Book Description
“POIGNANT . . . FUNNY . . . THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST IS ONE OF HER BEST. . . . [TYLER] HAS NEVER BEEN STRONGER.”
–The New York Times
Macon Leary is a travel writer who hates both travel and anything out of the ordinary. He is grounded by loneliness and an unwillingness to compromise his creature comforts when he meets Muriel, a deliciously peculiar dog-obedience trainer who up-ends Macon’s insular world–and thrusts him headlong into a remarkable engagement with life.
“BITTERSWEET . . . EVOCATIVE . . . It’s easy to forget this is the warm lull of fiction; you half-expect to run into her characters at the dry cleaners . . . Tyler [is] a writer of great compassion.”
–The Boston Globe
“Tyler has given us an endlessly diverting book whose strength gathers gradually to become a genuinely thrilling one.”
–Los Angeles Times
“A DELIGHT . . . A GRACEFUL COMIC NOVEL ABOUT GETTING THROUGH LIFE.”
–The Wall Street Journal
Customer Reviews:
A Very Enjoyable book.......2007-08-21
I thought this was very enjoyable book. The characters are truly believable, which for me makes for a great read. The author describes her characters in detail and ensures that their personalities are developed and before I knew it just seemed like I had met Macon, Muriel, or Sarah at sometime in my life. The story is an easy read, and would make a great beach read.
A bad trip.......2007-08-06
A stodgy fuddy-duddy tries to make sense of life outside his comfort zone, a common theme in Tyler's novels, in this story about love, loss, change, and moving on. Main character Macon, a methodical, reserved, business travel guide author, and his siblings are an odd lot. He finds safety and comfort at the home of one of them, his spinster sister (his brothers either live or spend way too much time there), after a post-marriage-falling-apart injury forces his temporary use of crutches. Among his wife's complaints: his method of grieving over their son's death (it seems there is a right way and a wrong way). Left with the son's unruly dog, Macon encounters a young, desperate-seeming divorcée dog trainer. Although he initially tries to ward off her advances, made uncomfortable by her unconventional personality and lifestyle, eventually he finds the same traits endearing. Of course, his siblings and acquaintances think he's gone off his rocker when they learn of the relationship. Eventually, he is forced to choose between comfortably ordinary and uncomfortably extraordinary. The Accidental Tourist is a cute, easy read, nothing more. Better: Breathing Lessons.
My favorite book ever.......2007-06-22
This is my favorite book ever. Every time I read it (and I have done this dozens of times)I fell at peace with life. I don't have to add much: everybody, by now, knows the story of Macon Leary, his funny family, brave Muriel - and, of course, Edward the dog! Buy this book. Give it a chance. You won't regret; it's like making friends for life.
Read the book, see the movie, hear the soudtrack.
Well-Written and Memorable Modern Classic.......2006-12-29
I had first heard of this book from Robert J. Ray's book "The Weekend Novelist", which serves as a sort of workbook to help someone produce a finished novel in 52 weekends. Ray's book uses "The Accidental Tourist" as a model to help guide the reader towards a better, more interesting style of writing. I decided to read Anne Tyler's book as a part of this 52-week course, and was rather impressed with how good it actually was.
"The Accidental Tourist" opens with a dramatic scene in which a travel-guide writer, Macon Leary, and his wife, Sarah are driving in their car and Sarah tells Macon that she wants a divorce. Tension has been building between the two of them since their 12-year-old son Ethan was shot during a burglary at a restaurant. Sarah agrees to let Macon keep their house and she moves out. When Macon has an accidental fall, he moves in with his sister, Rose, and brothers, Porter and Charles, to recover. Macon encounters a dog trainer, Muriel Pritchett, who he hires to train his stubborn, rambunctious dog Edward. Muriel has a personality that's in sharp contrast with Macon's behavior. While he is very systematic and organized, Muriel is eccentric (and also rather different from Sarah). Macon and Muriel gradually fall in love with each other, and Macon must make a choice between the two women, as Sarah delays the finalization of their divorce.
After reading "The Accidental Tourist", it makes sense to me why it would be chosen as a model for observing incredible skill in novel-writing. Anne Tyler's style is almost flawless...the characters develop and respond in situations realistically, the dialogue and description of scenery are also spot-on, but...there is one problem!
Though Anne Tyler is such a skilled novelist, her choice of subject matter strikes me as a bit commonplace, and even boring at times. Often, when I read a book, I usually hope for some unique, fantastic, and exciting plot line to draw me in. With "The Accidental Tourist", I don't believe that is the case at all. Instead of the actual story-line keeping me interested, it is rather Tyler's style of writing that makes the otherwise drab story colorful and interesting.
Fabulous Tale! .......2006-12-17
This is one of my all-time favorite reads, so I am definitely biased. The story (65 reviews previous to mine have probably established all this just fine) is about Macon Leary, Baltimore native, travel writer, and grieving 40-something father. He has recently separated from his wife of many years, Sarah, and is in a bewildering no-man's land where nothing makes sense any longer. In steps Muriel Pritchett, a young, eccentric dog trainer he hires to train Edward, his obstinate little dog. Who likes to bite people. A lot.
This is a wonderful book. Tyler's writing is faultless, and Macon Leary is, IMHO, one of the greatest characters in contemporary literature. Those who like their books more intellectually precious and pretentious (sometimes they do seem to go together) will disagree, but frankly he's just great. Macon is a man who is afraid to live, afraid to leave his identity of, you guessed it, the "accidental tourist". His guidebooks are written for people who are afraid to travel and who want to feel like they're stil at home even when they're not. Muriel is Macon's polar opposite, and he is both attracted to her and horrified by her at the same time.
I love this book's humor, depth of characterization, poignancy, and love for the people in it as well as for the city of Baltimore itself. I have read this book many times, and see myself in Macon more than I care to admit!
Recommended with no hesitation whatsoever!
Amazon.com
Before writing The Accidental, Ali Smith wrote Hotel World, shortlisted for both the Orange Prize and the Man Booker Prize, and several short story collections. Her work is absolutely original, with a trademark quirky style, with whole passages that seem to have been bound into the wrong book and occasional historical asides completely outside the narrative line. Don't be fooled; with Smith, every word has a purpose.
Amber is the catalyst who makes the novel happen. She appears on the doorstep of the Smart's rented summer cottage in Norfolk, England, barefoot and unexpected. Eve Smart, a third-rate author suffering writer's block, believes that she is a friend of her husband's. Michael is a womanizing University professor, but he doesn't usually drag his quarry home. He thinks that she must be a friend of Eve's. Everyone is politely confused and Amber is invited to dinner. She is a consummate liar and manipulator who manages to seduce everyone in the family in some significant way.
Magnus, Eve's 17-year-old son from a former marriage and Astrid, her 12-year-old daughter, are easy prey. Magnus is in despair. He played a prank on a classmate and it went horribly wrong when she killed herself because of the humiliation it caused. He cannot shake the guilt and is about to hang himself from the shower rod when Amber walks into the bathroom, the perfect deus ex machina. She bathes him and takes him back downstairs, announcing that she found him trying to kill himself. Everyone titters. Could it be possible? This is a recurring question as Amber's behavior becomes more and more outrageous. Is this really happening, or is it some family-wide delusion? To add to the mystery, there is a Rashomon-like character to the story in that the same events are recalled by the Smarts through their own filters.
This life force who is Amber is finally thwarted when Eve, after a disturbing event, compels her to leave. The family is left to re-evaluate who they are post-Amber and to decide how to live with the changes she has brought about in them through this "accidental" encounter. This is a completely engrossing novel that raises as many questions as it answers. --Valerie Ryan
Book Description
Winner of the Whitbread Award for best novel and a finalist for the Man Booker Prize, The Accidental is the virtuoso new novel by the singularly gifted Ali Smith. Jonathan Safran Foer has called her writing “thrilling.” Jeanette Winterson has praised her for her “style, ideas, and punch.” Here, in a novel at once profound, playful, and exhilaratingly inventive, she transfixes us with a portrait of a family unraveled by a mysterious visitor.
Amber—thirtysomething and barefoot—shows up at the door of the Norfolk cottage that the Smarts are renting for the summer. She talks her way in. She tells nothing but lies. She stays for dinner.
Eve Smart, the author of a best-selling series of biographical reconstructions, thinks Amber is a student with whom her husband, Michael, is sleeping. Michael, an English professor, knows only that her car broke down. Daughter Astrid, age twelve, thinks she’s her mother’s friend. Son Magnus, age seventeen, thinks she’s an angel.
As Amber insinuates herself into the family, the questions of who she is and how she’s come to be there drop away. Instead, dazzled by her seeming exoticism, the Smarts begin to examine the accidents of their lives through the searing lens of Amber’s perceptions. When Eve finally banishes her from the cottage, Amber disappears from their sight, but not—they discover when they return home to London—from their profoundly altered lives.
Fearlessly intelligent and written with an irresistible blend of lyricism and whimsy, The Accidental is a tour de force of literary improvisation that explores the nature of truth, the role of chance, and the transformative power of storytelling.
Customer Reviews:
Palaver.......2007-08-10
In one of the few impressive passages of Ali Smith's novel "The Accidental," a 17 year old boy named Magnus, the son of Eve Smart and stepson of her husband Michael Smart, reflects upon Plato's allegory of the cave:
"A group of men were chained inside a cave, and all they saw, all they could see and all they'd ever seen of the world was the shadows their own fire made on the walls. They watched the shadows all the time. They spent their days watching them. They believed that's what life was. But then one of them was forced out of the cave and into the real world. When he came back into the cave and told the others about sunlight, they didn't believe him." (p. 249)
Plato' allegory has a timeless quality that captures, in its provocative way, something essential about the human condition. People tend to flounder in their lives, to be unsure of what they want, and to pursue things that will not bring them happiness. It is the part of wisdom to leave the cave and see reality clearly. For those who take Plato's allegory seriously, philosophy and spirituality (religion) tend to be the paths that can lead out of the cave.
Smith's book seems to be a meditiation on how people continue to be caught in Plato's cave and in its world of illusions. The chief characters in the book are the members of a disfunctional family, the Smarts. Michael Smart, 42, is a womanizing professor of English and a poet. His wife Eve, 42, is a writer of historical fiction. Magnus, Eve's son, has adolescent sexuality and a dark secret on his mind. Astrid, 12, a budding adolescent, spends a great deal of time with photography and with an expensive camera her parents have given her.
On a summer holiday in Norfolk, the Smart's meet -- or do they -- a 30ish woman named Amber who changes their lives. She throws away Astrid's camera, has sex with Magnus, insults Eve, and doesn't sleep with Michael. Amber, or the idea of Amber, changes the life of the family and each of its four members, irrevocably when they return from their holiday.
Smith's writing style is a major problem with this book. While she does try to develop her characters, the writing is choppy and mannered. The writing calls attention to itself, shows no real inner feeling, and is, in general, unsuited to a serious theme. It failed to hold my interest after only a few pages.
I didn't find the book took Plato or his cave seriously. The book has an aura of importance to it which is belied by its mannerism and its triviality. Smith and her character Amber may want to call the reader's attention to how the Smarts, and most people remain imprisoned in Plato's cave. But the writing itself, and Amber's antics, did not inspire confidence in me. The story of the book and the characters did not persuade me that anyone was understanding or escaping from a cave. Rather, the characters, the author, and the story itself, seem caught in their cave. The characters and their problems seemed stereotyped and predictable, and the manner of the telling was irritating. There was little insightful in the problems of the characters, in Amber's impact upon them, or in the resolution.
The theme of a mysterious stranger, generally a woman, who descends upon a family and brings the voice of imagination or hope into their lives is not unusual in fiction. A much better, though less heralded novel in which the theme is well explored is "The Illuminated Soul" by Aryeh Stollman. That book explains the effect of a woman visitor of uncertain origins on the imagination and life of a brooding, highly intelligent adolescent boy who has lost his father and on his family. The story is told much more seriously and reflectively than is the case in this novel.
Readers who are interested in Smith's theme will find it much better realized in Stollman's fine book.
Plato's allegory of the cave remains an archetype of human experience, the stuff of which novels are made. But I am afraid "The Accidental" is flip, stilted, and pretentious. It remains caught in its own morass.
Robin Friedman
An angel passing through.......2007-06-20
One might almost call this "Touched by an Angel." An enigmatic young woman, Amber -- free-sprited, unpredictable -- attaches herself to a dysfunctional English family on holiday in Norfolk, and quickly forms a special relationship with each member of it, seeing into and eventually unknotting their various obsessions. The twelve-year-old daughter is obsessed with her video camera, the teenage son with his guilt in the suicide of a schoolmate, the English professor stepfather with his beddable students, and the driven mother with her career as a writer of creative non-fiction. Although the things that Amber does are far from angelic, ranging from larceny to assault, her presence catalyzes a change for the better in each of the characters, that continues to develop even after she has moved on.
Smith's writing is lively and audacious, but its apparent informality conceals a careful texture of references and reminiscences. She is excellent at capturing the voices of each of the four family members, even writing a section for the father as a tour-de-force sonnet sequence. At times the pattern seems a little too predictable, but Smith keeps some surprises up her sleeve --- none less than the surprising ending which wraps the book up neatly in narrative terms, if not quite so pleasingly in human ones.
I seem to have read a lot of books lately based on what one might charitably call non-nuclear families, and narrated at least partly in the voice of one of the children. THE ACCIDENTAL is a fine example of the genre, but not the best of them; I would award that title to Myla Goldberg's superb BEE SEASON. Other books of this kind that might appeal to readers of THE ACCIDENTAL are, in an English or Irish context: MJ Hyland's CARRY ME DOWN, David Mitchell's BLACK SWAN GREEN, Kate Atkinson's family saga BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE MUSEUM, and Mark Haddon's very special special case: THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME. Zadie Smith transports the genre to American shores in ON BEAUTY, where Jonathan Safran Foer uses the quirkier elements of it in EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE, and Nicole Krauss develops the lyrical side in THE HISTORY OF LOVE. Finally Marisha Pessl's SPECIAL TOPICS IN CALAMITY PHYSICS, though written through the eyes of a more mature character, also explores the power of a mysterious and charismatic outsider to affect (not necessarily for the best) the life of a growing child. Few of these books are perfect, and THE ACCIDENTAL isn't either, but any reader who enjoyed one of them would probably find much to admire in the others.
I should've kept my receipt...........2007-06-12
This was one of the worst books I've ever read. If I hadn't bought the book I would've quit about 20 pages in and returned it. The author rambled on and on many times about unimportant things. I felt as though the storyline lost itself repeatedly and I was left asking questions throughout the story and even at the end. This Amber person might've "helped" (if you can call it help), the family but it's hard to understand why anyone would let a total stranger stay with them for such a long period of time. Anyways. I would not recommend this book to anyone unless you want to be frustrated and annoyed.
Accidentally astonishing........2007-04-17
Ali Smith's writing is astonishing. She has a knack for quirky humor and engrossing wordplay. In her novel THE ACCIDENTAL, for instance, one of Smith's characters (Amber) describes her childhood: "But my father was Alfie, my mother was Isadora. I was unnaturally psychic in my teens, I made a boy fall off his bike and I burned down a whole school. My mother was crazy, she was in love with God. There I was at the altar about to marry someone else when my boyfriend hammered on the church glass at the back and we eloped together on a bus. My mother was furious. She'd slept with him too. The devil got me pregnant and a satanic sect made me go through with it. Then I fell in with a couple of outlaws and did me some talking to the sun. I said I didn't like the way he got things done. I had sex in the back of the old closing cinema. I used butter in Paris. I had a farm in Africa. I took off my clothes in the window of an apartment building and distracted the two police inspectors from watching for the madman on the roof who was trying to shoot the priest. I fell for an Italian. It was his moves on the dancefloor that did it. I knew what love meant. It meant never having to say you're sorry. It meant the man who drove the taxi would kill the presidential candidate, or the pimp. It was soft as an easy chair" (pp. 104-105). When it was published in 2004, not surprisingly, THE ACCIDENTAL was shortlisted for the 2005 Man Booker Prize and won the 2005 Whitbread Novel of the Year award.
The novel tells the non-linear story (told through the shifting mental perspectives of each character) of a blonde, free-spirited, thirtysomething woman (Amber), who unexpectedly disrupts the Smart family vacation in Norfolk, England by seducing each family member with her psychological manipulations. If you believe the Smarts, Amber is "a charlatan and a trickster and a liar" (p. 230). Astrid Smart is a 12-year-old who sees the world through the lens of her video camera. To her, Amber is a hero who throws her camera from a highway overpass. Magnus Smart is Astrid's guilt-racked 17-year-old brother, who believes he killed a classmate with a humiliating e-mail. To him, Amber is an angel who not only saves him from his despair, but who also awakens his sexuality. Their mother, Eve Smart, is a writer suffering from writer's block, who believes Amber is her womanizing husband's latest conquest. Michael Smart is a University professor, who assumes Amber is his wife's friend. When Amber just as abruptly disappears from their lives (as the US war in Iraq is escalating), the Smarts have discovered that, while they can take a vacation from the shadows of the world they have been calling life, it takes an "accidental" encounter with Amber to jolt them from that life. Smith suggests the Smarts are like the "group of men" in Plato's cave, who mistake the shadows of the cave for the world, and Amber is like the one who wandered outside the cave to discover the sunlight of the real world (p. 249). Highly recommended.
G. Merritt
thoroughly engaging!.......2007-04-03
I loved this book - couldn't put it down! I don't know _how_ people found it to be pretentious ... some of the CHARACTERS were pretentious ... but the book was masterfully crafted. I haven't liked a book this much since Ian McEwan's Atonement and Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go (I hoped Banville's The Sea would be as good, but I liked THAT book a lot less).
Average customer rating:
- Accidental Happiness
- Disappointing!
- An amazing story, intriguing, involving and moving
- Wonderful Book!
- A Lovely Story, Beautifully Told
|
Accidental Happiness: A Novel
Jean Reynolds Page
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Literary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Friendship
| Women's Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
A Blessed Event: A Novel
-
Quality of Care
-
Good Family: A Novel
-
Family Planning
-
Raising Hope
ASIN: 0345462181
Release Date: 2006-09-26 |
Book Description
Someone once told me that groupings of objects should be displayed in threes. Three provides both tension and balance among items of varying size and heft. My sister’s accident made me an only child; my husband’s accident made me a widow. Part of me will always believe that Angel was the third, the one that left me with hope.
After her husband’s unexpected death at the age of thirty-six, Gina Melrose becomes a “live-aboard” on his boat, docked at a marina in coastal South Carolina, near the home she and Ben once shared. In this temporary, borrowed existence on the water, she settles into numb survival. But Gina finds her life taking yet another dramatic turn late one night when a woman named Reese disrupts her quiet world. With Reese comes a daughter: a charming girl named Angel.
After a rough start, Gina realizes that, strange as it may seem, she’s drawn to both Reese and Angel. Their sudden appearance shatters the stillness–and Gina is remade. She is fascinated by Reese, who seems both invincible and vulnerable–and whose past may hold the key to Gina’s future. Gina begins to realize that for the first time since Ben’s death, she’s getting her senses back. As both pain and joy reenter her world, Gina discovers that she is able to accept feeling in order to live fully once more.
But the biggest surprise for Gina is her relationship with Angel. After the painful loss of her sister during childhood, Gina had decided that she would never have children of her own. Struggling through conflicted emotions, Gina’s finds her life unexpectedly transformed by the precocious little girl who may be Ben’s daughter.
This tender, poignant novel movingly explores the bonds of family and the resilience of hope. In the accomplished tradition of the novels of Elizabeth Berg and Anita Shreve, Jean Reynolds Page’s Accidental Happiness is a lyrical, enthralling drama unafraid to examine complex relationships with a clear eye and an honest heart.
From the Hardcover edition.
Download Description
Someone once told me that groupings of objects should be displayed in threes. Three provides both tension and balance among items of varying size and heft. My sister’s accident made me an only child; my husband’s accident made me a widow. Part of me will always believe that Angel was the third, the one that left me with hope.
After her husband’s unexpected death at the age of thirty-six, Gina Melrose becomes a “live–aboard’ on his boat, docked at a marina in coastal South Carolina, near the home she and Ben once shared. In this temporary, borrowed existence on the water, she settles into numb survival. But Gina finds her life taking yet another dramatic turn late one night when a woman named Reese disrupts her quiet world. With Reese comes a daughter: a charming girl named Angel.
After a rough start, Gina realizes that, strange as it may seem, she’s drawn to both Reese and Angel. Their sudden appearance shatters the stillness–and Gina is remade. She is fascinated by Reese, who seems both invincible and vulnerable–and whose past may hold the key to Gina’s future. Gina begins to realize that for the first time since Ben’s death, she’s getting her senses back. As both pain and joy reenter her world, Gina discovers that she is able to accept feeling in order to live fully once more.
But the biggest surprise for Gina is her relationship with Angel. After the painful loss of her sister during childhood, Gina had decided that she would never have children of her own. Struggling through conflicted emotions, Gina’s finds her life unexpectedly transformed by the precocious little girl who may be Ben’s daughter.
This tender, poignant novel movingly explores the bonds of family and the resilience of hope. In the accomplished tradition of the novels of Elizabeth Berg and Anita Shreve, Jean Reynolds Page’s Accidental Happiness is a lyrical, enthralling drama unafraid to examine complex relationships with a clear eye and an honest heart.
Customer Reviews:
Accidental Happiness.......2007-07-23
This was a really good book. The story was very "different" than most chick lit that is out there, and the characters were very real. I enjoyed it, and would recommend it!
Disappointing!.......2006-03-14
I decided to read this book after I finished A Blessed Event, which I found quite good. This story is about Gina, recently widowed, and her husband's ex-wife who comes waltzing back into her life with a daughter in tow. I found that this book was better written than Page's first, but unfortunately I got really bored about halfway through the story. I don't want to spoil the plot for any reader, but let me just say that Gina and Reese are not consistent characters, are each as insecure as the other, and each time you think you got a pretty good idea of who they are, Page throws something in the story that confuses you. I didn't find the characters that well developed and after a while, I just wanted her to get on with things rather than move so slowly through the plot, which I found unrealistic at some points. Overall, I would not recommend this book.
An amazing story, intriguing, involving and moving.......2005-07-13
I couldn't quit thinking about "Accidental Happiness" for a long time after I read it. It's the kind of book that takes what you think you know, what you'd bet your life on, and turns it upside down. This novel is beautifully written and plotted, but to me, it also read like a wonderful mystery. (I love mysteries, my favorite kind of book.)Only the mystery here involves human emotions, tragedies and, eventually, the best kind of hope. That is, the hope that the future will be better. I've shared this book with many friends. One called me, even though she knew I was in another state on vacation, just to talk to me about the book. "I just wanted to tell you how wonderful it was," she said. She and I had both read Jean Reynolds Page's first novel, A Blessed Event, and we both agreed it would be a hard act to follow. Now we both agree that Jean Reynolds Page not only lived up to the promise of her first novel, she exceeded it on every level. Not an easy thing to do when "A Blessed Event" rated as one of my all-time favorites.
Wonderful Book!.......2005-04-22
I listened to this book on cd and it is just wonderful. What a wonderful story!
A Lovely Story, Beautifully Told.......2005-03-25
Accidental Happiness was that most wonderful thing, a great read, as substantial and satisfying as dinner at a five-star restaurant. The book was perfectly paced, beautifully plotted, with the authority and precision you only get with first-rate storytelling. It has an especially brilliant plot twist near the end, yielding a Tah-Dah! sort of moment when you smack your forehead and say, of course! It all makes sense now! How could I have not seen it coming? And yet, you don't.
I loved these characters for their flaws and their transcendent moments, something Jean Reynolds Page does through the kind of small epiphanies that happen to us without witnesses or guides. Gina and Reese are both vivid, real, and damaged in absolutely believable ways. There are no goddesses here, only people held together by love and a keen desire to do what's right, when it's not at all clear that there IS a right.
Page's excellent critical reviews are both well-deserved and well-earned. If you enjoy Accidental Happiness, than you'll also love the author's first novel, A Blessed Event.
Average customer rating:
- Wonderful!
- A terrific novel with a "you are there" approach for readers
|
The Accidental Indies
Robert Finley
Manufacturer: McGill-Queen's University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
| Canada
| Caribbean & West Indies
| Central America
| General
| Greenland
| Mexico
| Native American
| South America
| United States
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
United States
| Short Stories
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
British
| Short Stories
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Canadian
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Short Stories
| Canadian
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0773520066 |
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful!.......2004-04-07
I'm not just saying that because I know the author. He's an amazing writer, and this is an amazing book.
A terrific novel with a "you are there" approach for readers.......2000-09-05
This tale of Christopher Columbus provides a vivid story of his expedition to the Caribbean, providing a fictionalized account of his earliest explorations and including a healthy dose of poetic description. A unique "you are there" approach brings the experience to life: "It is not disappointment, but surprise to find so little of what he had been thinking of, ghosting in on the making tide to a broad and shining bay. The bosun sounds the still water. At every fall the lead marks its own centre; ripples widening outward link with those before and after, the ship's course marked by this light chain."
Average customer rating:
- A unique perspective on the War on Terror
- Tight Prose, Moderately Enjoyable Story, Poorly Drawn Characters
- enjoyable espionage thriller
|
An Accidental American: A Novel (Mortalis)
Alex Carr
Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Mystery
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Thrillers
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
Spy Stories & Tales of Intrigue
| Thrillers
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| Mystery & Thrillers
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| Mystery
| Mystery & Thrillers
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| Thrillers
| Mystery & Thrillers
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Spy Stories & Tales of Intrigue
| Thrillers
| Mystery & Thrillers
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
All 4-for-3 Deals
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Flashback
-
Easy Money
-
Iced
-
The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home
-
Beyond Reach
ASIN: 0812977084
Release Date: 2007-04-17 |
Book Description
Forced out of a self-imposed exile, one woman faces a lifetime’s worth of secrets and betrayal–all in the name of staying alive.
Nicole Blake had planned to leave her criminal life in the past. She had done her time in a dank prison in Marseille and relinquished the world of forgery and counterfeiting for an unassuming career as a freelance consultant. Now her world is a small farm in the French Pyrenees, with daily fresh eggs and the companionship of her devoted dog.
But when U.S. intelligence operative John Valsamis shows up at her door, Nicole is reminded that she’ll always be an ex-con. Valsamis is after Nicole’s former lover, Rahim Ali, and soon Nicole finds herself back in Lisbon, tracking down Rahim in all their old haunts. Except now Rahim isn’t just a document forger–he’s a suspected terrorist.
Unwittingly drawn into an international web of fundamentalism, crime, and corruption, Nicole discovers that its threads stretch from the cobbled streets of Lisbon to the once-beautiful city of her birth, Beirut, and to the top levels of the government that sent Valsamis to find her. And as with any good web, the harder Nicole fights to free herself, the tighter it closes around her.
“Thought-provoking . . . The gritty atmosphere is perfectly drawn, and complex layers of lies and betrayal keep the reader happily guessing up to the end.”
–Publishers Weekly
“Chilling and utterly believable, An Accidental American hurls the reader into the dark and forbidding world of espionage. Not to be missed.”
–Gayle Lynds, author of The Last Spymaster
______________________________________________________________
THE MORTALIS DOSSIER- ALEX CARR’S NOTE ON THE BOMBING OF THE AMERICAN EMBASSY IN BEIRUT
On April 18, 1983, at one o’clock in the afternoon, a van carrying two
thousand pounds of explosives blew up outside the American embassy
in Beirut, killing sixty-three people. Among the victims were
seventeen Americans, eight of whom represented the Central Intelligence
Agency’s entire Middle East contingent. In the years preceding
the bombing, an increasing number of attacks on Western and
Israeli interests had been carried out by Palestinian and Muslim extremists,
but the Beirut bombing was widely seen as a watershed
event for American policies in the region. With the exception of the
seizure of the American embassy in Tehran four years earlier, an act
that was carried out within the framework of Iran’s Islamic revolution,
the embassy bombing represented the first time America had
been so directly and bloodily targeted by Islamic terrorists for its military
involvement in the Middle East.
It’s impossible to see why the United States was such an unwelcome
force without an understanding of the history of Lebanon and
the surrounding region, and of American and Western involvement
in the politics of the Middle East in general. Though Lebanon has
existed in one form or another since the ninth century b.c., the modern
country of Lebanon was not established until 1920, when it was
granted to the French as part of a system of mandates established for
the administration of former Turkish and German territories following
World War I and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. In fact, almost
all of what we think of as the modern Middle East was shaped
by these mandates.
America’s first direct intervention in Lebanese politics came in
1946. During World War II, Lebanon had been declared a free state
in order to liberate it from Vichy control. But when, after the war,
Lebanon eventually moved toward full independence, the French
balked, and the United States, Britain, and several Arab governments
stepped in to support Lebanese independence. It was at this time
that Lebanon’s system of political power sharing was devised. Well
aware of the country’s shaky precolonial past and determined to keep
Lebanon intact, the fledgling nationalist government agreed to split
power along sectarian lines, based on the numbers of the 1932 census.
It was a well-intentioned plan, but one that inadvertently set the
stage for decades of strife and civil war.
The power-sharing government’s first major stumbling block came
with the partitioning of the British Mandate of Palestine in the wake
of World War II, and the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that followed. The
ensuing influx of some 100,000 Palestinian refugees into Lebanon
proved a strain on the carefully crafted power-sharing system. Tensions
were further exacerbated in 1956, when Egyptian president
Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, provoking the
United States, along with Britain, France, and Israel, to respond with
military force. While Lebanese Muslims wanted the government to
back the newly created United Arab Republic, Christians fought to
keep the nation allied with the West. In 1958, with the country teetering
on the brink of civil war, the United States sent marines into
Lebanon to support the government of President Camille Chamoun,
thus inextricably linking itself with Christian forces.
It was an alliance that would be tested when, nearly two decades
later, sectarian rivalries finally erupted into full-scale civil war. While
Lebanon had enjoyed a period of relative peace and prosperity, tensions
between the United States and the Soviet Union, and between
the United States and Iran, had escalated significantly, as had tensions
between the Israelis and the Palestinians. By the spring of
1975–when gunmen from the Christian Phalange militia attacked a
bus in the suburbs of Beirut and massacred twenty-seven Palestinians
on board in what is widely agreed to have been the first act of the
civil war–the forces at work in Lebanon were not merely internal
ones. The Cold War, as well as the larger Arab-Israeli conflict, were
both being played out in Lebanon, and would be throughout the
course of the war, as international players funneled weapons and
money to the various Christian, Muslim, and Druze militias.
The United States was a major player in the civil war from the beginning,
providing mainly covert support for the Christian government,
with whom it had traditionally been allied. But it wasn’t until
1982, after the Israeli siege of Beirut, the assassination of Phalange
leader Bachir Gemayel, and the horrific massacres at the Palestinian
refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila, that U.S. troops, along with
other members of a multinational peacekeeping force, formally intervened
in the conflict. The United Nations—backed coalition was
meant as a neutral presence, but the complications of Cold War allegiances
and the United States’ traditionally close ties to Israel and
Lebanon’s Christian government meant that the Americans were inevitably
viewed by Muslim and Druze factions as anything but impartial.
It was in this environment, less than six months after the
Americans arrived as peacekeepers, that the embassy bombing took
place.
There can be no doubt that the main goal of the bombing was to
intimidate the United States into pulling its forces from Lebanon.
But there were other, less obvious but no less significant reasons behind
the attack. Responsibility for the bombing, and the subsequent
bombing of the marine barracks, was claimed by a radical wing of the
Iranian-backed Hezbollah. In the years leading up to these attacks,
Iran had taken an increasingly aggressive role in its support of
Lebanese Muslim militias, most of which were traditionally Shiite,
transforming what had once been a mainly political fight into a religious
and moral one. Not only did Muslim radicals want American
troops gone, but they wanted to rid the country of Western cultural
influence–which they saw as mainly American–as well. In the
bloody years to follow, the American University of Beirut, as well as
American and Western journalists, would be targets of a concerted
campaign of kidnapping and intimidation.
Under any other circumstances, the Islamicizing of the conflict
might have been yet another disturbing development in an already
wildly fractured situation. But in the hothouse of the Lebanese civil
war, Hezbollah’s fierce brand of anti-Americanism became not just a
Shia or Iranian cause but a Palestinian and therefore pan-Arab cause
as well. In the years since the embassy bombing, the cause has taken
on many faces, including that of the vast al-Qaeda network, but the
anger remains undiluted. Not only is anti-American thinking still
prevalent today in the Middle East, but it has become the uniting
force for radical Muslims the world over.
Former high-ranking members of the Reagan administration have
confirmed that how to respond to the embassy bombing and the
bombing of the marine barracks was a subject of debate at the time.
There was a clear split within the White House between those who
believed that force was the best response and those who argued that
the use of military power would only add to the problem by antagonizing
America’s remaining friends in the Arab world. The lessons of
Vietnam, along with the horrific loss of life in both attacks, no doubt
helped cement the decision to follow a policy of disengagement. In
the end, the choice was made to pull all American troops out of
Lebanon.
It’s no coincidence that I chose to make the 1983 bombing of the
American embassy in Beirut central to the plot of An Accidental
American. This is a novel about U.S. involvement in the politics of
the Middle East, and the embassy bombing has shaped American
policy in that region as few other events have. Disengagement is no
longer the United States’ response of choice when dealing with Islamic
extremism. In light of the...
Customer Reviews:
A unique perspective on the War on Terror.......2007-05-30
The War on Terror and its fallout will no doubt provide fodder for novel plots for years, if not decades, to come. AN ACCIDENTAL AMERICAN by Alex Carr takes a somewhat unique perspective on the War on Terror in general and the Iraqi war in particular, tying in the mistakes of the past with the disasters of the present in both international and personal affairs.
Nicole Blake is an ex-convict who is living a quiet, blissfully boring existence on a self-sustaining farm in the French Pyrenees. But her life is shattered when John Valsamis, a no-nonsense CIA agent, appears on her doorstep requesting her assistance in locating Rahim Ali. Blake's former lover from a lifetime ago, Ali appears to be involved with a terrorist cell that is planning a major incident, making it imperative that he be located.
Valsamis secures Blake's reluctant cooperation by playing upon the death of her mother --- murdered in a terrorist attack --- but Blake discovers all too soon that Valsamis has a history of treachery that stretches back in time and distance, even as his past has intersected with Blake's in ways she cannot even begin to imagine, let alone believe.
Betrayed and in mortal danger, the only person Blake can trust is an extremely unlikely and unwilling ally whose innocence is at once a virtue and a hindrance. Pursued by a hunter who seems able to find her at will, Blake not only must save herself and her unexpected companion, but also bring to an end the scheme in which she finds herself immersed, even as she is staggered by discoveries revealing that practically everything she knew about herself and her world is wrong.
AN ACCIDENTAL AMERICAN is reminiscent of the best work of John le Carre, informed with a world-weariness even as each page is infused with tension and danger as Blake, who gets deeper and deeper into a situation she does not understand, finds that those around her each have their own agendas. A page-turner that does not sacrifice literacy at the altar of expediency, it is a quietly explosive work that haunts and excites with each paragraph.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Tight Prose, Moderately Enjoyable Story, Poorly Drawn Characters.......2007-05-27
The book is a mixed bag. It's tightly written, with multiple narrators and points of view - first-person and third-person - that switch frequently between characters. There are moments when the story is completely engrossing, but others where I found it hard to really care...and together, I think that's the novel's true weakness: the tight prose, increasing pace and constant back and forth between flashbacks, multiple points of view, multiple settings and multiple characters is just too much for 217 pages.
The story is enjoyable but ultimately, rather forgettable.
enjoyable espionage thriller .......2007-04-21
The first time she sees John Valsamis in her French countryside driveway, he says nothing before driving away. He returns the next day at the same time saying he needs her help. He wants her to find her former lover Rahim Ali, who he claims is a terrorist recruited by the Islamic Armed revolution; he also shows her pictures of what the LAR has wrought on innocent people.
She agrees to help the DOD agent and journeys to Lisbon where he lives as a documents forger. Word gets around that Nicole Blake seeks Rahim Ali. When they finally meet, John shoots Rahim, but before he dies he directs Nicole to go to his office where she finds a suspicious looking document and its forgery. John plans to kill Nicole, but she eludes him while wondering what is going on and why evidence points toward Beirut just after the embassy bombings.
Readers who like dark thrillers in the tradition of Le Carre will enjoy AN ACCIDENTAL AMERICAN. Nicole is a gusty quirky heroine who wants to be like her father even though he gave her up to the police. Her years in prison strengthened her resolve. Espionage thriller fans will enjoy her cat and mouse battle with a clever killing machine.
Harriet Klausner
Average customer rating:
- based on a true story...
- Great Read !!!
- What a fun read!
- A Fun Read
- Pleasantly Surprised
|
The Accidental Diva
Tia Williams
Manufacturer: NAL Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| African American
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
United States
| Short Stories
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Romance
| Subjects
| Books
Multicultural
| Romance
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Contemporary
| Romance
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
BLING: A NOVEL
-
Cosmopolitan Girls: A Novel
-
Gotham Diaries : A Novel
-
It Chicks
-
Rules for a Pretty Woman
ASIN: 0451215079 |
Book Description
Being a diva isn't all it's cracked up to be. Just ask Billie Burke. Brainy, beautiful, and at the top of her game, she's the beauty editor at the world's leading fashion magazine, where paying tribute to the perfect pink lip gloss is serious business. Trouble is, all this corporate climbing and party-hopping has left her with migraine headaches-and a long, lonely bout of celibacy.
Enter Jay Lane-a gorgeous performance artist who came up in a grisly 'hood in a part of Brooklyn completely foreign to Billie. In no time, this beauty expert's nights are bubbling over with hot passion-and she's caught in an affair that's as addictive and crazy as the city itself.
Customer Reviews:
based on a true story..........2007-08-18
I wrote a review on this great book already. However, I can't help but to wonder if this is based off of a true story??!! hmm, From the few interviews and articles I've read about Tia Williams, it seems as if this book we're loving so much might turn out to be a loosely based autobiography!! something to think about..........
Great Read !!!.......2007-07-14
Another book that I finished in a day ! The beginning started off a little slow but once it took off, it never slowed down. Throughout the book I felt like she took pieces of my life and put them in print for the world to see. The storyline is great, some parts are predictable but at the end you feel like you could easily be a "Accidental Diva' as well.
What a fun read!.......2007-07-05
I haven't loved a chick lit book this much since reading Bridget Jones' Diary! It was an easy read, well-written and really engrossing particularly for professional women of color like myself that can't quite find footing in Candace Bushnell's characters nor a great deal of the "urban" chick lit alternatives that are designed for "my" demographic. Tia rocks!
A Fun Read.......2007-05-01
I have recently gotten HOOKED on Mrs. Tia Williams blog site, I picked up her book after reading a few of her blogs. I loved this book! It was a quick Fun read, I loved the way it was written, just like her blogs...witty...funny and full of style/product info!
Thanks for the read Tia! :)
Pleasantly Surprised.......2007-02-15
At first, I wasn't sure how I was going to like this book. I'd just come off an emotional high from reading another author's book and didn't think this one was going to keep up the pace. Well, I was surprised. I absolutely loved this book! Not only did I enjoy Tia Williams' writing style, but I totally fell in love w/ Billie and Jay's relationship. It was pretty cute how sprung they both were. I've been there, so it was nice to be able to read those emotions. I'm totally looking forward to Ms. Williams' next book.
Book Description
The former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican and the bestselling author of The French Connection join forces to write an unforgettable novel about a humble fisherman who is elected pope.AUTHORBIO: Raymond Flynn was the popular mayor of Boston from 1984 to 1993, and served as U.S. ambassador to the Vatican from 1993-1997.He is currently president of the Catholic Alliance and host of a daily national television program.Flynn lives in Boston with his wife and six children.Robin Moore is the bestselling author of more than twenty books, including The French Connection and The Green Berets. He lives with his wife in Massachusetts.
Customer Reviews:
hard to put down.......2006-07-26
I am surprised with the negative reviews that this book received. At first, it took me a while to get into this book. I actually started to read it last year and stopped. However, this year, I decided to try to read the book all over again and finished the book....The book grew on me....I thought that it was an interesting novel......It was a breathe of fresh air to read
A good read. Thought-provoking but too neat.......2006-02-10
This book addresses an issue fairly unknown to American Catholics - church politics. I lived in Rome while attending a Catholic University for about six months, and the amount of politicking in the church was a real eye-opener to me. It also opened my eyes to the fact that my idea of the church was vastly different from the reality in Rome.
This is not a book for Catholics who are looking to affirm their faith, although there are many touching moments. This is not a book mocking the Catholic faith, either. It addresses problems within the modern church, and is quite obvious in condemning the lack of attention shown to the problems in Africa.
That is perhaps the biggest problem in this book - lack of sublety. "Pope Bill" is a little too saintly, as a widower who is just trying to support his family as a fisherman. "Cardinal Robitelli" is too unpleasant, the African Cardinal is too stereotypical - it's all too obvious.
I enjoyed this book until "Pope Bill" travelled to Africa, against the advice of all his advisors. It became very obvious what was going to follow at that point; and everything then happened as I thought it would. The ending was predictable, and not very satisfying. All in all, it was too contrived for my taste, but thought-provoking.
This would make a great movie, but it is a terrible book........2005-06-09
The writing was painful, the dialogue abolutely awful, and the plot got "too perfect" after a while. However, the basic premise is wonderful and the idea of all the characters is good. It really could make a wonderful movie - especially now that we all have renewed awareness of the process involved in choosing a new Pope. I'm guessing most production companies don't want to take a risk on films about religion, which is why Mel Gibson had to finance The Passion of the Christ on his own.
Good information seeking some direction.......2004-06-13
This book is interesting enough for a 10-minutes-before-bed-each-night read. And the writing itself really lends itself to such reading. The authors display excellent inside knowledge of Vatican processes, but so-so writing and character development skills. The basis for the story is thought-provoking, though. Slightly painful in the mechanics at times, but not altogether unpleasant to read.
"What I Would do if I Was the Pope".......2004-03-26
It's truly amazing the lengths some people's ego can take them to. In the space of less than 400 pages, the author manages to lay out his detailed plan for fixing every problem within the Catholic church, and even most of the problems around the world.
The titular character manages to singlehandedly heal the rift between Catholics and Jews, bring a measure of peace to Northern Ireland, and institute a number of badly needed reforms within the church itself, just to name a few items. Like I said, this is one man's (a former Vatican Amabassador, no less) written report on what HE would do if elected Pope.
The sad part is that most of the ideas put forth in the book seemed pretty reasonable to a non-Catholic like me (which is why I gave the book 3 stars instead of 2), but the chance of any of these things happening is between slim and none. I think, however, that it should be required reading for all Catholics. The Catholic Church needs to catch up with the times, and this book gives many well-detailed ideas on how that can happen.
Book Description
With just one month to go before her fairy tale wedding to the third richest man in the second largest city in Ohio, Lily Blair is suddenly beset by doubts.Even though she appears to have it all - a budding career and a five-carat engagement ring from the man of her dreams - she can't decide whether to plunge headfirst into the security of married suburban life, or follow her career dreams solo to New York. And while the zany and loving cast of friends, family, and co-workers keep pushing her towards the aisle, Lily knows that, despite the passion she feels for her fianc, she alone must come to terms with the biggest decision of her life.As she locks horns with her mother on nearly every detail, issues like veal medallions vs. chicken wings become battles in an event being staged with all the grandeur and precision of a full-scale military operation. The situation grows funnier and more desperate at every turn as Lily must confront an absurd bridal fair, an unsympathetic psychiatrist, and the local gossip column. Before she loses her sanity, she looks to her heroine, Jane Austen, for inspiration.The result is hilarious, sweet, and smart. For Lily Blair is a real heroine for the 90s and beyond, and The Accidental Bride who will keep surprising you until the end.AUTHORBIO: Janice Harayda is an award-winning journalist who spent eleven years as the book editor of a major metropolitan daily newspaper.She has been a staff writer and editor for Glamour, editorial director of Boston magazine, and a contributor to many national magazines and newspapers.A vice-president of the National Book Critics Circle, she lives in New Jersey.The Accidental Bride is her first novel.
Customer Reviews:
Self-important, snobbish, condescending, and silly.......2007-03-27
I just finished this book yesterday and I was happy to be done with it. I have never disliked a book enough to actually come onto amazon.com and write a scathing review of it, but this one inspired me. The only reason I finished it was to see if the main character was suddenly going to do something worthy of my attention, like grow up and appreciate her groom.
All the characters are flat and fit neatly into two categories: the "good guys" and the "bad guys". The "bad guys" are all "rednecks"; sports-obsessed, war-loving, anti-gay rights, corn-dog eating Republicans who all have horribly snotty children. The "good guys" are portrayed as enlightened, socially aware, psychology-hating, liberal-thinkers who raise unrealistically well-behaved children and think that Manhattan is the only cultured place on earth. What the "good guys" really come across as are self-absorbed, overly politically correct snobs who see phallic symbols at every turn. (I think the phallic symbol references are supposed to be funny.)
With all the Jane Austen quotes and references, I gather that the writer was trying to make a satirical commentary on our times as Austen did on hers. But Harayda misses the two things that make Austen so likable and powerful a writer: the "good guys" have human flaws that make us like them, relate to them, and feel empathetic towards them and the "bad guys" are either comical or pathetic, making us either laugh or feel sympathy. This book did none of these things. It insulted, belittled, and condescended at every turn. By the end, I was cringing when I saw Austen's quotes at the top of each chapter. It was a complete insult to her.
Lily, the main character, is a spoiled, snobbish, self-absorbed brat who pouts instead of opening her mouth and sharing her feelings with her fiancé. She is spineless and allows her parents and Mark (the fiancé) to dictate her life. She is also strangely obsessed with corn dogs. She doesn't want to get married and hasn't told Mark that she loves him, yet she accepts his proposal. She hates her mother, the house Mark's father bought them, his sisters, the town they live in, her boss, and her job and yet she does nothing pro-active about changing or coming to terms with any of this - she just whines and pouts and compares everyone to obscure literary characters. She views herself as a powerless victim and everyone else as merciless oppressors. I felt like I was reading about a spoiled 16-year-old.
Mark is a flat, boring, too-good-to-be-true character but even with that, he is way too good for self-absorbed Lily. He proposes to her before she has even said "I love you" and wants to marry her instead of living with her first. I kept wanting him to leave Lily and maybe teach her something.
Alas, there is no major transformation of the main character. She doesn't learn any lessons or come to terms with her own character flaws - Oh, wait. I forgot; she doesn't have any. Instead, everyone suddenly realizes that she was right all along and she gets her way in everything. And everyone admires her for it.
No wonder I found this book at the Borders outlet instead of the proper store.
As it happens, Cleveland does suck.......2007-03-11
Please ignore the poor reviews. They obviously come from the "troglodytes" of Cleveland. Look it up, Clevelanders.
Tom Heehler
Not terrible, but not terrific.......2005-04-04
I got seriously sick of the Jane Austen, as well as the author's self-congratulatory literary comments throughout the book -- I felt like the author was trying to show off a degree in Literature to the Unwashed. The ending was incredibly stupid -- not at all what I expected, and utterly disappointing. The reason for 3 stars and not 1 star was because it wasn't completely awful -- I did like to see how Jerry Springer-esque her views of her in-laws and family could get.
An Accident if you decide to read............2004-09-28
Most likely this is the first and Last book Janice Harayda will write. The Accidental Bride, Harayda's first is nothing but an accident.
Lily is a 20 something is about to get married, to one of Ohio's richest, but pulls out only to find herself making matters worse for herself. Sounds good. Yet it is not.
Harayda never gives us a description of the main character, let alone any other character in the book. Its hard to read a book where the mental image you have in your head is a paper doll. Every character is so flawed that you can not get past that fact alone. No character is likeable. Hands down. How can you like a lead character that forces herself to get married to a man who loves her, only to fake loving him to get a divorce after the wedding. Talk about low.
Then there are the facts and the non-stop Jane Austen bits. Lily our main character lives in Ohio, only to make it sound like hell. Hello!!! I live in the Ohio Valley, and we do not have crime rates that are bigger than NYC's, a climate where it snows in September (without a nor easter), we are not rich and live in look alike communities (our economy is not the best right now), and no we are not soooo out of style that we make Trailor Park Trash look like Naomi Campbell.
Jane Austen!?? You will never pick up one of her novels if you read this book, for the author dwells on Jane the whole book that she forgets what matters...the plot of her own book.
I would like to say that you could give the book a chance, but heck dont waste your time. I would have given it one star had I not had enough will to finish the thing.
Skip this read and pick up a Jane Green novel...or even one of Austens' great novels.
A humorous book that made me think.......2004-04-07
I really enjoyed this book and in fact was on this Amazon page hoping to see if there are more books by this author. The book is not Jane Austen and is not meant to be. However it is an witty look at contemporary mores involving courtship, love, romance, and marriage. It made me think about my own choices and my expectations of others. And it made me laugh! And also vow never to visit Ohio....
Book Description
Summertime is hot and dull in the Central Valley of California and four teenage girls from very different families are determined to spice it up. With a single-mindedness that foretells disaster, they push aside all the rules and explore the underbelly of valley life. Drugs, sex, alcohol, adventure, anything to challenge the norm, yet all experienced without the benefit of maturity. As the girls become increasingly uncontrollable, their mothers-from dramatically diverse social castes-are forced to work together to save their daughters. Like a tornado moving across the landscape, lives are wrenched from their foundations. Page after page, and over a period of two years, the author introduces characters who struggle to support and defeat the dreams of what began as four innocent girls desiring to taste the forbidden fruit. Laurel-Rain Snow's An Accidental Life is a fascinating look into not only the lives of very diverse family systems, but the mechanism that drives a cross-section of an all-American community.
Books:
- The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand to New York
- The Clue of the Broken Locket (Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, No 11)
- The Cursed Towers (Witches of Eileanan, Book 3)
- The Darkest Hour (Warriors, Book 6)
- The Debriefing
- The Foster's Market Cookbook: Favorite Recipes for Morning, Noon, and Night
- The Fred Factor: How passion in your work and life can turn the ordinary into the extraordinary
- The Good Husband of Zebra Drive (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency 8)
- The Informant: A True Story
- The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business adn the Professions
- Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare
- The Fast Forward MBA in Project Management, Second Edition
- Technically Speaking: Tips and Strategies from 16 Top Traders
- The C Programming Language
- Washington's Crossing
- Ultimate French Beginner-Intermediate
- Business Law May 2001 Questions & Answers
- The Logical Foundations of Constitutional Liberty: The Collected Works of James M. Buchanan
- Last Flight Of The Flamingo
Breathing Lessons: A Novel
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
Back When We Were Grownups
The Amateur Marriage: A Novel
Saint Maybe
