Burr a Novel

Burr a Novel
Average customer rating:

Had Me Laughing Out Loud

Scathing View of Founding Fathers

A fascinating biography that made me laugh out loud

Vidal the Iconoclast, more appropriate today than ever.

Fun to read but emotionally distant

Burr a Novel
Gore Vidal
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Vidal, Gore | ( V ) | Authors, A-Z | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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Hollywood

ASIN: 0394480244
Release Date: 1973-10-12

Amazon.com

Charles Schuyler is a personal assistant to Aaron Burr, the former Revolutionary War hero, vice president under Jefferson, and infamous slayer of Alexander Hamilton. He's also been employed by a group of political operatives in New York journalism circles to dig up evidence that Burr is the "natural father," as the expression goes, of up-and-coming presidential candidate Martin van Buren. Schuyler's journal entries are a wondrous prose picture of Jacksonian society, while an imagined autobiographical account from Burr provides a similar depiction of the nation's origins. Like all of Vidal's historical fiction, Burr has little use for America's received iconography, and draws upon contemporary sources to puncture the legendary reputations of Washington and Jefferson. There are also marvelous cameo appearances from figures like Washington Irving and Davy Crockett, of whom Schuyler notes, "He is considered a delightful figure. I can't think why." (There's also a substantial subplot in which Schuyler falls in love with a prostitute named Helen Jewett; readers may be interested to learn that she is, in fact, a real historical figure). --Ron Hogan

Book Description

Burr is the opening volume in Gore Vidal's great fictional chronicle of American history, each of which is being republished in the Modern Library . Burr

Customer Reviews:

Had Me Laughing Out Loud.......2007-09-29

To appreciate this novel you have to know the issues surrounding Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson. Having recently read Chernow's Alexander Hamilton and Isenburg's Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr I was glad to have the events still fresh in my mind. Vidal put it all together 30 years before these biographies, that is without the advantage of new research and contemporary thinking. This novel also, notably, predates DNA and the confirmation of Jefferson's "bright" children.

Vidal's cleverly grafts his outlook and sensibility onto Burr. We will never know, but it may be an excellent fit. In telling the tale through Burr's eyes he gives a stronger defense of Burr than the Isenburg bio. While fictional, all the events are here. At the end, Vidal has a short note clarifying the few occasions when he strayed from the facts and noting that much of Jefferson's dialog was taken from Jefferson's own, copious, writings.

I was laughing out loud at the Vidal/Burr takes on the Jefferson plantation, Jefferson's White House (the books, the garden tools and the mocking bird who lands on his shoulder), Andrew Jackson (dialog, sore false teeth and comments on Davy Crockett's demise) and of course Burr's terse comments on Hamilton. While this is all serious history, Burr (the character and the novel) doesn't take himself/itself at all seriously.

This book begs to be a movie. It would surely be a riotous and controversial one.

Scathing View of Founding Fathers.......2007-06-06

Gore Vidal's BURR is an interesting, if somewhat rambling account of a lesser known man from our nations origins. Burr has often been vilified for his fatal "Interview" with Hamilton on Weehawken Heights. This novel seeks to put a voice on a little known personage who inter-acted with all the famous founding fathers.

Vidal has taken a lot of historical research and novelized it in order to flesh out an individual who left little or no paper trail of his life. Much that we know about Burr seems to come mostly from others. He was vilified by Hamilton who became his arch-enemy. Vidal uses Burr as a means to provide a scathing and perhaps more realistic view of our founding fathers.

This book came out shortly before the Bicenntenial in 1976 and few dared at that time to have any but praise and admiration for our nations origins. Gore Vidal wanted to be controversial in his view of the early republic. In this book, Washington, Hamilton and Jefferson all come down a peg or two. The novel shows us that all these famous men were guys on the make with the insider knowledge to make themselves the ruling elite of the nation. Burr was merely one of the more controversial of the crowd. He certainly lead a fascinating life and could have been a man of great influence for his time.

The novel proceeds at a slow pace at times moving back and forth between the present and the past. The chapters which deal with Burr's supposed memoirs are by far the most interesting and entertaining parts of the book. The rest of the story tends to drag a bit, and while Burr's views are certainly interesting, much of the perspective comes from the hand of the author. Vidal has a generally bad opinion of the government of the USA, and one can see here that he believes its origins were in Burr's time.

His portrait of Washy as a stiff, arrogant elitest of little imagination will no dount rile up many of his hero worshipers. I suspect that this portrait, while exaggerated, is not that far off the mark! The same can be said for the novel as a whole: Exaggerated, but not completely so. While I am not a Gore Vidal fan, this was the first work of his I have ever read, I would say for those interested in the early republic period that it is quite worthwhile.

Fans of Vidal no doubt have long read this book as his following is a devoted one. I don't know if I will ever read another of his books, but I did find this one worthwhile. An interesting view of a man and his times.

A fascinating biography that made me laugh out loud.......2006-12-21

First, I have to admit that I have not studied America's "Founding Fathers" so it is possible that some of what Vidal included in his book is controversial among historians. However, the book was a great read that helped me understand a bit of what was going on in our country during that time. Years ago I read "Lies My Teacher Told Me" about how American History is distorted when it is taught in our public schools. Since then I've been keeping an eye out for scholarly accurate but accessible books about the early republic. I'd definitely recommend this one. I'd give it 5 starts if it included a preface that stated what aspects were "controversial" among scholars. Whether you like Vidal or not, he is a great writer.

Vidal the Iconoclast, more appropriate today than ever........2006-12-04

"Burr" is my very belated introduction to the works of Gore Vidal. I'm glad I waited so long to read anything of his. Not only are other authors are just now catching up with him, but also it is part of today's political and literary climate in America to topple and stomp on our triumphal presidential statuary. "Burr" is at its best when burning historical idols, and burn it does -- this sure ain't Disney's Davy Crockett! Vidal may demur in the Afterword of this book that his opinions on Washington and Jefferson are not as severe as those of his title character, but they are hilarious nonetheless and may motivate the reader to consult other biographical material to peer behind these icons' magisterial facades. The book is uneven, however, with its disconcerting leaps back and forth between the two narrators and across decades. I wished for more of Burr's voice and less of his acolyte's. And that implausibly soapy surprise ending, wrapping up the two main characters in a big exclamation point, left me cold.

Fun to read but emotionally distant.......2006-09-01

Like most people of my generation, I've known Gore Vidal primarily as a personality, not as an author. His historical novel Burr (1973) was the first of his books I've ever read.

Burr is constructed as a novel with two narrators. The "present-day" (1833) narrator is Charlie Schuyler, a young law clerk in the office of Aaron Burr, an elderly but still vital man of 77. Charlie becomes interested in the life of this witty and roguish older man and eventually Burr agrees to dictate his memoirs to Charlie. This brings in the second and more interesting narrator, Burr himself, as he spins self-serving yarns about his life from his days as a young soldier in the Revolution to the duel with Alexander Hamilton to the adventurous plot that led to his sensational trial for treason.

As a novel, Burr is a mixed bag. The Aaron Burr portions of the narrative bristle with charm and energy. Every paragraph is full of biting and often hilarious commentary on the Founding Fathers. As with a real autobiography, Burr makes himself look good and glosses over his mistakes and tragedies. He shows no remorse for the death of Hamilton, and barely touches on the only meaningful relationship of his life, that with his daughter Theodosia, whom he molded into his idea of the perfect woman only to lose her in a shipwreck.

I found the Schuyler portions of the book much less interesting. Though Charlie does some investigation into the unanswered questions of Burr's life, I kept wishing there were more chances to hear from other voices. We're mostly just left to take Burr's word about things. Instead of more digging into the more nebulous aspects of Burr's life, the Charlie portion of the story is bogged down with two subplots that I found less than compelling: Charlie's relationship with a doomed prostitute and his involvement in a scheme to betray Burr by attempting to prove that the current presidential candidate, Martin Van Buren, is actually Burr's illegitimate son. At one point, he even meets Van Buren, who is portrayed as extremely charismatic. I just couldn't get interested in this ancient political "gotcha."

A larger problem with Burr is that the entire book is done as narrative summary. Almost nothing happens in "real time." Though Vidal is so skilled as a writer that the voice of Burr reminiscing about old times is very entertaining, this format dictates that there can be no surprises and no suspense. All of the events are long in the past, and both Burr and the reader know exactly where it's all going. We hear Burr tell about the dire insult that led him to duel Hamilton, but we never feel the anger. We hear about Burr's love for Theodosia (and the implications of others that it may have been unhealthy), but we never feel this one grand passion of the old rascal. We hear Burr weave his tale about the plot to storm into Mexico with the help of the nefarious James Wilkinson, but we're never recruited into Burr's dreams of conquest.

Sticky Burr: Adventures in Burrwood Forest

Average customer rating:

This is a fun tale with a cartoon appearance
We're stuck on this book!

Sticky Burr: Adventures in Burrwood Forest

Manufacturer: Candlewick
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Scribble
That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown

ASIN: 0763630543
Release Date: 2007-05-08

Book Description

Meet Sticky Burr, his unshakable friends, and his prickly foes! A beguiling graphic storybook guaranteed to grab young readers.

Welcome to Burrwood Forest, where a village of seed pods leads a busy life gathering food, building stick houses, and having extraordinary adventures. There are good friends like Sticky Burr and Mossy Burr, who stick together, and bad seeds like Scurvy Burr, who likes to irritate them every chance he gets. Watch out for wild dogs and maze trees, loyal insects and escapes on the fly in a gently quirky, delightfully detailed graphic storybook that middle-graders and ambitious younger readers are bound to get stuck on.

Customer Reviews:

This is a fun tale with a cartoon appearance.......2007-07-10

Sticky Burr is a little forest burr who sets off on an adventure to Burrwood Forest - there to be caught in the trunk of the dangerous Maze tree as Burr Village is being attacked by dogs. Can Sticky escape from his own danger in time to save his friends? This is a fun tale with a cartoon appearance and pages of fast-paced adventure; both of which invite kids to read.

We're stuck on this book!.......2007-06-02

My son loves reading this book - and sharing it with any friends and cousins who happen to come along - he loves the comics, pictures and characters, he's a huge fan and keeps checking on the author's website for more news of Sticky Burr - this book is sticking with us all! It is funny and a fun adventure! Great book!

Average customer rating:

An average 3 star graphic novel.
An excellent portrayal of life during the depression.

Kings in Disguise: A Novel
James Vance
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

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

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ASIN: 0393328481

Book Description

"One of the most moving and compelling human stories to emerge out of the graphic story medium."—Alan Moore

This award-winning tale, set in the height of the Great Depression, received rave reviews long before graphic novels became the phenomenon they are today. Hailed as one of the top 100 comics of all time by The Comics Journal, Kings in Disguise now reemerges as a classic. It is January 1932, and movie-loving Freddie Bloch is trading his father's liquor bottles for the cost a matinee: "Dreams were only a dime, but empty bottles [only] brought a penny apiece." When his father disappears and his brother gets arrested, Freddie finds himself homeless and adrift, trying to survive during the Detroit labor riots and amid the furor of violent, anti-communist mobs. Winner of the Eisner Award and the Harvey Award for Best New Series and an additional Eisner Award for Best Single Issue.

Customer Reviews:

An average 3 star graphic novel........1999-03-18

Nothing special here. It did have it's moments, but overall it was an average to dull read. I only paid 5 bucks for this book, so at that price it was a good value. Pay any more and your certainly wasting your money.

An excellent portrayal of life during the depression........1997-06-13

During the 1930s, Freddie Bloch is forced to leave his home in search for his alcoholic father. During his travels he becomes a hobo, riding trains, living in much the same way we imagine the homeless do in the 1990s. Bloch's companions make the best of their poor circumstances by convincing themselves that they live undercover, and are "kings in disguise." The story resolves in a way that both allows Freddie to grow and realistically accesses the great depression. This is a graphic novel as opposed to a prose novel, but the illustative quality(direct, understated, black and white drawings) add to the novel's power rather than diminishing its overall effect. This is accomplished in great part because Vance's dialogue sounds novelistic rather than like a movie or what one often associates with comic book writing. Kings in Disguise is Tom Joad in picture

Graphic Classics: Mark Twain (Graphic Classics (Graphic Novels))

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"There was a feller here once, by the name of..."

Graphic Classics: Mark Twain (Graphic Classics (Graphic Novels))
Mark Twain , Rick Geary , Evert Geradts , Skip Williamson , Dan O'Neill , Shary Flenniken , Nick Miller , Simon Gane , Kirsten Ulve , Toni Pawlowsky , Lance Tooks , Milton Knight , Dan Burr , Jackie Smith , Lisa K. Weber , and Annie Owens
Manufacturer: Eureka Productions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

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Graphic Classics Volume 1: Edgar Allan Poe - 3rd Edition (Graphic Classics (Graphic Novels)) (Graphic Classics (Graphic Novels))
Graphic Classics Volume 3: H. G. Wells - 2nd Edition (Graphic Classics (Graphic Novels))
Graphic Classics Volume 9: Robert Louis Stevenson (Graphic Classics (Graphic Novels))
Horror Classics: Graphic Classics, Volume Ten (Graphic Classics (Eureka))
Graphic Classics, Vol. 11: O. Henry (Graphic Classics (Graphic Novels))

ASIN: 0971246483

Book Description

Graphic Classics: Mark Twain features a comics adaptation of "The Mysterious Stranger" by Rick Geary, "A Ghost Story" by Anton Emdin, "A Dog's Tale" by Lance Tooks and nine more great stories. Plus Twain's "Advice To Little Girls," with art by seven women illustrators including Shary Flenniken, Mary Fleener, and Kirsten Ulve.

Customer Reviews:

"There was a feller here once, by the name of...".......2005-09-10

Mark Twain is undoubtedly America's "Great Man of Letters." A complicated author, he flowed easily through humor, satire, psychological horror, politics, religion, and pretty much any other subject imaginable. He was able to hold up a dark mirror to society, and stare unflinchingly at the organizations, traditions, and political and moral decay that always threaten to drown a civilization. And he spun a great yarn.

He is a great candidate for the Graphics Classics series, offering a wealth of short stories and witticisms to inspire illustrators to create, adapt and partner with the great author to produce some original works. Even his shortest story packs a solid wallop, and the one page gems are as good as the more lengthy pieces.

Included in this collection are:

The Mysterious Stranger - Adapted by Richard Geary, a regular of the Graphics Classics series, this story features three young boys who meet a mysterious stranger. The happy visitor announces himself as Satan, and proceeds to show the three boys the true nature of a happy life. Only the dead and insane are free from the world's troubles.

How the Author was Sold in Newark - One of many autobiographic pieces, the cartoonish style of Milton Knight compliments the humorous nature of the tale, as Twain takes it as his personal challenge to make a single audience member laugh.

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County - Possibly the most famous tale in the collection, it is given a straight-forward comic book style adaptation. I vaguely remembered reading this story in Elementary school, and it was a nice way to be re-introduced to it.

The Legend of Fagenfeld - A Text-and-Illustration adaptation, a young Prince must choose the animal that sings most sweetly in his kingdom, or all will be ruined. A wonderful fable that explains why government cabinets must always have at least one ass in them.

Ode to Stephen Dowling Bots, Dec'd - A clever short poem excerpted from Huckleberry Finn. Little boys shouldn't play near wells.

PT Barnum and the Cardiff Giant - A prelude to the following tale, the tale of [..] Cardiff Giant and how it hornswaggled 1870's New York.

A Ghost Story - A manic interpretation by Anton Emdin shows the author's encounter with the wandering spirit of the Cardiff Giant, anxious to find his body which keeps being put on tour around the country.

A Dog's Tale - Without a doubt the stand-out piece in the book. A stunning adaptation by Lance Tooks adds an additional element to this sad story of a devoted dog and the family with which it lives. The true power of words and pictures is put on display in this adaptation.

A Curious Pleasure Excursion - Another powerful adaptation, William L. Brown provides woodblock illustrations to illustrate Twain's advertisement for a luxury trip aboard the Comet Coggia!

A Reminiscence of the Back Settlements - A one-page text piece with illustrations by Lisa K. Weber, a Undertaker and a corpse come to an understanding together.

Is He Living or is He Dead? - Simon Gane lends his old-fashioned style to a tale of artistic fame and true talent, as four painters conspire to gain wealth from poverty. The only condition is that one of their number must die in order to become famous.

Advice to Little Girls - An anthology of witticisms each with a different illustrator, revealing the dual-nature of little girls. Sugar and Spice, Naughty and Nice.

An Encounter with an Interviewer/Seventieth Birthday - Two Text-and-Illustration pieces showing Twain's marvelous self-depreciating humor and sharp insight into the human condition.

The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut - Twain battles to defeat his own conscience, an intolerable bother since the day he was born. His conscience thinks it is up for the battle...

Justice (Peter Decker & Rina Lazarus Novels)

Average customer rating:

what really happens at prom night ?
The best!!!
cool book to check out
Keep on reading
Scary

Justice (Peter Decker & Rina Lazarus Novels)
Faye Kellerman
Manufacturer: Media Books Audio Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1578155061

Book Description

The cruel and bizarre slaying of a beautiful teen leads Detective Decker into the dark heart of an exotic subculture: the seamy, sometimes violent world of Southern California's rootless, affluent youth. But even the confession of a disturbed kid with cold "killer eyes" cannot soothe Decker's inner torment. For he knows in his gut this crime goes much deeper and higher than anyone expects -- and that true justice, brutal and complete, has yet to be done.

Customer Reviews:

what really happens at prom night ?.......2007-02-15

Having read this book I still don't know what the main theme was. Is it a love story, a crime novel which follows a serial killer, a disturbing look on how teens spend their time on prom night, an inside look into a mafia family, or just a chilling detective story?

Nevermind, it's up to detective Peter Decker to unravel the complex murder of a girl that was strangled on prom night. There is a nice balance between action and suspense(multiple murders) and the private life of Peter Decker when he talks to his wife Rina Lazarus about his hard and difficult life as a LAPD detective. This gives us a little time to relax, before the suspense starts all over again.

Faye Kellerman is also great in describing Jewish rituals, which is interesting if you don't know anything about the Jewish religion. Another case for Peter Decker to solve, hopefully many will follow !

The best!!!.......2007-01-21

This book, in my opinion, is the best of all Kellerman's. It's gripping and compelling and you just can't put it down... Also, Chris Whitman is indescribable: you fall for him despite everything and this is what's so scary. You know deep down that he is reeeeaaaaly bad but you can't help hoping for him to some how turn out good...
To find out more about him and Terry you should read Stone Kiss.

cool book to check out.......2006-10-10

i enjoyed this book,it was okay it had interesting twists.... i figured most of them out which was a bit of a dissapointment but other that it was good. I liked how she connected religon racism and what was it called before... police politics... yeah thats it its all connected in there. and i wish there was a lil openin to ter and chris but i guess thats the mystery of it.

Keep on reading.......2006-10-08

I was a little put off by the beginning of the book, which dealt heavily with the lives of some high school students But keep reading! Faye Kellerman lives up to her best seller status as she draws you into a complex murder mystery.

Who killed the prom queen? That's only one part of the mystery. The young woman was found bound, tied to a bed in a hotel room, and strangled to death. The most obvious suspect is Chris, her date, who, on the surface, appears to be just another high school student. Although he's graduating this year, he is older than most of the other students. And he lives in an expensive apartment he pays for by his cello concerts.

Terry, who has been tutoring him in some subjects, is gradually drawn to him. Terry is a very attractive character. She doesn't run with the popular crowd, the way Chris does. But she's smart, and headed in the right direction even if her family background is troubled.

I really enjoyed the slight religious thread that ran through this book. And it mattered that it was included. Kellerman draws a grim portrait of American teens. The crowd Chris runs with, the popular crowd, is tainted by meaningless sex and drugs. And no wonder, given the families they come from. Having the reader visit the happy fmaily life of Decker, the detective on the murder, and then switch to the bleak, debauched lives of the teenagers is very revealing.

It's a great read.

Scary.......2005-02-15

I must admit, the beginning pages of the book really threw me off. I guess that is why I had to continue reading the book. It's a major thriller. Reading about how capable Chris Whitman was to commit murder scared me terribly. He was so passive, unreadable, and there was something about how she described his eyes that gave me the shivers and hoped that I would never meet a man like that in real life. Not only because I would be terrified by him, but because I, like Terry, might fall for him. To Terry he was sweet and innocent, making her believe that his every move was calm and soothing. Really he was a cold blooded murderer and the son of a Mafia leader. Being so open with Terry about his life only made her fall for him more and seduced her into believing he could do no harm. That he was a victim of his fathers, rather uncles, horrific life. Only that Chris left out his victims of his very own murders. But as they say, once a killer, always a killer.

Average customer rating:

Definitely the best in the series so far
Torture
Work will make you free
Mixed at best
If I am not me, den who da hell am I?

Total Recall (V.I. Warshawski Novels)
Sara Paretsky
Manufacturer: Brilliance Audio Unabridged
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

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ASIN: 1587883899
Release Date: 2001-09-04

Amazon.com

Chicago private investigator V.I. Warshawski returns in an exceptionally well-plotted thriller that focuses attention on V.I.'s longtime friend Lotty Herschel. In a handful of chapters that punctuate the contemporary narrative, the Austrian-born physician tells her own story. More than just a device to draw the many threads of this complex novel together, Lotty's history illuminates the depth and complexity of a character that readers of Sara Paretsky's many books-- like V.I. herself--only thought they knew.

At a conference on the recovery of Holocaust assets, a man named Paul Radbuka surfaces, claiming to be part of the past that Lotty left buried in war-torn Europe half a century ago. The aging Lotty is emotionally shattered. She has never talked to V.I. about those years following her escape from Austria--her youth as an orphaned teenager in England and the brilliant medical career that ultimately brought her to America. But Radbuka's claims have such a dramatic effect on her that V.I. feels compelled to investigate him. Radbuka's early life in a concentration camp has recently come back to him, aided by the ministrations of a recovered-memory therapist. Now he's demanding that Lotty and her friend Max, another émigré, acknowledge his connection to them, something neither is prepared to do. Is Radbuka really who he claims to be? And if he's the impostor Lotty says he is, why is she so terrified of him?

V.I.'s efforts to pin down Radbuka's identity dovetail with another case, that of a client with a beef against an insurance company that's trying to keep the state legislature from passing a Holocaust Asset Recovery Act. It's a little too tidy for coincidence, but since it gives Paretsky a chance to show off her knowledge of Chicago politics, the reader is delighted to accept it. While it's Lotty's voice that brings the dead to life and the past into the present, it's V.I.'s dogged perseverance and abiding affection for her friend that drive this powerful, brilliantly executed novel to a conclusion. This is one of Paretsky's strongest outings in years. --Jane Adams

Book Description

In Total Recall, Sara Paretsky brings together several disparate plots in one gripping story. This powerfully suspenseful novel confronts the machinations of a vast and corrupt industry that trades on the victims of Nazi terrorism; the strange and dubious phenomenon of "recovered memory;" and a personal story that brings V. I. Warshawski into the long-buried past of her dearest friend and mentor, Dr. Lotty Herschel.

Lotty was a child of nine when she came to England in 1939 as a refugee from Austria. Having lost her entire family to the Nazi terror, she grew up and completed her medical training in London - and there fell in love with a fellow refugee. She ended the affair when she discovered she was pregnant and bore the child in secrecy, giving it up for adoption. Now, that long-held secret may be exposed.

At a national conference in Chicago on Jews in Modern America, a man with recovered memories makes a dramatic appearance and claim - and his name brings consternation to Lotty. V.I. is retained to find out whether or not he is a surviving relative of Lotty's. It's a search that meshes stunningly with the pursuit of another case she is on - for what she uncovers, to her great peril, is brutal insurance fraud on an international scale.

Total Recall is Paretsky's most spectacular achievement to date, and takes V.I. to new heights of gusto, guts, passion for justice - and risk.

Download Description

The bestselling V.I. Warshawski novels have dazzled readers and earned the acclaim of critics everywhere. "V.I. Warshawski rules," writes Newsweek, crowning her "the most engaging woman in detective fiction." Of V.I.'s creator, the Chicago Tribune says "Sara Paretsky has no peer."

Now Paretsky brings her incomparable storytelling brilliance to her most powerful Warshawski novel yet. Total Recall follows the Chicago P.I. on a road that winds back more than fifty years -- and into an intricate maze of wartime lies, heartbreaking secrets, and harrowing retribution.

For V.I., the journey begins with a national conference in downtown Chicago, where angry protesters are calling for the recovery of Holocaust assets. Replayed on the evening news is the scene of a slight man who has stood up at the conference to tell an astonishing story of a childhood shattered by the Holocaust -- a story that has devastating consequences for V.I.'s cherished friend and mentor, Lotty Herschel.

Lotty was a girl of nine when she emigrated from Austria to England, one of a group of children wrenched from their parents and saved from the Nazi terror just before the war broke out. Now stunningly -- impossibly -- it appears that someone from that long-lost past may have returned. With the help of a recovered-memory therapist, Paul Radbuka has recently learned his true identity. But is he who he claims to be? Or is he a cunning impostor who has usurped someone else's history ... a history Lotty has tried to forget for over fifty years?

As a frightened V.I. watches her friend unravel, she sets out to help in the only way she can: by investigating Radbuka's past. Already working on a difficult case for a poor family cheated of their life insurance, she tries to balance Lotty's needs with her client's, only to find that both are spiraling into a whirlpool of international crime that stretches from Switzerland and Germany to Chicago's South Side.

As the atrocities of the past reach out to engulf the living, V.I. struggles to decide whose memories of a terrible war she can trust, and moves closer to a chilling realization of the truth -- a truth that almost destroys her oldest friend.

With fierce emotional power, Sara Paretsky has woven a gripping and morally complex novel of crime and punishment, memory and illusion. Destined to become a suspense classic, Total Recall proves once again the daring and compelling genius of Sara Paretsky.

Customer Reviews:

Definitely the best in the series so far.......2007-03-18

Sara Paretsky's tough-as-nails detective Victoria Iphigenia Warshawski (V I to us, and Vic to her friends) has been getting better and better with each entry in this series, and "Total Recall" keeps that ball rolling.

As a previous reviewer has made clear, this is a V I Warshawski novel, but it's really the story of her friend and mentor, Lotty Herschel MD. One of the two main threads of the story deals with Lotty's escape from Nazi Germany before things really went sour, and her life as a young woman in the England of that era. There is something in that past that is somehow related to the sudden appearance in the present day of a man named Paul Radbuka, who claims to have escaped from the Nazis in a manner similar to Lotty, and was supposedly raised by a man who may have been an escaped Nazi war criminal. Now he's searching for his past and for his real family, but it's rather obvious that the man is somewhat nuts, and it doesn't help matters that he's enlisted the help of a Dr Laura clone who makes the real one look normal by comparison.

That part of the story (Rabuka's claims) is never really resolved, but what's important is the memories and emotions they stir up in Lotty, and Vic's attempts to help her friend. Along the way we see just how deep the friendship is between these two women, and that each would do literally anything within the bounds of reason and (most times) the law to help the other.

The other main thread of the story deals with a new client named Isaiah Sommers, who hires Vic to find out how an insurance company paid out a death claim on his aunt years before she actually died. The case and Vic's progression on it progresses slowly and logically, although you won't believe for a minute how the two threads end up twining together - I literally screamed out "plot device!" when I realized what Paretsky was doing.

But that aside, this is still a well-written and excellent entry in a series that has only improved with time. I look forward to my next V I novel.

Torture.......2007-02-11

I have been attempting to read this book for two months. I refused to put it away without finishing it. But, the thought of reading it was torture. It is soooo slow paced and drawn out. I feel like the real story could have been told in half the time. Did I really need to hear about how she juggles her time in the car between time on the cell phone. How about her time at a diner while on the cell phone. I mean really? Why should my time be wasted on this?

Work will make you free.......2006-06-23

Lotty was in England right after the war. She had started her medical training. She went on an eight months leave, supposedly with tuberculosis. Work for her was salvation, a narcotic. The Germans had placed over the gates of Auschwitz the slogan that work will make you free. She boarded with a family in North London and studied hard to, perhaps, redeem her mother's life.

Shifting to the present, Lotty calls upon our heroine, V.I. Warshawski, to babysit for friend Max's five year old grandchild, Calia. (The relationship of the childless V.I. to the child is a good touch here.) V.I. has to tell a journalist that she doesn't think Lotty wants to talk with him. She has a client with an inquiry to Ajax Insurance Company. Ajax may be subject to claims from Holocaust survivors, too.

Next a television interview covers the subject of the recovered memory syndrome and an alleged Holocaust survivor. Lotty feels guilt at not respecting her Yiddish speaking paternal grandparents from Belarus. In England Lotty stayed with a relative, Minna, who made her feel ugly. When Lotty left Vienna to stay with Minna she didn't realize she wouldn't see her family again. She and her brother Hugo were part of the Kindertransport program.

The therapist V.I. and the others saw on television wants to write a book to show that memories are reliable. It seems an insurance payment was made earlier on V.I.'s client's case prior to the death of the insured through error, deception, or misappropriation. The issue of reparations for African-Americans for slavery and payment to Holocaust survivors intersect in the Ajax case.

It seems an English girl, Claire, befriended Lotty. The recovered memory individual, Paul Radbuka, crashes Max's party under a notion that Max and Lotty are members of his family. Max and another individual at the party, Carl, were part of a group with Lotty of Kindertransport persons connected to each other in England and now, many years later, in Chicago. They had developed a very close bond with each other.

In the end this is a convoluted tale of secrets, secrets about Lotty and others. Books by Sara Paretsky simply get better and better.

Mixed at best.......2005-11-22

I agree with those who didn't much like this book. Paretsky tries to bring together three threads -- a murder mystery around an insurance scam; a mystery as to whether a man who has been subjected to "recovered memory" therapy is who he thinks he is, and the story of a victim of the holocaust. The connections are at best coincidental, and the first teo stories are unconvincing and frequently dull. I did, however, really enjoy the third story (which makes up about 20% of the book) and found it very touching.

One other thing. I didn't read the book but listened to the audio tape. The narrator did a superb job, and I think made the hearing richer than reading would have been.

If I am not me, den who da hell am I?.......2005-04-20

If I could give this book no stars, I would. There is no Arnold, no Mars and no three-breasted alien women in this book and is totally undeserving of the name Total Recall. Avoid at all costs.

Average customer rating:

Burr
Gore Vidal
Manufacturer: Antam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Product Description

Was Aaron Burr a traitor or a patriot? Did he kill Alexander Hamilton in that historic due in self defense? Did he deserve his infamy or was he a political scapegoat? In an extraordinary narrative, a historical novel probably without precedent in American literary annals, Gore Vidal illuminates the tumultous career of the nation's third Vice President- a man of immense charm, wit and intelligence, an accomplished scamp whom women found irresistable- and surrounds him with a gallery of Founding Fathers, etching their portraits in acid. Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Lafayette, Marshall. Vidal's novel is a masterly satire, an engrossing piece of magic and a devastating picture of our young republic.

Average customer rating:

Burr A Novel
Gore Vidal
Manufacturer: Bantam Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JCOFR8

Average customer rating:

BURR: A NOVEL
Gore Vidal
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000QGO086

Average customer rating:

Burr: A Novel
Gore Vidal
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: 0553128345

Product Description

Publisher: Edition: first

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