The Beautiful Side of Evil

What is the author's tone in The Beautiful Side of Evil by Johanna Michaelsen?

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On a superficial level, the first three quarters of the book is presented in a relatively objective tone. The author tells her story with specificity of detail, clarity of thought, apparent fact, and an almost journalistic questioning of circumstance and response. In the final quarter of the book, however, the tone is altogether different. While detail and clarity remain, facts devolve into opinion (albeit presented as facts), objective journalistic perspective becomes subjective personal judgment, and questioning becomes preaching. The author's mission becomes more than apparent - it becomes aggressive, condemnatory, and at times almost arrogant. In other words, she strongly believes in a certain truth, and gives the impression of being both willing and able to go to extreme lengths (including condemning those whose similarly Christian faith doesn't meet her exacting standards) to awaken the reader to that truth. In that context, a reader could well be forgiven if the apparent objectivity of the first section of the book becomes suspect.

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