Book Description
For centuries the Bible has been the fountain-head of our Judeo-Christian tradition. Yet the Hebrew scriptures and their historical background remain a mystery to most people. This fascinating book by William Dever looks behind the Bible, showing how modern archaeology brilliantly illuminates both life in ancient Palestine and the sacred scriptures we have them today.
Written for general readers but dealing with very real problems in biblical studies, this book brings together a wealth of archaeological evidence to give the clearest picture yet of the "real Israel" that existed during the Iron Age of ancient Palestine (1200-600 B.C.). Dever's superb reconstruction of this key period recovers a reliable core history of ancient Israel that provides the best defense yet of the essential values of the biblical history and tradition under attack today.
Customer Reviews:
A couple of points to consider.......2007-06-23
On page x (in the foreword), Dever says that the book is "...certainly polemical." So a reader ought to expect polemic, not everybody holding hands around the campfire and singing "Kum Bah Yah."
Also, when you consider the fact that he has been personally accused of falsifying evidence, it is understandable that he would want to expose not only the absurdity of the claims of his adversaries, but to also try to put their motives into their larger context. Put yourself in his place. Would you like it if others accused you of falsifying archaeological finds? Would you want the truth to come out? Would you keep your cool?
On a final note, this book is worth it's price if only for the numerous palaeo-Hebrew inscriptions which are wonderfully reproduced in the middle chapters of the book. Those (seems to me) are not too easy to find. Many books refer to inscriptions, but this one shows the actual inscriptions. That is awesome. Not only does it lend gravitas to his argument, it is wonderful for those who know Hebrew and would like to translate them. It really adds so much when they include the reproductions of the inscriptions.
Personal attacks are not science.......2006-04-18
Chapters 4 and 5 in this book are very interesting, a good survey of archaeology in Israel. The preceeding 100 pages amount to little more than scathing personal attacks on other researchers coupled with some brief and basic arcaological theory. Though it is tempting to get into the post-modernism bash, the personal attacks exhibited on those researchers are in poor taste. And I'm not downplaying this, he lists their names and then gives several paragraphs explaning why their biases prevent them from being good scholars. I sincerely hope this isn't reflective of archaeological scholarship in general. From other books I've read (Finkelstein, Mazar, Stern, and Cline), I've noticed that Dever is the only one to resort to personal attacks.
For those that consider reading this, enjoy this book with a nice glass of salt water... from the satiated dead sea. And this isn't just an attack on Dever, it goes for all Biblical Archaeologists. They use the same data to come to different conclusions. To know that data, I recommend Mazar and Stern's volumes on the archaeology of Israel. Yes, there was a "consort" named Asherah who accompanies YHWH in early manuscripts, there was wide spread fertility worship (to reduce that religion as such), and there is evidence of societal change throughout the history of Israel. These observations have been made and remade throughout the development of archaeology in Israel.
I would propose a different method to abandoning (or retaining) the bible and its texts as a reliable history... give it the same doubt you would give to Hieroglyphs, Linear B tablets, and the histories of Herodotus. WE HAVE TO REMOVE THE RELIGIOUS ASPECT OF THE BIBLE TO COME TO RELIABLE CONCLUSIONS ABOUT ANCIENT ISRAELITE SOCIETY. This must be done to do justice to them and ourselves. The bible should not be a story that we plug artifacts into, the artifacts must tell a history in and of themselves, as the rest of the archaeological field must do.
Highly recommended........2005-08-16
While the polemic against the minimalists gets a little excessive at times, I have to say that it is necessary, as they are very vocal these days. There is no need to debate fundamentalists because they've made up their mind already (as Michael Freeman's review shows).
The book gives a fascinating overview of the archaeological evidence. Dever pretty much represents "the mainstream" in his assessment of the historical background of the Bible; that the Patriarchs, Exodus, and Conquest are basically unhistorical or only quasi-historical is the most parsimonious explanation given the evidence, and has become the mainstream view. Likewise, the native Canaanite origins of the Israelites is the theory that most adequately explains the ceramic and cultural similarities of the two peoples. His assessment of the monarchic period from 1025-587 BC is the focal point of the book and does an excellent job of reviewing the archaeology. There were many fascinating artifacts I was unaware of.
One of the best serious books about biblical archaeology out there, and reads very well to the uninitiated.
A prize-winner!.......2004-08-18
Dever deserves a blue ribbon for the most cumbersome title in many years. He should also garner an award for his blistering assessment of "postmodern" historians. While he has contested "minimalist" academics elsewhere, this book is an excellent compendium of the issues and evidence regarding the historical validity of the Hebrew Bible. Although the arena of biblical history is small, the issues dealt with are important. His conclusions will have lasting impact not only in biblical history, but archaeology and other disciplines. Although a serious subject, Dever's piercing wit keeps this book a lively and captivating read.
For generations, Dever tells us, the history and archaeology of Palestine have been restrained by biblical texts. Instead of scholars seeking for what is "there", they spent energy trying to verify what the Hebrew Bible related. A shift in attitude brought more detachment in reporting finds. In parallel with new textual analyses, field reseachers uncovered evidence that places and people named in the Hebrew Bible likely existed, but within a different context than related in "The Book". Regrettably, the "different context" attracted the attention of yet another academic element - the "postmodernist, deconstructionist nihilists" who simply abandoned any notion of historical veracity of biblical accounts.
Dever turns his scholarly attention and biting prose to counter this group of "critics". Apart from refuting slanderous charges of fabricating and destroying evidence, Dever shows how the postmodernists have little or no foundation for their judgements. They fail to recognise archaeological data. They dismiss or ignore history, and they make pronouncements based on misconceived notions. They even manage to fabricate some historical events of their own. All these faults lead Dever to categorise them as "nihilists" - a term borrowed from Nietzschian disillusionment. More than using selected evidence, Dever charges, this group works under an ideology affecting today's international politics.
Dever's book isn't just an academic search and destroy mission, however. He presents a profusion of recent work in excavation, social structure and imperial politics in the region. As part of his analysis, he wants due regard given to the "popular religions" prevalent in the time when the present Hebrew Bible was assembled. The biblical writers, he asserts, were The Establishment - male priests and scribes with their own elite agenda. Their purpose was the extinction of widespread "cults" adhered to by the majority population, particularly the elimination of the Ashereh cult likely prevelant among women. Ashereh, considered by some scholars to be Yahweh's consort, certainly commanded more adherents than the monotheist propogandists. However, this is the closest he comes to dealing with theology.
Dever's claim that the biblical assemblers "knew a lot and knew it early" in answer to the title's query may be contested. What cannot be challenged is his assertion that the Hebrew Bible has an historical basis. The chronology may be suspect, as is the classical portrayal of personages such as Solomon and David. While likely minor figures, someone in their image most likely lived. His conclusion stresses that a realistic view of the history of ancient Palestine will be far more productive for the future than will the hollow claims of the "deconstructionist" school". A fine, stimulating work and a rewarding read. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
This author is NOT a Conservative. . ........2004-04-10
. . . DESPITE the name of the book club from which I purchased the book.
I was most disappointed in this book. I'd rate it "zero stars" if there was such a thing. I plodded about 1/3 of the way through and got so disgusted with it I refused to finish it.
Let me give some examples: He states on p. 41 that "virtually all biblical scholars" have abandoned the idea that Canaan was conquered by the Israelites (under Joshua), as the Bible teaches. VIRTUALLY ALL??? The author should have taken a few more math classes in his earlier years...
More examples: On pages 62 and 63, the author states that the "exodus from Egypt" and the "pan-military 'conquest of Palestine' have all now been shown to be essentially nohistorical, 'historicized fiction' at best." Sounds like liberal drivel to me.
And, in a footnote on page 98, the author says "[n]o scholar, revisionist or otherwise, thinks these materials [biblical stories] anything other than 'myth.'" Well, he certainly hasn't done much research in that area! I can name dozens of scholars who think otherwise.
I guess one reason I was so disgusted with the book was that when I bought it I expected to learn about archaeology from a Christian perspective, not a self-proclaimed agnostic who doesn't even believe in the historical truths in and of the Bible. All the liberals and the athiests/agnostics seem to rate the book highly. That, however, is not for me.
I won't even bother going deeper into the premise of the book. Readers of this review who are like me won't care about that anyway, and the liberals are going to flame me no matter what else I say.
Book Description
The family historian must seek out the records of the merchants, courts, legislators, and churches, as well as the everyday expressions of the common men and women, all the while striving to remain aware that just as we have created words like television, computer, microwave oven, automobile, space station, gigabyte, and airplane, and set aside words as ticking and icebox, stadle, and squabpie, our ancestors had to do the same.
They made up the likes of telegraph, railroad, and telescope, and assimilated German words like hex, sauerkraut, fresh, hoodlum, and kindergarten; Spanish words such as barbeque, chocolate, and tornado; French sounds like bayou, levee, depot, and chowder; and Indian words such as hickory, pecan, hominy, moccasin, and raccoon. Though they invented the likes of popcorn, sweet potato, eggplant, bullfrog, and backwoodsman, they left behind them terms no longer needed in their daily lives. Gone were the likes of moxa (Indian moss burned on an area of the body, thought to cure gout), hautboy (oboe), gruntling (young hog), muchwhat (nearly), revelrout (a ruckus), and, from most regions of the U.S., the long "a" sounds of old England (fahst for fast, dahnce for dance, and hoff, meaning half.)
Mr. Drake, retired lawyer and teacher, and veteran genealogist, writes with a pleasing style that is entertaining and educational. He is the author of the popular guide, Genealogy: How to Find Your Ancestors, and You Ought to Write All That Down, both available from Heritage Books.,., illus., paper, #D1654
Customer Reviews:
Very Amusing Light Reading.......2002-09-24
Don't expect deep philosophy or great revelations, but if you're a Bostonian you owe it to yourself to read this book. Many amusing stories and triva about Boston. Walt Kelly (no, not the Pogo dude) is a good storyteller, and has obviously done a lot of research.
Very cute littel book.......2001-01-10
It is perfect and very entertainig book about Boston, written by a cab driver, very intelligently and informed. It has a long list of referenced books indicating the amount of effort and study put into it.It is very interesting, like the reader from Germany, I also started and I could not put the book aside until I finished it. It makes your mind twist when you start to know about things that you see everday or you walk by it. I never knew what the word "smoot" on Harvard Bridge was about although I step on it every day. From the old Sahwmut Bank logo I always thought that Shawmut was an Indian tribe. I thought blackstone river or vally was called blackstone may be because the stones were black and many other similiar associations. What about Quaker Lane in downtown. Well I am not going to tell you what is in the book, you need to read it but it is full of suprizes, at least for me it was. Now like they say when you meet someone after you had a telephone conversation, "I can put a face to it". Since I read the book it is "Frogg Lane" for me not Bolyston Street. It is just great, I conragulate Mr. Kelley. very nice book especially for people who are new to Boston and needs to catch up with its history to own the heritage. I read other books like Architectutral histories, topograpies etc. this one is juicy.
Not just for Bostonians.......2000-06-06
What They Never Told You About Boston... is a fantastic book filled with all kinds of tidbits about Boston's history. Names of streets are explained, significance of buildings, even words and phrases that had their origins in Boston! Misunderstandings are cleared up; for example the first white settler in Boston was not a Puritan but rather the Reverend William Blaxton, an Anglican minister, and Shawmut is not the name of an Indian tribe but more or less means 'the place to find boats.'
This is an enlightening read for those interested in Boston and her history, well-written and for the most part, extremely well-researched. (There are so many people and institutions who claim the first computer that I doubt MIT or Harvard can truly state that that honor is theirs.) I only wish that it was longer -- I zipped through the 101 pages pretty quickly! I enjoyed the book so much that I brought it to Germany with me, and use it in my teaching about English and America!
Book Description
Were most cults and new religions simply passing fads of the late–twentieth century, or are some of them still growing today? What new sects have emerged, and what dangers do they present? How should Christians respond?
Bible teacher and apologetics expert Ron Rhodes has cataloged 40 groups in this concise and easy–to–use handbook. Readers will appreciate Ron’s thorough research and his reader–friendly style. His brief examination of each group includes
- a short history of the sect or new religion
- an explanation of the group’s major doctrines
- the Christian apologetic response
This informative guide includes a list of “Apologetic Power Points,” which provides readers with a fast–paced summary of the foundational truths of biblical Christianity.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent, Easy to Use, Concise Resource.......2007-07-20
Ron Rhodes does a superb job giving a concise overview of the origin and teachings of a variety of cults and new religions. Some of the groups covered are the better known religions like: The Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormonism). Ron also addresses numerous other groups that still relatively obscure: Baha'i, Hare Krishna, Kabbalism, Masonic Lodge, Nation of Islam, and many more. You'll find this book a great resource!
Great book!.......2006-06-19
If you ever need to find out great information on this kind of subject this book is for you. I can say I have never read someting more informative on the topic.
3 and 1/2 stars really..........2005-10-05
this is one of the better christian perspective on other religions outlines ive read. scientology, native american faiths should've been covered.
Average customer rating:
|
What did they sing at the Met?
Robert J Wayner
Manufacturer: Wayner Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
 Voice
| Instruments & Performers
| Music
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Music
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Entertainment Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
ASIN: B0006E73SC |
Book Description
Whether they're actors or singers, politicians or statesmen, famous folks have no choice but to stand squinting in the limelight as their odd and offbeat exploits become fodder for scrutiny. Author Bob Fenster has captured all their hilarious, behind-the-scenes antics in They Did What!? Consider, for example:o The Beach Boys originally wanted to call their group the Pendletons, so they could get free shirts from the Oregon clothing manufacturer.o At her wedding, movie star Lana Turner had "I love you" spelled out in pimentos in the sides of baked hams.o Before they hit it big in the movies, Angelina Jolie studied to be a funeral director and Sean Connery polished coffins.Filled with hundreds of fascinating escapades and interesting idiosyncrasies, They Did What!? also looks at issues associated with fame, such as "Why do famous people marry other famous people?" and includes tongue-in-cheek lessons we can learn from celebrities, like "How to become famous and still get into heaven."
Customer Reviews:
He did what?.......2005-06-16
Interesting and sometimes funny. His examples kept me interested thru Part I, but then I lost interest while trying to read thru Parts II and III (last 40 pages of the book). If there are any future editions, I would get rid of the commentary in those sections and incorporate the examples he uses of famous people into the first section and leave it at that.
For me, this book is a reader, but not a keeper.
Book Description
Author Jack Fritscher is a schoolmate of Bernard Cardinal Law of Boston--famous in the priest sex-abuse scandals rocking the Catholic Church. This memoir-novel tells a tale of boys "touched by angels." That the narrator, Ryan O'Hara, is ironically flawed subverts the tale told to the reader in this 'Catholic Catcher in the Rye'.
Catholic or not: What you should know about What They Did to the Kid. Vivid as a screenplay. Villains will make you throw the book across the room. Heroes will make you pick it up. Fun. Accessible. And as true as fiction gets. If you, or someone in your family, grew up in a seminary, or you just want to know exactly how priests are trained as boys, this novel tells all you need to know, without being offensive or stereotypical, about adolescent boys, recruited by the Church, and trapped in claustrophobic seminaries. Chosen by CNN: "Top 100 Books You Are Reading."
In the 1950s, the Catholic Church in fact actively recruited 200,000 boys into seminaries. This is the story of those boys and their families, and the women who would have married them. Strong characters and snappy dialog propel the fast-moving plot.
In the secret 1950s' world of "Misericordia Seminary," Ryan O'Hara, from age 14 to 24, narrates the adventures of 500 boys trapped by the imperial Rector Karg; the militaristic disciplinarian, Father Gunn USMC; the tart, and suicidal, Father Polistina; and the rebel-priest, handsome Chris Dryden "who knows Fellini and JFK" and also teaches seminarians how to love their bodies "the way Jesus loves their bodies."
The author, with twelve previous books published, gives each diverse character--hero or villain, student or priest, man or woman--a rich back story. Black civil rights of the 1960s and three interesting women characters open this boys-coming-of-age story out of the seminary and on to the hot streets of Chicago.
In this fictional memoir, Jack Fritscher--who won "Story Teller of the Year" Book Award for this novel--inhales experience and exhales fiction. Against the dramatic tension of Vatican II, he oxygenates his panic-stricken novel with mouth-to-mouth comic dialog that breathes irony into this coming-of-age novel in a seminary where no boy can grow up.
In times of Catholic scandal, this is what readers need to know about the secret education of boys-who-would-be-priests--without offending reader sensibilities.
"Survivors of Catholic education" will identify with the 1950s' roots of 21st-century "recovering Catholic" panic and angst.
Readers outside the Catholic Church will gain an insight to the hidden psychology of the education of priests.
This coming-of-age story is "a novel of the closet" in which boys' personal, intellectual, and sexual identity is always on the line. This novel is the pre-quel to the best-selling memoir-novel, Some Dance to Remember.
Customer Reviews:
Pyscho-sexual development & immaturity of priest training.......2004-02-29
Inside the priest factory.
The media continues, even today, to be full of news of priest molestation of and priest abuse of children. I found this novel, "What They Did," to be amazing because it is totally insightful as to how and why Catholic seminarians had their psycho-sexual development stunted by the corporate institution of the the Church vis a vis seminary education.
The poor boy who narrates this story is a lost boy. Not one priest comes forward to help him. Not one priest comes forward to educate him or help him mature. This central character is typical of the priests who psycho-sexually remain young teens all their lives--with the attendant teenage emotional problems.
By the last page, I wanted to hold this suffering priest-boy in my arms. The last operatic scene says everything about the lonely isolation of the priesthood and celibacy. This book is entertaining, sometimes lyrical and mystical in the Catholic sense (which means Freud would find it interesting!), but definitely eye-opening regarding the abuse of young seminarians. Highly recommended if you want to see inside the priest factory!
Bravo! Tells all with no prurience, scares no one.......2002-11-17
I agree with some of these reviews. Well written coming-of-age story. A psychologist or psychiatrist could picnic on this powerful little book that tells the truth close to the way my brother the priest, and I (the former seminarian) both agree we remember it.
This novel of a repressed boy who wants to give his all to Christ is almost a case study, and all one needs to know, about why the Church needs to understand the recent charges about priest pederasty as a wake-up call for the Church's larger need to update itself on the whole, huge, complicated front of modern sexuality: priests'celibacy, women's issues of sex and abortion, couples' issues, homosexuals' souls, etc. etc.
The author manages to tell about Church abuse of seminarians (the future priests) which is a far more complicated psychological abuse than the sexual. What little sex there is, is dramatically (and historically) important, and is handled in an understated way that the most chaste reader could handle.
Bravo. Bravissimo!
Schoolmate of Bernard Cardinal Law.......2002-04-25
The author is a schoolmate of Bernard Cardinal Law, and so am I. Consequently, I found Jack Fritscher's novel to be as much memoir as fiction, as I was also a student at the Pontifical College Josephinum with both Law and Fritscher, and found the fictive parallels to my memories to be evocative of how we as young seminarians were taught and trained "to be pure and avoid scandal at all costs." That, I suggest, is the innocent essence of the secrecy the media now calls "cover-up." Don't all groups--from firemen and cops to Marines--close ranks around their own?
If one is at all analytical, one thinks that this "scandal of priest sexual abuse and priest molestation"--driven by media terribly hungry to fill 24/7 programming--is just another part of the fundamentalist religious war to destroy Western Civilization: i.e. Christianity, and Christianity's oldest bastion, Roman Catholicism.
At any rate, Fritscher's novel, despite its media-juicy title, is a gentle, yet eye-popping read about the rigors of seminary life as lived by the thousands of young men recruited by the Catholic Church in the 1950's. His insight lights up the seminary culture that produced the priests of a certain age who now stand--rightly and wrongly--accused.
The story is human, engaging, and quite literary, and never exploitative or graphically embarrassing even when confronting a variety of behavior including a Jesuit spiritual director distributing prescription drugs--without a prescription--to depressed seminarians at the fictive "Misericordia Seminary."
Actually, the novel is a credit to both the PCJ and to Monsignor Leonard J. Fick who was, apparently, so much a mentor to Fritscher that he dedicates the book to Msgr. Fick. (Anyone conjecturing about the seminary culture of Bernard Law's life might well enjoy this parallax story.)
What a good writer! What an entertaining book! One suspects Fritscher kept notes hidden under his bed, because he remembers minutiae I had long ago forgotten, but--reminded by this wonderful book--remember, with nostalgia, as true.
I think a "novel" like this--better than can nonfiction--brings out a truth of how we young seminarians were trained, particularly by priests who, as returning veterans of World War II, set very high standards for priestly masculinity in the adolescent world of young seminarians. Those standards' inherent flaw froze many an adolescent emotional life at 14-years-of-age, perhaps later causing some of them to seek others also at 14-years-old. Author Fritscher even writes, "What happens to a boy when he is 14, marks him for life." If this novel, which is never about the obvious, is at all autobiographical in its experiences, what a wonderful life for an author to have led!
I'm the wife of an ex-seminarian experiencing Church scandal.......2002-04-06
Amazing. I thought I was reading a youthful journal written by my husband who has told me nearly everything about his seminary experience. In the light of the on-going church scandal regarding problems of sexuality, I found this novel to be really rather gentle and respectful--as well as insightful--of the human experience of boys' being locked away in a seminary.
Author Fritscher who obviously knows the territory about which he writes could have exploited the media controversy, but he seems to be a humane artist who chose not to do so. I appreciated being able to read about the secrecy of seminaries without being offended by overt sex or by the anti-Catholicism that fuels much of the media.
My husband seconded my opinion, and we both genuinely enjoyed the book just as a story. I learned things. My husband remembered things long forgotten. The book gave us some lively discussions.
Seminary novel has a sequel in "Some Dance to Remember".......2001-11-19
In the "National Catholic Reporter," I found this novel, "What They Did to the Kid," which is what these days Hollywood might call a "pre-quel." Actually, a couple years ago I read a really DEFINITIVE post-seminary novel titled "Some Dance to Remember" and I thought of it because all the characters have the same names as the characters in "What They Did to the Kid."
Putting two and two together with the author's name, I did a search and was able to easily put together the continuing adventures of a seminarian--but not only what happened IN the seminary, but also what happened to him AFTER the seminary, in the real world, because of--BECAUSE OF--what happened to him in the seminary, and who he became in and after the seminary that itself as an institution put an INDELIBLE MARK on his soul. (The sequel was published first.)
All of us who were seminarians, have life after the seminary. "Some Dance to Remember" is the LIFE AFTER THE SEMINARY of Ryan O'Hara in "What They Did to the Kid."
Both books are perfectly well written, intellectually defensible, and worth reading for fun as well as insight, and they certainly throw light on the PSYCHOLOGY of how we boys got to the seminary, lived in the seminary corridors, and then went out into the big wide world where people always forever after summed us up as ex-seminarians--as if that explained us! Which maybe it does?
Two good HUMANIST novels--if you like to compare the INTERNAL QUEST of the first volume of "What They Did to the Kid" to the EXTERNAL WORLDLINESS of the second volume, "Some Dance to Remember." Priest-psychologists like the late Reverend Roger Radloff could have written expert JUNGIAN analyses of the psychological sweep of these 2 Catholic-driven novels.
The pre-quel/sequel Hollywood reference also works in that the style in both novels is so CINEMATIC you can "see" what's going on. I'm always interested in books--few and far between as they are--about the seminary life and post-seminary life of seminarians and priests, because it's always with me...like an indelible mark on my soul.
Average customer rating:
- Cartoonist Updates Superhero
- Dead-on parody...too close to real life!
- Funny, but a bit cruel
- Rodi, You Rascal!!
- Insulting Stereotypes?
|
What They Did to Princess Paragon: A Novel
Robert Rodi
Manufacturer: Plume
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Gay
| Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| Gay & Lesbian
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| Gay & Lesbian
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Bitch Goddess
-
Closet Case
ASIN: 0452271630 |
Customer Reviews:
Cartoonist Updates Superhero.......2006-01-19
"The author of Fag Hag and Closet Case is back with a novel about a cartoonist in charge of updating the image of the forgotten superhero Princess Paragon. His solution is to change her hairdo, her clothes and her sexual orientation. But for Jerome Kornacker the only way to save the Princess from scandal is to end the cartoonist's career."--© zebraz
Dead-on parody...too close to real life!.......2003-03-23
I picked up a copy of this book ... in large part due to the hilarious cover and the recommendation on the back. I had no idea what to expect.
It's hilarious.
Others will complain that it's full of stereotypes, but walk into any gaming or comic-book store and you'll see a roomfull of the kinds of people that populate this book. Sometimes, the world really IS this way, and this book struck my funny bone in a totally unexpected manner. Highly recommended.
Funny, but a bit cruel.......2002-08-15
An entertaining novel that satirizes the comic book industry through a recasting of the early 1990s in which a well-regarded comic book writer/artist decides to make his mark in the new, mature field by taking a character from the golden age and remaking her as a lesbian. Like all good satire, there's an edge here--although John Bryne did do a retelling of Wonder Woman, I don't think he has remade her sexual orientation, but one quick look at the field and the various changes that have been made and it does not seem that it would be too much of a stretch. Batman is a ruthless vigilante, Superman's been dead, Spiderman has an alien costume...it's enough to make any fan think that the field has no sacred cows.
Rodi picks up this idea and uses it effectively, if a little heavy handed and without a measure of sympathy in some cases. Everything works out in the end (this is a comedy, after all, and it wouldn't do to have anyone really hurt), along the way there's enough pain to make you think that Rodi's been watching too much Seinfeld and not reading enough P.G. Wodehouse. Actually, I probably should compare Rodi to Joe Keenan, because he shares Keenan's sexual preference and is also writing humorous novels. Keenan's fare is meringue pie--light and fluffy and leaving you wanting for more; Rodi's dessert has a bitterness to it, as if it may have stayed in the oven a little too long.
Picking on the unwashed masses of comicdom may be a little like shooting fish in a barrel, and Rodi's talent at poking things with a sharp stick should probably be utilized where something is bloated out of proportion with its importance. Too much of this novel is the same stereotypes that we know have a basis in reality, but are not quite what they seem. The one redeeming factor to Rodi's cruelty to his comic fanboy is that he doesn't restrain himself from a jab or two at his gay protagonist (although mainly through the Broadway schtik of his lover).
Rodi, You Rascal!!.......1999-06-14
OK - It's my turn!! Here I was stuck for a month in some ridiculous backwater business assignment so I took a chance and bought all the Rodi books to keep me company. The GayMuse of Entertainment was watching over me! This guy is literate, amusing, profound, and definitely has the ear of his audience. I could go on and on about all his books: comparing & contrasting & up-thumbing and down-thumbing... but the bottom line is that this man WRITES with a wit and wisdom that is oh! so rare in Gay Fiction today. Now do a little 'search' here at amazon.com on 'rodi' and pluck up anything that pops up. I guarantee you that you will be pleased... if not just a little bit moved!
Insulting Stereotypes?.......1997-07-21
Being a white, heterosexual male, I have often wondered why some people get so insulted over stereotypes of the groups they belong to. Don't they realize that this is just meant to be one person out of a group that is being depicted, and that it is done for laughs? But I had my beliefs challenged when reading this book.
You see, I am a 40 year old comic book reader. The people who read comic books in this story are not treated well, and I am not referring to just the main character. The people that Jerome meets in the shop or at the convention are not portrayed in any better light than he is.
I have not read any of Mr.Rodi's previous work, so I can not speak to the accusation that this is repetitive. I picked this book up because I thought I would enjoy the subject matter, the creation of comic books. If you are easily insulted by stereotypes, do not get this book.
That said, however, I will also add that I enjoyed reading it. Perhaps it is because I do not see myself in Jerome. I do have a mortgage to worry about, and a very good job that I enjoy. I do not live with my mother. Or perhaps it is just because I do not take myself(or comics) too seriously. I also enjoyed, no matter how true-to-life it was(or wasn't), the inside look at the world of comics.
Books:
- What's So Funny? (Dortmunder Novels)
- What Would Wally Do?: A Dilbert Treasury (Dilbert Books (Paperback Andrews McMeel))
- Whoopi's Big Book of Manners
- You Will Make Money in Your Sleep: The Story of Dana Giacchetto, Financial Adviser to the Stars
- 1,000 Unforgettable Senior Moments: Of Which We Could Remember Only 246
- 10 Neat Things About Being a Flower Girl
- 21 Things I Wish My Broker Had Told Me: Practical Advice for New Real Estate Professionals.
- A Gentleman's Honor
- A Northern Light
- All About Me
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- About a Boy
- The Wheat-Free Cook: Gluten-Free Recipes for Everyone
- Streets Of Laredo : A Novel
- The Boleyn Inheritance
- Superman/Batman Vol. 1: Public Enemies
- The Einstein Factor: A Proven New Method for Increasing Your Intelligence
- The Nature of Photographs
- A Gale of Creative Destruction: The Coming Economic Boom, 1992-2020
- The Book of Balanced Living: Options to Take Control of Your Time, Work and Life
- Ernst & Young's Prosper: Your Total Financial Planning Kit/Boxed Book and Software
Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From?
The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel (Biblical Resource Series)
The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts
Did God Have A Wife? Archaeology And Folk Religion In Ancient Israel
Who Wrote the Bible?
