remember her?!? Gay people don’t have feelings like that, not real feelings! Then he said he didn’t like labels, he just loved people for being them. Well, hey, I could get into another conversation about why I like bi/pan people using labels for the sake of representation, but I won’t. If he doesn’t feel that he’s bi, fine. But OH BOY all I wanted was for him to use that label. Just once. You aren’t gay, mate, you. Are. Bi. Or. Pan. Or something else maybe, sure, but I’m pretty sure one of those? Ughhhhh, I just want good bi representation, please.
If you didn’t get it, I’m disappointed. I think I want to read other things from this author (but not David-central things) because there’s hope. There’s potential, and I really hope this is only the beginning. I’ve given it a low low rating, but I don’t think I’d say no to reading more!
October 3, 2017
I received a free copy of Sculpting David from the author in exchange for an honest review.
I’ll be honest, this is a difficult one for me to review and that is more to do with me and my reading preferences than the writing.
The first thing that struck me is that David, in some form, is a depressive. This is a condition that myself and many other people will be able to relate to, which immediately made David an authentic character.
For me, there wasn’t enough going on. I personally didn’t feel that the plot was forward moving enough, and this is not a criticism at all, some authors prefer to write in this manner when their novels are more theoretical or prose based. This is the category I would put Sculpting David into. There are plenty of readers out there who would appreciate Sculpting David more than I was able to.
This being said, and my very ‘on the fence’ review of 3 starts out of 5, I would be interested in reading other works by Chadi Nassar.
I’ll be honest, this is a difficult one for me to review and that is more to do with me and my reading preferences than the writing.
The first thing that struck me is that David, in some form, is a depressive. This is a condition that myself and many other people will be able to relate to, which immediately made David an authentic character.
For me, there wasn’t enough going on. I personally didn’t feel that the plot was forward moving enough, and this is not a criticism at all, some authors prefer to write in this manner when their novels are more theoretical or prose based. This is the category I would put Sculpting David into. There are plenty of readers out there who would appreciate Sculpting David more than I was able to.
This being said, and my very ‘on the fence’ review of 3 starts out of 5, I would be interested in reading other works by Chadi Nassar.
February 6, 2017
This was a really interesting story. I had no idea what I was getting into when I decided to read it but I ended up really enjoying it. This is a story of self discovery.. it made me feel with him.. cry.. love.. smile.. sadness. laughing.. all of his emotions were mine... i felt what he felt.. the writing was very descriptive and made me feel as if i was there. very good story and im glad i got to review it
December 31, 2016
This was an enlightening book of self discovery told from three different perspectives. Sculpting David will make you think, but just enough to do a little reflecting while still enjoying David's journey. It is a journey that can be universally enjoyed
December 23, 2016
from the moment you start reading, you are gripped with the authenticity of feelings and troubles David is having and u can't stop till the last word.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews