Other Voices, Other Rooms

Book Description

Published when Truman Capote was only twenty-three years old, Other Voices, Other Rooms is a literary touchstone of the mid-twentieth century. In this semiautobiographical coming-of-age novel, thirteen-year-old Joel Knox, after losing his mother, is sent from New Orleans to live with the father who abandoned him at birth. But when Joel arrives at Skully’s Landing, the decaying mansion in rural Alabama, his father is nowhere to be found. Instead, Joel meets his morose stepmother, Amy, eccentric cousin Randolph, and a defiant little girl named Idabel, who soon offers Joel the love and approval he seeks.

Fueled by a world-weariness that belied Capote’s tender age, this novel tempers its themes of waylaid hopes and lost innocence with an appreciation for small pleasures and the colorful language of its time and place.

This new edition, featuring an enlightening Introduction by John Berendt, offers readers a fresh look at Capote’s emerging brilliance as a writer of protean power and effortless grace.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

Just Incredible! Capote's First Novel Is As Genius As It Is Underrated.......2007-09-24

Truman Capote's first novel (published when he was just 22 years old!) may very well be his finest. Although "In Cold Blood" gets all the acclaim, "Other Voices, Other Rooms" is just as powerful in terms of message and is even better (in my opinion) in terms of writing. Capote uses words to paint a gorgeous and vivid portrait of the Deep South like no other writer can. The way that Capote uses prose in this book is just incredible. Even if you've never been to the American South, you can get the feel for it's hot days, tall shady pines and Indian grass. When I read this book, I feel as if I am right there beside the main characters. "Other Voices, Other Rooms" tells the story of 12 year old Joel Knox. After the death of his mother, Joel is summoned by his father (whom he has not seen since he was an infant) to come live at a sprawling and decaying antibellum mansion in rural Alabama. Upon arriving however, Joel finds no sign of his father. Instead, he encounters a bizzare and freakish cast of characters ranging from a friendly black servant girl to a borderline stepmother to a seemingly friendly older cousin with a taste for some disturbing (and very adult) pleasures. During his time at the mansion, Joel discovers old family secrets and uncovers the tragic truth about his father. He also makes a very personal discovery about himself. For anyone who enjoys good old fashion disturbing Southern Gothic, "Other Voices, Other Rooms" is a must read. I have read it three times in the last few years and each time it just gets better and better. Capote's deeply moving coming of age story is largely unnoticed today and that is a shame because "Other Voices, Other Rooms" is an amazingly good start to an amazingly good writing career.

Sparkling and Intriguing Capote in His First Novel.......2007-07-15

Eight years after William Faulkner published THE HAMLET, the first portion of his acclaimed Snopes family chronicle, and roughly ten years before the other two novels of the trilogy, THE TOWN (1957) and THE MANSION (1959) appeared, a remarkable first novel by Truman Capote arrived on the Southern literary scene. Just as Faulkner's full trilogy would come to symbolize the seemingly irresistible and inevitable decay of the post-Civil War South, so too did the young Capote's OTHER VOICES, OTHER ROOMS depict the Deep South as a frayed and unhealthy vestige of its former self. Here we have it all - a desolate ruin of a formerly noble estate now quite literally sinking four inches a year into its own grave, a brother and sister who at least implicitly evidence the despoilage and grinding lassisitude of inbreeding, bizarre marital arrangements straight out of Baby Jane, slavery in spirit if not in fact, and a half-hearted homosexuality devolved into a despoiled and dissolute ennui. If anything, it's almost too much, a hand overplayed to the point of caricature

The basic story line is simple. Twelve-year-old Joel Sansom is shipped out of New Orleans by his caretaking Aunt Ellen to finally meet his absent-since-birth father Edward Sansom at a manor called Skully's Landing. Joel quickly discovers that he has left the big city world of the Big Easy for the small town South, with Skully's Landing existing in an isolated netherworld well beyond the edge of the closest small town of Noon City. The manor is now home to Joel's father, a nearly Siamese-attached brother and sister Randolph and Amy (the former a pompous and lazy effete, the latter a spineless neurotic), and a black maid named Missouri who goes by the name Zoo and whose father is named Jesus Fever. Young Joel is utterly confounded by this crew and mystified by his inability to meet the father whom he has been told lives there. His only consolation is two neighboring sisters, Florabel and Idabel Thompkins. Idabel in particular catches Joel's fancy by her combination of tomboyish behavior and naïve but not altogether innocent sensuality. In the end, young Joel learns the peculiar truth about Randolph and his father, one that intertwines with the fate of a prizefighter named Pepe Alvarez and a sensual, dream-recording woman named Dolores (dolorous?).

Capote's first novel to enter onto the literary stage is at once Southern Gothic in setting yet contemporary in its content. Right from his opening pages, Capote brings the slashing insights and brilliant command of phrase and language to OTHER VOICES, OTHER ROOMS that he continued to display in his later works. In his first paragraph, before we have met a single character, Capote issues a foreshadowed warning about "luminous green logs that shine under the dark marsh water like drowned corpses." Skully's Landing is a place where "the sun was locked in a tomb of clouds," where "folks came when they went off the face of the earth, when they died but were not dead," where "copper waterbugs swung on intricate trapezes of insects' thread, and fungus-flowered fist-size on the wet decrepit wood."

While Truman Capote properly remains best known for IN COLD BLOOD and BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S, his earliest novel deserves equally to be read and savored. It is a literary oddity, a coming of age story set amid the decaying ruins of a family and a society. One could readily imagine Capote seeing the Randolph in himself while identifying with young Joel's search for his place in the world. And when all is said and done, OTHER VOICES, OTHER ROOMS feels remarkably life-affirming. How better to sum up Capote's own life and work?

Fabulous Capote.......2007-05-22

When you read this book, you will see just why the critics went nuts over this young writer. His character is haunting and reveals the complex nature of its author. The allegory is apparent as we see a young man who, from being abandoned has to interpret the world around him without insight from any dependable adult. He sees its beauties and debaucharies and he comes to conclusions that one would expect from a wizened old soul.

Literary Masterpiece.......2007-05-15

This is an incredibly beautiful, intricately constructed book; I have read it 6-7 times in the past few years and with each reading one discovers new images, deeper layers of symbolism. Capote uses words like Mozart used notes; there are passages that shine less than most, but that too is necessary. If you grew up in the country, this book will paint florid Persian carpet patterns of nature in your minds eye. Mindboggling when you remember how young Truman was when this was published...

Other Voices, Other Rooms.......2007-05-14

Excellant the 3rd time around. I've read it three times with twenty year intervals.

Global Voices: Contemporary Literature from the Non-Western World

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Not a textbook to sell back
Comprehensive Choice for Student, Teacher, and Buff

Global Voices: Contemporary Literature from the Non-Western World
Arthur W. Biddle , Gloria Bien , and Miriam Cooke
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0132997932

Customer Reviews:

Not a textbook to sell back.......2003-08-02

All right. Granted, this book is used by many universities as a textbook for modern literature. Despite the stigma that implies, this is a very worthwhile read. It offers a good cross section of literature from asian to africa. (the african poem "the mulatta and the minotaur" by lorna goodison is a very good example of the quality of work presented) I recommend this for anyone looking to expand their appreciation of literature outside the western world.

Comprehensive Choice for Student, Teacher, and Buff.......2002-12-05

As far as a source for world literature that covers the range of everything from contemporary poetry to contemporary drama, there may be no equal to this book.

Average customer rating:

Earplugs and Hedgeclippers, Essentials for Urban Survival
A vacation to Greece which turns into a deadly struggle
Wonderful writing!
none
Lumley Revived.

The Whisperer and Other Voices
Brian Lumley
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Beneath the Moors and Darker Places
Fruiting Bodies and Other Fungi
The House of Cthulhu: Tales of the Primal Land Vol. 1 (Tales of the Primal Land)
Tarra Khash: Hrossak!: Tales of the Primal Land
Titus Crow, Volume 2: The Clock of Dreams; Spawn of the Winds (Titus Crow)

ASIN: 0312878028

Book Description

Brian Lumley, author of the Necroscope novels, is also a critically-acclaimed and British Fantasy Award-winning author of short fiction. The Whis-perer and Other Voices collects nine of Brian's best short works, including the short novel Return of the Deep Ones, 'Snarker's Son,' 'No Sharks in the Med,' and the title story, 'The Whisperer.'

Customer Reviews:

Earplugs and Hedgeclippers, Essentials for Urban Survival.......2002-11-22

Within Brian Lumley's works is a certain something that oftentimes finds me late at night with my chin pressed to a book, a chill lapping the base of my spine, making me look over my shoulder and wonder because of his visions. Here I find my mind running rampant, dancing through gardens of strange delights that, if I'm luck, bring about some delicately crafted nightmares to lovingly caress me within my sleep. Its as if the words he crafts, working from some primal place that a reader can easily understand, can bring about feelings I had long considered dead and gone in my horror-hardened mind. This is something I find myself coveting more and more as the days press into years and time marches on.

In this installment of short stories, there are many notable pieces that include, among other things, a short novel dealing with some of my favorite Lovecraftian amphibians. There are also pieces here that found me laughing as well, picturing the dread of the characters as they learned valuable lessons on "juju" and the high cost of certain crimes, and pieces that make me remember why eating things I find outside is never a good idea.
Breaking some of these down, they are:

Snarker's Son, a tale involving an oddity at the police station and a policeman who is at first skeptical until being privy to a meeting of the "tubers," ending the tale in something bloodily to my liking and always full of teeth.

Aunt Hester, brimming with Lovecraftian themes that also dart in their own morbid direct, deals with a woman that can, for some strange reason, switch bodies with her twin brother if she wants to. She finds it out quite by accident at first, doing things innocently and then out of anger. Well, this doesn't sit too well with him, and she learns, in a not-so-wonderful manner involving a very valuable life lesson, why she shouldn't play in grounds she's been told to leave alone. The ending to this piece is a very good one, taking the main plot and standing it on its proverbial ear a bit, giving the reader something that they can take with them anytime they find themselves in a dark, silent void within the night.

The Whisperer, perhaps one of my favorites in the book, finds a Mr. Miles Benton communing with a small, rancid dwarf on the train, one that happens to interact with him in the most terrible of fashions. This run-in, not a good one in many respects, is only the beginning of a long nightmare, one he thinks himself mad for dreaming. Again and again the dwarf appears, whispering in the ears of people with horrible repercussions for Mr. Benton in the process, ruining his life and his sanity in the process. So, is it a dream, is it a nightmare, is it Lumley selecting a main character to torment horribly before introducing him to the rubbery undertow of demise? Its a question you'll love yourself for answering.

The Statement of Henry Worthy, dealing with the dark side of botany, is about plants of unknown origin that are discovered by a Germanic explorer, Horst Graumer, before he disappears and the horrors that these things actually hide when another botanist decides to go looking for them. Deciding to voyage into a certain area of marshlands, he finds what he's looking for and more, falling into a cavern of perpetual horror in the process, his dreams meshing with a reality that worsens as the days press on. Here is a very Lovecraftian, very entertaining piece, teaching everyone that eating greens, contrary to what your mother may have said, can be a wretched ordeal!!

The Disapproval of Jeremy Cleave, one of the funnier pieces I've seen produced by Lumley, focuses on the fun one can have if he were to suddenly decide to partake in extracurricular activities with his best friend's wife while that best friend, in his grave in the queerest of circumstances, stretches his juju a bit. Of particular merit is the ending to this one, fueled by a delicious melody of horror and suffering, making any fan smile with pride.

The Return of the Deep Ones, a story hitting novel lengths, touches upon those Lovecraftian tides and the dwellers that seem to always haunt them. After getting a conch from a certain Mr. Marsh of Innsmouth, our main character finds a change being thrust upon himself, one that spins and twists through oceans of plot and mini-stories, ultimately allowing him to press against that brick wall that all characters in stories really need to hit. While this is a bit older in the Lumley craft, it is still impressive and worth reading, letting those cute little men with the huge, unblinking eyes creep into your heart and make you yearn for the sea and immortality once more.

Excluded from description here are a few tales, No Sharks in the Med, Vanessa's Voice, and The Luststone, all worth of a synopsis in and of themselves but all finding and unwilling medium to do so at this time.

This, along with its companion piece Beneath the Moors, offers a wide variety of reading that don't really adhere to one way of recollecting the decrepit underbelly of living, making certain to entertain even the sloppiest of horror consumers. It makes me long for a house by the ocean, myself.

A vacation to Greece which turns into a deadly struggle.......2001-05-18

Fans of Lovecraft's scenarios will relish this science fiction/horror blend which includes many elements of Lovecraft's horror tales, with the focus on racial memory and a concluding story of the Deep Ones based on Lovecraft's classic. Just as haunting is No Sharks In The Med, a short story about a vacation to Greece which turns into a deadly struggle for survival.

Wonderful writing!.......2001-05-07

Let me start by saying that, as others have said many times, Lumley's stories are a tribute to H.P. Lovecraft; some intentional, others not. His stories are written in a prose that seems to come from a somewhat gentler time, perhaps 60 years ago. The writing itself is beautifully done -- and wonderfully enough without lots of four letter words and overt sexuality. There's not anything wrong with foul language or sex used in a book per se, but it seems to have become the staple form of communication in the horror genre nowadays. It's nice to see a master at ratcheting up the tension level rely on subtleties instead of broad swaths of blood, gore and sex.

That said, Lumley's tales are not for everyone. For those who prefer King's bluntness, Hamilton's sexiness or just plain quick and dirty writing may not appreciate the style of these stories. Also, some may find the plots trite and older than dirt. A fine example of a story that every horror writer has written in some form is the opening tale, "Snarker's Son", where a stolid cop finds himself in an alternate reality and thus comes to grief. However tired the plots may seem in some cases, Lumley has that certain skill that few possess -- the ability to make the old seem fresh and riveting to boot.

My favorite stories are "Aunt Hester" and "No Sharks in the Med". The first tale is about a beloved aunt with a terrifying and ghastly power that she exercises without taking the proper precautions. It makes one consider anew the old and odd family spinster! "No Sharks in the Med" is a tale of terror that builds slowly to an exciting and horrible end. It plays on the meaning of the word shark. Two of the more raucously amusing tales are the title story,wherein a man is destroyed by a demented and grotesque little man who takes over his existence, and "The Disapproval of Jeremy Cleave" which chronicles a dead husband's way of getting revenge on his cheating wife and friend. The novela "Return of the Deep Ones", is one of the more Lovecraftian works chronicling the last days of a scientist driven to madness by his discovery of a new and strange species.

This collection of stories brings together many years of Lumley's work into a book well worth reading. The fact that it is also wonderful writing in and of itself is a bonus. Anyone who is a fan of horror should give it a try, even if it seems not to be of their usual, favorite style. "The Whisperer and Other Voices" is excellent reading!

none.......2001-03-31

Lumley ranks among the very best horror writers influenced by Lovecraft arounf today. A collection of 9 tales that are dark, humorous, and bone chilling; especially such classics as "No Sharks In The Med", "The Luststone", and the title story. Bar none, Lumley succeeds where others have only managed to imitate. Gary S. Potter Author/Poet.

Lumley Revived........2001-02-14

I used to be a great fan of Brian Lumley's. The early Necroscope novels were chilling and unique. Lumley's Lovecraft derived tales were always great fun. He showed the kind of imagination and control over his writing that often spelled greatness.

Unfortunately, Lumley seemed to get stuck on mining the Necroscope series for all that it's worth, and I simply grew tired of the them. I can only do so much hideous, other dimensional, alien vampire reading. The last few books in the series moved onto my Someday Isle (as in Someday Isle buy them) list. It was in a moment of weakness that I picked up his latest collection of short(er) stories.

What a relief!! Just when I had almost completely given up hope, The Whisperer saved the day. This is the original, strong writing that I found so entrancing years ago. Readers will find much to enjoy as Lumley dips his pen into wells of humor, terror and pure fantasy. This one is right up there with Fruiting Bodies, and The Compleat Crow.

The Whisperer contains Snarker's Son, Aunt Hester, The Whisperer, No sharks in the Med, Vanessa's Voice, The Statement of Henry Worthy, The Disapproval of Jeremy, Cleave, The Luststone, and the complete novel The Return of the Deep Ones. The last is a fine piece of post-Lovecraftian writing that will delight all us addicts. Among the short stories, The Whisperer and No Sharks in the Med are among my favorites.

Amazon.com

Many of us know of the poet Phillis Wheatley, the first black woman to publish a book in the Americas, but many of her contemporaries in America and in England remain obscure. This anthology, compiled by Vincent Carretta, a professor of English at the University of Maryland, goes a long way toward rectifying that omission. Here, Carretta collects the work of nearly 20 black writers from the late 1700s. Some, like Ignatius Sancho, a black Londoner who corresponded with important figures of his day such as the author Laurence Sterne, and Olaudah Equiano, an early black abolitionist who created the slave narrative, are well known. Others, like the poet Francis Williams, or Johnson Green, who served in the Revolutionary Army, and whose confession before his execution in 1786 for burglary is included here, are less so. This is an important collection but, while Carretta provides an introduction and footnotes, one wishes he had provided brief biographies for each of the contributors.

Book Description

New Expanded Edition!

This powerful anthology of black authors in English-speaking 18th century nations provides a narrow but necessary focus, assembling a comprehensive presentation of notables whose writings have reflected the experiences of blacks around the world. Themes of liberation, freedom and personal frustration in the effort abound.

Customer Reviews:

A Scholarly Masterpiece.......2000-05-07

Vincent Carretta's _Unchained Voices_ is a masterful anthology of black writers of the 18th century. This compilation--which includes well-known authors such as Phillis Wheatly and Olaudah Equiano, as well as more obscure writers like George Liele and Belinda--is invaluable to scholars of early American, African, and African-American literature. From criminals to Indian captives, the writers in Carretta's anthology illustrate the diversity of the African experience in the English-speaking world of the 18th century. Carretta's introduction and notes are brilliant, his attention to detail and tireless scholarship a model for other academics. While an excellent book for classroom use (I assign it in my survey courses of African-American literature), this anthology will also appeal to readers interested in beginnings of African-American literature.

Voices From The Other Side: Dark Dreams II (Dark Dreams)

Average customer rating:

High Scare and Low Scare
Thrilling and scary
did not disappoint
Did that really happen?
Voices From the Other Side: Dark Dreams II: An PeoplewholoveGoodBooks Review

Voices From The Other Side: Dark Dreams II (Dark Dreams)

Manufacturer: Kensington
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Anthologies | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0758212321

Book Description

BEYOND THE SHADOWS...they linger, showing themselves only to those brave enough to perceive them...willing to see beyond human existence and into the heart of darkness. Feel the racing pulse in the primal desire of werewolves. Embrace the aura of two gifted women as they unleash power beyond imagining. Savor the aroma of otherworldly flora planted in a unique patch of earth.

THEY WALK THE NIGHT...prepared to face terrors humans were never meant to confront. Chant with an African mystic as he protects his people from an entity of unbridled malice. Ride the dusty trails of the Old West in pursuit of monstrous legends. Sail on a ship of damned souls as it languishes in the depths of forbidden waters. From the untamed wilderness of ancient times to the concrete jungles of today, these seventeen excursions into nightmares will keep you awake long past the midnight hour--and praying for daylight...

Featuring stories by Eric Jerome Dickey, Tananarive Due, L.A. Banks, Brandon Massey, Christopher Chambers, and many more, this is one collection you don't want to miss.

Customer Reviews:

High Scare and Low Scare.......2007-05-13

This book has all kinds of horror stories from the truly twisted to the inspired lol so if you like a mix or horror then this is the book for you.

Thrilling and scary.......2006-11-10

There were more "thrillers" than "scary" stories in here but that DOES NOT take away from the book at all. I must have looked up every author to write them a thank you note for contributing to this collection. GREAT book!!!

did not disappoint.......2006-08-26

With my hectic schedule, I have time for anthologies , but rarely novels. This one, (Voices From the Other Side)as well the first installment, were alot better than most "compilations of horror" I've purchased. I always look forward to the Dark Dreams series, and I hope they keep em' coming. That being said, this series is far superior to other horror fiction.....and the fact that the authors are exclusively black, is just icing on the cake.

Did that really happen?.......2006-05-08

VOICES FROM THE OTHER SIDE, edited by Brandon Massey, is a collection of short stories from many authors. In Eric Jerome Dickey's "Harlem," which is both scary and laugh-out-loud funny in places, an inmate in an asylum makes friends with one of his nurses and gets way too involved with her, seducing her and finally making a date with her. Brandon Massey's story, "Deadwoods," involves a huge tree that suddenly pops up in the yard of an unemployed suburbanite. What can he do to get rid of this evil smelling tree that harbors something frightening among its leaves? Brian Egeston's "Smoked Butt" is the story of a little girl delivering food to shut-ins. She has to travel through deep woods and her adventures are awesome and screamingly funny. In "Good 'Nough to Eat," Rickey Windell George, has an unemployed man seeking work wherever he can find it. Dancing in a male revue in a club is not his idea of a good job but it's all he can find. This tale has a shocking ending that will leave you gasping.

All the stories in the book were very good, each with its own shock value. Brandon Massey has put together a collection of stories - some funny, some horrifying - but all of them hold your interest and you find yourself wondering, as you read each one, how this particular one can possibly turn out. To the credit of the many writers, the end is always unexpected and sometimes downright zany. The writing style of Tananarive Due's "Upstairs" is reminiscent of Joplin's Ghost, while Terrence Taylor's "The Share" is heart wrenchingly realistic in a totally abnormal way. Maurice Broaddus, with his "Black Frontiers" brings us a taste of our lost history, along with Christopher Chambers' "Leviathan," a smooth reading but frightening story about the Middle Passage. It is a book worth reading if you like looking over your shoulder or peering into dark corners.

Reviewed by Alice Holman
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Voices From the Other Side: Dark Dreams II: An PeoplewholoveGoodBooks Review.......2006-05-02

Voices From the Other Side: Dark Dreams II edited by Brandon Massey contains horror and science-fiction stories from some of today's hottest African-American writers. Harlem by Eric Jerome Dickey is the story of one woman's revenge on the man who killed her husband, Deadwoods by Brandon Massey is the story of one man who reclaims his identity after fighting mysterious beings that planted a deadly tree in his backyard, Natural Instinct by LA Banks is the story of two werewolves who find love and each other despite being part of an dying breed, Upstairs by Tananarive Due is the story of one girl who meets a mysterious man who may or may not be a killer. There are also stories by Michael Boatman, (an actor who has been on Arliss, Spin City etc etc), Maurice Broaddus, Terence Taylor, along with several others. Voices from The Other Side is more creepy than scary but whether you're an horror fan or not, you will enjoy some of the stories in this book. I give this book 3 1/2 stars. Reviewed by Shay C of PeoplewholoveGoodBooks.

The Voice of the Dolphins and Other Stories

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The Voice of the Dolphins and Other Stories
Leo Szilard
Manufacturer: Simon and Schuster Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NQ9URU

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice from the Crypt: And Other Tales

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A Sherlock Holmes book by any other name is still a Sherlock Holmes Book
Superb
Two-Timing me again, Don?

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice from the Crypt: And Other Tales
Donald Thomas
Manufacturer: Carroll & Graf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

British | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0786713259

Book Description

The famous tin box in the attic of the house at 221B Baker Street—perhaps the best known address in crime literature—is again unlocked by the Great Detective’s loyal companion, Dr. Watson, in this collection of six original tales contrived by Donald Thomas. Crossing historical fact with inventive fiction, Thomas introduces Holmes in these stories to intriguing true-crime cases that captured headlines at the turn of the last century and to real-life clients as illustrious as Oscar Wilde and as infamous as Dr. Crippen, an errant husband condemned to death by hanging for the brutal murder and dismemberment of his wife. Among the other confounding cases are the matter of the Naked Bicyclists, whose nocturnal rides in rural Essex lead to the discovery of some grim secrets buried beneath the blackthorn trees; the file on the Hygienic Husband, in which a bathtub proves to be the crucial clue in rescuing a young woman from a devious bigamist; and the case of the Talking Corpse, wherein horror leaps from the shadows in the Lambeth slums and assumes the shape of one Dr. Thomas Neill Cream—a villain who, in Holmes’s estimation, may surpass even Professor Moriarty in the degree of his human depravity.

Customer Reviews:

A Sherlock Holmes book by any other name is still a Sherlock Holmes Book.......2007-06-21

This book contains six Sherlock Holmes short stories. They are all "okay", as I am a Sherlock Holmes fan and enjoyed them simply because of that fact and not because they were well-written stories. If you are a Sherlock Holmes fa, yes, it is worth the time and money but if you aren't a fan or are new to the genre I would suggest another title, maybe something by Nicholas Meyer. And if you are looking for a 'different' Sherlock Holmes book I highly suggest "Shadows Over Baker Street". This is an anthology that mixes Sherlock Holmes with the darkness and horror of the stories of H.P. Lovecraft.

Superb.......2006-08-23

Sherlock Holmes pastiches are like deodorants; they can be found everywhere, in all shapes & types, and yet, rarely do they satisfy the customer, once the premises of the shop/market has been left. However, this anthology makes a clean break with that 'traditional' fare and presents a few refreshingly believable stories in an authentic voice. Recommended.

Two-Timing me again, Don?.......2003-12-11

I would have great things to say about this book IF I HADN'T ALREADY PURCHASED IT AS "SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE RUNNING NOOSE"! Bad form, sah! Ye'll get no stars from The Blade wi' such scurrvy tricks!

Distant View of a Minaret and Other Stories (Emerging Voices (Quartet))

Average customer rating:

Essential contribution counters prevailing media misrepresentation of Muslims
Distant View of a Minaret
Wonderfully feminist themes
Distant View of a Minaret and Other Stories by Alifa Rifaat
Distant View of A Minaret Review

Distant View of a Minaret and Other Stories (Emerging Voices (Quartet))
Alifa Rifaat
Manufacturer: Quartet Books (UK)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0704324016

Book Description

More convincingly than any other woman writing in Arabic today, Alifa Rifaat, an Egyptian, lifts the veil on what it means to be a woman living within a traditional Muslim society. Her writing articulates a subtle revolt against, and a sympathetic insight into, the place of women in the essentially male-dominated Islamic environment.

Change, development, and understanding are called for but the invocation is couched in specifically Arab terms; her inspiration lies not in the Women's Movement of the West but remains within a strictly religious, even Orthodox Qur'anic framework.

Customer Reviews:

Essential contribution counters prevailing media misrepresentation of Muslims.......2007-01-08

As you probably already know, the best way to learn something about a person or people is to try and understand them on their own terms. In an age when the media paints Muslims as inherently violent, oppressive, senselessly overzealous, and extreme, based on the violent behavior of a select few, Rifaat's short story collection is a welcome read. Unlike so much Christian propaganda that focuses on "where Muslims went wrong" and how to essentially religiously conquer/convert them, Rifaat's book lets readers see inside the heads of her characters, Muslims whose faith is not necessarily the sum total of their essence. Moreover, she often treats the stories of Muslim women, illustrating a more complex picture of their lives, sexuality, and religious feelings than Americans are usually spoon-fed by Fox News.

These stories are great--well-written, interesting, and mysterious. Rifaat's characters deal with sexual frustration, sexual liberation, supernatural encounters, family dysfunction, and juxtaposition of old/young and city/pastoral life. Throughout, Islam is portrayed as both a problematizing, sometimes restrictive religion (hmm, much like Christianity, Judaism, etc. etc.) but also as a liberating force and gateway to love and happiness (hmm, much like Christianity, Judaism, etc. etc.). Again, I think most importantly, these stories show people who aren't simply derivative of their religion, something American (Christians) can't seem to (or want to) understand.

I recommend this wonderful collection to anyone to anyone interested in learning something new about Muslims and Egyptians (keep in mind, it's just about people from north Africa--Muslims live in every continent in the world), and I also recommend keeping your mind open and trying to see the story from the point of view of the characters and author, as you probably always should if you want to learn something. If you do, you'll probably find a lot more familiar human experience than difference and "Other." I hope you take a chance to avoid the news-entertainment cycle of misrepresentation and enjoy this book!

Distant View of a Minaret.......2003-12-11

Distant View of a Minaret by Alifa Rifaat is a collection of short stories about what it is like to be an Arabic woman. The stories are written from the perspective of a woman, and they defy any of the stereotypes placed on Arabic women. I really liked this book because it gives women a voice. Alifa Rifaat was not educated at the university level, but she writes based on her own experiences and observations of real people. This brings universality to her stories.
Most of the stories in this book had to do with relationships between husbands and wives. It seems like most of the men in this book are unfaithful, and the women were sexually and emotionally unsatisfied. What I really liked about this book is that the wives who were betrayed never looked beyond their marriage for sexual fulfillment. I liked that the women remained faithful because it showed that the women mostly just wanted to be loved by their husbands. They were not sexually satisfied, but what hurt these women the most was the emptiness they felt in their hearts.
I personally believe that the worst part of cheating is not the sexual act committed, but the emotional pain of being betrayed. In one of the stories in this book, called "The Long Night of Winter", the main character is a woman who is repeatedly betrayed emotionally by her husband. In this story Alifa Rifaat writes " The pent-up hatred against him had long ago changed to a cold contempt; the hope that things would change had now gone, but the ache to love and be loved was still there, as physically part of her as her sight or sense of smell." I liked this line because I think that it really captures the true feelings of women in this situation. Women want to be loved by the men that they love. They want to be treated with the same respect and loyalty that they give their men.
In another story, called "Distant View of a Minaret", the main character is a woman who is sexually and emotionally unsatisfied by her husband. In this story Alifa Rifaat writes, "There had been occasions when he had indicated that he had had relationships with other women, and sometimes she had suspicions that maybe he still had affairs, and she was surprised that the idea no longer upset her." At the end of the story, the husband dies and the wife is surprisingly calm. I think this shows how after a while of women taking this emotional and mental abuse, they enable themselves to get through it by shutting themselves off to reality. The wife knew what was going on, but in order to make her life work, she had to turn a blind eye to it. The problem is, when you act like you don't care long enough, eventually you start to really not care.
Another story in this book, called "Badriyya and Her Husband", also tells the story of a wife betrayed. Badriyya is married to Omar, and her whole family tells her that he is no good. She is very devoted to her husband though, and refuses to see any of the things her family sees. She even waits faithfully for him to come home from prison. When he does come home, she begins to notice things about him, and she wonders if he is being faithful to her. When she finds out that he is cheating on her, Alifa Rifaat writes "As she walked back she asked herself how it would be possible for her to find the strength not to open the door to him. I think that this is yet another feeling that women go through when being betrayed." Having to find the strength to let go of someone that you love because of something they have done to hurt you is very difficult, and Alifa Rifaat illustrates that in this story through Badriyya.
One story called "Bahiyya's Eyes" was interesting to me. The story is about an old woman who has something wrong with her eyes. She doesn't go to the doctor until it is too late to save them. She is telling her daughter about the pain that was put upon her throughout her life. She faced horrible things during her life, and now that it is almost over, she feels like she never really lived her life. While I was reading this story, I was thinking about the saying that "eyes are the window to the soul". I think that you can tell a lot by looking in a person's eyes. Bahiyya's eyes seemed dead, like a part of her that was useless to her. I think that this is how her soul was at this point. She had empty eyes and an empty soul. The fact that she didn't want to get her eyes fixed, to me, is also like saying that she had given up on her life. Her eyes were beyond repair, and so was she. This story was depressing, but it was honest.
I think that the stories in this book really capture some of the feelings that women in this situation have, and tells the stories in a way in which women of all cultures can relate to. I recommend this book to everybody, but especially to women.

Wonderfully feminist themes.......2003-12-08

Rifaat writes with the elegant simplicity of an Arabic Margaret Atwood.
One thing that amazed me about Distant View of the Minaret was that Rifaat,
unlike most other female Arab writers I've read, does not shy away from writing
explicitly about sex. From the very first story, "Distant View of the
Minaret," sex is openly thought about and discussed by the female characters. In
this story, the narrator begins by discussing her attempts at experiencing an
orgasm during sex with her husband. The story actually takes place, in the
beginning, during sex. So great is the narrator's boredom that she even "noted her
toenails needed cutting" (2).

A painful, but important cultural act is written about in "Bahiyya's
Eyes." The female narrator recalls her youth and the female circumcision
forced upon her by her female neighbors. She remembers, "They left a wound in my
body and another wound deep inside me, a feeling that a wrong had been done to
me, a wrong that could never be undone"(9). The story, which is written as a
letter addressed to the narrator's daughter, concludes succinctly with
"Daughter, I'm not crying now because I'm fed up or regret that the Lord created me a woman. No, it's not that. It's just that I'm sad about my life and my youth that have come and gone without my knowing how to live them really and truly
as a woman" (11).

I also loved the female camaraderie of the story "An Incident in the Ghobashi Household." The mother in the story gives her pregnant daughter everything she possesses in order to save the daughter from the punishment that would result from an illegitimate pregnancy. This story presents a mother-daughter bond that is frequently overlooked in the Arabic literature I have read. Usually the focus is on mother-son or man-homeland love, and female are frequently placed in opposition to each other. Therefore this story is refreshing.

The power relationship between a woman and her husband's mistress is explored in "The Long Night of Winter." What appears to be a homoerotic experience is actually a psychologically complex balance of power and desire. Rene Girard writes about this kind of mimetic desire, but I assume that Rifaat
bases the story off her own personal experiences and observations, rather than a practical study in mimesis. To me, this adds to Rifaat's ability as a storyteller.

The last story, "Just Another Day," is also beautifully crafted. Death is presented from the point of view of the deceased. Within the context of the story, certain observations are made about life. The narrator says, "What
was to stop me from staying in bed? I had grown tired of pretending I had jobs to do that filled my day, while in actual fact I had no role to fulfill" (113). In this story, Rifaat makes a point about the life of the elderly and describes the life of a person overlooked by society.

It is interesting to note that Alifa Rifaat is an orthodox Muslim. Her writing reflects the ideology of gender equality that was preached by Mohammad and thus presents a point of view that is ignored by mainstream media when looking at the Muslim world. Rifaat is so successful at creating realistic
female characters and also placing them within meaningful experiences that show them changing not only as women, but as Muslims.

Also amazing is Rifaat's lack of formal education. To me, this gives her a legitimacy that I normally ascribe to my grandmother-a woman whose education has been life experience rather than academic in nature. I have no doubt that Rifaat is an amazing observer of humanity who brings her natural feminism to the table when crafting characters and stories.

Distant View of a Minaret and Other Stories by Alifa Rifaat.......2003-12-08

I was shocked at what was written throughout the entire book from the moment I picked it up until I finished! It changed my view of my sisters in the Middle East forever. "Distant View of a Minaret" is largely a collection of short stories dealing with woman and sex issues. The stories also discuss women at various ages, social economic status, as well as, cultures. I liked this book because it was like sitting down talking with Alfifa Rifaat over a cup of cappuccino at Star Bucks. I would say to her, "Tell me everything that happened and do not hold anything back! How did it make you feel? Was he really that much of a dog?" This book truly moved me. What would it feel like to be married to someone and not be able to enjoy sex because of something that happened to you during your childhood. This was discussed in "Bahiyya's Eyes". The book touches on every phase of a woman's life. It looks at young innocent love as in "The Flat in Nakshabandi Street". In this story, it encourages readers to think about this: What if your husband was doing something behind your back but you were the last to know? They say love is blind. The short story dramatizes how bad it is to have your sight returned through the gossip of an outsider. "The Long Night of Winter" is about a mature woman who finds that she is not the gleam in her husband's eye, or the spark that jump starts his motor. We learn about her frustration and how she handles the dilemma. In"The Time of the Jasmine" a man struggles with the lost of his father. It teaches us a valuable lesson that we should spend as much time with our loved one while they are here because time truly waits for no one. I loved the entire book and enjoyed reading each story because the author was an every day house wife with a talent to write. The book is written from a level that all cultural backgrounds can read and enjoy. While I do not want to place an emphasis culture because one might think life's issues are different on the other side of the globe. However, reading this book brings life from across the sea into your living room and it looks the same. I loved it!

Distant View of A Minaret Review.......2003-12-01

I found Alifa Rifaat's Distant View of A Minaret to be a powerful testament to the strength and fortitude of women despite difficult and trying circumstances. The book is a startlingly honest collection of short stories allowing a rare glimpse into the lives, hearts and experience of Arab women living in Egypt. Throughout these stories, Rifaat maintains the common thread of two universal subjects, sex and death, and the ways that Arab women from various backgrounds and experiences deal with the complexities associated with these themes. Her stories are brief and straightforward, but are packed with meaning and symbolism that will reveal the hearts and minds of Arab women and distinguish a connection among women throughout the world. The common themes of the stories reveal the similarity of human beings and the universality of human struggles. I recommend this book because of its brutal honesty, beautiful symbolism, and raw emotion.
Besides the pervasive themes of the novel, I found the author's own personal experiences to add to the depth and meaning of these stories. At the time these stories were written, Rifaat was an Arab woman living in Egypt who had never left her country. She spoke no other language than her native Arabic and was not university educated. Despite this sheltered experience, Rifaat's knowledge and understanding of the human struggle is far from limited. As a young woman influenced solely by Western culture, I was pleasantly surprised at how her words crossed all borders to proclaim a clear and poignant message of the challenges and disadvantages of womanhood, the struggle for female independence, and the harsh realities of love and marriage.
Of the fifteen short stories, I enjoyed "An Incident in the Ghobashi Household" and "Bahiyya's Eyes" the most. In the former story, Rifaat emphasizes the strong and often unbreakable bond formed between a mother and her young daughter in the face of adversity. This story is a testament to the difficulties often faced by Arab women as a result of their culture, but is also an uplifting portrayal of two women coming together to overcome their struggle and survive. The story "Bahiyya's Eyes" is a bittersweet reflection of an older Arab woman trying to pass her wisdom and life lessons to her daughter. In a few pages, Rifaat manages to familiarize the reader with an entire lifetime of heartache and turmoil. The author brilliantly invokes an emphasis on the uniqueness of life as an Arab woman while maintaining the common bond between women everywhere.
After reading the stories in Alifa Rifaat's Distant View of A Minaret, I have better appreciation of what it means to be an Arab woman. I have also solidified the understanding that the inherent strength of women forms an unbreakable bond that links generations of female hearts and minds together despite physical, cultural, and religious borders. Any one reading these stories can find a connection with the author's words, which makes book a valuable resource and a worthwhile read. While some of the stories convey a sense of darkness, hopelessness, or sadness, they are no doubt a realistic and insightful journey into the human experience.

The Man With The Beautiful Voice: And More Stories from the Other Side of the Couch

Average customer rating:

Seeing the Whole Picture
The book with the beautiful voice
Beautifully crafted short stories
Five Stars

The Man With The Beautiful Voice: And More Stories from the Other Side of the Couch
Lillian B. Rubin
Manufacturer: Beacon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Medical | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Psychotherapy, TA & NLP | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Where to Start and What to Ask: An Assessment Handbook
The Mummy at the Dining Room Table: Eminent Therapists Reveal Their Most Unusual Cases
How Connections Heal: Stories from Relational-Cultural Therapy
Bad Therapy: Master Therapists Share Their Worst Failures
Interpersonal Process in Therapy: An Integrative Model

ASIN: 0807029262

Book Description

Beautifully crafted stories of psychotherapy-told for the first time from the perspective of the therapist In her long career as a psychotherapist, acclaimed author Lillian Rubin occasionally encountered patients who demanded a very special, even unorthodox, therapeutic approach. For the first time, Dr. Rubin tells the stories of her most fascinating, most challenging case, "from the other side of the couch," focusing not just on the patient, but on her own inner process as she confronts the issues each case raises. Each of the seven stories she tells is a moving journey into the human psyche, from the secret life of "The Woman Who Wasn't" or the extreme regression of "The White Hat" to the smoldering rage of "The Man with the Beautiful Voice." Through these captivating tales, and in a thought-provoking introduction, Dr. Rubin illuminates the process of therapy and how it works, especially when rules need to be bent or even broken. For anyone who has been in therapy, or even wondered what happens behind those tightly sealed doors, this book offers a gift of insight. "This daring and engrossing book offers a unique gift to readers: a window into the mind and the heart of both sides of the therapeutic relationship-the patient's and the therapist's. Only a writer and thinker as agile as Lillian Rubin could offer such compelling stories that tell us so much about the process of pain and healing for both patient and therapist." -Kim Chernin, author of The Hungry Self Lillian B. Rubin is the author of eleven books including Tangled Lives, Worlds of Pain, Intimate Strangers, and Just Friends. A sociologist and psychotherapist, Dr. Rubin has been a senior research associate at the Institute for the Study of Social Change at the University of California, Berkeley. She lives in San Francisco.

Customer Reviews:

Seeing the Whole Picture.......2007-02-18

This book gives you an inside view of the therapist-patient relationship from the therapist point of view. It's enlightening to read how the relationship develops and how that impacts the patient's life. You can get a little bit of a feel for how therapy works and what happens. The book does a nice job of juxtaposing the 'rules' of how things are to be done and 'intuition' about how things should be done and the struggle between the two. My favorite chapter was the final one where the author shared her personal experience in therapy and what that relationship meant to her and did for her. A good read for a therapist or a client in therapy.

The book with the beautiful voice.......2006-12-31

Wonderfully real and inspirational reflections of therapeutic sessions with a therapist who seems to have the healing combination of genuineness, authenticity, self- and other-awareness, and the innate desire to really hear and see her clients. The words harmoniously sing from the pages of this book with the chorus repeatedly reminding us that in therapy it is indeed the relationship that heals.

Beautifully crafted short stories.......2004-07-23

Dr Rubin's stories are drawn from her clinical practice and her experience with her patients. The reader meets Eve Gordon who endured a harrowing childhood with her alcoholic parents; now 39, she lives a life of virtual isolation and desperately wants to become her therapist's friend. Many sessions are spent with Eve curled up in the corner of the practice without uttering a single word. Bruce Marins, a cripple - a "Thalidomide baby", a drug taken by his mother to cure her morning sickness - who rejects sympathy as being patronising, who feels anger and distrust of people around him and who sees deceit, pity and rejection wherever he turns. As Dr Rubin is about to greet Bonnie Paulsen and Jerry Stillman in her office, she is far from picturing the way these two patients are going to deceive her with their egregious lies and carefully plotted hoax - "How easily any patient can defeat even the most artful and accomplished therapist." she writes! Jake Garvin suffers from manic-depressive psychosis and so needs help because he's having trouble writing his dissertation for his degree. This is all the more urgent since the two job offers Jake has received depend on his finishing his dissertation. A case which will unfortunately end very tragically. Richard Durbin and Valerie Goldner are a yuppie couple. But why does Richard stubbornly refuse to have a child with Valerie? What mysterious event in his past makes him refuse to become a father? And finally there is the case of Delfina Ortega, a Mexican American, who was pregnant at 16, then became an excellent high school student graduating near the top of her class, who was subsequently awarded full scholarship to the university and then, when she was accepted to a graduate programme in Latin American history, she falls into a panic attack.
Dr Rubin's cases are a wonderful read for those of us who are mere laymen in the field of psychology.

Five Stars.......2003-07-02

Dr. Rubin explains that there are a set of rules regarding the relationship between a patient and doctor and how she sometimes broke the rules to help her patients. She shows the soul-searching and thought processes that go into the decision to break the rules by describing interactions with some of her patients. She does a great job of describing these cases, building the tension for the reader who is wondering why the patient has come in for therapy; there is always a big payoff when the secret trauma suffered by each patient is revealed. This is a very short book and I found myself wishing it was longer. I could easily read 400 pages + of these gripping stories. The human drama never ceases to be interesting and the author has a talent for writing in simple yet artistic prose.

Average customer rating:

somewhat of a muddle
There goes another one.

Plains Song: For Female Voices
Wright Morris
Manufacturer: Bison Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Domestic Life | Women's Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Mothers & Children | Women's Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Home Place
The Great Fire (Today Show Book Club #16)
The Inheritance of Loss
March
Gilead: A Novel

ASIN: 0803282672

Customer Reviews:

somewhat of a muddle.......2007-08-28

Plains Song is overall a sound novel, but suffers from some structural problems. It is as if Morris could not figure out the overall trajectory of the plot? Who are the central characters of the novel, and what is the overall conflict to be resolved? There are muddled intentions here, and it shows throughout this work. But overall, Wright is a master at detailing life on the Midwestern plains and the pivotal changes encountered by its inhabitants at the turn of the century. This redeems the novel somewhat, and makes it, if not anything, an interesting artifact.

There goes another one........2002-04-03

A fine novel, a masterpiece of concision, considering the breadth of the story. What saddens me is that there are no other Morris novels in print. This one is no better or worse than any of his other wonderful novels, but evidently rates publication because it has the word "female" in the title. His best novel, The Field of Vision, also won the National Book award.

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