One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd

Book Description

One Thousand White Women is the story of May Dodd and a colorful assembly of pioneer women who, under the auspices of the U.S. government, travel to the western prairies in 1875 to intermarry among the Cheyenne Indians. The covert and controversial "Brides for Indians" program, launched by the administration of Ulysses S. Grant, is intended to help assimilate the Indians into the white man's world. Toward that end May and her friends embark upon the adventure of their lifetime. Jim Fergus has so vividly depicted the American West that it is as if these diaries are a capsule in time.

Customer Reviews:

Loved it.......2007-10-03

I loved this book and am so sad that it ended. I hope his other books are as good as this one because I really liked his writing style. I read all the time and this is the best book I have read in a long time. Once I picked it up I couldn't put it down. I would highly reccomend it!

Great read with unexpected story line.......2007-10-03

I asked some friends what was the best thing they'd read lately. When they mentioned the title of this book I could not imagine what it was about and visualized something like the Million Man March...in reverse? :-)
Even when they told me a bit of the plot line I wasn't sure about "One Thousand White Women". But they said they couldn't put it down so I gave it a try. I loved it - so much so that I bought it as a gift for someone else. The book intertwines a bit of a real story with 'what might have been'. I found myself so engrossed in the book that I forgot it was fiction...and wished it wasn't.

one of the best.......2007-10-02

One of the best books I've read in a long time! Right up there with Memoirs of a Geisha, from the point of view of a man writing as a woman and getting it so perfectly. Also because, like Geisha, the book transports you to another place and time and you feel like you have met a whole bunch of new friends. Read it!!!!

Good Reading.......2007-09-29

The subject matter of this book is really interesting. Even though the author says it is fiction, I really could see this happening. I felt it was a little slow in the begining but it picked up. I would recommend this book to others.

wonderful story.......2007-09-28

A delight to read,a true window into the past.
I have shared this book with friends and family,and all who have read this book are excited about, and pleased with the story.
Refreshing,and different in content,this book was a real page turner,and I was very disapointed when it ended.

When She Was White: The True Story of a Family Divided by Race

Average customer rating:

A Translated Life
An emotionally charged, highly recommended pick.
History Is So Interesting
Sisters speak
A story of a mixed-race girl in Apartheid South Africa

When She Was White: The True Story of a Family Divided by Race
Judith Stone
Manufacturer: Miramax
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0786868988

Book Description

When I Was White is the mesmerizing story of a black woman born to white parents during the most unforgiving years of official racism in South Africa. Sandra Laing was officially registered and raised as a white child. But when she was sent to a conservative boarding school, she was mercilessly persecuted because of her dark skin and frizzy hair-the results, her parents said, of a genetic throwback. In 1966, when Sandra was ten, the police removed her from school and she was reclassified as 'colored.' In a bitter court battle followed closely by the press, Sandra's parents fought, and lost. Then, as a teenager, Sandra eloped with a black man, and her parents disowned her. She struggled with poverty, illness, and the injustice of race laws. With the end of apartheid in 1994, Sandra vowed to find her mother. Her long, troubling search and their ultimate reunion forms the book's surprising and deeply moving conclusion. Drawing on a wealth of research, including extensive interviews with Sandra Laing, her family and friends, as well as access to previously sealed government files, Judith Stone has written a close-up, compelling account of a remarkable woman whose life stands as a tribute to the extraordinary resilience of the human spirit.

Customer Reviews:

A Translated Life.......2007-09-24

I want to commend Judith Stone for the phenomenal work she has done in discussing a number of difficult subjects: Sandra Laing herself, the history of South Africa, and the nature of memory, family, and the examined life. Clearly, Sandra's lack (repression) of memory, and her inability to articulate her feelings, left Stone with an enormous challenge. She works through this brilliantly by marshaling the journalistic reports from the time and later, interviewing people who know Sandra, and sensitively explaining and exploring Apartheid's tortured history. Stone uses her knowledge of studies of PTSD, false-memory syndrome, and other relevant fields in psychology to examine Sandra's individual and South Africa's collective forgetfulness/refusal to admit reality. All in all, Stone has done a stunningly professional and sensitive job in illuminating one person's life, the cruel and terrible absurdities of Apartheid South Africa, and, more broadly still, what it means to live in a world where an ideological rigidity based on lies and hypocrisy sucks the life out of everyone--oppressor or oppressed.

An emotionally charged, highly recommended pick........2007-08-04

When Sandra Laing was born in 1955 to a pro-apartheid Afrikaner couple in South Africa she was registered as a white child - but upon entering a white boarding school, was persecuted by students and teachers because of her brown skin. Her parents believed an interracial union back in their family history was to blame, but neighbors thought Mrs. Laing had committed adultery with a black man and the entire family was shunned. She was reclassified as 'coloured', her parents fought the South African courts to reverse the determination, then as a teen Sandra eloped - with a black man - and her parents disowned her. WHEN SHE WAS WHITE: THE TRUE STORY OF A FAMILY DIVIDED BY RACE crosses back and forth along discrimination lines and is riveting. Impossible to put down, it will enhance any general-interest lending library and is an emotionally charged, highly recommended pick.

History Is So Interesting.......2007-08-01

Histry is so interesting. It is the tie to learning about how things use to be. This book is full of history and tells us how the African people were treated long ago. The sad thing is that even today these people are still treated very different. My nieces who are black and white are beautiful, but experience racism everyday. The book can be difficult reading in some parts because it is history. So be patient and enjoy it. I experienced many feelings while reading it. Makes me want to go talk to my 95 year old grandma and just listen to all her stories.

Sisters speak.......2007-06-04

With great anticipation, i began to read a riviting life story. However, i couldn't get through the first two chapters because of the dry manner in which the book was written. It was an extremely difficult read. I never finished the book. I was very disappointed.

A story of a mixed-race girl in Apartheid South Africa.......2007-05-30

Sandra Laing was born in the wrong place at the wrong time. South Africa was in the midst of apartheid, and the little girl didn't fit in to the country's strict classifications of white, black and Coloured. Instead she baffled family and neighbors in Eastern Transvaal by sprouting kinky hair that shaped her dark complexion, much to the dismay of her ethnically Dutch, Afrikaner parents. Judith Stone writes the history of this troubled girl, from her first encounters with racism all the way to her middle-aged life in the present day.

Sandra's parents tried to turn a blind eye to their daughter's physical differences, but the white boarding school she attended would do no such thing. Parents and faculty were outraged that an obviously non-white student was being admitted to their school and mingling with their fair-skinned children. Apartheid was about separation and segregation, and Sandra was getting in the way of their long-established system. Her mother was accused of sleeping with a black man, and her father had to constantly defend his paternity. Admitting to some "color-mixing" in their ancestry was not acceptable in such a polarized climate, even though this had gone on unspoken in South Africa for decades.

When Sandra was finally escorted off the grounds of her school, she had no idea what she did wrong. Her father was launching his own private campaign to keep her white; Sandra didn't see things in color yet, and her mom and dad were determined to keep it that way. But she did see that her parents treated her differently from her brothers, and she did notice the disgustful looks of those who had been in charge of her care. She knew that something about her was just not right. At the hands of government officials, Sandra's official race changed from white to Coloured to white again. She realized that she must take her fate into her own hands, creating an identity for herself that no one would be able to take away from her.

WHEN SHE WAS WHITE isn't a traditional biography. It chronicles not only the life of the protagonist but also the struggle of those who tried to bring her life into the public eye. In this way, the book is both a story and a study in psychoanalysis, in sociology and in consumer culture. Sandra was a willing but confused eyewitness to her own history, and half the struggle of chronicling it has been in getting the story straight. Sandra doesn't see herself as a hero or a representation of the ills of apartheid. All she sees is the pain that she feels she caused her family, and her only wish is for their forgiveness --- not recognizing that they are the ones who have a lot to be forgiven for.

This book does much to present the contradictions of apartheid to those outside of South Africa. It also paints a strong picture of the landscape and individuals who made the country what it was. The expanse of the Transvaal countryside sharply contrasts with the polarized societies who lived there, and it is as if it were a beautiful cake on top of a precarious tower that was threatening to come crashing down at any second. Sandra represented some of the flaws of that cake, and she was therefore shunned by those who wanted to keep things as they were.

WHEN SHE WAS WHITE is the print edition of the movie "Skin," which is scheduled to appear in 2008. It is a story in its own right, though, and shouldn't be left on the shelf in anticipation of the film. Judith Stone speaks of both the cruelty and the perceived justification of apartheid, and no one is presented as a simple-minded individual. Bigotry runs deep in South Africa's history, but the focus of this book is in healing the wounds from the past and embracing this new, free country, where government-regulated racial caste systems no longer exist.

--- Reviewed by Shannon Luders-Manuel

Average customer rating:

Very similar to another book....
Characters Hard to Believe
Relationships are Never Black and White
Emotions Run High in this Family Drama
Great story potential, not fully achieved

Black & White
Dani Shapiro
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0375415483
Release Date: 2007-04-03

Amazon.com

In Dani Shapiro's captivating new novel, a mother struggles to protect her young daughter from the dark secrets of her past. Haunting and insightful, Black & White explores the notions of family and motherhood, inspiration and obligation, and is sure to appeal to fans of Jodi Picoult and Anita Shreve. Find out more about Shapiro's artistic practices and influences below. --Daphne Durham

10 Second Interview: A Few Words with Dani Shapiro

Q: What is your writing process like? Has it changed from book to book?
A: As I was doing my usual flailing around before I began to write Black & White, I found that I had some questions in mind that I hoped to explore, if not answer--and those questions very much came out of my preoccupations as a writer and as a mother of a young child: is it possible to be as fully absorbed as one needs to be to produce good, strong art--and be equally fully absorbed in the raising of small children? What happens when that delicate balancing act teeters? And also, as someone who has written quite a bit of personal non-fiction, I wondered: where is the line--or perhaps it's less of a line and more of a murky gray area--when it comes to writing about the personal stuff when there's this little person who's involved, a person who will grow up and read it some day? These ideas began to really preoccupy me, and finally the novel started to form itself around them.

When I begin the first draft of a book, I write longhand. I've become quite attached to these particular spiral-bound notebooks that can only be purchased in my in-laws' hometown, and so whenever they come to visit I ask them to bring me a pile. I think most writers indulge in magical thinking when it comes to the process, and many of us require talismans; mine are these notebooks. I used to only write on the computer, but I've found, in the last number of years, that I feel much freer to have no idea where I'm going when I'm writing by hand. There's something very neat--perhaps too neat--about the blank computer screen, and the ease of cutting and pasting, moving whole blocks of text around. For me, it's infinitely more satisfying to scribble and cross things out and make big sweeping arrows and asterisks as I'm working on drafts. It looks messy and complicated--it looks like what it is. On those early pages I feel like I can see a map, or a diagram, of my process.

Q: What author/s have inspired you?
A: In the big, enduring ways, as a literary backbone: Tolstoy, George Eliot, Virginia Woolf, Philip Roth, Joan Didion, Saul Bellow, Grace Paley. And while I was writing Black & White, Alice Munro's stories in Runaway and Ian McEwan's novel Saturday were immensely important in my grappling with understanding how to create a close third person narrative without losing the periphery.

Q: What are you working on now?
A: I'm trying to start a new novel. Viriginia Woolf wrote this great passage in her diary, after she finished The Waves: "I must hastily provide my mind with something else, or it will again become pecking and wretched." I'm a much nicer person when I'm working on a book. When I begin I have so little to go on--a feeling, a sense, an image or two. It's like coaxing shadows out of the corners.

Book Description

From the author of Family History (“Poised, absorbing . . . a bona fide page turner”—The New York Times Book Review) and the best-selling memoir Slow Motion, a spellbinding novel about art, fame, ambition, and family that explores a provocative question: Is it possible for a mother to be true to herself and true to her children at the same time?

Clara Brodeur has spent her entire adult life pulling herself away from her famous mother, the renowned and controversial photographer Ruth Dunne, whose towering reputation rests on the unsettling nude portraits she took of her young daughter from the ages of three to fourteen. The Clara Series, which graced the walls of museums around the world as well as the pages of New York City tabloids that labeled the work pornographic, cast a long and inescapable shadow over its subject. At eighteen, when Clara might have entered university and begun to shape an identity beyond her sensationalized, unsought role in the New York art world, she fled to the quiet obscurity of small-town Maine, where she married and had a child, a daughter whom she has tried to shield from the central facts of her early life and her damaging role as her mother’s muse.

Fourteen years later, Ruth Dunne is dying, and Clara is summoned to her bedside. Despite her anguish and ambivalence about confronting a family life she has repressed and denied for more than a decade, Clara returns. She finds Ruth surrounded, even in her illness, by worshipful interns, protective assistants, and her conniving art dealer.

Once again, she is Clara Dunne, the object of curiosity, the girl in the photos. Except this time she has her own daughter to think about—a girl who at nine looks strikingly like the girl in Ruth’s photos—and she yearns to protect her, to insulate her from the exposure that will inevitably result when her two worlds, New York and Maine, collide.

As Clara charts a path connecting her childhood with her adult life, Shapiro’s novel weaves together past and present in images as stark and intense as the photographs that tore the Dunnes apart. A brilliant examination of motherhood—a novel that pits artistic inspiration against maternal obligation and asks whether the two can ever be fully reconciled—Black & White explores the limits and duties of family loyalties, and even of love. Gripping, haunting, psychologically complex, this is Shapiro at her captivating best.

Customer Reviews:

Very similar to another book...........2007-09-11

First things first, I have not read this book.

I was at the library today and picked it up. While reading the inside cover, I was overcome with a "haven't-I-read-this-before type feeling." The premise of the book is alarmingly similar to Miranda Beverly-Whitmore's "The Effects of Light"...down to the famous photographer's first name. Too many similarities for my liking.

Characters Hard to Believe.......2007-08-19

The main character is not developed enough to generate any real sympathy for her. The plot is superficial; there is no great depth or substance to it.

Relationships are Never Black and White.......2007-07-15

I loved this book. Other reviewers have sufficiently explained the story line, so I will stick with what more of a thematic review. The overarching principle of the book is that there is no such thing as simple black and white (right/wrong, love/hate) in relationships. Life is nuanced, as are our decisions and motivations. It would be simple to write off Ruth as a horrible selfish mother who didn't love her daughter, but SHapiro avoided the easy, cliche characterizations and offered us a family that had love despite the tensions that tore them apart.

Shapiro wrote vivid, accessible characters -- they are not simply good or bad either. For instance, Peony (Ruth's assistant) drove me crazy but I could also understand that she acted out of loyalty to Ruth. Clara's hurt and anger towards her mother was understandable, but there were still times when I wanted her to just get OVER herself. Every character, with perhaps the exception of Clara's father, had a carefully balanced character. (as a side note, Clara's husband and father are perhaps the most idealized characters. This is very much a book about mothers, daughters and sisters, more so than about the men who love them.)

The one weakness I found in the book was that the dates are not accurate. Clara is in 4th grade in 1982 (two years after John Lennon was killed) but then is in September of 7th grade when the iconic Vogue cover featuring the Lacroix jacket and faded jeans comes out. THat issue was actually Anna Wintour's first issue as EIC and came out in November 1988 -- Clara would have been in 11th grade in 1988.

Emotions Run High in this Family Drama.......2007-07-06

I thought "Black & White" was a very excellent book. The characters were well developed and Shapiro's descriptions of the various scenes, especially the photo shoots, were exceptional. I could easily imagine the characters and the scenes in my mind. There are many reviews on this book so I won't clutter up the page with more detail except to reveal that the story focuses on the relationship between the mother, Ruth Dunne, a noted photographer and her daughter Clara. And then there is the conflict between Clara and her sister, Robin. Clara runs away from home vowing never to return; starts a new life, gets married and becomes a mother, herself. Later in the novel the mother becomes very ill and Alone, Clara makes the difficult trip to New York to see Ruth. There is an attempt for reconciliation and forgiveness and toward the end of the book emotions run high in this family. I found this part very intense. Overall I enjoyed the novel very much and I thought Dani Shapiro created an excellent story.

Another great Women's Fiction novel I believe you would enjoy is Gathering of Cans by Robert L. Saunders. Don't Miss this One! The story is unbelievable (all 530 pgs) when you consider it revolves around 47 year old Zoie Baker gathering aluminum cans to raise money for a swimming pool. The author is an excellent storyteller, and worthy of your attention.

Great story potential, not fully achieved.......2007-06-25

Great storyline, but I expected more from the writing/writer (maybe that is the problem with being a big fan of one of the writer's previous books,Family History: A Novel, also a novel about mother/daughter relationship). I gave it three stars because of the great characterization of Ruth Dunne and for the story line. Couldn't give more because I couldn't stand the number of question marks in each page: everything Clara thinks/does is preceded by a question the character puts to herself (you could just remove all these questions and still have the same feeling about the doubts/questions in Clara's mind).

Average customer rating:

From Bottom to Top, Back to Bottom & Then We Start All Over Again!
Well Written "Fiction"
Excellent Book! A must READ
Jada and Born's Sequel
Outstanding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

White Lines
Tracy Brown
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0312336489
Release Date: 2007-01-09

Book Description

Jada left home at the age of sixteen, running from her own demons and the horrors of physical abuse inflicted by her mothers boyfriend. She partied hard, and life seemed good when she was with Born, the neighborhood kingpin whose name was synonymous with money, power, and respect. But all his love couldnt save her from a crack addiction. Jada goes from crack addict and prostitute to survivor and back again before she finds the strength to live for herself and come out on top. And her stormy romance with one of the fiercest hustlers on the streets makes White Lines one of the most unforgettable urban loves stories of the year.

Customer Reviews:

From Bottom to Top, Back to Bottom & Then We Start All Over Again!.......2007-09-22

This by far is the best book I read all year and I've read many books to date. Tracy Brown gets real & grimey about the life of Jada Ford a mistreated & negleted child who grew up thinking she was underloved & forgotten. This page turner explores in-depth consequences of drug use and shows how negative influences can turn your life into a living hell. It shows how an addiction can ruin what could have been a good life. Also the selfishness and unwillingness to accept reality of some people and the refusal to help but instead send others swirling to their own destruction. Born was a selfish SOB who sold crack to his father and refused to get help for his girlfriend, instead throwing her out to get even deeper into the habit. His philosphy, "if I don't get the money somebody else will". This book really makes you think. Why is the government continuing to let the most deadly, controlling substance into our country? It must want to destroy our people because the majority of crack users are in poorer areas that literally have no hope.

Well Written "Fiction".......2007-09-20

I just absolutely loved this story... I thought it was going to be like all the rest I have previously read and it wasn't. This story was so emotional, raw, and real. Certain chapters in this book made me reflect on my own life. Jada and Born's character were so well written.. I'm glad that her family had that chance to come together again as a family befor it was to late.. Every woman should have a ride or die chic as a friend in their life like Sonny !!! Wonderful read Ms. Brown can not wait to read another novel by you..

Excellent Book! A must READ.......2007-09-17

When I first received the book White Lines I thought Wow! this is a very big book but I found myself upset that the pages were so quickly coming to an end. I read it in two days. Excellent Book

Jada and Born's Sequel.......2007-09-16

I enjoyed this book so much... I talked to my co-workers and friends about this book I now have a waiting list to read this juicy story.

I hope that Ms. Brown is currently working on a sequel for the story of the reunited friendship's of Jada, Born and Sonny, Ava... Including the beginning friendship's of the four children D.J, Mercedes and Ethan, Sheldon Marquis.

I look forward to a Sequel.....

Outstanding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.......2007-08-30

If you have ever read a book you wished would never end you should read White Lines. The book is thick but it is worth every page! I think this book should be cosidered for a mini-series like The Wire or The Corner. There could be at least two seasons worth of episodes from this book. It is definately one of the best books I have ever read!!!! I could not stop thinking about the characters in this book. I constantly wanted to know what was next. I stayed up many nights till the wee hours trying to read as much as I could.

Average customer rating:

Put this on you List of Books You Want to Read
A book about the Strength of Women!!
loved it loved it loved it!
Every woman I know who has read this book loves it.
Extraordinarily bad

The Elegant Gathering of White Snows
Kris Radish
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0553382411
Release Date: 2003-06-10

Book Description

Eight Women on a Journey That Will Change Their Lives as Lovers, Wives, Mothers, Daughters, Friends

Just after midnight in a small town in Wisconsin, eight women begin walking together down a rural highway. Career women, housewives, mothers, divorcées, and one ex–prom queen, they are close friends who have been meeting every Thursday night for years, sharing food, wine, and their deepest secrets. But on this particular Thursday, Susan, Alice, Chris, Sandy, Gail, Mary, Joanne, and Janice decide to disappear from their own lives.

Their spontaneous pilgrimage attracts national attention and inspires other women from all across the country. As the miles fall away and the women forge ahead on their backroads odyssey—leaving small miracles in their wake—each of their histories unfolds, tales of shattered dreams and unexpected renewal, of thwarted love affairs and precious second chances.In luminous, heartwarming prose, Kris Radish deftly interweaves the women’s intimate confessions into the story of their brave, history-making walk.

A breathtaking achievement, The Elegant Gathering of White Snows tells an incomparable tale of friendship and love, loss and liberation.

Customer Reviews:

Put this on you List of Books You Want to Read.......2007-09-05

Although this was the third of Kris Radish's books that I read, I found myself totally taken with her writing, her characters and the delightful story that she so beautifully wove. I consider myself a true admirer of both what she has to say, and how she says it. A Must Read... you'll be so glad you did!

A book about the Strength of Women!!.......2007-07-21

I purchased this book upon the recommendation of two friends of mine. Within the first 15 minutes I had laughed out loud and cried tears. This book strikes a chord with women everywhere - the pain we feel and the joy we experience. Grab a hanky and enjoy!

loved it loved it loved it!.......2007-04-13

this is not the type of book i would buy but i agreed to read it for a book club and i'm soooo glad i did! it was about a group of woman who have been meeting for once a week for years and one day decided to just get up and go walking. they walked for several days and made world headlines and most importantly talked about and got off their chest deep dark secrets that was holding them back from living and getting on with their lives. basically they decided that they were not happy and decided to start making changes in their like that would make them happy! lovely book! ronda

Every woman I know who has read this book loves it........2007-03-18

I purchased this book after it was recommended by a client. I have since recommended it to my book club and numerous other women who have read and enjoyed it and purchased copies for their friends. To me this book highlights how women can be acquainted for long periods of time but not really know one another until they begin to reveal their untold stories. As relationships are forged among the characters, we become closer to their hearts and notice the treads of their stories that mirror our own.

I found the dialogue and descriptions in this book fun. It's an easy read and one that I continue to recommend.

Extraordinarily bad.......2006-12-09

This is a book that will make you ashamed of liking women's fiction.

It's like Kris Radish did a marketing survey of what themes are of interest to the demographic that buys women's fiction, picked the ten most "serious" (ie, whiny and sad) themes, and threw together a short story about each theme, with a minimum of thought, effort, or editing. Then she sent the characters from these stories off on a pointless hike together, so she could claim her collection of short stories was really a novel. But when she read back through it she realized that it had no spark, that the characters were all boring, and the walk they were on was pointless and stupid. But rather than fixing this, she added a bunch of observers who would point at the characters in the short stories, and proclaim them to be interesting, and their walk to be deeply meaningful. This does not make any of it meaningful or interesting.

I'm waiting for some mysogyinist to pop up on the talk show circuit and tell us that Kris Radish is his pen name, and he wrote his books as a thought experiment to prove that women will buy anything that lets them believe they are the victims while claiming to empower them.

Black, White & Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self

Average customer rating:

An Excellent Memoir
A story to share....
Quick read, Had some insights.
Rebecca Walker is a Schlemiel and a Putz.
Thank You Rebecca !

Black, White & Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self
Rebecca Walker
Manufacturer: Riverhead Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1573229075

Book Description

Hailed as "compelling" by The Washington Post and "stunningly honest" by The San Francisco Chronicle, this memoir has hit bestseller lists and earned critical praise from coast to coast. Rebecca Walker was born in 1969 to author Alice Walker and lawyer Mel Leventhal, who met and married in the heyday of the Civil Rights movement. But after their divorce, Rebecca was a lonely only child ferrying between two worlds-and trying to figure out where she fit in.

"Masterfully illuminates differences between black and white America...a heartbreaking tale of self-creation." (People )

"Walker skillfully depicts her tangled upbringing, full of disappointment and privilege." (Time)

"Compelling." (The Dallas Morning News)

"A poignant, spare memoir." (Chicago Sun-Times)

"Powerful." (Danzy Senna, author of Caucasia)

Customer Reviews:

An Excellent Memoir.......2007-05-30

I discovered how much I like Rebecca Walker's writing, voice and style after reading a forward she wrote for an anthology of mixed race writings. Then I heard her speak and I read "Black, White and Jewish" the next day. I didn't want to put the book down and I was sorry when her memoir ended because I wanted to keep on reading.
And no, at that point it had not yet occurred to me that she was Alice Walker's daughter. Besides, that would not have made any difference to me anyway. Both Alice and Rebecca are excellent authors, but the fact that they are related is not important to me. What matters is that Rebecca has written an excellent memoir.

Thank you Rebecca.

A story to share...........2007-05-07

What caught my eye at first was her last name...Walker. So I said to myself she must have inherited her Mom's way of putting into words her thoughts. Once I started to read the story, I could not put it down. The pain was felt through each chapter, each change of home every two years. What a way to grow up. But grow up she did into a very complex woman who can share her childhood with others who may also have the identity crisis of having not only parents from different racial backgrounds, but also of having the constant shift of "home". The book helped me understand what my daughters have gone through with their Mom being white, their Dad being African American and a military family with the moving every couple of years. Once I was done, I gave the book to my now 24 year old daughter, a mother now of half Honduran and the rest of her children. Thanks for opening her up to others being out there who may share her pain and to open our conversation up more than it already was.

Quick read, Had some insights........2007-02-26

ALthough I enjoyed the writing style and some of the portrayals of her family and multi-racial experiences, I expected this book to be more about the later and her coming of age rather than the attention given to her sexual experiences. This did not seem as important to the book as the themes on racism, black/Jewish relations, etc. I would have liked more of that. It seemed like she had a lot of rebellion against her dad and his wife, but they seemed more there for her than her mom. I found this book very interesting and I would like to read more by this author and on this topic.

Rebecca Walker is a Schlemiel and a Putz........2007-01-26

What do Lenny Kravitz, Craig David, Derek Jeter, Hale Berry, Barak Obama, Rain Pryor, Keanu Reeves, and The Rock all have in common? They're successfull bi-racial Americans of politics, arts, and athletics. Unfortunately, Rebecca Walker Leventhal doesn't measure up. She feels sorry for herself because she's half-white, and she's angry at her father for making her half-Jewish. Poor thing.

Leventhal's life is nowhere near as bad as she wants us to believe. Her father cared about her very much, and her stepmom sounds okay to me, but she writes about her father like he was neglectful. She's angry at him for moving the family to a suburb, but was that such a bad thing? What's wrong with wanting to live in a good area with great schools? She felt alienated from her white Jewish friends, but that was self-imposed. All these Jewish people WANTED to be her friend, but the suburbs just weren't good enough for her.

Her next complaint is her teen years. She acts like it was all pain and guilt, but from what I read, she had a great time. She had lots of interesting boyfriends, and spent a summer on the set of "The Color Purple." She graduated from high school, went to an Ivy League college, and that doesn't sound bad.

Walker's problem is her MOTHER. Alice Walker was a terrible parent. What kind of mother refuses to take her daugher to meet her principal? What kind of mother refuses to be involved in her daughter's life. I think the reason she complains so much is that she's realy angry at her mother, but seems guilty accusing her. After all, Alice Walker is black, and she can't accuse her black mother of anything. Her Jewish father is an easier target.

Leventhal (or Walker, whatever she calls herself) should stop thinking of herself as a victim and a mutant, and start thinking of herself as the product of two wonderful things. Lenny Kravitz was another Black Jewish American, and he had his lumps, including his parents' divorce. But being Black and Jewish didn't hold him back, it kept him going. Rain Pryor was a Black jew, and her dad was a cokehead, but she writes about her life with strength and humor.

At first I didn't think Rebecca had the wisdom commonly associated with American Jews. But then I realized she's one of us. How do I know? Her whining! Read "Born to Kvetch" and you'll learn why Jews are stereotyped as whiners. We're very vocal about things, including our problems. It's one of the ways that we avoid stress and anger, which in other cultures leads to drunkness, temper flashes and wife-beating. But we do other things besides complain, and that's all she does. Complain.

Thank You Rebecca !.......2006-11-30

While I believe you were more privileged than I was, thank you for telling the Jewish community what it needed to hear as opposed to what it wanted to hear.

As a fellow multiracial Jew, your assertions about the Jewish community were unfortunately more accurate than many would like to admit. Rebecca distanced herself from a community that didn't accept her. While I still express my Judaism at home and attend synagogue on the HHD, I don't attend schul due to racism myself. I got tired of being mistaken for the janitor, maid, or nanny. I deserve more respect than that, I'm a human being. She's getting a lot of criticism from people who want to believe in the "Jews never have race problems" crowd. Sorry guys, but its an issue.

The intercallary style of the book may annoy certain readers, but I felt they were a welcome literary device to evoke her deepest emotions. I believe she may be a bit self-indulgent at times, but I think she does display how many mixed people (and mixed Jews for that matter) feel about their communities. However, Rebecca's downward spiral into self destructive behaviors is more of a symptom of bad parenting than a community that rejects her.

I honestly don't think Rebecca is ashamed of her Jewish heritage. What Rebecca IS ashamed of how she was treated by her family and others. How would you feel about a community that doesn't consider you Jewish enough? Even worse, the same people tell you that you're not taking enough pride in your heritage, although it rejects you.

Guess what guys, the problem is mostly you, not Rebecca.

Average customer rating:

Book Review
A Self-Centered Tale of Delusion and Neediness or Next Time, Just Buy A Painting
Can this be real?
Stupid woman learns a lesson
Colonialist legacy lives on

The White Masai
Corinne Hofmann
Manufacturer: Amistad
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Reunion in Barsaloi
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ASIN: 0061131520
Release Date: 2006-10-10

Book Description

The four-million-copy international bestseller of the incredible love story between a European woman and an African warrior

The White Masai combines adventure and the pursuit of passion in a page-turning story of two star-crossed lovers from vastly different backgrounds. Corinne, a European entrepreneur, meets Lketinga, a Samburu warrior, while on vacation in Mombasa on Kenya's glamorous coast.Despite language and cultural barriers, they embark on an impossible love affair. Corinne uproots her life to move to Africa—not the romantic Africa of popular culture, but the Africa of the Masai, in the middle of the isolated bush, where five-foot-tall huts made from cow dung serve as homes. Undaunted by wild animals, hunger, and bouts with tropical diseases, she tries to forge a life with Lketinga. But slowly the dream starts to crumble when she can no longer ignore the chasm between their two vastly different cultures.

A story that taps into our universal belief in the power of love, The White Masai is at once a hopelessly romantic love story, a gripping adventure yarn, and a compulsively good read.

Customer Reviews:

Book Review.......2007-09-22

If you like adventure, this is the book for you. This is not fiction. It is an adventure where a white woman had decided to live in Africa and her adventures of falling in love with a Masai Warrior. Very interesting.

A Self-Centered Tale of Delusion and Neediness or Next Time, Just Buy A Painting.......2007-08-04

I can say gratefully that a friend lent this sad tale to me. Thank you, God that I didn't shell out any shillings for this doggie of a poorly written book, and thank you for the fact that is not about another clueless American doing stupid things in foreign lands, like stalking gorgeous native men and expecting them to love you, your way.

As far as I could tell, this is a tale of an overly-indulged, wealthy, attractive, very obsessive young woman, Corrine Hoffman, who allows herself to be victimized while constantly insinuating herself on a man who really doesn't want anything to do with her except perhaps a quick "poke in the whiskers" with no foreplay. She calls him "my Masai" on page five after only seeing him a couple of times. (Creepy)

Lketinga sees the picture almost immediately; she chooses not to see. She believes he loves her, but it becomes obvious it's pretty one-sided --her side. Love is not perceived in the same way by the Samburu. Theirs is a culture of tough environmental and basic survival and requires tribal cooperation; a culture of the community, not the individual. Their life is definitely not about females having any rights, only responsibilities. It is not an adolescent, bodice-ripping, Romantic tale of romance. Samburu life is not easy, but it's the way it is. In fact, African life doesn't seem like something I want to try either.

So you have Corrine and her wacky friends. The European women in this story come across as pretty flighty, irresponsible and quite hippie-skippy, although they all run circles around her linguistically. Her friend Sophia does not seem to have much more sense than Hoffman does and you can easily visualize a "type" of wealthy, attractive, dilettante young European women, playing out their fantasies and spending their or their daddy's money. Her friend Sophia constantly seems to move to better quarters and is difficult to locate as she goes back to Italy for vacations, moves in with a loser boyfriend, procreates without thought of the future for her child and seems lacking in all common sense. Add to that, Hoffmann's constant references about her lack of appetite suggest a serious eating disorder as when she says "there's a lavish meal laid on, and after nearly five days fasting, I've almost got an appetite." There are numerous comments regarding her inability to eat. From the very beginning, her control issues are apparent.

She's obviously driven to be successful. She knows how to hire and manage people, works like a dog, has good business skills and has no problems working with men. But she doesn't have a glimmer that her business interactions and negotiations with various businessmen might not be understood by her husband, whose cultural concepts of proper behavior between men and women could not be more different, and whose behavior from the beginning has led him to question her motives. And for all the time she spends in Africa, she never seems to pick up language skills. The African women that befriend her seem much wiser and truly helpful, always willing to help out, explain reality to her and to try and help pull her out of her cultural haze.

Lketinga, her husband, cannot be judged from this tale, as you never know his thoughts or his version of this sad domestic partnership, but I believe that he tried to let her know the relationship was doomed from the start. His wise suggestion to her that that "If I have such a good business in Switzerland, why don't I come back a few times a year for holidays and he would always be waiting for me" should have sparked her brain cells into a reality check, but to no avail. With complete self-centeredness she inflicts herself on this man and his community, and then wonders why he starts to resent and distrust her, even as her hard-earned Swiss francs service their needy community and floundering business efforts.

Much of the deference she receives is due to her physical attractiveness, the fact that she is white, and her obvious purchasing power. To those struggling native people she must have seemed a female Donald Trump. Corrine appears to have an endless supply of money. We are told she was a very successful business woman but I wonder if in reality she suffers from fear of holding on to her success.

Hoffman complains constantly about the amount of work she needs to do, always hiring help, having others pity and do things for her, describing her raw fingers, bad hair days, lack of sleep, her hollow-cheeked face and failing body. Martyr complex? Probably. Controlled by a dysfunctional need to crave a "real man" then resents it when he tries live life in the culture he knows? Very probably. Results. Complete wacko. Her husband quickly becomes a sort of victim of her wealth. He hates it but wants what it creates for him and the tribe. He can't manage it because he doesn't have the skills, so he uses the old tribal "you woman, me man" thing and the situation deteriorates more quickly. Her money and skills gives her power over him and emasculates him.

Hoffmann doesn't listen to the advice she receives from the native women and doesn't seem to have enough common sense to research the basics of what "marriage" entails in the new culture she is forcing her way into. Sex doesn't seem all that important to her, although she frequently admires his physical beauty and elegance of body; his compatibility needs elude and appall her at times. He is a piece of living, beautiful artwork that she must possess but will never understand. Next time, Corinne, buy yourself the painting, leave the person alone and save everyone the boring, constant flow of your endless tears.

Throughout the book, Hoffman constantly places herself in serious physical and personal danger, neglects herself even when very seriously ill, still pursuing her obsessive effort of the moment. Her lack of personal self-care causes serious consequences for her, endangers her unborn child and brings her at one point, close to death. One has to wonder, if it affected her long-term. Did it not occur to her that the fact Lketinga can neither read nor write, is not at all westernized, and comes from a primitive, agrarian culture, could cause serious conflict and misunderstanding? Corrine thoughtlessly forges forth not realizing her female independence is eroding his self-confidence and pride while still noting to the reader that he cannot add, subtract, organize nor stop giving her money away.

Lketinga's increasing lack of trust in their relationship probably stems from their initial meetings, when she broke with her current beau to take up with him. Lketinga probably believes that if she dumped her current man that quickly in favor of him, she might not be worthy of his trust. It was extremely disturbing to see how she brazenly and aggressively stalks him until she corners him in his village. She's relentless and very creepy. However, it is obvious that she has great affection for these people, that she does try to assimilate herself into their primitive way of life and does sometimes, actually enjoy it. Some of the scenes she describes of Samburu village life are quite moving. She sees the inequalities that exist for black Africans and how people scorn their black/white marriage. They are humiliated frequently by both black and whites yet she does not see nor knows how to manage the very real difficulties that her financial and female independence cause.

How many trips through the jungle in an ancient, broken-down Land Rover does it take for her to figure out that this isn't working? How many bouts of malaria, anemia, hepatitis and other diseases must she endure, even at the risk of injuring the child she carries? The most shocking tale to me was her attempt to assist a young woman in the midst of a monstrous labor trying to give birth to her dead child. Hey, if I saw some poor screaming woman squatting and bleeding profusely, with the arm of her unborn child hanging out of her vagina, I would be out of there forever!

How much quiet time is she really able to spend with her man while she buys the cars, pays bribes for passports and travel paper? Can she manage the household, take care of baby, run and stock the store, hire good help, deal with stealing employees, bad bookkeeping, terrified child brides and a nation with no concept of punctuality? Meanwhile he disrupts her business; fires the people she hires; disappears for days on end, herds his sheep, goats, oxen, visits his mom, smokes Miraa, drinks and does the manly thing with his male tribe members? Sad things are bound to happen.

Alas, the time arrives when Corrine has no money left and Lketinga's pretty much on the mental brink...presto! Time to go! Alas, love is gone but now she has her new baby to become her new obsessive-compulsive replacement ...and as her as her moody, addictive man starts becomes increasingly paranoid about her fidelity, (which the reader can see from almost the beginning) she manages to leave with her infant daughter on the pretence of a nice Swiss vacation. (Fade out with..."Oh my man, I love him so, he'll never know..." aka goodbye Nicki Arnstein)

But she sends sweet "please forgive me" letters to Lketinga, his mother and his brother. So I guess at least she didn't lose her nice Swiss manners.

Can this be real?.......2007-07-24

Ok. I finished reading this a week ago and am still attempting to wrap my mind around her mentality. I, too, lived in Kenya for nearly two years, but did not stake claims on the country like a neo-colonial in the way this author did. While it was interesting that she would sacrifice so much in the name of love (which again, I just couldn't understand seeing as they were from two polar opposite cultures, didn't speak a common language and he wasn't as in love with her as she with him I thought), I can't understand how she maintained an ignorance and ego about her the whole time she was there. How could she not pick up the language? Even some basic Swahili should have been achieved in weeks of living in the country. As an anthropologist, I simply can't understand her frame of thought and why she really didn't see a need to assist the people she was living around and over-used the mission. I kept thinking the mission is there to help people who really need help and didn't ask to be placed in a marginalized environment, and here she put herself in this nightmare and expected the mission to continually bail her out. I do not consider this a travelogue, rather an odd memoir of "how I ruined my life." It still seems to me that she doesn't know, understand nor care to understand Kenya and I would certainly not recommend it for people who wish to understand the Samburu (she was so ignorant she didn't even realize the Maasai and Samburu are two different ethnic groups albeit closely related) or even the continent of Africa. This book was just an ego trip of how eccentric a woman can be.

Stupid woman learns a lesson.......2007-05-25

I saw this book in the library and checked it out due to what can only be described as morbid fascination. I thought that it would make me vomit, and some parts did make me sick, but the ending totally goes along with what I would expect to happen.......

This Swiss gal, Corrine Hofmann, takes a trip to Africa and sees some big black warrior and gets all hot and bothered and decides to go native. She basically stalks this poor guy, makes him marry her and take her back to his tribe then proceeds to reject his culture and lifestyle because it is so backward. She then has a kid with him and takes the kid away from it's father when she runs away back to Switzerland after he starts to act violent, lazy, jealous, etc.

Though I found this book highly entertaining I have to say that I really am disgusted by this Hofmann woman. She rejected her own race and culture and then proceeds to reject and try to change the culture of her new husband. She is as insensitive to his culture and race as she is to her own and can feel nothing but pity for the poor daughter that she created and then took away from her native soil.

But I guess now she is making a load of money off of the book so she cannot be all that stupid.

Colonialist legacy lives on.......2007-04-27

Corinne Hofmann's memoir The White Masai is a modern-day romantic expression of the classic colonial impulse. Her experience, and even more alarmingly her reflection upon it, is myopic, mono-dimensional, and deeply self-serving.

That the book is poorly written is only the first problem the reader has to surmount. The die is cast in the book's first scene, when within hours of arriving in Kenya on vacation, Hofmann spies a Samburu man and, without having met or even exchanged words with him declares him to be "my Masai." The fact that he is not Maasai at all, but belongs to a distinct if related ethnic group, the Samburu people, is just one of many glaring oversights in this book.

Hoffman experiences Lketinga's culture entirely through her own eyes and experience, without depth, context, or critical self-reflection. In her eyes, Lketinga is to be consumed like a product, and then discarded when he fails to please her based on her culture's standards.

This book is an appalling recapitulation of colonialism. The fact that it is cast as an "exotic" love story simply makes Hofmann's conquest, consumption, betrayal, and desertion of Lketinga that much more gut-wrenching.

Why Good Girls Don't Get Ahead... But Gutsy Girls Do: Nine Secrets Every Working Woman Must Know

Average customer rating:

A Must for Working Women
Highly valuable book, even if you're not a self-help type
Enjoyed, learned but read it all with a grain of salt!
People Pleasing is not the way to go
Not for "Every Working Woman"

Why Good Girls Don't Get Ahead... But Gutsy Girls Do: Nine Secrets Every Working Woman Must Know
Kate White
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0446672157

Customer Reviews:

A Must for Working Women.......2006-12-03

This book is great. It focuses on what women do in the workplace that underminds thier career. It also talks about how you should act. It's a great book for women working in a corperate jungle. It's a little hard to read at times, and she focuses on her life experiences in the magazine industry. Therefore, some of the things she talks about don't relate well to my field. I'm sure reading this book will help me in my career.

Highly valuable book, even if you're not a self-help type.......2006-10-05

I was just out of college when my friend's mother gave me this book. My friend and I rolled our eyes - we were *definitely* not self-help-book readers. I still am not. But many times over the past ten years I have referenced this book in conversations with friends. I have found myself applying many of the tips that Ms. White provides. You don't have to be a hyper-ambitious, ladder-climbing corporate professional to get something out of this book. Among the tenets that have stood out to me over the years are:

-Don't always need to be liked
-Don't smile too easily
-Don't apologize too quickly
-Don't clean up after other colleagues (especially men)
-Don't be a perfectionist at the expense of innovative thinking or getting things done

Simply the notion that men and women (in broad strokes, at least) behave differently and are treated differently in the workplace was a novel idea to me, coming out of a liberal arts college during the mid-1990s. Reading this book gave me an awareness that everyone needs. Obviously, no one book will apply perfectly to each of us, so you can't go looking for that. But do look to this book for many useful ways of seeing the professional world and your own role in it.

Enjoyed, learned but read it all with a grain of salt!.......2006-06-10

I have never believed, or wanted to believe, in the feminist views of the world. I like to believe that if we focus on results, deliverables, and excellent performance and good merit, we will indeed get ahead - man or woman - in corporate america. Reading this book however did have certain advice in handling some situations that only arise for women in the workplace. Not every bit of advice or circumstance applies to all of us, but overall, this was a very good read, I took bits and pieces of advice from Kate and really did enjoy her stories and her candid sharing of the experience she had been through. I really do recommend it to everyone - not just women. It's good to be aware of our ingrained beliefs and learn to let go of them and face life with a much more open mind.

People Pleasing is not the way to go.......2006-06-01

This is the golden advice: people pleasing is distinct from delivering credible results. In the world of world it is being respected that wins the day. Being liked is a matter of fickleness and not based on results. Results that are measured are all that matters.

Not for "Every Working Woman".......2006-05-24

This book applies to women who are in leadership positions, which I am not, so I despise the title "Nine Secrets Every Working Woman Must Know". It's misleading. I'm currently reading this book and have only found a small paragraph that applies to "every working woman." Given the title, I thought the book would give helpful tips on getting ahead for the average working woman, but it doesn't. Needless to say, it didn't do me much good for where I am currently in my career.

Average customer rating:

If you loved the first one, you'll love this one too.

Reunion in Barsaloi
Corinne Hofmann
Manufacturer: Arcadia Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1905147139

Book Description

In a sequel to her international bestseller The White Masai, Corinne Hofmann continues her personal account of a white European woman in love with a Masai tribesman in remote Kenya. Fourteen years after fleeing with her baby daughter, Corinne returned to Kenya in the summer of 2004 to reunite with Lketinga and his family in their village, Barsaloi. Nervous and uncertain as to how he would react on seeing her again, she found to her relief that she was welcomed unreservedly by all who remembered her—Lktinga, who still thought of her as his number one wife; his brother James, now a schoolteacher; and especially Lketinga's mother, who had looked after Corinne with such care all those years before.

Customer Reviews:

If you loved the first one, you'll love this one too........2007-09-02

Just a short review, my title really says it all. Simple writing style again, but the story is an adventure so the writing doesn't need to be. Ms. Hofmann travels back to her village in Kenya where she married and lived with a Masai warrior for years, and bore him a child. Fourteen years later, they accept her back. Her husband seems to have changed for the better (not as immature and petulant as in the first book). The rest of the village is over joyed to have her back for a short visit. She also takes a couple of days to visit the film set of the White Masai movie being filmed (which I would love to see but it's in German). Careful when ordering this book... the ISBN number is the same as another Swiss book and I ordered the wrong one by accident (it had the same title and same ISBN, but different author) So be careful and make sure it's Ms. Hofmann who wrote it! My only criticism, I would love to see pictures of the teenage Napirai (her daughter with Ltekinga) but I can understand her protecting her identity. Also, I'd love to know how to pronounce Ltekinga too! Over all I couldn't wait for this book to be printed in English and it was satisfying to be able to get some closure and updates on the African family members and what has happened to her and her daughter also, since the author returned to Switzerland.

Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog: A Mystery by the internationally bestselling author of The Winter Queen (Mortalis)

Average customer rating:

Stick with Fandorin
A sleuth in nun's habit
Akunin at his best
A female Fr. Brown
nineteenth century historical thriller

Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog: A Mystery by the internationally bestselling author of The Winter Queen (Mortalis)
Boris Akunin
Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0812975138
Release Date: 2007-01-30

Book Description

“Pelagia’s family likeness to Father Brown and Miss Marple is marked, and reading about her supplies a similarly decorous pleasure.”
–The Literary Review

In a remote Russian province in the late nineteenth century, Bishop Mitrofanii must deal with a family crisis. After learning that one of his great aunt’s beloved and rare white bulldogs has been poisoned, the Orthodox bishop knows there is only one detective clever enough to investigate the murder: Sister Pelagia.

The bespectacled, freckled Pelagia is lively, curious, extraordinarily clumsy, and persistent. At the estate in question, she finds a whole host of suspects, any one of whom might have benefited if the old lady (who changes her will at whim) had expired of grief at the pooch’s demise. There’s Pyotr, the matron’s grandson, a nihilist with a grudge who has fallen for the maid; Stepan, the penniless caretaker, who has sacrificed his youth to the care of the estate; Miss Wrigley, a mysterious Englishwoman who has recently been named sole heiress to the fortune; Poggio, an opportunistic and freeloading “artistic” photographer; and, most intriguingly, Naina, the old lady’s granddaughter, a girl so beautiful she could drive any man to do almost anything.

As Pelagia bumbles and intuits her way to the heart of a mystery among people with faith only in greed and desire, she must bear in mind the words of Saint Paul: “Beware of dogs–and beware of evil-doers.”

“Critics on both sides of the Atlantic have praised [Akunin’s] clever plots, vivid characters and wit.”
–Baltimore Sun

“Akunin’s wonderful novels are always intricately webbed and plotted.”
–The Providence Journal

Customer Reviews:

Stick with Fandorin.......2007-06-06

Not one of his best. No character grabs one's interest, and trying to keep track of the many players with their multiple, many-syllabled, sound-alike names takes one right out of the plot. Much better to wait for the next Erast Fandorin novel. Take a pass 'til then.

A sleuth in nun's habit.......2007-05-30

Boris Akunin is a well-regarded Russian author of suspense fiction, heretofore known for his Fandorin series, which concerns a part-James Bond, part-Hercules Poirot creation who nonetheless is strikingly original. SISTER PELAGIA AND THE WHITE BULLDOG marks the beginning of a new direction for Akunin and fittingly introduces Mortalis, a new imprint of literary mystery and suspense fiction for Random House.

We quickly learn from the unnamed, omnipresent narrator that Sister Pelagia is a sleuth in nun's habit, wishing to devote her life to God yet feeling stifled by the requirements of the order and by the role of women in early 20th century Russia. In addition, she is quite adept at solving mysteries, a skill that she hides from all except her supervisory bishop, who keeps her abilities a secret not only to preserve the good sister's customary role but also to keep her in reserve as a secret weapon in the political skirmishes that were the hallmark of the time.

The bishop generally has his hands full, what with an inspector from the Holy Synod coming to meddle in local affairs, the gruesome discovery of two decapitated bodies, and the bishop's aunt being in a terrible state as a result of the baffling death of one of her white bulldogs, a special breed that she and her late husband had nurtured through generations. The perpetrator of the canine murder is quickly determined, even if the motive isn't, and the unforeseen nexus that connects this and other events is slowly but surely sorted out in a climactic courtroom scene in which the good sister has a starring role.

It should be noted that Russian literature tends to be the antithesis of, say, a James Patterson work --- why use one word when pages will do? --- and occasionally, as even Akunin notes with a nod and a wink through his anonymous narrator, things seem to wander off track. All is revealed in good time, however, and along the way Akunin drops nuggets of dry, subtle humor amidst social and political commentary. Those who take their mysteries with great spoonfuls of explosions and karate may find this book wanting (though it does, particularly near the end, have its moments), and there is enough political intrigue and metaphor to provide a satisfactory feast.

Lovingly translated by Andrew Bromfield, SISTER PELAGIA AND THE WHITE BULLDOG is a welcome debut of a new series that hopefully will give Akunin the wider visibility in this country that his work deserves. And let's give some kudos to Random House as well for its brave launch of Mortalis. We'll happily look for more.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Akunin at his best.......2007-03-30

The Sister Pelagia mystery series may not be as effortless a read to take in as Erast Fandorin, but it's well worth the effort. While the White Bulldog may be have a plot that is slightly less dynamic than the one Fandorin fans are used to, it is a refreshing change of pace. The language is beautiful, the characters are engaging and the sleuth and her posse (bishop Mitrofani and Berdichervsky) are at least as charismatic as Fandorin and Masa.
The series (there are only three novels in it) picks up the pace in The Black Monk and positively goes berserk in the Red Rooster, but the provincial charm of the White Bulldog is very enjoyable too.
Most Russian fans of Akunin consider the Pelagia trilogy to be a more workmanlike and even series than Fandorin, which has its peaks and valleys.

A female Fr. Brown.......2007-02-13

In the midst of writing mysteries about detective Erast Fandorin, the author has also begun a new series. This one concerns a nun named Sister Pelagia, who is sent out by her Bishop to help solve mysteries and murders in a backward province of Imperial Russia. The action is fast, the plot never wavers, and the characters are all well-srawn. One interesting quirk to this story is that, when it is required, Sister Pelagia assumes the identity of her "sister", a widow who dresses and acts exactly as would an upper class member of the Russian nobility. I found the premise of this book fascinating, and the characters of both the good sister and her boss the bishop very believeable, therefore I am awaiting anxiously the next book in this marvelous series.

nineteenth century historical thriller .......2007-02-10

In Zavolzhsk, far from the home of the Tsar, Bishop Mitrofannii rules over the vast scarcely populated remote region instead of Governor von Haggenau. The Bishop has earned a reputation for solving unsolved mysteries, which he takes pride in accomplishing though he also knows who actually uncovers the truth. Now his elderly late Aunt Marya Tatischeva sends him a letter asking for his help as someone poisoned Zagulyai and Zadidai with the former dying in agony and the latter barely surviving. He decides to send his secret sleuth literature and gymnastics teacher Sister Pelagia to learn what happened and why to the white bulldogs.

Sister Pelagia travels to the home of Marya to investigate the canine homicide. Sister Pelagia quickly concludes that the target is the elderly woman, who is known for treating her dogs like pampered babies, but what the nun believes is the motive leads to several avaricious souls. However, other dogs are killed and the case takes a twist when two males are recovered from the nearby river with their heads removed. The Bishop directs Sister Pelagia to investigate the murders regardless of where it takes her, as he expects everyone to live morally and piously correct though he has some doubts with her switching identities from clumsy reticent nun to vibrant nimble Polina Lisitsina.

In some ways this is more a nineteenth century historical thriller than a mystery. SISTER PELAGIA AND THE WHITE BULLDOG is a superior whodunit that uses the backdrop to paint a vivid picture of a remote part of Tsarist Russia. Readers will have to adapt to the names of the key characters, but will find it worth the time as the descriptions are terrific and the cast powerful especially the Sister and the Bishop, as irony and humor augment a fabulous story line.

Harriet Klausner

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