A Feast of Snakes: A Novel Review

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A Feast of Snakes: A Novel ReviewThis was the first novel by Harry Crews that I ever read. It may as well have been heroin because to this day I will read anything and everything he publishes. Crews writes almost tenderly about brutal, ugly people in a wasteland of frustrated desires. He grabs you by the back of the neck and holds your head down close enough to see the gorgeous, swirling iridescence of a fly's wing as it feasts on rotted meat. He propels you through the most chilling land of horrors you will ever see and yet, somehow leaves you feeling uplifted. Crews will baptize you in a lake of raw sewage laughing gleefully all the while as you struggle to understand why you feel redeemed.A Feast of Snakes: A Novel Overview

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The Oxford Book of American Short Stories Review

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The Oxford Book of American Short Stories ReviewThis is a solid cross-section of time, authors, style, intent, and soul. I taught this to 50+ teenagers with a high degree of success and corporate enjoyment. The primary downfall of the piece is that Oates comments before each story, sometimes playing the obnoxious neighbor by actually giving away the resolution. Read her comments after you read the story. Otherwise, great work.The Oxford Book of American Short Stories Overview

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Hittite Warrior (Living History Library) Review

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Hittite Warrior (Living History Library) ReviewThe basic idea and plot of this book is really neat. The story is set in the Biblical time of the Judges before Israel had a king. We are introduced to a Hittite youth living in the Mediterranean about the time that Greeks, particularly those from Crete, were gaining ascendancy. The Hittites as a people are conquered and become fugitives. Our protagonist flees first to the Phoenicians and then into the hills of Judea, where he meets Deborah, the prophetess, and Berek, the Israelite general who is to defeat Sisera. He ends up fighting in the battle on the wrong side, but eventually marries a Israelite woman and settles down in the area.
On the way, we are introduced to all kinds of Hittite, Phoenician, Israelite, and Canaanite customs. We learn about their dress, their gods (particularly the dreadful Moloch), their methods of fighting, their habits of enslaving captive peoples, and so on. The book has obviously been carefully researched, and the plot is plausible and interesting.
I give the book three stars because the writing is terrible. The fact that the book is for children does not excuse this. Sentences are frequently awkward in construction, and the book reads like a first draft. For instance, the writer will say something like, "The warrior rushed towards me, and I hit him with a stick that I had picked up several moments ago before he attacked me." That's a paraphrase, but you see what I mean. Why on earth weren't we told about the stick BEFORE the warrior rushed towards him? It's as thought the writer just thought of the weapon, and instead of putting the event in it's proper place, she flings it in as an afterthought. This kind of sloppy editing occurs throughout the text. As imaginative fiction, it's great, but this book is NOT a good example for kids to follow in style, editing, or structure.Hittite Warrior (Living History Library) Overview

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I Knew You'd Be Lovely Review

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I Knew You'd Be Lovely ReviewIn high school and college English majors are often made to read the short story. I am grateful for this fact. "Parker's Back" by O'Conner, Faulkner's "Barn Burnings" and Miss Emily's Rose" are examples of the vignette medium that powerfully moved me. But, as a whole, for the past 50 years, I have mainly read novels, selfishly demanding more; more experience.; more in-depth character study; more profound connection. Alethea Black, the author of "I Knew You Would Be Lovely" brought me back to the pleasure of condensed brilliance. Thirteen vignettes of life are proffered in this short story collection; multiple insights into relationships with oneself, with friends, with family and with one's truths left me deeply stirred.Of course I had my favorites...."Mollusks Make A Comeback." Katie, a woman afraid to try for more spoke solemnly through humor and jarred an "aha moment" so profound in me I am still shaking. What more can you demand of a story? Other favorites...."Someday is Today," "The Summer Before" and "Good In A Crisis" All thirteen invoked emotions and understanding I didn't know myself capable of. What more can be asked of a well crafted tale?
Alethea Black talent lies in her balance, intuitiveness, tenderness, sarcastic wit, shock value, humor and compassion. How could I ask anything more from a genius wordsmith?
Read at your own risk knowing par writing will most probably not be enough for you again. When you read extraordinary it is hard to lower that bar back down.
Thanks, Ms. Black, for insights and inspirations into your stories conceptions and birth.
In homage to "We've Got a Great Future Behind" us I simply sing, "it's close enough to perfect for me."I Knew You'd Be Lovely Overview

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A Mencken Chrestomathy: His Own Selection of His Choicest Writing Review

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A Mencken Chrestomathy: His Own Selection of His Choicest Writing ReviewI really like this book. Mencken's prose and unflinching attitude is like no other author I have read. I don't know if they used the middle finger in the early 1900s but if so, then HLM was its personification. If you were to tally his word usage in the book I believe "idiot", "imbecile", "buffoon", "moron" and "mountebank" would be near the top.
This book contains one of my favorite essay and the single biggest reason to own this book, his piece on the critical process. It's only a 10 page essay but it's probably the most eloquent. For whatever reason he put it around page 450, but I would recommend reading it first. It puts a reader in the right frame of mind for reading Mencken's essays. He explains a worthwhile critic is not so much concerned with truth or detail. Instead a truly great critic takes the target of the criticism and uses it to develop his own original ideas. It separates those who would just be archivists with those who would be artists. Clearly, Mencken was not concerned with the former, he was concerned with art and he was an artist.A Mencken Chrestomathy: His Own Selection of His Choicest Writing Overview

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Into the Forest: A Novel Review

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Into the Forest: A Novel ReviewI'm a big fan of post holocaust fiction. I've read hundreds of stories over the past 40 years about Life after Doomsday. This is absolutely one of the best. It avoids the common assumptions of the genre. There is no sudden and dramatic change in the lives of the two young protagonists. There isn't an immediate awareness on the part of the community that something awful and terrifying is occurring. People don't suddenly go berserk. Marauding gangs of psychopaths don't appear out of nowhere to prey upon the vulnerability of their fellow citizens. Every character, every behavior, every reaction is believable and easily explained within the context of known human behavior. Everyone initially clings desperately to the belief that things haven't really changed, that the situation isn't that bad, that tomorrow, things will all return to normal. It's just a matter of holding on and continuing with their daily routines.
Hegland's placing of Nell and her sister Eva in a forest, far from the nearest town, was a brilliant device on many levels. Normally, doomsday writers place their protagonists right in the thick of things. They trap them in cities or situations where they can inflict upon them every supposedly predictable terror of life after the collapse, showing us clearly frightened people in clearly frightening times.
But Nell and Eva live in a quiet forest. The forest isn't just a location here. It's not there just to show us the girls' gardening skills or how to live a self-sufficient life. The forest is a major, living, breathing protagonist. Hegland renders it's character brilliantly. It is both serene and tumultuous, comforting and menancing, fiercely protective and neglectful. Placing Nell and her sister in this quiet, slow environment creates a constant sense of dread and tension in the story - what unknowable things are going on outside this ageless, unjudgmental sanctuary? What horrors are taking place? Are cities burning? Has the law of the jungle replaced the fragile contracts between people? Is inescapable death slowing overtaking mankind? Are all the horrors imaginable about to invade this oasis of calm, and when and how will they come? The little intrusions of the outside world that do occur are more terrifying as a result. The forest doesn't protect Nell and Eva from evil. It wreaks no havoc on transgressors, it passes no judgments, it doesn't change or adapt. "Bring it on" it seems to say. "I will not be changed. I will simply out last you, neutralize you with my steadfastness, absord your impact and accept it as part of my nature."
The forest is a sort of allegory for the the human spirit. Primieval, indestructable and unchanging, it survives despite the modern mistakes of humankind.
I disagree strongly with the reviewer who says this is not an inspirational story. It is a story filled with hope and promise. Strip away the false values, the intellectualism, the materialism and the intolerance that are so much a part of the modern human's psyche, and you are left with what got us this far to begin with, and what will save us in the end - a sense of beauty, perseverance, tolerance and acceptance of the world as it is.
It's a beautiful, poetically written story, and well worth a place on anyone's bookshelf.
Into the Forest: A Novel Overview

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The Conquest of Happiness Review

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The Conquest of Happiness ReviewThe other reviewers have done a fine job reviewing the book, and I'd just like to emphasize a few points.
1. Although a few of the references are dated because the book was written in 1930, all of the ideas are still perfectly relevant.
2. This is not a book of formal philosophy; more of introspection. Of course Russel introspected with the same brilliant and critical mind that he used to contribute to mathematics and philosophy. But this is not rigorous, apologetic or systematic. Actually, it's more like gentle advice. And quite reasonable.
I'd like to quote a few passages that I found thought-provoking, to give a reader a sense of what to expect if you purchase and read this book:
p. 27, "[T]o be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness."
p. 29, "The habit of looking to the future and thinking that the whole meaning of the present lies in what it will bring forth is a pernicious one. There can be no value in the whole unless there is value in the parts."
p. 43, "I do not deny that the feeling of success makes it easier to enjoy life.... Nor do I deny that money, up to a certain point, is very capable of increasing happiness. What I do maintain is that success can only be one ingredient in happiness, and is too dearly purchased if all the other ingredients have been sacrificed to obtain it."
p. 74, "The essentials of human happiness are simple, so simple that sophisticated people cannot bring themselves to what it is that they really lack."
p. 94, "[R]emember that your motives are not always as altruistic as they seem to yourself... don't overestimate your own merits... don't expect others to take as much interest in you as you do in yourself."
p. 99, "No satisfaction based upon self-deception is solid, and however unpleasant the truth may be, it is better to face it once and for all, to get used to it, and to proceed to build your life in accordance with it."
p. 107, "One should respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny, and is likely to interfere with happiness in all kinds of ways."
p. 109, "Happiness is promoted by associations of persons with similar tastes and similar opinions."
p. 123, "The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile."
p. 142, "In the best kind of affection a man hopes for a new happiness rather than for an escape from an old unhappiness."
p. 175, "To ignore our opportunities for knowledge, imperfect as they are, is like going to the theater and and not listening to the play."
Well, that's a reasonable sample. It's not a philosophical masterpiece, but it is mature, wise and edifying. I think most people who read books would do well to read this one too, so I give it a hearty endorsement.The Conquest of Happiness Overview

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Hell at the Breech: A Novel Review

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Hell at the Breech: A Novel ReviewIn his highly praised short story collection, POACHERS, Alabama native Tom Franklin mined a neglected topic --- the modern South --- for narrative gold. He created vivid, visceral stories of present-day losers and rabble-rousers, and presented them as both regular frustrated humans and red-dirt legends.
Although his follow-up novel, HELL AT THE BREECH, is set more than 100 years in the past, Franklin's sensibility for gritty Southern realism remains in tact and in fact has become one of his defining traits as a regional author. Much like its predecessor, HELL AT THE BREECH refuses to romanticize the South, its inhabitants, or the violence they perpetrate, yet Franklin holds up his male characters as examples and exemplars of various strains of Southern masculinity, examining the morality of bloodshed in all its muscular complexity.
So many things work so well in this novel about a real-life gang war in rural Alabama that it's difficult to know which to praise first or foremost. Franklin's grasp of history is strong and confident; he ably recreates not just the language and the customs of turn-of-the-century Alabama, but also its lost landscape, a terrain that seems foreign at the turn of this century: "The woods were high all around, so green it felt almost cloudy, thrashers noisy in the bracken and sparrows flitting overhead, the ground slashed like paintbrush work with the shadow of pine needles."
Evoked in patient, sculpted sentences, the rough, unforgiving woods --- especially the impenetrable Bear Thicket that separates the city of Oak Grove from the uncivilized agrarian community of Mitcham Beat --- lend the story a sense of menace and mystery, and suggest an ever-changing world that seems impossibly vast. Introducing one of his main characters, a teenager named Mack Burke, Franklin writes that "the earth redefined itself around him, same as it had the day before and the day before that and as far back as his memory went, as if this dawn were no different than any other."
That dawn, however, is different for Mack: it's the first sunlight he sees after becoming a murderer, having accidentally shot a store owner named Arch Bedsole during a botched robbery. Arch was a prominent storeowner in Mitcham Beat, and his murder is locally assumed to be the work of city people trying to exert political power over the poor country farmers. In reaction, a group of Mitcham Beat farmers organize a gang called Hell-at-the-Breech to overthrow the city businessmen who hold liens on every crop in the area. Leading Hell-at-the-Breech is Quincy "Tooch" Bedsole, Arch's cousin and a deeply devious man who takes over Arch's store and indentures Mack to work as a stock boy.
As the Hell-at-the-Breech gang lash out at the farmers who won't join up and the city people who oppose them, Sheriff Billy Waite --- pushing 70 and nearing retirement --- tries to investigate, but finds only farmers too scared or too angry to take the law's side. Because he doesn't take immediate action, the townspeople see him as ineffectual, and because he drinks openly, they see him as a washed-up sot. But for Franklin, Waite's hesitation is a form of levelheaded mercy that few people in the novel possess or even recognize.
Waite's steady lawfulness and Tooch's manipulative lawlessness provide enough friction to ignite the forest between them, but for Franklin they represent nothing as simple as good and evil or right and wrong. HELL AT THE BREECH possesses a more complex morality: Franklin implies that hostility can be a useful tool but becomes evil when it is thoughtless and pointless, when men commit violence for its own sake. Both sides are depicted as righteous in their causes --- the Hell-at-the-Breech gang justified in its own push for independence, the city people merely protecting themselves from a threat --- but their violent actions are morally unpardonable. So many lives are lost, so many homes burned, so many farms destroyed, but nothing is won.
With HELL AT THE BREECH, Franklin lives up to the promise of POACHERS and establishes himself as an imaginative, intelligent, and important Southern writer. More importantly, he looks history dead in the eye and reveals how the Old South became the New South.
--- Reviewed by Stephen M. DeusnerHell at the Breech: A Novel Overview

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A Sport and a Pastime: A Novel Review

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A Sport and a Pastime: A Novel ReviewA Sport and a Pastime by James Salter. North Point Press San Fransisco 1985
On the surface this is a love story. Phillip Dean, an American dropout from Yale, and Anne-Mari Costallat, a French shop girl, live and love, love, love... for several months in France. As the observer/narrator tells the story, one is never quite certain whether the narrative is an objective account of the life of Phillip and Anne-Mari or a fabricated wish fulfillment of a frustrated stymied paramour of the beautiful Claude Picquet. In the end it doesn't matter as the story ebbs and flows inexorably and smoothly through the shimmering French countryside to its tragic conclusion.
The writing is astounding. I stopped time and again to read and reread passages as the combinations of words and phrases evoked emotions and feelings that I thought not possible given the simplicity and directness of the words. There is a conciseness to both the story and the language. So much is said with so few words that one sometimes regrets that this parsimony of words brings the end too soon. I wanted the novel to continue so I might continue to savor this beautiful writing.
A wonderful novel that I will continue to read for years to come.A Sport and a Pastime: A Novel Overview

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The Great War and Modern Memory Review

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The Great War and Modern Memory ReviewI am the kind of history and war buff that loves to read straightforward war books: books about battles, generals, soldiers, tactics, blunders, strategies, weapons and so on. Having read a review of Fussell's book a few years ago and thinking it was another "straightforward" book about World War One, I added it to my Christmas list. I received it as a gift this year (along with about 6 other books, all novels) and I decided to browse it for fifteen minutes before diving into one of the novels. What struck me at first was that it was NOT a straightforward telling of WWI, and that if I had looked at the book in a bookstore I probably would have thought it "boring" and set it back on the shelf. You see, in this book there are no detailed accounts of the Somme or in-depth analysis of Ypres.
However, having book in hand, I was immediately drawn into Fussell's examination and analysis of literature, essays, poetry, letters home, theater and culture on the front and in England during WWI in order to paint a picture of the British soldiers' experience during WWI. It is a fascinating book on many levels and examines war, in this instance The Great War, from a completely different aspect than I have ever seen before. Fussell illuminates much more clearly what happened to the boys/men in the trenches than anything I have ever read before. For instance, has any other book captured so vividly the oppressiveness of being in a trench for days when all you see is a sliver of sky and the horrific irony of morning and evening stand-to's? I don't think I have read a book that made me sympathize and empathize with the WWI soldier more than this book. It is a deeply moving and touching book and really drives home the futility of war.
I know that this book will not appeal to everyone (as I said earlier, it probably wouldn't have appealed to me had I picked it up in a bookstore), but I believe that most people will find it fascinating if they just put their minds to it. Fussell's book will reward those seeking a deeper understanding of the WWI soldiers' experience.The Great War and Modern Memory Overview

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Verdi Review

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Verdi ReviewVerdi is a young yellow python who doesn't understand why the adult (green) pythons are such killjoys. He is playful and daring, until he hurts himself doing a stunt. The older pythons help nurse him back to health, while Verdi learns that once they, too were young and wild like he was.
The book is marvelous. It is extremely readable for young (3 - 6) year olds, and the art work is beautiful, with vivid colors and expressive characters (even for a snake!). Best of all, the story line is appropriate, with a message that is easily understood (be yourself; we were all young once) without being preachy. A wonderful children's book.Verdi Overview

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Re-Zoom Review

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Re-Zoom Reviewhas read any of my other reviews knows that being speechless isn't one of my major problems :- D
There isn't a written discription of this book that is adequate... The book is entirely visual. It is one continuous picture that changes in perspective by "ZOOMING" in on a part of the prior picture. It's like looking at a snow-globe....than being in the snow-globe....than being in a picture IN the snow-globe. The artwork is fascinating and the ability to pre-think the work as a whole would have daunted me if i were the artist... What a gift this book is. I bought it for my son but it has made a much more incredable impact on any adult i show it to. if you choose this book you will NOT be sorry. And it makes and excellent gift for a person "who has everything". I think if i had to be stuck on a desert island with one book this would be it!Re-Zoom Overview

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The Girl in the Green Raincoat: A Tess Monaghan Novel Review

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The Girl in the Green Raincoat: A Tess Monaghan Novel ReviewTess Monaghan is a private investigator who has had some success, apparently, from previous outings in earlier books (that I am unfamiliar with), that are listed in Laura Lippman's accomplished publication list and also with references within this great story (that, apparently, was pre-published in serial form in the "New York Times Magazine").
Tess Monaghan, in her last trimester of her unexpected pregnancy, has suddenly become bedridden until her child arrives, a little as yet unnamed girl that she and her boyfriend have taken to calling "Fifi La Pew". Bored with things being as they are, Tess begins to take notice of things outside her window, and the comings and goings of people from the park down the street. One of these people is a young blonde woman, dressed in a celery-green raincoat, leading her greyhound on its leash, also wearing a matching celery-green dog coat. The timing is like clockwork every day for days and days, both seemingly unattached to each other temperamentally, and the girl always talking on her cellphone, not paying attention to her dog as most pet owners do. Something just seems "not quite right" to Tess about this duo.
Then, the dog shows up, loose on its leash, tearing around frantically without its owner anywhere to be seen. Neither show up again outside, and Tess begins to run with her curiosity...
What follows is one of the best little books that I have read for a while, totally intriguing and thoroughly entertaining, that will also hold you until the very end as it did me. There is plenty of mystery, plot twist(s), shady characters, etc., and also plenty of sub-plot avenues that deal with "people's regular lives outside of this mystery" that give insight into the characters and their situations. Along this "ride" you will laugh heartily, be deeply touched, confused, fooled, greatly surprised, and for sure concerned with the danger that Tess (and her best friend) have opened themselves up to.
I am not want to give away this great story with this review (as many sometimes are, or do) and thus spoil it for you. So, I will simply say that it is a terrific story, quite short, but with plenty of plot and character development and insight, that will most definitely "hold" you until the last page. Which, by the way, is truly a deeply loving touch to the heart.
In a PostScript to the book, Lippman generously acknowledges a wonderful series of events and earlier works by others that led her to write this story. I find this acknowledgement and thanks most unusual, and heartening, as people today so frequently do not give thanks back. It speaks a great deal, I think, of Lippman's heart and integrity.
So, with a salute to "Rear Window", her sister, and many others, Laura Lippman presents this great little mystery to us, that surely will entertain and tickle you greatly!
~operabruinThe Girl in the Green Raincoat: A Tess Monaghan Novel Overview

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Open City: A Novel Review

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Open City: A Novel ReviewNew Yorkers are often heard to say that they have not yet been to Ellis Island or taken a walk to the Cloisters. Teju Cole's Open City nudges us out of our complacency and opens our eyes to everyday life, the life that passes us by while we rush around. This book makes us pause, look around, think of the people past and present who have viewed these same city streets. A well thought out and wonderfully written prose pulls you into a year of Julius's life: his sensitivity to what goes on in another's life, his failure to fully reckon with his own delusions. As other reviewers have said, this book is really not for readers in a hurry. In the midst of our hectic life, Open City has given us a reason to slow down and add a few more years to our years. Nicely done, Mr. Cole.Open City: A Novel Overview

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Born of Shadows (The League) Review

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Born of Shadows (The League) ReviewThe latest installment in Sherrilyn Kenyon's The League series is definitely a mixed bag. Let me start with what I liked about it. Caillen's story takes us back to the original cast of characters featured in Born of Night and Born of Fire. We had jumped ahead in time for a while to focus on the next generation of the core families for Born of Ice. But this story is set only 2-3 years after the events in Born of Fire. I'm happy about this. I thought there were plenty of great characters in the original group still waiting to be explored, and now Kenyon is giving me just what I was hoping for.
Caillen is a rouge smuggler who is also a charming rake. He bears no loyalty to any woman but his sisters. And he lives life by the seat of his pants. As our story begins, he is arrested and sentenced to death while taking the blame for something his sister did. Just before he is executed, it's revealed he is actually the long lost son of a foreign king. Caillen isn't really cut out for life as a prince, but he is giving it his best shot, in honor of his new father. It's during a sort-of international summit that he meets Desideria, a princess from a race of warrior women. When the two of them get framed for the murders of their own parents, they go on the run, while trying to solve the mystery of who set the terrible plan in motion.
It's hard not to like Caillen, though he didn't inspire terribly deep feelings. Obviously, he and Desideria fall for each other as they are drawn together by circumstance. But this book is seriously missing the dark and sexy vibe of my favorite Kenyon books. In fact, if memory serves, I think there is only one love scene in the entire book. (Come on! Play to your strengths, Ms Kenyon!) But honestly, this isn't even my biggest complaint. My biggest issue with the book is the plot surrounding the assassinations. The closer we got to the end of the book, the more convoluted it became. Every time I thought we finally understood what was going on, a different twist was revealed. Now, I love a good twist as much as the next person, but I think I've got whiplash. It got confusing.
It was great to see Syn, Sharhara, Nykyrian, Hauk and Darling again. But this brings me to another point.... The epilogue is set up to clearly pave the way for Darling's book, when Desideria asks Caillen, "Are you sure Darling is gay?... Because I caught him ogling a female secretary." Um. No. Way. I am highly disappointed by the idea of revisionist history for Darling, who has always been as gay as the day is long. So gay that he was beaten to a pulp over it, time and time again by his uncle in previous books. And now we're supposed to believe, what? He was faking it? He is bi? But he never told the friends he has trusted with life and death secrets? Again I say: No Way.
So when all was said and done, this book was ok. I would have liked a bit more sex and a less complicated resolution, but I'm glad we've returned to this time period. Now if only I could get that Nero book I've been wishing for. 3 1/2 stars
Born of Shadows (The League) Overview

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One Rough Man: A Pike Logan Thriller Review

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One Rough Man: A Pike Logan Thriller ReviewI am always intimidated to write book reviews simply because others before me sound like they are writing their thesis but One Rough Man deserves my time and energy on a review. I am more of an Emily Giffin kind of girl so this is my first fiction thriller novel. I heard Brad Taylor on a radio interview in Chicago and found him not only incredibly intelligent and knowledgeable about his content but I could also tell that he has a keen sense of humor. He was light hearted in a professional sort of way. That being said, I saw his book at the airport, bought it and then couldn't put it down. It's just really a good read. I don't have a thesaurus on hand to embellish my thoughts so just go with the fact that it's a darn good story that moves fast and keeps you entrenched with a lot of good details. Brad really has a knack with the details, especially when describing the bad guys which, as Americans, we all want a better idea about. Since he knows a thing or two about real bad guys, this makes the book all the more enjoyable. As I read it I pictured the author experiencing similar situations with similar people because, well, he actually has. Oh, and I also found little pieces of his humor in the book as well (something tells me that Brad once threw eggs at the principal's house too). I would really enjoy attending a lecture hosted by Mr. Taylor. I bet he is really, really captivating in person. This girlie girl is now a full fledged thriller fan. Thanks for the read Brad! When does book II come out? I am DYING for Pike and Jennifer to hook up!One Rough Man: A Pike Logan Thriller Overview

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Salvage the Bones: A Novel Review

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Salvage the Bones: A Novel ReviewSalvage the Bones may be Jesmyn Ward's first novel, but what a novel.
Each character is as alive as any ever put to a page, from the dog, China, and her dog fights, to the father, and his inability to cope as a widowed father of four. It's not a pretty story filled with flowers and perfumes, but a story of poverty and strength, hope and love, climaxing as the winds and waters of Katrina send the family into the swirling waters and howling winds to find their own salvation from the storm.
Just like it seemed to all of those who survived the Storm, the days leading up to it were bigger than life, filled with the little things that made life normal as well as preparation for the storm's arrival. Just like reality, no one expected Katrina to deliver the blow it did. From Esch's pregnancy, their father's accident, the dog China and her pups, and the tragedy of youth, each character colors the tale and brings it to life.
No one knew when the storm came that it was going to have the raw power it possessed. Caught in the attic, the storm surge rising, the reality of potentially drowning in their own attic grasps their attention, and in a desperate bid to find safety, a hole is smashed through the roof, and their escape is plotted. It's not without risk, and it comes with loss, but the family all make it to their temporary haven.
It's a powerful story,but its not a pretty story. It ends in the chaos and confusion of the first post-storm days after Katrina, with food and water in desperate shortage and yet it finds the grace and beauty that the best of humanity possesses. It has a real-ness about it that is rare, and the book is one of the best reads I've had in a long time.
I highly recommend it.Salvage the Bones: A Novel Overview

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Public Enemy Zero Review

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Public Enemy Zero ReviewSince I bought my Kindle, I have dabbled in several self published authors with mixed results. It is always a crap shoot but at a $.99 and a handful of good reviews, I am willing to broaden my horizons to these uncharted isles.
And I am so glad to have discovered Andrew Mayne.
With Public Enemy Zero Mayne expertly handles a very original take on the whole X-Factor Zombie type of scenario. He begins by creating a very likable, morally centered everyman. Mitch is an aspiring broadcaster working the long nights at the wrong end of the radio dial. His girlfriend just broke up with him, he has under a grand in his checking account, and...oh yeah, he just found out that anyone he comes in contact with becomes snarling animals hellbent on ripping him apart.
From there, Mr. Mayne spins a fast paced thriller that reads better than most summer blockbusters. By placing his character in the very real dangers of being captured by police as a terroist suspect, being ripped apart by anyone he meets, or being captured by a shadowy government agency, we get a thrilling ride that you will rip through in a single sitting.
Unfortunately, there are a few items that keeps Public Enemy Zero from full marks. There is a rather unnecessary and rather silly use of an LSD Wild Man who communes with Mother Nature in a plot to destroy the world. While it is an interesting piece of theater, this charcter and the handful of scenes he has (including, unfortunately the opening one) serve no purpose to the story and takes away from the realism of the situation.
There are two police detective characters that are strongly portrayed who begin unraveling the mystery who are ommitted in the second half of the book. And finally, there are huge glaring editorial errors in the last third of the book; sentences have repeating words, the wrong word choice is used, multiple pronouns appear side by side. Mr. Mayne states in his Acknowledgements that the book was edited with social networking volunteers. He would be better served paying someone to fill this role.
The last concern I have for the book is that it is so timely that I wonder how it will stand the test of time. Not only are there multiple references to YouTube, Skype, i-Pads, etc. but they and Facebook/Twitter play a central role to the plot. I found this to be very clever and applaud its use, however, future readers or current readers unfamiliar with these technologies might be less impressed.
I will read everything that Mr. Mayne has out for the Kindle. But with a few edits, omissions, etc. I would probably find him published in my bookstore or even on the silver screen as well.Public Enemy Zero OverviewThe world is out to kill Mitchell Roberts. A strange virus is on the loose sending everyone he comes in contact with into a homicidal rage. From narrowly avoiding getting murdered at his ex-girlfriend's front door, to a crowded shopping mall turned one-man zombie apocalypse, he's got to stay a step ahead of everyone around him if he doesn't want to get ripped apart alive. He'll need to use every resource he has, from the advice of a paranoid late night radio host, to his Twitter account and find out why he's become Public Enemy Zero.A full-length 90,000 word novel.

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