Doppelganger

Book Description

Description: When a witch is born, a doppelganger is created. For the witch to master her powers, the twin must be killed. But what happens when the doppelganger survives? Mirage, a fierce bounty hunter, lives by her wits and lethal fighting skills. She always gets her mark. But her new mission will take her into the shadowy world of witches, where her strength may be no match against magic. Miryo is a witch who has just failed her initiation test. She now knows that there is someone in the world who looks like her, who is her: Mirage. To control her powers and become a full witch, Miryo has only one choice. To hunt the hunter and destroy her.

Customer Reviews:

Very promsing start to an alternate world series.......2007-08-04

Normally I don't order the sequel until I have finished the book, but I ordered it about `1/2 way through.

Nice to see better world construction and not our own world with vampires etc. tacked on.

Good plot with compelling characters and a nice twist at the end.

A little humor but its absence is made up for by the absence of annoying editorial errors and inconsistencies.

The witches are very loosely based on Wicca but are not primarily a religion; although they have some of the characteristics of one. There are at least 2 religions present.

Overall an excellent read in the paranormal fantasy, adventure genre.

Excellent Read!!.......2007-06-19

I thoguht this book was very good! I picked it up while waiting for my girlfriend to finish class and just really got into it. I read only sixty pages in and felt i was already invested in it so i just bought a copy.
I notice that alot of people say they have a hard time reading her writing style with all the jargon from the witch domain or the simultanious story lines are too confusing for them; think about it though, what Marie is trying to do is create a whole world for her reader to get engulfed by, its not going to make complete sense in the first two paragraphs. All great books are like that, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings don't make sense in the first couple of paragraphs either. What I can suggest to those people who are having a hard time reading it is to refer to the Glossary in the back. It has all the jargon and their definitions and after you read the book, read it one more time! I promise you will pick up on stuff you missed and it will make a whole lot more sense! The story is really fun and I hope to read more of her stuff. Thanks for the book Marie!!!!

A good try........2007-06-03

I really love the premises of the story and the story itself, but the big reason that I couldn't finish reading it is the writing and the way it was written. I haven't looked at it for almost six months, so I can't specify what I exactly didn't like about it, but I think most of the problems came after I finished my Fiction Writing course. But I am glad that other people were able to read and enjoy the book.

Doppelganger.......2007-02-22

I couldn't put this book down, I was so engrossed. It is a bit confusing in the beginning, keeping the stories straight, what Mirage did and what Miryo did, but it was so freaking cool! If you like magic, but also like mysteries, then you may seriously enjoy this book. However, it was easy from the beginning to tell that Ashin was involved from the beginning, although they make it seem like she was involved in the mystery in a different way. I am so looking forward to reading the second book! I want more!
Honestly, I can't fully write this review without giving more of the book away. But honestly, READ IT!

ok, hard to understand .......2007-01-12

I just could not get into this one.
the differant charactors and the names ranks and such just bogged down the story.
It got too confusing to try to keep it all straight and remember.
A good but predictable book.

Average customer rating:

Great for a First Novel
Good plot gone wild
emotionally gripping, but ultimately disappointing
Inescapbably Captivated......
The juxtaposition of myth and reality

The Icarus Girl: A Novel
Helen Oyeyemi
Manufacturer: Nan A. Talese
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0385513836
Release Date: 2005-06-21

Book Description

“The Icarus Girl is an astonishing achievement.” —Sunday Telegraph (London)

Jessamy “Jess” Harrison is eight years old. Sensitive, whimsical, possessed of an extraordinary and powerful imagination, she spends hours writing haiku, reading Shakespeare, or simply hiding in the dark warmth of the airing cupboard. As the child of an English father and a Nigerian mother, Jess just can’t shake off the feeling of being alone wherever she goes, and the other kids in her class are wary of her tendency to succumb to terrified fits of screaming. Believing that a change from her English environment might be the perfect antidote to Jess’s alarming mood swings, her parents whisk her off to Nigeria for the first time where she meets her mother’s family—including her formidable grandfather.

Jess’s adjustment to Nigeria is only beginning when she encounters Titiola, or TillyTilly, a ragged little girl her own age. To Jess, it seems that, at last, she has found someone who will understand her. But gradually, TillyTilly’s visits become more disturbing, making Jess start to realize that she doesn’t know who TillyTilly is at all.

Helen Oyeyemi draws on Nigerian mythology to present a strikingly original variation on a classic literary theme: the existence of "doubles," both real and spiritual, who play havoc with our perceptions and our lives. Lyrical, haunting, and compelling, The Icarus Girl is a story of twins and ghosts, of a little girl growing up between cultures and colors. It heralds the arrival of a remarkable new talent.

Customer Reviews:

Great for a First Novel.......2007-05-14

Oyeyemi finished this novel before her nineteenth birthday, and it proves to be a hypnotic, thrilling tale. Some of the plot and characterization are a bit flawed, and I was disappointed with the ending, as I thought my fervent reading should have been a bit more generously rewarded. All in all, though, Oyeyemi seems to have a bright future ahead of her. Very absorbing and in some cases really frightening.

Good plot gone wild.......2007-04-29

This story is a little strange
although rather compelling
Right from the start it draws you in
with clever storytelling

Jess is only eight years old
and prone to misbehaving
Her parents think she needs a change
to stop her bouts of raving

Her mom is from Nigeria
Her dad's from the UK
They take a trip to Africa
for their next holiday

She meets her mother's kith and kin
and then there's TillyTilly
Who knows things Jessy doesn't know
but doesn't call her "silly"

When they return to England's shores
along comes her new friend
Although the grown-ups think she's real
she's mostly just pretend

The story takes a spooky twist
a family secret's shared
Her friend's demeanor starts to change
and has Jess really scared

Although the plot is really good
some characters don't flow
The ending's rushed and not that great
there's too much you don't know

The author wrote this as a teen
so I'll cut her some slack
The first part is the meaty bit
The ending's just a snack

(Rated: 3.5 stars)

Amanda Richards, April 28, 2007

emotionally gripping, but ultimately disappointing.......2006-12-07

I was really hopeful as I started to read this book, because I found that I cared about Jess and her family. If the goal of the author was to be completely creepy, she definitely met that goal - I had nightmares all night upon completing the book (and I'm not easily scared). The writing was very good, especially as regards developing characters, but the story was uneven and a bit wandering at times. I was left with several unanswered questions (and not the good kind, where you are OK with not having enough information). I will be giving this book to Goodwill, but I would not be opposed to reading another effort by this author, who clearly has potential...

Inescapbably Captivated.............2006-10-14

I could not put this book down. Immediately connected to the character Jess and her struggles, I felt a unique connection to her. Desperately wanting her to be ok, and wanting the author to provide me more, as she did. While the other characters were a bit underdeveloped, especially her grandfather, the main focus was around Jess as it should have been. Although the end made me feel as though, there is more to this story and there maybe something more the author will have to tell us about Jess.

The juxtaposition of myth and reality.......2006-08-06

Eight-year old Jessamy Harrison has never been like the other girls at her school in Bromley, England. Daughter of a Nigerian mother and a British father, Jessamy is gifted, difficult, even peculiar, given to screaming tantrums and strange, febrile fevers. Jess spends hours alone, reading and drawing, seemingly content in her own company. Early in the novel, the family visits Nigeria, where a bevy of aunts, uncles and cousins await and, most significantly, her maternal grandfather, who believes in the ancestral ways but is a devout Christian. It is on this visit that the solitary Jessamy meets a new friend in an abandoned building, Titiola, whom she calls TillyTilly. Jess is delighted to have a playmate, drawn into the intimacies of young girls sharing secrets. Titiola's true identity is unclear until the family returns home, where she appears once more.

TillyTilly knows all of Jess's secrets, the girls at school who ridicule her difference and lack of social skills, anyone who disturbs or makes Jess angry. But eventually Jessamy realizes that no one can see her new friend; she is invisible. It is at this point that the novel shifts from fiction to fable. Is this girl a figment of Jessamy's imagination, a panacea for her emotional turmoil, or is there a darker source, in the roots of African folklore, where spirits have the power to enter the physical realm? As the disturbing incidents increase and Jess realizes she can't control TillyTilly's appearance or her actions, fear presides, those closest to Jessamy affected by the sinister presence of this sister-friend who does or doesn't really exist. The tale beings to make sense when Jessamy's parents take her to a therapist. It is through the girl's response to Doctor McKenzie that the real image of this tormented child takes shape.

It is TillyTilly who tells the shocking secret of Jessamy's birth: she was born a twin, but her sister did not survive. TillyTilly yearns to take the lost sister's place, but all is twisted around her own identity as the missing half of another twin. TillyTilly wields her power, controlling Jess, whose fright grows in proportion to escalating events. As a twin, Jessamy is a child of three worlds: "this one, the spirit world and the Bush, which is a sort of wilderness of the mind", according to Jessamy's mother. In a desperate struggle for dominance, Jess returns to Nigeria with her family, there to confront her confusion. It is here that the battle for Jessamy's soul is engaged, a fight waged between two realities, the physical and the spiritual, the living and the dead.

The novel was written by Oyeyemi before her nineteenth birthday, capturing both the innocence and the deviousness of an unhappy child who cannot find a comfortable place to inhabit, a place where conflicting emotions are allowed to coexist; instead, folklore mixes with reality, the half-life of the spirits begging recognition. The Icarus Girl is imbued with the language of otherness, a fairy tale in which anything is possible, ancestral rituals in Nigeria, lost twins and imaginary friends part of the warp and weft of the fragile fabric of Jessamy's existence. Luan Gaines/2006.

Average customer rating:

101 Ways to Die
STACEY STAR
Demons Galore!!
Hydra Returns
Doubling Demons=Double the Fun

Demon Doppelgangers (Charmed)
Greg Elliot
Manufacturer: Simon Spotlight Entertainment
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 1416900268

Book Description

Demon Doppelgangers

Ancient powers give evil rise

and open up demon eyes.

Find the answer, quell the curse --

or things will surely get much worse...

Paige has a new job -- and it's perfect for her. She's working at a museum, conducting tours through a traveling Grecian display. It's temporary, but it's better than nothing, and it means she gets to see Chase, a really hot guy who started working at the museum at about the same time she did. One day, though, a big stone ovoid meant to represent a dragon's egg turns up, and it gives her the creeps. When Paige asks Phoebe and Piper to come check it out, they agree there's definitely something evil about that weird old egg.

Later, after a long day of tours, Paige and Chase relax near the artifact. Without warning, Chase, who knows only a few Greek words, begins speaking in the language. His monologue opens the egg, releasing a demon that promptly assumes Chase's form. When Paige tries to kill it, it splits in half, forming two identical Chases. With the real Chase unable to explain what happened and demons on the loose, the Charmed Ones will have to count on the Power of Three to figure out what's doubling these demons...and why.

Customer Reviews:

101 Ways to Die.......2006-04-09

This Charmed book can be alternatively called, 101 Ways to Die. He writes very succintly, putting each and every event into nice, summarized fashion for the reader to read. Unlike Hurricane Hex, this book focuses on the demons, and a multiplying one at that.

The doppelganger in question duplicates himself each time he dies, and the method used to kill him becomes ineffective.

Throughout reading this book, I am suddenly enlightened by the many ways a person can undertake to kill himself. Drowning, jumping off a building, getting shot by a crossbow, getting hit by a shotgun, crashing his own van, ramming himself into a wall, blowing himself into bits, and also even being shot by a bazooka. This Charmed book approaches a new concept of a demon - a regenerative one. Kudos to Greg.

Also, I am most impressed with his creative flair. The spells used throughout the book are aplenty, and each one is written perfectly and wonderfully, with a balanced sense of alliteration, tone and rhyme. I am excellently thrilled with Greg's spells which left me satisfied each time I read one aloud.

Greg's storyline is flawed at times, with some parts of the storyline and detail falling short, but the characters like Darryl and Chase develop with excellence. I am also slightly disappointed with the lacklustre ending, but overall, the book was exciting and wonderfully entertaining.

I would buy more of Greg's books in the future (this being one of them), but I would like to advise him not to watch Final Destination while he is writing it.

STACEY STAR.......2006-03-19

I HAVE NOT READ ALL THE CHARMED BOOKS BUT I AM TRYING TO. I AM NOT ALLOWED TO BY THEM AS IT WILL COST LOADS I HAVE STARTED WATCHING THEM FROM SEASON 7. I REALLY WANT TO WATCH SEAONS 12345678 BECAUSE IT MAKES ME LOOK AT MY LIFE IN A WHOLE NEW WAY. MY FAVOURITE SISTER IS PAIGE

Demons Galore!!.......2006-02-04

This Charmed book was truely unique. When i first read it i was really amazed at how well the author wrote the book. She followed each sister's life very closely so we weren't lost at all. In fact, the end was the absolute best!!! Piper was in the face of death when she realized the demon's weakest point and it was so cool how easily she killed him!! I could not believe the suspense i felt while reading this book! If you love Charmed, read THIS book!!

Hydra Returns.......2006-01-29

Hallelujah. It is about time one of the Charmed ones shows a little common sense. Paige runs into a tourist twice in a short time and suspects he will therefore become part of their lives and duties. She is right. Paige and the tourist both get jobs at the museum giving tours of a new Ancient Greece exhibit. But one item holds a deadly secret.

No sooner is the radar up that something is strange in the exhibit, than a demon is released and it possesses the tourist. But this is no ordinary demon. It likes to die. Every time it dies it doubles and gains an immunity to that form of destruction. While the Charmed ones are hunting the demon, Darryl and the rest of the force are swamped with violent crimes that all seen to involve the same guy even when several occur at once. Can they stop the demon before it destroys the world?

This one was pretty good but I felt Paige realized the immunity factor almost instinctively with almost no data. But other than that things seemed to work pretty well. The characters and their powers were handled better than in some and with good consistency. This one was about as wild as one of the novels can be allowed to be without it contradicting the show.

Doubling Demons=Double the Fun.......2005-12-31

The Charmed Ones are second to none when it comes to vanquishing the deadliest demons, but they find themselves utterly at a loss for answers when an ancient demon is accidentally released. Every time this demon is vanquished it comes back to life--and doubles itself. As if that weren't bad enough, this demon can't be killed the same way twice. The sisters learn that the doubling demons plan to form an army which will destroy our civilization, and their only option may be to sacrifice the man with whom Paige has fallen in love.
Normally, Charmed books have a lot of build up to a single vanquish. Demon Doppelgangers, however, contains several exciting episodes, as the sisters face off against the doubles to protect scores of innocents. This book also contains a large number of spells, and every one of them is well-written. The sisters are skillfully portrayed, and both Leo and Darryl, characters sadly absent now from the series, have strong supporting roles.
Demon Doppelgangers is sure to be doubly delightful to any Charmed fan.

Average customer rating:

Emotional and thrilling
Courtesy of Teens Read Too
Like Ripley For Kids
fantastic young adult urban fantasy

Doppelganger
David Stahler Jr.
Manufacturer: Eos
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0060872322
Release Date: 2006-04-25

Book Description

Raised in a cabin in the middle of nowhere by a mother who despises him, the doppelganger has left home at last. He is making his way toward human society. He's coming to do what every member of his monster race must: find an unsuspecting human and make his first kill. He will then take that shape and identity for himself.

Doppelgangers are not supposed to have doubts. But this one does. His mother was right. He's weak. Too human, maybe. But even that can't stop him from killing. He has to do it. It's who he is.

It is only after stepping into the life of a small-town teenager that the doppelganger learns that his may not be the only cruel existence. In fact, maybe monsters aren't always who we think they are.

Customer Reviews:

Emotional and thrilling.......2007-08-05

David Stahler, Jr., has created a novel that resonates with human integrity, though the "lesson" comes from the doppleganger and not from a human at all. Gabriel, as he comes to be named by Amber, exhibits traits that all humans should have despite his lonely upbringing and his instinct which tells him to kill humans for his own survival. Gabriel takes over Chris Parker's life and improves nearly every aspect of it.

Stahler seems to be telling us that life doesn't have to suck if we're willing to change it. And he seems to also be telling us that everything hinges on our own compassion for others. It's Gabriel's compassion for Chris' sister Echo that eventually stops the abuse she receives from their father. It's Gabriel's compassion for Chris' mother and father along with his sense of what a family should be that eventually fixes CHris Parker's family. It's his love for Chris' girlfriend Amber which mends the mistakes Chris made with her in the past and allows Amber to become herself and not the cheerleader/girlfriend/sex toy she was. Gabriel's love for Echo and Amber frees both girls from the pain in their lives.

The most upsetting portion of this book is its conclusion. Though entirely fitting, as a reader I wanted Gabriel to live happily ever after with Amber. Naturally that wouldn't have been "fair" to her, but it seemed as if Amber would have wanted Gabriel in her life no matter what. That perhaps she might have even helped him hide the bodies of his prey throughout their lives together. Of course, that would be an entirely different story...

The descriptions of the dark portions of this novel are fantastically gloomy, but the overall message of the novel is Gabriel's compassion and humanness. The doppleganger shows the humans what it truly means to be human.

Courtesy of Teens Read Too.......2006-11-14

"He" doesn't have a name. "He" isn't one of us. "His" species lives among ours without us even knowing. "He" is a monster. "He" is a doppelganger. A doppelganger is a shape shifter, but before a person can be copied, they must be dead.

Growing up, he lived in an isolated cabin in the woods with only his mother and TV for company. He spent much of his time alone reading because his mother went out to change skins often. He never knew what she was going to look like when she came home. Finally, at the age of sixteen, his mother kicked him out. She didn't want to be tied down to him any more and felt he was old enough to take care of himself.

At first when he leaves the cabin he is frightened. He'd never killed before, but knew he couldn't survive looking like his true self. He hears a train in the distance and approaches it, not knowing what he'd find. A hobo, who isn't well, happens to be riding the rails. He puts his hands around the hobo's neck and kills him; then assumes his form, leaving the dead man on the train to be discovered later. He spends several weeks in the hobo's form, traveling from town to town, but when he stops in Bakersville his life takes a turn he's not prepared for.

While sitting by a fire on the edge of town as the hobo, he is approached by three high school boys who start to poke fun and be cruel to him. Two of the boys lose interest and leave because one boy in particular, Chris, starts to go over the line and looks like he is going to harm the hobo. Once the other two leave, "he" kills Chris, wraps his body in plastic, stuffs him in a storm drain, and assumes his shape. Once in Chris' skin, he heads back to meet the other two boys and goes home.

As Chris, he falls in love, feels some family attachment, and learns that humans can be monsters, too. Once you get into this story, you won't be able to put it down. David Stahler has written a fantastic young adult fantasy that will have you questioning the definition of good and evil.

Reviewed by: Karin Perry

Like Ripley For Kids.......2006-05-02

I haven't read either of David Stahler's previous books but that's an omission I'll make up for soon, for I enjoyed this one enough to want to go back and see how this YA author got to such towering heights. It can't be easy! You'd think there would be some baby steps that would have to come first.

DOPPELGANGER tells the story of an American family, a mom, a dad, a son and a daughter, from the outside they have an enviable life, but from the inside it's just a mess. A doppelganger kills the boy and assumes his identity, and it's from the creature's point of view, as he tries to negotiate from inside Chris Parker's complicated life, that we view this particularly twisted bunch of humans. Sheila, the mother, is a nervous wreck and what we here in California call an enabler, for she sits back and lets her horrid husband Barry beat up his children without mercy. Chris is no prize either. The toast of the town because of his exalted linebacker status on the football team, he has a mean streak inherited from his dad, and initially draws the doppelganger's attention by trying to kill him as he hides inside the identity of a stumblebum old man drunk. I guess bum-bashing is all the rage in high schools nowadays, or so David Stahler, a teacher himself, would have you think. You see it on CSI and Law and Order SVU nearly every week, now it dominates the early part of this novel. Who's worse, an old piece of human refuse lying passed out in the gutter, or the young athlete who cheerfully tries to douse out his life?

Stahler forces us to constantly revise our opinion of what good and evil are. The doppleganger's mother has brought him up (in "a cabin in the middle of nowhere") to regard good and evil and human constructs without real meaning. But as the doppelganger inhabits Chris more and more fully, and learns more and moreabout being a person, his attitude changes with ours. However I must not let you think that this is either a preachy or theoretical type of book. It's a slambang adventure, very dark and violent, with erotic undertones as "Chris" renegotiates his relationship with his upperclass girlfriend, Amber, and with a disturbing English teacher as well. Have any of you ever read Patricia Highsmith's THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY? That's what this is like, Ripley for kids. Highly recommended.

fantastic young adult urban fantasy .......2006-04-25

In their natural form they are hideous monsters who are shapeshifters taking the form of the person they kill. They have no conscience and they live among us without us being aware of it. They can't hold their assumed shape indefinitely so when they revert to their natural form they leave behind people who never know what happened to those who disappeared. One doppelganger (they have no names) has just been kicked out of his home by his mother and the first person he kills is a wino who wants to die.

In that form he reaches Bakersville where a high school football star Chris Parker beats on him until he kills him and takes the teen's form. He takes over Chris' life and notices that "his" father verbally abuses and physically hits "his" younger sister Echo. He wonders who the real monster is as he tries to protect Echo and maintain a relationship with Amber who he has come to love. He makes a place for himself but he knows that it can't be permanent because he will shift back into his natural form soon.

DOPPELGANGER is a fantastic young adult urban fantasy in which the one who calls himself a monster regrets what he has to do while his human "father" is the real fiend who abuses those he should cherish. The doppelganger is an interesting creature who is unlike the rest of his race because he doesn't like to kill, wants to know love and other good human emotions, and genuinely cares about the Parker females. Amber is his biggest regret because he knows that in the near future he will lose her but he also realizes "you've got to accept the best of a bad situation", which in his case is his entire life.

Harriet Klausner

Average customer rating:

Awesome book - very funny!
I Know a Boy, a Boy Named Crash
If you see the Bono in the road, kill him
Why do some rise and some fall?
I Was Bono's Doppelganger

Killing Bono: I Was Bono's Doppelganger
Neil McCormick
Manufacturer: MTV
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0743482484

Book Description

Some are born great.
Some achieve greatness.
Some have greatness thrust upon them.
And some have the misfortune
to go to school with Bono.

Everyone wants to be famous. But as a young punk in Dublin in the 1970s, Neil McCormick's ambitions went way beyond mere pop stardom. It was his destiny to be a veritable Rock God. He had it all worked out: the albums, the concerts, the quest for world peace. There was only one thing he hadn't counted on. The boy sitting on the other side of the classroom had plans of his own.

Killing Bono is a story of divergent lives. As Bono and his band U2 ascended to global superstardom, his school friend Neil scorched a burning path in quite the opposite direction. Bad drugs, weird sex, bizarre haircuts: Neil experienced it all in his elusive quest for fame. But sometimes it is life's losers who have the most interesting tales to tell.

Featuring guest appearances by the Pope, Bob Dylan, and a galaxy of stars, Killing Bono offers an extremely funny, startlingly candid, and strangely moving account of a life lived in the shadows of superstardom.

"The problem with knowing you is that you've done everything I ever wanted to," Neil once complained to his famous friend. "I'm your doppelganger," Bono replied. "If you want your life back, you'll have to kill me."

Now there was a thought...

Download Description

"Some are born great. Some achieve greatness. Some have greatness thrust upon them. And some have the misfortune to go to school with Bono. Everyone wants to be famous. But as a young punk in Dublin in the 1970s, Neil McCormick's ambitions went way beyond mere pop stardom. It was his destiny to be a veritable Rock God. He had it all worked out: the albums, the concerts, the quest for world peace. There was only one thing he hadn't counted on. The boy sitting on the other side of the classroom had plans of his own. Killing Bono is a story of divergent lives. As Bono and his band U2 ascended to global superstardom, his school friend Neil scorched a burning path in quite the opposite direction. Bad drugs, weird sex, bizarre haircuts: Neil experienced it all in his elusive quest for fame. But sometimes it is life's losers who have the most interesting tales to tell. Featuring guest appearances by the Pope, Bob Dylan, and a galaxy of stars, Killing Bono offers an extremely funny, startlingly candid, and strangely moving account of a life lived in the shadows of superstardom. ""The problem with knowing you is that you've done everything I ever wanted to,"" Neil once complained to his famous friend. ""I'm your doppelganger,"" Bono replied. ""If you want your life back, you'll have to kill me."" Now there was a thought... "

Customer Reviews:

Awesome book - very funny!.......2007-01-09

I absolutely loved this book! It is a real underdog story and laugh out loud funny. I am a huge U2 fan and this book wasn't directly about U2 but was written by one of their good friends growing up in Dublin. Neil McCormick never quite made it big in music but has a great writing career ahead. Very entertaining read!

I Know a Boy, a Boy Named Crash.......2007-01-04

Very funny. An excellent insight into Bono's sense of humor.

If you see the Bono in the road, kill him.......2006-11-29

So I adopt a Zen koan, Bono for Buddha, but the moral remains: you should not set up as an idol the goal you seek, or limit how you envision the fulfillment of your potential and the answer to your dreams. It takes this author, with the connivance--fifteen or so years on in their friendship--for Bono and the author to agree that, yes, the need to "kill Bono" off is a necessity if Neil McCormick is to get on with his own life.

Neil McCormick's autobiography proved much more insightful than the cover, the title, or the blurbs would have let me to believe. The erstwhile frontman and determined vocalist of the pop bands Yeah! Yeah! and Shook Up! during the heyday of the New Wave-turned-synth pop, boy bands, and "manufactured" frothy era, Neil meditates long on why his four classmates made it big while he, his brother, and his bandmates failed to even get signed--at least for more than a week. He ponders how the pursuit of one's Buddha/Bono, the desperate desire to prove one's self as worthy of acclaim and reward and simple respect in the music industry as his humble schoolchums turned global celebrities takes many twists and turns in his own life. Cocaine, a bit of sex, less drinking than you'd suppose, and many hours of concerts, studio time, and dealing with A&R reps and producers shows also the balance of the mundane and the exhilarating for a struggling musician. It's instructive to consider also a rarity in show business: how with U2, the members have been together since about fifteen, as Bono with his wife Ali by the way, and as well as Neil and his brother Ivan, all wrapped up in their own ways into a scene unimaginable to seemingly ordinary North Dublin students circa 1976.

The trouble is, since the bands Neil fronted never had the chance to make it big, the music he describes suffers unavoidably when limited to his verbal descriptions. Lyrics that seem to me rather verbose and awkward when printed on the page probably gained much, taking not only Neil's word for it but the many positive (and some negative!) press reviews he cites, when heard in concert. It's very difficult to get a handle on what kind of clean, precise, catchy pop the bands he was in actually played, and what they sounded like. Also, the contrast between realistic stories about rape, depression, and abandonment that Neil wrote and the sound with which his bands played the music provided a tension that appears more recognized by Neil than his audiences or most of the "gatekeepers" who kept shutting the door on him and his talented but perhaps rather conventional sounding band.

The lyrics about doubt, date rape, child abuse, and incest, as he finds, made for a hard sell with the A&R suits. Great lyrics that, alone in the book, he quotes in full for the song he had more recently penned about doubt, God, and the Big Questions. As I said, it's difficult to understand fully this whole aspect when reading for hundreds of pages about a singer and his bands-- both of which you never have heard.

Still, if only in the closing acknowlegements, Neil notes that his career continues and lists his net niche for his current musical endeavors and another one (same as the book title, but a hyphen between the two words and a dot followed by "com") where the music he made in the 80s can be sampled.

The conversations about faith (as opposed to religion) that he and Bono carry on over the years contributed depth to this memoir. Not knowing the detail of the Virgin Prunes' background, I was intrigued to note that many of them apparently had, as Lypton Villagers, been also a part of the Shalom community along with members of U2. Neil contrasts well the appeal of both the Prunes and U2 to rival factions of the nascent Dublin alternative rock audiences of the (post)punk era. I and my eleven-year-old son talked about the book and the struggles that both Bono and Neil had in reconciling success with belief, intelligence with acclaim-- or how the lack of music business recognition for Neil, in his "existential wobble" unmoored him, into a malaise for fifteen years or so which contrasted so massively with U2's concurrent rise to worldwide triumphs. Nearly all of those who were callow teenagers and idealistic schoolmates way back when, to their credit, reveal their early or postponed hard-won maturity decades later in Neil's account. The band offers a welcome for Neil when he manages to break into the backstage fortresses, and as the band becomes more and more elevated while Neil struggles, as a successful rock journalist it must be admitted, to keep up with his own maturing and his own growth into what seems to have been a delayed marriage and manhood! While the level of detail Neil provides is admittedly rather too meticulously rendered, the events and insights he provides manage to remain apropos and consistently illuminate the deeper angst he battles.

The camaraderie with band members, the dreams they share, and the defeats they must endure amidst U2's ever-increasing fame prove poignant. Neil does not exploit his position vis-a-vis his classmates, and only once asks for the chance for Bono to make good on his earlier promise to give Neil's band a hearing for a single released by U2's in-house label, Mother Records. Bono does, but the five-person board (band members plus U2's manager, who between the lines seems not to like Neil's efforts I suspect) has to be unanimous for a signing, and one vote proved negative. Bono does not say who; he does handle the whole situation, which must have been a bit awkward for all involved, with deft tact and charity.

I came away from this narrative-- long suspicious of Bono-- with an appreciation for the political and philanthropic efforts of Bono (the Edge and Adam make cameos here and there; Larry is little to be seen, it seems) and his bandmates, dealing with temptation and fame, diplomats and fundraising, at a level beyond the imaginings even of Mount Temple schoolboys in the dim era when glam drifted into punk. It's often said that when viewing the "great" that you truly see what they are like when dealing with the seemingly inconsequential, "little" folks, and Bono and the other band members of U2 emerge with class, I am happy to report. I am not even that much of a U2 fan, but I concluded this book with respect for both these bands and their members, famous or unheralded. Idealism persists at both levels.

The thick level of recalled detail for all of these conversations and ministrations, given the difficulty mentioned with "hearing" the music for its strengths and weaknesses when limited to the page, does occasionally slow the pace down here and there. Neil is not a flashy writer, but an efficient chronicler, so the book rarely drags for long. As an aside, since an examination of their relationship only occurs about 85% of the way through the narrative, I felt that more attention by Neil to his brother Ivan, who was with Neil in both bands, could have fleshed out their relationship so readers could better understand their lasting bond, although his comparative reticence may be out of respect for Ivan. Obviously they believed in their cause for many years under disheartening conditions. I wonder, if Neil had been born two decades later, how the Net would have enabled he and Ivan, perhaps, to share their musical visions in ways that the record labels with their stuffy A&R suits might never have predicted anymore than the rest of us back two decades ago!

P.S. I happen to have read this as the third rock music book in a row by someone about my age, the other two authors also being British music press journalists, and their common subject covers the late 70s-early 80s music scene in Britain (and Ireland, here). I have also reviewed on Amazon "Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984" by Simon Reynolds; Neil's brief comparison of the emerging Echo-to-Smiths indie scene with the New Wave-to New Romantic- to synth-pop trends fits well with Reynolds' own conclusions about the demise of the latter by 1984 or so in Britain. I also reviewed on Amazon a companion memoir; Dylan Jones' "IPod, Therefore I Am" mixes his own recollections of the glam, punk, and post-punk, rave, and jazz eras in the 70s and 80s into his own efforts to make on his iPod the soundtrack for his past four decades.

Why do some rise and some fall?.......2006-07-12

First the basics. McCormick grew up with this guy named Paul. They both formed bands and played the circuits, making connections with the music industry big wigs and recording their songs. Paul is now better known as Bono. McCormick is now better known as the music critic for the Telegraph. So what happened? What makes one person become a star and another fail to break through the maze of the music industry? Talent? Fate? Luck? This book takes you on the whole journey, sometimes funny, sometimes painful, but always interesting. I blazed through its 384 pages in four days, and wish there were still more of it to read. Along the way I was treated to deep discussions of fame, fortune, misfortune, music, the music industry, religion, and life in general. McCormick weaves together several themes and keeps them all relevant and alive. If you've ever dreamed of being a rock star, read this book.

I Was Bono's Doppelganger.......2006-05-18

This book is a blitz of fame, fortune, and failure. It is a thorougly amusing read for all lovers of U2. McCormick himself is a bumbling boffin who could've had it all, but missed the mark completely. He is a lovable loser.

Even so, the book left a bad taste in my mouth. Several anecdotes, probably meant to be funny, felt flat as I repulsed and stuck out my tongue. McCormick's comedy of errors was due in part to his bad decisions regarding drugs and sex. Several times I found myself thinking "Boy, that was dumb of him! When will he ever learn?"

"I Was Bono's Doppelganger" is an funny, light-hearted read for devoted U2 fans. It serves an important life lesson- that bad decisions bring bad results. You will be rooting for McCormick all the way through. Worth a read.

Complete Guide to Doppelgangers (Dungeons & Dragons/D&D D20 Accessory)

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Complete Guide to Doppelgangers (Dungeons & Dragons/D&D D20 Accessory)
Various
Manufacturer: Impressions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

General | Graphic Novels | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

What if everyone around you were a doppelganger... and only you didn't know? Most GMs use doppelgangers in the same basic way: there are a couple doppelgangers who impersonate an important figure, and they may be involved with the thieves' guild. The Complete Guide to Doppelgangers sets out to develop doppelgangers into something more than that. It answers the questions about doppelgangers that have never been asked, much less answered: Why do they want to impersonate people? What do they get out of it? What is their society like? And the scariest question of all: How many doppelgangers are really out there?

Amazon.com

When customers seek their memories in Half Remembered Things, Kevin Grierson's New York shop, they gawk at the price tags attached to the toys of their childhood. Kevin reflects, "The past is always just a bit more expensive than we thought possible."

And so it is for Kevin, a successful middle-aged antiques dealer whose past is exacting a price: he journeys down dark memories of peddling his young body to strangers, destroying himself with booze and speed, striving to become predator rather than prey on the streets of New York in the 1960s. The problem, as he sees it, is that his Shadow--more than an alternate self but less than an independent doppelgänger--is the bad guy, the one who would bring back the old habits. But his Shadow is not purely evil, and Kevin is not purely good. The two of them have much to learn if they ever hope to be reconciled.

Minions of the Moon is an absorbing, beautifully wrought novel of dark fantasy--its complex web of stories told in interweaving strands, its dreamlike images balanced by a clean, matter-of-fact prose style. --Fiona Webster

Book Description

Kevin Grierson has a Shadow with a mind of its own. It likes thrills, it likes power, it likes the rush of drugs and danger. From the suburbs of Boston to the streets of New York, from the false glamour of advertising to the dark glamour of hustling and drug-dealing. Grierson's Shadow keeps him walking the edge of destruction and madness. Then a simple robbery goes horribly wrong. With the help of a flawed saint named Leo Dunn, Grierson struggles to banish his Shadow, and succeeds. Temporarily. Years later, sober and settled, at peace with his world, Kevin Grierson meets his Shadow again. And this time it won't go away.

Customer Reviews:

Absolutely AWFUL.......2006-06-05

In a sentence: This was the worst book I have read in a very long time. I literally had to force myself through it.
I read reviews here before I picked it up, and I have to admit, I was excited to get into it! Doppelgangers fascinate me to no end; I expected soooo much more, especially since this book was an award winner. Imagine my disappointment when I tried to read and comprehend this piecey novel. As noted by the author, this is a compilation. Well, you could really tell, it just didn't "flow" for me at all.
Someone wrote in a prior review : "Someone recently said to me, 'I like books in which as a reader I'm not 100% sure of what's going on.' Me too. "... Well, me too!! But the thing is, I wasn't even 10% sure of what was going on!! The book twists and winds and jumps all over the place. One minute Kevin is a homeless druggie, the next?....he miraculously owns a store. People materialize/disappear in and out of his life so quickly, if you blink, you'll miss them. I just couldn't follow it. The secondary characters were hollow and had no depth.
The writing style is a complete mess, I have no other description for it, it was THAT BAD. I wouldn't even give this book a score of 1 star, if I wasn't forced to do so to submit my review.
I say steer clear of this one, it's a real stinker. I truly wish I could have written a nice review for this book.
If you want to read a fun book in the doppelganger genre, then try "Doppelganger" by Eric C. Higgs. It is much more enjoyable, has a comic twist to it, and is a very fun read. After all, isn't that one of the reasons that we all love to read?

Yakkity yak..........2003-11-09

Blah blah blah Irish Catholic blah blabitty YMCA blah blah doppelganger blah blah blah carousel blah blah old toys BLAH.

Don't waste your time. Richard Bowes, I want my three weeks back.

Felix Krull redux.......2003-09-13

This is a terrific book! Years ago I enjoyed Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidance Man. This book also keeps you reading on and on. I can't wait to read his next book.

Dark and believable fantasy.......2003-08-17

If much fantasy consists of real toads in imaginary gardens, then Minions of the Moon is precisely the other way around. In most respects it is a book about a character struggling to overcome his own dark side. It is the world as we know it, only in this world a person's dark side can exist as a separate entity.

The tip o' the hat to Mr. Hyde in the Shadow is well done. The novel is gritty enough to have a nice hard-boiled feel without being unbearably grotty.

Why not five stars? Too disjointed. It does not quite hold together well enough as a novel to make it really memorable.

Good read all the same. Not a waste of time.

A Great Haunting Novel.......2001-05-30

After I finished this book, I realized just how inventive and unique it really was. The hero Kevin is haunted by his 'shadow' who literally embodies all the bad sides of his character and past. Through solidly constructed chapters (especially a few right in the middle of this book, which are downright brilliant), Kevin both looks back at his past and confronts his shadow again after years.

At points the novel has very obviously been stitched together from many separate short works (as author admits in the preface), but once you get into the storyline and the reality as weaved together by the author, you'll let yourself go on a spook tour of Kevin's psyche.

Inventive, clever, unique, vivid, pervasive.

Book Description

First paperback edition of this modern transformtion of the Rumpelstiltskin fairytale. Written as the autobiography of a mysteriously deformed girl who runs away from her medieval village and becomes the apprentice and successor to "The Wise Woman of the Western Woods," the book blends magical realism and psychological wisdom.

Customer Reviews:

Best book I ever read!!!!!!!.......1998-01-04

HOW TO SPIN GOLD is the best book I've ever read. I loved it, and you'll love it. Buy this book!

Rumplestilkskin was really the Woman of the Wood........1997-05-16

The nameless "girl with the silver eye," an outcast, has a powerful connection with the lovely Miller's Daughter, Orelie. The nameless girl becomes the Woman of the Wood, a power outside the community, while Orelie is called to marry the Prince. The woman of the wood is in love with him, Orelie is not. The gold is spun, the ill-fated marriage is sealed, but the woman of the wood does not get Orelie's first-born--a girl. And yet, in the end, the contract is fulfilled--except that the story is wrong, the one we've all heard, about the spiteful little man whose name is found out. Her name is never known, except by her. A wonderful, compelling read. Hard to put down.

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Doppelgangers (Ace M-142)
H. F. Heard
Manufacturer: Ace Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: 0441131425

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The Book of Doppelgangers

Manufacturer: Wildside Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Anthologies | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1592243711

Book Description

The face in the mirror is yours, but ever so slightly different. A shadow haunts your house, but it walks in places you've never gone. You grew up with a boy who had your face and your name, except he always did everything right, while you never could. Evil twins, double images: these are the tales of the Doppelganger: eight outre tales of the doubly weird by J. Sheridan LeFanu, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Algernon Blackwood, Guy de Maupassant, Honore de Balzac, Hans Christian Andersen, Henry James, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

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