Amazon.com
Best known for tackling controversial issues through richly told fictional accounts, Jodi Picoult's 14th novel, Nineteen Minutes, deals with the truth and consequences of a smalltown high-school shooting. Set in Sterling, New Hampshire, Picoult offers reads a glimpse of what would cause a 17-year-old to wake up one day, load his backpack with four guns, and kill nine students and one teacher in the span of nineteen minutes. As with any Picoult novel, the answers are never black and white, and it is her exceptional ability to blur the lines between right and wrong that make this author such a captivating storyteller.
On Peter Houghton's first day of kindergarten, he watched helplessly as an older boy ripped his lunch box out of his hands and threw it out the window. From that day on, his life was a series of humiliations, from having his pants pulled down in the cafeteria, to being called a freak at every turn. But can endless bullying justify murder? As Picoult attempts to answer this question, she shows us all sides of the equation, from the ruthless jock who loses his ability to speak after being shot in the head, to the mother who both blames and pities herself for producing what most would call a monster. Surrounding Peter's story is that of Josie Cornier, a former friend whose acceptance into the popular crowd hangs on a string that makes it impossible for her to reconcile her beliefs with her actions.
At times, Nineteen Minutes can seem tediously stereotypical-- jocks versus nerds, parent versus child, teacher versus student. Part of Picoult's gift is showing us the subtleties of these common dynamics, and the startling effects they often have on the moral landscape. As Peter's mother says at the end of this spellbinding novel, "Everyone would remember Peter for nineteen minutes of his life, but what about the other nine million?" --Gisele Toueg
Book Description
In nineteen minutes, you can mow the front lawn, color your hair, watch a third of a hockey game. In nineteen minutes, you can bake scones or get a tooth filled by a dentist; you can fold laundry for a family of five....In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world, or you can just jump off it.
In nineteen minutes, you can get revenge.
Sterling is a small, ordinary New Hampshire town where nothing ever happens -- until the day its complacency is shattered by a shocking act of violence. In the aftermath, the town's residents must not only seek justice in order to begin healing but also come to terms with the role they played in the tragedy. For them, the lines between truth and fiction, right and wrong, insider and outsider have been obscured forever. Josie Cormier, the teenage daughter of the judge sitting on the case, could be the state's best witness, but she can't remember what happened in front of her own eyes. And as the trial progresses, fault lines between the high school and the adult community begin to show, destroying the closest of friendships and families.
Nineteen Minutes is New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult's most raw, honest, and important novel yet. Told with the straightforward style for which she has become known, it asks simple questions that have no easy
answers: Can your own child become a mystery to you? What does it mean to be different in our society? Is it ever okay for a victim to strike back? And who -- if anyone -- has the right to judge someone else?
Customer Reviews:
If you have teenagers now or plan to someday, read it!.......2007-10-03
Stark. Honest. Blunt. The truth hurts and Picoult reveals it whether we want to know it or not in her wrenching novel about a school shooting and the aftermath. As a former student-turned-teacher, I have been on both sides of the educational fence, and was curious about this latest offering from one of my favorite authors. Picoult so thoroughly captures the thoughts and actions of today's teens, to the extent that we feel like we are dwelling amongst them. The greatest feat she has accomplished here is that we truly don't know who to side with. At least for me, I found myself feeling an unexpected amount of sympathy for the shooter (ha - see? I almost typed victim). Who IS the victim of this alarming tale? Maybe it's all of them - the shooter, his parents, the deceased, the survivors, the rest of the community. Whatever the case, I urge all parents - heck, any member of a community - to read this book. It will open your eyes to what you think you know about teens and schools and what's REALLY behind those perfect, plastic Barbie-doll smiles. I cannot praise Picoult enough for her courage in tackling such sensitive subject matters. She is a truly gifted writer who sure knows how to pack an emotional punch in all of her novels, this one definitely more than the rest.
Could Have Been So Much Better.......2007-09-30
Nineteen Minutes is the story of a New Hampshire high school shooting that resulted in ten deaths and the wounding of nineteen others, some of whom were left with physical disabilities and mental scars that would be with them for the rest of their lives. It is Peter Houghton's story. Peter Houghton, a sensitive boy with few social skills or friends, was always different in the eyes of his schoolmates. He was a natural target for bullies out to impress their own friends and his life was all downhill from the first day of kindergarten when his new lunch box was thrown out of the school bus window onto the highway where it was crushed by oncoming traffic.
By the time that Peter was a high school junior, the same group of bullies had been slamming him into lockers, punching him, verbally abusing him and otherwise generally intimidating him for as long as he could remember. After sixth grade, he had even been abandoned by the one close friend he had had up to then when she decided that she wanted to be popular and realized that her friendship with Peter was going to make that goal impossible to achieve. So when Peter snapped, he snapped big time, and deciding that it was payback time at Sterling High School he changed a city forever in just nineteen bloody minutes.
Nineteen Minutes is not a terrible book but it is a disappointing one because it could have been so much more than it turned out to be. Jodi Picoult offers nothing new to the discussion of school shootings, what causes them, or how they can be prevented. Instead, she deals in stereotypical characters and a sideshow romance that add little but pages to her novel. Rather than developing the characters of some of the bullies in the story to give insight into why some people get such great pleasure from humiliating those physically weaker than themselves, she offers up cardboard characters like Detective Patrick DuCharme whose constant one-liners give him more the personality of a stand-up comedian than that of a competent detective. She spends more time developing a romance between DuCharme and Judge Alex Cormier, the mother of one of the victims, than she does in trying to explain why school shootings have become so common in recent years. I did not expect, or want, a romance novel from Picoult but I got one.
Picoult's pacing of her story is disappointing because of the way that she so gradually builds up the suspense and mystery surrounding what happened on that fateful day only to end it all abruptly with somewhat of a surprise ending and a quick summary of what happened after the trial. Less time spent on an unnecessary romantic sideshow and more on a better written ending would have made this a much stronger book.
The audio version of Nineteen Minutes is read by actress Carol Monda who turns in a competent reading of this 18-disc recording. My only quarrel with Monda's performance is the "little boy" voice and cadence that she consistently uses for all of her male characters regardless of their age. That quirk made it difficult to take some of her characters seriously and may have contributed to my negative impression of Detective DuCharme.
A book club hit.......2007-09-30
Even though the subject matter of this abook is quite disturbing, most of my book club friends gave it 5 stars. At first I was saying it should be read by all parent and teachers. It gives such an insight into the torments of teenage life. However, I have ammended my opinion of the book's impact. It gives us insight into how we influence everyone we interact with in this life. I will try to in the future be considerate of how I treat my family and all people I cross paths with.
Another great book by Jodi Picoult .......2007-09-30
Wow! Jodi Picoult has done it again. I think this is one of her better books. She tackles a very difficult and emotional subject and she does so with wonderful sensitivity. This book is so real, I felt as if I truly knew the characters and was right there alongside them. I found myself crying on a few occasions.
She tells the story from many different points of view and bounces back and forth through time. As with most of her books, there is a "twist" at the end. I do have to say, though, that I would have liked to see a slightly different ending. I will not say much more as I do not want to spoil it for those that have not read it.
This book is a must read!
A Very Interesting Book.......2007-09-29
I picked up "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Picoult after a conversation with a co-worker. She was a big fan of Picoult, but had not yet read this book. I picked it up on Friday and finished it on Tuesday, after several late evenings.
"Nineteen Minutes" tells the story of a bullied young man who decides to take matters into his own hands after the school administration and his parents don't provide the help he needs. It is also the story of his parents, a girl who used to be his friends, and her mother, who was once friend's with the shooter's mother. Using a flashback, flash forward story-telling method, Picoult tells the present events and the previous events that led to the tragedy.
While most of the other reviews that I have read about Picoult say that she has utilizes "pat" endings, I was very surprised at the end of this book. In fact, I was in tears as the final chapters rolled around.
I think this particular story struck a nerve with me because I am an educator by profession, studying to become a principal. The main issue in this book was bullying and that is, unfortunately, something that is dealt with by many students every day. While the book is graphic in some areas, it is a book that I would recommend for all educators to read, not just for the entertainment value, but also for the insight that Picoult provides into the feelings of bullied children.
Book Description
Do you know the real Paula Deen? You may think you know the butter-loving, finger-licking, joke-cracking queen of melt-in-your-mouth Southern cuisine. You may have even visited The Lady & Sons to taste for yourself the down-home delicacies that made her famous and even heard some version of her Cinderella story (a single mom with two teenage sons started a brown-bag lunch business with $200 and wound up with a thriving restaurant, a fairy-tale second marriage, and wildly popular television shows), but you have never heard the intimate details of her often bumpy road to fame and fortune.
Courageously honest, downright inspiring, and just a little bit saucy, Paula shares the highs and lows of her life in the inimitable charming and irreverent style that you know from her television shows and personal appearances. She talks about long childhood summers spent in a bathing suit and roller skates and hard years living in the back of her father's gas station; a buzzing high school social life of sleepovers, parties, cheerleading, and boys; and a difficult marriage. The death of her beloved parents precipitated a debilitating agoraphobia that crippled her for years. But even when the going got tough, Paula never lost the good grace and sense of humor that would eventually help carry her to success and stardom. Of course, you can't get by on charm alone: as Paula has learned, you need plenty of willpower, hard work, and, above all, the love and support of family and friends to finance, sustain, and run a successful restaurant.
In each chapter, Paula shares new recipes: there's serious comfort food like her momma's Chocolate-Dippy Doughnuts, Courage Chili for when you know life's going to get tough, Sexy Oxtails for seducing that special someone, and the recipe for her new mother-in-law's Banana Nut Delight Cake that Paula finally got just right. And you'll love the never-before-seen photos of her family.
In this memoir, Paula Deen speaks as frankly and intimately as few women in the public eye have ever dared. Whether she's telling tales of good times or bad, her story is proof that the old-fashioned American dream is alive and kicking, and there still is such a thing as a real-life happy ending.
Customer Reviews:
I loved this book!!!.......2007-09-19
I loved Paula Deen from the first time I watched her show on "Food TV". However there was so much about her life that I did not know. Reading this book really brought me in to her personal life--what is important to her, her battle with agoraphobia, and even some of her mistakes. I read this book while I was on vacation--could'nt put it down!!!! She has such a funny way of telling you about her life--her usual Paula Deen craziness!!!! LOVED IT!!
Paula's book is cookin'.......2007-09-12
This book was so easy and fun to read. Paula's writes like she talks. I admired her courage in starting a business. She never allowed herself have the option of giving up.
It Aint All ABout the Cookin.......2007-09-07
If you have enjoyed Paula Dean cookbooks and her cooking shows, you will enjoy this book. I found out so much about Paula Dean and her struggle to fame. As I read this book, I could just hear her voice and her laughter and Laugh I did. There are also a few recipes in the book that I have found to be excellent.
Paula Dean and her handsome boys are to be applauded for their stick-to-ativeness..and God bless the entire family. May the Dean/Weaver family always be a hugh success.
You don't have to love cooking to enjoy the book. If you want honesty and humor, this is the book.
Loved this book!.......2007-09-05
Paula does a great job of giving you a sense of her roots. She also shares many of her personal struggles - some of which were probably not that easy to discuss publicly. She's brutally honest about her low times and bad decisions that she's made. As the reader she will make you feel as if you are a trusted friend in which she's chosen to confide.
I think Paula is a courageous woman who has earned every bit of her success.
Paula Deen: It Ain't All About the Cookin'.......2007-09-04
I just LOVED this book!! Once I started reading, I couldn't stop. It's been a long time since I've done that with a book. I felt like Paula was right here with me. She made me feel like I was part of her life. I laughed and cried and what's gone on in her life and continues to go on. She's a remarkable lady. I wish I could meet her someday; but since I probably won't, this was the next best thing. Paula you are a "hoot"!! I just love you girl, and keep on being yourself!
Average customer rating:
- Funny and profound
- Grace (Eventually) thoughts on Faith
- Not her best, but still brilliant
- No thank you, no good.
- She's the Best
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Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith
Anne Lamott
Manufacturer: Riverhead Hardcover
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Similar Items:
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Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith
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Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith
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Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith
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Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
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Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
ASIN: 1594489424
Release Date: 2007-03-20 |
Amazon.com
Through Anne Lamott's many books (including six novels, her bestselling parenting memoir, Operating Instructions, and her popular guide to writing, Bird by Bird) the subject she keeps returning to is her faith, her deeply personal--"erratic," she says--journey in Christianity. Her latest book, Grace (Eventually), is her third collection of her "thoughts on faith," and she took the time to answer a few of our questions.
Questions for Anne Lamott
Amazon.com: This is your third book on faith. How has your perspective changed since you wrote your first one?
Lamott: I wrote my first book on faith when Bill Clinton was president, and I was in a much better mood. I wrote Plan B during the run-up to war in Iraq, and the ensuing catastrophe, so I was very angry, but trying to reconcile that pain and hostility to Jesus's insistence that we are made of love, to love, and be loved, to forgive and be forgiven. Some days went better than others. Also, my son Sam was in his early teens, and that was a LOT easier than when he turned 16 and 17, his ages when I was writing the pieces in Grace (Eventually).
In general, I think Grace (Eventually) is a less angry book. I like how I'm aging, except that my back hurts more often, my knees crack like twigs when I squat, and my memory fails more frequently, in more public and therefore humiliating ways. But I think I complain less. As my best friend said when she was dying, and I was obsessing about my butt, "You just don't have that kind of time."
Amazon.com: What does grace mean for you? How can we better communicate it to each other?
Lamott: Grace is that extra bit of help when you think you are really doomed; also, not coincidentally, when you have finally run out of good ideas on how to proceed, and on how better to control the people or circumstances that are frustrating or defeating you. I experience Grace as a cool ribbon of fresh air when I feel spiritually claustrophobic. Sometimes I experience it as water-wings, something holding me up when I am afraid that I'm going down, or the tide is carrying me away. I know that Grace meets us whereever we are, but does not leave us where it found us. Sometimes it is so small--a couple of seconds relief here, several extra inches there. I wish it were big and obvious, like sky-writing. Oh, well. Grace is not something I DO, or can chase down; but it is something I can receive, when I stop trying to be in charge.
We communicate grace to one another by holding space for people when they are hurt or terrified, instead of trying to fix them, or manage their emotions for them. We offer ourselves as silent companionship, or gentle listening when someone feels very alone. We get people glasses of water when they are thirsty.
Amazon.com: Many of the essays in Grace (Eventually) first appeared in Salon, the online magazine, and that's the way that many readers first found you. How do you see the Internet changing the way people read and write?
Lamott: The Internet makes everything so immediate and spontaneous, which I totally love--UNLESS it has to do with the immediacy of people's negative response to me. Several of the Salon pieces in Grace--for instance, the story about the horrible fight with my son, and the piece about turning the other cheek while being ripped off by The Carpet Guy--generated a couple hundred letters, many of them extremely hostile. Perhaps "spewy" would be a better description. I also sometimes get knee-jerk responses to my mentions of Jesus in my Salon pieces that seem to lump me in the same tradition as Jerry Falwell. But for the most part, I love the populism and egalitarian nature of the Internet: everyone counts the same.
Amazon.com: What stories do people tell you, when they've read your books or know you are a writer?
Lamott: People tell me how relieved they are that I try to tell the truth about how hard it can be to be a mother, or a daughter, or an American in these times. They tell me stories about how awful their own teenagers can be, or how awful they themselves behaved towards their kids or parents; how hard it was to finally be able to adore their mothers, or to forgive their fathers. They tell me their sobriety dates. They whisper to me that they are Christians, too.
Also, they ask if I am able to read their manuscripts, and the name of my agent, and my e-mail address. They ask if we are going to survive the current political difficulties--and I promise them we are. They ask how old my son is now--17 and a half--and how he is doing, which is fantastically, after some of the hard months I wrote about in Grace.
Amazon.com:What lessons do you think you can pass on to others: to your readers, to your son? What lessons does it seem like people have to learn for themselves?
Lamott: All I have to offer is my own truth, my own experience, strength and hope. I can pass on the tool of a God Box, and how for 20 years I have been putting tiny notes in mine and promising God I will keep my sticky fingers off the controls until I hear God's wisdom: sometimes I get an answer because the phone rings, or the mail comes, but at any rate, during every single terrible problem and tragedy, I have been given enough guidance and stamina and even humor to bear up, and be transformed, for the good. I always tell Sam that if you want to make God laugh, tell Her your plans. I tell Sam that if he listens to his best thinking, he will suffer: and to listen to his heart instead, to listen in the silence, and to seek wise counsel.
Amazon.com: You've written nearly a dozen books (including an incredibly popular guide to writing): does writing get any easier? Does it get harder?
Lamott: In a very important way, writing gets easier, because I've been doing it full time now for thirty-plus years, and just as you would get better and better if you practiced your scales on a piano, I've gotten better, and can try harder and harder pieces. But writing is always hard. It does not come naturally to me at all. I sit down at the same time every day, which lets my subconscious realize it's time to get to work. I give myself very short assignments, and let myself write really terrible first drafts. But I grapple with the exact same problems every writer does, which is having equal proportions of self-loathing and grandiosity. I sort of live by the Nike ads: Just Do It. So I sit down. I show up. I do it by pre-arrangement with myself, because I know I'll feel sad and terrible if I shirk on that days writing. I do it as a debt of honor, to myself, and to whatever it is that has given me this gift of being able to tell stories, and to make people laugh. Laughter is carbonated holiness. Other people's good writing is medicine for me, and I hope mine is too, for my readers.
Book Description
The sharp, funny, and heartfelt follow-up to her bestselling Plan B, Anne Lamott's newest collection is a personal exploration of the faith and grace all around us.
In Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith, Lamott examines the ways we're caught in life's most daunting predicaments: love, mothering, work, politics, and maybe toughest of all, evolving from who we are to who we were meant to be. This is a complicated process for most of us, and Lamott turns her wit and honesty inward to describe her own intimate, bumpy, and unconventional road to grace and faith.
"I wish grace and healing were more abracadabra kinds of things," she writes in one of her essays, "that delicate silver bells would ring to announce grace's arrival. But no, it's clog and slog and scootch, on the floor, in silence, in the dark."
Whether she's writing about her unsuccessful efforts to get her money back from an obstinate carpet salesman, grappling with the tectonic shifts in her relationship with her son as he matures, trying to maintain her faith and humor during politically challenging times, or helping a close friend die with dignity, Lamott seeks out both the divinity and the humanity in herself and everything around her. Throughout these essays, she writes of her struggle to find the essence of her faith, which she uncovers in the unlikeliest places. By turns insightful and hilarious, pointed and poignant, Grace (Eventually) is Anne Lamott at her perceptive and irreverent best.
Customer Reviews:
Funny and profound.......2007-08-12
Anne Lamott is honest and engaging. This book is a beautiful testament to a real life lived in faith and hope in the midst of inevitable disappointments and hardships.
Grace (Eventually) thoughts on Faith.......2007-08-08
I bought this book thinking I would get an inspiritial read. Instead I found that the title totally misrepresented the book. This is nothing but a self-centered, self-indulgent, whiny bunch of writings from a drug user/alcoholic, over age hippy, feeling (what?). Certainaly not faith!
Title should read "Poor Me, I can't Think Straight"
Not her best, but still brilliant.......2007-08-01
One of the most popular voices in contemporary spirituality, Anne Lamott has a remarkable gift at handling serious and unfunny topics - religion, motherhood, eating disorders, death - in a witty and disarming way.
Lamott's new book, "Grace Eventually: Further Thoughts On Faith," is a collection of essays, many of which Lamott wrote as a columnist for Salon.com. If you haven't read anything by Lamott before, the best places to start would be "Traveling Mercies" (her bestselling memoir), and "Bird by Bird," (one of the best guide to writing anywhere, another bestseller). But the two things you should know before reading Anne Lamott is that 1) she is an incredible prose artist, quirky and profound, with a style that seems all her own. And 2) she is almost completely neurotic.
"Grace Eventually," is a special book in that Lamott's description of ordinary events make them feel sacred. She is a writer with an ability to make the reader pay attention, feel present, and tune in to the story taking place around them. Although she refers to Jesus consistently, there is little that seems orthodox about Lamott's spiritual journey, and perhaps that is one of the reasons she has such a wide readership.
You'd have to be made out of granite not to find something that moves you in this unique collection of essays. You would also need to adhere to Lamott's precise and strident political positions not to find at least one portion of this book infuriating. Either way, "Grace Eventually" is a provocative and unique read, and any avid reader owes it to themselves to become familiar with one of the country's top writers.
No thank you, no good........2007-07-25
I read another one of Anne's books. The first one I did not like much, and really did not want to read this one, but when you already own it, you feel you must with 16 dollars into the book. It was some repeating of stories I really did not like in the first place, there were a few highlights or good moments, but not enough. I still feel bad for her, but most times I was like "get over it." Now I loved Donald Miller's book, which was along the same mindset, but he seemed deep or maybe just a man. Sorry Anne, you are twice if not more the writer that I am, but I was just not into the book.
She's the Best.......2007-07-25
Her words are equivalent to the phrase "A sight for sore eyes." My copy now has so many underlines and dog ears that I just don't know where to start with quotable quotes--
"IT FEELS AS IF SOMEONE FINALLY CRACKED OPEN A WINDOW THAT HAD BEEN JAMMED."
"...taught me a willingness to help clean up the mess we've made is a crucial part of adult living; that our scary, selfish, damging behavior litters the planet."
"...we get mad at each other, over and over, then we apologize, become friends again: I see how each time this is redemption. How amazing it is to share that."
"Joy is the best makeup."
"Prayer is not asking for what you think you want, but asking to be changed in ways you can't imagine."
I use this like a Bible when I need to be called to a higher place. It soothes me, calms me down, and calls me to a (much) higher place. Buy this, Bird By Bird, and the other two from this series. They are GIFTS.
Book Description
In nineteenth-century China, in a remote Hunan county, a girl named Lily, at the tender age of seven, is paired with a laotong, “old same,” in an emotional match that will last a lifetime. The laotong, Snow Flower, introduces herself by sending Lily a silk fan on which she’s painted a poem in nu shu, a unique language that Chinese women created in order to communicate in secret, away from the influence of men. As the years pass, Lily and Snow Flower send messages on fans, compose stories on handkerchiefs, reaching out of isolation to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments. Together, they endure the agony of foot-binding, and reflect upon their arranged marriages, shared loneliness, and the joys and tragedies of motherhood. The two find solace, developing a bond that keeps their spirits alive. But when a misunderstanding arises, their deep friendship suddenly threatens to tear apart.
Download Description
Lisa See is the author of Flower Net (an Edgar Award nominee), The Interior, and Dragon Bones, as well as the critically acclaimed memoir On Gold Mountain. The Organization of Chinese American Women named her the 2001 National Woman of the Year. She lives in Los Angeles.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.......2007-10-03
I thought this book was very informative as to the life and habits of the Chinese around the turn of the 20th century. Relationships have changed little since that time, people are always misunderstanding situations. It was beautifully described and written.
True friendship.......2007-10-02
This book is not a "feel good" book, in fact you will be choking back the tears by the end of it. The book goes deep into the relationship between two friends starting with early days of footbinding and on to through the ups and downs of life. It is well worth your time to read!
So-So.......2007-10-02
Based on all the reviews, I had expected this book to be much better than it was. I found the chapter on the feet-binding process well-written and interesting, but the rest of the novel was fairly uneventful for me. I thought a lot of the messages the women were writing to each other were too "sappy". I really felt no emotional connection to any of the women - except maybe for Auntie (Beautiful Moon's mother). I'm glad I read the book, but I think it's overrated.
Easy Read.......2007-10-01
Easy read but distrubing to learn of the cultural practices that young chinese girls had to endure.
Everyone I Know Loves This Book.......2007-09-29
Once I read Snow Flower, I passed it on to a friend, who passed it on, and on, and on. Everyone has loved this book. For myself, I found it engaging and endlessly entertaining. It has a beginning, a middle and an end that are all wonderful. The writer has a beautiful way of telling the story of an enduring friendship. I highly recommend.
Book Description
The astonishing, uplifting story of a real-life Indiana Jones and his humanitarian campaign to use education to combat terrorism in the Taliban's backyard
Anyone who despairs of the individual's power to change lives has to read the story of Greg Mortenson, a homeless mountaineer who, following a 1993 climb of Pakistan's treacherous K2, was inspired by a chance encounter with impoverished mountain villagers and promised to build them a school. Over the next decade he built fifty-five schools—especially for girls—that offer a balanced education in one of the most isolated and dangerous regions on earth. As it chronicles Mortenson's quest, which has brought him into conflict with both enraged Islamists and uncomprehending Americans, Three Cups of Tea combines adventure with a celebration of the humanitarian spirit.
Customer Reviews:
A change your life book.......2007-10-02
This book was required reading for all incoming freshmen in Montana's university system this year, and my book club chose it last spring. At first I had a hard time "getting into" it. The first 50 pages or so I considered not finishing it...there were so many foreign names and places that half the time I couldn't put the letter sounds together to make words I could even understand...BUT THEN!
This book really grasps your soul. Every time I sat down to read I felt a wave of goosebumps over my excitement with this story.
This book is very motivational also. Everything you'll read makes so much sense about changing the world through education, but you'll also find yourself finding lessons and motivation for your own life as well.
I ABSOLUTELY loved this book. I've recommended it to everyone and I've passed my copy on to a friend. I also had the honor of hearing Greg Mortenson speak at a small community library, and he told his story to us like we were friends and family. It was wonderful!
You must read this book!
Buy it, read it, pass it on, give as a gift.......2007-10-01
For everything else that has already been said about this book. I agree. I also have to add that it is a page-turner. I had a hard time putting it down. I didn't expect that. I expect to be inspired and then, be unable to finish this worthy book. Instead, I was fascinated, enthralled, encouraged and rooting for Greg. I'm not finished the book yet, but I came online to order a copy for a friend. I highly recommend it.
Three cups of tea.......2007-09-30
I rated this book 5 stars. I had no idea who Greg Mortenson was until my
wife recommended his book to me. My only familiarity with Pakinstan and
Afhganistan was what I read about these countries in the news about the
Afghanistan-Iraq wars. I have a totally different concept of the people of these two countries after having read Greg's book. They are peaceful, loving, caring, intelligent people interested in the welfare of their children, whether male or female, and intent on educating them and
preparing them for the rest of their lives. I was so glad I read this book. It really opened my eyes.
If only we all took the step to reach out.......2007-09-30
Magnificient! If only we all took the step to reach out and make this world a better place for each unique human being on this earth. I couldn't put this book down because Greg is actually doing it on an amazingly large scale. If only each child in the world had the opportunity for education.....we can erase if only
A true inspiration.......2007-09-30
Greg Mortenson deserves a Nobel Peace Prize and this book tells the story of a real hero. I could hardly believe one person could be so devoted, brave, lucky, and true! It also tells of the Muslim people as generous human beings - the other side of the terrorists we read about in the papers all of the time. It's also another reminder of how fortunate we are in this country - especially the women
Book Description
With her disarming, intimate, completely accessible voice, and dry sense of humor, Nora Ephron shares with us her ups and downs in I Feel Bad About My Neck, a candid, hilarious look at women who are getting older and dealing with the tribulations of maintenance, menopause, empty nests, and life itself.
The woman who brought us When Harry Met Sally . . . , Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail, and Bewitched, and the author of best sellers Heartburn, Scribble Scribble, and Crazy Salad, discusses everything—from how much she hates her purse to how much time she spends attempting to stop the clock: the hair dye, the treadmill, the lotions and creams that promise to slow the aging process but never do. Oh, and she can’t stand the way her neck looks. But her dermatologist tells her there’s no quick fix for that.
Ephron chronicles her life as an obsessed cook, passionate city dweller, and hapless parent. She recounts her anything-but-glamorous days as a White House intern during the JFK years (“I am probably the only young woman who ever worked in the Kennedy White House that the President did not make a pass at”) and shares how she fell in and out of love with Bill Clinton—from a distance, of course. But mostly she speaks frankly and uproariously about life as a woman of a certain age.
Utterly courageous, wickedly funny, and unexpectedly moving in its truth telling, I Feel Bad About My Neck is a book of wisdom, advice, and laugh-out-loud moments, a scrumptious, irresistible treat.
Customer Reviews:
Great read, slightly depressing ........2007-09-25
This book was funny and easy to read for anyone over 50 , if you're any younger you wont get half the jokes . It did get a little depressing towards the end , but some may just call it realistic ( about getting old and death ) .
Not the fun read I expected.......2007-09-25
Maybe it's just me, but I expected so much more from this book. I thought it would be wittier, more original, and use humor to inspire middle aged women like me. Instead I found it to be a negative read and it just brought me down. Sorry, no recommendation from me on this one.
Waste of Time.......2007-09-25
I really feel cheated out of several hours of time and the cost of the book. Instead of funny and insightful, it was whiny and shallow. I should have read the reviews at Amazon instead of seeing her on Oprah and thinking the bookI Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman would be worth my time and money.
I Feel Bad About My Neck..........2007-09-25
Quick and easy read. Entertaining and insightful of how we feel but haven't put our thoughts into book form. Nora did for us.
I Feel Bad About My Neck.......2007-09-24
Hilarious. I bought copies for my friends who are also "of a certain age." I love Nora Ephron's humor.
Average customer rating:
- The Year of Magical Thinking
- Do not read this book for empathy or comfort
- Hip Hip.....Hmmmm
- A meditation on acceptance of loss
- Many meanings, great depth
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The Year of Magical Thinking
Joan Didion
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1400078431
Release Date: 2007-02-13 |
Book Description
From one of America’s iconic writers, a stunning book of electric honesty and passion. Joan Didion explores an intensely personal yet universal experience: a portrait of a marriage--and a life, in good times and bad--that will speak to anyone who has ever loved a husband or wife or child.
Customer Reviews:
The Year of Magical Thinking.......2007-10-01
A well-written book and a good sharing of personal emotions. Sometimes seemed like name-dropping at it's best (or worst) but I suppose if you know all the best people you mention them and their effect on your life.
Do not read this book for empathy or comfort.......2007-09-27
After my mother died this summer, this book was recommended to me. I am not familiar with Joan Didion (and I won't be in my future readings), but this book was horrible. I feel sorry that her daughter suffered, but I didn't care to read about that. I wanted to read about how she felt about the sudden loss of her husband. I was told she was so "real" in her writing. Whoever edited this book liked things unfinished. Very disappointed at the waste of time and money spent on this book.
Hip Hip.....Hmmmm.......2007-09-26
The Year of Magical Thinking was both magical and mundane. As I read Joan Didion's winning but somber prose and understood that this was her first book written without her deceased husband's help, I thought of a comment he made to her "Don't tell me ever again you can't write." (p. 166). Although a voracious reader I had not heard of either Joan or her husband, John Gregory Dunne, before this book. I'd like to read more of her work.
What impacted me was reading and for some reason remembering, for the umpteenth time, a failed relationship I'd had well over a decade before and how it marked me. Somehow, was it the book's theme or the prose of the author?, I realized that the trauma had later led me to a beautiful gift that I never would have had without the breakup. The Year of Magical Thinking freed me from something that had long hurt me. Was this my way Lexington Avenue crossing (p. 225)? Was this my leis left at St. John the Divine (p. 226)? The book helped me see what I'd been blind to for years. As well, chapter 16 was candid and impressive as it dealt with her successful husband's concern that he had "frittered away" his life. It seems that her reconstruction of his final days discovered a feared futility. Finally, in chapter 17 Didion expresses, after relating their life's events, activities and relationships, what she learned from and about grief.
Didion and Dunne, who were married for 40 years, inhabited a world I know little about. They reported from Democratic and Republican political conventions, were successful novelists and screen-play writers, lived in Malibu and New York, ate out as a way of life and would send the laundry out to be done. In their world they would decide on the buying and selling of a home by flying to Hawaii to think about it. Paris on a whim was easily accomplished. I was intrigued when she wrote of his time in Princeton and mentioned that he thought the Nassoons to be absurd (p. 144). Am I supposed to know who they were? Do I as the reader need to look that up? It seems from reading they lived on their terms and left little room for religion or a deep quest for meaning outside of their own lives. I find it sad that she could would so easily dismiss near death experiences and look for omens from falling bird poop, all the while not believing in He who watches the sparrows (p.227), a biblical reference for God. I don't pretend to know her religious/spiritual attitude, but The Year of Magical Thinking, a book on death and grief, does not spare one page for the subject.
There are other Death and Grief books I've read: A Grief Observed, A Severe Mercy, A View from a Hearse, etc. all of which present death via memoir. I am continually buoyed by C.S. Lewis' fictional The Last Battle, which concludes the Narnia series. As Aslan (who represents God) comes to judge all those in Narnia and bring about its demise, many go through the door into Aslan's country. From there it is "Further up and Further In" as friends are reunited and magic begins:
"There was a real railway accident," said Aslan softly. "Your father and mother and all of you are--as you used to call it in the Shadowlands--dead. The term is over: Holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning."
And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One and the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before. (The Last Battle, final page)
Didion's work, while it brought healing to me, could finally only take me to her study of geology for buoyant hope and left eternal darkness for her husband and for her daughter Quintana, who was ill throughout the book and died just months after John Gregory Dunne did.
And there was very little that was magical about that.
A meditation on acceptance of loss.......2007-09-25
I have read many, many, many novels about death, but only this beautiful piece of nonfiction has come close to capturing the glancing, circular path we tread after a crucial person in our life dies... the way we tiptoe around and around, ignoring the central truth, which is that death is the end and no one is coming back. When we finally reach that truth, we really begin to grieve, and as Didion shares in the book, sometimes it takes a year.
For me, it's taken longer. I read this book on a family vacation less than two years after we lost my mother. I would dip into it, then look up at my family around me, wanting so much to read out loud to them. I especially wanted them to hear the part where she feels she has to save a pair of her husband's running shoes because he will need them when he comes back. That made so much sense to me. Maybe I just needed to tell my family that I wasn't the only one plagued by magical thinking, waiting for Mom to pop up and explain that she was back, now, I'm not sure.
But I kept my mouth closed, went back to the book, left them to play cards and plan which wineries to visit and walk their own circular paths towards acceptance of this unacceptable loss. I've passed the book on to every member of the family in the years since.
Many meanings, great depth.......2007-09-17
The book itself was part of the grieving of this brave woman.
She does not flinch from reliving the pain or the agonizingly problematic issues surrounding it. Death, which her child at an early age already sensed as a presence and called the Broken Man, becomes actually the presence of utter absence, where a dividing line between one reality and another seems to have interposed itself like the cut of a knife through Time.
How does one describe the Void? And really, didn't she say it right at the beginning - that words were inadequate to the task she had set herself? Beyond the prose and the meaning that we think we have gleaned from it, we find other meanings, or hints of possible meanings - as if we were looking down into a pool where light seems to be lurking, where it plays with darkness in an unending choreography in multiple layers down into the depths ...
In a prismatic refraction of consciousness, Didion relives her thoughts and actions with an air of clinical detachment that merely intensifies the stark reality of her grieving. She describes her mental state - one of disorientation and distortion - unsparingly. Her subjective consciousness synthesizes past and present in an almost Joycean manner; but here, the past may come alive and leap out dangerously like a wild beast in a nightmare, and the present, like a deep quarry pit of black water, is filled with bottomless pain. In her first year, she manages to function only with great effort, and only by working hard to avoid "memory triggers" that would take her back, suck her into the vortex, as she calls it.
The book ventures far beyond her personal grief, in an allusive manner that can only be called poetic. Using the dry medical terminology of doctors and their reports almost as a foil, Didion brings us face to face with the imponderables. "Life changes in the instant." And after that instant, the minutiae of one's life are seen, in hindsight, to have had mysterious significance. Time itself, its eternal aspect, is a character in this book, as are all the ultimate metaphysical questions of life's meaning or lack thereof.
It is a book that will repay rereading. But it hurts, and it leaves many questions unanswered. It is not an easy book.
Undeniably, though, it is moving, and it is deep. Deep like the movements of the earth far below the surface, deep like the ocean that brings in the tide ... A work of love, of sorrow, of pain and very human yearning. The last paragraph says it all.
Amazon.com
Best known for the provocative and powerful novel, Midwives (an Oprah Book Club® Selection), Chris Bohjalian writes beautiful and riveting fiction featuring what the San Francisco Chronicle dubbed "ordinary people in heartbreaking circumstances behaving with grace and dignity." In his new novel, The Double Bind, a literary thriller with references to (and including characters from) The Great Gatsby, Bohjalian takes readers on a haunting journey through one woman's obsession with uncovering a dark secret. We think Bohjalian fans will be thrilled with this compelling and unforgettable read, but just to be sure, we asked bestselling author Jodi Picoult to read The Double Bind and give us her take. Check out her review below. --Daphne Durham
Guest Reviewer: Jodi Picoult
From the provocative and gut-wrenching The Pact, to the brilliant genre-bending The Tenth Circle, to her latest novel about a high school shooting Nineteen Minutes, Jodi Picoult's riveting novels center on family and relationships, and bring to light questions and issues that remain with a reader long after the last page is turned.
I once heard a fellow novelist call writing "successful schizophrenia"--we invent people and worlds that don't exist; but instead of being medicated, we are paid for it. Although countless novels succeed in whisking the reader away on the heels of such fabrications, there are very few that pull the curtain away from the craft, allowing us inside the mind of a working novelist as he combines reality and fantasy. Chris Bohjalian's The Double Bind is not just one of these; it's the finest example I've ever read of a book that tips its hat to both the beauty of the literary creation, as well as the magical act of creating.
Fact and fiction become indistinguishable in The Double Bind: The story centers on Laurel Estabrook, a young social worker and survivor of a near-rape, who stumbles across photographs taken by a formerly homeless client and tries to understand how a man who'd taken snapshots of celebrities in the 50s and 60s might have wound up on the streets. However, an author's note tells us that Bohjalian conceived this book after being shown a batch of old photographs taken by a once-homeless man; and the actual photos of Bob "Soupy" Campbell are peppered throughout the text. In another neat twist, Bohjalian's resurrects details from The Great Gatsby, which become "real" in the context of his own novel--Laurel lives in West Egg; part of her hunt for her photographer's past involves meeting with the descendants of Daisy and Tom Buchanan.
As a writer who counts The Great Gatsby as one of the books that changed her life, this inclusion was both startling and remarkable for me. Who doesn't want one's favorite characters to come to life--even if it's only within the constraints of another fictional work? But Bohjalian chose his text wisely: no discussion of The Great Gatsby is complete without alluding to missed opportunities and unreliable sources--critical elements in Laurel's quest. And therein lies Bohjalian's true double bind: all stories--even the ones we tell ourselves--are subject to our own interpretation, and to the degree we can make others believe them.
The Double Bind may flirt with the classics, but it's not your father's stuffy old tome: it's the sort of book you want to read in one sitting, and it packs a twist at the end that will leave you speechless. It also, worthily, spotlights the cause of homelessness in a way that isn't preachy, but honest and explanatory. Ultimately, what Bohjalian's done is offer his lucky readers another reminder of why he's such an extraordinary author: by creating characters that become so real we lose the distinction between truth and embellishment; by reminding us that the story of any life--whether fictional, functional, or marginal--is one to be savored. --Jodi Picoult
Book Description
Throughout his career, Chris Bohjalian has earned a reputation for writing novels that examine some of the most important issues of our time. With
Midwives, he explored the literal and metaphoric place of birth in our culture. In
The Buffalo Soldier, he introduced us to one of contemporary literature’s most beloved foster children. And in
Before You Know Kindness, he plumbed animal rights, gun control, and what it means to be a parent.
Chris Bohjalian’s riveting fiction keeps us awake deep into the night. As The New York Times has said, “Few writers can manipulate a plot with Bohjalian’s grace and power.” Now he is back with an ambitious new novel that travels between Jay Gatsby’s Long Island and rural New England, between the Roaring Twenties and the twenty-first century.
When college sophomore Laurel Estabrook is attacked while riding her bicycle through Vermont’s back roads, her life is forever changed. Formerly outgoing, Laurel withdraws into her photography and begins to work at a homeless shelter. There she meets Bobbie Crocker, a man with a history of mental illness and a box of photographs that he won’t let anyone see. When Bobbie dies suddenly, Laurel discovers that he was telling the truth: before he was homeless, Bobbie Crocker was a successful photographer who had indeed worked with such legends as Chuck Berry, Robert Frost, and Eartha Kitt.
As Laurel’s fascination with Bobbie’s former life begins to merge into obsession, she becomes convinced that some of his photographs reveal a deeply hidden, dark family secret. Her search for the truth will lead her further from her old life—and into a cat-and-mouse game with pursuers who claim they want to save her.
In this spellbinding literary thriller, rich with complex and compelling characters—including Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan—Chris Bohjalian takes readers on his most intriguing, most haunting, and most unforgettable journey yet.
Customer Reviews:
Long and winding middle of the road writing.......2007-09-29
Author Chris Plot Twist Bohjalian is at it again. As with his breakout novel, Midwives, The Double Bind is filled with twists and turns and things are never what they seem. Due to that fact, little that can be said without spoiling the plot. A young woman who has survived a harrowing ordeal lands a job at a homeless shelter. After being given a box of photographs belonging to a recently deceased client of the place, she tries to find out as much as possible about the man and his family. Although her coworkers, friends and acquaintances believe that she is going overboard in her quest, she is undeterred and doggedly pursues the truth. In a number of places, the reader will likely find him or herself wondering about certain coincidences and unlikelihoods, but if he or she is can just go with it - things will eventually become clear. Clever plotting aside, the book has its problems: it is long, long, long and the writing is not exactly compelling; there are two sections (within the prologue and again in the Chapter 28) that contain profanity and graphically described violence; except for some discussion of the fact that the homeless often suffer from mental illness and Laurel's encounter with a homeless man (during which she throws caution to the wind, telling her companions that she will escort the strange man to the shelter ALONE), the whole "homeless" angle of the story seems pretty sanitized; and anyone unfamiliar with The Great Gatsby is sure to have a tough time of it. The story's highlights can be found by reading the following (if you plan to read it in its entirety, don't read on): the prologue, page 200 (for "the double bind" explained), and chapter twenty-eight through the reader's guide. Best thing about the book - the surprises - worst - the writing. Midwives is a better choice.
WOW........2007-09-27
I am rarely as enthralled with a book as I was this one...couldn't put it down, and I will recommend it to many people! Very different, brilliantly creative, and breathtaking. READ IT.
A Painful Reality.......2007-09-17
No matter how lurid, misunderstood, violent or repugnant the subject, Chris Bohjalian wrests his themes from the daily news, fleshes them out with realistic details and spins a compelling tale that both enchants
and educates the reader. His latest book, The Double Bind, deals with the aftermath of a brutally senseless attack on a compassionate young social worker.
The author aced this one, and I will never again see a young woman pass by on a bicycle without reliving in my mind the horror of a cruel encounter on a bright fall day along a Vermont country lane. The event and the subsequent unfolding of the residual pain are told with
compassion and a surreal weave of reality and fantasy. It's hard to imagine where this talented writer will take us next!
Izzie Hayes, avid Bohjalian fan
A literary game not played by fair rules.......2007-09-17
I have to give Mr. Bohjalian 5 stars for chutzpah. How many authors would so tightly link their own work to one of the American classics of the 20th century--perhaps the Great American Novel itself--forcing any reader to compare Bohjalian to Fitzgerald? I can assure you that, if this work is representative, Mr. Bohjalian is no Fitzgerald; they hardly speak the same language.
But wait, the chutzpah gets even more extreme! It is possible that Mr. Bohjalian has deliberately given us this rambling, slack style--sometimes seemingly deliberately hanging with Spanish-moss-like clumps of unfocused, clicheed phrases that only a nonwriter would dare have appear under his own name--for a literary purpose. Without revealing too much--and the book is all about the series of relevations that progressively emerge--I think I can safely suggest that Mr. Bohjalian may be dropping a (perhaps massive) clue about where the story is heading by writing in such a slack, nonliterary style. Chutzpah indeed to set himself up so close to a master stylist like Fitzgerald just to make himself look like a bad writer to advance his own plot.
Or maybe not. Maybe the book really isn't that coherent. It teems with references to The Great Gatsby on many levels. It invites the reader to hear these references in multiple voices speaking in the primary narrator's voice. But for the life of me, I can't distinguish where one voice starts and another leaves off. Shifts appear to occur in the middle of paragraphs. Or at least, the story can be viewed as coherent only if this is going on. As a reader, I feel like one of the early German scholars of the Bible trying to sort through the distinct voices present in the text and wondering what scribe could have edited these voices together in such a haphazard patchwork. What was the scribe trying to do?! What is the author trying to do here?
I can't be more detailed without revealing key elements of the story. Let me say simply this. I came to the book with great expectations. I actually lived in F. Scott Fitzgerald's dorm room in college and had a classmate who saw himself and his girlfriend as the reincarnations of F. Scott and Zelda. (Sounds like part of some alternative take off on Gatsby, but this one wasn't fiction ;-)). I felt a literary mystery story unfolding through the pages of The Double Bind and my expectations rose. I love a good literary game. But as the revelations unfolded, I couldn't make them hold together. Other readers I have spoken to have had the same reaction. At the end of the day, I can't tell what the author actually intended us to believe happened in his story. More than anything, I felt as though he had not played fairly by any set of rules he had set for the game. Or maybe more mercifully, the game didn't have coherent rules to begin with. Takes Mr. Bohjalian off the hook, but it takes any fun out of the game. I came away frustrated and disappointed.
Couldn't Put It Down.............2007-09-11
"What a ride! _The Double Bind was a "couldn't-put-it-down" book. Now I have to read it again with a different perpsective. I loved the first, and am now looking forward to the second journey with Laurel. Thank you for such a provocative book."
Book Description
In this eagerly awaited new novel, Lionel Shriver, the Orange Prize-winning author of the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin, delivers an imaginative and entertaining look at the implications, large and small, of whom we choose to love. Using a playful parallel-universe structure, The Post-Birthday World follows one woman's future as it unfolds under the influence of two drastically different men.
Children's book illustrator Irina McGovern enjoys a quiet and settled life in London with her partner, fellow American expatriate Lawrence Trainer, a smart, loyal, disciplined intellectual at a prestigious think tank. To their small circle of friends, their relationship is rock solid. Until the night Irina unaccountably finds herself dying to kiss another man: their old friend from South London, the stylish, extravagant, passionate top-ranking snooker player Ramsey Acton. The decision to give in to temptation will have consequences for her career, her relationships with family and friends, and perhaps most importantly the texture of her daily life.
Hinging on a single kiss, this enchanting work of fiction depicts Irina's alternating futures with two men temperamentally worlds apart yet equally honorable. With which true love Irina is better off is neither obvious nor easy to determine, but Shriver's exploration of the two destinies is memorable and gripping. Poignant and deeply honest, written with the subtlety and wit that are the hallmarks of Shriver's work, The Post-Birthday World appeals to the what-if in us all.
Customer Reviews:
"Cool factor" only goes so far.......2007-09-07
I had hoped this would be one of the high concept "What if" books that I love.... After all - we get to see what would happen when/if the main character made one of two choices at a crux in her life. (Kind of like the movie "Sliding Doors".) BUT - the cool factor of the idea only went so far - and after a while - I simply didn't care which choice she made. I just wanted the book to end. It was OK - the things that stay the same regardless of the path she (Irinia) is on and the aspects of other peoples lives that change are interesting to think about. BUT - it went on too long... And the way she (the author) was DETERMINED to keep going back to terrorist attacks was weird.
Book of Dense Richness Leaves An Empty Aftertaste.......2007-09-07
In the interests of not creating a review that is nearly as long as this book, I will try to keep my comments brief. This book has brilliance in many ways, ways that have undoubtedly been pointed out by others who reviewed it. Lionel Shriver is a sharp, funny and very articulate writer and deconstructor of emotional complexity. My favorite part? The scene with Irina, Ramsy and Irina's mother at Christmas. Ramsy, himself, is a wonderful, very alive character. The premise of this book is an intriguing one (a parallel of lives, colliding, at times) and Shriver explores it which much deft adroitness. Still, I was rather dismayed by some of the cheap, fat-targeted humor, as well as the digs at Princess Di, Monica Lewinsky and a character who gains weight. Then, too, the author shows how extremely hard she has striven, at the book's end, to most decidedly Not present the typical, happy ending of chick lit. This is admirable, but the ending Shriver *does* present is a rather weak one, in my opinion, compared to the vigor of the rest of the book. After going through so Very Much with all the characters, one is left with an empty feeling of: oh well. That was....nice.
Not my favorite..........2007-08-29
This was book we read for book club. I found it to bounce around a bit too much and I was not even clear of what was going on till a 3rd the way through the book. She is a lovely writer and very descriptive. Just a bit jumbled.
I really wanted to like this book........2007-08-29
I read so many glowing reviews and the premise is such an intriguing one. Who hasn't pondered where different choices might have taken them? And some parts of it are astonishingly good. My favorite line and I think it's where the character goes home for the holidays: "God, cheerfulness can be a form of assault." That's just one of many bull's eye moments. The author has very sharp insight into the intricacies of human emotion, maybe too much at times. A top editor could have really worked this one out. I'm really losing faith in editors and book reviewers these days. She stretches the conceit as far as it can go, breaking a lot of "writer" rules as she goes along - feels more rebellious than sloppy - and it works often enough to prove those rules to be needlessly limiting. There are spots of pure writer's gold every few pages. So much of Irina's inner dialogue is dark and witty, laugh out loud stuff that rings true.
The down side is that the really good parts cast the rest of it in shadow. I'm not one who has to fall in love and totally relate to the main character, but I found Irina to be stupid and unlikable. The men are bland stock characters. Ramsey's dialogue makes it sound like she's romancing Hagrid. He is an unsophisticated emotional imbecile, who YES we get it, is good in the sack. The characterization of Lawrence is no better. He is either dull but trustworthy and true or he is dull and hiding something. I'm curious why anyone would fashion such a trio of losers. But the main character is so awful as to be puzzling. Was it the author's intention to write about a stupid and shallow woman who will invariably shoot herself in the foot no matter what she does? Would she like to know the character she created? I wouldn't. It's odd to think of a woman in her early 40s behaving this way. Did she spend her 20s in a nunnery? I haven't quite finished, so maybe she did.
The dialogue can be cringeworthy and indulgent. For one, everyone speaks in long emotion-heavy paragraphs that serve to move the plot along. The real and imagined scenarios are grossly daydreamy and maudlin. In fact at times, it reads like a bad daydream by a romance reader who finds Lifetyme TV absorbing. The author also wants to weigh in on the 90s and those parts are clunky and intrusive. She also suffers from the laughable (usually) male writer affliction of the perfect woman - beautiful without any makeup, thin without any effort. She even loses weight when she does nothing but eat out and booze it up with Ramsey! Wow, what an accomplishment. She should be so proud. Yet her only insight into her sister's marriage is to wonder whether her husband loves her because she went (this is so misogynistic) from "bird to cow."
I also never want to read another word about snooker ever again. I'm going to try one more of this author's books and/or maybe her next one. But if there is even a hint of snooker in either of them, it's going back.
Absolutely Loved This Book.......2007-08-13
A friend recommended this book to me. Not knowing anything about it, I began to read it, and soon found that I could not put it down. What I found most compelling is that the storyline can be related to most anyone's life. We all make choices as we go, regarding relationships, and have you ever wondered "what if" you chose another other path with someone else? That's what this book addresses. It really drew me in and made me think. Thank you Lionel Shriver for the best read I've had in a long time.
Average customer rating:
- Didn't quite deliver
- I'm in love with Clare and Henry!!!
- One of My all Time Favorites
- A book that will keep you up all night!
- Unique romance
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The Time Traveler's Wife
Audrey Niffenegger
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The Memory Keeper's Daughter
ASIN: 015602943X |
Book Description
A dazzling novel in the most untraditional fashion, this is the remarkable story of Henry DeTamble, a dashing, adventuresome librarian who travels involuntarily through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course. Henry and Clare's passionate love affair endures across a sea of time and captures the two lovers in an impossibly romantic trap, and it is Audrey Niffenegger's cinematic storytelling that makes the novel's unconventional chronology so vibrantly triumphant.
An enchanting debut and a spellbinding tale of fate and belief in the bonds of love, The Time Traveler's Wife is destined to captivate readers for years to come.
Customer Reviews:
Didn't quite deliver.......2007-10-04
The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger was a really uninspiring book. The premise is kind of sci-fi, this guy is randomly transported to other times and places, leaving a pile of clothes behind, and arriving stark naked wherever he arrives, and then returning to where he disappeared from, again stark naked, and hoping to find the clothes he left behind are still there...and that is only the tip of the iceberg. There is a love story entwined with all this time travel. The book did not, in my opinion, deliver the story it advertised on the cover. It implied that the two main characters, man and wife, overcame danger, etc. in order to be together. It almost got there, but remained undeveloped. Also, this is a little bit of a soapbox here, but I think that this book could have been a lot better than it was. I find that I am really annoyed by crudity of language, especially in describing relationships. Why can we not use nice words when we talk about sex in books? Does the author talk like this to her lover/husband/partner? Do any of us? (Don't answer that, really) I think that her use of language in describing the sexual relationship of the main characters made the book less than ordinary and unappealing. It could have been charming, and the love story could have been inspiring. The author is a professor for heavens sake. One imagines that she has command of the English language, or at least a thesaurus. I will not buy this book or recommend this book to others, I'd be too embarrassed.
I'm in love with Clare and Henry!!!.......2007-10-03
My best friend, who is a bookworm, gave me this book to read. I can usually tell within a few pages if I'm going to like it and sure enough, after the first few paragraphs, I was hooked.
This is a love story; not a science fiction story. The fact that Henry has this condition that catapults him back and forth in his and Clare's past, is very important to the story, but not enough to make it a sci-fi story.
After reading how much Henry loved Clare and how tender and carful he was when he met her while she was a child, I found myself wanting to *be* Clare and have some love me as Henry does her. The author writes a truely awe inspiring love story that leaves me gasping for more.
This book has become my addiction over the past week; I find myself counting the hours until the kids go down to bed at night so I can curl up and read as much as I want without being interrupted. I've found myself laughing out loud, and crying...and I might add, I'll be finishing the book this evening. I'm saving it. I know it ends sadly and I've already found myself welling up with tears at the prospect of Henry's and Clare's fates.
When I am done with this book, I will give it back to my friend and I will get my own copy so that I may read the tale of Henry and Clare over and over and over. And I'm sure that each time I read it, I will get something else out of it that I missed before.
Someone on a blog about this book posted a comment about the author possibly doing a sequel. That would be awesome...perhaps they could call it "The Time Traveler's Daughter"...
This book is nothing short of beautiful. The characters are so real; I felt as though I knew them personally. I have visions of how beautiful Clare is with her long, copper hair and of how handsome and distinguished Henry is through all the stages of his life from young boy to man. I will miss them once I read the final pages this evening. You have to slow down and read this book, as there time changes and changes in location and year. It goes back and forth between Henry and Clare. You really do have to sort of just slow down and read, and sometimes re-read but it is SOOOO worth it...
One of My all Time Favorites.......2007-10-03
This book makes the top ten in my all time favorites! Such a cool story! Very different thats what makes it so great.Don't understand the bad reviews here.
A book that will keep you up all night!.......2007-10-01
I love, love, loved this book! Could not put it down. The characters are very compelling and it is a beautiful story about life, love, loss and everything else. It made me laugh and cry!
Unique romance.......2007-09-28
Could not put this down. I was sad when it was over. The story is captivating; don't think about Journeyman or Quantum Leap; think a Wrinkle in Time...
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