The Tenth Circle: A Novel

The Tenth Circle: A Novel
Average customer rating:

I'm Glad I Discovered Jodi Picoult

Unrealistic Characters

Bit Too Melodramatic For My Tastes

Not great

Love this author, but not this book

The Tenth Circle: A Novel
Jodi Picoult
Manufacturer: Washington Square Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 074349671X
Release Date: 2006-10-24

Amazon.com

Bestselling author Jodi Picoult's The Tenth Circle is a metaphorical journey through Dante's Inferno, told through the eyes of a small Maine family whose hidden demons haunt every aspect of their seemingly peaceful existence. Woven throughout the novel are a series of dramatic illustrations that pay homage to the family's patriarch (comic book artist Daniel Stone), and add a unique twist to this gripping, yet somewhat rhetorical tale.

Trixie Stone is an imaginative, perceptive 14 year old whose life begins to unravel when Jason Underhill, Bethel High's star hockey player, breaks up with her, leaving a void that can only be filled by the blood spilled during shameful self-mutilations in the girls' bathroom. While Trixie's dad Daniel notices his daughter's recent change in demeanor, he turns a blind eye, just as he does to the obvious affair his wife Laura, a college professor, is barely trying to conceal. When Trixie gets raped at a friend's party, Daniel and Laura are forced to deal not only with the consequences of their daughter's physical and emotional trauma, but with their own transgressions as well. For Daniel, that means reflecting on a childhood spent as the only white kid in a native Alaskan village, where isolation and loneliness turned him into a recluse, only to be born again after falling in love with his wife. Laura, who blames her family's unraveling on her selfish affair, must decide how to reconcile her personal desires with her loved ones' needs.

The Tenth Circle is chock full of symbolism and allegory that at times can seem oppresive. Still, Picoult's fans will welcome this skillfully told story of betrayal and its many negative, and positive consequences. --Gisele Toueg

Book Description

Fourteen-year-old Trixie Stone is in love for the first time. She's also the light of her father, Daniel's life -- a straight-A student; a pretty, popular freshman in high school; a girl who's always seen her father as a hero. That is, until her world is turned upside down with a single act of violence. Suddenly everything Trixie has believed about her family -- and herself -- seems to be a lie. Could the boyfriend who once made Trixie wild with happiness have been the one to end her childhood forever? She says that he is, and that is all it takes to make Daniel, a seemingly mild-mannered comic book artist with a secret tumultuous past he has hidden even from his family, venture to hell and back to protect his daughter.

With The Tenth Circle, Jodi Picoult offers her most powerful chronicle yet as she explores the unbreakable bond between parent and child, and questions whether you can reinvent yourself in the course of a lifetime -- or if your mistakes are carried forever.

Download Description

Jodi Picoult, the New York Times bestselling author of Vanishing Acts, offers her most powerful chronicle yet of an American family with a story that probes the unbreakable bond between parent and child -- and the dangerous repercussions of trying to play the hero. Trixie Stone is fourteen years old and in love for the first time. She's also the light of her father's life -- a straight-A student; a freshman in high school who is pretty and popular; a girl who's always looked up to Daniel Stone as a hero. Until, that is, her world is turned upside down with a single act of violence. . . and suddenly everything Trixie has believed about her family -- and herself -- seems to be a lie. The Tenth Circle looks at that delicate moment when a child learns that her parents don't know all of the answers and when being a good parent means letting go of your child. It asks whether you can reinvent yourself in the course of a lifetime or if your mistakes are carried forever -- if life is, as in any good comic book, a struggle to control good and evil, or if good and evil control you.

Customer Reviews:

I'm Glad I Discovered Jodi Picoult.......2007-10-04

So, Jodi has written a ton of books, and I finally got around to reading one... I picked up The Tenth Circle when Amazon recommended it because I liked "We Were the Mulvaneys" by Joyce Carol Oates. Plus the Dante reference really piqued my curiosity. While it dealt with a violent crime and the enduring repercussions (topics Oates often tackles), it was a completely different story and occurred a generation later than Mulvaneys. It was a rollercoaster of emotions that never stalled. The additional graphic novel illustrations were a great supplement. I look forward to reading more of Jodi's books and enjoying her great narrative style.

Unrealistic Characters.......2007-08-30

I have read two books by Jodi Picoult, The Tenth Circle and Nineteen Minutes, and I don't plan to read any more of them. In both books, the characters seem exaggerated to the point of being caricatures. They're just not believable as real people. Also, in both books, there is a plot twist at the end which I found completely out-of-character and unrealistic, with very little explanation given by the author.

Bit Too Melodramatic For My Tastes.......2007-08-29

This is hard for me because as much as I loathed certain aspects of this book, I couldn't put it down. Despite my best efforts, I got sucked in and had to know what happened next. That says something, doesn't it?

Okay, the premise ... turn on Lifetime or an after school special and you'll get the same kind of story. I won't spoil anything about the book, but Picoult managed to throw in every possible trauma a family could go through in an amazingly short span and then make sure we learned our lessons by practically beating us over the head. But, perhaps such escalation of eccentric plot devices was the point. The mother of her main character is a specialist in Dante's Inferno, and so part of me wonders if this story is supposed to mirror the nine levels of hell, but if so, I think it was done rather melodramatically.

One interesting tool used in this book, however, is actual comic book pages "drawn" by the main character's father who is a renowned comic book artist. Shocker, the comic book is called The Tenth Circle as well. At the end of each chapter are components that make up a larger comic book, which parallel the actual story and play off of Dante's Inferno. I'll admit, Picoult had some impressive concepts going in this book; I simply didn't care for her style of execution.

Listen, I know a lot of people really like this book and love Jodi Picoult, and I can't deny the fact that I could not stop reading. I slapped my forehead the whole way through as the plot got more and more outlandish, but I couldn't stop reading. If an author can keep you going even when you don't want to, they're obviously doing something right.

If you're into Picoult, you'll probably dig this. As for me, as good as she was at hooking me, this'll probably be the last book of hers I read. Just a tad too heavy on the family drama and forced "life lessons" for my tastes.

Not great.......2007-08-27

This novel sounds promising, but there were too many things going on with not enough explanation or reasoning - it was hard to be sympathetic to the 14 year old daughter - or to the mother, both of whom made terrible choices - and neither really faced up to the consequences personally (the mother, clearly, had to pay some dues for her crime) - but I didn't feel the characters grew over the course of the book, with the exception of Daniel, and frankly, I didn't believe in his angst. Overall, disappointing.

Love this author, but not this book.......2007-08-25

I've read most of Jodi Picoult's books, and truly appreciate her mastery of characterization. In this one, however, I feel that there was just too much going on. The premise was promising, and the storyline started out to be very engrossing. I found the whole parallel of Dante's circles of hell with what the father was going through to be very clever and interesting. I thought the concept of using cartoons (since the father was a comic artist) interspersed throughout the book was fresh and new. But overall, there was something missing, a link that would somehow pull it all together. Even though the characters were complex and had intriguing backgrounds, I just couldn't connect with any of them, especially Trixie, who was at the heart of the story. Maybe if I could have felt some sympathy for her, there would have been that emotional attachment to a character to help, but instead I felt nothing. Overall, the story seemed too long and drawn-out and then abruptly came to an unsatisfying end. When I turned the last page, I was left with this empty, unsettled feeling. I realize that I'm not going to love every book by a certain author. I commend Picoult for tackling a very difficult and sensitive subject matter, but this definitely was not one of my favorites.

Average customer rating:

A Dirty Job is Minty Fresh
Nice book, like bear.
I actually recommened it to my friends
minty fresh
Hilarious

A Dirty Job: A Novel
Christopher Moore
Manufacturer: William Morrow
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Comic | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0060590270
Release Date: 2006-03-21

Book Description

Charlie Asher is a pretty normal guy. A little hapless, somewhat neurotic, sort of a hypochondriac. He's what's known as a Beta Male: the kind of fellow who makes his way through life by being careful and constant -- you know, the one who's always there to pick up the pieces when the girl gets dumped by the bigger/taller/stronger Alpha Male.

But Charlie's been lucky. He owns a building in the heart of San Francisco, and runs a secondhand store with the help of a couple of loyal, if marginally insane, employees. He's married to a bright and pretty woman who actually loves him for his normalcy. And she, Rachel, is about to have their first child.

Yes, Charlie's doing okay for a Beta. That is, until the day his daughter, Sophie, is born. Just as Charlie -- exhausted from the birth -- turns to go home, he sees a strange man in mint-green golf wear at Rachel's hospital bedside, a man who claims that no one should be able to see him. But see him Charlie does, and from here on out, things get really weird. . . .

People start dropping dead around him, giant ravens perch on his building, and it seems that everywhere he goes, a dark presence whispers to him from under the streets. Strange names start appearing on his nightstand notepad, and before he knows it, those people end up dead, too. Yup, it seems that Charlie Asher has been recruited for a new job, an unpleasant but utterly necessary one: Death. It's a dirty job. But hey, somebody's gotta do it.

Christopher Moore, the man whose Lamb served up Jesus' "missing years" (with the funny parts left in), and whose Fluke found the deep humor in whale researchers' lives, now shines his comic light on the undiscovered country we all eventually explore -- death and dying -- and the results are hilarious, heartwarming, and a hell of a lot of fun.

Customer Reviews:

A Dirty Job is Minty Fresh.......2007-10-02

I am a huge fan of Christopher Moore, and in particular, this book. It is in my top ten all time favorites. A Dirty Job is the type of book you will read more than once just to see what you missed. I read this one first and felt the need to possess more of his novels. I actually own two copies because I keep on passing them on to more people.
Charley is a grim reaper who believes he is the ultimate Death. The descrptions and prose are laugh-out-loud funny, to the point where I had tears running down my cheeks. That rarely ever happens. The suppporting cast of characters are such that they should get their own books. It is well written with a type of sarcasm that is impossible to write let alone pull off.
I have and will keep on recommending this book to anyone with an interest in(first and foremost) great writing, quarky characters and a great sense of comic timing.

Nice book, like bear........2007-09-10

I want a sequel. No, that'd probably be bad. I want a continuation of this book. As in, I want to get off my chair, thumb to the end of the book and find 200 or so unread pages just waiting to be devoured. Chris Moore's imagination knows no bounds, from dark seductresses who live in the sewers to tiny walking creatures assembled from different body parts of different animals. This is a great book, my first from Chris and it's whet my appetite for some more. One of the funniest authors, and a rare one too; his writing never gets old.

I actually recommened it to my friends.......2007-09-05

I got to the "kitty" part and laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes. I had to stop and email my friends to tell them to pick it up. Two of them plan on reading it, or something else by him soon.
On a less light note, it made me feel better about the whole death thing. I'm going through a tough time with a family member facing his mortality (he's 85) and this is just what I needed to give me hope of an after life!

minty fresh.......2007-08-30

What impressed me most of this book is the excellent dialogue, riotous to say the least. The story is original, interesting, and profound while at the same time seeped in absurdity. Solid set of well developed and memorable characters, both male and female, and a rich setting (San Francisco). The story revolves around the true secret about what happens to our souls upon death. They go into an important material possession which is retrieved by a Death Merchant to then be sold at a rummage store to another soulless human who possesses it and continues the upwards journey of the soul to a higher level. I did not realize that how it works. Upon the death of his wife, Charlie Asher (if they ever make a movie of this novel, it would have to be Paul Giamatti) becomes one such merchant-perhaps even more than that- and with the assistance of other death merchants fights beings from the underworld attempting to steal the souls to gain power and take over the world, classic battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil. The style of the novel is a blend of Tom Robbins, Elmore Leonard, Kurt Vonnegut, and simply a style of its own making. This writer is awesome and I shall right away purchase and read another of his novels.

Hilarious.......2007-08-27

I've read three and this is the best Christopher Moore book so far. It's full of quirky and clever mouthed characters that, at one point, left me laughing in tears on the couch. I recommend it for anyone who's looking for a humorous fiction to pass some time with.

Average customer rating:

Disappointed
Great book!
Witty and Sharp
Growing up, reconciling your past and looking towards the future with anticipation and a much-needed sense of humor
"Ask Again Later Surpasses "Girls' Poker Night"

Ask Again Later: A Novel
Jill A. Davis
Manufacturer: Ecco
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Comic | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0060875968
Release Date: 2007-02-20

Book Description

Emily has a tendency to live with one foot out the door. For her, the best thing about a family crisis is the excuse to cut and run. When her mother dramatically announces they've found a lump, Emily gladly takes a rain check on life to be by her mother's side, leaving behind her career, her boyfriend, and those pesky, unanswerable questions about who she is and what she's doing with her life.

But back in her childhood bedroom, Emily realizes that she hasn't run fast or far enough. One evening, while her mother calls everyone in her Rolodex to brief them on her medical crisis and schedule a farewell martini, Emily opens the door, quite literally, to find her past staring her in the face. How do you forge a relationship with the father who left when you were five years old? As Emily attempts to find balance on the emotional seesaw of her life, with the help of two hopeful suitors and her Park Avenue Princess sister, she takes a no-risk job as a receptionist at her father's law firm and slowly gets to know the man she once pretended was dead.

From the brainy, breezy writer who "writes like a professional comic" (The Onion) and is "hard to stop reading once you start" (USA Today) comes a laugh-out-loud tale that confirms you can recover from your parents, the bad habit of missed opportunities, and men who romance you with meat. When opportunity knocks, it's time to stop running and start living.

Customer Reviews:

Disappointed.......2007-08-23

After reading Girls Poker Night several years, I was highly anticipating her next novel. However, after reading this book, I am very disappointed. The book has no flow to it, it is not humorous, and the topics are scattered, making it difficult to stay focused. In summary, I would not recommend this book to anyone looking for a read similar to her other book, Girls Poker Night!!

Great book!.......2007-06-29

This is a great book, full of laugh-out-loud funny scenes. I enjoyed it immensely and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for the perfect summer read.

Witty and Sharp.......2007-06-28

Ask Again Later is a witty, sharp novel, a light read that is not overly fluffy. The novel is narrated by Emily Rhode, a recovering lawyer who keeps her emotions at a distance. She's in therapy, she's taking care of her ailing mother (stage one breast cancer), she's walked out on what could be the love of her life and she's walked away from her career. But she's handling it, somehow, with a marvelous detached humor; she's a wonderful, witty, likeable narrator. I really enjoyed this novel (much moreso than Girls' Poker Night); it's a quick read that is still satisfying. Perfect summer fare. Enjoy.

Growing up, reconciling your past and looking towards the future with anticipation and a much-needed sense of humor.......2007-05-30

Remember when you were a child and you could trust your most difficult questions to the wisdom of the Magic 8-Ball? The protagonist of Jill A. Davis's second novel frequently echoes the refrain of that childhood oracle. Whenever thirty-something Emily Rhode is queried by friends on how she is doing, her familiar refrain is that of the Magic 8-Ball: "Ask again later."

It's easy to see why this is the case. Emily is a harried corporate attorney who has managed to tiptoe through the minefield of her life, careful to avoid any major skirmishes or hard decisions. She's currently skirting along the edges of a romance with a divorced co-worker as she goes about her hectic job. But when she learns that her mother has breast cancer, her whole tentative world is turned upside down.

Emily has grown up in a not-so-unusually dysfunctional family in New York City. Her dad left the family when she and her sister were just children, and he's been like a phantom ever since --- someone she never really knew. Emily's mother, a woman with a penchant for dramatics, responds to her stage 1 cancer diagnosis by calling everyone in her address book to tell them she's going to die.

Over-dramatized or not, the news of her mother's illness shakes Emily to her core. And since her socialite sister is of little help as she struggles to fit her new baby into her overly crowded social schedule, Emily quits her high-pressure law job, flees from her potential love interest and moves back in with her mother to care for her during treatment.

A strange byproduct of her mother's illness is her renewed relationship with her distant father. In an effort to help out during this difficult time, Emily's dad offers her a nice, low-pressure job as the receptionist in his office. Slowly she begins to learn about this mercurial man she calls her father. But as soon as her mother starts to recover, she is hit with an unexpected loss that forces her to face her fears and fully participate in her own life.

Davis, author of GIRLS' POKER NIGHT and a former writer for "The Late Show with David Letterman," tackles real-life issues and infuses these rather somber moments with requisite levity and humor. Emily is a relatable woman, paralyzed at the prospect of taking chances and making choices. She has drifted through life by avoiding taking risks, but when a life-altering event occurs, Emily learns to confront and later embrace the life she has long been avoiding. As she observes, "Eventually the training wheels have to come off and it's always a surprise when you find that you don't need them."

ASK AGAIN LATER is about growing up, reconciling your past and looking towards the future with anticipation and a much-needed sense of humor.

--- Reviewed by Bronwyn Miller

"Ask Again Later Surpasses "Girls' Poker Night".......2007-04-16

Often second novels, particularly second novels after a successful first novel, are disappointing. "Ask Again Later" belies that expectation. Jill Davis's characters are even more alive, more memorable, and the reader cares about them even more. Without seeming a bit contrived, the novel follows an engaging and amusing plot throughout its various, but never meandering paths. The jump cuts are perfectly timed; the dialogue, perfectly pitched. We know these characters. Above all, readers are left awaiting a third novel.

Average customer rating:

Searching for Satisfaction
Meat and Potatoes
Her best novel yet!!
A Savory Treat
Satisfied!

In Search of Satisfaction
J. California Cooper
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0385467850
Release Date: 1994-09-01

Book Description

The folk flavor of her storytelling has earned her constant comparison to Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, but through four collections of short stories and two novels, J. California Cooper has proven that hers is a wholly original talent --one that embraces readers in an ever-widening circle from one book to the next. With In Search Of Satisfaction, Cooper gracefully portrays men and women, some good and others wickedly twisted, caught in their individual thickets of want and need. On a once-grand plantation in Yoville, "a legal town-ship founded by the very rich for their own personal use," a freed slave named Josephus fathers two daughters, Ruth and Yinyang, by two different women. His desire, to give Yinyang and himself money and opportunities, oozes through the family like an elixir, melding with the equally strong yearnings of Yoville's other residents, whose tastes don't complement their neighbors'. What Josephus buries in his life affects generations to come. J. California Cooper's unfettered view of sin, forgiveness, and redemption gives In Search Of Satisfaction a singular richness that belies its universal themes.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Customer Reviews:

Searching for Satisfaction.......2007-05-22

The members felt that this book could be a mini series television show. It reminded us of Roots and The Color Purple. The reading started off slow, but soon picked up. This book challenges your mind. An interesting plot that displays good versus evil. This showed signs of a seasoned writer by evidence of writing style progression as the book progressed. It left the members asking themselves what is the satisfaction that they're searching for.

Meat and Potatoes.......2007-05-10

This book is like eating a full and hearty meal of meat and potatoes. Ms. Cooper develops her characters so completely that they never lost momentum throughout each generation. Sometimes we make life choices, but somestimes life makes the choice for us. In the end, I began to miss Hosanna. I still do. Thank you Ms. Cooper for letting the world get to know these characters. I felt like a warm cup of coffee while reading this book.

Her best novel yet!!.......2007-04-26

I read this book a few years ago, and recently read it again. This is by far one of my favorite novels to date. Excellent work!!!

A Savory Treat.......2007-04-11

I loved the finely drawn characters and the rich texture of this novel. The characters were so vivid, I felt as if I knew them by the time I finished the book.

Satisfied!.......2006-04-20

This book is wonderful. It's suspenseful and full of drama, so much so in fact that I couldn't put it down. I'd recommend it to anyone.

Average customer rating:

Pulitzer's Reliability
An ingeniously crafted tale of terribly tragic times!
Sometimes a Good Man Is a Weak Man
This isn't The Year of Wonders
An absorbing read

March: A Novel
Geraldine Brooks
Manufacturer: Viking Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Historical | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0670033359
Release Date: 2005-03-07

Book Description

As the North reels under a series of unexpected defeats during the dark first year of the war, one man leaves behind his family to aid the Union cause. His experiences will utterly change his marriage and challenge his most ardently held beliefs. Riveting and elegant as it is meticulously researched, March is an extraordinary novel woven out of the lore of American history.

From Louisa May Alcott's beloved classic Little Women, Geraldine Brooks has taken the character of the absent father, March, who has gone off to war, leaving his wife and daughters to make do in mean times. To evoke him, Brooks turned to the journals and letters of Bronson Alcott, Louisa May's father—a friend and confidant of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. In her telling, March emerges as an idealistic chaplain in the little known backwaters of a war that will test his faith in himself and in the Union cause as he learns that his side, too, is capable of acts of barbarism and racism. As he recovers from a near mortal illness, he must reassemble his shattered mind and body and find a way to reconnect with a wife and daughters who have no idea of the ordeals he has been through.

Spanning the vibrant intellectual world of Concord and the sensuous antebellum South, March adds adult resonance to Alcott's optimistic children's tale to portray the moral complexity of war, and a marriage tested by the demands of extreme idealism—and by a dangerous and illicit attraction. A lushly written, wholly original tale steeped in the details of another time, March secures Geraldine Brooks's place as an internationally renowned author of historical fiction.

Customer Reviews:

Pulitzer's Reliability.......2007-10-10

As usual, any book selected by the Pulitzer Committee is a reliable horrible read. Too boring to waste my time on. . . Alcott would be mortified!

An ingeniously crafted tale of terribly tragic times!.......2007-08-27

Geraldine Brooks has produced an ingeniously crafted tale of terribly tragic times and has successfully drawn some of her principal characters from Louisa May Alcott's classic, 'Little Women,' creating in the process an elaboration of the life of the Revd. Mr March, father of the little women, who, whilst being an aggravating and hypocritical Yankee clergyman, nevertheless leads an extraordinary life, both in Connecticut and in The South during the American 'Civil War' (or 'War for Southern Independence,' depending upon personal preference: I prefer the latter). The fact that the author cleverly introduces Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson and even John Brown (he of the body and the soul that marches on), all most effectively but without particular surprise in the context, is a tribute to her story-telling skill. The fact that Mr March learns a lot of the complications of that frightful conflict of 1861-1865 is a reflection of the author's fine research and scholarship. The fact that the mid-19th-century language seems to be 'spot-on' to one who reads and enjoys such stuff also reflects well on Ms. Brooks: she has produced another riveting tale, which I could not put down, and I congratulate her!

Sometimes a Good Man Is a Weak Man.......2007-08-11

March is told largely in the words of Mr. March, father of all those "little women," and it encompasses the year that he spent as a Union chaplain during the early part of the Civil War. Ever the idealist, one who at times refused to recognize the demands of the real world or to compromise his principles in order to better get along with others, March quickly managed to get on the bad side of both the men to whom he hoped to minister and that of his superior officers. As so often happens during war, March lived a lifetime during his one year of service, a year in which he learned more about himself than he really wanted to know. He came to realize that his ideals and principles did not necessarily come with the courage to do the right thing when to do so put him in personal danger. He ended his year a broken man, one barely alive and, more importantly, one who considered his year of service to have been a disaster for himself and everyone he tried to help.

Along the way, March unexpectedly finds himself revisiting a plantation he remembered from his days as a young traveling salesman trying to build the nest egg he hoped to invest for the remainder of his life. Some twenty years after his first visit, the home is now an emergency hospital for Union troops and life there is nothing like the one he remembered from before. But one thing has not changed. Grace Clements, the mulatto slave woman he was so attracted to on his first visit, is still there and he is still powerfully attracted to her. Grace Clements comes to be one of the two most important women in March's life, in fact.

Having so consistently irritated the troops to whom he was assigned, March is assigned to spend the bulk of his war at a cotton plantation teaching liberated slaves to read and write. This is my one quibble with the book. While, in fact, some southern cotton plantations were leased to northern entrepreneurs during the war so that much needed cotton could be brought to market for benefit of the North, this did not occur nearly so early in the war as portrayed in March. Despite the fact that the heart of the story takes place on this plantation, I could never completely forget just how unlikely it would have been for March to find himself on such a plantation during his particular year of the war.

But that's a minor thing because March has so much to offer. It is filled with the kind of period detail that marks the best historical fiction and fans of Little Women will very likely find it to be the perfect companion piece to one of their favorite novels.

This isn't The Year of Wonders.......2007-08-08

I read The Year of Wonders and loved it. I bought this book specifically because it's the same author, and with high hopes. Unfortunately, this book is boring and slow moving. It could not hold my attention at all, and I didn't get engrossed with the characters like in her other book. I would not recommend this book.

An absorbing read.......2007-08-06

Mr. March is often exasperating but always believable in this vivid Civil War novel. Not so much about battles as about how the hardship of war shapes families. Chapter 2 involving Grace the beautiful slave reaches near perfection. Longer review available on my website Impatient Reader. Also available at Impatient Reader: a chapter-by-chapter summary of March. See My Amazon Profile for URL.

Gonzalez and Daughter Trucking Co.: A Road Novel with Literary License

Average customer rating:

Young Adult Fiction With A Heavy Hand
*Gonzalez & Daughter Trucking Co*
Read this book!
A great ENDING, memorable characters
Interesting premise.

Gonzalez and Daughter Trucking Co.: A Road Novel with Literary License
Maria Amparo Escandon
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1400097355
Release Date: 2005-04-19

Book Description

Serving a sentence in a prison in Mexico, Libertad González finds a clever way to pass the time with the weekly Library Club, reading to her fellow inmates from whatever books she can find in the prison’s meager supply. The story that emerges, though, has nothing to do with the words printed on the pages. She tells of a former literature professor and fugitive of the Mexican government who reinvents himself as a trucker in the United States. There he falls in love with a wild woman with whom he shares his truck and his life—that is until Joaquín González unexpectedly finds himself alone on the road with a baby girl and González & Daughter Trucking Co. is born. Joaquín and his daughter make the cab of an 18-wheeler their home, sharing everything—adventures, books, truck-stop chow, and memories of the girl’s mother—until one day the girl grows into a woman, and a chance encounter with one man causes her to rebel against another.

With her stories, Libertad enthralls a group of female prisoners every bit as eccentric as the tales she tells. In González and Daughter Trucking Co., bestselling author María Amparo Escandón seamlessly blends together these elements into one compelling and unexpected conclusion that will have you cheering for Libertad and filled with joy.

Customer Reviews:

Young Adult Fiction With A Heavy Hand.......2007-09-23

Not a very engaging novel. Written in a tone and voice that might satisfy a Young Adult Reading audience, but hardly a work of mature fiction. Women as victims and men as monsters, relentlessly. Libertad's father, the only male with the possibility of complexity, falls into stereotype at the end, with an unrealistic and silly role reversal. Magical Realism now seems to mean twisting the logic of plot lines in whatever way necessary to make events in the story fit. As in too many cases, it has become a license for unadulterated sentimentalism. Many lapses of logic in the storyline, and most simply to support a reduction of characters to two-dimensional stereotypes, or to awkwardly connect ill-planned events in the story. Libertad, our hero, is intuitively intelligent one moment, and too stupid to figure out what sex is about or why her father would protect her from certain men the next. Her father is obsessively controlling to the point where his reasons seem to evaporate, and he simply gets mad at every opportunity without explanation. I made the mistake of ordering the book for a college course I teach before reading it through. Where the story holds promise, in the young woman's telling her confession to other women in a Mexican prison, her motives and reasons are often unsupported or non-existent. She hides her guilt through the entire novel for no more apparent reason than to shift most of the blame of her crime onto her father in the end. At sixteen, she is obviously superior to him in thinking and feeling, without even the hint of her own culpability in events. The fiction to reality to fiction idea could have been the saving grace here, but it has been done better (even in Young Adult Lit), and becomes too garbled with emotionalisms at times. Overall, the novel falls prey to an overt sentimentality, where characters prove to be no more emotionally complex than our initial impression of them. Women's victimization overdramatized to the point where even the reader is wondering what Escandon's hatred of men is about. A prison full of innocent female inmates, whose husbands and lovers all deserve to be executed. If this is what has happened to contemporary feminist literature, we need to question where the skilled and psychologically demanding feminist works of the 70s and 80s have gone. Finally, the book is full of mistakes about its primary source, the highways of America. The author needed a better map to be imagining her events on; her directions prove inconsistent at times. The most dangerous aspect of the novel, however, is surely its subtle anti-Mexican themes. Mexicans here are inept, incompentent, and incurably corrupt everywhere inside and out of the prison. For a Mexican writer to make such a racist portrayal of her own culture, in an effort surely to point out the crimes of its age-old patriarchal society, is itself a tragedy. That most readers and critics, here at least, have blithely overlooked this so far, seems an even greater tragedy.

*Gonzalez & Daughter Trucking Co*.......2007-04-02

What a brilliant book! I read it in 5 hours because I just couldn't get enough. We have a young lady who is in prison in Mexico. No one knows why, she won't say. However she starts a Library Club and pretends she is reading books to other inmates, but she is really telling her story.

Her mother passed away when she was a baby and she has lived in a truck with her dad, going all over the US. Her dad escaped from Mexico and thinks everyone is out to get him. He finds out he can't keep her hidden forever. I won't ruin the surprise as to why she is in prison or what the outcome is, but you won't want to put this wonderful book down until you are finished! The author is going to be near my town this month and I plan on taking my copy to have it signed!!!

Bravo!

Read this book!.......2006-11-29

Gonzalez and Daughter Trucking Co is a wildly colorful book and a must read. This novel keeps you craving more because of the disjointed time line and change in narrations. It is a fast pace novel, with wit and humor that does not overpower the seriousness of the stories at hand.

I had to read this book for a college course, but I will read it again for my own enjoyment. The topics covered are interesting and realistic and you will finish this novel fully satisfied.

A great ENDING, memorable characters .......2006-09-29

This is one of those books that just gets passed around and passed around. Bought this book last year, summer of 2005. So far I've passed it along to 5 other avid readers and we have all loved it. The characters are memorable and the story is wonderfully, and artfully, revealed. But the best part of all was the ending that caught me pleasantly by surprise. I'm looking forward to the author's next book.

Interesting premise........2006-05-29

This book was a tale within a story within prison walls. A very creative approach to fiction!

Average customer rating:

Great book
As unique and beautiful as the title suggests
Good bookclub selection
Very engaging, but simplistic
Engrossing storytelling

Purple Hibiscus: A Novel
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Manufacturer: Anchor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1400076943
Release Date: 2004-09-14

Amazon.com

Purple Hibiscus, Nigerian-born writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's debut, begins like many novels set in regions considered exotic by the western reader: the politics, climate, social customs, and, above all, food of Nigeria (balls of fufu rolled between the fingers, okpa bought from roadside vendors) unfold like the purple hibiscus of the title, rare and fascinating. But within a few pages, these details, however vividly rendered, melt into the background of a larger, more compelling story of a joyless family. Fifteen-year-old Kambili is the dutiful and self-effacing daughter of a rich man, a religious fanatic and domestic tyrant whose public image is of a politically courageous newspaper publisher and philanthropist. No one in Papa's ancestral village, where he is titled "Omelora" (One Who Does For the Community), knows why Kambili¹s brother cannot move one of his fingers, nor why her mother keeps losing her pregnancies. When a widowed aunt takes an interest in Kambili, her family begins to unravel and re-form itself in unpredictable ways. --Regina Marler

Book Description

Fifteen-year-old Kambili's world is circumscribed by the high walls and frangipani trees of her family compound. Her wealthy Catholic father, under whose shadow Kambili lives, while generous and politically active in the community, is repressive and fanatically religious at home.

When Nigeria begins to fall apart under a military coup, Kambili's father sends her and her brother away to stay with their aunt, a University professor, whose house is noisy and full of laughter. There, Kambili and her brother discover a life and love beyond the confines of their father's authority. The visit will lift the silence from their world and, in time, give rise to devotion and defiance that reveal themselves in profound and unexpected ways. This is a book about the promise of freedom; about the blurred lines between childhood and adulthood; between love and hatred, between the old gods and the new.

Customer Reviews:

Great book.......2007-10-06

I really enjoyed Purple Hibiscus. I am intrigued by books of different cultures and places. Some of the content of the book was disturbing and at times heart breaking, but it made for a relistic view into this young girl's life. I am not a religous person at all but I have to say that the positive spirituality in this book was enlightening and touching. One of the things that struck me most was the differences in the way the African characters treated family. There was a lot of love, respect and genuine caring among them, even the younger generation. Being an American it always amazes me how much many other cultures value their extended family and are willing and WANT to do much for them. I am looking forward to reading another book by this author and highly reccomend this book.

As unique and beautiful as the title suggests.......2007-08-16

No wonder Chinua Achebe is delighted by Chimamanda Adichie. And no wonder she can dare weave his legendary title into her story's open. Chimamanda Adichie has a very special writing talent -- raw yet also subtly refined. Her story reads the way incredible dancers dance -- convincingly, passionately, honestly, and seemingly, without any effort. "Purple Hibiscus" is insightful, fresh, honest, real. If you like Haitian writer Edwidge Dandicott (whose work I adore!), especially "Krik Krak," I think you'll also like Chimamanda Adichie.

Good bookclub selection.......2007-07-02

I very much enjoyed this book. My bookclub, Reading Roses, read this as our June selectin and everyone really enjoyed it. I think this book brought out the most discussion we have had in a while. It was quite interesting to read about life in another country; well written; characters were well developed. Good choice for a bookclub.

Very engaging, but simplistic.......2007-06-24

I decided to read this book after Chimamanda won an award in London. The book was definitely worth reading. It grips you right from the very beginning and keeps you hooked till the very end. It also delves a lot into the Ibo Nigerian culture that makes me wonder if non-Nigerians can follow the entire story.

My only criticism is that the book is very simplistic, which may be a good thing for someone who just wants a very light reading.

Engrossing storytelling.......2007-05-07

Adichie takes any non-African reader into an enthralling fictional world without compromising anything about the context, history and sensibility of Nigerian life. She achieves this through sharp, immediate characterization and a strong storyline. It's not a "difficult" book - it's a total page-turner - but it packs a great deal of complexity beneath its apparently simple surface. When you finish this slim novel, you know you've been somewhere.

Average customer rating:

Rashi's Daughters, Book 1: Joheved
Rashi's Daughters - Joheved
No title
Solving the Puzzle of Talmud from a Woman's Viewpoint
A good Book that should be better

Rashi's Daughters, Book 1: Joheved
Maggie Anton
Manufacturer: Banot Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Historical | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Domestic Life | Women's Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Sisters | Women's Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0976305054
Release Date: 2005-01-01

Book Description

Rashi, one of the greatest Jewish scholars who ever lived, had no sons, only three daughters. Much has been written about Rashi and his grandsons, the Tosafot, but almost nothing of his daughters. Legend has it that they were learned in a time when women were forbidden to study the sacred texts. Rashi's Daughters tells the story of these forgotten women.

Customer Reviews:

Rashi's Daughters, Book 1: Joheved.......2007-07-14

Book One of Rashi's Daughters focuses on Joheved, the eldest of Rashi's children. Salomon ben Isaac (later called Rashi in the historical records) was one of the greatest Talmudic authorities that ever lived. He lived and taught the Talmud in the 11th century in Troyes. Like most scholars of his time, Rashi's students included local Jews, future scholars, and merchants trading in the area. However, at a time when basic education for women was extremely rare and the teaching of the Tadmud to a woman was beyond rational thought, Rashi also counted his daughters amongst his most learned students.

Joheved was the oldest of Rashi's daughters. In her own right, she was an amazing woman. She ran the family winery including the vine tending of the vines, bookkeeping, and the financial negotiations with other merchants. She also took on the care of her ailing paternal grandmother, an extremely strong willed woman who had taught Joheved everything about the wine making business. Joheved also served as a loving respectful wife, daughter, and sister. In addition to these fine qualities, Joheved had a love of learning, a thirst for knowledge, a deep devotion to her faith. It was these later qualities, and the fact that Rashi bore no sons, that Joheved was given the very unique opportunity to study the Talmud with her father.

Book One of Rashi's Daughters is a wonderful book that allows the reader to travel back to the 11th century to visit Rashi, his family, and his friends. The author has obviously done a good deal of research and this effort shows in the every word the characters utter, each activity that they undertake, and the way that each of these individuals perceives the world. Beyond these carefully crafted historical accuracies, though, the author has also created an entertaining story that captivates and inspires. After I started reading this book, I found it impossible to put down. I was completely drawn into the story and left the book with the feeling of having had the most amazing visit with a close friend. I eagerly await Book Two.

Rashi's Daughters - Joheved.......2007-07-01

This book, without exception, is the most enjoyable reading experience. Is has it all. Great characterization and outstanding writing. Would like to see it become a movie. Waiting for Maggie's next two. A great book club selection.

No title.......2007-06-14

I love the book! I think Maggie Anton did a great research on this subject.

Solving the Puzzle of Talmud from a Woman's Viewpoint.......2007-04-19

Rashi's Daughter: Johebed by Maggie Anton

Book Review by Arthur L. Finkle

Solving the Puzzle of Talmud from a Woman's Viewpoint

As a long-time educator, I am always on the lookout for the better mousetrap. If you want to learn the rudiments and then some, Rashi's Daughter is just the right fit. A historical novel, Ms. Anton demonstrates many cultural understandings of one of the most famous of the Jewish commentators of the Bible and Talmud.

The background is 11th century France, where Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzchak (Rashi) lives, interprets and acts in his role of father to three daughters. Not having sons, he indulges his daughters, the oldest of whom (Johebed) wants to make the most of her inquiring mind. She knows Bible. Now, unlike the preponderance of women of her day, she wants to learn Talmud.

Rashi, seeing that Johebed truly thirsts for knowledge of Talmud, begins to teach her in a Tractate in which she is interested. Thereupon, he builds upon this start.

The reaction of his other daughters and his wife is interesting but probably true. Rashi's wife believes that Johebed ought to learn the domestic side of womanhood rather than "wasting" her time building upon a mind that will not be used in Jewish scholarship. So attuned is the medieval culture, that Johebed sisters also do not see what use such scholarship is. Moreover, they fear that a stigma will attached to their own marriage prospects.

Ms. Anton develops Johebed's character in small increments, including the ambivalence she experiences in disappointing the female side of her immediate family and yet reveling in the study of Talmud. This study is generally not about the content of the tractate; rather, it is the process of Rabbinical thinking in order to make rulings about Jewish law, which, generally, governs Jewish life. Such scholarship requires not only a retentive mind but also a reasoning ability not possessed by all. Indeed, although there was universal education in the Jewish communities since the 1st century BCE, fewer than ten of one hundred went on to study Talmud. Johebed is not only in this classification but, in helping other students with their Talmud studies, is actually mentoring male students of Rashi.

My Novel Group found that the amount of superstition played a great part in the French Jewish community. They also were impressed that the roles of men and women were so defined by the 11th century. Moreover, the comity between Jewish and Christian was an unexpected benefit. Even the local Christian scholars asked Rashi to interpret the Hebrew Scriptures for them.

Maggie Anton has published a superior book. To be followed by the stories Johebed's two other sisters. Reading such entertaining prose demonstrates the Talmudic process; French medieval living conditions; the role of women; and the special role of the eldest daughter of this Jewish intellectual giant.

As a teacher, I found that Rashi's Daughter: Johebed, explained the Talmudic process in a way that most people could understand. The explanation of the Hebrew Scriptures in terms of law, values, adages and cultural habits appear in the Mishnah, codified in 200 CE. Then, the scholar studies commentary on the Mishnah, i.e., the Talmud.

Then there is something that is extremely difficult to explain to the laity, that is, that process is more important than the content. Further, there has to be total rationality for all 63 Talmudic tractates. And the lesson preparation is often difficult.

A good Book that should be better.......2007-03-17

This is an interesting telling of the lifestyle of Jews at the end of the first millennium CE, in France. It describes some of the life of the scholar Rashi but is primarily about the early years of his daughter Yochoved, the details of which must be fictional. Customs of the times are given and raise many questions. Hidden in its pages is an appeal for early feminism. While it was good reading, in retrospect I think it is rather shallow. Much is glossed over or skipped entirely. For example, the role of Rashi's wife, and of other women, is almost entirely as child bearers. There is only one reference to the Crusades, occurring at that time. Some of Rashi's interpretations and decisions are given but not with the background for his reasoning. Another volume about his second daughter, Miriam, is about to be released. I was left with no desire to pursue it.

Average customer rating:

inside the whitewashed farmhouse
Lacking in character development
Age Appropriate?
A Compelling Read
Tedious writing and shallow characters - reasonable story

A Thousand Acres: A Novel
Jane Smiley
Manufacturer: Anchor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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King Lear (New Folger Library Shakespeare)
Moo
Stone Diaries, The (Essential Edition): (Penguin Essential Edition)
King Lear (Signet Classics)
Breathing Lessons: A Novel

ASIN: 1400033837
Release Date: 2003-12-02

Amazon.com

Aging Larry Cook announces his intention to turn over his 1,000-acre farm--one of the largest in Zebulon County, Iowa--to his three daughters, Caroline, Ginny and Rose. A man of harsh sensibilities, he carves Caroline out of the deal because she has the nerve to be less than enthusiastic about her father's generosity. While Larry Cook deteriorates into a pathetic drunk, his daughters are left to cope with the often grim realities of life on a family farm--from battering husbands to cutthroat lenders. In this winner of the 1991 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, Smiley captures the essence of such a life with stark, painful detail.

Book Description

A successful Iowa farmer decides to divide his farm between his three daughters. When the youngest objects, she is cut out of his will. This sets off a chain of events that brings dark truths to light and explodes long-suppressed emotions. An ambitious reimagining of Shakespeare’s King Lear cast upon a typical American community in the late twentieth century, A Thousand Acres takes on themes of truth, justice, love, and pride, and reveals the beautiful yet treacherous topography of humanity.

Customer Reviews:

inside the whitewashed farmhouse.......2007-10-02

Way-too-human darker side of the many facets of the Midwest farm life, plus some deeply satisfying glimpses into its regional and natural history. A good read. I guess Smiley did create a very well-developed main character, because I still keep worrying about how she's doing. The others, however, were pretty one-dimensional, and more than a few of the plot turns seemed unrealistic, definitely not fleshed out, but I was completely willing to suspend disbelief in order to continue turning the pages to peer into the mind of that main character.

Lacking in character development.......2007-07-13

This book held my interest enough for me to finish it over the course of 3-4 days (I have two toddlers so that's an accompishment!), but by the end of the book I thought there were way too many unanswered questions, particularly due to poor character development and the relationships among the family members. I kept waiting to understand why Caroline was so distant from the family, but there were only mentions here and there but not enough of an explanation. I feel the author could have added so much more to the story regarding the death of their mother when they were young children. There was no depth or dimension to the characters of Ty, Pete, or Rose. Ginny, perhaps because the book was told from her point of view, was the only character I felt like I really knew. The story had the potential to be better but it was difficult for me to invest in any of the characters.

Age Appropriate?.......2007-06-27

This book was a part of my senior reading list for my upcoming AP Liturature course. The characters routinly annoyed me with their inability to see Ginny's father for what he really was and I found Ty's lack of loyalty to his wife the most distressing of all the character relations. The author does a splendid job of convincing you of Ginny's choices and I often found myself unable to wait for the next chapter. Despite this, I didn't feel that the ending was very helpful in its resolution of the conflicts created throughout the story. I realize it's a modern adaptation of "King Lear" but I could not find full satisfaction. It all seemed insufficient. There were also several brief descriptive moments of sexual thought and action that I found very inappropriate. As an AP student I must be mature but, at 16 I am conflicted with the notion of reading the explicit beginning of a sexual encounter between a husband and his wife. While some teens would read such descriptions with lust and others might not even notice, I felt very uncomfortable and couldn't get over the sensation that someone was going to scold me despite my age for reading something as open as this book is. My discomfort overruled my opinion of plot and I would only recommend this book to someone over the age of 18.

A Compelling Read.......2007-06-15

I've heard of references to King Lear but as I read on, I was also struck by similarities to "Wuthering Heights"...families torn asunder, too, and some outlandish emotions. Dramas played out against an unforgiving landscape, and the sense of isolation. But the detail to every-day life, such as the narrator attending to the process of keeping a farm and farm-house running, both makes it more plausible and keeps us anchored. When Ginny plans revenge on Rose, her actions and methodical, painstaking steps she takes, are ghastly but have a certain dark humor, too. I read this in just under three days, and had to force myself to stop at times, just to attend to details of my own household.

Tedious writing and shallow characters - reasonable story.......2007-05-30

I liked the idea of the book, but expected a more riveting account about 3 sisters, their men and their inheritance. The characters were run-of-the-mill and could have been described with richer adjectives. Sibling rivalry, sisterly love and differences in these slightly boring characters could have been refined further.

The scenes are credible with descriptions of the food, crockery, clothing, if a little unimaginative with cliches and tautologies. There were a few twists in plot, but it was stale.

A good editor could have condensed the book to about 1/3rd the length and replaced some obvious adjectives to improve the writing.

C J Critt's reading was clear and voices were well differentiated on the tape, even if the tone was a little patronizing.

I managed to go through all 11 tapes, but it didn't hook me like some books. Finally a note of caution - whereas most of the book is suitable for youth, the sexual nature of the content makes it unsuitable for playing on family trips with children.

Nervous Water: A Brady Coyne Novel (Brady Coyne Novels)

Average customer rating:

Nervous Water
Another page turner by William Tapply
First Brady Coyne novel I have read
A Dense Family Mystery That Doesn't Quite Make Sense
A glimpse into Brady's Coyne family

Nervous Water: A Brady Coyne Novel (Brady Coyne Novels)
William G. Tapply
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Minotaur
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0312337442
Release Date: 2005-08-11

Book Description

In one of the finest novels yet in Tapplys long-running series, Nervous Water explores the previously hidden past of his much beloved character, Boston attorney Brady Coyne. Contacted by an aged relative with whom hed long lost touch, Brady agrees to help his Uncle Moze with a sensitive family matter. Having received a diagnosis of terminal cancer, Moze is looking to mend fences with his only daughter. But the daughter seems to have simply disappeared, leaving no clues or hints as to her whereabouts. As Brady tackles the seemingly impossible task of finding his cousina case that looks less and less like a simple missing person caseit becomes clear that whatever is going on now is related to a dark, undiscussed episode in his familys past: the brutal, still unsolved murder of another of Bradys uncles.

Customer Reviews:

Nervous Water.......2006-12-25

"Nervous Water" is the 21st Brady Coyne novel by William G. Tapply whom I feel is one of the finest mystery writers working today. Brady is called by his Uncle Moze in Maine to try to find his daughter Cassie who has apparently disappeared. Cassie is actually Moze's niece, but he and his wife had raised Cassie as their own. Brady begins to search for his cousin and finds that most people who are close to her are not cooperative. Her husband Richard Hurley is not helpful to Brady and he wonders if Hurley knew something of her disappearance. When Cassie's former lover is killed, Brady knows that someone will stop at nothing to keep Cassie's whereabouts a secret. He even wonders if Cassie is still alive. When Moze suffers a heart attack, Brady knows that he needs to find Cassie. There is also a suplot in which Brady's girlfriend, Evie, is acting strangely. I gave this novel a 5 star because it is a fast paced and very suspenseful read. The only thing I felt was strange about the plot was the fact that Brady had not visited his uncle in 30 years, but I overlooked that and highly recommend this book.

Another page turner by William Tapply.......2006-06-15

William Tapply has written another winner in his Brady Coyne series. All books will stand on their own. I won't give away the plot. (Read the Amazon summary and other reviewers)
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and read it in two sittings. Lots of twists and turns, there are some surprises and some---well you could guess whodunit. Great book for beach, poolside or plane.

First Brady Coyne novel I have read.......2006-03-22

I enjoyed this novel-an interesting and easy read. Storyline was intriging, plot twists convincing, and character development about as deep as a book of this length can provide. I could best describe the book as Greg IIles-lite.

A Dense Family Mystery That Doesn't Quite Make Sense.......2006-02-05

Brady becomes reacquainted with is favorite uncle from Maine, whom he hasn't seen or heard from in 30 years. Already you can see one problem with this book. That's an unlikely set of circumstances.

If you get past that one, Mr. Tapply throws you another unlikely event, Brady's uncle's daughter won't talk to her father and has gone missing. Uncle Moze wants Brady to be sure Cassie is all right and to get her to call Moze. Even if Brady can succeed in finding her, will she be willing to call?

Brady finds himself drawn to do something, especially after Moze has a heart attack. Brady isn't sure that Moze will survive without seeing Cassie.

Arriving at Cassie's house, Brady finds a family that seems to be pretending that nothing's wrong . . . but something clearly is.

As Brady checks out the alternatives by visiting with her family and friends, he seems stymied when a lead suddenly appears. From there the story takes many unexpected turns that will keep you turning the pages.

If you can buy into the story of Brady's connection to Moze and Cassie's relationship with Moze, you have a four or five star book on your hand. There are marvelous scenes of lobstering and fishing that make you want to head for Maine. The title theme of "nervous water" is nicely developed in the book. The mystery itself isn't all that mysterious, but it'll do.

There's an edgy backdrop of tension between Evie and Brady that adds a little personal touch to the story without advancing the plot very much.

After reading the book, I found myself wishing that Mr. Tapply had written this book as a case involving non-relatives of Brady's. I think the story would have worked better.

A glimpse into Brady's Coyne family.......2006-01-02

His uncle who he has not seen in thirty years contacts Boston lawyer Brady Coyne. It seems his Uncle Moze had a falling out with his daughter Cassandra and he has not seen her in a year and a half. Recently finding out that he has heart problems, Moze wants to make amends before it it is too late. The problem is that Cassie cannot be found. Moze wants Brady's help in finding Cassie. Is it a missing person or is it murder?

This is another fine entry in this underrated mystery series. NERVOUS WATER gives us a glimpse into Brady's family on his mother's side. There are a few skeletons rattling around on the old family tree. The story was well plotted and very engaging. In addition to the missing person case, there are a few sub plotlines that are interesting and keep the story moving forward. Brady is not the most dynamic of characters, he is a little to laid-back for that, but the character dynamic keep the pages turning....Brady and his girlfriend, Brady and his secretary, Brady and his dog. Tappley did a great job in setting the scene in small-lakeside town Maine.

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