Amazon.com
Best known for his Border Trilogy, hailed in the San Francisco Chronicle as "an American classic to stand with the finest literary achievements of the century," Cormac McCarthy has written ten rich and often brutal novels, including the bestselling No Country for Old Men, and The Road. Profoundly dark, told in spare, searing prose, The Road is a post-apocalyptic masterpiece, one of the best books we've read this year, but in case you need a second (and expert) opinion, we asked Dennis Lehane, author of equally rich, occasionally bleak and brutal novels, to read it and give us his take. Read his glowing review below. --Daphne Durham
Guest Reviewer: Dennis Lehane
Dennis Lehane, master of the hard-boiled thriller, generated a cult following with his series about private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, wowed readers with the intense and gut-wrenching Mystic River, blew fans all away with the mind-bending Shutter Island, and switches gears with Coronado, his new collection of gritty short stories (and one play).
Cormac McCarthy sets his new novel, The Road, in a post-apocalyptic blight of gray skies that drizzle ash, a world in which all matter of wildlife is extinct, starvation is not only prevalent but nearly all-encompassing, and marauding bands of cannibals roam the environment with pieces of human flesh stuck between their teeth. If this sounds oppressive and dispiriting, it is. McCarthy may have just set to paper the definitive vision of the world after nuclear war, and in this recent age of relentless saber-rattling by the global powers, it's not much of a leap to feel his vision could be not far off the mark nor, sadly, right around the corner. Stealing across this horrific (and that's the only word for it) landscape are an unnamed man and his emaciated son, a boy probably around the age of ten. It is the love the father feels for his son, a love as deep and acute as his grief, that could surprise readers of McCarthy's previous work. McCarthy's Gnostic impressions of mankind have left very little place for love. In fact that greatest love affair in any of his novels, I would argue, occurs between the Billy Parham and the wolf in The Crossing. But here the love of a desperate father for his sickly son transcends all else. McCarthy has always written about the battle between light and darkness; the darkness usually comprises 99.9% of the world, while any illumination is the weak shaft thrown by a penlight running low on batteries. In The Road, those batteries are almost out--the entire world is, quite literally, dying--so the final affirmation of hope in the novel's closing pages is all the more shocking and maybe all the more enduring as the boy takes all of his father's (and McCarthy's) rage at the hopeless folly of man and lays it down, lifting up, in its place, the oddest of all things: faith. --Dennis Lehane
Book Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER
National Book Critic's Circle Award Finalist
A New York Times Notable Book
One of the Best Books of the Year
The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, The Denver Post, The Kansas City Star, Los Angeles Times, New York, People, Rocky Mountain News, Time, The Village Voice, The Washington Post
The searing, postapocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthy's masterpiece.
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food-—and each other.
The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, "each the other's world entire," are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful!.......2007-10-10
Loved it! I didn't think I would, but I couldn't put it down. I read so much for my job that I rarely go through books quickly. It was so to the point and almost vague but at the same time the lack of words painted a more vivid picture. An odd combination but as I said, loved it!
I now I'm knit picking but . . ........2007-10-10
Okay, so it is wonderfully written and the story is compelling but I can't stand it when an author ignores basic science. As a reader, I find it insulting.
Assuming that the action takes place on our Earth, how are these people even alive if there are no plants producing Oxygen? It has evidently been some time since the cataclysm that caused the destruction so what are they breathing?
My other smaller issue of fact is that dead cedars will stand for 40 years with little diminution of their stability. There is no way that scene in the cedar forest could happen 7 or 8 years after the death of the trees.
Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. There is no excuse for this from such a great writer who one would think had excellent editors as well.
Great, stark novel.......2007-10-09
Yes, its setting is grim, but, overall, I found the book to be infused with a spirit of love and resilience. He does, however, use the word "gray" about 8,000 times, though. I forgive him.
Ignites a Hope.......2007-10-08
Some books wallow in despair. Others revel in false hope. "The Road" spends much of its time dealing with a dark past and future, yet ignites a hope that seems neither false nor forced. This is the mark of a writer at the heights of his genius. I read the story in one sitting.
Opening into a tableau of monumental destruction, yet kept believable and relatable through the eyes of two nameless characters--a devoted father and fearful son--this story follows their journey through the roads and byways of America. At one point, they see a sign that I've seen in my own travels, a sign for Rock City which is an actual location in Chattanooga, TN. While details are crisp and evocative, the book never nails down character names, story dates, locations, or even the method of global destruction. It jettisons standard punctuation, adding to the sparse feel. It focuses on the despair and hopelessness of society torn apart by the need for survival. Morals and ethics are eroding. Food and water are worth fighting for. Fellow humans are potential sustenance.
Father and son begin to change as the story moves along. One flirts with thoughts of ending his own life, preferring a definite end to an indefinite future. The other, a small frightened child, serves as the moral center--questioning the cannibalism, the thievery, and the growing apathy of those he observes. If you travel down "The Road," you'll be faced with haunting images and hardship, while also coming face to face with hope and resilience. McCarthy uses sparse storytelling to give us a rich tale of thought-provoking power, intentional but never pedantic.
Hope and beauty in the ashes?.......2007-10-07
Cormac McCarthy creates a nearly lifeless post-apocalyptic world of burnt ash and destruction, and amid the desolation, explores the beauty of a father-son relationship and the essence of what it means to be human. His book poses a couple of problems directed at the morality of this generation, which are more than troubling: the nature of man's relationship to nature, God, others . . . and how one can live through the hopelessness of desolation.
To be honest, the book became a bit tedious, but the author's goal is to lead the reader through continuous strife as the man and his boy sought life day after day. Ah, isn't that what life feels like sometimes? It's definitely not a feel good story, but nonetheless a vital one that carries much weight. I started feeling ashy by the end of this one.
All-in-all, a quick and interesting read, not without merit. I'm not going to say, read this, or you'll be sorry, but it's a great book that teaches much.
Average customer rating:
- Nice man, wandering story...
- ****LOVED IT****
- MEASURE OF A MAN does not measure up
- SPIRITUAL "Of, Relating to, Consisting of, or Affecting the Spirit" MERRIAM-WEBSTER
- Books
|
The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography (Oprah's Book Club)
Sidney Poitier
Manufacturer: HarperSanFrancisco
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Actors & Actresses | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0061357901
Release Date: 2007-01-26 |
Book Description
"I have no wish to play the pontificating fool, pretending that I've suddenly come up with the answers to all life's questions. Quite that contrary, I began this book as an exploration, an exercise in self-questing. In other words, I wanted to find out, as I looked back at a long and complicated life, with many twists and turns, how well I've done at measuring up to the values I myself have set."
âSidney Poitier
In this luminous memoir, a true American icon looks back on his celebrated life and career. His body of work is arguably the most morally significant in cinematic history, and the power and influence of that work are indicative of the character of the man behind the many storied roles. Sidney Poitier here explores these elements of character and personal values to take his own measureâas a man, as a husband and a father, and as an actor.
Poitier credits his parents and his childhood on tiny Cat Island in the Bahamas for equipping him with the unflinching sense of right and wrong and of self-worth that he has never surrendered and that have dramatically shaped his world. "In the kind of place where I grew up," recalls Poitier, "what's coming at you is the sound of the sea and the smell of the wind and momma's voice and the voice of your dad and the craziness of your brothers and sisters...and that's it." Without television, radio, and material distractions to obscure what matters most, he could enjoy the simple things, endure the long commitments, and find true meaning in his life.
Poitier was uncompromising as he pursued a personal and public life that would honor his upbringing and the invaluable legacy of his parents. Just a few years after his introduction to indoor plumbing and the automobile, Poitier broke racial barrier after racial barrier to launch a pioneering acting career. Committed to the notion that what one does for a living articulates to who one is, Poitier played only forceful and affecting characters who said something positive, useful, and lasting about the human condition.
Here is Poitier's own introspective look at what has informed his performances and his life. Poitier explores the nature of sacrifice and commitment, price and humility, rage and forgiveness, and paying the price for artistic integrity. What emerges is a picture of a man in the face of limitsâhis own and the world's. A triumph of the spirit, The Measure of a Man captures the essential Poitier.
Customer Reviews:
Nice man, wandering story..........2007-10-04
I had to force myself to finish this book, simply because I didn't want to waste my money by leaving it when I was tempted to. It was interesting to realize that an actor whose work I had appreciated came from such a spare beginning, but by halfway through the book, the continuous wandering asides and disclaimers of the author so overwhelmed the narrative that I could barely tolerate it. It seems to me that the story could have been told to greater effect with half the words!
****LOVED IT****.......2007-09-24
Kept me interested...I really enjoyed this book...I couldn't put the book down until I finished reading it!!!!
MEASURE OF A MAN does not measure up.......2007-09-21
Wow, a book about Sidney Poitier. An outstanding actor with a book that just does not give him true justice. The reading tends to be dry and lacks substance. His life struggles could have been the story of any man or woman, black or white. The writing and editing are weak in some sections.
You should rent or buy one of Poitier's movies instead. His movie roles show his true skills.
SPIRITUAL "Of, Relating to, Consisting of, or Affecting the Spirit" MERRIAM-WEBSTER.......2007-08-30
I've always been smitten with Poitier's voice--his diction and control on film, the flow of his words as they travel in and around ideas during interviews--so I read THE MEASURE OF A MAN with an ear for his voice. I wondered, Is it translatable to print? It is, but that means allowing Poitier's thoughts to meander until they find their point, and that his thoughts are less formulated (or formal) and more "in his own words," than they might be if they were written by a biographer. (I read just enough "You know?"s "You hear me when I tell you?"s and "You follow?"s to feel like he was talking to me, but not too many to be annoyed.) I read to imagine what it might be like to have a conversation with Poitier. The book reinforced what I already knew--I'd be as intimidated as heck--but it also gave me the courage to think I'd be able to speak my mind.
As an editor, I read Poitier's book because I wanted to know how he defines a "spiritual" autobiography. Is it a I-Was-A-Sinner-But-I-Found-Jesus-And-Now-I'm-Saved chronology? Is it about how Christianity or another faith influenced his life? Neither. Poitier examines the people, events, circumstances, beliefs, and so on, which have related to, consisted of, or affected his "spirit," and, in doing so, he writes about childhood experiences in the Bahamas, his changing perceptions of his parents, how he adapts to living in the United States, his approach to acting and filmmaking, and his attitude toward fatherhood. He also shares a debate a friend and he had about the Basic Truth of Nature, a debate worth every second of reading it takes to get to.
Is THE MEASURE OF A MAN going to satisfy readers interested only in Poitier's film career? No, but I urge them to read it anyway, if for no other reason than to find out how his "spirit" influenced the films he starred in.
Books.......2007-08-21
I purchased this book for my daughter and she loved it!
She is a teacher and plans to teach this story in her English class fall 2007.
A great story with a great moral.
Average customer rating:
- NIGHT
- Night
- Chilling and Incredible
- A powerful and compelling account of a horrific time
- This book is burned in my memory
|
Night (Oprah's Book Club)
Elie Wiesel
Manufacturer: Hill and Wang
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
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Release Date: 2006-01-16 |
Amazon.com
In Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel's memoir Night, a scholarly, pious teenager is wracked with guilt at having survived the horror of the Holocaust and the genocidal campaign that consumed his family. His memories of the nightmare world of the death camps present him with an intolerable question: how can the God he once so fervently believed in have allowed these monstrous events to occur? There are no easy answers in this harrowing book, which probes life's essential riddles with the lucid anguish only great literature achieves. It marks the crucial first step in Wiesel's lifelong project to bear witness for those who died.
Book Description
A New Translation From The French By Marion Wiesel
Night is Elie Wiesel’s masterpiece, a candid, horrific, and deeply poignant autobiographical account of his survival as a teenager in the Nazi death camps. This new translation by Marion Wiesel, Elie’s wife and frequent translator, presents this seminal memoir in the language and spirit truest to the author’s original intent. And in a substantive new preface, Elie reflects on the enduring importance of Night and his lifelong, passionate dedication to ensuring that the world never forgets man’s capacity for inhumanity to man.
Night offers much more than a litany of the daily terrors, everyday perversions, and rampant sadism at Auschwitz and Buchenwald; it also eloquently addresses many of the philosophical as well as personal questions implicit in any serious consideration of what the Holocaust was, what it meant, and what its legacy is and will be.
Customer Reviews:
NIGHT.......2007-10-03
This new translation of NIGHT is not just a book, it's a gift. A gift of Elie Wiesel's memory, memory of such horrific atrocities committed against him, his family, and others. We can use this gift as a tool to evolve as a human race - or not.
Night.......2007-10-02
This book was both wonderful and disturbing. The translation was smooth and easy to read. The body of the book gives a further glimpse into the terrors of that war, and the suffering people had to endure; especially children. I finished this book in less than a day, and when I was done, I was able to appreciate my life even more, and be grateful for everthing I have.
Chilling and Incredible.......2007-10-01
This book is very scary filled with all of Mr. Wiesel's experiences in the concentration camps during the Holocaust. The book covers from when the man, Moishe, warning them about the coming German soldiers to the undefinable ending.
What Mr. Wiesel saw during this time was what most people don't even dream of seeing. He even saw a father getting killed by his own son for a small crust of bread. What he went through is horrific.
This book may be one of the most touching books you may ever read. It is amazing how this man went through all this without freaking out. This book will deepen your sadness for the Jewish people and it will increase your hate for the man named Hitler.
A powerful and compelling account of a horrific time.......2007-09-29
First of all, let me say that this is the very first book about the Holocaust I've ever read. I've seen documentaries about the holocaust, images, and newspaper articles, but I've never read a first-hand account until now. This book completely blew me away. I read it continuously over 2 days and learned about determination, love, loss, cruelty, compassion, and of the lucky few who survived. Like many, I had some idea that the holocaust was about gas chambers and furnaces used to kill and cremate human beings. I had no idea, however, of the many other hardships imposed on the Jews during the Holocaust, both before, leading up to, and - for the lucky few - after the mass killings. I'd recommend this book without reservation to anyone interested in learning about this horrific, brutal period of human history, as told with great honesty by someone who lived through it. As Elie Wiesel writes, "we must never forget". -5/5
This book is burned in my memory.......2007-09-29
This book is a must read, especially for young people, as we move further away in time from the Holocaust. It is very well written; you almost feel like you are right there beside the author enduring all the emotional and physical pain that he felt. This book chronicles the author's life from a young child until the day he was released from a concentration camp. He describes his living conditions in the camp, the behavior and attitude of the prison camp guards, and his relationship with other prisoners around him. He also recalls how his father died right before his eyes. This book brought tears to my eyes more than once.
Amazon.com
Penzler Pick, July 2001: Working in a mystery tradition that will cause genre aficionados to think of such classic sleuths as Melville Davisson Post's Uncle Abner or Robert van Gulik's Judge Dee, Alexander McCall Smith creates an African detective, Precious Ramotswe, who's their full-fledged heir.
It's the detective as folk hero, solving crimes through an innate, self-possessed wisdom that, combined with an understanding of human nature, invariably penetrates into the heart of a puzzle. If Miss Marple were fat and jolly and lived in Botswana--and decided to go against any conventional notion of what an unmarried woman should do, spending the money she got from selling her late father's cattle to set up a Ladies' Detective Agency--then you have an idea of how Precious sets herself up as her country's first female detective. Once the clients start showing up on her doorstep, Precious enjoys a pleasingly successful series of cases.
But the edge of the Kalahari is not St. Mary Mead, and the sign Precious orders, painted in brilliant colors, is anything but discreet. Pointing in the direction of the small building she had purchased to house her new business, it reads "THE NO. 1 LADIES DETECTIVE AGENCY. FOR ALL CONFIDENTIAL MATTERS AND ENQUIRIES. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED FOR ALL PARTIES. UNDER PERSONAL MANAGEMENT."
The solutions she comes up with, whether in the case of the clinic doctor with two quite different personalities (depending on the day of the week), or the man who had joined a Christian sect and seemingly vanished, or the kidnapped boy whose bones may or may not be those in a witch doctor's magic kit, are all sensible, logical, and satisfying. Smith's gently ironic tone is full of good humor towards his lively, intelligent heroine and towards her fellow Africans, who live their lives with dignity and with cautious acceptance of the confusions to which the world submits them. Precious Ramotswe is a remarkable creation, and The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency well deserves the praise it received from London's Times Literary Supplement. I look forward with great eagerness to the upcoming books featuring the memorable Miss Ramotswe, Tears of the Giraffe and Morality for Beautiful Girls, soon to be available in the U.S. --Otto Penzler
Book Description
This first novel in Alexander McCall Smith’s widely acclaimed The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series tells the story of the delightfully cunning and enormously engaging Precious Ramotswe, who is drawn to her profession to “help people with problems in their lives.” Immediately upon setting up shop in a small storefront in Gaborone, she is hired to track down a missing husband, uncover a con man, and follow a wayward daughter. But the case that tugs at her heart, and lands her in danger, is a missing eleven-year-old boy, who may have been snatched by witchdoctors.
The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency received two Booker Judges’ Special Recommendations and was voted one of the International Books of the Year and the Millennium by the Times Literary Supplement.
Download Description
This first novel in Alexander McCall Smith’s widely acclaimed The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series tells the story of the delightfully cunning and enormously engaging Precious Ramotswe, who is drawn to her profession to “help people with problems in their lives.” Immediately upon setting up shop in a small storefront in Gaborone, she is hired to track down a missing husband, uncover a con man, and follow a wayward daughter. But the case that tugs at her heart, and lands her in danger, is a missing eleven-year-old boy, who may have been snatched by witchdoctors.
The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency received two Booker Judges’ Special Recommendations and was voted one of the International Books of the Year and the Millennium by the Times Literary Supplement.
“The Miss Marple of Botswana.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
“The author’s prose has the merits of simplicity, euphony and precision. His descriptions leave one as if standing in the Botswana landscape. This is art that conceals art. I haven’t read anything with such unalloyed pleasure for a long time.”
ANTHONY DANIELS, THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
“The writing [is] very accessible, yet the prose so beautiful.... I choose books that give me pure joy, whose world I want to stay in for a long time.”
AMY TAN, FOR THE TODAY SHOW BOOK CLUB
“General audiences will welcome this little gem of a book just as much if not more than mystery readers.”
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
“Smart and sassy...Precious’s progress is charted in passages that have the power to amuse or shock or touch the heart, sometimes all at once.... Thoroughly engaging and entertaining.”
THE LOS ANGELES TIMES
“One of the best, most charming, honest, hilarious and life-affirming books to appear in years.”
THE PLAIN DEALER (CLEVELAND)
Customer Reviews:
A Kid's Review.......2007-10-08
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
By Alexander McCall Smith
If you're looking for an engaging, well written book with unpredictable plot twists, than The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is absolutely perfect for you. This mystery follows the ups and downs of the life of Precious Ramotswe, starting in the present and containing flashbacks to childhood and adolescent years in her country of pride and joy, Botswana. Each memory reveals a tad bit more about the independent and smart personality of Precious Ramotswe, the reason for which she eventually settles down and opens the first detective agency run solely by a woman in all of Botswana. Although slow at first, business catches, like a spark held to gasoline. Throughout unimaginable mini mysteries, including a confused crocodile, an unknown double-identity and a dangerous case involving witch doctors, Precious Ramotswe uses sharp intellect to figure out the absurdly impossible.
Out of five stars, I rate The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency a four. This is because though the plot drew you in and left you hanging at each chapter, I feel that even more descriptive words could have been selected at times. Something I can relate to in the book is the fact that Precious is constantly having to put up with the doubts from various men that she, a lady, can run a business. Although I have not encountered this in such an extreme form, the "Men are better than woman" idea is still relevant at times even in more modern countries such as the U.S. One reason I really enjoyed this book is because I encountered a style of writing which is new to me. I found it very interesting that the author conveyed Precious' past through snippets and small chapters interspersed throughout the book, instead of merely starting at the beginning of Precious' life. This way the past is revealed slowly as opposed to all at once. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is a flavorful book that should be added to your repertoire of reading today!
Blah.......2007-10-06
The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency is the first story in a series of mystery novels about Mme. Ramotswe and the detective agency that she opens with the money left to her by her dying father. The catch here, if you hadn't noticed from the title, is that she is a woman, and not only that, the first woman detective in all of Botswana. If you missed that intricate plot detail, never fear, the main character will remind you of it during the course of the story. Again, and again, and again....
I debated between one and two stars for this one. It wasn't a total waste. It had some charm to it... some. In the end I give it one star simply because I had much higher expectations for it, and it was a let down. Wow, and what a let down it was! I honestly really thought I would enjoy it. I was interested in the mystery aspect of it. I like a good mystery novel. I have a fascination with Africa, and being set in Africa, I was thinking "this looks like a winner."
One of the main problems I had with is was the way in which the dialog of the characters was written. Another reviewer described it as "baby talk", and really, I can't think of any better way to describe it. I keep trying to come up with reasons for why it was written in this manner, but none of them make any sense to me. It just makes the characters come across as stupid, as though African people are incapable of using any words longer than five letters long or expressing themselves with any sort of eloquence what-so-ever.
There's also the plot. Mme. Ramotswe solves several cases throughout the story with a certain finesse of Inspector Gadget. SPOILER ALERT! There is the case of the missing Christian husband, who Ramotswe is convinced has run away with another woman ("Men are stupid, LOLZ!!!1" is a major theme of the book). Turns out he was swallowed whole by a crocodile. Of course! There's the case of the 16 year old girl, who actually outsmarts Ramotswe. The girl is actually the only character in this book that I liked. There's the doctor with seemingly inconsistent talent. Like a plot twist straight out of a daytime soap opera, it turns out he has an identical twin brother who is getting to substitute for him in hospitals so he can hold down two jobs and earn twice the money. Wow! That makes so much sense... wouldn't he spend twice as much since he has to have two places to live? Other than that, I'm sure this is totally probable. And then there is the heart breaking case of a missing boy which challenges Ramotswe the most, and puts her in the most danger... or so says the back cover of the book. Allow me to paraphrase this climax of the book for you:
Ramotswe: Your husband murdered a boy for Muti!
Witchdoctor's Wife: Not he didn't. The boy is living on a cattle ranch.
Ramotswe: Show me.
Wife: Okay
(drives to ranch)
Ramotswe: Are you the boy who was kidnapped from the school teacher.
Boy: Yes
Ramotswe: Okay, I'm taking you home now.
(drives to the boys house and drops him off)
Seriously, if you blink, you might miss this climatic ending. I have watched episodes of Scooby Doo with more drama and suspense.
In conclusion. Don't read it. Really, just don't waste your time. The No. 1 Detective Agency furthers my belief that it is now possible for anyone to get a book published.
The End.
simple, fresh and enjoyable.........2007-09-18
Hats off to the author for attempting to deviate from the mainline sleuth stories (with protagonist being a gent that is tech savy or a martial art/sharp shooting expert chasing around in expensive cars in a story where atleast a dozen people end up dying).
This is quite very different, with a not so attractive single woman running a detective agency solving cases that are simple and almost realistic. The African setting without any of the typical 'gods have left Africa' theme makes it even more interesting. I will definitely be reading few more books in this series.
-Santhosh.
African Wisdom.......2007-09-12
Written by a man, The No1 Ladies' Detective Agency has enough of a feminist persepctive for me to feel I was reading something actually written for me, rather than feeling as I usually do when reading, that I am trying to take pleasure in literature created for an audience of which I am not a part. McCall Smith' s feminism is simple but fundamental : men should not beat their wives, the better fathers are those who encourage their daughters to be independent and realise their dreams, women have a right to happiness.
These beliefs are just part of the basic philosophy of the central character, Mma Precious Ramotswe, the first lady detective in Botswana, who imparts her basic moral philosophy at the same time - murder is worse than lying, relationships are more important than money, intuition is a kind of knowledge. While all of this philosophy may seem clichéd, as perhaps it is, it appears naturally in the book as part of the character and helps us to understand her approach to solving the cases brought to her.
Woven throughout all of this is a picture of Botswana, considered by Ramotswe, and presumably McCall Smith, as the best and most successful country in Africa. Independent from the British since 1966, there is enormous pride in her accomplishments, and only the ongoinging black magic practices of some of the country's witchdoctors cast a shadow on the shining accomplishments of Botswana's diamond-fueled progress.
Most powerfully of all, it is the love of the land that sings throughout the book. Botswana - stretching from the Kalahari desert to the Limpopo river, a country where « there is a place for me, and for everybody, to sit down on this earth and touch it and call it their own ». A country with its distinct riches - « that was what her country was so rich in - emptiness...those empty spaces, those wide grasslands that broke and broke the heart ». With its thorn trees that know how to survive in the searing heat and the birds and snakes of Mother Africa. Where nature is a family member and where the rising of the sun and its setting at the end of day are events to be savoured in the daily rhythm of life.
I read this book in a relaxed afternoon, and felt I had passed my time with a pleasant companion, who had painted pictures for me of a place I might otherwise never visit.
Simple, But Ever So Sweet.......2007-08-29
The problems Botswana's Lady Detective, Mma Ramotswe solves aren't solved in a masterful way, ala Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmses. Yet there is a sweetness to this story that pervades. The relationships amongst the people are deep, and dear.
Would that the protagonist had more complex problems to solve. Or that the one difficult problem wasn't abetted in a contrived situation. How interesting is it to read about someone being followed and a problem being solved just like that!
Nevertheless, the patois seems authentic. There is a lyrical quality to the dialog that is enchanting. It's also a relief to read about any African country without hearing stories of bloodshed and depravity.
I'm going to read some more books in this series.
Amazon.com
"Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice."
It is typical of Gabriel García Márquez that it will be many pages before his narrative circles back to the ice, and many chapters before the hero of One Hundred Years of Solitude, Buendía, stands before the firing squad. In between, he recounts such wonders as an entire town struck with insomnia, a woman who ascends to heaven while hanging laundry, and a suicide that defies the laws of physics:
A trickle of blood came out under the door, crossed the living room, went out into the street, continued on in a straight line across the uneven terraces, went down steps and climbed over curbs, passed along the Street of the Turks, turned a corner to the right and another to the left, made a right angle at the Buendía house, went in under the closed door, crossed through the parlor, hugging the walls so as not to stain the rugs, went on to the other living room, made a wide curve to avoid the dining-room table, went along the porch with the begonias, and passed without being seen under Amaranta's chair as she gave an arithmetic lesson to Aureliano José, and went through the pantry and came out in the kitchen, where Úrsula was getting ready to crack thirty-six eggs to make bread.
"Holy Mother of God!" Úrsula shouted.
The story follows 100 years in the life of Macondo, a village founded by José Arcadio Buendía and occupied by descendants all sporting variations on their progenitor's name: his sons, José Arcadio and Aureliano, and grandsons, Aureliano José, Aureliano Segundo, and José Arcadio Segundo. Then there are the women--the two Úrsulas, a handful of Remedios, Fernanda, and Pilar--who struggle to remain grounded even as their menfolk build castles in the air. If it is possible for a novel to be highly comic and deeply tragic at the same time, then One Hundred Years of Solitude does the trick. Civil war rages throughout, hearts break, dreams shatter, and lives are lost, yet the effect is literary pentimento, with sorrow's outlines bleeding through the vibrant colors of García Márquez's magical realism. Consider, for example, the ghost of Prudencio Aguilar, whom José Arcadio Buendía has killed in a fight. So lonely is the man's shade that it haunts Buendía's house, searching anxiously for water with which to clean its wound. Buendía's wife, Úrsula, is so moved that "the next time she saw the dead man uncovering the pots on the stove she understood what he was looking for, and from then on she placed water jugs all about the house."
With One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel García Márquez introduced Latin American literature to a world-wide readership. Translated into more than two dozen languages, his brilliant novel of love and loss in Macondo stands at the apex of 20th-century literature. --Alix Wilber
Book Description
One of the 20th century's enduring works, One Hundred Years of Solitude is a widely beloved and acclaimed novel known throughout the world, and the ultimate achievement in a Nobel Prize-winning career.
The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. It is a rich and brilliant chronicle of life and death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the noble, ridiculous, beautiful, and tawdry story of the Buendía family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America.
Love and lust, war and revolution, riches and poverty, youth and senility -- the variety of life, the endlessness of death, the search for peace and truth -- these universal themes dominate the novel. Whether he is describing an affair of passion or the voracity of capitalism and the corruption of government, Gabriel García Márquez always writes with the simplicity, ease, and purity that are the mark of a master.
Alternately reverential and comical, One Hundred Years of Solitude weaves the political, personal, and spiritual to bring a new consciousness to storytelling. Translated into dozens of languages, this stunning work is no less than an accounting of the history of the human race.
Customer Reviews:
Reminds Me of America's Keenest City, by Mongo.......2007-10-06
This is a marvelous book that remind's me in both style and message of America's Keenest City, by Mongo. I would recommend that if you like Marquez, you should read Mongo also. Both books use surrealism to expose political and cultural phenomena. Marquez enlightens us about Latin America and Mongo about North America.
"...because races condemned to one hundred years of solitude do not have a second opportunity on earth".......2007-09-12
Reading ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE is like discovering the world for the very first time. This discovery is experianced anew each time one reads it (for me, this is the eighth time). The Book -- yes, with the capital B, because it has the aura of sacredness about it -- the Book, I say, is an epiphany of both the familiar and unfamiliar; Macondo is a universe in which we have always lived, and yet one that we could never have imagined on our own. One compares it not with the other great works of modern literature, but with the myths and legends that go back to the beginning of Time, the Illiads and the Mahabharatas. It evokes the timeless sense of having always existed. It comes across not as the creation of a single man, but as the product of a cosmic consciousness. Garcia Marquez seems to have dreamed this rather than written it. Each page has the evanescence of a dream, a touch-me-not quickness, a water-colour transparency, abstraction and fluidity. Don't expect the characters to be fully fleshed-out three-dimensional figures; here they are quickly drawn archetypes who seem insubstantial but, paradoxically, also irresistable. They flit in and out of a century of wonderful dreams towards the final moment of self-annihilation, when Aureliano reads in the Sanskrit parchments the destruction of Macondo foretold, at the very instant when the cataclysmic winds bear down upon the town to wipe it off the face of the earth. So ends humanity and all Creation. In Marquez's vision, the earth is a rock of solitude in the cosmos; and man a speck of solitude on earth. And when Marquez says in the final sentence "...because races condemned to one hundred years of solitude do not have a second opportunity on earth", isn't this an almost oracular prophecy of the fate of all mankind ?
U will never read anything like it.......2007-08-02
I read One Hudred Years of SOlitude like 6 times over the years, and it still holds its magic and atmosphyre. Just an unbelievable classic. It feels weary and long at moments, also distracting at moments but its originality and magical ventures arise and fill the soul. Must have.
a great book but..........2007-06-25
a great book but it can be a little decieving. It will be different than anything you have ever read... and that can make it a little troubling... and tedious at times, however when you finish youl feel great about it and love it. so there ya go.
check it out.
Undeniably amazing!.......2007-06-22
Though it is arrogant and superficial to make such claims, I would wager that this is one of the greatest books ever written. It is difficult to say anything about Garcia Marquez's magnum opus that hasn't been said-- One Hundred Years of Solitude is an incredible tale of the human condition, and Garcia Marquez perhaps the greatest prophet of literature since Shakespeare.
Many readers will find it difficult, as the names (especially to Americans like me!) can sound very similar, and are frequently exactly the same. It will take much flipping back to the family tree at the front of the novel to make it through, and quite a bit of effort remembering each individual character's attributes and story, but trust me and the thousands of other Garcia Marquez admirers-- it's well worth it!
My only wish is that I spoke fluent enough Spanish to read this in its original language!
Book Description
Much like the best-selling books by Og Mandino, this unique narrative is a blend of entertaining fiction, allegory, and inspiration. Storyteller Andy Andrews gives a front-row seat for one man's journey of a lifetime. David Ponder has lost his job and the will to live. When he is supernaturally selected to travel through time, he visits historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln, King Solomon, and Anne Frank. Each visit yields a Decision for Success that will one day impact the entire world.
Customer Reviews:
Won't quickly forget this book..........2007-09-15
My boss at work knows that I devour books, and dropped this one off at my desk a short time back... The Traveler's Gift: Seven Decisions that Determine Personal Success by Andy Andrews. I read it straight through yesterday (it's short), and the first thing I'm doing after this review is ordering my own copy. This is a book I'll not quickly forget...
"Gift" is a personal improvement book that's written in story form, similar in nature to a parable. The main character, David Ponder, is 46 and has hit rock bottom (or so he thinks). Deep in debt, fired from a menial job, and concerned over a sick child, he considers taking his own life so that the family can collect on the insurance policy. As he comes to after the car wreck, he finds himself transported back in time, into the office of Harry S. Truman during the Potsdam conference. Truman is the only person who can see him, and Ponder's appearance was expected. Truman's job is to present Ponder with a written "decision", a statement that David must internalize and live out. Once the paper is read, Ponder is moved on to the next person and time. This time travel happens seven times, giving David 7 pieces of wisdom that will change his life if he lets them. Before he's brought back to reality, he's offered a glimpse of the future of his home town, a future that was possible with the seven decisions that Ponder internalized then shared with the world.
The cynical reader will likely see this as a bunch of happy talk fluff that isn't realistic. But I would counter that it's more realistic than most other philosophies and self-help books you'll ever read. The people used in the story are perfect matches for each of the learning points, and you realize that a single decision *can* have consequences that reverberate down through history and time. And the people who make the decisions are often ordinary individuals like you and me. The only difference is that they *made* the decision rather than accept the status quo.
The path to success isn't easy, but it's a matter of decisions you make on a day-to-day basis. Andrews captures this truth in a style reminiscent of Og Mandino's writings. I loved this book, and will be revisiting it on a regular basis...
Great Reading for the Dentist's Office.......2007-09-11
This book was given to me as a birthday gift, so it's not my normal reading fare, even though I do like self-help books. The story here is hokey: a guy (David Ponder, can you begin to see the symbolism yet?) is down on his luck, just lost his job; he has no money, a beater for a car, and sick kid; he just wants to end it all. (Can you feel the cliches coming?) Well, as his car spins out of control on a slippery bridge, he goes on adventure in which different (real) historical figures (like Abraham Lincoln or Anne Frank) each give him a message about living successfully.
Why do self-help books always have 7 messages? Anyway, the messages are helpful reminders of living the good life, stuff that probably wouldn't hurt anyone to be reminded of: Remember the buck stops with you; be a person of action, happiness is a choice, that sort of thing. There are no startling revelations, and the book and its messages struck me as self-evident and simplistic. One of the real advantages of the book is that it is short. So, if you are ever stuck in an airport, doctor's office, or somewhere else with poor reading material and you need to kill a little time, you might even enjoy it. Recommended reading by "Good Morning America" if that means anything to you.
I like this book so much; I keep giving my copy away. .......2007-08-29
There is no new knowledge in this book, and there was perhaps a little literary license taken with the historical vignettes; however if the overall objective was to communicate a series of points on how to take control of your life, then Andy succeeded.
The seven things that you need to do to change your life are: Take personal responsibility, Educate Yourself, Be a Person of Action, Make decisions and move forward, Choose Happiness, Forgive others, Persevere without exception.
I can't see any argument that any of these actions, done individually, will help you improve your life. We've all been told these or very similar things since before grade school.
Andy uses an old and quite effective teaching technique. He wraps the information in a story. And Andy is a great storyteller. So while there is no new information in this book, the information is presented in fresh and efficient manner.
I received a gift..............2007-07-14
I was given a gift about 12 months ago, the audio CDs of the Traveler's Gift, and have listened to them countless number of times since. I loved the story so much, I decided to purchase the book to compliment the audio CDs. The Traveler's Gift is profound and thought provoking. The messages are clear if you choose to see them. This story has changed, and continues to change, the way I see myself and my role in this world. If you're asking yourself 'why me?' then read this book.
Reminder that Attitude and Thoughts Change Everything.......2007-07-03
I've been on a reading frenzy lately because I've been in a funk and needed to snap out of it. I had been allowing my mood to let circumstances stop my progress toward my dreams. Then I picked up this book my brother had highly recommended well over a year ago. I had bought it immediately on Amazon.com and then put it on my shelf. Last night I read it. Andy Andrews, thanks for the research on 7 great human beings. Thanks for taking the time to inspire me and I'm sure countless others. You did a great job of waking me up. The buck DOES stop here. No matter how dire our circumstances, we still have the choice of what to do right now, in the midst of it, and that decision will affect our future and the future of others. This book gives 7 secrets to living the life you always dreamed of but kept missing out on. We all have a purpose. Isn't it time we lived it and stopped letting other people and other things give us excuses for anything less than greatness?
Book Description
With the publication of her first novel, THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER, Carson McCullers, all of twenty-three, became a literary sensation. With its profound sense of moral isolation and its compassionate glimpses into its characters' inner lives, the novel is considered McCullers' finest work, an enduring masterpiece first published by Houghton Mifflin in 1940. At its center is the deaf-mute John Singer, who becomes the confidant for various types of misfits in a Georgia mill town during the 1930s. Each one yearns for escape from small town life. When Singer's mute companion goes insane, Singer moves into the Kelly house, where Mick Kelly, the book's heroine (and loosely based on McCullers), finds solace in her music. Wonderfully attuned to the spiritual isolation that underlies the human condition, and with a deft sense for racial tensions in the South, McCullers spins a haunting, unforgettable story that gives voice to the rejected, the forgotten, and the mistreated -- and, through Mick Kelly, gives voice to the quiet, intensely personal search for beauty. Richard Wright praised Carson McCullers for her ability "to rise above the pressures of her environment and embrace white and black humanity in one sweep of apprehension and tenderness." She writes "with a sweep and certainty that are overwhelming," said the NEW YORK TIMES. McCullers became an overnight literary sensation, but her novel has endured, just as timely and powerful today as when it was first published. THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER is Carson McCullers at her most compassionate, endearing best.
Customer Reviews:
The Quiet Man. .......2007-09-27
An outstanding and realistic examination of the human condition. It's an indirect examination ("thoughts that wound from behind" as the great philosopher/storyteller Soren Kierkegaard put it) and that's what makes it so effective.
Everyone is so caught up in their own problems and acting out their desires that nobody notices the quiet suffering of the saintly central character. When he exits his void is felt yet no one can fathom the reasons for his disappearances. Maybe Jean Calvin was/is right about that thorough-corruption doctrine.
Carson McCullers sounds Kierkegaardian in showing the limits of organized religion and social action. The men of purposeful action (street preacher Simms, vagabond Jake Blount, and house-calling Doctor Copeland end up estranged, embittered, and feeling a lack of accomplishment. Meanwhile, the non-formalists (John Singer, Mick Kelly, and Biff Brannon) are better-adjusted and seem to have done more for the world. McCullers doesn't forget the "middle path" either by giving us Portia Copeland, a decent and generous church-goer who talks a little too much.
Our author echoes the sentiments of fellow Southerner William Faulkner on the civil rights issue. Both McCullers and Faulkner despaired at the suffering of blacks under Jim Crow but were wise enough to know the situation could not be legislated away (after all Jim Crow was a creation of government too.) Racism is a human failing to see The Other as a fellow child of G-d. It's an animalistic impulse, as Rabbi Daniel Lapin (a teacher of mine) rightly points out. Trying to speed the undoing of this impulse through legislation and protest marches, while not completely unhelpful, risks bloodshed. Having the faith/attributes of Biff (who runs a restaurant/hospitality center in the spirit of Biblical patriarch Abraham, the father of faith), Mick and Singer makes peaceful change possible in time.
Doctor Copeland and Jake Blount foreshadow the professional protestors of our era. Their enjoyment in physical confrontations tells us a good bit about the psyche of poverty pimps and union thugs.
Singer's life shows the truth of what another of my teachers (the saintly Rabbi Avigdor Miller ZT"L) once said -- "It is the quiet man that is respected." The public activist hero portrayed in Hollywood and TV news misleads many into thinking that they must pour forth a constant stream of verbiage to make an impact and promote "understanding." Rabbi Miller and other sages know better -- Most talking is counterproductive.
McCullers (who was 23 at the time "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" was published) proves herself the Great American Prophetess of the Great American Loneliness. Widespread ambivalence and inarticulateness amid the Information Age and cell-phone-driven communications "revolution" wouldn't have surprised Carson McCullers.
To close, here's a gem -- "He (Biff) had known his loves and they were over. Alice, Madeline, and Gyp. Finished. Leaving him either better or worse. Which? However you looked at it."
Character study, not a story.......2007-09-13
I read tons of "pulp" novels and I've started adding some classics to my wish list--largely to see if the books I abhored in high school would be more enjoyable if they were not assigned reading. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter was no better now.
As a character study it is superb; the main characters are deep, believable, and unique. I understood the characters, or at least why they didn't understand themselves. Each chapter with Mr. Singer made me smile with anticipation while I waited for something magical to happen to make the characters happy.
That was the problem with the book. Each chapter barely moves the story forward, and in the end nothing happens. There is so much potential for characters to talk and understand and change, but it never happens and the potential hangs over the entire book like a cloud. The book simply ends. No character is better off than they were in the beginning, no character's life path is appreciably changed from those of their next door neighbors. In short, with the exception of Mr. Singer, there was no reason to write about these characters in terms of their participation in events that are worth writing about.
The book was not a labor to get through, but I was largely unsatisfied with the resolution. I don't need a happy ending, but atleast give me a sense that the previous 200 pages somewhat affected that ending.
No thrilling page-turner, but a deep, honest look into the heart of man!.......2007-09-09
It's no fast-paced thriller, nor is it a gripping page-turner, it is however, an incredibly deep look into the heart and soul of man. Not until you finish the very last page and reflect on what you have read, can you truly begin to understand the simple truth behind the title, `The heart is a lonely hunter.'
The heart of man is lonely, always seeking, always needing something... elusive. We all share the need to feel connected, to be part of a whole. To know truth, and be at peace. We are so many disjointed voices that few of us are ever really heard.
Set in the deep South, Carson tells of a deaf mute named John Singer and a group of frustrated individuals that gravitate towards his serene and kindly nature--a young girl, desperate to follow her dreams; a drunkard, willing to impart his wisdom on the uninformed; a black doctor, eager to lift his people to equality; and a café owner, stuck in the routines of life.
Each seek Singer's company and tell of their woes with a deep believe that he, and only he, truly understands their ply. In him, each sees a kindred spirit. But what, exactly, does Singer see in them?
The Meaning of Life.......2007-08-29
"Seek and ye shall find," Jesus is quoted as saying in the Bible. All of us, no matter what our religious affiliation--or lack thereof--are seeking out a dream, a little piece of happiness. Sometimes this process is conscious and sometimes a subconscious imperative drives us forward towards that piece of happiness.
The five main characters of "The Heart is A Lonely Hunter" are all seeking their dreams in an unnamed mill town in the South in the late 1930s. For teenaged Mick Kelly, the dream is a career in classical music that her impoverished family can't afford to provide. For the relentless black Doctor Copeland, the dream is freedom and equality for his people. For restaurateur Biff Brannon the dream is having children. For vertically-challenged drifter Jake Blount the dream is a Marxist revolution to level the playing field for all people. And last, but most important, the dream for deaf-mute John Singer is to be reunited with his long time partner Anatopolous, who was committed to an institution.
Singer becomes the prime focus for the other four. One by one they inadvertently seek him out and spill their wishes and desires to him, although he often doesn't understand them. To Mick he is a secret friend who understands her. To Copeland he is a wise man who understands the struggles of the black minority. To Blount he is a comrade in arms for the revolution. And to Biff he is a kindred spirit, a fellow observer of humanity.
Yet for as much as he represents to them, they mean relatively little to Singer. His thoughts are consumed by his love--platonic, we assume--for Anatopolous, the one he thinks understands him. But much as Singer is a false idol to the other four, Anatopolous is a false idol for him, a lazy, selfish, slovenly person incapable of appreciating Singer's love. In the end these troubled souls are left to pick up the pieces after the false idols shatter, as they inevitably do. This leads each of them to make a decision and to enter a new phase of life.
What makes this book so wonderful to read is the profound understanding of humanity shown here. All of us at one time or another have felt the pent-up ambition Mick feels at wanting something that remains just out of reach. We've felt the righteous anger to right a terrible injustice like Doctor Copeland. We've felt the isolation of being the outsider like Blount. We've all felt the confusion after a loss like Biff. And those of us fortunate enough--or perhaps unfortunate enough--have felt the heartache of an unrequited love like Singer.
These people all seem real because their hopes and desires are those hopes and desires we all have. Their dreams aren't altogether different than those each of us seek, whether we're aware of it or not. We know their longing and desperation to find someone who understands them, even if that someone is a deaf-mute who can only nod along.
Because of that, the book touches something deep in our consciousness, something primal within all of us--the need to seek out for something greater. The most astounding thing about "The Heart is A Lonely Hunter" is that the author was only twenty-three years old when she published this. At a time when most of us are just getting out into the "real world" and discovering ourselves, McCullers already had it figured out.
This is truly a literary achievement that you should seek out at your local bookseller or library at once, those who haven't already done so based on Oprah's recommendation.
That is all.
doesnt stand up over time.......2007-08-13
Lula Carson Smith was my favorite author for a long time. However i must have outgrown her, because i found a recent re-reading of 'the heart...' to be a little tiresome. i agree with another reviewer who noted it was easy to tell the characters were developed by a 23 y/o.
Book Description
When Haven Kimmel was born in 1965, Mooreland, Indiana, was a sleepy little hamlet of three hundred people. Nicknamed "Zippy" for the way she would bolt around the house, this small girl was possessed of big eyes and even bigger ears. In this witty and lovingly told memoir, Kimmel takes readers back to a time when small-town America was caught in the amber of the innocent postwar period–people helped their neighbors, went to church on Sunday, and kept barnyard animals in their backyards.
Laced with fine storytelling, sharp wit, dead-on observations, and moments of sheer joy, Haven Kimmel's straight-shooting portrait of her childhood gives us a heroine who is wonderfully sweet and sly as she navigates the quirky adult world that surrounds Zippy.
Download Description
When Haven Kimmel was born in 1965, Mooreland, Indiana, was a sleepy little hamlet of three hundred people. Nicknamed "Zippy" for the way she would bolt around the house, this small girl was possessed of big eyes and even bigger ears. In this witty and lovingly told memoir, Kimmel takes readers back to a time when small-town America was caught in the amber of the innocent postwar period -- people helped their neighbors, went to church on Sunday, and kept barnyard animals in their backyards.
Laced with fine storytelling, sharp wit, dead-on observations, and moments of sheer joy, Haven Kimmel's straight-shooting portrait of her childhood gives us a heroine who is wonderfully sweet and sly as she navigates the quirky adult world that surrounds Zippy.
Customer Reviews:
A Girl Named Zippy.......2007-10-01
Cute and thoughtful. An easy read that makes you remember how things were different way back when.
I liked reading a memoir that was just plain fun.......2007-08-29
I was able to laugh through this memoir..I have since picked up her second memoir and I am saving that for a rainy (or snowy) day when I can kick back and read it all day long-
A bit lacking in zip..........2007-08-07
It seems as though everyone these days feels compelled to write an autobiography, and Kimmel was no exception. Born in 1965 in small-town Indiana, the author recalls her childhood, when she was known as "Zippy" for her talent at racing from place to place.
While some of Kimmel's story is intriguing -- her best friend Julie, strangely mute; her friend Dana, who arrives from L.A. in the second grade, wearing a black leather jacket -- much of her recollections are just run-of-the-mill little-girl recollections. While most of us can relate to lazy summer afternoons, browsing comics at the store or visiting friends, there's usually got to be some compelling reason to want to read about others' experiences doing the same. As far as I could see, there was really no unique "hook," or anything that made me think, "Wow, this person is worthy of a book!"
Don't get me wrong; it's not a BAD book. It's just not likely to stay in your memory for more than a day.
Just What I Needed ...........2007-06-27
I just picked this book up at a rummage sale. Whoever donated it to the sale has my undying gratitude because this book was the sweetest and funniest book I have read in quite some time. I am a fan of memoirs and biographies but this one is so unlike any others that I am now hooked on Kimmel's writings. I want more Zippy!
Like Zippy, who is four years older than I am by the way, I grew up in a small midwestern town but not as small as hers! I would be considered big city girl in comparison! But the midwestern attitude is so familiar that reading this book was like traveling down memory lane for me! She's the youngest in a family of three kids. Her older brother and sister were already in Junior high by the time she arrived. Her mother refers to her lovingly as an "after thought." That is how the book started out (well, almost). Named Haven at birth, her dad decided to call her Zippy since she could never sit still. You can say that her memories of childhood reeked of love, laughter and cigarettes.
Zippy is precocious. Zippy is curious. Zippy is Zippy, a character that you will never forget. My favorite part is the scene where her sister told her that she's adopted. Outraged, she stomps in and asks her mother if that's true. Her mother stops reading for a moment and says, yes, you are. A band of roving gypsies with a pack of wolves that stand up and preach during a full moon came through the area. The whole conversation had me repeating it to my husband as it was so hilarious and something exactly like what my father would spin out to me when I was a child.
I haven't raved about a book in a real long time though I have read lots of really good books ~~ but this book is something I am going to urge my book club to read sometime in the next year. It is something I think we'll enjoy because not only is it funny and engaging, but it talks about a childhood that is now lost in the mists of time. Building your own bike? Who does that anymore? There are many instances in this book that I remember doing as a kid or have heard my parents do when they were kids. I know that Christmas is more different today than it was in the early 70s. It seems to be a simpler time back then even though it was harder especially after the Vietnam War ended. It was a time of change but Zippy had a happy childhood and those memories are funny and bittersweet.
This book comes highly recommended. If you need a laugh, this book is a good place to get one! It is just a really good read and perfect for a summer read!
6-28-07
Delightful and witty! .......2007-06-04
This book is a fascinating escape; it brings the reader back to childhood and also reminds us of questions we have long since given up asking. A great hammock swinging summer read!
Book Description
Cry, the Beloved Country is a beautifully told and profoundly compassionate story of the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo and his son Absalom, set in the troubled and changing South Africa of the 1940s. The book is written with such keen empathy and understanding that to read it is to share fully in the gravity of the characters' situations. It both touches your heart deeply and inspires a renewed faith in the dignity of mankind. Cry, the Beloved Country is a classic tale, passionately African, timeless and universal, and beyond all, selfless.
Customer Reviews:
South Africa - 60 Years Past.......2007-09-01
Although this book is about 60 years old I just read it for the 1st time. It is a keeper and a treasure. It is a book that you will want to revisit often at least for awhile. I find the book to be filled with spiritual messages. You will see the making of aparthaid long before it was abolished. The story itself is quite suspenseful and Paton's writing style is unique. I like it.
So Glad I Discovered This Book!.......2007-07-26
The story of one man's quest to find his son and to seek forgiveness. I had never heard of this book prior to the 1001 Books To Read list (it had not been required reading in high school), and I am sorry I didn't read earlier. This book is one of the most memorable books I've ever read, and I know I will look forward to re-reading it again one day.
I understand some here have not taken kindly to Mr. Paton's writing style, but I found it engaging and very easy to read. His descriptive style, for me, was far from boring and kept me involved in the story to the point where I could envision all that was happening. For me, his words just flowed so evenly.
The story may be a little dated for today's politics being as the novel was written in 1946; however, it provides a thought-provoking point of view of the beginnings of apartheid in South Africa. The issues are complex, and the answers are not always easy or simple, but the effect on people is amazing and long-lasting. Mr. Paton describes how every facet of life is touched through this horrible policy. The dilemma of complexity is driven home when the stories of two men, Kumalo and Jarvis - one black, the other white - come together. Sympathies for both men are strong and the reader can find their hearts wrenched at what happens simply because that's the way it is done.
Well done and thoroughly enjoyed!
Great Simplicity; Great Depth; Remarkable Humanity.......2007-07-11
Many friends recommended CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY to me over the years, but it was not until May of this year that the book came my way in the form a gift. I picked it up one evening and--much to my own amazement--read it in a single sitting. Yes, it really is that good.
Published in 1948, the book tells a simple story. Zulu-born Stephen Kumalo is the elderly Christian priest of a tiny church who has seldom set foot outside his rural South Africa village; he is both uncertain and frightened when he summoned to Johannesburg to attend his sister, who is in great crisis. Once in the city, however, he determines to locate his son Absalom, who also lives in Johannesburg and from whom he has received no news for quite some time. Kumalo conducts his search with a mounting sense of despair--and ultimately finds himself in the midst of both personal tragedy and public scandal.
Although the story is grim, the novel itself is not. Alan Payton (1903-1988) wrote several novels, but CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY is best-known and most widely read work, and much of its power rests on the remarkable way in which he styles his prose: it possesses a shining simplicity that not only seems to capture the vocal cadence of South Africa but also allows the reader to see through the novel's several levels with a remarkable sense of clarity.
Much of the novel's power resides in its portrait of South Africa in this particular era. The word "apartheid" had not attained its full implication in 1948, but Paton not only identifies the almost accidental seeds of apartheid, he forecasts the ultimate result as well. Paton also endows the novel with a very clear idea of what Christianity should be in actual practice as opposed to what it too often is in actual fact, and although the story is indeed dark, the humanity involved is such that one never feels the darkness cannot be dispelled.
The older I become, the less inclined I am to keep books; these days I read them and give them away, and new permanent additions to my library are rare. But CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY is a keeper, a book I've no doubt I'll return to again and again.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
With Thanks to Kate, Whose Gift This Book Was
Masterpiece of Prose.......2007-06-13
I didn't think I would like this book. I have never seen a writing style like this, so it was a little strange to start. However, I quickly changed my mind. It was a wonderful book that is uplifting and thought-provoking. I cried at the end of it because the story was so beautiful. This is a must read.
Cry the Beloved.......2007-05-15
Alan Paton's Cry the Beloved Country is an eye opening look into 1940's South Africa. The main character pastor Stephen Kumalo tries to save his family from the trap that is the city of Johannesburg. Once in Johannesburg Kumalo quickly realizes hard life is in the white dominated society and how easy it is to fall into the trap. The book does start off a bit slow but by the middle it will have you sucked in. Paton vividly shows how crupt people can be but also shows how good hearted people can be. If you are looking for a book with emotion and life lessons this is a must read.
Amazon.com
Oprah Book Club® Selection, May 2000: In her still startling debut, The Good Mother, Sue Miller explored the premium we put on passion--and the terrible burden it places on a mother and child. Her fourth novel, While I Was Gone, is another study in familial crime and punishment. But this time, her wife and good mother is accessory to more than emotional malfeasance. Jo Becker has everything a woman could desire: a loving spouse, contented children, and a nice dog or two. When her New England veterinary practice takes on a new client, however, her past comes back to haunt her. Long ago, it seems, Jo had escaped her family and identity for a commune in Cambridge. Her Aquarian illusions came to an abrupt, bloody end when one of her housemates was brutally murdered.
Now this unhappy era returns in the person of Eli Mayhew, who had been the odd man out in Jo's boho household. His appearance is both tantalizing and upsetting: "Inside, I slowed down. I felt numbed. I had two last patients, and then I told Beattie to go home, that I'd close up.... I refiled the last charts, sprayed and wiped the examining table. I reviewed my list of routine surgeries for Wednesday. All the while I was thinking of Eli Mayhew, and of Dana and Larry and Duncan and me, and our lives in the house. Of the horrible way it had all ended." Sue Miller's fine novel is a penetrating--and sensuous--portrait of a woman besieged by her conscience. While I Was Gone also demonstrates that in the face of distance and betrayal, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing indeed. --Winnie Wheaton
Book Description
"Riveting . . . The narrative pacing is masterly, building tension even in the most psychologically subtle passages. . . . While I Was Gone celebrate[s] what is impulsive in human nature." --CHRISTOPHER LEHMANN-HAUPT The New York Times
"MILLER WEAVES HER THEMES OF SECRECY, BETRAYAL AND FORGIVENESS INTO A NARRATIVE THAT SHINES." --Time "FASCINATING . . . A NEW NOVEL OF GREAT INTEGRITY AND POWER . . . Despite having a loving husband, three vivacious daughters, a beautiful home in rural Massachusetts, and satisfaction in her work, Jo Becker's mind is invaded by a persistent restlessness. Then, an old roommate reappears to bring back Jo's memories of her early 20s. . . . Her obsession with that period of her life and with the crime that concluded it eventually estrange Jo from everything she holds dear, causing her to tell lie after lie as she is pulled closer to this man from her past--and to a horrible secret." --Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel "MARVELOUS . . . POIGNANT . . . POWERFUL." --Seattle Times/Post Intelligencer
"A BEAUTIFUL AND FRIGHTENING BOOK . . . MANY READERS WILL FIND IT DIFFICULT TO FORGET. . . . It swoops gracefully between the past and the present, between a woman's complex feelings about her husband and her equally complex fantasies--and fears--about another man. . . . I can think of few contemporary novelists--John Updike and Frederick Buechner are two others--who write so well about the trials of faith." --The New York Times Book Review "QUIETLY GRIPPING . . . Jo shines steadily as the flawed and thoroughly modern heroine. As in her 1986 novel, The Good Mother, Miller shows how impulses can fracture the family." --USA Today
Customer Reviews:
Can't understand the hype.......2007-08-04
I absolutely hated this book. Jo is just a selfish pig. She runs away from her husband and family and doesn't even extend them the common courtesy you would give a stranger. Then all is forgotten and forgiven because she married a minister and became a vet?? Yeah, sure, until she reverts to type and is again ready to deceive her family. What a waste of time -- I only finished the book because I wanted to know where this sorry tale was heading.
Intriguing.......2007-07-17
Although feeling slightly odd and lonely since the last of her three daughters left home, Jo Becker has to admit she's got a great life. Her husband is loving and supportive, they have a wonderful old New England home, and she's a successful veterinarian with her own practice.
Before this settled, familiar life, however, Jo had another identity. For nearly a year, she was Licia Stead, a waitress living in a communal house in Cambridge. On the run from an unhappy marriage, Jo felt she'd finally found her true self in the rundown old house, filled with the gaiety and noise of her eclectic housemates.
One horrible evening, Jo comes home from work to find the bloody body of Dana, her housemate and friend, brutally murdered just minutes before. Anguished and horrified, she and the others are forced to undergo police interrogation and general disapproval from the community as a whole for their unstructured lifestyle. Ultimately, the killer is never found, and Dana's death marks the end of an era. The remaining housemates each find reasons to leave, and the group disbands.
Fast forward 25 years later, when Eli Mayhew brings his dog to Jo's veterinary practice. Seeing him forces Jo to remember Dana and the life they once had. She also begins to have feelings for Eli, though they're both married to other people.
Then Jo discovers that Eli may know more about the circumstances around Dana's death than he's ever let on...
In this book, Miller's fine writing is able to convey both the image of an average small-town New England existence, as well as the hints of something darker just beneath the surface.
Good, not great.......2007-06-25
This was a good book- not my favorite, but kept my interest. The characters never seemed real to me nor did the their actions.
Not a waste of my time, but a bit disappointing.
Is it running away?.......2007-06-19
Daniel, a pastor, is happy. His wife Jo, a veterinarian, is the narrator. The couple has three daughters, Sadie and the twins, Cass and Nora. Jo learns that Eli Mayhew, a fellow commune-dweller from long ago, is living in their town.
The story flashes back to the commune where Jo used a fictitious name. Eli had been the only serious one there, a scientist. Crime visited the commune, interrupting youthful activities, youthful development. Eli's return marks for Jo a time of surging memories of the tragedy at the commune. Daniel is surprised at Jo's reaction. He is consumed with his own pastoral duties centering on the death of one of his parishioners.
After a family Thanksgiving and a party given afterwards to ease familial tension, Jo realizes she has been collecting a bagful of petty grievances against Daniel. When Daniel and Jo go out to dinner with Jean and Eli Mayhew, Jo sees that Daniel doesn't care for Eli. Daniel talks about soul and Eli about neurons. Daniel explains to Eli that there has to be a desire for God to become a believer. Eli thinks that Daniel won't accept the implications of science in his thinking.
In the plot turns here there are a number of surprises for the reader. In the end the most important area covered by Sue Miller in this novel is the difficulty everyone has of accepting and being responsible for all of the deeds and misdeeds of former selves. Events in this novel verge on the garish, but it is possible that like circumstances haunt the background of everybody.
Miller writes easily and smoothly. It is no wonder that her novels are so popular.
Betrayal.......2007-06-09
In While I was Gone, Sue Miller takes us deeply inside a marriage. We always are surprised when people get divorced because marriages look different from the outside than the inside. Sometimes pretty on the outside, ugly inside. With this one between a vet and a minister we go inside the very fabric. We enter the bedroom. We enter the bed, the life of the mind, the life of the body, the life of the soul, the life of the parents, and when the fraying begins, we feel it acutely, a grind against our own gears. We feel the unravelling acutely. We are never the same. Kate Gale
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- The Runaway Princess
- The Seven Daughters of Eve
- The Virgin's Lover
- Through My Eyes
- Tongue in Cheek (Black Lace)
- Twelfth Night (Folger Shakespeare Library)
- Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew
- Ultimate Galactus Vol. 2: Secret
- Unearthed Arcana (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying)
- Unraveled
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