Things Fall Apart: A Novel

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One of Chinua Achebe's many achievements in his acclaimed first novel, Things Fall Apart, is his relentlessly unsentimental rendering of Nigerian tribal life before and after the coming of colonialism. First published in 1958, just two years before Nigeria declared independence from Great Britain, the book eschews the obvious temptation of depicting pre-colonial life as a kind of Eden. Instead, Achebe sketches a world in which violence, war, and suffering exist, but are balanced by a strong sense of tradition, ritual, and social coherence. His Ibo protagonist, Okonkwo, is a self-made man. The son of a charming ne'er-do-well, he has worked all his life to overcome his father's weakness and has arrived, finally, at great prosperity and even greater reputation among his fellows in the village of Umuofia. Okonkwo is a champion wrestler, a prosperous farmer, husband to three wives and father to several children. He is also a man who exhibits flaws well-known in Greek tragedy:

Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children. Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest, and of the forces of nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw. Okonkwo's fear was greater than these. It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father.

And yet Achebe manages to make this cruel man deeply sympathetic. He is fond of his eldest daughter, and also of Ikemefuna, a young boy sent from another village as compensation for the wrongful death of a young woman from Umuofia. He even begins to feel pride in his eldest son, in whom he has too often seen his own father. Unfortunately, a series of tragic events tests the mettle of this strong man, and it is his fear of weakness that ultimately undoes him.

Achebe does not introduce the theme of colonialism until the last 50 pages or so. By then, Okonkwo has lost everything and been driven into exile. And yet, within the traditions of his culture, he still has hope of redemption. The arrival of missionaries in Umuofia, however, followed by representatives of the colonial government, completely disrupts Ibo culture, and in the chasm between old ways and new, Okonkwo is lost forever. Deceptively simple in its prose, Things Fall Apart packs a powerful punch as Achebe holds up the ruin of one proud man to stand for the destruction of an entire culture. --Alix Wilber

Book Description

This is Chinua Achebe's classic novel, with more than two million copies sold since its first U.S. publication in 1969. Combining a richly African story with the author's keen awareness of the qualities common to all humanity, Achebe here shows that he is "gloriously gifted, with the magic of an ebullient, generous, great talent." -- Nadine Gordimer

Customer Reviews:

True to it's title.......2007-09-22

It is amazing how a novel first published in 1959 about a Nigerian village, pre-colonization, still has relevance today. Talk about transcending time as well as cultures! Chinua Achebe is a magnificent story teller. I love authors who have the ability to transport me to worlds that seem so different from my own.

Okonkwo was a man that was obsessed with masculinity and the "power" of being masculine. Although I could see how harsh, abusive, and unyielding Okonkwo was towards his family, oddly I felt sympathy for the man. He was the product of his environment and culture. Apparently his callousness was worsened because of his fear that he should become like his father ----- a man with no title, in his culture, the equivalent of being a woman.

How many of us struggle to balance the new with the old? And how often do we question or all out resist changing times.... be it attitudes or ideas, advancements in technology, religion, policies, music, etc. Most of us reach a certain age where we would prefer our traditions be left alone. In some instances there should be no room for compromise, but in other instances perhaps there truly is improvement/advancement to be gained.

Okonkwo's struggle is exactly that. He strives to leave behind a proud legacy. However, he makes bad decisions along the way. The more he tries to make things right the more it seems that misfortune comes his way. He's angered and confused about the changes that come upon his village but that combined with his pigheaded demeanor make for a disastrous result. It's a good book to take up beyond school required reading. Achebee gives his readers a great deal to consider.

Things Fall apart audio.......2007-09-11

My son had a senior project to do over the summer, he had to read this entire book and the first day back to school, he had a test on it, my son does not do well on reading, he can read great, but he has trouble remembering what he read, so I thought if he listened to it being read to him, he could follow along better, well he did, and he done well on his test and essay, I would recommend this product to anyone with similiar problems as my son has with reading.......

Things Fall Apart.......2007-09-10

My son needed this book for school and we received in time for school. Great service!

All you never wanted to know about yams... and other such things........2007-08-08

I had to read this for my high school advanced English class. I regret ever having picked it up. I feel very lucky that my brain was not fried after reading The-book-that-should-not-be-named. In short, if you want to read a bizarre book about African people and yams, then read this book. If not, go read something else.

It Drags.......2007-08-07

While the story itself is useful in giving a student the right mindset for African studies, the story itself lacks much of the marvel of other historically-based books. While the book is pointed towards lower-classmen in high school, the true audience should be college, where adults can completely analyze and idnetify the key points and emotions of the story.

Average customer rating:

A different kind of fairy tale that will make you think.....
Lose Yourself in The book of Lost Things
A Creepy Adult Fairy Tale
One of the best books ever.
Faulted beginning and antagonist, but delightfully dark and twisted with meaningful themes. Hard to put down. Highly recommended

The Book of Lost Things: A Novel
John Connolly
Manufacturer: Atria
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0743298853

Book Description

New York Times bestselling author John Connolly's unique imagination takes readers through the end of innocence into adulthood and beyond in this dark and triumphantly creative novel of grief and loss, loyalty and love, and the redemptive power of stories.

High in his attic bedroom, twelve-year-old David mourns the death of his mother. He is angry and alone, with only the books on his shelf for company. But those books have begun to whisper to him in the darkness, and as he takes refuge in his imagination, he finds that reality and fantasy have begun to meld. While his family falls apart around him, David is violently propelled into a land that is a strange reflection of his own world, populated by heroes and monsters, and ruled over by a faded king who keeps his secrets in a mysterious book... The Book of Lost Things.

An imaginative tribute to the journey we must all make through the loss of innocence into adulthood, John Connolly's latest novel is a book for every adult who can recall the moment when childhood began to fade, and for every adult about to face that moment. The Book of Lost Things is a story of hope for all who have lost, and for all who have yet to lose. It is an exhilarating tale that reminds us of the enduring power of stories in our lives.

Customer Reviews:

A different kind of fairy tale that will make you think............2007-10-03

This story grabbed me from the start and pulled me in to the fantasy world. Is it real, fantasy, or a figment of a boys imagination? The story makes you wonder throughout each page you read. The remaking of old fairy tales we have all grown up with puts a interesting twist to the world the boy travels through trying to get back home. Is it real, or just his imagination? An amazing story all the way to the end! I highly recommend this book, that you won't want to put down until your done!!

Lose Yourself in The book of Lost Things.......2007-09-30

David has been buried in his books since his mother's death. His father remarries and he and David move into the new wife's home. Typical story? Not this time. This story is written as a fairy tale, complete with a moral.

Feeling like a stranger in his new home, David eventually begins to hear his beloved books calling to him. One day, the Crooked Man, a sinister fiend with ghastly intentions appears in his room. The adventure begins!

One lonely night, David wanders into the backyard to the sunken garden, just as a World War II plane crashes nearby. Lured by his ddeceased mother's voice, he squeezes between the rocks in the garden, escaping his loneliness into a mythical land, one in which the stories in his treasured books intertwine. In order to escape this dangerous and frightening foreign land, David must learn the value of a selfless heart.

This is a tender story, with excellent and heart-warming characters and vivid settings. This book reminds me of C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but it retains its own flavor, style, and identity.

A Creepy Adult Fairy Tale.......2007-09-21

Much like last year's cinematic masterpiece, "Pan's Labyrinth", John Connolly's novel is an eerie return to a fairy tale world that we all knew deep down as kids was meant to be much darker than the Disneyfication of these classics would lead us to believe. It revolves around the tale of David, who has recently lost his mother and finds his father remarried, a situation he is none too happy about. Soon, the young bibliophile immerses himself in the world of books, only to find that he can hear them speaking to him. More unsettling, however, is the appearance of the Crooked Man, who suddenly appears in David's room from another world. When shortly thereafter David finds himself trapped in this "Elsewhere", he must go on a Dorothy-like quest to see the king and seek out a Book of Lost Things, which he hopes to hold the key to his return home.

Some reviewers incorrectly accuse the author of "stealing" ideas or plots from "Wizard of Oz", Gregory Macguire, "Pan's Labyrinth", or the many tales that Connolly is playing around with, such as Rumplestiltskin, Hansel and Gretel, Bambi, and Snow White. He is not stealing, however. The whole book is instead purposefully revisiting these tales and revealing their darker realities that lurk around inside them. Furthermore, the talented Macguire was not the first one to take an old tale and turn it on its ear.

The quest that David takes in the book is filled with encounters with strangely familiar characters and tales, yet Connolly's characters are not simply "fractured" versions of the ones we know. They are fully developed people whose motivations are realistic. The book's tone , while sometimes playful, is usually quite scary and we empathize with David as he must make his way through this frightening world towards adulthood. Most memorably in the novel is the Crooked Man, a villain in my mind that is equal to the likes of Hannibal Lecter, in his long-lasting and powerful effect he on the reader.

Although I have never read anything else by this author, |I can truly say that this is one of the best books I've had the pleasure to read this year.

One of the best books ever........2007-09-12

Beautiful, sad, suspenseful, perfect. I was so incredibly moved by the end that every time I think of it, my eyes well up with tears. I hope John Connolly will write more in this genre.

Faulted beginning and antagonist, but delightfully dark and twisted with meaningful themes. Hard to put down. Highly recommended.......2007-09-11

Not long before the start of World War II, a boy named David loses his mother. David has always been an avid reader, but now his books begin to speak; his father remarries, his step-brother is born, and the war begins. Suddenly, David is pulled into a new world--the world that lives in his fairy tales, only darker and more dangerous. With his way back to our world blocked by the Crooked Man, David must journey through this new world to find a way back home--and he must become a man. Although this book begins slowly and unsteadily, it soon builds up into a twisted story that is hard to put down. Thrilling, frightening, and imaginative, this is a fairy tale for adults and a unique coming of age story. Despite its faults, I enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.

The Book of Lost Things begins slowly. The language is clunky, thick with adverbs and one-sentence leading paragraphs. The characters are predictable, especially that of the immature child David who, however realistic or compassionate, is neither admirable or interesting. However, as the book sweeps into the land of fantasy, the plot becomes richer and more exciting and the David's character becomes immediately more complex. From this point on, the book is both good and engrossing. Be prepared to stick through the slow beginning--it is worth it.

The other faults of the book are some failed attempt at satire and, perhaps most disappointing, an antagonist that is evil simply for the sake of being evil. However twisted (and often, detailed) the plans, malice, and sins of the Crooked Man, the lack of justification or complication to his evil nature makes him less interesting. It contrasts with the exceedingly complex nature of the rest of the fantasy world. The more you know about him, the less frightening he becomes. Thankfully, the book's climax is still skillful and scary, but the major antagonist is neither.

The fairy tale world of The Book of Lost Things is corrupted, twisted, and almost gratuitously violent, making this an fairy tale that is very much intended for adults despite the young protagonist. These themes also create the book's intense, dark atmosphere, and so make it a compelling, thrilling read. Connolly sustains tension throughout the book, and there are authentically frightening parts. In many ways the stories setting, themes, and atmosphere resemble that of the film Pan's Labyrinth: the fantasy world becomes a realm for David to tackle his own issues of jealousy, loneliness, and fear in the face of his changing family and changing world. The fantasy world, however, holds real consequences and often violence and death, and by the end of the book the reader is not sure how much of the world is real--and how much is David's own creation. This makes for a book that remains actively engrossing, and build a truly unique coming of age story. I may not agree with all of the conclusions on the themes, I don't much care for the antagonist, but this book is still wonderfully written. It is just twisted enough to give me shivers, the plot is steadily paced and the action makes it hard to put the book down, and David's own character growth brings the book to a complex and meaningful climax. This book is faulted, but nonetheless I greatly enjoyed it and I highly recommend it to all mature readers.

Average customer rating:

Superb continuation of the Hank Thompson series
Hard Core Noir
Excellent Read!
The Game Continues
A good follow-up to Caught Stealing

Six Bad Things: A Novel
Charlie Huston
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0345464796
Release Date: 2005-06-28

Book Description

Hank Thompson is living off the map in Mexico with a bagful of cash that the Russian mafia wants back and many, many secrets. So when a Russian backpacker shows up in town asking questions, Hank tries to play it cool. But he knows the jig is up when the backpacker mentions the money . . . and the family Hank left behind. Suddenly Hank’s in a desperate race to get to his parents in California before anyone can harm them. Along the way he’ll face Federales and Border Patrol, mafiosi and vigilantes, extortionists and drug dealers, and a couple of psychotic surf bums with an ax to grind. From the golden beaches of the Yucatán to the seedy strip clubs of Vegas, Charlie Huston opens a door to the squalid underworld of crime and corruption–and invites the reader to live it in the extreme.

Download Description

Part one

December 4–11, 2003
Four Regular Season Games Remaining

I’m sitting on the porch of a bungalow on the Yucatán Peninsula with lit cigarettes sticking out of both my ears.

I like to go swimming in the mornings. When I first came to Mexico I liked to go drinking in the mornings, but after I got over that I took up swimming and I discovered something. I have unusually narrow ear canals. Go figure. I discovered this while I was trying to sober up, paddling around in the lukewarm morning waters, and found that my ears were clogged. I tilted my head from side to side and banged on my skull, trying to dislodge the water, but no luck. I plugged my nose, clamped my mouth shut, and blew until it felt like my brain might pop out of my ass. No good. I crammed Q-tips up my ears, prodding at the blockage. That’s when things got really bad. For a few days I walked around half-deaf, feeling like my entire head was packed with waterlogged cotton. Then I went to a doctor. I have a habit of saving doctors for a last resort.

Dr. Sanchez looked in my ears and informed me of the tragic news: unusually narrow ear canals. The water was trapped deep inside and my irresponsible Q-tip use had sealed it in with earwax. He loaded a syringe the size of a beer can with warm mineral water and injected it into my ears until the pressure dislodged the massive clogs of wax and washed them into the small plastic basins I held just below my ears. He gave me drops. He told me never to stick anything in my ear other than my elbow, and laughed at his own joke. He nodded sagely and told me the solution to my problem was quite simple: When my ears became clogged, I must stick a cigarette into each one and light them. The cigarettes, that is. Then he handed me a pack of Benson & Hedges, told me they were his preferred brand for the task, and charged me a thousand pesos.

So. I am sitting on the porch of a bungalow on the Yucatán Peninsula with lit cigarettes sticking out of both my ears. The cigarettes burn and create a vacuum in my ears, sucking the moisture into the filters. I have a towel draped over each shoulder to catch the hot ash as it falls. I’ve been doing this a couple days a week for years and it always works. Of course, I do now smoke two packs of Benson & Hedges a day, but there’s a downside to everything in life.

The sun has dipped far in the sky behind my back and the reds of the sunset are reflected in the perfect blue sea before me. A soft breeze is caressing my skin and I adjust my sarong so that it can waft higher on my legs. The heat of the cigarettes has become intense. I reach up and pinch them out of my ears, careful not to squeeze so hard that the waxy fluid trapped in the filters leaks out. I dump them into an ashtray near my feet, slip the towels off my shoulders, stand up, and start walking toward the water. The beach is pretty much abandoned. A ways off to my right I can see a small group of local boys covered head to toe in sand, kicking a soccer ball around on their homemade field. In the opposite direction, the silhouette of a pair of lovers kissing. When my feet hit the wet strip of sand near the water’s edge I give my sarong a tug. It falls to the ground, leaving me naked, and I walk down into the gently lapping waves. The beach slopes away so shallowly that I can walk upright in the water for almost fifty yards before it will cover my head. I walk in the water with the sun sinking behind me, hearing the soft slap of the tiny waves quite clearly in my unclogged ears. I’ll probably have to do it all over again when I get out, twisting the cigarettes into my ears, lighting them, and waiting patiently while they burn down, but it will be worth it. I want to take one last swim today. I’m going home tomorrow and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to come back here.

Machine guns wake me up in the morning,

Customer Reviews:

Superb continuation of the Hank Thompson series.......2007-09-27

When last we saw Hank In Caught Stealing: A Novel, he was on the run from the Russian gangsters chasing him in a desperate search for $4+ million. Hank ends up in Mexico, and that's where we start this book.

One thing I can definitely say about the entire Hank Thompson trilogy(which ends with A Dangerous Man: A Novel) is that is incredibly violent at the same time that it is humorous. The action here is much as it is in the first book. Hank began the trilogy as a guy who pretty much had a crappy life but who hadn't really actively set out to cause damage to anyone else (although he was involved in an accident where his best friend was killed pretty horrifically); he became a killer extraordinaire. Of course, he became that kind of man because of the loss of people he loved in the course of the first novel, but regardless--he's a killer.

In this novel, the killing continues. Boy, does it continue. Hank's whole life is defined by violence. Violence he does to others. Violence done to him. No one escapes unscathed. It's a miracle that Hank's still standing at the end of this one; by rights, he should be long dead. He's got enough people hunting him down to be on VERY borrowed time.

Strengths of this installment in the trilogy:
1) Hank himself. He's deluded, removed, always one step away from exploding in a frenzy of violence and grief. He loves people (his mom and dad, his partner in a Mexican enterprise) and his cat; he trusts few people and when he feels he's been betrayed, he does explode in lethal ways. It's amazing to me that I can actually like him at the same time that he disgusts me with his violence, with his approach to things.
2) Other characters are equally strong (his friends, his pursuers).
3) The dialogue is witty and very real. Huston has a way of meting out the words that his characters use. Some of those characters speak in fragments, clearly showing the reader the level of frustration/confusion/doubt the character is experiencing. Huston just has a gift for this. Once I got used to the way he crafted his dialogues, I really enjoyed it. It's not for everyone though; I imagine some readers will struggle the first time they get to a dialogue separated only with dashes and not with any immediately-clear indication of who's speaking.
4) The incredibly quick and almost startling action and violence.

For me, there aren't any real weaknesses that don't have to do with the protagonist himself. Hank is flawed, a bit nuts, homicidal (what made him this way isn't much of an excuse, in the end), funny, exasperating, and clearly in need of a few decades worth of therapy.

Read this series; I think you'll really enjoy it.

Hard Core Noir.......2007-09-05

The quotes splashed all over the outside of this novel were dead on. What was missing was any mention of it being the second in a series, so be warned and read "Caught Stealing" first. I wish I had.

Hank Thompson has the worst luck ever. His involvement in a bloodbath in New York has him hiding out in the Yucatan with the $4 ½ million he stole from the Russian mob. Life is good, except for the nightmares and the fact that the Miami Dolphins suck. He spends his days chatting with his new partner Pedro at their bar on the beach, otherwise whiling away the time in his bungalow, smoking cigarettes, and swimming in the Caribbean Sea at night. Then one day, a backpacker with a Russian accent shows up and hangs around, eventually mentioning the stolen millions and threatening Hank's parents. Hank's idyll on the beach is over, and it's time to go back to the States and save his parents, who have already been through enough because of him.

Of course, absolutely nothing goes right and a few new enemies come popping out of the woodwork. Not only is Hank famous with a cult following, everyone who recognizes him wants a chunk of the money. Hank is hanging around some very bad people, and he himself is no choirboy, not afraid to kill the people who get in his way, though it's not always so easily done. Readers who dislike violence should stay away, as the last portion of the book gets pretty bloody. There isn't a lot of joy to be found between its pages, either, but nobody reads noir for the happy endings.

Despite the things he's done, Hank is a likeable guy who tries to protect the innocent. It just so happens his associates, friend and foe, are a volatile lot so anyone who gets too close to Hank gets pulled right into the fray. There is some subtle humor woven in among the violence. Hank's football rants are hilarious, and I don't even like football. The story that unfolds twists and turns, and kept me gripped in its bloody fist. I had to read this powerful book slowly so as not to let it devour me in its blackness. For some real gritty, dark noir, Charlie Huston is a sure bet.

Excellent Read!.......2007-06-29

Picks up where "Caught Stealing" left off. Charlie is still trying to get out of the trouble caused by the load of cash he "happened in to." I could definitely see this made into a movie...it's that captivating. The story never leaves you bored, disinterested, or hurrying up to finish. I savored the book, beginning to end. The only reason I didn't give it five stars is because of the way it ends. The ending left me with a feeling of dread and hoping I'm wrong about the third and last installment about Charlie's life.

The Game Continues.......2007-05-24

This second novel in the saga of Hank Thompson is the best of the three. Of course, the entire book is about how some bad guys relentlessly pursue Thompson for his accidentally gotten millions, when all he wants to do is protect his parents. The author is incredibly adept at springing surprise after surprise and at developing his characters -- and what characters they are! Huston is one of the most clever and appealing popular authors out there today. Looking forward to his future books with great anticipation.

A good follow-up to Caught Stealing.......2007-04-11

A few weeks ago I read Charlie Huston's book Caught Stealing. It's a Hitchcockian romp through New York City, a cheerful little tale with a jumbo body count and loads of gory details, right down to a guy who tortures a house cat. At the end of that novel (plot spoiler ahead) the main character narrator, Hank Thompson, flees to Mexico with $4.5 million of the Russian mob's money. In Six Bad Things, Hank's living on a beach in Mexico, silent partner in a bar, whiling away the days swimming in the ocean, getting tattoos, and trying to forget everyone he killed in New York City. When a Russian tourist shows up, Hank finds out you can't run or hide forever, and the fun begins.

This is one of those roller-coaster novels that starts and never really stops. Dead people, shoot-outs, fights, killer dogs, drugged-out hookers, and locales from Mexico to upstate California to Las Vegas, all figure in the story line. If there's a flaw, it's that it's the second book in what apparently is a trilogy. You really should read Caught Stealing before you read this one. I would be in favor of them re-releasing this series in a single volume. The author's style, pacing, and narrative would probably work well in this format.

All of that being said, if you've read Caught Stealing, you want this book too. If you haven't read Caught Stealing yet, go and get it, and then afterwards read this. It's definitely worth it.

Average customer rating:

An Exciting Tale
Major Creep Fest
don't waste your time
Dickensian
Great, up until...

The Secret of Lost Things: A Novel
Sheridan Hay
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 038551848X
Release Date: 2007-03-06

Book Description

A missing manuscript
A young woman's voyage of discovery
And the curious bookshop where it all begins...

In this charming novel about the eccentricities and passions of booksellers and collectors, a captivating young Australian woman takes a job at a vast, chaotic emporium of used and rare books in New York City and finds herself caught up in the search for a lost Melville manuscript.

Eighteen years old and completely alone, Rosemary arrives in New York from Tasmania with little more than her love of books and an eagerness to explore the city she’s read so much about. She begins her memorable search for independence with appealing enthusiasm, and the moment she steps into the Arcade bookstore, she knows she has found a home. The gruff owner, Mr. Pike, gives her a job sorting through huge piles of books and helping the rest of the staff—a group as odd and idiosyncratic as the characters in a Dickens novel. There’s Pearl, the loving, motherly transsexual who runs the cash register; Oscar, who organizes the nonfiction section and shares his extensive, eclectic knowledge with Rosemary, but furiously rejects her attempts at a more personal relationship; and Arthur Pick, who supervises the art section and demonstrates a particular interest in photography books featuring naked men.

The store manager, Walter Geist, is an albino, a lonely figure even within the world of the Arcade. When Walter’s eyesight begins to fail, Rosemary becomes his assistant. And so it is Rosemary who first reads the letter from someone seeking to “place” a lost manuscript by Herman Melville. Mentioned in Melville’s personal correspondence but never published, the work is of inestimable value, and proof of its existence brings the simmering ambitions and rivalries of the Arcade staff to a boiling point.

Including actual correspondence by Melville, The Secret of Lost Things is at once a literary adventure that captures the excitement of discovering a long-lost manuscript by a towering American writer and an evocative portrait of life in a surprisingly colorful bookstore.

Customer Reviews:

An Exciting Tale.......2007-09-24

Lost things, dreams, letters, her ideas of people and place permeate Sheridan Hay's lovely, first novel. Here is an energetic story teller, masterfully embodied in the young Rosemary Savage who, after her mother's death, travels from Tasmania to New York to shake herself from grief, or perhaps from the sheer routine of life on such a faraway isle.

Her job at the Arcade bookstore brings Rosemary in touch with all kinds of zany characters. As she helps Geist with his mission of secretly procuring a lost novel of Herman Melville, Rosemary enters the world of people who deal in books for the thrill of their possession as well as their contents. Each has his or her own agenda. Hay's ability to bring a little of American literary history alive amidst her fictional millieu kept me turning the pages. Her voice has the quality of a writer who has lived a bookish life, but her turn of phrase displays the lighter touch of one who still believes in fairy tales.
I found The Secret of Lost things a very satisfying novel on several levels and I am very glad to have read it.

Major Creep Fest.......2007-08-17

Ok. So I was given this book to read by my local book store to get my opinion on it. So, I read and was highly desturped. That creepy old guy like raping her and her being okay with it. I'm younger then she is and yet, I still would never submit to something that vandelizing. Not even worth a glance at the title!

don't waste your time.......2007-07-19

Truly this is one of the worst books I have wasted my time reading. One keeps hoping it will get better but it does not. The end is disappointing and leaves one feeling that the author got tired of this book as well. The only good thing I can say is that I checked it out from the library and did not waste any money on it.

Dickensian.......2007-07-17

More a coming of age story than a true mystery, The Secret of Lost Things is populated by a strange assortment of psychologically stunted characters who are memorable by virtue of their eccentricities. Poor orphaned, heartbreakingly young Rosemary travels to New York City from Tasmania, of all places, to recover from the death of her beloved mother, and finds herself the center of a whirlpool of desire and greed. Her struggle not only to establish her own independent identity, to support herself financially, and to find love and friendship is considerably complicated by the denizens of The Arcade. The quest for Melville's mysterious manuscript takes, while nominally the focus of the plot, takes a back seat to Rosemary's courageous attempt to remain true to herself while being pulled in various unsavory directions by others who want to use her. She does so admirably.

Great, up until..........2007-07-12

Rosemary allows the creepy Walter Geist to get off on her. I was really offended by this turn in the story near the end. So much so that I don't feel like picking the book up again to finish it. It's like ready Mary Poppins and then at the end she gets raped by her neighbor and enjoys it. NOT what I had in mind when I purchased this book. Not at all.

Average customer rating:

Curtis..Curtis..Curtis!!!!
Real Good Read
Curtis, Curtis, Curtis
To Much of a Good Thing
Excellent Book

Too Much of a Good Thing
Kimberla Lawson Roby
Manufacturer: Avon A
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 006056850X
Release Date: 2005-02-01

Book Description

In the sequel to the enormously successful Casting the First Stone, Kimberla Lawson Roby brings back a character readers love to hate.

Curtis Black might be a man of the cloth, but with his irresistible looks, seductive charm, and charismatic personality, he's particularly beloved by his female parishioners––and almost every other woman he's ever met.

The trouble is, Curtis is married. At first he tries to resist temptation, but not for long. His insatiable appetite for women quickly gets the best of him. Eventually, the women in Curtis's life find that with a little careful planning––sneaky and otherwise––they can help Curtis reap the punishment that he so richly deserves.

In this captivating and dramatic sequel to Casting the First Stone, Kimberla Lawson Roby, with her trademark with and insight, sets sparks flying.

Customer Reviews:

Curtis..Curtis..Curtis!!!!.......2007-10-11

Excellent follow up to 'Casting the First Stone'. This was a page turner just like the first. Pick it up. You won't be disappointed.

Real Good Read.......2007-06-27

I love Mrs. Kimberla Lawson Roby for bringing Rev. Curtis into her books. We all have a Rev. Curtis in our churches.

Curtis, Curtis, Curtis.......2007-06-20

Great book. I enjoyed reading about Curtis and his drama. The fact that he's the preacher of the church and acts like this is just a shame and it definitely makes you think. Great writing. I am interesting in reading more from Kimberla.

To Much of a Good Thing.......2007-05-08

It was a great book, and I would highly recamend the series. I just finished the last one and it was hard to put it down.

Excellent Book .......2007-05-08

Please, Please read these books in order, if you don't they do fill you in a little in the beginning, but you need everything back to back. This book in particular is off-the-chain and I promise you will read it in about 2 days tops because you WON'T be able to put it down for a second!! I don't even want to tell you what happens because its too good and you need to read it for yourself.

Average customer rating:

Great Book...After The First 150 Pages...
60 year catholic
DOUBLE WOW!!
Excellent book!
Any Bitter Thing

Any Bitter Thing: A Novel
Monica Wood
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0345477685
Release Date: 2006-04-25

Book Description

After surviving a near-fatal accident, thirty-year-old Lizzy Mitchell faces a long road to recovery. She remembers little about the days she spent in and out of consciousness, save for one thing: She saw her beloved deceased uncle, Father Mike, the man who raised her in the rectory of his Maine church until she was nine, at which time she was abruptly sent away to boarding school. Was Father Mike an angel, a messenger from the beyond, or something more corporeal? Though her troubled marriage and her broken body need tending, Lizzy knows she must uncover the details of her accident–and delve deep into events of twenty years before, when whispers and accusations forced a good man to give up the only family he had. With deft insight into the snares of the human heart, Monica Wood has written an intimate and emotionally expansive novel full of understanding and hope.

Customer Reviews:

Great Book...After The First 150 Pages..........2007-09-19

I am delighted that I "stayed with" this book, because I found it weighty, plodding and slow for quite awhile. It redeemed itself beautifully, though, in the last several chapters. Surprising, memorable, provocative and a really good choice for a book group (I'll be recommending it to mine!).

60 year catholic.......2007-05-30

I attended an event where M. Wood was one of 5 featured authors.
Intrigued by her comments, I purchased and read the book in 4 days.
An interesting plot, but having had 15 years of catholic schooling, I found the adoption of a niece who lived in the rectory with a parish priest,his closeness to a female neighbor,and the naivete of the priest himself unbelievable. The concuding chapter blew me away! Having said all that, i thorouhly enjoyed the book, and have passed it on to friends who also gave it 4 stars. Just don't take the book too seriously, it would never happen.

DOUBLE WOW!!.......2007-05-07

This was one of the best books I've read in a long time - let me correct that - one of the best books I've ever read. The characters are so beautifully drawn and the relationship between Father Mike and Lizzy during her childhood formed a strong bond that never broke. Ms. Wood describes so eloquently a scene from Lizzy's childhood where the children, Lizzy and Mariette, are sewing leather for shoes together and Father Mike enters the house wanting to help. After describing the scene, she writes, "I remember this. All this sweetness."

There are certainly several circumstances in this book that are surprising and ripe for discussion, which is why I immediately gave it to my friend to read.

My hat is off to Monica Wood. Please don't stop writing!!!

Excellent book!.......2007-04-30

I choose this book for my book club and was not disappointed. This book was a joy to read and a real page turner. Monica Wood is an outstanding writer and I can't wait to read more of her novels. Highly recommend.

Any Bitter Thing.......2007-04-02

It was a very moving book for me. I could not put it down from the moment I started it. I certainly cried at the end of the book, but for me, that's a very good thing.

Average customer rating:

Two lives and another
A LIGHT tear-jerker
Don't read the back of the book
Just a wonderful, wonderful story
Thoughtful and Beautifully Written

Evidence of Things Unseen: A Novel
Marianne Wiggins
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0743258096

Book Description

This poetic novel, by the acclaimed author of John Dollar, describes America at the brink of the Atomic Age. In the years between the two world wars, the future held more promise than peril, but there was evidence of things unseen that would transfigure our unquestioned trust in a safe future.

Fos has returned to Tennessee from the trenches of France. Intrigued with electricity, bioluminescence, and especially x-rays, he believes in science and the future of technology. On a trip to the Outer Banks to study the Perseid meteor shower, he falls in love with Opal, whose father is a glassblower who can spin color out of light.

Fos brings his new wife back to Knoxville where he runs a photography studio with his former Army buddy Flash. A witty rogue and a staunch disbeliever in Prohibition, Flash brings tragedy to the couple when his appetite for pleasure runs up against both the law and the Ku Klux Klan. Fos and Opal are forced to move to Opal's mother's farm on the Clinch River, and soon they have a son, Lightfoot. But when the New Deal claims their farm for the TVA, Fos seeks work at the Oak Ridge Laboratory -- Site X in the government's race to build the bomb.

And it is there, when Opal falls ill with radiation poisoning, that Fos's great faith in science deserts him. Their lives have traveled with touching inevitability from their innocence and fascination with "things that glow" to the new world of manmade suns.

Hypnotic and powerful, Evidence of Things Unseen constructs a heartbreaking arc through twentieth-century American life and belief.

Customer Reviews:

Two lives and another.......2007-09-12

The lives of the parents were so intreguing. But I wondered about the child. I know it doesn't make a difference, but I was left curious.

Mary

A LIGHT tear-jerker.......2007-05-13

I don't know what my fellow reviewers here have been reading, but the language here is NOT poetic. It is clunky and puts an extraordinary strain on the reader. The exception to this is where the character "Flash" holds forth - But, sadly, these passages are few and far between - But this brings me to another problem with the book: All these silly, yes SILLY, tropes on light in the characters' names: "Flash", "Fos", "Ray " "Lightfoot" lend an air of the ridiculous to the book. The most ridiculous part is the recurrent reference to Moby Dick the, ahem, "white" whale. Whatever this book is, subtle it is not. Nevertheless, the novel does tug at the heartstrings, as the reviewers here are ever so keen to comment on. But it tugs at the heartstrings in the way a Disney movie, say, does. You know the movie is silly and sentimental and the characters not terribly realistic, nevertheless you find tears trickling down your cheeks. This is best way I know to describe the book to the potential reader. [...]

The novel is, in short, a tear-jerker, which may be your cup of tea. I'm sure Oprah would love it! But it's not good writing. It's not poetic. It's not literature. It just isn't!

Don't read the back of the book.......2007-03-11

This is a great story with rich language. My book group chose this book, and everyone enjoyed it. I rarely choose pages to mark, but marked two for the language. Others in our group earmarked many pages. Heed the warning about the back of the book. It gives away too much of the story. Pleasant reading.

Just a wonderful, wonderful story.......2007-01-18

I got this book as a gift. Nothing I would probably have chosen for myself, but once I started it I couldn't put it down. You get so involved with the characters in the story you can't wait to turn the page. Marianne Wiggins does a wonderful job of putting you right there wherever the characters may go. You are truly immersed in their lives. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves a well written story. Was sorry to see it end.

Thoughtful and Beautifully Written.......2007-01-15

I was attracted to this book for the style of the prose moreso than the plot. The writing provides textured detail and unanticipated turns of phrases that marvel and provoke. The story itself is interesting. The writing is marvelous. Not a quick read, but certainly not a dull one.

Average customer rating:

No Need for This Notes
the best
Life as he knew it, was not to be
"Things Fall Apart", is an ok book, it is very elaberant

Things Fall Apart (Cliffs Notes)
John Chua , and Suzanne Pavlos
Manufacturer: Cliffs Notes
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0764586475

Book Description

The original CliffsNotes study guides offer expert commentary on major themes, plots, characters, literary devices, and historical background. The latest generation of titles in this series also feature glossaries and visual elements that complement the classic, familiar format.

In CliffsNotes on Things Fall Apart, you explore the ground-breaking work of author Chinua Achebe, considered by many to be the most influential African writer of his generation. The novel, amazing in its authenticity, leaves behind the stereotypical portrayals of African life and presents the Igbo culture of Nigeria in all its remarkable complexity.

Chapter summaries and commentaries take you through Achebe's world, and critical essays give you insight into the novel's themes and use of language. Other features that help you study include

Character analyses of the main characters
A character map that graphically illustrates the relationships among the characters
A section on the life and background of Chinua Achebe
A review section that tests your knowledge
A Resource Center full of books, articles, films, and Internet sites

Classic literature or modern modern-day treasure — you'll understand it all with expert information and insight from CliffsNotes study guides.

Download Description

Considered by many to be the most influential African writer of his generation, Achebe's works have been translated into more than 45 languages. This story paints a sweeping picture of Nigeria, informing the world of the dense riches of the country and culture.

Customer Reviews:

No Need for This Notes.......2007-02-07

Things Fall Apart is an easy book to read. This CliffsNotes are not really needed. Besides that, I'd like to say a couple of things. In page 98, the chapters "Choosing a Language" and "The Use of English" explain why Achebe chose to write his book in English. I think it is a contradiction. If one (or the main) of Achebe's purpose writing this book was to restore dignity to the Igbo culture, the first thing he could have chosen to do is to write the book in his own language. I come from Catalonia and our language has been prosecuted for so many years. I know what I am talking about. If Catalans chose to write in Spanish because it is a majority language, Catalan would be dead by now. It is a matter of integrity. In fact, if the book was good at all -but written in Igo language-, it would have been translated into English or any other language. Second, the brief synopsis is a plot spoiler. I would have liked to be told they were about to tell me how the end of the book goes. Anyway, this is a review about the CliffsNotes, which are good, although not necessary for an easy book to read. If I was about to review Achebe's book itself, I would not give it more than 2 stars.
One thing I still do not understand though is why ClifssNotes are still being printed, when they can be read for free at their own website. I mean, I bought this book, but found out later about the free online service, which is exactly the same text printed on paper

the best.......2001-08-07

a book for anyone. things fall apart needs to be read by an open minded person...seeking to learn, share and understand. those who aren't open cannot hope to grasp its depth.

Life as he knew it, was not to be.......1999-07-02

Achebe comes across as a prolofic and impartial writer who meticulously documents the Igbo lifestyle in a western traditional realist genre. His sketches evoke a sense of pride yet displeasure at the Igbo 'rituals' and values which we seet through Okonkwo's and Nwoye's eyes, respectively. People who have lost their identity and are in search of their roots will find this book enlightening. The lesson I have gleaned from 'Things Fall Apart' is nothing in life is permanent and therefore whilst I try to cling on to what I have now, I must be open to new ideas and influences which I could learn to adapt to.

"Things Fall Apart", is an ok book, it is very elaberant.......1999-02-05

I recommend this book for Sophmores in High School, I read it in the 7th grade

Average customer rating:

This Book Needed Help
Great study aid

The Things They Carried (Cliffs Notes)
Jill Colella
Manufacturer: Cliffs Notes
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0764586688

Book Description

In CliffsNotes on The Things They Carried, you discover Tim O'Brien's powerful and innovative novel about the experiences of foot soldiers during and after the Vietnam War. Drawing largely on his own experiences during the war, the author creates a fictional protagonist who shares the author's own name, and allows this fictional "Tim O'Brien" to relate disturbing war stories as he creates an indictment against the wastefulness of war.

Chapter summaries and commentaries take you through Tim O'Brien's very personal journey. Critical essays give you insight into the novel's historical context, the novel's narrative structure, and the theme of loss of innocence. Other features that help you study include

Character analyses of the main characters
A character map that graphically illustrates the relationships among the characters
A section on the life and background of Tim O'Brien
A review section that tests your knowledge
A Resource Center full of books, articles, films, and Internet sites

Classic literature or modern modern-day treasure — you'll understand it all with expert information and insight from CliffsNotes study guides.

Download Description

This concise supplement to O'Brien's The Things They Carried helps students understand the overall structure of the work, actions and motivations of the characters, and the social and cultural perspectives of the author.

Customer Reviews:

This Book Needed Help.......2005-08-26

"The Things They Carried." This book has many sides to it. In one moment there is love, happiness, and serenity then moments later the reality of war flips the story! The story line is so messed up on so many levels. There is a fine line between the truth of the matter and O'Briens imagination.
This book has so much pain and heartache. With a mix of passion for other men at war. Even through all the deaths and destruction, these soldiers seem to taunt life with life and death games. If you were at war wouldn't you think that you would be making sure you wouldn't die!
For war this book sure seems to let you know how it really was. The most important thing was that it had a historical value. At least he was there to be able to tell about it.
At the beginging this book did not start at all right. Then since he was so unhappy that he did not experience a life changing effect, he focused on the negative outlook. O'Brien should have been happy he survived the Vietnam War.

Great study aid.......2002-02-20

Cliff's notes once again delivers as a fantastic study aid. By no means should you use this as a replacement for the book. O'Brien has emerged as one of the greatest modern writers on the subject of war, and it would be a pity to overlook his writing. But if you are looking for help to write a paper on the topic, or just curious to discover more about the underlying meaning of the novel, don't hesitate to buy Cliff's Notes.

The Things That Matter: What Seven Classic Novels Have to Say About the Stages of Life

Average customer rating:

A Tribute to a Collection of Great Writers, Who Are Women
Brilliant!
seven tastes of greatness !
Great analysis
Women Who Write and Emotions in the Individual Life

The Things That Matter: What Seven Classic Novels Have to Say About the Stages of Life
Edward Mendelson
Manufacturer: Pantheon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

ASIN: 0375424083
Release Date: 2006-08-15

Book Description

An illuminating exploration of how seven of the greatest English novels of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries—Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Middlemarch, Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, and Between the Acts—portray the essential experiences of life.

For Edward Mendelson—a professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University—these classic novels tell life stories that are valuable to readers who are thinking about the course of their own lives. Looking beyond theories to the individual intentions of the authors and taking into consideration their lives and times, Mendelson examines the sometimes contradictory ways in which the novels portray such major passages of life as love, marriage, and parenthood. In Frankenstein’s story of a new life, we see a searing representation of emotional neglect. In Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre the transition from childhood to adulthood is portrayed in vastly different ways even though the sisters who wrote the books shared the same isolated life. In Mrs. Dalloway we see an ideal and almost impossible adult love. Mendelson leads us to a fresh and fascinating new understanding of each of the seven novels, reminding us—in the most captivating way—why they matter.

The Things That Matter is a book that will delight all passionate readers.

Customer Reviews:

A Tribute to a Collection of Great Writers, Who Are Women.......2007-04-02

In case you ever thought less of women writers than their male counterparts look no farther than Mendelson's review of seven classics all written by women who wrote what matters in life with vivid, vibrant language.

Starting with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein that is the result of an inspirational motto by Mary Wollstonecraft: "A great proportion of the misery that wanders, in hideous forms, around the world, is allowed to rise from the negligence of parents," to early attachments in Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, to early disattachment by Charlotte Bronte, to the humdrum beats of ordinary life in Middlemarch by George Eliot, to the realization of life's illusions in Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, to rebellious later life to break away from the illusion in To the Lighthouse, also by Virginia Woolf, and finally to the disillusionment met in Between the Acts, yet again by Woolf.

Great books as can only be understood best by this book.

Brilliant!.......2007-02-14

I echo Tom Casey's review below. I read some of these novels thirty years ago, and started re-reading them two years ago. What perfect timing, then, for Edward Mendelson's very interesting approach on these novels. On the surface this book does not appear to be the typical academic work it is, but each chapter on its own could have been a doctoral thesis. To tie these seven novels into passages of life is quite remarkable. In addition, footnotes, though infrequent, shed light on very important issues of the times that are easily overlooked. To enjoy this book one should have a fairly good knowledge of the novels. But you can read the essays in any order that you want; each essay stands alone. Highly, highly recommended.

seven tastes of greatness !.......2007-02-10

I just read "The Things That Matter," having seen it on my library's shelf and picked it up out of curiosity. I loved this book not only for its content but for the timing with which it showed up for me to read. My brilliant-at-math-and-science-stuff child was having a challenge with English Lit class; this book has given me a way to relate to them the value of novels to real life stuff, especially thinking about how "universal ideas" in life play out in personal actual life.

I found Mendelson's critical reviews of "What Seven Classic Novels Have to Say About the Stages of Life" timely and well written. I highlight below several points that struck me.

. I have never, never, NEver realized the intricate complexities of "Frankenstein" til I read Mendelson's analysis. I had heard that the authoress (Mary Shelley) was brilliant and accomplished and connected in her time, but to be honest all I could image in my mind prior to this book was the film treatments of a) Boris Karloff, and b) Mel Brooks. Suffice it to say I have a whole new appreciation of the rich ideas and paradoxes Shelley wove into her story!

. Mendelson does a fine job of weaving seven stories into seven Stages of Life (Birth, Childhood, Growth, Marraige, Love, Parenthood, The Future). Never mind the excellence of each chapter's analyses; the crafting of the whole book, and its demonstration by example of its meta-theme that "things that matter are written about in great literature," excite my professional admiration for a job of craftsmenship and talent well done.

. Further exciting my admiration are several points mentioned in the preface and in the essays as Mendelson distinguishes "universal ideas" that these authoresses (Mary Shelley, Emile Bronte, Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot, Virginia Woolf) present in their narratives:

1) He chose all woman authors because "it has nothing to do with any fantasy that women have greater moral and emotional intelligence" but rather "a woman writer [in the 19th and 20th centuries] had a greater motivation to defend the values of personal life against the generalizing effect of stereotypes." This is still an issue today for ALL of us, I think, whatever our personal circumstances or lifestyle choices.

2) That opposite life principles may be equally true, that what is publically espoused may be privately doubted. Or said colloquially, "The opposite of a Great Truth may be in itself a Great Truth." Examples include, in "Frankenstein," the espoused principle that a good upbringing of a child will result in a good character of an adult. But: "The opposite may also be true."

To read Mendelson's "take" about these works and their authors has made me feel more acquainted with seven "tastes of greatness!"

Great analysis.......2007-01-06

My daughter, who received this from me, says it is a terrific book with amazing insights into books we've read in the past and couldn't analyze the way this author does so well. She says the one on Virginia Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway" is especially revealing.

Women Who Write and Emotions in the Individual Life.......2006-08-24

Every so often a book appears with a fresh approach to familiar classics
which reinvigorates our belief in the importance of literature to the
experience of culture. Edward Mendelson is a Professor of English and
Comparative Literature at Columbia University. As the subtitle declares,
The Things That Matter revisits seven novels with an aim of exploring a
central theme from each that can tell us something about how to
interpret emotional challenges that beset us in the course of our
lifetime. Frankenstein is offered as an examination of birth, Wuthering
Heights of childhood, Jane Eyre for growth, Middlemarch for marriage,
Mrs. Dalloway for love, To the Lighthouse for parenthood, and Between
the Acts for the future. Mendelson's premise is flexible enough to avoid
heavy-handed exegesis; what he has given us is a literary roadmap into
moral and emotional conundrums that the authors of these books have
confronted through story and character.

The selection spans two centuries and the authors are women. Three of
the books were written by Virginia Woolf. Mendelson believes that women
"had a greater motivation to defend the values of personal life against
the generalizing effect of stereotypes..." He makes a good point:
certainly the authors of these books took great pains to examine the
emotional life and its influence on actions and choices.

One gets from his book a keen sense of Mendelson's reverence for the
individual experience, whether as a reader, a writer, an artist, or
merely a soul confronting contradictions; and he seems to be saying that
the best literature offers visions in lieu of answers, and that the
visions given here have something of emotional truth derived from what
women know especially.

Authors exist in a relationship to their characters that creates a
second dynamic to the narrative. "The novels that I write about in this
book all emerged from their authors' arguments with themselves." From
this can be inferred arguments that authors have with their characters,
disapproving of their behavior even as they create situations that allow
it, and with their readers, for whom the story is told. It is precisely
the interpersonal aspects of literature and the visions that emerge from
speculation that excite Professor Mendelson, and he has given new light
to familiar books in this thoughtfully insightful meditation.

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