Bright Lights, Big City

Book Description

The tragicomedy of a young man in NYC, struggling with the reality of his mother's death, alienation and the seductive pull of drugs.

Customer Reviews:

"Partying is such sweet sorrow." .......2007-07-29

His writing style has been compared to Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Waugh. Jay McInerney's (1955) breakthrough novel, Bright Lights Big City (1984), tells the story (in second-person narrative) of an unnamed, divorced ("sexually abandoned"), 24-year-old protagonist's exit from the New York City fast lane. By day he works as a fact checker for a literary magazine, and by night he immerses himself in the trendy New York party scene. (Much like his protagonist, McInerney himself worked as a fact-checker at The New Yorker and was no stranger to the NYC social scene.) With his unique wit, McInerney's coming-of-age, urban-angst novel offers scathing insights into the mid-1980's cocaine party culture. I also recommend McInerney's more recent novels, Brightness Falls (1992) and The Good Life (2006).

G. Merritt

Best book out of the Literary Brat Pack era.......2007-07-07

I've read all of the brat back authors, and I wouldn't jump in and say that any of their works are magnificent literary masterpieces. Bight lights, big city, however, is by far the best novel to come from this period. High Points: Excellent, unprecidented use of 2nd person narrative; witty, satiric, paraodic, and humanistic at heart; very accesible, nothing too over the top, and it avoids pointless refernces to the flat pop-culture of the 80's. I actually have no complaints about this book, but then I don't think many people are going to be talking much about it hereafter. It is more of an entertaining artifact of the 80's than a great work of literature.

Witty, not funny........2007-06-02

I found this book to be frustrating and sad. At first, I thought the unnamed main character was your typical yuppie who is caught up in Manhattan's fast paced, drug induced night life because that is what young, unattached adults do. But then you find out all the bad things that have happened in his life. The drug induced night life made more sense. It was his way of coping with his loses. I thought the writing was clever. Maybe too clever. Some reader's found humor in it. There were some witty parts. "Tad's mission in life is to have more fun than anyone else in New York City, and this involves a lot of moving around, since there is always the likelihood that where you aren't is more fun than where you are." I wouldn't classify this book as "funny" however. I think the writer found an interesting way of describing how a young guy, living in a fast paced world of the 80's, is dealing with loss and loneliness.

Bright Lights, Big City.......2007-02-09

First of all let me nail my flag to the mast - I'm a Jay McInerney (and Bret Easton Ellis) fan. I know a lot of people aren't - but then I'm cooler than a lot of people.

Interesting from the opening line and written in the second person ("You are not the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at this time of the morning"), Brights Lights, Big City is a satirical portrait of a young lost soul trying to find meaning in an apprantly meaningless world. Set in New York City in the 1980s our hero walks zombie-like through clubs, self-indulgence, drugs and meaningless relationships. He hates his job and is basically a mess who is wasting his life. Just as we were beginning to think that our hero has an amazingly shallow existence - he is revealed as being more than a simple waster. He has, in fact, been abandoned by his new wife, is estranged from his family and has aspirations to be a writer of fiction. He is human after all and the question he faces is whether or not he can be bothered to get his life back. Will cynicism or optimism prevail?

McInerney (like Ellis) is often dismissed as a writer of disposable "drug stories" with little literary ability. I disagree. If you are able to look a little deeper you will find plenty of interesting social commentary.

Dealing with loss.......2007-01-19

This is a very sensitively and humanely written novel about a young New Yorker who must deal with several great losses: of his beautiful fashion model wife who abandons him when she moves to France, of his job as a magazine editor, and of his mother. At first I find him self-indulgent and silly, but as I get to know and understand him better, he turns out to be merely sad. Hence, his increased bar hopping and abuse of cocaine.

He acts as if he does not care about the loss of his job through carelessness and indifference. He becomes increasingly depressed and comes close to developing a nervous breakdown. The search for his wife is sadly pathetic. I developed a real empathy for this young man and came to realize that under similar circumstances, he could be you, me--any of us. By the conclusion of the book, through meeting someone new and a cathartic experience, he finally confronts the painful memories of his mother's death. He sees that he "will have to go slowly...and learn everything all over again." He is on his way to recovery.

Wonderful Town: New York Stories from The New Yorker

Average customer rating:

I'm not a book critic, just a college student....
Wonderful collection
Terrific!
A brilliant collection
A must-read for literary fiction fans

Wonderful Town: New York Stories from The New Yorker

Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Anthologies | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Anthologies | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Life Stories: Profiles from The New Yorker (Modern Library Paperbacks)
Fierce Pajamas: An Anthology of Humor Writing from The New Yorker (Modern Library Paperbacks)
Poems of New York (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets)
New York Stories: The Best of the City Section of the New York Times
The Fun of It: Stories from The Talk of the Town (Modern Library Paperbacks)

ASIN: 0375503560
Release Date: 2000-01-11

Amazon.com

"Ah, what can ever be more stately and admirable to me than mast-hemm'd Manhattan?" marveled the excitable Walt Whitman in 1865. The skinny island and its four sister boroughs have continued to fascinate writers ever since, and it would be hard to find a better record of that fascination than Wonderful Town: New York Stories from The New Yorker. As David Remnick explains in his foreword, the fledgling magazine paid relatively little heed to the nuts and bolts of metropolitan life, and in his original prospectus, Harold Ross didn't even mention fiction. But in the following decades, Ross and his successors published so many classic New York stories that the real challenge, according to Remnick, was whittling down the selection: "As there is barely enough room in this city to contain all of its busy, funny, angry, joyful, carping, and canny inhabitants, there was barely enough room to contain the wide range of stories we agreed upon."

So what made the grade? There are treasures from John Cheever ("The Five-Forty-Eight"), James Thurber ("The Catbird Seat"), Maeve Brennan ("I See You, Bianca"), Isaac Bashevis Singer ("The Cafeteria"), Jamaica Kincaid ("Poor Visitor"), and many others. The uptown neighborhoods appear to be more generously represented--a token, perhaps, of the magazine's well-heeled, fur-bearing readership--but from early Updike to middle-period Tama Janowitz, there are plenty of excursions south of Fourteenth Street. It's not, however, a simple matter of geography, but a kind of urban metaphysics at work. There are numerous and overlapping New Yorks represented in this collection: you'll find John Cheever's postwar paradise cheek-by-jowl with Ann Beattie's yuppie stomping ground. Then there's James Stevenson's vision of a flooded Gotham:

We are on the roof now. I have no idea what time it is, but it is daylight. The lower buildings have been submerged, the tall office buildings stand like tombstones above the heaving waves. There are whitecaps toward Central Park. An ocean liner stood by the Pan Am building for a while, then moved out to sea.... The water is swirling around the skylights now. The wind shifts. The waves are coming straight in from the Atlantic.

Even in this postapocalyptic setting, New York stubbornly remains itself. A wonderful town indeed--and a wonderful collection to celebrate it. --Anita Urquhart

Book Description

New York City is not only The New Yorker magazine's place of origin and its sensibility's lifeblood, it is the heart of American literary culture. Wonderful Town, an anthology of superb short fiction by many of the magazine's most accomplished contributors, celebrates the seventy-five-year marriage between a preeminent publication and its preeminent context with this collection of forty-four of its best stories from (so to speak) home.

East Side? Philip Roth's chronically tormented alter ego Nathan Zuckerman has just moved there, in "Smart Money." West Side? Isaac Bashevis Singer's narrator mingles with the customers in "The Cafeteria" (who debate politics and culture in four or five different languages) and becomes embroiled in an obsessional romance. And downtown, John Updike's Maples have begun their courtship of marital disaster, in "Snowing in Greenwich Village." John Cheever, John O'Hara, Lorrie Moore, Irwin Shaw, Woody Allen, Laurie Colwin, Saul Bellow, J. D. Salinger, Jean Stafford, Vladimir Nabokov--they and many other stellar literary guides to the city will be found in these pages.

Wonderful Town touches on some of the city's famous places and stops at some of its more obscure corners, but the real guidebook in and between its lines is to the hearts and the minds of those who populate the metropolis built by its pages. Like all good fiction, these stories take particular places, particular people, and particular events and turn them into dramas of universal enlightenment and emotional impact. The five boroughs are the five continents. New York is every great and ordinary place. Each life in it, and each life in Wonderful Town, is the life of us all.

Customer Reviews:

I'm not a book critic, just a college student...........2005-10-18

I'm not a book critic, just a college student and had to read some stories from this book for class. As I said, I haven't ready everything in the world, and don't want to be seen ignorant. But I really didn't enjoy a lot of things here, thought I haven't read all the stories. Some where enjoyable "6" on a 1-10 scale, 10 being the best. Some stories seem very gloomy, and all the stories that I read are loosely related to New York. But "Good For You" to the people who enjoyed this book. And don't just take my word for it.

Wonderful collection.......2004-03-31

The opening author is John Cheever. A corporate man and a corporate secretary meet at her place for a drink. He is estranged from his wife, the father of a friend of his son, and, finally, the woman, who manages to humiliate him.

There is a story by Roth about a fictitious quiz show contestant. Tales by John O'Hara, Laurie Colwin, Jonathan Franzen, and Frank Conroy appear. The Franzen entry was used as a chapter or at least an incident in CORRECTIONS.

A character in a Nabokov story has referential mania. Jamaica Kincaid in her account of an overseas visitor speaks of day old food stored in a refrigerator. John McNulty writes of a bar, of course, and Hortense Calisher of Greenwich Village.

J.D. Salinger's contribution is a story featuring Holden Caulfield and Pencey Prep. Renata Adler writes in stylish fashion using a fictional "I" of life in a brownstone. Isaac Bashevis Singer comes along with yiddish-speaking cafeteria goers. Veronica Geng has a take on conspicuous consumption.

Susan Sontag provides a surprisingly buoyant account of chronic illness. The narrator of Julie Hecht's story believes that buildings in New York should be built to the specifications of Prince Charles. "Mentocrats" by Edward Newhouse concerns schoolboys promoting the idea of a mental aristocracy. Daniel Menaker has a character say that the banality of evil is outstripped by the banality of anxiety neurosis. The psychiatrist in the story tells the first character he doesn't have the courage of his own contempt.

In eliminating some regrets you create others according to Jeffrey Eugenides. Dorothy Parker, E.B. White, Elizabeth Hardwick, Bernard Malamud, and Saul Bellow are all present in this collection of stories. Bellow's story gives rise to the thought that everyone has burdens. Remnick's selections are a joy.

Terrific!.......2002-08-03

John Cheever, Woody Allen, and Bernard Malamud wrote my favorite stories in this wonderful collection about life in New York City. Three quick thoughts: (1) While the dynamic captured by some authors seems a little dated (Dorothy Parker), most of the stories resonate with characters, experiences, and social groups that are common today in New York. (2) The collection offers 44 stories and 44 authors. This helps a reader see how these authors are great in different ways. (3) This collection ends, once and for all, the impression that all stories in The New Yorker are the same. Buy this book!

A brilliant collection.......2001-01-03

This collection of New York stories shows both why writers have been fascinated with the Big Apple for so long and also why The New Yorker has been the hallmark of short fiction. The collection begins with Cheever and ends with Perlman, which pretty much sums up the golden years of the magazine. The pleasures here range from a story of lingering urban dread by William Maxwell to a hilarious tale of an intellectual loser by Jonathan Franzen. Updike's story both paints a true picture of New York in the snow and returns to his favorite theme -- infidelity. Philip Roth has a hilarious entry about a famous writer hounded by a game show contestant -- even funnier if you've seen "Quiz Show." The collection made me homesick for New York. It's one of the best books I read in 2000.

A must-read for literary fiction fans.......2000-10-10

This is not only a good anthology to read for entertainment, but also a necessity for anyone who wants to write literary fiction. The New Yorker is the cornerstone of American contemporary literature, and this book captures a good sampling of the stories which have appeared in its pages the last 50 years or so. I particularly liked DEisenberg's story, and the fact that JCheever's story appears first. I think the book should have had a few more lighter pieces, and wonder why McInerney was skipped over.

City of Dreams: A Novel of Nieuw Amsterdam and Early Manhattan

Average customer rating:

City of Dream, Beverly Swerling
4 1/2 Stars -- Very Hard To Put Down!
Another one in the minority here
Outstanding read!
loved it !!!!

City of Dreams: A Novel of Nieuw Amsterdam and Early Manhattan
Beverly Swerling
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Family Saga | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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

General | Romance | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Shadowbrook: A Novel of Love, War, and the Birth of America
City of Glory: A Novel of War and Desire in Old Manhattan
A Catch of Consequence
Taking Liberties
The Tea Rose: A Novel

ASIN: 0684871726
Release Date: 2001-10-02

Book Description

Rich with unforgettable characters and history, intricately plotted and utterly absorbing, City of Dreams is a stirring saga of early Manhattan and the beginnings of medical science told by a master storyteller.

In 1661, Lucas Turner and his sister, Sally, stagger off a small wooden ship after eleven weeks at sea to make a fresh start in the rough and rowdy Dutch settlement of Nieuw Amsterdam.

Lucas, a barber surgeon, and Sally, an apothecary, are both gifted healers and bound to each other by blood and necessity. Yet as their new lives unfold, lust, betrayal, and murder will make them deadly enemies. In their struggle to survive in the New World, both make choices that will burden their descendants -- dedicated physicians and surgeons, pirates and whoremasters -- with a legacy of secrets and retribution. That heritage sets cousin against cousin, physician against surgeon, and ultimately, patriot against Tory.

In a city where slaves are burned alive on Wall Street, where James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams walk The Broad Way arguing America's destiny, and where one of the greatest hospitals in the world is born in former shipwrights' workshops by the East River, the fortunes of the two families are inextricably entwined. Their pride and ambition, their loves and hates, and their willingness to live by their own rules will shape the future of medicine, and the becoming of the dream that is New York.

Customer Reviews:

City of Dream, Beverly Swerling.......2007-08-23

Fantastic Historic read. The story takes unexpected turns through several generations. Characters jump off the page and stayed with me for a long time. Ms. Swerling has a great gift to put you into that space and time.

4 1/2 Stars -- Very Hard To Put Down!.......2007-04-18

Beverly Swerling's City Of Dreams is a sweeping epic of (primarily) two families starting from Manhattan's beginnings as a Dutch colony in the 1660's through the American Revolution, when New York became a new nation's city of dreams. Swerling provides the right blend of interesting historical facts about Nieuw Amsterdam/New York and the early days of medicine, mystery, excitement, sex, a well-developed plot, and a array of fictional and real characters to make City Of Dreams a book that is difficult to put down. Her strong writing ability made me feel that I stepped back over 300 years in time and was right there with the characters experiencing life during a fascinating time in our history. I highly recommend The City Of Dreams if you are a fan of historical fiction. I'm looking forward to reading Swerling's two other books, Shadowbrook and City Of Glory.

Another one in the minority here.......2007-02-10

I am sorry, as much as I love historical fiction, and as much as I LOVED Shadowbrook, I could not get into this book. While I appreciate the amount of research the author did into medical history of this time and treatment of slaves, the gore factor is WAY OVER THE TOP. Page after page after page, compounded with unappealing characters who even if one started to care, disappeared into another generation.

I gave up after 200 pages. I give the author kudos for the well done research and keeping with known facts, but as stated before, the gore factor is way over what I can stomach for 600 pages. If you are not sure if this is for you, I suggest you check it our from your local libary. Then, if you absolutely love it, buy it. JMHO.

Outstanding read!.......2006-11-01

I could not put this wonderful work of historical fiction down! Two thumbs up! The author did a fantastic job of weaving this tale and these wonderful characters together. One of the things I like about the book is that I don't always like the attributes of the character, nor do I like what they do or how they act or feel...but I care about what happens to them and can't stop wanting to know more. What a wonderful read....I am on a quest to find more by this talented author.

loved it !!!!.......2006-10-20

wow this author is so good! i could not put this book down. the perfect book. has love, lust, anger, betrayal and it makes you feel as if you were in the actual story!

Average customer rating:

Shocking 1950's Blockbuster Is Still A Pageturner
Other Books
A Great Piece of Pop Culture History
LIFE IN A QUIET TOWN
great book

Peyton Place
Grace Metalious , and Ardis Cameron
Manufacturer: Northeastern
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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

Valley of the Dolls
Inside Peyton Place: The Life of Grace Metalious (Banner Book)
Peyton Place
Return to Peyton Place (Hardscrabble Books)
Return to Peyton Place

ASIN: 1555534007

Book Description

When Grace Metalious's debut novel about the dark underside of a small, respectable New England town was published in 1956, it quickly soared to the top of the bestseller lists. A landmark in twentieth-century American popular culture, Peyton Place spawned a successful feature film and a long-running television series-the first prime-time soap opera.

Contemporary readers of Peyton Place will be captivated by its vivid characters, earthy prose, and shocking incidents. Through her riveting, uninhibited narrative, Metalious skillfully exposes the intricate social anatomy of a small community, examining the lives of its people -- their passions and vices, their ambitions and defeats, their passivity or violence, their secret hopes and kindnesses, their cohesiveness and rigidity, their struggles, and often their courage.

This new paperback edition of Peyton Place features an insightful introduction by Ardis Cameron that thoroughly examines the novel's treatment of class, gender, race, ethnicity, and power, and considers the book's influential place in American and New England literary history.

Customer Reviews:

Shocking 1950's Blockbuster Is Still A Pageturner .......2007-09-25

When PEYTON PLACE was published in the late 1950's it was a phenomenon. Those of us who are over forty or so still recognize the title as being synonymous with a locale filled with scandal and gossip. Aside from its historic notoriety this is a very readable novel with realistic characters and several intriguing plots.

The setting of the novel is Peyton Place, New Hampshire a small mill town in the 1930's and 1940's. The book focuses on several young people in the town as they grow from early adolescents to adulthood in this small hypocritical community. The female protagonist is Allison a young woman with literary ambitions. Allison's mother has a closely guarded secret about Allison's birth which will seem silly to modern readers but was apparently scandalous in the 50's. Allison's schoolmates include Selena, a smart ambitious girl from the "shacks" with a horrible secret of her own, Rodney the overly indulged son of the mill owner who rules the town and a nervous boy named Norman. This book is not just about teenagers though as the stories of their parents and other townspeople are also told. Serious problems and tragedies occur in the town and the writing is suspenseful enough to keep the reader turning the pages.

PEYTON PLACE is often compared to another novel of small town secrets KINGS ROW. Though PEYTON PLACE is not quite as well written as that novel they do share the theme of the hidden lives of respectable seeming small town residents. The hypocrisy of the residents and the fear many of them live in of being gossiped about and the choices they make to not "be talked about" are the two elements of PEYTON PLACE this reader will remember.

Other Books.......2007-09-03

A really pretty tame book about a particular town, where the author through an author character looks at the peccadilloes of various people in the town of the time.

These range from sex, to being a scumbag employer, to drunks, wife beaters, all the usual stuff you would expect to find in a place in the country, as the Great Detective would tell you.

Fairly dull.

A Great Piece of Pop Culture History.......2007-07-26

I read this book for a class I took on pop culture fiction and was pleasantly surprised. The book is set in a small New England town mysteriously called Peyton Place after a castle set high above the village. The book follows a wide array of the inhabitants of the town, from the upper crust that bring to mind images of southern gentlemen to the 'shack dwellers' straight out of hicksville, to the run of the mill guys and gals of the teenage set. The main message of course, is that nothing is ever quite as it seems...

With that in mind, the book is very much the predecessor to the soap operas of today. There are several main characters, but every character whether mentioned over a few scant pages or in every chapter, resonates in some way to the various climaxes sprinkled from start to finish. If you are a fan of soap operas, or even dramatic television, romantic novels, or chick lit, you'll find this book and its twisting and turning storylines extremely entertaining.

What the book is notorious for is its 'naughty bits', that were quite shocking for the time period it was written and distributed in (the 50's) and even moreso for the time period the book is set in (30's-50's). I can tell you the book doesn't disappoint in the sense that it is very willing to deal with sexuality and taboo subjects in a blunt matter - made even more interesting by the knowledge we have today of life for women in the 50's and 60's.

Overall this is a great book - there are far too many plot lines to delve into in a simple review like this, but you will not be disappointed if you are looking for a nice summer read or a engaging soapy page turner.

LIFE IN A QUIET TOWN .......2007-04-11

"Rodney Harrington, wearing a white jacket and with curly black hair well slicked down with water, sat on the edge of a chair in the Mckenzie living room. Constance had left him there while she went upstairs to see if Allison was ready, and now Rodney sat and stared morosely at the braided rug on the floor."

Thanks to Grace Metalious and Ardis Cameron we can now enjoy this book in print once again.
Peyton Place was one of the soap operas nobody wanted to miss when it was on televison. It was for this reason that I drew this book out to indulge in a bit of nostalgia.
It was a wonderful read with all our favourite characters, I could hardly put it down for too long. Hope others find that joy that I did reliving Peyton Place.
Reviewed by Heather Marshall Negahdar (SUGAR-CANE 11/04/07)

great book.......2007-02-13

What a great book!! The writing is fabulous!!! It's amazing what a "stir" it caused when it was first published years ago.

City of Glory: A Novel of War and Desire in Old Manhattan

Average customer rating:

What's all the fuss about?
The Perfect Sequel!
Vivid history and wonderfully believable characters
A Tantalizing & Turbulent Ten Days in New York
Another look at old Manhattan

City of Glory: A Novel of War and Desire in Old Manhattan
Beverly Swerling
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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

Action & Adventure | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0743269209

Book Description

Set against the dramatic backdrop of America's second war for independence, Beverly Swerling's gripping and intricately plotted sequel to the much-loved City of Dreams plunges deep into the crowded streets of old New York.

Poised between the Manhattan woods and the sea that is her gateway to the world, the city of 1812 is vibrant but raw, a cauldron where the French accents of Creole pirates mingle with the brogues of Irish seamen, and shipments of rare teas and silks from Canton are sold at raucous Pearl Street auctions. Allegiances are more changeable than the tides, love and lust often indistinguishable, the bonds of country weak compared to the temptation of fabulous riches from the East, and only a few farseeing patriots recognize the need not only to protect the city from the redcoats, but to preserve the fragile Constitutional union forged in 1787.

Joyful Patrick Turner, dashing war hero and brilliant surgeon, loses his hand to a British shell, retreats to private life, and hopes to make his fortune in the China trade. To succeed he must run the British blockade; if he fails, he will lose not only a livelihood, but the beautiful Manon, daughter of a Huguenot jeweler who will not accept a pauper as a son-in-law. When stories of a lost treasure and a mysterious diamond draw him into a treacherous maze of deceit and double-cross, and the British set Washington ablaze, Joyful realizes that more than his personal future is at stake. His adversary, Gornt Blakeman, has a lust for power that will not be sated until he claims Joyful's fiancée as his wife and half a nation as his personal fiefdom. Like the Turners before him, Joyful must choose: his dreams or his country.

Swerling's vividly drawn characters illuminate every aspect of the teeming metropolis: John Jacob Astor, the wealthiest man in America, brings the city's first Chinese to staff his palatial Broadway mansion; Lucretia Carter, wife of a respectable craftsman, makes ends meet as an abortionist serving New York's brothels; Thumbless Wu, a mysterious Cantonese stowaway, slinks about on a secret mission; and the bewitching Delight Higgins, proprietress of the town's finest gambling club, lives in terror of the blackbirding gangs who prey on runaway slaves. They are all here, the butchers and shipwrights, the doctors and scriv-eners, the slum dwellers of Five Points and the money men of the infant stock exchange...conspiring by day and carousing by night, while the women must hide their loyalties and ambitions, their very wills, behind pretty sighs and silken skirts.

Customer Reviews:

What's all the fuss about?.......2007-07-02

This book was good, yes, but in my humble opinion, not 5 stars good. Frankly, I thought parts of the main plot were ridiculous (pirates, the end battle, etc.) and the whole bit about Blakeman had me asking "What's all the fuss about?" (SPOILER: So how exactly is the diamond and a couple of arrogant men going to bring about the downfall of the nation? I think it would take more than that! I didn't feel the urgency that Joyful obviously felt with the situation.) Thus, I thought the main plot was okay, but it certainly didn't have me sitting on the edge of my seat. There were also many side plots, the opium, the treasure, the slaves, etc., that didn't tie into the main plot very well.

For instance, after reading the first few chapters, I thought the book was mainly going to be about Joyful getting his treasure back and becoming a powerful trader. But no, this turns into a side plot that is so very conveniently wrapped up at the end. (How nice!)

The ending seemed like a 3rd book could be written in the series. If it were, I wouldn't read it.

The Perfect Sequel!.......2007-03-19

"Fans of historical fiction will delight in this rich tale of imagery and characters fighting the British blockade and searching for love."

Vivid history and wonderfully believable characters.......2007-02-27

I enjoyed City of Dreams, but this book, City of Glory, is simply amazing; the writing is as smooth as silk. The opening sections are brief and do make rapid jumps but I was never lost. All the threads kept moving forward and weaving into one single story, one vivid picture of the time.
I liked very much that Ms. Swerling tries to touch on many of the major currents of the time and place - many writers of fiction, historical and otherwise, make their lives easier by limiting the scope of their books to only those elements that work towards the point they're trying to make - and I liked that she shows us all kinds and classes of people. It's a wonderfully honest perspective. I found myself sympathizing with people very different than myself - I've never run a whorehouse or had to be afraid of slavers, I certainly can't imagine wanting to make money out of pushing other people into slavery, like another of the characters (no name mentioned here, to not give away the story) but the pride and desperation that pushed the person into making this choice is shown as clearly as the ugliness of the slave trade. It's a brave thing for a writer to do.
All the people in this book are vividly human. The lesser characters engage as immediately as the major. Reverend Fish's congregation faces black-birders (people who capture and sell blacks, free or otherwise, into slavery) as well as violence and poverty, but there are ministers and leaders of small, threatened communities today, of all colors, who would empathize with his spirit. And though not a lot of time is spent on the Chinese characters, I laughed out loud when I hit the place where the rice cookers the first Chinese brought to New York are mentioned - I grew up in a country with a large Chinese population, and I remember that my Chinese girlfriend's mother sent her off to University with a rice-cooker. I would have enjoyed seeing more of the Chinese (maybe the next book?) but with this many characters I can see why the author couldn't give equal time to all. And I loved that even the characters who spend the least time onscreen are fully understandable - Dolly Madison insisting on being a competent housewife and packing the plate and drawing room curtains before evacuating the White House is endearing or irritating, depending on one's own point of view, but certainly believable, as is the goldsmith who bumbles into plots he doesn't understand in a way that is perfectly on par with his inability to cope with a daughter much brighter than he is. I also love the detail note that Jacob Astor, a man of national and international importance, certainly great business savvy, is blind to a simple, homely fact that his much less successful brother immediately notices. A book, for me, doesn't work unless the little things are done as well as the big, and City of Glory is full of tiny, wonderful details.
City of Dreams ended with a foretaste of the conflicts that haunt America today that was so strong it was almost eerie. City of Glory similarly shows the tension between North and South, coastal city and rural hinterland - some of the seeds that produce those frighteningly divided red and blue electoral maps. It would take a magician, not a novelist, to have an answer to this problem, but if the novelist's job is to hold up a mirror to society and help us understand ourselves a little better, Ms. Swerling has certainly done it - and of course, most importantly, done it in a very entertaining way. This is a grand yarn.

A Tantalizing & Turbulent Ten Days in New York.......2007-02-20

Beverly Swerling's third novel continues the story of the DeVrey and Turner family feud into the early 19th Century against the backdrop of the British Blockade of American ports and the attack on Washington DC toward the end of the War of 1812. This book is chock full of action - it is a wonder that Joyful Patrick Turner, the hero of her latest installment, was able to accomplish so much in these ten days during which he seemingly had so little sleep!

The pluses: this book has all of the ingredients for the making of a wonderful historical novel - pirates, political schemes, war, treason, brothels, slave trading, the largest diamond ever, true love, Irish gangs, the wealthiest man in America, and plenty of characters with missing limbs & digits...

Despite these perks, the sub-stories in this novel are a bit blurry, rushed and littered with extra characters who play insignificant roles. (For instance, why the Chinese Opium side line? It adds little other than to provide opportunities for Joyful to keep his Cantonese in use!) Politics, business, love, intrigue, war and lust are just thrown into the pot and brought to an immediate boil rather than being added one at a time and simmering until the perfect flavor is attained. This seems such a shame as Ms. Swerling's other two books are magnificently written historical epics - perhaps their brilliance casts a bit of a shadow on this one.

However, please do not let these flaws dissuade you from reading City of Glory! It is a fun, fast-paced book full of well researched (and little known) history told through archetypal characters, and quite enjoyable!

Another look at old Manhattan.......2007-02-18

This is a riveting story wonderfully told with all kinds of interesting stuff I'd never have guessed...like slavery in New York? Along with pirates and Chinese and too much to attempt saying here. All superbly researched and relayed with such a masterful touch it's a huge pleasure to read. This is my idea of historical fiction at its very best. Perfect for a snowy afternoon before a fireplace!

Love in a Fallen City (New York Review Books Classics)

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Love in a Fallen City (New York Review Books Classics)
Eileen Chang
Manufacturer: NYRB Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

British | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Chinese | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Chinese | Classics | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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Lust, Caution: The Story
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ASIN: 1590171780
Release Date: 2006-10-10

Book Description

A New York Review Books Original

“[A] giant of modern Chinese literature” – The New York Times

"With language as sharp as a knife edge, Eileen Chang cut open a huge divide in Chinese culture, between the classical patriarchy and our troubled modernity. She was one of the very few able truly to connect that divide, just as her heroines often disappeared inside it. She is the fallen angel of Chinese literature, and now, with these excellent new translations, English readers can discover why she is so revered by Chinese readers everywhere." – Ang Lee

Eileen Chang is one of the great writers of twentieth-century China, where she enjoys a passionate following both on the mainland and in Taiwan. At the heart of Chang’s achievement is her short fiction—tales of love, longing, and the shifting and endlessly treacherous shoals of family life. Written when Chang was still in her twenties, these extraordinary stories combine an unsettled, probing, utterly contemporary sensibility, keenly alert to sexual politics and psychological ambiguity, with an intense lyricism that echoes the classics of Chinese literature. Love in a Fallen City, the first collection in English of this dazzling body of work, introduces American readers to the stark and glamorous vision of a modern master.

Will Eisner's New York: Life in the Big City: New York, The Building, City People Notebook, Invisible People (Will Eisner Library)

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Start spreading the news.

Will Eisner's New York: Life in the Big City: New York, The Building, City People Notebook, Invisible People (Will Eisner Library)
Will Eisner
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

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

Eisner, Will | Authors, A-Z | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories

ASIN: 039306106X

Book Description

"An American storyteller, like Ray Bradbury, like O. Henry."—Neil Gaiman

With an unparalleled eye for stories and expressive illustration, Will Eisner, the master and pioneer of American comics art, presents graphic fiction's greatest celebration of the Big Apple. No illustrator evoked the melancholy duskiness of New York City as expressively as Eisner, who knew the city from the bottom up. This new hardcover presents a quartet of graphic works (New York, The Building, City People Notebook, and Invisible People) and features what Neil Gaiman describes as "tales as brutal, as uncaring as the city itself." From ancient buildings "barnacled with laughter and stained with tears" to the subways, "humorless iron reptiles, clacking stupidly on a webbing of graceful steel rails," Will Eisner's New York includes cameo appearances by the author himself; several new illustrations sketched by Eisner, posthumously inked by Peter Poplaski; and three previously unpublished "out-takes"—a treasure for any Eisner fan, and sure to become a collectible. Introduction by Neil Gaiman.

Customer Reviews:

Start spreading the news........2007-09-06

This book collects four of Will Eisner's comic books. I hesitate to use the term "graphic novels" because these aren't novels, they are short stories. Some of them are very short, being one page vignettes. The books collected are New York: The Big City, The Building, City People Notebook and Invisible People. Will Eisner was truly one of the geniuses of the comic book artform. This book tells the stories of regular city dwellers. Some of their stories are funny, some of them are tragic. But they are all worth reading. Highly recommended.

Average customer rating:

Good, with a slight reservation

Secrets of the City: A Novel
Anne Roiphe
Manufacturer: Shaye Areheart Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Political | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Psychological & Suspense | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1400049458
Release Date: 2003-10-07

Book Description

From the pages of The Forward comes celebrated author Anne Roiphe’s episodic and brilliant novel of a big-city mayor and the struggles that shape the fortunes of his city, the life of his family, and the condition of his soul.

Mel Rosenberg is the mayor of a city uncannily similar to New York, which is being terrorized by a string of unusual attacks. Hundreds of ducks are found dead in the park; animals mysteriously die at the zoo; dozens of people are killed by poisoned food; all of the elevator operators in one building are murdered; and the mayor is kidnapped. In addition to handling the city’s multiple crises, Mel must also contend with the pressures of his imperfect family—a daughter-in-law who is a compulsive shoplifter; an ungrateful son obsessed with status; an insecure daughter with a troubled marriage—not to mention a sexy, aggressive newspaper reporter who aims desperately to be his mistress. On top of it all, he becomes entangled in a high-profile political scandal that could ambush his aspirations of being elected the first Jewish president of the United States.

With Secrets of the City, Anne Roiphe has delivered a fast-paced, engaging story written with humor, shrewd insight, and tenderness. Her characters explore issues that are as contemporary as they are timeless, and the plot has as many unexpected twists and turns as the West Village streets. This is an insider’s peek at life in the fast lane in the most brilliant and brutal city in the world, with all its secrets laid bare.

Customer Reviews:

Good, with a slight reservation.......2004-04-22

While it took me a little while to get into the book, I did find that enjoyed it quite a bit. I did have a small issue, though.

I was not a fan of the abrupt changes from character to character. Each chapter had at least one, and it was very distracting to start. I was able to get used to it, but I don't know if it was an overall benefit to the book.

Book Description

Tony Valentine is an expert at spotting cheats. He’s tossed them out of gambling casinos from Atlantic City to Las Vegas and Monaco. But though Tony has never met a scam he couldn’t crack, his son and partner, Gerry, has just walked into one with a body count.

What started with a conman’s deathbed confession turns into a deadly Las Vegas grudge match during the world’s biggest poker tournament. While Gerry and his shady friends tangle with the Vegas mob, Tony enlists the aid of an aging grifter who’s fleecing suckers with a dazzling array of improbable betting stunts. Tony’s been hired to save the tournament (and stop a blind player who’s out to heist it), while Gerry’s just trying to stay alive–now that murder is in the cards.

Featuring insider tips for catching poker cheats, as well as a glossary of card hustler terms!

Customer Reviews:

Half a book.......2007-07-23

The writing is great and the build up to the end is great but there is no payoff. We have to buy the next book to figure out what is going to happen (I think). Frustrating and disappointing.

You gotta know when to fold 'em.......2007-06-22

Based on the first third of this book, I would give this 4 stars. The characters were interesting, and I was enjoying myself. Then the story really slowed down, with lots of side stuff. Then I figured out I would need to get the next book Deadman's Bluff to finish the story. So minus 1 star for taking a single 1 book story and splitting into 2 books to extort money. And clearly, it would have been 2 short books so filler was added. Another minus star for boring side stories; the Rufus scammer character is interesting in moderation, but after the fly, horserace, golf, ping pong, cat, x-ray vision, etc. scams, it was tiring. They didn't add anything, other than the mildly entertaining "how he tricked the Greek" variety. But they were too long as side stories, and it was ludicrous that the main character and his tacked-on "love" interest kept saying "there's no way he can do this" over and over again. Look, Rufus is a grifter, he will win not by playing by the rules. No reader was saying "yeah, there is no way" rather it was, "ok, what dumb trick will he use." So the dialog seemed contrived to try to make these side stories more dramatic. Didn't work. And in the end, the way that the tournament cheating was done, you probably will have figured out, and it isn't very "wow" to justify buying and reading 2 books. Even though my review sounds negative, I was impressed with the beginning of this book, and I assume that the rest of this book and the 2nd one were boring because the author (editor/publisher) were trying to stretch this out to sell twice as many books. If you just read this book and not the 2nd you really will be unhappy (1 star happy). However, given the good beginning of this book, I'm going to try Mr. Lucky and give this author 1 more chance. I think he is better than whomever told him to stretch this thin story to two volumes. The author seems to have a great sense of gambling, Atlantic City, and grifters. If these 2 books were 1, and tightened up by dropping a ton of Rufus stuff, this would be 4 stars!

Here comes a another one.......2007-03-01

I really like Swain. I really like Valentine. I even kinda like his kid. I'm not too sure about this novel. You see it's not finished. There's some strange, fatal method of winning at poker - maybe like what killed that Russian spy_ but after a lot of novel we do not yet know. Nor does Tony. I sure hope no one climbs up a rope and disappears in the follow up. You see, there is an old con man who makes and wins absurd bets with gamblers in Las Vegas. I suspect the chances of getting away with those bets would be about the same as not experiencing leg breaking ,cause they are on the order of "Betcha I can tell you where you got them shoes." So here we are anticipating a resolution to the surefire poker win and are only half the way there while being entertained with side shows. Maybe Swain needed some cash and had only half the novel done. After all, the carnie makes as much geeking as on the midway. I hope that's it cause now I am waiting for the follow up. Hooked I guess.Decide for yourself. Double or nothing. Watta bet!!!

Beware...#1 of a Two parter.......2007-01-19

The problem with some author's today is that they decide (or their publishers encourage them) to write a 2 part-er. Then, they do not let you knw this on the cover (probably so if you read the paperback, you can then buy the hardcover). The problem with these books is that the 2nd part usually spends a lot of time covering the same ground as the first book, and (as reviewers already state for book #2 - Deadman's bluff - you do not even need to read this one to appreciate that work!).

Otherwise this would get 4 stars. Swain's writing is much better, and his plot points no longer carry the huge unbelievable stretches of imagination (like actual mind reading monkeys) that his earlier works do. One good aspect of Swain's books is that the author allows us to enjoy Vegas while at the same time not hiding his personal distain for the gambling mecca.

I recommend this, as long as you know it is #1 of 2 and though side plot points will be solved, the main case will not until you read "bluff."

Deadmen tell no tales... or do they?.......2006-09-09

For anyone who enjoys an exciting, fast paced mystery, "Deadman's Poker" is a must read. For anyone with an interest in poker or any competitive card game, Deadman's Poker is certainly a must read. The story hits the ground running right from page one and from there on I couldn't put the book down.

"Deadman's Poker" has it all; murder, mystery, intrigue, romance, full of life characters, and a background of pop culture in the form of the popular trend of poker tournaments. Jim Swain deftly leads the reader through gripping plot twists and turns which take you deeper and deeper into the intrigue and mystery of the con as Investigator Tony Valentine gets deeper and deeper into the web of deception and cheating going on at the world's largest poker tournament.

Do yourself a favor, when you pick up "Deadman's Bluff", get "Deadman's Poker". You are going to want to open "Bluff" as soon as you finish "Poker". These two novels are contemporary pop-mystery writing at its finest.

Average customer rating:

Very disappointing.
the insiders
Totally worth it later
good with some buts
another summer book...

Insiders (Insiders Novel)
J. Minter
Manufacturer: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Literature & Fiction | Teens | Subjects | Books

Being a Teen | Social Issues | Teens | Subjects | Books

The Insiders | Series | Teens | Subjects | Books

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The Au Pairs

ASIN: 1582348952

Book Description

A captivating, scandalous look into the privileged and turbulent world of five fabulous guys living in Manhattan's trendiest neighborhoods. Jonathan is the leader of the pack-but what will happen if the pack falls apart? Arno's way with the girls makes you wonder, can boys be sluts? David is known as the nice guy, but will he stay that way? Mickey is always in trouble, and Patch is just MIA. They've got rich parents, go to top schools, and have hip friends. With so many parties to go to, colleges to impress, girls to win over, and so much money to spend, who can keep track of it all? And can true friendship really shine through in the end? J. Minter's keen eye for urban teens, their dialogue, and the details of New York City's high life make this a guilty pleasure for readers of the Gossip Girl series and other glitterati novels.

Customer Reviews:

Very disappointing........2006-11-11

I was very excited when this first book came out, but when i bought the book and finished it in a day, and i wasnt very impressed. It was extremely boring and slow. I deffinately dont suggest you read this book. It's a waste of time and very disapointing.

the insiders.......2005-10-07

This book is exceptional. I liked it a lot and im definitly reading the next book. The Insiders is a fun easy to fallow book that is not only suspenseful but also very entertaining and hard to put down. It is very easy to connect to. Also it makes it very interesting watching 5 completely different personalities join together to become a group of best friends who at times envy eachother but find ways to come back together to form their group "the insiders".

Totally worth it later.......2005-09-10

This book looks like another teen beach read and it is. Its fun and juicy, and an easy book to escape summer reading lists with. The first wasn't amazing but read on to the second and i promise it will be worth it. You get so hooked on these five different boys and their confusing and connecting lives.

good with some buts.......2005-09-04

this book i donno how to put it! it was weirding interesting! when i first started to read the i found it weird, i didn't really get it but get i couldn't stop reading it! as i read the book i got and more into it! by the end of the book i just loved it! when i got the seson book and third i just loved it even ,more! these are great books!

another summer book..........2005-06-28

This book is basically about these five childhood friends and how their friendship gets shakey when one of the boys' cousin comes and visits. The thing that I didnt like about this book was that none of the characters were extremely likeable and we didnt get to know them all that much. It wasnt the best book i read but it was mildly entertaining despite it's flaws.

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