Mysteries of Pittsburgh: A Novel (P.S.)

Book Description

By the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.

Customer Reviews:

These Jewish boys always want to be liked?.......2007-10-03

It is a long way from a baseball Peter Pan to an homosexual MOB boss' son. His father finally refuses to accept the charges.
Originally it appears his future girl friend sent her guy library friend to rope him,but what she ends up doing is involving him with two self destructive new friends. Except for off color sexual content the book is very well written. It is a bit verklempt.

It's ok, but not great.......2007-08-27

I like Michael Chabon, and I was very impressed with Wonder Boys. So I was looking forward to reading this book. All in all, I believe this is an ok book which doesn't quite live up to all it's hype. I almost gave up on this book halfway through, partly due to the betrayal of the main character Art, to his girlfriend. It wasn't the nature of the betrayal, it was the simple abruptness of it, given without much explanation. I had to re-read that part twice, because I wasn't expecting the turn in the novel. It was almost too abrupt. I also found it highly unrealistic that the girlfriend character would be so forgiving of Art. In fact, rarely confronting him, and not really yelling at him. Phlox (the girlfriend) seems almost a one-dimensional character despite many descriptions of her hipster look, and her penchant for 40's movie stars and rare literary quotes. In the second half of the book, she is pushed to the sidelines so as other charcters get focused on, you almost forget her, and stop caring about her in the end. One does wonder if the Art character really actually loves all the people he proclaims to love, in the book. He seems naive yet selfish.
I enjoyed the descriptions of Pittsburgh and its architecture, and the beautiful description of the "cloud" factory. The ending is great, though, and the Cleveland character one of the most interesting, and mysterious. I wonder if the subplot of Art's father and his mystery job was even needed in this book. I would've liked it to focus on Art's goals and his time at college, more. This book wasn't quite as awe-inspiring as Wonder Boys, but this was one of Michael Chabon's first books, and he improved with time.

What a debut!.......2007-08-16

I think it impossible to not compare Michael Chabon and Jeffrey Eugenides. Both wrote beautiful, epic coming-of-age stories about immigrants to the states which won the Pulitzer Prize. Both wrote debut novels to much fanfare and critical acclaim. However, while Eugenides' Virgin Suicides seemed a limited effort, Chabon's Mysteries of Pittsburgh shines with as much brilliance and creativity as his later efforts (Wonder Boys and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay). The story begins with a bump, a chance encounter between two Arthurs and the summer of post-collegiate uncertainty and exploration. Near the end of the book, Chabon excellently executes the confusion of Art Bechstein with his decision concerning Arthur and Phlox. Pittsburgh, a dismal city of coal and death, comes alive in Chabon's hand, with breathtaking descriptions of the Lost Neighborhood and the Cloud Factory remaining particularly vivid. Read this book, immediately. I finished it in a little over 24 hours because it was so compelling.

Similar to The Great Gatsby.......2007-05-10

This coming-of-age novel is compared to a variety of stories from literature, including The Great Gatsby and The Catcher in the Rye.

A great start to a great career.......2007-03-07

Before reading this book I had heard point of references ranging from The Catcher in the Rye to On the Road. After reading the book the comparisons don't quite mesh. In fact, I think the best point of reference would be The Great Gatsby. Certainly not in quality, I would never make that blasphemous claim for fear the literary gods would strike me down where I stand, but rather there are similarities in structure. Imagine, if you will, a world where, like Gatsby, there are two sets of couples (Nick/Jordan and Tom/Daisy) as well as a love triangle (Gatsby, Tom, and Daisy). Of course, in Chabon's version Nick is sexually attracted to Gatsby.

Stick with me here. In Mysteries the narrator, Art, enters the social circle of Arthur, Cleveland, and Jane. Cleveland and Jane are a dysfunctional couple embroiled in a good old fashioned love/hate relationship. Art starts seeing Phlox, a rather annoying and unsympathetic homophobe. At the same time Art and Arthur have budding feelings. I'll diagram it for you:

Art and Arthur (sexual attraction)
Art and Phlox (couple)
Art and Jane/Cleveland (friends through Arthur)
Arthur and Phlox (frienemies)
Arthur and Jane/Cleveland (friends)

Yeah, I know that the love triangle is all mixed up, but you have to admit that structures are similar. This leads to an obvious question: were Nick and Gatsby gay? It has been suggested in some circles that 19th century American literature is preoccupied with "blackness", slavery in particular. After all, in a society that claims to put equality at the center of its creed, to have completely marginalized a segment of our population has to affect our national psyche and our perception of ourselves. Likewise, in the 20th century, as gender roles became more fluid, perhaps the idea of homosexuality latched on to the national sub-consciousness. I don't have a whole lot of evidence to back this up, but it's interesting to think about.

Back to The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. Like most coming of age novels (of all ages) this one is light on plot. There is an unconvincing subplot about organized crime which leads to the eventual (albeit predictable) tragedy at the end of the book. Where the novel really shines is in the language and characters. Chabon has always had a way with metaphor and simile and it's impressive he had all but mastered these techniques so early in his career. The characters themselves are whimsical and uncertain. In fact the only character who, my opinion is completely certain is Phlox, and she is certain of her bigotry. This uncertainty perfectly captures the feeling of teetering on the edge of adulthood. The characters are so finely drawn that when characters change their bed-partners it feels earned and not gimmicky.

At times Chabon suffers from a case of aggrandizement, something he would learn to wield more confidently in his more panoramic novels and make his drawback a strength. While this tendency to go over-the-top doesn't work as well in a contained summer of uncertainty, it worked perfectly in the decades spanning Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.

For those with an undying love for the twenty-something coming of age novel, then this should feed your hunger. For those, like me, who fell in love with Chabon's writing when they read Kavalier and Clay, I would recommend seeing how the maestro started out. It's a strong opener to a strong career.

Average customer rating:

A good read for a lazy day
An Exciting Book With A Great Ending!
An Exciting Book With A Great Ending!
if you like well-done mysteries, you'll like this book!
An extremely memorable mystery!

The Fall-Down Artist
Thomas Lipinski
Manufacturer: St Martins Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0312104618

Amazon.com

Carroll Dorsey was on his way to becoming a basketball star when an injury ended that dream. Now--in Thomas Lipinski's sharply underplayed first mystery--he's a private detective in Pittsburgh, working insurance fraud cases that seem to stand as metaphors for the way we live. Lipinski doesn't bang away at the symbolism--it just hangs there in the air like industrial smog as Dorsey tries to find a little truth and justice in a story that involves local militants who will do anything to save the steel industry.

Book Description

Insurance fraud investigation--trying to outsmart liars and cheats looking for a fast buck by scamming the system--may not be very glamorous, but these days in Pittsburgh, it's food on the table for P. 1. Carroll Dorsey. And with the economy headed south, fake fall-downs have turned into something of a working-class growth industry. Thing is, though, the more Dorsey looks, the more he sees. This phony-injury epidemic is bigger than it seems, and it might involve some of the heaviest hitters in town. If Dorsey makes the wrong move, he's liable to take the big fall-down himself and he's got no insurance. . .

Customer Reviews:

A good read for a lazy day.......2003-11-05

Thomas Lipinski is not only a good professor (I had him as Professor for a creative writing class at Edinboro University) but a good writer. At the end of the semester he gave the class an autographed copy of his first book published "The Fall Down Artist". I took it only because it was free, it didn't seem like my type of book. I later picked it up to read only to judge his writing ability since he spent 15 weeks judging mine, to my amazement I really enjoyed his book. It took a few chapters for things to grab my attention and keep me reading. The name of the book, along with the book description does the book an injustice, with a better name and description I am sure people would be grabbing for his book as a first pick to read. Also, a someone who grew up in and around Pittsburgh, I was very familiar with most, if not all of the locations that he used in his book, and I was able to identify the locations fairly easily. If you are from or around the "Burgh" this is a must read.

An Exciting Book With A Great Ending!.......1999-08-01

Carroll Dorsey emerges as an investigator who likes to do his job and do it right! It was such fun to open the pages of this book and climb inside Carroll Dorsey's Buick. From the very first chapter, we were busy travelling along the well described streets of Pittsburgh trying to unravel this mystery.Thomas Lipinski will take you into the dark alleys and bars of Pittsburgh and then reveal the corruption of high powered people. Lipinski will take you places and excite you as you see the city through a different but realistic lens. I couldn't wait to see what would happen next!I sipped coffee with Carroll Dorsey as he read through his office files and would later find myself "sloshing" down a Rolling Rock beer with him as I anticipated what was to come!Realizing the full involvement of his close family member left me yelling out and throwing this book against the wall; what an ending!

An Exciting Book With A Great Ending!.......1999-08-01

Carrol Dorsey is an investigator who likes to do his job and doit right! It was such fun to open the pages of this book and climbinside Carroll Dorsey's Buick; from the very first chapter, we were busy travelling along the weel described streets of Pittsburgh trying to unravel this mystery. Thomas Lipinski will take you into the dark alleys and bars of Pittsburgh and then reveal the corruption of high powered people. Lipinski will take you places and excite you as you see the city through a different but realistic lens. I couldn't wait to see what would happen next!I sipped coffee with Carrol Dorsey as he read through his office files and would later find myself sloshing down Rolling Rock beer with him as I anticipated what was to come!

if you like well-done mysteries, you'll like this book!.......1999-06-30

You'll probably not hear anything about Lipinski on Oprah's show, or see full page adverts for his writing...more's the pity.

This guy writes solid, intelligent stories populated by believable people.

If you want a book that will entertain and demonstrate the mystery genre, get this or one of Lipinski's other Carroll Dorsey stories.

An extremely memorable mystery!.......1998-01-10

In The Fall Down Artist, Thomas Lipinski offers us not only an exciting and ultimately satisfying mystery, but also insight into the collapse of the steel industry in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Through his extremely moralistic and highly loveable character Carroll Dorsey, we are taken on an insider's journey into the heart and soul of southwestern Pennsylvania. PI Dorsey is a complex man with an uncanny ability of coming off as someone the reader has known, and liked, all his life.

Customer Reviews:

Origins of Christianity in Hellenistic religion.......2002-11-28

It's easy to see why this book is still in print: it has intriguing coverage of the origins of Christianity in Hellenistic religion. About a third is Greek. Daring and fun for those who know a few Greek mystery-religion terms.

Doesn't cover mystical Judaism much but does acknowledge that research area -- Goodenough's 1935 book By Light, Light: The Mystic Gospel of Hellenistic Judaism might provide complementary coverage of that.

Average customer rating:

Something scary...

Better than playing Clue

A Swede's review...

New thriller of the summer

EXCELLENT

Something Borrowed, Something Blue
Sandy Henry
Manufacturer: Llumina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Psychological & Suspense | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
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Divine Intervention

Something Blue

What's A Ghoul to Do? (Ghost Hunter Mysteries, Book 1)

Baby Proof

ASIN: 1595263241

Book Description

From the moment her fiance slips the vintage aquamarine solitaire onto her finger, Abby begins to experience vivid, haunting dreams...of murder.

Customer Reviews:

Something scary..........2005-10-03

"All is safe with a lady engaged; no harm can be done." This quote by Jane Austen opens Something Borrowed, Something Blue, but for Abigail Elizabeth Duncan nothing could be further from the truth. From the very beginning when Abby's doting boyfriend buys her the antique aquamarine ring she wants for their engagement, a strange element of violence creeps in. The murder of a young woman she never knew invades her dreams and Abby finds herself entangled in a mystery that will claim her own life if she cannot solve it in time. Author Sandy Henry has combined the bright mundane of everyday life with the darkness that can lie in the human soul and the combination is a disturbing one. If you enjoy the eerie, you are going to love this book!

Better than playing Clue.......2005-08-22

A winding, twisting tale of murder, romance, friendship, and family. Something Borrowed, Something Blue moves quickly and easily through a smart, unique story that left me hanging until the last few pages. Having read dozens of murder mysteries, this one was particulary appealing to me because it doesn't get lost in the details. Firming sticking to the story, Sandy Henry is now canonized in my short list of authors who wrote works I "couldn't put down."

Better than Professor Plum with the candlestick in the library.

A Swede's review..........2004-08-19

A perfect murder mystery with a touch of the supernatural, a number of possible suspects which will put wild guesses of motive in your head. Twists and turns that will make your thoughts fall apart, and some romance on top of that. What more can anyone want?
Sandy's way of describing with random details makes the characters and the scenes come alive, as well as they made me laugh in the middle of the dramatized and puzzling chapters.
The only problem with this book is that while reading it on the beach you'll forget to turn and lay on the other side in the sun. The book keeps you hooked! I wish I had Sandy's next mystery at the beach already tomorrow.

New thriller of the summer.......2004-08-07

I love this book! I read it in a single evening. Just when you think you've figured it out Sandy adds a new twist, and the characters are off and running. Sandy is very descriptive in her writing, and she keeps you guessing until the very end.

EXCELLENT.......2004-07-28

This book was excellent. It was well written and easy to follow. There weren't too many characters to keep track of and it just kept your interest all the way through. I picked up the book and thought I would start reading it, but it captures you from the very beginning, I couldn't put it down until I read every last page.

Ross Macdonald/Kenneth Millar: A Descriptive Bibliography (Pittsburgh Series in Bibliography)

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Ross Macdonald/Kenneth Millar: A Descriptive Bibliography (Pittsburgh Series in Bibliography)
Matthew Joseph Bruccoli
Manufacturer: University of Pittsburgh Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Dashiell Hammett, a Descriptive Bibliography (Pittsburgh Series in Bibliography)

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Dashiell Hammett, a Descriptive Bibliography (Pittsburgh Series in Bibliography)
Richard Layman
Manufacturer: Oak Knoll Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Average customer rating:

Beautiful!
Very difficult to put down
Boring
Didn't Like
Another Pittsburgh Thriller

Taken
Kathleen George
Manufacturer: Delacorte Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

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Fallen

ASIN: 0385335415
Release Date: 2001-05-08

Book Description

The child was taken in broad daylight, on a warm June morning, in a crowded shopping area in downtown Pittsburgh.

Marina Benedict first saw the baby with his mother. Then, just minutes later, she saw him again, in the arms of a man she was certain was not the child's father. In a single life-altering act -- as baffling as it was inescapable -- Marina followed them. Thus begins Kathleen George's breathtaking novel, a heart-pounding thriller that brings together dozens of frayed and frail lives around the fate of one baby boy....

Marina had every reason not to get involved. She'd just left her therapist's office, reeling from her decision to finally end her shattered marriage. But the sight of a baby had always caught her attention and filled her with longing -- for the child she herself has been unable to conceive. And when she sees the child again, she knows -- knows beyond all knowing -- that he has been abducted. Without hesitating, without thinking, Marina follows the kidnapper into one of Pittsburgh's bleakest neighborhoods.

Within hours, the city is galvanized by a single news story: a child, the son of a rookie pitcher for the Pirates, is missing. And suddenly Marina Benedict is at the heart of a bewildering mystery, one that grows darker and more complex with each passing day.

For as the search builds to a crescendo, dozens of lives are drawn into the drama -- Richard Christie, lead detective on the case, struggles with his own demons as he tries to unravel a mystery that has torn his city apart. And Marina Benedict, pulled from the safety of her ordinary life by a devastating crime, will not emerge unscathed. Once Marina tried to save a life and it changed her forever. Now she will risk her life again -- for a child who is still out there somewhere, still in need of saving.

A thriller of extraordinary menace and power, Taken slowly unravels a mystery that is as complex as it is heartbreaking. Like the woman who is at the center of this tale, Taken is at once alluring and deeply original: a story that takes the classic fast-paced thriller and infuses it with sensuality, insight, and compassion.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful!.......2006-02-23

Beautiful! That's one of the few words this author knows. Someone please get her a thesaurus! This is one of the poorest books I've ever read. I bought it because of the great review in "Entertainment Weekly." They're usually right on target, but this time I was TAKEN in.

Very difficult to put down.......2005-05-25

I'm really surprised at the reviews that found 'Taken' boring.
I can't remember the last time I read a book so compelling! You probably do need some kind of interest in babies, and the inconsistencies of character that all humans deal with, to like this book though. I will definitely be buying more of George's books.

Boring.......2005-04-04

Unfortunately, I have to say this book was boring. It was so hard to read. The plot was so poorly put together, that I had a very hard to finishing it. I'm sad to say I can not recommend this book.

Didn't Like.......2005-02-26

This book was almost a pain to read. The characters were hard to relate to and I personally found them unlikable. I think the author dragged on the plot too much. I stopped reading almost at the end because I realized I did not care about these characters that did not seem realistic at all.

Another Pittsburgh Thriller.......2004-12-03

I took this mystery along with me to France. I started reading it and stayed up all night to finish it. I love the way George pieces everything together. I find this style more interesting than the typical "who dunit" where one has no idea who is guilty to the end. Marina and the cop are great characters. Even the bad guys were interesting.

Murder in Pittsburgh: (A Redmond and Jennifer McClain Mystery)

Average customer rating:

A disappointment
Murder in Pittsburgh: A Review

Murder in Pittsburgh: (A Redmond and Jennifer McClain Mystery)
Walter F McKeever
Manufacturer: iUniverse, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0595336140

Book Description

When psychology professor Redmond "Mac" McClain and his artist wife, Jennifer, begin a sabbatical at Patten University in Pittsburgh, they are intrigued by the city's beauty and turbulent history. While visiting the Welsh Museum of Art, Jen wonders how the museum managed to acquire three of the five great paintings of the tragically short-lived Parisian artist, Paul Deschamps. How could these extremely valuable works have come to the smoky city of Pittsburgh in 1903, rather than to Paris or London?

Mac and Jen find that little is known about Deschamps beyond his drowning in 1904. They undertake a casual research to uncover information about Deschamps. Their more immediate attention is devoted to learning about the city, and to their concerns for the faculty at Patten. Patten is facing serious financial problems, and there is a venomous ongoing struggle between the faculty union and the new, authoritarian, president of Patten. The shocking, mysterious drowning death of a faculty member whom Mac and Jen know, also preoccupies them.

Finding their way through a puzzling multiple of remote and current mysteries tests the cleverness, persistence, and courage of Mac and Jen!

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Finding their way through a puzzling multiple of remote and current mysteries tests the cleverness, persistence, and courage of Mac and Jen!

Customer Reviews:

A disappointment.......2007-01-07

Earns 2 stars only by virtue of being set in a great city and for being a mystery. It's unfortunate that the description of the experience of the McClains doesn't accurately reflect life the 'Burgh because so much of their experience is in fictional places. The fiction wouldn't be so bad if the settings were clever masks of real institutions, etc., or worked in line with the actual city, but the fabrications don't pass muster. As far as the story is concerned, the writing 'style' is atrocious and the characters are irritating (maybe they're just reflections of real academic couples). For example, Jen lives on the coat-tails of her husband and seems to exist only through him. It's a quaint '50s notion that would serve to annoy Ms. Millhone, Warshawski, Carlyle, Pigeon, Shugak, and Caliban and should do so to their faithful fans.

Murder in Pittsburgh: A Review.......2006-05-21

I just finished reading McKeever's Murder in Pittsburgh and I must report that I found it a most delightful, charming, and exciting foray into the oft considered prosaic but sometimes-seamy underbelly of a frequently neglected but quite large segment of our society, academic life. While the protagonists, Mac and Jennifer McClain, seem to lead an idealistic existence of culture, ivy towers, heady cocktail parties punctuated by lofty intellectual discourse, and sabbatical junkets to distant resort campuses, McKeever has succeeded in exposing the reader to the real side of the players in this drama and to their very human conditions of arrogance, pride, jealousy, deification, clinical paranoia, and an unperturbed lust for power and influence. Wrap this exciting personal drama in the history of industrial America and probing theological, sociopolitical, and philosophical explorations and you've got Murder in Pittsburgh, a fun and stimulating read. I recommend it highly.

Average customer rating:

K
Mary Roberts Rinehart , and Marcella B. Parsons
Manufacturer: Arose Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0974063657

Book Description

It was the bete noir of a playwright, an ensemble; K. Le Moyne and Sidney, Palmer Howe, Christine, Tillie, the younger Wilson, Joe, even young Rosenfeld, all within speaking distance, almost touching distance, gathered within and about the little house on a side street which K. at first grimly and now tenderly called "home." . . . Sitting just inside the door on a straight chair was Sidney-such a Sidney as he never had seen before, her face colorless, her eyes wide and unseeing, her hands clenched in her lap . . . "They say I poisoned him." Her voice was dreary, inflectionless. K. is one of Mary Roberts Rineharts earlier novels that weaves a mystery around the characters on the Street; it could be any street; especially in Pittsburgh.

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Nothing escaped Carlotta's eyes--the younger girl's radiance, her confusion, even her operating room uniform and what it signified. How she hated her, with her youth and freshness, her wide eyes, her soft red lips! And this engagement--she had the uncanny divination of fury.

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Treasure Hunt
Everyone here is crazy
A Different Kind of Mystery titled Another Kind of Monday
I'm surprised....
Another Kind of Monday

Another Kind Of Monday
jr., William E. Coles
Manufacturer: Atheneum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Issues | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Mysteries | Teens | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0689802544

Amazon.com

With the chance opening of a dusty copy of Great Expectations, a young man is plunged into a mysterious scavenger hunt that leads him all over his native city of Pittsburgh and straight into an unexpected romance. The quest begins when Mark finds $300 and a set of directions in a library book. After accepting the stated conditions and tracking down the first few clues, he is instructed by his unknown benefactor to select a companion for the quest. "This person is to be a different sex from your own... but may not be a friend of yours at present." Mark settles on Zeena Curry, a striking, smart girl. Zeena cautiously accepts Mark's offer, even though her black mother's painful divorce from her white father has made her distrustful of people outside her race. Together, they experience several narrow escapes--including one that lands Mark in the emergency room nursing a concussion--before coming to the conclusion that they just might be in love. Impatiently, they strive toward their shared goal, hoping for a big payoff, not realizing until the end that the journey itself may have been their greatest reward.

Rife with interesting tidbits of historical Pittsburgh lore, the cryptically worded quest will keep teens eagerly moving through the 200-plus pages of this novel. It is the author's exploration of Mark and Zeena's relationship, however, that provides the heart of Another Kind of Monday. By framing this unlikely couple within a enigmatic journey, William E. Coles Jr. has created a young adult novel that is neither mystery nor romance but the best parts of both. (Ages 13 and older) --Jennifer Hubert

Book Description

When Mark borrows a copy of Great Expectations from the school library, he finds, concealed between two pages, an envelope containing three crisp one-hundred dollar bills.There is also a note mysterious but intriguing, that invites the finder to embark on a quests. If Mark can puzzle out the meaning of a series of enigmatic verse clues meant to lead him on a treasure hunt around his hometown of Pittsburgh, then, like Charles Dicken's Pip, he is promised a fortune. But he must follow certain rules - like working in absolute secrecy -- or the deal is off. Rewarded by gifts of money, Mark uses the clues to move from one strange Pittsburgh location to the next - an abandoned steel mill, an old astronomical observatory -- when suddenly the rules of the quest change...

Customer Reviews:

Treasure Hunt.......2007-07-03

Mark lost the copy of "Great Expectations" he was supposed to read for school, so he has to borrow a copy from the school library. Between two pages he finds several hundred dollars and a note, directing him on a secret mission around his city of Pittsburgh, finding out historical information about former city leaders. When one of his notes instructs him to choose someone he doesn't know very well to help him in his quest, he asks Zeena, a girl from his English class, to be his partner.

Zeena is smart and good at helping Mark to research, but her secret partnership with him causes major problems between him and his girlfriend, who can't seem to understand that Zeena isn't a threat to her. When she breaks up with Mark, he begins to think that perhaps he might be able to have a relationship with Zeena after all.

I liked the idea of the treasure hunt and the mission Mark and Zeena were on. I probably would have liked it more if I were more familiar with Pittsburgh and knew the landmarks in the book.

The ending of this boo was really disappointing. I wanted something spectacular to happen to Mark and Zeena, but it didn't.

Everyone here is crazy.......2006-03-23

Well...maybe not crazy. But, no one seems capable of playing well with others. So, what's the real scoop? The only conclusion our book club came up with was that this young adult novel can be read by either girls or boys with equal pleasure, or disdain. The reader, however, is left holding the question bag. Who exactly was the beneficient founder of the feast? What was really his motivation? Was he a total psycho? Did he create the clues before Pennyman was torched? Why did he risk the life and limb of a high school student and companion? Was Rose Tourette magical? Did Rose Tourette eat the benefactor? Heck! I don't know! There is no sequel. Some readers might prefer a more precise resolution.

A Different Kind of Mystery titled Another Kind of Monday.......2004-03-26

First of all, I was required to read this book for English Festival and did not choose to read it. Overall,it was a pretty good book, but I definitely would not recommend it to any one under 13. The only thing I didn't like was the ending. I completely did not understand it and it didn't fit in with the rest of the book at all. It was very educational, though. I live in Pittsburgh and, while discuccing this book in class, discovered that our class took a field trip to an observatory and looked through a Brashear lense! Before this, the only one of the historical people in this book I had heard of was Henry Clay Frick, and I didn't even really know who he was! This book is good for any one who likes mysteries or historical books.

I'm surprised...........2004-03-16

... I, personally loved it. It had an interesting and little used theme, an interesting main character, and I loved the author's choice for a title. Here is the thing with the ending, it isn't a BAD ending conclusion wise, it is more a bad ending to the "quest" that the two main chracters, Zeena and Mark are suppossed to be on, the basic plot point of the book.

What happens in the last chapter, to me, is a perfectly fine ending, I liked it. The chapter before that is why this book is really confusing, I couldn't really make heads nor tails of it, and it was an odd way to end the mission, and leaves a lot unanswered.

However, this book deals with not only a great historical background of the great city of Pittsburgh, but with many of the racial and ethical issues in our world today.

Overall, this is a good book, and I think it is definetly worth your while. While the ending of the quest left me and obviously a lot of others very disapointed. Yet it actually, now that I think about it, kind of leaves it up in the air, for you to imagine, to draw your own conclusion from the symbolism of this book. I still gave it 5 stars, because the over-all book is great, but if you are a person who is real into detailed plots and ending where all the answers are given, you might not be very into this book.

Another Kind of Monday.......2003-10-27

I loved this book! I stayed up late reading it. I read it for school, but once I picked it up, it was hard to put down. The book was set in Pittsburgh, and that where I live, so it was fun reading about the places I know about. After I read it, then saw only three stars for it, I wanted to send a review, saying its better than that. I strongly recomend reading "Another Kind of Monday".

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