Book Description
Unabridged CDs - 7 CDs, 8 hours
Tracy Chevalier captivated readers when Dutton published The Girl with a Pearl Earring in December 1999. Since then, she has written two New York Times bestsellers, Falling Angels and The Lady and the Unicorn.
Now, three years after the publication of her last book, Chevalier is at the top of her form in the breathtaking novel Burning Bright.
Customer Reviews:
A Flickering Flame.......2007-10-10
I just recently finished reading Burning Bright, the latest novel by Tracy Chevalier. This is her mostly recent novel and to be honest the only reason that I read it is because it was chosen for my next book club. I have read other books by Chevalier in the past and have have mixed reactions on them. So, I wasn't super enthused to read this book...and while it didn't suck. I wasn't in love with it either.
This novel primarily takes place in London, England in the year 1792, focusing around 3 teenagers: Jem, Maggie and Jem's sister Maisie. Jem & Maisie have recently moved from to quiet life in the country to the bustling city of London with their parents and are learning how to adjust. One thier first day in the city they meet Maggie, a street wise girl who likes to be the one who knows everything and tend to delight in the mistakes that Jem and his sister make while they are learning to adapt to city life. Thrown into this group in none other than Willima Blake. Who has got to be one of the most aloof, vaguley written characters that I have ever met in a book.
In some ways Mr Blake is always there for the teenagers idolize him and his beliefs. Yet, even when he is in the prescence of the teens he seems to be off somewhere else. He speaks in metaphors and doesn't seem to be bothered by anything. Even when there is a mob outside his door he just stands there limply and only reacts after Maisie starts to recite one of his poems.....or songs as they are refered to in the book. Even then his reaction isn't quite what the reader expects. There are times in which I think that Blake's character is more of an after thought. Someone famous that the author tosses into the mix in an attempt at trying to accomplish......something. What exactly I am not sure. The characters of Jem, Maggie and Maisie are all pretty underdeveloped as well. There seems to be no real purpose to any of them and I found it hard to care what happened to them.
I initally struggled to get through this book. Its not a hard read I just found it to be boring and lacking in plot. I was often more drawn to the various descriptions more then what was going on with the main characters. Where the major events of their lives seem to be swept aside and barely discussed while pages and pages are spent on them watching a circus procession going by. I finally had to give myself a shake and force myself to read the novel any time I had a chance because I just wanted it done.
Not one of Tracy Chevalier's better books.......2007-08-26
I've read every book by Tracy Chevalier and loved each of them. I was so happy to find out she had a new release,"Burning Bright". Sorry to say, the book is not as good as Ms. Chevalier's others. The story is dull and doesn't go anywhere. Only reason I gave this book 2 stars and not 1 is that Ms. Chevalier does an excellent job of bringing the 1792 time period to life.
Interesting historically, but not the most gripping story.......2007-08-17
An interesting and detailed picture of London in the late eighteenth century. The people and the industries of the time, along with the feeling of unrest as King George worries that his citizens will revolt like the French.
It took me a little while to get into the story, possibly because I wasn't particularly interested in the circus or the Astleys who owned it. I found it a little poor but it did improve and as the story developed I did grow to like Jem and Maggie, the main characters.
I would disagree with the synopsis that states, "Their friendship takes a dramatic turn when they become entangled in the life of their neighbour...William Blake." They hardly become entangled. He's a printer, a radical and poet who just happens to be a neighbour and features briefly from time to time to give them a little food for thought.
Pleasant, but not gripping.
Another Winner!.......2007-07-14
Tracy Chevalier is my favorite author. This book was fabulous! She drew me in on the first sentence. I true winner in my book. Thanks Tracy!
A Pale Watercolor/Far from a Poem.......2007-07-08
Not worth the time. There is little plot or story line other than the author tries to paint a word picture of rural England and London in Blake's time, but ends up with a lot of fog and Blake a dim drab shadow in the background. The author never seems to grasp the genius and passion of Blake's poetry or the depth of his involvement and horror over in the collaterial damage that tortured so many craftsmen and those rural people who tilled the land -- all caught in the maw of the English Industrial Revolution and the bloddy undertow from the French Revolution. If you are interested in Blake and the world in which he lived, it is better to spend your time and money on Jacob Bronowski's book: A Man Withjout a Mask : William Blake 1757 - 1827 -- now in used book sections.
Book Description
John Steinbeck was never content to repeat himself, and his restless search for new forms and fresh subject matter is fully evident in the books of his later years. This volume collects four novels that exhibit the full range of his gift, along with a travel book that has become one of his most enduringly popular works.
In The Wayward Bus (1947), Steinbeck leads a group of ill-matched passengers representing a spectrum of social types and classes, stranded by a washed-out bridge, on a circuitous journey that exposes cruelties, self-deceptions, and unsuspected moral strengths. The tone ranges from boisterous comedy to trenchant satirical observation of postwar America. Burning Bright (1950), an allegory set against shifting backgrounds (circus, sea, farm) and revolving around the fear of sterility and the desire for self-perpetuation, marks Steinbeck's involvement with the drama in its fusion of the forms of novel and play.
Sweet Thursday (1954) marks Steinbeck's return, in a mood of sometimes frothy comedy, to the characters and milieu of his earlier Cannery Row. A love story set against the background of the local brothel, the Bear Flag, Sweet Thursday is for all its intimations of melancholy one of the most lighthearted of Steinbeck's books. It was subsequently adapted by Rodgers and Hammerstein into their musical Pipe Dream. Steinbeck's final novel, The Winter of Our Discontent (1961) is set in an old Long Island whaling town modeled on Sag Harbor, where he had been spending time since 1953. The book breaks new ground in its depiction of the crass commercialism of contemporary America, and its impact on a protagonist with traditionalist values who is appalled but finally tempted by the encroaching sleaziness.
Travels with Charley in Search of America (1962) was Steinbeck's last published book. A record of his experiences and observations as he drove around America in a pickup truck, accompanied by his standard poodle Charley, it is filled with engaging, often humorous description and comes to a powerful climax in an encounter with racist demonstrators in New Orleans.
Robert DeMott, co-editor, is the Edwin and Ruth Kennedy Distinguished Professor at Ohio University and the author of Steinbeck's Typewriter, an award-winning book of critical essays. Brian Railsback, co-editor, is dean of the Honors College at Western Carolina University and the author of Parallel Expeditions: Charles Darwin and the Art of John Steinbeck.
Customer Reviews:
Fititng Conclusion to Series.......2007-04-12
This volume is up to the LOA's customary magnificient standards. This is not Steinbeck's best work (although I persist in viewing "Sweet Thursday" as under-valued), but still worth every penny.
Steinbeck fans should have this on their shelves. DeMott's previous editorial work on The Grapes of Wrath establishes him as the editor of choice for any edition, and these Library of America editions are becoming, justifiably, the "standard" texts.
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Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright
Ron Koertge
Manufacturer: Scholastic
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Koertge, Ron
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ASIN: 0531068404 |
Customer Reviews:
A OK Book.......2001-04-02
This book is funny. It is about Jesse and his grandpa. Growing up in Texas, Jesse is a wannabe cowboy - who looks up to his grandpa - a true cowboy. His grandfather is getting old and forgetful; he falls asleep while cooking beans, and Jesse's mother is threatening to send him to a old age home. Jesse thinks that he is fine at home, and should not be at one with only old people. I really enjoyed the book, it was funny and sad too. --Tim Britton
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Burning Bright (Black Lace)
Janine Ashbless
Manufacturer: Virgin Black Lace
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ASIN: 0352340851
Release Date: 2007-03-06 |
Book Description
Two lovers, brought together by a forbidden passion, are on the run from their pasts. Veraine was once a commander in the Imperial army; Myrna the divine priestess he seduced and stole from her desert temple. Traveling through a jungle kingdom, they fall prey to slavers and are separated. Myrna is taken to the city of Tiger Lords: inhuman tyrants with a taste for human flesh. Myrna still has faith that Veraine will find her - but, left for dead, he has forgotten everything. Still he journeys through a fevered landscape of promise and supernatural danger to find the unknown woman he longs for.
Customer Reviews:
Bug City Revealed.......2003-07-18
This was the first Shadowrun book I ever read after having picked up the Bug City companion which referenced this novel. Tom Dowd has painted a wonderful picture of the situation in Chicago and the slow build up to the eruption of one of the largest bug hives in the Shadowrun universe. This dark, gritty tale also helps set the mood for anyone interested in running a Bug City campaign and is a must read for any gamemaster.
All around excellence........1999-10-20
Though Nigel Findley was the one of the last true Shadowrun authors, Tom Dowd recently took the late novelists place. Burning Bright has an edge, a quality, that most of the other(and more recent) Shadowrun novels lack. The characters are excellent, as is the plot. I was always confused about what happened in Chicago in the late months of summer. This novel clarified everything.
I honestly didn't find many errors. The actual plot slowed down a little, but before I could get impatient, everything picked back up again. A must read for the Shadowrun fan. Actually, a must read for the casual reader, as well.
Probably the best Shadowrun Novel ever........1999-09-19
Not infrequently I get into debates/arguments about the utility of novels in game universes (for example, do the Forgotten Realms novels make the Realms a better, or worse, game setting?) In those debates, "Burning Bright" is the example I use of a good use of game-related fiction.
Most game-related novels, whatever their other merits, end up with one grave flaw, which over time weakens the utility of the setting as an RPG universe - they end "happily," with the heros triumphant and villans humbled (Zhentil Keep is nuked, Tethyr unified under benign government, etc, etc). This makes the setting gradually less interesting as a place to adventure in. Most authors seem to lack the stomach for anything other than a happy ending, and most readers seem to agree. Also, most such novels answer more questions than they leave you with (reducing the game world's mystery), solve more problems than they introduce (reducing the "threat level").
In Burning Bright, Tom Dowd was bold enough to take another path. He took the road less travelled by, and that made all the difference. In addition to solid characters and a engaging storyline, this book's ending paved the way for a very dangerous, dark game setting (Bug City). While publically exposing the bugs, it left the problem not only unsolved, but more dangerous - and eventually this storythread led to Yeats, Penchyk, and the Empowerment Coalition.
This was one of the first SR novels I ever read, and if only all game related fiction were this good, RPG gaming might not be a withering hobby. . .
One of, if not, the best SR novel ever.......1999-07-29
Burning Bright is a great novel. The first Shadowrun novel I was actually fulfilled by in its premise and storytelling. It is such an amazing and incredible book. I only wish I though to comment sooner. Oh well.
Easily the best SR book I've read.......1998-12-14
This book is well-written and engrossing. It's also a lot less "cutesy" and a lot more adult than most Shadowrun novels. Highly recommended!
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Burning Bright: An Anthology
Patricia Hampl
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
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Blue Arabesque: A Search for the Sublime
ASIN: 0345380290
Release Date: 1995-11-07 |
Book Description
O night, you are dark because
you do not know Him.
O day, go and learn from Him
what it means to shine.
Rumi
This extraordinary daybook of sacred poetry is for everyone, not only readers secure in their faith and those in search of it. It is a radiant, inspiring companion that invites us all to step, like Emily Dickinson, "upon the North to see this Curious Friend."
From the three great monotheistic religions--Judaism, Christianity, and Islam--Patricia Hampl has gathered more than a hundred poems of faith, of spiritual longing, of devout disbelief. And in the spirit of Western prayer cycles she has ordered them according to the time of day: Morning, Noon, and Night.
Burning Bright includes poems by Francis of Assisi, Yehuda Amichai, William Blake, Rumi, Louise Erdrich, Rainer Maria Rilke, Maria Tsvetaeva, Sylvia Plath, Wallace Stevens, Nelly Sachs, Gharib Nawaz, Allen Ginsberg, and fifty-five others. Not only the deeply felt works of identifiably religious poets are included, but the passionate poems of poets driven by a yearning for the sacred.
In a broad reach over time and cultures, this collection moves into the very heart of faith and uncertainty. It attempts, Hampl says, "to make the day holy--or at least bearable," and we are left with the buoyancy that Yehuda Amichai describes in the last lines of the book's final poem:
Love is not the last room: there are others
after it, the whole length of the corridor
that has no end
Customer Reviews:
Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03
The planet Burning Bright has a nice, central location for trade. It is also home to a lot of virtual gaming. A young gamemaster debuts one of her new scenarios here, and becomes an overnight sensation.
She attracts the attention of the glitterati and some of the more dangerous higher ups in society, and is embroiled in some dodgy situations because of this.
Sometimes, political intrigue is just another game.......2006-12-17
Sometimes, political intrigue is just an extension of a standard RPG. In the world of Burning Bright, two games absorb the interest of the populace. The first is an immersive form of role-play, enhanced by realistic images pulled from a universal network. The second is political, in many ways similar, but much more deadly. Quinn Lioe is a pilot taking a few days gaming leave on Burning Bright while the ship she works on is being repaired. Running a new scenario she has developed leads her into a larger game she had not expected to be drawn into. This fast paced novel is clever, and easily enjoyed by the long-term sci-fi reader and newcomers to the genre.
Melissa Scott's Best Book.......2006-05-08
Most of Scott's writing can be described as competent but uninspired. _Burning Bright_ rises above that level.
Quinn Lioe is a starship pilot on leave while her ship is being repaired. She's also an avid role-playing gamer with a budding reputation for writing good scenarios. The city and planet Burning Bright (there's only one city on the planet, both share the same name) is one of the centers for the Game and Lioe gets the chance to use her new scenario at a prestigious Gaming club.
Burning Bright is important as the trading link between the human Republic and the alien Hsai Empire. Damian Chrestil, a partner in a large trading firm, is trying to smuggle drugs into the Hsai Empire. The drugs are on Burning Bright, brought, not coincidentally, by Lioe's ship. They can't be shipped further on until certain codes are provided by a Hsai official, ji-Imbaoa. For reasons which are not explained, ji-Imbaoa is extremely slow in getting these codes and passing them to Chrestil. Complicating matters is the fact that Burning Bright has periodic, massive hurricanes, and the first storm of the season is rapidly approaching the city.
There's also the Hsai ambassador, Chauvelin, a human who's been adopted into a major Hsai clan. This clan is a rival to ji-Imbaoa's clan. Chauvelin has a protege named Ransome who served time in a Hsai jail for a lese majeste offense against a member of ji-Imbaoa's clan. While imprisoned, Ransome was infected with an incurable lung disease which is slowly killing him. Ransome is a data-miner on Burning Bright's computer nets. Ji-Imbaoa and Chrestil are both concerned that Ransome might find out about the smuggling while wandering through the nets. Since Ransome was a notable Game player who's dropped out because the Game was getting stale, ji-Imbaoa orders Chauvlin to get Ransome back into the Game and off the nets.
Scott uses this to weave a political thriller set in a well-described society. The Game is shown in some detail, but doesn't overwhelm the rest of the story. Lioe and Ransom are three dimensional characters who interact with others in believable ways. As is usual with Scott's novels, the characters are either gay or bisexual, except for Chrestil's mistress, who seems to be the only straight person in the book.
I recommend this book. Of all Scott's novels, it's the only one I would give five stars to.
Fun book & great gaming system.......2002-05-26
In this book instead of pro sports everyone takes part in a great inter stellar virtual reality game that is awesome. U can tell that the author is really into gaming and she describes the whole gaming system so that you feel like your playing in it yourself. Very highly recommended.
Wonderful.......2000-02-22
This is quite a wonderful book. Intriguing characters, a good plot, an unusual world-view (yes, there are some sci-fi cliches but they do not interfere much with the story, i think) and good details to keep this futuristic world real for you. I read it with great interest, and would like to keep on reading any new books from Melissa Scott.
Customer Reviews:
A wonderful colelction of holiday stories!.......2006-01-01
A very interesting anthology because the three stories are centered on a different holiday celebration: Christmas, hanukkah and winter solstice. They each involve women who are returning to the same quiet rural Vermont town to regroup and re-evaluate their lives after suffering some sort of loss in a larger city. The common thread is an off-the-beaten-path candle shop with a mystical proprietor who gifts them with magical candles that lead them to resolving their issues. Each story is wonderful in its own right, with endearing characters, interesting plots and enough spirit to chase the humbugs away!
In Star Light, Star Bright by Anne Stuart the characters allow the Christmas spirit heal their wounds and rediscover each other. One for Each Night by Judith Arnold has a very strong plot behind the romance about a journalist gathering the facts on an embezzlement crime alongside the lawyer for the defense. However, my favorite story in the collection is Return of the Light by Maggie Shayne. It is very rare to find a story about the pagan celebration of Winter Solstice in a Holiday anthology, and although I do not subscribe to the wiccan beliefs, I found the meditations and spiritual discovery to be very inspiring.
great anthology.......2005-11-05
Anne Stuart, Maggie Shayne and Judith Arnold off up three very different tales in for the Christmas season. Burning Bright is a charming collection of stories that centre around Christmas in a small town - Crescent Cove, Vermont. In each tale, the heroine wanders into an offbeat candle shop and comes out with a magic candle guaranteed to make their wishes come true.
In Star Light, Star Bright by Anne Stuart we meet Angela McKenna. After a nasty divorce she has returned to Crescent Cove for the holidays. It's not an easy time, her family home had been sold, so she now lives in a cottage on the edge of the old estate. A self-proclaimed Christmas Slut, she is determined to enjoy the holiday to the fullest. Only the return of Brody Jackson might upset the applecart. Long ago Angela had a secret love for Brody, but she stood and watched from afar. Now the fair-haired homeboy has returned after a scandal. With a special candle and old memories, can their love find the way?
Maggie Shayne gives us a witchy tale. Dori Stewart blew off small town life when she headed to NYC. In her wake, she left a devastated Jason Farrar who was in love with her. In New York, she found the openness to practice her Wiccian religion. Seemed everything was there for the asking. Then suddenly something went wrong. She loses her job, her home and her fancy car. Now, she has returned to the small berg that she swore stifled her. Jason still has feelings for Dori, but he's not about to let her have a second chance to crush his heart.
In the third tale, One for Each Night by Judith Arnold, Alana Ross is hunting for a special candle for her grandmother's antique menorah. A pall is through over the festive spirit of the season, because the local head of the School board has funds missing. And he refuses to say why. As a reporter for the local paper, Alana is determined to find out the truth.
Jeffrey Barrett turns up, a New York City lawyer, and uncle to the man accused of stealing the funds. He is determined to stop Alana from ruining his uncle, but he's finding the chose quite distracting as all he can think about his kissing Alana.
A heart-warming collection of seasonal stories encompassing the holidays of different religions........2005-08-31
Courtesy of Love Romances Reviews
Burning Bright is a heart-warming collection of seasonal stories encompassing the holidays of different religions. With the common denominator being the town they all take place in and a tiny little candle shop that is unusual and mysterious, it will touch all who read it.
In Star Light, Star Bright by Anne Stuart, readers meet Angela "Angel" McKenna, a new divorcee who is hoping to rebuild her life. Will a new love with an old flame be the answer to her Christmas wish? Brody Jackson has returned to Crescent Cove, Vermont to lick his wounds caused by the scandal surrounding the company he owned with his brothers. All he wants is to hide from the world, but when Angel shows up on his doorstep, he decides maybe it is time to come out of his shell for a new start.
What is a more perfect time for a renewal of life's dreams than at Christmas? Angel is slowly recovering from the crushing blow given her when her husband divorced her. After suffering through one year where she had no desire to celebrate the holiday, she decides this year is the time to start. Angel almost puts Santa Claus to shame with the amount of good cheer she spreads. Her newfound good will is a delight to encounter for the reader. Brody starts out as something of a Scrooge, with reason, but in the face of Angel's spirit, and a rekindling of that old ember of desire long ago sparked and banked, his turn around is easy to understand.
In Return of the Light by Maggie Shayne, Dori Stewart was a very important person in her Manhattan life. When everything crashes down around her, including her fantastic job and her key role in her local Coven, she comes home to Vermont to find out what went wrong. She has lost her faith in everything, including the Goddess, but maybe with the help of Jason Farrar, the local police chief and an old time fling of hers, she'll make a new start on the winter solstice.
Dori started out as a woman who has it all, and one who has forgotten just who it was that blessed her with that gifted life. When she loses everything she held dear, her faith dies with it. Or does it? She forgets for a while how important her beliefs are, but when her eyes are reopened, the outpouring of relief and hope she feels changes her in a good way. Jason has a hard time understanding her beliefs at first, but later comes to understand just how important they are to her. Another thing enjoyable about this story is how the author takes the scorn that others have for Dori's religion and turns it around, lighting up the whole town with the spirit of fellowship and understanding.
In the third and final story in the collection, One for Each Night by Judith Arnold, Alana Ross, a local news reporter, is holding her first Hanukkah open house in memory of her grandmother. However, things get hairy when Jeffrey Barrett arrives in town. His uncle was implicated in an embezzlement scandal involving school board funds and Alana is not afraid to report the facts or local suspicions. As his uncle's attorney, Jeffrey tries to get to the bottom of things, but finds he'd rather get up close and personal with Alana. Will her holiday celebration involve a new love?
What seasonal collection at this time of year would be complete without a Hanukkah story? Alana's faith is strong, as are the memories she holds of her beloved grandmother. Her entire celebration is as much about her holiday as it is keeping her grandmother alive in her heart. It was fun to read about the different delicacies that go along with the holiday tradition. Jeffrey has his doubts about Alana, feeling she is pushing too hard to ruin his uncle's reputation, but as he learns more about her and her history, he slowly comes to understand why she feels the way she does about her news reporting. The steady development of their mutual respect and love is believable and pleasing to experience with them.
This inspiring holiday collection will open readers' hearts, no matter what holiday they observe. The mystical touch of the ever changing candle shop and owner, helping each woman fulfill her dreams with the right candle, gives just enough of that feel of a miracle happening, to remind everyone what this time of year is really about... rebirth and renewal, and faith and love.
© Kelley A. Hartsell, December 2004. All rights reserved.
Three winter holiday romances.......2004-11-22
This book was fairly unusual - each of the stories was set in a different religious context with each of the main female characters celebrating a different winter holiday. Each story took place in Crescent Cove, Vermont, a small town with love in the air! I'll review each story separately.
"Star Light, Star Bright" by Anne Stuart - 4.5 stars
Angela McKenna is back in Crescent Cove after a painful divorce, and soon finds that Brody Jackson is also back in Crescent Cove after a financial scandal. Brody had had a crush on her when they were both teenagers, but Angela had married her childhood sweetheart and moved away. Once Brody sees Angela again, he realizes that he still has a crush on her, and Angela wonders why she was so blind when it came to Brody in the first place. Can a little Christmas magic bring Brody and Angela together?
This story was really good and laid down the foundation for the next two stories by introducing a lot of the town's places and residents. I don't have much to say about it - it was a good "second chance at finding love" story. My only complaint is that the character of Brody wasn't developed as well as he could have been, but there's always limited space in short stories.
"Return of the Light" by Maggie Shayne - 5 stars
Dori Stewart thought she had it all - a job she loved, a great salary, and a wonderful apartment. The publishing house she worked at was acquired by a conservative publishing house, though, and she found herself fired for her religious beliefs (although the new company cleverly disguised this fact) because she was a practicing Wiccan. Dori went back to Crescent Cove, where she met Jason Farrar, her old boyfriend. She had left Jason behind years ago for the big city, but Jason had never forgotten her. In fact, he still loved her madly - but he wasn't going to get his heart broken by her again. As Dori tries to reignite her waning faith this winter solstice, will she come to the conclusion that she was meant to return to Crescent Cove because she and Jason are destined to be together?
I absolutely loved this story, it was the real gem of the book (although the other two stories were good too). Not only does Ms. Shayne manage to create two endearing characters in less than 100 pages, but she also accurately portrays the struggles of a pagan trying to fight against the stereotypes so many have against the faith. It was a wonderful story, I absolutely loved it. The letter Ms. Shayne wrote that appears before the story is also great - don't skip over it!
"One for Each Night" by Judith Arnold - 4.5 stars
Alana Ross is instantly attracted to big-city lawyer Jeffrey Barrett. Too bad he's in town trying to clear his uncle's name, a man Alana believes is guilty of stealing money from the school budget. Although they're adversaries, they can't deny the chemistry between them, especially as Jeffrey helps Alana prepare for hosting her first Hanukkah open house. Can Jeffrey and Alana forget the circumstances keeping them apart and focus on what could draw them together?
This was also an enjoyable story. Much of the story focuses on the mystery of the missing funds - did Jeffery's uncle take the money or not? I was left wondering until the truth came out. Each of the three stories also provide details about the faith of the main female character, so I learned things about the pagan and Jewish faiths (I already knew Christian beliefs, having been raised a Catholic). This is definitely a great book for anyone who loves a winter-themed romance, regardless of their faith.
Real Brightness Bringer.......2004-11-18
Feel your holiday spirit is lost? This book brings light, warmth and magic back into the season. A real keeper. A wonderful gift for your spirit.
Customer Reviews:
Steinbeck's most cliché work.......2007-01-11
Burning Bright is, no doubt, a beautiful story that captures raw human emotion under particularly trying circumstances. It is an easy read, and perhaps were it any other author I would have rated the book with 5 stars, but this is not Steinbeck's most creative writing.
For a beautiful story about life's struggles and the battle of a man against his own conscience, read Steinbeck's The Winter of Our Discontent. For a story that truly captures the human ability to overcome life's disappointments, read Steinbeck's The Red Pony. To witness true literary art and Steinbeck's ability to describe interesting people, their tiny quirks and interesting antics, read Steinbeck's The Pastures of Heaven.
This book is worth reading, but please don't draw any conclusions about Steinbeck's creative and artistic talents from this alone - he has far better work, even in the short story category, that will leave the reader enchanted and wishing the pages would never end.
Trapped in a Paradox.......2006-08-10
In reading almost all of John Steinbeck's work, this one has to be one of my favorites. Exploring a situation in which human emotions are pushed to the edge, the reader knows what is going to happen. Yet in much the same way drivers crane their necks to see an accident on the highway, the reader goes on in fascination.
Joe Saul's first wife died without bearing him a child. His second wife Mordeen has yet to bear him a child. The strain of not having a child is wearing on Joe Saul's happiness, forcing his wife to take action. Most people believe Joe Saul is the reason his wives were never able to conceive. With the seedy Victor as a suitor, Mordeen becomes pregnant while Joe Saul assumes he is the father. Just as Joe Saul's world could not get any brighter, Mordeen's lie begins to unravel. The reader only discovers in the final pages if Joe Saul will accept "his child".
John Steinbeck's ability to paint human emotions in detail is in peak form in "Burning Bright" While this work is not as noted as some of his other works, it certainly deserves to be ranked among his elite work.
"Somewhere in us there is a shining.".......2006-02-17
Apparently prompted by an incident in his own life when his wife divorced him and falsely declared that his child was not fathered by him, this short work is about a man, Joe Saul, who desperately wants a child. But he's infertile. In an attempt to grant him his wish, his wife, Mordeen, becomes pregnant by another man, Victor. Complications occur when Victor declares his love for Mordeen, and when he threatens to tell Joe Saul the truth, Joe Saul's friend, Friend Ed, kills Victor. Joe Saul learns the truth anyway, but says it doesn't matter, all children belong to all men, "it is the race, the species, that must go staggering on."
Steinbeck seems more concerned with expressing a universal message here than in producing a lasting work of art. One symbolic way he goes about doing this is by having the setting for each of the three "acts" of the story change dramatically, from a circus, to a farm, to finally a freighter at sea, though the characters never change. It's not very subtle and might even be confusing. Another way he tries to make his message a universal one is by writing in a language disconnected, in a sense, to the human beings speaking it. "I know the passing year," says Victor at one point. "The fall is chilling down and the hoar frost does crisp and yellow the strong grasses near the stream under the tattering cottonwoods." Perhaps he's trying for some Shakespearean universal language here, but it sounds false and stilted in the setting of the story. The final scene of the third act is moving, but on the whole, the book is not one of Steinbeck's major accomplishments.
A Small Precious Treasure.......2000-02-24
Do not be deceived. This book/play, though thin and small and light, has great presence and substance.
Joe Saul is a man, he could be any man, an acrobat, a farmer, a sailor, who has a deep desire to have a child of his body - but can he?
The story shimmers with violent energy, barely repressed. It truely 'burns bright' with emotion, clear and confused, painful yet tender, loving yet savage.
Without giving the story away, the three act structure is incredibly important to the theme of the story/play - Steinbeck is perhaps one of the most intelligent writers in thinking a theme right through, and crafting his work to reflect the theme on more than one level.
A surprising twist makes the potentially dumb book, genius........1998-05-25
I love Steinbeck, and read as many of his books as I can. I had recently bought this book, and when I needed to read a book for school, took the chance to read this one. It is different in the fact that it is a "play-novelette," as Steinbeck calls it, and is divided not into chapters, but acts. This is a fine mixture of the good qualities of both a play, and a novel. Essentially, it is a novel that can be done as a play without losing any of the author's intentions. However, by the end of the first act, I almost started a new book, as Burning Bright seemed dissappointingly to be the type of book that I could pick up on a trashy romance novel clearance shelf. But I decided to start the next act, since I had little time to turn in my report. It was then that I saw Steinbeck work his magic, and show in a completely unique way that certain things in life are no respecter of class, status, circumstance, or geography. A very well written book, which, like most all of Stenbeck's books, deals with human struggle to lead not only a life, but a life with meaning. I highly reccommend this book to any Steinbeck fan, or anyone else that is looking for a book with peculiar twists, and good insights.
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- Castle: Medieval Days and Knights (A Sabuda & Reinhart Pop-up Book)
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- Charlotte's Web (Trophy Newbery)
- Co-Active Coaching, 2nd Edition: New Skills for Coaching People Toward Success in Work and, Life
- Coyote: A Trickster Tale from the American Southwest
- Crisis on Multiple Earths: The Team-Ups, Vol. 2
- Crunch Point: The 21 Secrets to Succeeding When It Matters Most
- Cut the Clutter and Stow the Stuff: The Q.U.I.C.K. Way to Bring Lasting Order to Household Chaos
- Cutting Loose: Why Women Who End Their Marriages Do So Well
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
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Luncheon of the Boating Party
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