Sweetness in the Belly: A Novel

Average customer rating:

Not that great...

Between cultures

Sweetness, famine, faith

Engaging read.

Illuminating and Inspiring

Sweetness in the Belly: A Novel
Camilla Gibb
Manufacturer: Penguin Press HC, The
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: B000N3T4H4

Book Description

Like Brick Lane and The Kite Runner, Camilla Gibb's widely praised new novel is a poignant and intensely atmospheric look beyond the stereotypes of Islam. After her hippie British parents are murdered, Lilly is raised at a Sufi shrine in Morocco. As a young woman she goes on pilgrimage to Harar, Ethiopia, where she teaches Qur'an to children and falls in love with an idealistic doctor. But even swathed in a traditional headscarf, Lilly can't escape being marked as a foreigner. Forced to flee Ethiopia for England, she must once again confront the riddle of who she is and where she belongs.

Customer Reviews:

Not that great..........2007-07-29

Maybe I missed something... I didn't think this book was as captivating as everyone else seems to. I didn't feel attached to the characters, and much preferred Leila Aboulela's novel, The Translator, which is a similar story but somehow more gripping.

"Sweetness" is a bit deceptive.

Between cultures .......2007-07-19

Sweetness in the Belly is the moving and heart-warming story of Lilly Abdal. Told in her own words, it adds to it a special liveliness, directness and authenticity. Camilla Gibb has succeeded in creating a rich and detailed account of the life of a young woman caught between cultures and identities. It is also a love story at different levels. Her narrative alternates between periods during the four dramatic years in Ethiopia and those during ten years in London, after leaving Ethiopia in 1974, at the end of Emperor Haile Selassi's reign. Gibb's novel is fast moving and particularly compelling in its portrayal of Lilly's life in the holy city of Harar. At the same time, she is conveying in-depth insights into the respective realities there and in England and establishes the religious and cultural context that surround the heroine with great subtlety and credibility.

Lilly, born in England but, after the murder of her peripatetic parents in Morocco, remains there and is raised at a Muslim shrine by the Great Abdal, a Sufi teacher, to become a devout Muslim. She is eight years old. When forced to leave Morocco at the age of sixteen due to political upheavals, she embarks on a pilgrimage across the Sahara desert to the ancient holy city of Harar in Ethiopia. Not being accepted as a white girl in the household of the local sheikh, she is sent off to live with a poor cousin of one of his wives. Nouria, single mother of four, subsists in a shack in a deprived part of town. Gibb evokes the sounds and smells of the place, creating an authentic portrait of the harsh life of its inhabitants. Nouria and the neighbours start off being hostile of this "farenji" who knows the Qur'an better than they do. It takes Lilly considerable time and effort to be accepted. Seeking to belong where she can feel emotionally an physically safe, she immerses herself completely in their world and accepts the customs of her surroundings. Through Lilly's eyes the reader is introduced to a culture, rich in tradition and rituals. Not all of them are acceptable to Lilly, given her Sufi upbringing and she argues against them. Political developments in Ethiopia and a new circle of friends also challenge her traditional beliefs and behaviour. When she develops romantic feelings for the young attractive doctor she has to chart out her own way.

Alternating with accounts of her time in Harar, as she grows into an adult (1970-1974), Lilly narrates her life in London, beginning fifteen years after leaving Ethiopia. Now working as a nurse and living in a poor housing estate, she remains an outsider who does not fit into British reality. Committed to preserve her religion and her Ethiopian culture, she befriends Amina, her Ethiopian refugee neighbour and creates an oasis of "home" around them. While Amina and her family adjust more and more to the western lifestyle, Lilly clings to the memories of her previous life and the people in it. But developments force her to reassess and look into the future rather than hanging on to the past. Will she be able to do it?

Gibb's rendering of the East African refugee scene is as realistic as her portrayal of conditions in Harar. Her novel is grounded and enriched by her thorough research and personal experiences with the cultures and the places she evokes. Ethiopians went through famine and deprivations during the early 1907s, a time that ended in the uprising against and eventual removal of the Emperor. Gibb brings this context into the novel without overburdening the reader. She finds a convincing balance between the personal and the general keeping the book a page turner from beginning to end. [Friederike Knabe]

Sweetness, famine, faith.......2007-06-08

On one level, this beautiful book is a love story. But it is set against a terrible history of conflict, persecution, genocide, and famine. The unlikely friendships that spring up between people of different backgrounds do not come easily, nor does love always promise a storybook ending. For although much of the book takes place in London in the 1980s, its emotional core is rooted in the years leading up to the terrible events surrounding the deposition of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia in 1974. [The details of this political upheaval are by no means clear from the book, but they are by not easy to understand by looking up "Ethiopia" on Wikipedia either -- though I urge interested readers to try.]

Camilla Gibb, an Englishwoman who has worked in Ethiopia as a social anthropologist, has chosen an unlikely but apt perspective for her protagonist, Lilly. Born of hippie parents, an English father and Irish mother, Lilly was taken from country to country, and was still a young child when her parents were murdered in Morocco. There, she was taken in by a Sufi scholar and trained in the Qur'an (with an additional diet of English literature supplied by an expatriate acquaintance). The upshot is that she arrives in the ancient city of Harar in Ethiopia on a pilgrimage while still in her teens, and stays there, living in relative poverty and eking out a living as a teacher, a "farenji" or foreigner in appearance, but a more knowledgeable devotee of Islam than most of the people around her. When civil war breaks out, she is forced to flee, only one of numerous Ethiopians to be torn from family and loved ones.

The book opens a decade after these events, which are established in outline within the first few pages. Lilly is living in London, working as a nurse, and (with a fellow Ethiopian refugee) running the local branch of an agency to reunite family members with one another. These sections of the novel, which alternate smoothly with African flashbacks, are similar to numerous other books about immigrant assimilation by writers such as Salman Rushdie, Zadie Smith, and Monica Ali, though Gibb has her own voice of tender sorrow. The paradox is that English-born Lilly is more reluctant to assimilate than her Ethiopian friend Amina. But all the characters have their own traumas, and they each find healing in different ways.

I was not sure that I would like this book at first. It starts with a rather over-written introduction, then plunges into a description of an emergency childbirth scene that is hard to get into focus. Gibb tends to do this -- throwing a scene at you so suddenly that you wonder if you have missed some essential preparation -- but each episode supports the others, and she creates an amazing feeling of immediacy and authenticity. The same with her use of language: she is free with her use of foreign words, often without translation; the effect is like learning a language by the immersion method. While other writers throw in foreign words merely for local color, keeping the reader essentially on the outside looking in, Gibb makes you feel on the inside looking out. Her success in convincing me of the texture of daily life among women in a Islamic country is even greater than the best passages in Khaled Hosseini's A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS. For a sensitive inner look at how it feels to be a devout Muslim woman in the western world, I can only compare this to Leila Abouela's fine but simpler novel THE TRANSLATOR, which I recommend to anybody who has enjoyed this book.

Engaging read........2007-05-15

A story of an English-woman raised in Morocco in traditional Sufi ways, who later takes on a pilgrimage to
the sacred city of Harar in Ethiopia and then later immigrates back to England. An outsider in both, Muslim Africa and England, she
straggles to assert her place. Finally as she manages to fit herself in Harar and falls in love with idealistic doctor, the country
embarks on a civil war and she finds herself in England separated from him. Living among Ethiopian refuges she organizes, with
her friend, refuge community center, which help reunite separated families. It all happens on a back drop of her inability to fit in
the modern British life, search for her lover and depression enveloping her mind. Until she finally learns about his death and makes
peace with her memory.

All these petty details fail to convey great sensitivity expressed in this book. Its language is simple and
concise, and not very poetic, but what sets this book apart is the story and its perfect pace. It is really amazing to almost feel
characters coming to life from the pages of the book. So realistic they appear, that one develops sort of spooky sense of familiarity,
as if having them in ones life. This is very much unlike intellectual narratives of, for example Umberto Ecco. Somehow, by simple means
Camilla Gibb manages to engage the reader in a deep, emotional way. Highly recommended.

Illuminating and Inspiring.......2007-01-27

This beautifully written and impeccably researched tale contains a wealth of information about the battered country of Ethiopia and the strength and resilience of its people. It is obvious that Camilla Gibb had first-hand experience in the field and has the highest regard for those who went through the terrible years of war, famine, upheaval and dictatorship.

Sweetness in the Belly personalizes this unthinkable social and political tragedy so that we have an inside view into the life of Lilly, a privileged Muslim woman with an ill-fated attraction for Aziz, a doctor and a man of another class.

The book goes back and forth between Ethiopia and England as Lilly reflects back on early years in her homeland before she was forced to flee. It is a testament to human nature that anyone can survive the atrocities that were perpetrated on these blameless souls, and can emerge with any kindness, decency and dreams for the future. That makes this a book of hope with a wealth of fascinating information, although at heart, it's also just a great story.

I'll be looking for more books by Gibb, after I've watched some lightweight comedies on DVD that will serve as a buffer from reading about so much pain.

Sigrid Macdonald
Ottawa, Ontario

Average customer rating:

My son LOVES this book
gotta luv the Simpsons! this comic book is great!
"A Where's Waldo book written by the Devil"---Ned Flanders
I thought it was good
belly buster

Simpsons Comics Belly Buster (Simpsons)
Matt Groening
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0060587504
Release Date: 2004-02-03

Book Description

There will be standing room only for Matt Groening's newest Simpsons Comics collection of comedy classics.

This big, bulky, boffo book will have you bemused, boggled, and beside yourself with belly laughs. Join 'Our Favourite Family' as: Lisa joins a babysitter's union only to uncover an insidious plot against the youth of Springfield; Homer 'steals' Ned Flanders's swimming pool, leading to a full–scale siege on Evergreen Terrace; the whole family's Thanksgiving is threatened by Bart's greed, Lisa's protests and Homer's run–in with crazed, butter–fed turkeys; Lisa explores the subterranean catacombs under Springfield Elementary School; Grampa's ownership of a WWII tank hurtles Springfield towards the brink of destruction; Homer and Moe's other regular customers open a rival bar; Maggie gets a bedroom remodel Homer–style; and Mr Burns's loyal lackey, Waylon Smithers, turns out to be the royal ruler . of Sweden.

You will be rolling in the aisles with this side–splitting, knee–slapping, stand–up comic collection.

Customer Reviews:

My son LOVES this book.......2007-01-09

My son loves the Simpsons and wasn't too into reading. I thought what better way to get him into reading than buying him books about his beloved Simpsons. Sure enough he sat down with it and read it cover to cover without getting off the couch.

gotta luv the Simpsons! this comic book is great!.......2006-07-06

Woo-hoo!!! All right! a Simpsons comic book! me and my bud both luv the Simpsons TV show and when my friend had seen a Simpsons comic book she just had to have it. so i took the liberty of ordering it off of here b/c you get it so much cheeper than at the store. she luved it and so did i.

it has several small stories w/ the same laughs and crazy adventures the yellow family goes thru on TV. and if youre very familiar w/ the characters youll notice their small quirks and way of talking...like Dr Hibert and his laugh at the end of his sentences...ah hee hee hee hee!!! ;-D

one of my friends favorites was "Homer vs. the Wallpaper"...typical Homer trying to "do it himself", redoing maggies bedroom walls and creates a bunch of laughs getting tangled up in wallpaper and glue...great fun!

it is a rather quick read, but its good for a laugh or two (heck more than that!). if youre looking for something new to read whenever get this book and enjoy!

ps if anyone has read a comic in any of the Simpsons comic books that has Sideshow Bob in them please put it in your review! i do anything to see that crazy red-hair jail bird go after Bart again! lol

"A Where's Waldo book written by the Devil"---Ned Flanders.......2005-05-14

Belly Buster is another solid Simpsons comic book with the same type of art and humor you get from the television shows. There are a lot of shorts in this one but, for the most part, the comics offer good story lines with lots of typical Simpsons satire.

"Maggie Come Home": Lisa joins a demanding baby sitter union and Maggie ends up caught in the middle. A familiar person ends up behind the union mess. A fun, original comic.
"Storeroom Raider": Lisa must go into the school storeroom to fetch some chalk; a storeroom from which two students failed to return. Short but has a funny ending.
"What Would Possibly Happen if Cletus Went to College": Short about Springfield's "slack-jawed yokel." Can a "common man" save a financially-challenged university?
"Bart & Lisa & Marge & Homer & Maggie (to a lesser extent) vs. Thanksgiving": Follow each Simpson on his/her Thanksgiving adventure. Very contrived at the end but moderately amusing and creative.

"The Beer Boys": Homer takes over Moe's while Moe undergoes a gallstone operation. Feeling he is now "somebody," Homer starts his own bar. Ends abruptly but is still funny.
"Around Town w/ Ned Flanders": Ned is supposed to show us different sites in Springfield but his plans are abruptly cut short. This comic had possibilities but I think it came up as short as its 4 pages.
"Bart in `Fork it Over'": One-page short featuring Bart, Nelson, and Milhouse in the school cafeteria.
"Tanks for Nothing": Gampa gets a tank from the government in exchange for forfeiting unpaid back veteran benefits. The owner of the Shelbyville Nuclear Power Plant, Aristotle Amadopolis, who you may remember from the TV episode "Homer Defined," sees the tank parked at the Springfield plant and accuses Mr. Burns of breaking their arms treaty. Will their be a nuclear war? In this comic we get a glimpse of Mindy from the "Last Temptation of Homer" (I did not know she still worked there).
"Homer vs. the Wallpaper": In this 4-page short, Homer tries to put up Krusty wallpaper (with Krusty wallpaper paste, of course) in Bart's room and failing to "book" the paper isn't his only problem. Since when does Bart call him "Homeslice" and "Homefries"?
"Picture Perfect": Someone is graffiti-tagging the neighbor (I wonder who that could be?). Groundskeeper Willie is the hero in this 4-page short.

"Siege on Evergreen Terrace": Flanders prepaid for a pool to be built in his backyard while he was away. When the pool guys mistakenly go to Homer's house, Homer pretends to be Ned to get the free pool. After the pool is installed, Flanders alerts the pool builders of the mistake. Rather than give up the pool, Homer and his pool buddies stage a stand-off (at one point, the pool builders try to break the compound's spirits by blasting Kajagoogoo).
"Duff Daddy": An advertising agency for Duff beer hires Barney and Homer to do a Fruity Pebbles style commercial. This comic is lame.
"Ned Flanders in Blind Luck": A 4-page short where widower Ned takes a skanky gal on a date. The shooting range they go to is endorsed by "Charlton Heston of the NRA and Allen Iverson of the NBA."
"The Yes-Man Who Would Be King": Smithers might be the sole heir to the Swedish throne and the people of Springfield begin asking for his kingly advice: "Liberte, Egalite, Malibu Stacia."

I thought it was good.......2004-04-15

I think it was funny and I also showed some of my freinds that dont even watch the Simpsons and they thought it was good.

belly buster.......2004-02-16

The best simpsons comics availible! Join your favorite simpson characters off screen!

In the Belly of the Beast (Penumbra (D20))

Average customer rating:

Very cool but not for beginning DMs
A compelling low-level adventure with mystery and excitement

In the Belly of the Beast (Penumbra (D20))
Mike Mearls
Manufacturer: Atlas Games
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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

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ASIN: 1887801960

Book Description

It is a cancer thriving in the midst of a bustling city, a shadowy conspiracy bent on driving House Mezzia, a once proud and noble merchant family, to its knees. Forced to turn to outsiders for aid, a young scion of the Mezzia clan needs heroes to stand with him against encroaching darkness - heroes who are willing to follow him through the dark heart of the underworld.

A fantasy adventure in the top-selling Penumbra line for the D20 System!

Customer Reviews:

Very cool but not for beginning DMs.......2002-08-26

I just finished running this adventure for my group and I agree with just about everything the last reviewer said. It's a cool situation and definitely able to fit into almost any campaign world. There's enough fighting to keep it interesting, a lot of room for role-playing, and some great horror elements. My party ended up each allying with a different faction, almost to the point of fighting each other.

My only problems were that although the npcs were detailed well, with sections on background, current agendas, and even sketches, none of them said what they were carrying other than basic armor and weapons. No equipment, no treasure, no magic items. It was really kind of inconsistent that Ofec killed his high-level necromancer master but didn't take any magic items off his corpse and that later the corpse (returned as a zombie) didn't have anything on it. But that's easy to fix.

Like the other guy said, it is short and because you have to run a large number of NPCs at the same time I wouldn't recommend it to beginning DMs.

Overall a very cool adventure, I'll be picking more modules from Mr. Mearls when I get a chance.

A compelling low-level adventure with mystery and excitement.......2001-06-16

One of the first "d20" (Dungeons & Dragons compatible) modules in the Penumbra line, IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST does a good job of providing a short, compelling adventure which can be inserted into any D&D campaign.

Dungeon Masters, are well advised to compare the teaser on the back cover with the climax of the adventure. This scenario has some surprises!

What impresses me about this scenario is the story. Players are introduced to dangerous characters with rich backgrounds, and then are plunged into a deadly conflict between rival factions, where their ability to negotiate and role-play will spell the difference between fantastic victory and overwhelming defeat.

The scenario is open-ended, and leaves many seeds for future adventures.

IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST is designed to be truly "modular," meaning it can be inserted into any campaign; and IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST gives clear, explicit instructions on how to do just that. Not only does it not interfere with an existing campaign, it can go far to enhance it!

My only criticism with this module is its short length, weighing in at only 32 pages. But if you're a Dungeon Master who prizes quality over quantity, be sure to pick this one up.

Average customer rating:

Big fat novel marred by cub-scout editing

An underrated work

A Decent Novel, But Not Zola's Best

Like the curate's egg: good in parts

An excellent Zola plot, but style was not translated.

The Belly of Paris (Sun and Moon Classics, No 70)
Émile Zola , and Ernest Alfred Vizetelly
Manufacturer: Sun & Moon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

19th Century | British | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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Hotel Bemelmans

ASIN: 1557130663

Book Description

revised tr by EA Vizetelly of LE VENTRE DE PARIS

Customer Reviews:

Big fat novel marred by cub-scout editing.......2007-02-06

Not Zola's best work by a long shot, but mostly a good read. The many pages of description, though typical of the era and of Zola's late style, end up feeling overindulgent. I read this book in small portions, and found myself frequently bored and even agrieved by the endless word-pictures of mountains of produce and hoards of marketers. It felt as though I'd hired Zola as a guide to Les Halles only to find him pesky and insistant, always tapping me on the shoulder and urging me to look at all the colors and smell all the odors and hear all the babble. The story ended up more interesting as a period piece than as literature. But it's entertaining and worth the effort.

But I owe no thanks to the editors. This edition as so full of typos, misprints, and other errors, sometimes more than one per page, that I have to question whether the translation itself is scholarly. A greater work might have sent me to the French to double check the translation, but this book just isn't worth the effort.

If you're considering where to start with Zola, look first to L'Assommoir or Therese Raquin. They are more rewarding.

An underrated work.......2005-05-03

This novel, the third in the Rougon-Macquart series, is a great example of what Zola does best. Through his minute attention to descriptive detail, he creates a setting based on historical fact, peoples it with an ensemble cast of realistic characters, and before we know it we are entangled in their lives as if we were one of the neighborhood. In this case the neighborhood is Les Halles, the huge marketplace of Paris, and the cast is composed of fish mongers, butchers, bakers, vegetable sellers, and street urchins. The two main characters are Lisa Quenu (born Lisa Macquart, daughter of Antoine Macquart), and her brother-in-law Florent. Florent, a Republican who's had some trouble with the law, seems to be an embodiment of Zola's feelings toward the revolutionary movement of the time, both positive and negative. Lisa, who runs a butcher shop with her husband, represents the moderate French citizen of the era, far more interested in the comforts and challenges of everyday life than in the events of the world outside her own immediate surroundings. While Florent entertains grandiose Utopian visions of a socialist France, politics is the last thing on Lisa's mind. Her main concern is keeping up the appearance of relative prosperity, thereby winning her family a bit of social status within the neighborhood.
Depending on which edition you read, this book is either titled The Belly of Paris or The Fat and the Thin. The second title refers to two types of people in the world. On the most obvious level it could simply refer to the division between the Haves and the Have-Nots. But Zola explores the dichotomy on a deeper level, separating mankind into those who are concerned foremost with creating a comfortable life for themselves, preoccupied only by the immediate world around them (The Fat) and those who have an outward concern toward the world, life, and humanity as a whole, living a life of sacrifice--whether deliberate or not--because of a devotion to a higher cause, whether it be political conviction, art, or some other calling (The Thin). Zola doesn't pick sides, but rather points out the strengths and foibles of both types. This novel is not a masterpiece, and it won't have the kind of profound effect on you as some of Zola's better books (Germinal, La Terre, L'Assomoir). It is an engaging read, however, and can certainly stand as a worthy sidekick alongside Zola's greatest works.

A Decent Novel, But Not Zola's Best.......2002-10-25

This novel ties the main character Flaurent with the Rougon-Macquart family through marriage of his half brother. Flaurent is a runaway convict, who lives in his half brother's shop, which is a part of the big Parisian market. Flaurent is a former school teacher, who had had no interest in politics, but once, during the coup d'etat in December of 1851, while walking along the street came under police fire and had his hands smudged in dead woman's blood. That is how he got sentenced to hard labor. There is a sharp contrast between him and most of the other characters in the novel...

The novel is somewhat draggy at times and gossips with squabbles take up lots of passages, but one must bear in mind that in the Rougon-Macquart epic Zola was trying to create the broadest possible picture of the French society under Napoleon III. That is why, besides the Parisian market, the epic narrates about: big shops defeating small ones ("Au Bonheur des dames/Ladies Paradise"), miners ("Germinal"), the stock exchange ("Argent/Money"), etc.

Like the curate's egg: good in parts.......1999-09-03

Zola is a great author and any of his stuff is worth reading. This book breaks new ground in its portrayal of the lives of the "little people" of Paris, its detailed descriptions of food and, most of all, its use of a city district - rather than human beings - as its main character. Zola himself had great affection for it. You feel his nostalgia for his difficult early days in the capital. But ultimately the book doesn't quite gell. The famous descriptions, while being jewels in themselves, actually get in the way of the action. The plot could have been more sharply focused and, perhaps the most curious thing of all, the main human character, Florent, is only a member by marriage of the Rougon-Macquart family which the cycle of novels is about. The "real" member of the family, Lisa, has a remarkably peripheral role. Also, the book could have been made a lot shorter. But it is still rewarding for the reader because, after dealing with provincial intrigue and the capital's fat cats in his first two novels, Zola takes his first stab at portraying the people that were ultimately to make his reputation: the "lower orders".

An excellent Zola plot, but style was not translated........1999-03-11

The plot for the "Belly" is excellent for those who appreciate Zola's subtle twists of fates and corruptible society. Many books by Zola have been amply translated with little lost of the style incorporated by Zola. However, in painting the markets of Paris, Zola incorporates a style similar to literary landscaping utilized by James F. Cooper (highly detailed). The translation does not flow as an artist brush on a canvas, it becomes tedious at times leaving me to skim over rather quickly, which is rare. Overall, it was worth reading, but not worth going to pains to get to it.

Turtle Belly (American Indian Literature & Critical Studies (Paperback))

Average customer rating:

IRREDEEMABLE GARBAGE
Well, it seems people like my father's book.
EXCELLENT
Poignant, thought provoking, laced with indian lore
Realistic Portrayal

Turtle Belly (American Indian Literature & Critical Studies (Paperback))
Joel Monture
Manufacturer: University of Oklahoma Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0806133325

Book Description

Sam, hero of Turtle Belly, is a mixed blood with skin the color of a turtle's belly. Joel Monture describes Sam's struggle to form an identity that combines his violent father's white world and his mother's traditional Mohawk culture.

Customer Reviews:

IRREDEEMABLE GARBAGE.......2002-09-12

As an avid reader of Native American literature, and a fan of such accomplished writers as Sherman Alexie and Leslie Marmon Silko, I approached Turtle Belly enthusiastically. Little did I know that Mr. Monture writes like a slightly precocious five year old with a permanent marker and a bad disposition. After about the first chapter or so, I was reading for humor's sake only. This is really the most self-indulgent, incomprehensible piece of idiocy I've ever read. If you go for trite, pretentious pseudo-intellectual gibberish, I think you'll LOVE it. If you're looking for poetry of language, an original, complex plot or any intellectual stimulation at all, i'd say Jackie Collins would probably work better.

Well, it seems people like my father's book........2000-06-30

Hello. At first, my dad forced me to read it...but after the first few chapters, I didn't have to be forced. My father's compelling story kept me interested, and the whole "coming of age" theme was something I could relate to. The characters are very developed, from the prostitute waitress to the speed demon driver. I highly reccomend this book. Hey, if a 15 year old reads and enjoys an "old-fashioned" book in the computer age, it has to be good! Am I right?

EXCELLENT.......1999-06-04

I AM ALMOST DONE READING THIS BOOK....I WISH I DIDNT HAVE TO WORK...OR I WOULD HAVE READ IT STRAIGHT THROUGH....I WOULD LIKE TO READ MORE OF THIS AUTHOR

Poignant, thought provoking, laced with indian lore.......1999-02-07

This book captivated me completely. Sam successfully recounted his life without emotion, though the emotion of the events was clear. The book left me with a sense of peace, and with many indian analogies to use in my everyday life. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is experinecing difficulty in life; it recounts the difficulties of another, and provides time for introspection in the narrative.

Realistic Portrayal.......1998-12-15

_Turtle Belly_ is a book that weaves it's tale so wonderfully that it leaves you thinking about it long after you've finished. Vividly written and honestly realistic. A beautiful portrayal of human nature and growing up.

Belly and Body in the Pauline Epistles (Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series)

Average customer rating:

Belly and Body in the Pauline Epistles (Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series)
Karl Olav Sandnes
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 052101896X

Book Description

Throughout history, the human belly has been regarded as both a source of shame and pride. Modern cultures, particularly in the West, have developed means to cultivate this part of the body through corsets, exercises, and revealing fashions. Does St. Paul address a culture in which the stomach ranks high? This study aims to answer the question and the results may be surprising.

Download Description

The belly is today a matter of much concern. Modern cultures, particularly in the West, have developed means to cultivate this part of the body: corsets, exercises, revealing fashions. In this compelling exploration of the 'belly' motif, Karl Olav Sandnes asks whether St Paul might be addressing a culture in which the stomach is similarly high on the agenda. The result is a surprising new insight into his writings. Paul twice mentions the enigmatic phrase 'belly-worship' (Phil 3; Rom 16). The proper context for these texts is the moral philosophy debate about mastering the desires, and the reputation of Epicurus' philosophy as promoting indulgence. The belly became a catchword for a life controlled by pleasures. Belly-worship was not only pejorative rhetoric, but developed from Paul's conviction that the body was destined to a future with Christ.

Average customer rating:

Totaly depressing
Falls Into Place at the End
Belly, A Book For The Ages
Belly Goes Deep
Your Reading Belly Will Be Full ...Mostly

Belly: A Novel
Lisa Selin Davis
Manufacturer: Little, Brown and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

A funny, wise, and tender story of fatherhood and second chances, for fans of Richard Russo and Jane Smiley.

Customer Reviews:

Totaly depressing.......2006-12-08

I thought it would be nice to read a book centered around a nearby town. While I liked the references to known places I found Belly very depressing and couldn't wait to stop reading it. It made getting older seem worthless and gave me a strong feeling of sadness. I kept waiting for a great ending but that never happened. I wish I never read this book. I think zero stars would be a better rating.

Falls Into Place at the End.......2006-06-13

It's August 2001 in Saratoga Springs, Florida. It's hot and fifty-nine-year-old Belly O'Leary is being released from prison. He was sentenced six years for illegal gambling in his establishment, The War Bar; but got off early after four years for good behaviour.

Lisa Selin Davis' debut novel gives a peek into the life of Belly O'Leary during the week following his release. Despite being a proud Catholic, he's an "adulterer, gambler, liar, abuser, lazy drunk" and a terrible father. Throughout his reintegration into society Belly thinks only about how everything relates to him. His own self importance prevents him from connecting with his children, who desperately want a father, and getting to know his grandkids. He sees himself as their hero and can't figure out why they don't.

Davis' book reads like Belly has been in jail for 10-15 years instead of 4. Belly goes on and one about how this building or business has gone and this has been replaced by that. Especially his bar being replaced by the yuppie Cafe Newton. All of these endless changes really did not make sense to me and it was not until the end I realized why. Before prison, Belly wasn't present in his own life. He was blind to everything except, drinking and gambling and having sex with his mistress. In the end he comes to this realization. Jail was literally his wake up call.

Belly's story is an excellent example of how we can take the people around us and our surroundings for granted. Life keeps going on whether we pay attention or not. Davis is very subtle. Her prose is clean, smooth and to the point. Only once I was thrown off when she talked about the "gurgling" fat under someone's arms.

I really hated this book most of the way through, correction, I really hated Belly. He's not a likeable guy. I constantly fought with putting the book down for good or reading until its conclusion. With the last few chapters everything falls into place, if you're watching. Having finished it, I'm pleased I stayed around for the whole ride.

Belly, A Book For The Ages.......2005-12-06

This book is like finding some unpublished treasure by Richard Russo or Richard Price lurking on the "new fiction" table at your favorite bookstore. Indeed, Lisa Selin Davis, a name new to me, out-Russos Russo with her unsparing portrayal of an ex-con down on his luck and half-heartedly trying to make a new start in his old town, that has moved on during the four years he was in the pen for a gambling offense. Lisa Selin Davis does for charming Saratoga Springs what William Kennedy used to do for Albany, viz, turn back the sprightly facade to expose the horrifying underside--in this case, I'm tempted to call it the under "belly"--of a major New York State city.

Saratoga Springs, with its race track and its vast pool of crooked pols and gang related graft, is meaty turf for Lisa Selin Davis, and she chooses to frame her story with a modern updating of the old legend of the "Judgment of Paris." If you remember, Paris was given the questionable honor of having to award the golden apple to one of three goddesses. In BELLY, our hero has to come back and remake acquaintance with his three daughters, different as day is from night as they are from one another. One is a frustrated artist and a "mouse," another a Lesbian and largely offstage, though her girlfriend is very visible; Belly refers to her as his "Basset Hound," and finally there is Nora, the mother of three sons she has named after different rock guitarists, Jimi, Stevie Ray, and King (after B.B, King). Yes, it's the kind of heavily ironic and trashy signature that you find only in novels, but it works well in this context because otherwise you might have a bit of trouble telling Belly's different women apart.

Davis is great with creating male characters, but what keeps her ahead of the pack is her unusual interest in probing women and what makes them keep trying to love a man who has never done anything to them but put them down and treat them badly. It's like the Stockholm Syndrome, but in honor of Lisa Selin Davis' canny knack for characterization, I propose renaming it the "Belly Syndrome," for unlikeable Belly O'Leary might well be played by Jack Nicholson in the bittersweet film version of this novel, if one were made, and if Nicholson were on the market for an Oscar-worthy final role, a fitting sequel to "Five Easy Pieces" or "As Good as it Gets."

Lisa Selin Davis also has a poet's gift for language, and sentence by sentence there is always something memorable in every line, whether it is an unexpected metaphor or a new way to describe the seamy side of Saratoga Springs. She is a writer to watch out for.

Belly Goes Deep.......2005-10-03

Lisa Davis's book takes a gamble on one man, Belly O'Leary, a 59-year-old bar-owner returning to his daughters after being released from prison. He's a drunk; he's mean; he's got nothing going for him, and yet with every page turned I wanted more of him. No one likes Belly, his daughters struggle not to hate him, but he's more real, more a man than half the men in everyday life who lack either the passion to follow their raw desires or the conscience to know when it led them astray - as in Belly's case, again and again. What he comes out of the can wanting, other than a lump sum of dirty money owed to him, is all the tenderness and love deprived of him as a child. The poignancy and ease of Davis's writing is mesmerizing as she creates the world of a broken-up lower class family in Saratoga Springs, New York during an August heat wave. Her words coddle you as she tells a heartbreaking story.

Your Reading Belly Will Be Full ...Mostly.......2005-08-01

"Belly" O'Leary is coming home to Saratoga Springs after four years in prison on charges of running a gambling operation in Florida. And life in his old hometown has changed drastically.

Those fancy-dancy coffee outlets are everywhere; a new WalMart has opened; democrats are in charge of city hall; and those he thought to be his friends have all but left the area or shrugged him off. It's enough to drive a 60-year-old man crazy! Or at least into the home of one of his kids.

Nora is one of Belly's three surviving children. She has two boys who are handfuls, and a husband who's never home. Now she has to take on a third child, ala Belly, her father. He's a drinking, abusive, stubborn, and contradictory person (just like a two-year-old, but without the beer breath.)

Nora's house and Belly's past are like a match and a stick of dynamite. One is bound to eventually find the other.

Or are they?

********************************************************************************

Author Lisa Selin Davis, a confessed creative writing teacher, debuts with a strong narrative novel right out of the shoot. Her prose is often times beautifully flowing if a bit wordy. But she does get the reader right to the heart of the matter, showing us this dysfunctional family in a very intimate way.

I had a really hard time rating this book, but settled on four stars because it was just an easy read and had some excellent dialogue and descriptions.

But there were problems, the most notable of which was the simple fact that Belly spent only four years in prison, but exclaims on all the changes to "his town" after his release. This bothered me quite a bit because things don't change that much in four years.

The ending, too, is a bit of a let-down, as there is no great message or changes noted in any of the characters. They just ...are.

Still, the book's an enjoyable read from a prose standpoint. Now Ms. Davis just needs to learn a bit more on plotting and finishing.

Average customer rating:

The Bottomless Belly Button
Dash Shaw
Manufacturer: Fantagraphics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 1560979151

Average customer rating:

In the belly of the whale: A novel
Don Bailey
Manufacturer: Oberon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Marvel Knights #4 : In the Belly of Poseidon (Marvel Comics)

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Marvel Knights #4 : In the Belly of Poseidon (Marvel Comics)
John Figueroa
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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