Rating: 
Summary: Shouldn't messiahs do more than make screwdrivers float?
Review: You can't imagine my relief when I discovered that nobody in my bookgroup liked this book. If they had, I think I would have had to quit that group. This book was shallow and did not do justice to the title of messiah. A true messiah is about much more than making random items float, having vampires materialize out of thin air, and dying a predictable and annoying death. Being a messiah is about being countercultural and addressing the injustices in the world. This book drove me up a wall and it nearly went out the window many times. The only reason I finished it was because we made a promise to finish every book before our meetings. I would have given it a zero star rating, but it didn't go that low.
Rating: 
Summary: A New Aproach On Life
Review: I think I'm sitting on the fence with this book. I can't really decide if I like it or not. I like the idea of bettering ourselves through personal triumph, but everyone needs comfort from someone, whether from a friend, God, whoever. I don't really believe that one can make themself perfect at all. No one is perfect. I do like the idea of becoming a messiah because it's comforting. It makes you look at yourself and others in a more positive manner. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a new approach to how they look at their life.
Rating:
Summary: An enormous waste of time
Review: We read this book for bookclub and, even though it's a quick read, it was nevertheless excrutiating. At the end of the group, I threw my copy in the fire in the small hope that I might save just one person from wasting their time reading this steaming pile. This is hands down the worst book I've ever read - you can get the same life lessons from your average Barney video in far less time.
Rating:
Summary: Review For Illusions - The Adventures of A Reluctant Messiah
Review: I found Richard's Bach book interesting overall. Illusions mixes both spirituality as well as a little humour as the story goes along. The story is set around the author as the main character and his aquaintance, a pilot who holds the title of messiah as well, Donald Shimoda. Donald removes himself from his messanic duties and introduces Richard to the "Messiah's Handbook" as a way of helping Richard find his spirituality.
While I found this book very interesting to read, I suppose I overall did not like the book because I have pretty mainstream thoughts on religion and spirtuality. This book brings many different views into light when thinking about religion and ones faith, and I suppose these views did not exactly work as well with me as for others. I'm certainly not saying that this is not an enjoyable book, because I know that my way of thinking is not the only way of perseiving religous thought. The book deserves a 5 for those who find the book both interesting and can relate to the message that Bach is trying to send. From my point of view, his just didn't work as well with me as I had hoped when I set out to read it.
I recommened this book because it will probably broaden your horizons on religious thought.
Rating:
Summary: just awful
Review: Richard Bach's Illusions is without doubt the worst book I have read in decades.
The book might have played well in the 70s but even that is hard to believe.
This book is an attempt to present biblical wisdom -- a schlocky cross of zen and christianity -- but contains no coherent philosophy. Some of the assertions among the scattered rabbit ...: if you are unhappy, it's your own fault; likewise, if you are sick, poor, miserable in any way; physical limits to your world are the result of your rigid thinking, not any laws of nature; death is a trivial transition from one phase of existence to another.
I would normally stay away from this genre but a book club made me read it. We burned our copies of the book rather than reselling them to spare anyone else the misery of reading this rot.
Rating: 
Summary: A Life Altering Book
Review: This is the best book I have ever read in my life; my absolute favorite. Only once in a blue moon do you stumble upon a story that stays in your heart forever. I first discovered this book ten years ago and it altered the lense through which I view the world. I read it again, just the other day, and was charmed all over again.It's a small book (you can read it in just two to three hours), but its potency will last you a lifetime.
Rating:
Summary: I convinced myself I could be happy for the rest of my life
Review: Illusions by Richard Bach is spectacular. It brings the truly simple, yet profoundly complex theory of life, into perspective making one feel that they may be able to conquer all of their infesting insecurities by simply always being happy. But happiness seems to be one of the hardest feelings to conjure up and keep for all of us, so where do we begin? With thoughtful, and deep quotes, a beautiful story line and many images that don't really matter Bach explains the secrets of the world and then undermines them all. The day I picked up the book I was feeling extremely depressed and insecure. I was sitting by myself in the corner of the school library wishing that I could turn off all my feelings and just make my mind still. After just 2 pages I was sucked in the book and began running foolishly around the library grabbing random books-here and there-(you'll understand later), asking some teachers of my choice if they knew the book and almost preaching to other students in the library that we could all be happy for the rest of our lives if we so chose too. This book is a treasure, a small bible to me that I will consult for the rest of my life.
Rating:
Summary: A Guide to life
Review: Bach's : Illusions the adventures of a reluctant Messiah, could easily have been a self help prophecy. Through out the book by symbolism and bizarre events; Illusions has an underlying tone of self confidence and self belief. I believe in a surreal manner he is preaching his audience to have faith in ones self rather than look outwards for a Messiah to answer all the intricacies of life. To provide justice to this theme he early on states "Within each of us lies the power of our consent to health and to the sickness, to riches and to poverty, to freedom and to slavery. It is we who control these and not another".
Rating: 
Summary: Thoughtful Book
Review: Read this book if you want something that'll inspire you to think about your life. It really reaches into your mind, pulling out questions you've never thought about before. It also keeps you captivated with the interesting but uncomplicated plot of a messiah teaching his ways to a disbelieving man. You see the man struggle to understand the concepts this ex-messiah is bringing to him as you yourself try to find the deeper meaning of his words. The quotes of peace and thoughtful questions this book brings will leave you with a good feeling about the world around you.
Rating:
Summary: Questioning
Review: It's a book that could probably speak to everyone in one way or another. It wasn't life altering and it didn't completely change my views on everything, but it definitely made me think a lot more about my life and my world. It poses some interesting questions... Can anyone be a messiah? What exactly defines a messiah? Is everything an illusion? Do we exist in our own individual worlds? Are you in complete control of your destiny? It seems to encourage the idea of self-sufficiency and to live life in a manner in which the reader will be happy. But would this actually work? It encourages the idea of introspection and a journey to self-discovery. It is a motivator, and speaks often of free will. It mentions many ways in which the tools to lead the life that one desires are available but it depends on the ways in which one uses those tools. It mentions the idea of perspective and perhaps that the key to a happy life is approaching it in the right manner. With the expression of all of this and with all of this in mind, it seems as if Bach is trying to guide the reader to an inner peace. If everyone takes care of peace on an individual level, then the entire world will be peaceful and happy. Expressing these ideas gives the reader a sense of hope, but the last line in the novel leaves the reader with a tone of uncertainty. Nonetheless, it still leaves an optimistic view of life and illustrates the idea that peace, happiness and messiah's can be found in the most unlikely of places (maybe even within yourself.) I would recommend this novel if you would like to ponder, question things, be inspired and find some inner peace! After all, anything is possible!
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