The Terror: A Novel

Book Description

The bestselling author of Ilium and Olympos transforms thetrue story of a legendary Arctic expedition into a thriller worthy ofStephen King or Patrick O'Brian. Their captain's insane vision of a Northwest Passage has kept the crewmenof The Terror trapped in Arctic ice for two years without a thaw. But thereal threat to their survival isn't the ever-shifting landscape of white,the provisions that have turned to poison before they open them, or theship slowly buckling in the grip of the frozen ocean. The real threat iswhatever is out in the frigid darkness, stalking their ship, snatching oneseaman at a time or whole crews, leaving bodies mangled horribly or missingforever. Captain Crozier takes over the expedition after the creature kills itsoriginal leader, Sir John Franklin. Drawing equally on his own strengths asa seaman and the mystical beliefs of the Eskimo woman he's rescued, Croziersets a course on foot out of the Arctic and away from the insatiable beast.But every day the dwindling crew becomes more deranged and mutinous, untilCrozier begins to fear there is no escape from an ever-more-inconceivablenightmare.

Customer Reviews:

ONE MORE THING..........2007-10-08

I agree 100% with the 5-star reviews already submitted but would like to add one thing that seems to have been played down a bit: this book is bloody TERRIFYING!

Amazingly Detailed.......2007-10-03

You have to admire the sheer amount of research that went into this novel, because after reading this book I guarantee that Dan Simmons knows every bit of maritime trivia, every conceivable thing about living in the arctic, and enough Esquimaux mythology to boggle the mind. The story is that of Captain Crozier, who commands one of two ships on a doomed mission to find the northwest passage. Early in the expedition, the ships become frozen into pack ice, stranding the captain and crew. This leads to many problems, including the inevitable accidents, starvation, disease, mutanies, etc. In and of itself, that would be enough to doom any expedition. However, it gets much worse than that -- there's this monster out there on the ice that has an unstoppable desire to kill Crozier's crew in the most sadistic ways possible. The story isn't so much about the creature as it is about the crew's ability (or inability) to deal with the situation. I have to warn you though, this story is long. There are more than a few times when I was hoping it would simply hurry up and get on with it.

Terrifying (but sometimes tedious).......2007-09-30

I enjoyed both the horror and the historical aspects of this book. Unlike some reviewers, I thought Simmons melded those styles and approaches together well. And there were so many characters, so well developed. Half of the enjoyment here, for me, was in learning about the characters and wondering what they would do next, how they would react in the various situations that confronted them. Also, it was just straight-out terrifying to imagine being in some of those situations.

All of that said, occasionally I thought the writing was a little slow and tedious and I probably even skimmed parts. But then, I'm impatient.

Not Simmons' best.......2007-09-27

After the sun-lit world of Olympos, Simmons plunges his readers into his darkest material at least since Carrion Comfort. That in itself is not necessarily a problem, but there is an issue with the way the novel is being billed.

It is NOT a historical novel with a metaphorical element of horror. It is a HORROR novel that happens to have a historical setting.

Again, not in itself a problem. But Simmons himself seems to have difficulty deciding which kind of a novel he's writing, so the historical elements place constraints on the story that keep it from having a fully satisfying plot, while the horror elements introduce things that are historically ridiculous.

After Olympos, Terror's Hobbesian theme is stunningly bleak. But then, life WOULD be nasty, brutish, short, etc. if one were on an early 19th-century Arctic expedition whose captain made astonishingly bad decisions based on an irrational faith that God would see them through--or if one were an Inuit of that time. So the final Rousseau-like chapters romanticizing the "noble Inuit" are particularly strange. Simmons is inordinately impressed with the only two things the Inuit could do: build igloos, which really isn't that hard (I did it as a boy scout at age thirteen or so, though mine no doubt lacked the mathematical symmetry of those Simmons describes, though it's not as if the Inuit, lacking a system of writing, could actually have grasped the higher mathematics of what they were supposedly doing); and hunting seal, which, well, they'd pretty much HAVE to be good at. (None of this is meant to belittle or morally criticize the Inuit of the time, as given their circumstances, it would have been near impossible for them to advance much beyond that.)

Also, Simmons has already done the "what if their primitive mythology were true?" bit in Fires of Eden, with the much more entertaining Hawaiian mythology, and unhampered by claims of historicity.

Still, Simmons' style here is beautiful, and many of the characters are among the best he's created, so it's certainly worth a read, like everything else he's written.

Absolutely Amazing!.......2007-09-26

Quite honestly, I bought this book as a gift for my son in law, but, being momentarily out of reading material, decided to tackle the volume myself. And I was gob-smacked. The amount of research that had to have gone into this book is simply unimaginable. And, Dan Simmons has somehow managed to turn blank historical figures into real people with real problems. He has breathed life and depth into an expedition that still remains enigmatic. And, boy, did he do his homework. Real history is so much more interesting than fiction. We are talking here about an expedition into the arctic some 160 years ago, fuelled by coal and tinned foods and not much more. These guys definitely didn't know what they were getting into and suffered greatly for that lack of knowledge. I trust Dan Simmons. Well, I've read his other books. I trust that his search for the facts has been rigorous and absolute, and that he has endeavoured, and very successfully, to interweave those facts with the ficticious personas of his characters. In doing this, he has written an absolutely incredible book, extremely readable and continuously fascinating. He has kept, without any judgement, within the mores, the cultural values of that time, and that is also fascinating.
I greatly applaud this book and the man who wrote it. To have been able to create such a tale, interwoven with a cumbersome amount of detail and enhanced true characters is indeed a feat worth applause. And, man, it is just really interesting. Not since The Swarm has a book captivated me to this extent.

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Duma Key: A Novel
Stephen King
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1416552510
Release Date: 2008-01-22

Product Description

Six months after a crane crushes his pickup truck and his body self-made millionaire Edgar Freemantle launches into a new life. His wife asked for a divorce after he stabbed her with a plastic knife and tried to strangle her one-handed (he lost his arm and for a time his rational brain in the accident). He divides his wealth into four equal parts for his wife, his two daughters, himself and leaves Minnesota for Duma Key, a stunningly beautiful, eerily remote stretch of the Florida coast where he has rented a house. All of the land on Duma Key, and the few houses, are owned by Elizabeth Eastlake, an octogenarian whose tragic and mysterious past unfolds perilously. When Edgar begins to paint, his formidable talent seems to come from someplace outside him, and the paintings, many of them, have a power that cannot be controlled.

Soon the ghosts of Elizabeth s childhood return, and the damage of which they are capable is truly terrifying.

Like Lisey s Story, this is a novel about the tenacity of love and the perils of creativity. Its supernatural elements will have King fans reeling.

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Mysterious and thought provoking. My kind of book!
A Classic Adventure in the Himilayas
What is paradise?
"...the whole atmosphere was more of wisdom than of learning, of good manners than seriousness."
A classic

Lost Horizon: A Novel
James Hilton
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0060594527
Release Date: 2004-06-15

Book Description

While attempting to escape a civil war, four people are kidnapped and transported to the Tibetan mountains. After their plane crashes, they are found by a mysterious Chinese man. He leads them to a monastery hidden in "the valley of the blue moon" -- a land of mystery and matchless beauty where life is lived in tranquil wonder, beyond the grasp of a doomed world.

It is here, in Shangri-La, where destinies will be discovered and the meaning of paradise will be unveiled.

Customer Reviews:

Mysterious and thought provoking. My kind of book!.......2007-10-09

I loved this book. The writing was superb and had a wonderful, mysterious quality about it. I am recommending this book to my friends.

A Classic Adventure in the Himilayas.......2007-09-23

Note: I made some Mormon reader angry over my reviews of books written by Mormons out to prove the Book of Mormon, and that person has been slamming my reviews.

Your "helpful" votes are appreciated. Thanks.

On Lost Horizon: You'll love this story of lost civilization, where people live hundreds of years. Hidden in the Mountains of the Blue Moon, the survivors of an airplane crash wonder into a charmed valley, where no one thinks of death. The hero falls in love with one of the women.

I don't want to tell too much, but I do highly recommend this classic adventure first published in 1933. It has all the ambiance of that era, and as one Amazon reviewer said, it is the perfect book to curl up with on a slow day.

What is paradise?.......2007-08-29

The Lost Horizon really brings to mind the question of what is your paradise?
This is a book about a man who, along with three other companions, ends up in a mysterious civilization in some community lost among the mountains. This new life offers immortality (or close to it), but there is one catch. You may not leave. Some are able to become used to the confines of the little city but others (mainly one of the main character's companions) refuse to accept and make an attemt at an escape.
The main character has to decide if he will stay, because for him this new place is paradise, or if he will help the other young man escape.

It is an interesting book and, once you get past the first couple of pages, it goes by fast. I would recommend this book to anyone.

"...the whole atmosphere was more of wisdom than of learning, of good manners than seriousness.".......2007-08-20

After seeing Frank Capra's film version of this book, I had to read James Hilton's novel. The book and the film are very similar, so my love for the film has transferred to the original work. Lost Horizon is the story of four people, an American, a young British soldier, a middle-aged British man, and a female missionary, who have the misfortune of being kidnapped on an airplane. They are crashed near a mysterious and dismal mountain somewhere in Tibet, and all seems to be lost to them, including their pilot who dies in the crash. However, they are rescued by a group of men who live in a strange valley nearby. They call their oasis Shangri-La.

The middle-aged British man is named Conway; he has the best grasp of the goals of Shangri-La of any of the people in his group. Instead of fidgeting when he is told he and his friends will never leave the villiage, he embraces his new home where everything is done in moderation. He marvels over the expensive library of treasures and begins to love a tiny Chinese girl with a fondness for music. He has the good fortune to meet the High Lama of the monastary there and to be told the secrets of Shangri-La.

Conway's sentiments narrate the story, and his calm personality resonates with the reader and makes the sometimes outlandish beliefs of Shangri-La become vivid and desirable.

This is a magical book with the same feeling of hope and inspiration that is present in Frank Capra's films. Although it was written in the early 30s, the sentiments are applicable in today's world. Thus, it is a timeless classic that every person should have the good fortune of stumbling upon. It will never leave you.

A classic.......2007-07-12

Classic work - timeless. Psychological study of the protagonist - contast of who he is v. how he is perceived. Can't we all relate to that? And, contrast of Western v. Eastern mindset.

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Great Book...After The First 150 Pages...
60 year catholic
DOUBLE WOW!!
Excellent book!
Any Bitter Thing

Any Bitter Thing: A Novel
Monica Wood
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0345477685
Release Date: 2006-04-25

Book Description

After surviving a near-fatal accident, thirty-year-old Lizzy Mitchell faces a long road to recovery. She remembers little about the days she spent in and out of consciousness, save for one thing: She saw her beloved deceased uncle, Father Mike, the man who raised her in the rectory of his Maine church until she was nine, at which time she was abruptly sent away to boarding school. Was Father Mike an angel, a messenger from the beyond, or something more corporeal? Though her troubled marriage and her broken body need tending, Lizzy knows she must uncover the details of her accident–and delve deep into events of twenty years before, when whispers and accusations forced a good man to give up the only family he had. With deft insight into the snares of the human heart, Monica Wood has written an intimate and emotionally expansive novel full of understanding and hope.

Customer Reviews:

Great Book...After The First 150 Pages..........2007-09-19

I am delighted that I "stayed with" this book, because I found it weighty, plodding and slow for quite awhile. It redeemed itself beautifully, though, in the last several chapters. Surprising, memorable, provocative and a really good choice for a book group (I'll be recommending it to mine!).

60 year catholic.......2007-05-30

I attended an event where M. Wood was one of 5 featured authors.
Intrigued by her comments, I purchased and read the book in 4 days.
An interesting plot, but having had 15 years of catholic schooling, I found the adoption of a niece who lived in the rectory with a parish priest,his closeness to a female neighbor,and the naivete of the priest himself unbelievable. The concuding chapter blew me away! Having said all that, i thorouhly enjoyed the book, and have passed it on to friends who also gave it 4 stars. Just don't take the book too seriously, it would never happen.

DOUBLE WOW!!.......2007-05-07

This was one of the best books I've read in a long time - let me correct that - one of the best books I've ever read. The characters are so beautifully drawn and the relationship between Father Mike and Lizzy during her childhood formed a strong bond that never broke. Ms. Wood describes so eloquently a scene from Lizzy's childhood where the children, Lizzy and Mariette, are sewing leather for shoes together and Father Mike enters the house wanting to help. After describing the scene, she writes, "I remember this. All this sweetness."

There are certainly several circumstances in this book that are surprising and ripe for discussion, which is why I immediately gave it to my friend to read.

My hat is off to Monica Wood. Please don't stop writing!!!

Excellent book!.......2007-04-30

I choose this book for my book club and was not disappointed. This book was a joy to read and a real page turner. Monica Wood is an outstanding writer and I can't wait to read more of her novels. Highly recommend.

Any Bitter Thing.......2007-04-02

It was a very moving book for me. I could not put it down from the moment I started it. I certainly cried at the end of the book, but for me, that's a very good thing.

Golding's the Lord of the Flies (Cliffs Notes)

Average customer rating:

It Complements The Novel, But Doesn't Substitute For It
Childhood Experience Relation...
Childhood Experience Relation...
A New View
its a good book

Golding's the Lord of the Flies (Cliffs Notes)
Maureen Kelly , and William Golding
Manufacturer: Cliffs Notes
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0764585975

Book Description

The original CliffsNotes study guides offer expert commentary on major themes, plots, characters, literary devices, and historical background. The latest generation of titles in this series also feature glossaries and visual elements that complement the classic, familiar format.

CliffsNotes on Lord of the Flies takes you on an exploration of William Golding's novel to the dark side of humanity, the savagery that underlies even the most civilized human beings. Follow Golding's group of young boys from hope to disaster and watch as they attempt to survive their uncivilized, unsupervised, and isolated environment.

You can rely on CliffsNotes on Lord of the Flies for character analyses, insightful essays, and chapter-by-chapter commentaries to ensure your safe passage through the rich symbolism of this novel. Other features that help you study include

A brief synopsis of the novel
A character map to help you see relationships among the characters
A glossary that helps you get the most out of your reading
An interactive quiz to test your knowledge
Essay topics and review questions

Classic literature or modern modern-day treasure -- you'll understand it all with expert information and insight from CliffsNotes study guides.

Download Description

At once an enthralling adventure story about a group of schoolboys stranded on an island and a richly textured moral tale, this is also Golding's attack on Western society and its institutions.

Customer Reviews:

It Complements The Novel, But Doesn't Substitute For It.......2002-12-02

Few students in America can get out of high school without having to read Lord Of The Flies in English class sometime during the four years that they are there. The story is fairly easy to understand on a superficial level, but the real purpose of this novel is to understand symbolism and foreshadowing. Items in the novel like Piggy's glasses and the conch shell have a "deeper" meaning that may not be obvious to every reader. If the reader is keen, he'll be able to realize that the author tells the reader what is going to happen in a subliminal way prior to actually coming out and saying it. That's called foreshadowing, and it may also be difficult for some readers to comprehend. For these reasons, these Cliffs Notes are extremely useful. The reader will gain a better understanding and appreciation of the novel by using this supplement while reading the actual novel. With these notes, the reader is given the added benefit of reading commentary written by someone who has already read the book, and is capable of breaking down the significant parts of every chapter.

One drawback to having these notes (as is the drawback to having ANY Cliffs Notes) is the temptation to substitute the notes for the actual novel. While this substitution may work for other novels, it isn't a good idea to think it unnecessary to read the book just because you've read the notes. I tried that, and it didn't work. Besides, the Cliffs Notes are just about as long as the actual book, so you might as well read the real thing.

The bottom line is that these notes are a good investment if you want to gain a good understand of the novel, and insight into what your English teacher might think is important. I recommend these notes.

Childhood Experience Relation..........2000-11-15

I chose this book because of the many recommendations I have heard through many mouths. This novel is a very adventurous story filled with drama and action. It is based on these plane-wrecked children who get stranded on a pig population island. These boys are different from each individual and each has its own position as a team. They first try to get themselves out by trying to resucue themselves from this island. They cause many atrractions and try many times to get out but fail. So they finally except the fact that they are stranded and they do everything they can to survive. There are leaders and failures in this bunch of boys that help this group survive through the wild. They use what they have brought with them as useful tools in surviving. From the characters, three stand out from the rest which are Jack, Piggy, and Ralph. This story is basically like the saying, "Who let the dogs out," because the kids were savages trying to live their lives through this tropical island. Golding represents these characters as individuals that can learn how to adapt to new surroundings quickly and actually survive. If your looking for an adverturous book, I recommend this to you....

Childhood Experience Relation..........2000-11-15

A New View.......2000-10-16

As I was reading the novel i understood the story, but did not understand the symbolism contained in Golding's work. The Cliff Notes explain the imagery through character analysis and comments on each chapter making the novel very understandable. It was very interesting in how the book pulled together showing a parallel of modern society, not just an adventure story of boys on an island, that Golding so ingeniously created.

its a good book.......2000-09-04

its a really good book to read

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Horifyingly Real
A generation desperate to get out of a downward spiral
Great first novel.
solid debut
A powerful exploration of what it means to be a teenager in America

American Youth: A Novel
Phil Lamarche
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1400066050
Release Date: 2007-04-10

Book Description

American Youth is a controlled, essential, and powerful tale of a teenager in southern New England who is confronted by a terrible moral dilemma following a firearms accident in his home. This tragedy earns him the admiration of a sinister gang of boys at his school and a girl associated with them. Set in a town riven by social and ideological tensions–an old rural culture in conflict with newcomers–this is a classic portrait of a young man struggling with the idea of identity and responsibility in an America ill at ease with itself.

Customer Reviews:

Horifyingly Real.......2007-08-27

I turned the pages with increasing anxiety in this gripping debut novel, "American Youth" by Phil Lamarche. Part of my mind was thinking that it should be required reading for all new parents, while the other part wanted to close it and make it all go away. The protagonist, always referred to as "the boy" in the narration, makes one bad choice after another steadily and stealthily increasing the reader's desire to make him "Grow up!" "See sense!" "Make better choices!" - we want to scream "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" when it's clear that young people often AREN'T thinking...at least not rationally. New studies have indicated that teen-ager's brains aren't fully formed and that their capacity for rational thought often isn't mature until the early twenties. (This summer, here in Houston, there have been two very tragic accidents involving teens, cars, trains and bad choices that have claimed the lives at least six young people.) This excellent novel reminded me, yet again, how perilous those years are, in part because of the influences of our current "accept no responsibility" society and the sub-cultures that encourage teen angst rather than channeling the positives.

This is a difficult book to read while it's impossible to put down. I'll be looking for Mr. Lamarche's next novel as well. Great job.

A generation desperate to get out of a downward spiral.......2007-08-02

American Youth is one of those novels that seems to touch a chord with its readers--summing up all that hasn't been said about a culture and bringing to light a dirty secret everyone knows but no one had been able to put into words like this. It simultaneously manages to be ultra light and intensely heavy. The story reads quickly, forcing the reader forward, even as the sumptuous prose pulls you back to re-read, and then read again to pull out the subtle nuances, the hints and connections, and the symbols which are everywhere. Ted, the protagonist, initially known as "the boy" is small, insecure and struggling within the confines of his life even before the accident which transforms his life. The local economy is bad, and his salesman father moves 8 hours south to work while Ted and his mother wait for non-existent buyers to purchase their house so they can join him.

Ted is about to start high school and in his summer break, spends time with his larger friend Terry throwing Molotov cocktails at an abandoned development and wrecking the `for sale' signs in front of his house. Ennui and discomfort surround him, and the reader immediately gets the sense that Ted is an observant boy, quiet and uncomfortable in his skin.

When Ted invites his well-off neighbours, the Dennisons, over to play, the boys are obviously bored with Ted's lack of television stations, lack of soda, and lack of entertainment, so Ted allows himself to be drawn into showing them his rifle. He also allows himself to do something he shouldn't--load the gun, and then guiltily checks to if his mother is watching. In that split second, one of the brothers shoots the other one, an action which changes the direction of the book, and both opens and closes a series of doors in Ted's world.

On every level, the prose in this book is superbly rendered--taut, intense, and forward moving, while at the same time retaining an almost painful sense of introspection that allows the reader to get under Ted's skin.

In the lonely aftermath of an accident that leaves Ted feeling culpable, mainly because of his lie about loading the gun, Ted begins high school, where he is sought after by a group of boys who form a kind of gang which they call `American Youth.' The story pivots around Ted's coming of age as he tries to find ways to deal with his guilt, his increasing confusion towards the gang, his family, his growing sexuality, and above all, his sense of self.

The morality of the book is clear and becomes clearer to Ted as the narrative develops along with his own maturity, but never does LaMarche allow his fingernail paring narrator to interrupt, nor does he ever tell the reader what to think or how to interpret events. As the gang's brutality, bigotry and anger becomes more apparent, Ted's own anger and pain rise to the fore and he has to confront the inchoate demons that torture him far more than the gang's violence. The myopic disfunctionality of Ted's world isn't a distopia. It's here and now, as the news makes all too clear. It might not only be America either, although the relationship between political bigotry and widespread gun ownership is something that seems particularly endemic to the US.
Although the story is a deeply troubling one, raising complex questions about a range of issues--from the myopic violence and self-hatred that fills the lives of these hopeless children to the speechless emptiness of Ted's family life--it isn't depressing. Perhaps it's the poetic beauty of Ted's inner world; the correspondences he sees, or the courageous decisions he takes that allows the characterization to rise above it's plot. There are so many subtle symbols, connections and correspondences. The `American Youth' gang insist that Ted take on the role of hero, forcing him to make a choice that turns him into a real hero. Ted's mother throws a decorative rug over a missing rectangle of carpet, and tells him that the truth doesn't matter. But Ted knows full well that it does; that there are choices to be made in life; that there is such a thing as right and wrong that transcends both the accidents that define us, and the physical pain of scars, beatings and loneliness.

The book is full of rich passages, a deep sense of what is powerful and beautiful in human nature, and a heady dose of symbolism shoring up the desolation of its setting. It's Ted's deep understanding of that desolation and his sense of there being something more, both within and without him that makes this such a powerful read.

American Youth is a perfectly rendered novel which manages that difficult balance between absolute topicality--this is a novel for our times--and timeless beauty. This is both a classic piece of literature and an important chronicle of a generation desperate to get out of a downward spiral.

Magdalena Ball is the author of Sleep Before Evening

Great first novel. .......2007-06-28

This is a short and very well-written novel about a few troubling months in the life of a high-school boy. The book starts off when the boy is showing off his father's gun collection to two of his friends and one of them accidentally shoots and kills the other. The boy copes with the impending legal situation, the ostracism from the other kids at school, and a multitude of other high-school issues.

The thing that struck me most about the book was how real and believable the themes seemed, even as some of the situations border on satire. LaMarche obviously did his homework on a number of subjects, just to add enough detail to make it real (I even found the scene of the boy visiting the emergency room when he bit his tongue to be exactly the same as mine when it happened to me). His writing is deft and sparse. There is no fat in the sentences or in the story. There is no sense that he is trying to prove anything with his style, and he is heavy-handed with nothing. I found it all very true and refreshing. And although the writing is sparse, the themes of youth, loyalty, and clashing lifestyles feel deep without being beaten to death.

LaMarche's first novel is a great modern take on the coming-of-age novel.

solid debut.......2007-06-19

The influence of Cormac McCarthy is strongly, if gallingly, present in Phil LaMarche's otherwise solid debut. LaMarche opens with an epigraph from McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses, a reference to scars that seems somewhat too obvious, given the main character's bad habit. LaMarche's most significant nod to McCarthy similarly, and also pointlessly, hits the reader over the head: throughout the novel, he refers to his adolescent protagonist simply as "the boy" -- much like "the kid" in Blood Meridian. Yeah, I get it: Ted is young and inexperienced, but he's also an everyman (everyboy?). These are annoying and derivative touches LaMarche need not have used, for his book would have succeeded just as well without relying on someone's else bag of tricks.

In what is essentially a new take on the old coming-of-age story, Ted LeClare, a rising freshman at a big regional high school in rural New England, loads the rifle involved in an accident that leaves a friend dead. (The friend's brother actually pulls the trigger.) Ted's mother urges him to deny loading the gun, and so he does, thus inciting Ted's descent into self-mutilation, violence, sex, and drugs as he seeks some kind of redemption and searches for his identity in the wake of the tragedy. He becomes tied up with a right-wing gang called American Youth, whose members are almost cartoon-like in their philosophical mutterings about states rights and guns. And Ted must contend, as must the other characters, with his hometown's changing demographics. Although it is currently experiencing an economic downturn, new residents from Boston have been flooding into the town, transforming land into upscale housing developments and bringing their more progressive values with them. (I was reminded somewhat of Russell Banks' Affliction, in which a similar tension is at play in a rural New England town.)

In short it is a recipe for disaster for a fourteen-year-old -- or anyone, for that matter. Much of the book seems very run-of-the-mill, like the cigarettes Ted sneaks or his awkward sexual encounters. But his moral and psychological development has its ups and downs and surprises, but LaMarche succeeds in making it believable. LaMarche errs in drawing so heavily from Cormac McCarthy, but his potential as a serious writer shines through. I look forward to reading him as his writing matures.

A powerful exploration of what it means to be a teenager in America.......2007-04-20

American Youth is the story of a deeply conflicted boy who struggles with the consequences of his role in a tragic firearms incident in his home. Set against an economic recession that challenges a small family's tenacity and a young boy's identity, LaMarche's novel could be called a coming-of-age story, though it would be an injustice to so quickly and neatly label a story that is a bold and memorable exploration of the darker side of the human soul.

The firearms incident presents the boy with a series of moral dilemmas that makes this a refreshingly character-driven story. But it is this young boy's attempt to preserve his emotional sanity in the face of severe but realistic challenges that gives American Youth the kind of power that can change a reader's perception of what it means to be young, troubled and American. When the boy enters high school he carries with him feelings of guilt and anger that, like a loaded gun in a school locker, infuse the story with a suspense that makes this novel as much a page-turner as a literary achievement. When a notorious gang of boys accepts him and a girl associated with them begins to pay him more attention than is safe, the story takes a darker turn that givens new meaning to the word "dark." However, the narrative never wallows in these dark moments. They are there for a reason and because of that the novel's conclusion is both unforgettable and utterly appropriate.

American Youth is a revealing portrait of an outsider who is fighting emotional and physical battles with himself on terrain that LaMarche convincingly and daringly explores. He uses prose that is as hard, taut and unsparing as a box of bullets, each concise sentence carrying with it a power that plants itself in the reader's imagination and stays there, trembling with possibility. Issues like teenage self-destructiveness, pubescent sexuality and identity crises are all rendered in a starkly realistic tone that is compelling, honest, accurate and, at times, brutal.

Overall, American Youth is well worth reading and then reading again. A truly admirable accomplishment.

Average customer rating:

Interesting premise, LONG, drawn-out Story
Decent read, however pompous.
This Book Changed my Life
Good work, but a big bibliography does not make it real
So much better than the film it's scary

What Dreams May Come: A Novel
Richard Matheson
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0765308703

Amazon.com

A classic novel of love after death, from one our greatest fantasy writers. The premise is deceptively simple: Chris Neilson has died in a car accident, but his life-force--his spirit--is still conscious of this plane of reality. And he is still too in love with his wife, Ann, to completely let go. She in turn does not want to go on living without him, as each regards the other as their soul mate. What Chris will do to get back with Ann after she dies makes for one of the most unusual love stories ever told. Even though the story can be enjoyed as pure fantasy, what makes What Dreams May Come unique is how the author spent years researching the subject of life after death. (An exhaustive bibliography is included to verify this.) And while Matheson admits that the characters are of course fictional, he also states that "With few exceptions, every other detail is derived exclusively from research." Whether, after reading this novel, one believes in life after death is of course a matter of opinion. At least you'll entertain the possibility that, even though we may not live forever, true love can be eternal. --Stanley Wiater

Book Description

The New York Times bestselling novel that inspired the Oscar-winning movie! What happens to us after we die? Chris Nielsen had no idea, until an unexpected accident cut his life short, separating him from his beloved wife, Annie. Now Chris must discover the true nature of life after death. But even Heaven is not complete without Annie, and when tragedy threatens to divide them forever, Chris risks his very soul to save Annie from an eternity of despair. Richard Matheson's powerful tale of life-and love-after death was the basis for the lavish 1998 film starring Robin Williams.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting premise, LONG, drawn-out Story.......2007-10-03

After reading I am Legend and really liking the author's style, I picked up this book. Some thought I am Legend was too short. I thought it was perfect for if it were any longer it might take on the form of this superfluous story.

What Dreams May Come should have been edited down because the story was decent.

Decent read, however pompous........2007-09-16

I really wanted to like this book. To be honest, I enjoyed the descriptive text and the (limited) story. However, the author's pompous entry saying that this is all 'fact' and only the characters are fictional turned me wayyy off. As another reviewer said 'just because you have a bibliography does not make it fact'. I am a Richard Matheson fan - loved I am Legend and enjoyed Hell House. His depictions of hell/heaven in this novel are very realistic, and moving. Unfortnately, his character development lacks. I didnt really care a whole lot what happened with Ann or chris, nor could I stand the 2 pages of tear-jerky 'thank you'.

Nearly one third of the book is new age rhetoric with little to do with a real story. The actual plot (beyond the preaching) was extraordinarily thin. The idea was excellent, however its delivery was ham-fisted.

I would have given it a poorer rating, however, I did finish it - and did not throw it across the room. I had to skim over much of the ending, much to my chagrin.

This Book Changed my Life.......2007-08-07

After reading this book, I started buying some of the books that were referenced in the back few pages. I found those to be very interesting and have since changed the way I feel about life, death, and life after death. This book changed my life for the better, it is a MUST read!

Good work, but a big bibliography does not make it real.......2007-07-21

I share the regard that most readers have for Richard Matheson as a first rate writer from his books and stories(for me also his contribution to the Twilight Zone).

My main exception to this one is his preface that states that it is not really a work of fiction (apart from using fictitious characters for demonstration purposes) but an exposition of facts in literary form. To support this he supplies a large bibliography in the back. But this bibliography is a collection of works of a most unscientific nature written by supposed mediums, alleged experts in the supernatural and paranormal, and a few celebrated savants (or should I say frauds) like Edgar Cayce. In my line of work, there is a expression "Garbage In, Garbage Out". As fantasy or science fiction this is not an issue. The assertion that this book is a tale built on facts is simply unsupportable. The author apparently sincerely believes in his sources (this is noted in an anthology of Matheson in a forward written by someone who met Matheson who discussed similar material with him as a revelation of precious but generally unrecognized truths). But on the whole these works have no more truth in them than writings taken on faith in established religions. If it is a faith being presented then say so, so that I will know that further argument is only for the sport. Otherwise, please do not represent mere unorthodoxy as fact, like a sort of C.S. Lewis for new age spirituality.

I will also take exception to simple minded karmic logic like "since you committed suicide with sleeping pills you must suffer from a sleep disorder in your new life". What makes us think that our consciousness is such a great and eternal element of enormous significance in the cosmos anyway? What makes us think our ideas of good and evil are embedded in the fabric of creation and enforced by a great clearing house of souls off somewhere that cannot be detected or observed? This is just a conventional and even childlike view of heaven, hell and judgment leavened with reincarnation.

As a work of fiction it is a bit dry, as it really is an exposition of its bibliography inside a nominal tale as stated by the author I have no doubt that it can have a deep impact on receptive persons suffering grief from the loss of loved one. Under the detail (which I found interesting and I appreciate his work in summarizing that large bibliography for me) I think I detect a deeply felt tribute to a beloved (and living) wife.

So much better than the film it's scary.......2007-05-07

This novel is the most vivid, complex, and surprisingly convincing depiction of afterlife I have ever encountered in a work of fiction. Nothing else I have seen on the subject, in literature or in film, comes close--certainly not the 1998 film. Before I read the novel, I had no idea that a story about Heaven and Hell could have such a profound effect on me.

In the metaphysics of the film and the book, dying involves shedding your physical body and entering a mental environment shaped by thoughts. Your fate in such an environment is largely self-imposed. That much of the movie intrigued me, the first time I saw it. The problem was the schmaltz. I mean real schmaltz, piled on in large mounds, in place of strong narrative.

It's hard for me to convey just how very different the novel is. Of course there are major differences in the plot. One such difference is the ending. (Even Roger Ebert, who heaped high praise on the film, was disappointed by the ending.) Another is the beginning, where the film adds Chris's children to the list of characters who die and go to Heaven. In doing this, the movie (1) makes the early scenes so depressing they become surreal (2) needlessly clutters the story with extra characters (3) introduces a silly and confusing subplot about Chris's attempts to find his children, who are in disguise.

In the book, Chris's children are adults, not youngsters, and they're minor characters who never die in the course of the story. The details of Chris's life on Earth differ so greatly between the book and the film that it's like reading about a completely different person. Even though I saw the movie first, the image of Robin Williams completely vanished from my mind as I read, because he was so unlike the character described in the book.

The entire feel of the book is different, telling a touching love story that uses real characterization, not cheap manipulation, to move the audience. And Matheson's vision of the afterlife truly comes alive on the page. The Hell scenes are actually terrifying, reminding us, as the movie does not, why Matheson is primarily famous as a horror writer.

I won't overlook the movie's gorgeous visual effects, which earned the film a well-deserved Academy Award. They just aren't put to good purpose. The movie's vision of the afterlife as like being inside giant paintings fails to evoke a sense of reality. The book, in contrast, bases its afterlife imagery (vividly brought to life by Matheson's skillful prose) much more on Earth-like scenery. This approach ironically leads to far more exotic ideas, such as architects who build things using their minds, and a library containing history books more objective than those on Earth.

One of Matheson's unique qualities as a fantasy writer has always been his almost scientific approach to the supernatural. Here, Matheson makes Heaven and Hell seem like a scientific, natural process, and one of the joys of the book is discerning all the intricate "rules" of how everything works. (That's another area where the movie falls short.) What needs to be kept in mind, however, is that Matheson doesn't do this just for entertainment purposes. In the novel's introduction, he tells his readers that the characters are the only fictional component of the novel, and that almost everything else is based on research. The book even includes a lengthy bibliography. Thus, the afterlife that Matheson describes isn't some fantasy world he concocted from his own head, but something he believes to be an accurate description of reality.

Some people may wonder, at this point, about Matheson's religious background. He was raised a Christian Scientist, but gradually developed what he calls his own religion, taking elements from many sources. One of the book's main influences, I believe, is eighteenth-century Christian mystic Emanuel Swedenborg.

From what I've seen, people react negatively to this book based on how far it departs from their personal beliefs. Christians complain about the absence of Jesus, while those who don't believe in any afterlife consider the story too nonsensical to accept. Most readers, it seems, are put off by the New Age terminology and concepts scattered throughout the book.

These reactions are puzzling, if you stop to think about it. Books about elves, fairies, dragons, and wizards remain popular even though nobody believes in any of those things. Why should people be bothered by a fiction book portraying a Heaven and Hell that conflicts with what they believe? The book is perfectly enjoyable whether or not you accept Matheson's metaphysics.

Of course, I personally do think Matheson provides insight into the subject--though I admit I'm a little wary of his acceptance of paranormal phenomena. But it amazes me how so many people refuse to even touch the book, thinking that any story with such a plot must automatically be hokey. In most cases, they'd be right. "What Dreams May Come" is a big exception. It suggests the endless possibilities in a subject that normally is dead weight for fiction. And it really makes you think.

Average customer rating:

Could have been better
Orbital Reading!
Not finished yet but had to put my voice out there.
Great Nance!
Awesome

Orbit: A Novel
John J. Nance
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0743250524

Book Description

The year is 2009. For Kip Dawson, winning a passenger seat on American Space Adventure's spacecraft is a dream come true. One grand shot of insanity and he can return to earth fulfilled. But the thrill of the successful launch turns to terror when a micrometeorite penetrates the capsule, leaving the radios as dead as the pilot. Reality hits: Kip isn't going home.

With nothing to do but wait for his doomed fate, Kip writes his epitaph on the ship's laptop computer, unaware that an audience of millions has discovered it and is tracking his every word on the Internet. As a massive struggle gets underway to rescue him, Kip has no idea that the world can hear his cries -- or that his heroism in the face of death may sabotage his best chance of survival.

Download Description

The year is 2009. For Kip Dawson, winning a passenger seat on one of American Space Adventure's commercial spaceflights is a dream come true. One grand shot of insanity and he can return to earth fulfilled. It's a bittersweet moment of triumph, however, muted by his wife's terror over his accepting the prize. The day of the launch, Kip tries to reconcile his wife's and daughters' fears and even tries calling his estranged son, to no avail. He sets off, vowing to make amends upon his return. But a successful launch quickly morphs into chaos when a micrometeor punches through the wall of the spacecraft, leaving the radios as dead as the pilot. In the blink of an eye, Kip Dawson is truly alone and has no way of navigating the ship home. With nothing to do but wait for death, Kip writes his epitaph on the ship's laptop computer, unaware that an audience of millions has discovered it and is tracking his every word on the Internet. As a massive struggle gets under way to rescue him, Kip has no idea that the world can hear his cries -- or that his heroism in the face of death may sabotage his best chance of survival.

Customer Reviews:

Could have been better.......2007-07-08

This book focuses on a good and interesting topic, but just gets to be a little to dramatic and unrealistic as it goes on. The action sequences were pretty good. I thought the ending (the very last chapter) was a little bit too corny, but that might just be me.

Orbital Reading!.......2007-07-02

I can only sum up reading this book with one word- "STELLAR"!. Having never read any of Nance's previous work and only stumbling on this book by the neat cover and interesting back synopsis, I gave it a glance. At page 5 I knew I had to have it, and polished it off in 3 days, unfortunately. I'll let the other contributors give you the story & their own synopsis; from my own read even my wife said, "I've never heard you laugh so much". There's lots of humor in all the right places, so much emotion with just the right blend of techno-babel. It's just perfect. 5 Stars isn't enough. Click "Add to Cart" right now, or run on down to a local bookstore and grab a copy. I can only hope his next book will be just as engrossing as this one. Thank you Nance! excellent read and you have a new fan.

Not finished yet but had to put my voice out there........2007-05-23

I'm only about 70% through with this novel and I am listening to it on CD. I really liked the beginning and the concept is really cool. Nance has a good eye for subtleties and paints a vivid picture.

But as I get deeper into the story I'm just having a hard time buying that this would ever happen. Sure, I do beleive a lot of people would tap into his story, but a billion people? And the things he writes a often pretty absurd if you ask me. I'm not sure if he would say these things even if he knew people weren't even going to be reading it.

But I should say I'm going to finish it, so that's what matters. I just felt like I should tell someone.

Great Nance!.......2007-05-12

I am a huge fan of John Nance, but even acknowledging that, I think this book was one of his best. It combined everything we expect from him (hair-raising thrills in the air and dramatic page-turning climaxes) with a real human side to the character of Kip. It was a character's realization of what he really wanted out of life when he was faced with the real possibility of it ending. It gets everyone thinking of what we would keep the same and what we would change. Great book!!!

Awesome.......2007-04-23

First John Nance book I've read. Incredibly moving and powerful thoughts coming from a man with only a few days to live. And to those reviewers who can't seem to get past the implausability, you need to know that this book isn't about a man trapped in space, it's about a man trapped in a life that is suffocating him in the same way the air in his doomed ship will, only more slowly. He could be locked in freezer in the basement or trapped in an abandoned mine and the finality of his life would not be different. Forget the space-ship and read this book people. It's not Dianetics or the Bible, but we could all learn from the self-introspection and self-honesty that Kip pours forth in spades. Dad's will not get through this without some tears . . .

Average customer rating:

Interesting Story of Mental Illness
Depressing
Not even halfway decent
Very true to life account of a family struggling
couldn't put it down

Halfway House: A Novel
Katharine Noel
Manufacturer: Atlantic Monthly Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0871139340

Amazon.com

Halfway House, Katharine Noel's triumphant debut, does far more than expose the highs and lows of battling mental illness; rather, it leaves readers with a sense of longing that transcends the subject matter. Told from the perspective of five family members, Noel expertly captures each character's essence with unapologetic honesty, creating sympathies that would falter under a less gifted writer. The result is a profound look at how a crisis can both destroy and reinvent a seemingly typical family.

Set in rural New Hampshire, Halfway House tells the story of the Voorster family, whose lives are upended when 17-year-old Angie suffers a breakdown and is eventually diagnosed with bipolar disorder. As Angie shuffles between hospitals, dorm rooms, halfway houses, and her childhood home, the side effects of her disease and treatment impact each member of her family. Her father Pieter, a Dutch-born cellist, retreats into himself, while her mother Jordana begins an affair. Angie's brother Luke finds comfort in his girlfriends, especially Wendy, whom he meets while at college in Wisconsin. Eventually, familial relationships must be broken in order to be reinvented. In the process, family dynamics must shift, and each character must confront their own demons in order to emerge on the other side.

From One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest to Girl, Interrupted, the subject of mental illness is hardly uncharted in modern literature. What Noel does is go beyond the disease to explore the consequences of crisis, both punishing and redemptive, without compromise or excuses. That is what makes Halfway House a wonder, and a pleasure to behold. --Gisele Toueg

Book Description

One day, Angie Voorster — diligent student, all-star swimmer, and Ivy League-bound high school senior — dives to the bottom of a pool and stays there. In that moment, everything the Voorster family believes they know about one another changes. Set in a small town in New Hampshire, Halfway House is the story of Angie's psychotic break and her family's subsequent turmoil. Each of her family members responds differently to the ongoing crisis: Her father Pieter, a professional cellist, retreats further into his music; her mother begins a destabilizing affair with a younger man; her younger brother, Luke, first pushes away from her then later drops out of college to be closer to her. Though the Voorsters manage for a time to maintain a semblance of the normalcy they had "before," it is not until Angie is finally able to fend for herself that the family is able to truly fall apart and then regather itself in a new, fundamentally changed way. With grace and precision rarely seen in a first novel, Noel guides readers through a world where love is imperfect, and where longing for an imagined ideal can both destroy one family's happiness and offer redemption.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting Story of Mental Illness.......2007-09-26

I enjoyed this book. I liked the way that the story was told in different perspectives. It was interesting to see how the main character's mental illness affected her brother and parents. I would recommend this book to anyone!

Depressing.......2007-07-18

I found this to be one of the most depressing novels I've read in a long time. Not because of Angie's mental illness which was really the only interesting aspect but because of the other characters. Ugh. I could not find one positive thing to react to in either of her parents....both struck me as self-obsessed depressives. Luke and Angie seemed to have some spunk at least but even his girlfriend, Wendy, seemed flat to me. Reading about Jordana and the baby bunny rabbit at the end did me in. Was it supposed to be some clever metaphor for her (failed) relationships? To me the book ended with not much hope or resolve and by the end I wish I hadn't wasted my time.

Not even halfway decent.......2007-06-17

Katherine Noel's debut novel reads like she wanted to write a book about a girl with bipolar disorder and built the story out from there, making sure the family was sufficiently screwed up and that each plot point served the greater theme. The end result feels forced, mechanical; above all, inauthentic.

It's a shame, really, given that in the hands of a more capable writer, Angela Voorster might be an effective protagonist. She's headed to an Ivy League college, a star athelete and suddenly stricken with mental illness in the middle of a swim meet. What's most interesting about her is that she never quite comes to terms with her bipolar disorder. It's as much a part of her as her hair color or height, another stage of her life that will surely pass. Though at times the descriptions of other halfway house residents or Angela's post-breakdown interactions with friends and family can be tiresome, Angela is, at her core, an inspired character. What proves that is that she doesn't always think or do what you'd expect.

When Noel writes in Angela's point of view, the narrative becomes wrought with conflict. Perhaps switching perspectives is the author's major mistake here. As they tell their sides of the story, the reader can't help but want to skip forward and follow Angela again. The supporting Voorsters are too thinly drawn to carry such huge chunks of the novel. Anyone could predict marital trouble for Angela's parents and the standoffish reactions of her brother; they don't need extra time and their actions feel like padding that just distracts from the main story.

Very true to life account of a family struggling.......2007-06-07

Ms. Noel's treatment of this story is wonderful. A young woman's mental illness just rips this family up, and we are allowed to read from the point of view of each participant. It is very real and touching.

couldn't put it down.......2007-04-18

I couldn't believe that this was this authors first novel. It is absolutely awesome. Her writing gives you a very vivid picture of what it must be like to live with someone with bi-polar disease. It seems that the book would be depressive, but it is just the opposite. It is insightful and captures the compassion and anguish that this girls family feels as it struggles to cope with her illness. The story is told beautifully; literally couldn't put it down until I finished it.

Average customer rating:

A challenge and a mystery.
At the Coalface of Postmodernism
an enthusiast's choice
a review
Best "Robinson Crusoe" book.

Foe: A Novel (King Penguin)
J. M. Coetzee
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 014009623X

Customer Reviews:

A challenge and a mystery........2007-06-24

This much studied novel offers the reader mysteries wrappped inside enigmas throughout the second half of the book. This could be a frustrating book to any reader who wishes to finish a book totally understanding all that they have read and feeling that all the pieces came together into a whole complete wrap-up at the end.

Coetzee takes Daniel DeFoe's Robinson Cruso, and deconstructs it to the extreme by offering an alternative tale that preceeds the writing of the novel. Coetzee tells the story of Susan Barton, a brave and handsome woman who leaves England to find her abducted daughter in Brazil. After two years of fruitless searching and poverty she tries to return to England , however Portuguese mutineers take over the ship and put her adrift in the Caribbean/Western Atlanta, where she eventually lands on an island inhabited by a Robinson Cruso and a mute slave, Friday.

The first half of the book is a wonderful straight forward narrative, written in letter form from Susan Barton to the novelist Daniel DeFoe. However it is the second half of the book that may be more challenging as Coetzee explores the gulf between reality and the perception of reality as expressed by a single observer. Then this perception of reality, which may become a narrative, is contrasted with that story as it is developed by a storyteller or as it is contrasted with alternative views of the same events.

This leads folks to identify this novel as a prime example of post-modern literature. We are offered the opportunity to explore a story that was not heard, in other words - the experiences of Susan Barton are completely written out of the story of Robinson Cruso. But before we feel too sorry for Ms. Barton, we are given example after example of how she fails to understand the African slave man, Friday. Who's story is the right story? We side originally with Susan Barton, a most appealing character. Yet in part 2 of the novel we soon see that she is less and less a reliable narrator and we soon find that she is talking in metaphore.

Daniel DeFoe, probably the best known novelist of his time, was constantly in debt. Susan Barton hides in his home while DeFoe hides elsewhere. During this time a girl begins to follow and haunt Suan Barton. She says she is also Susan Barton and she is the daughter of Susan Barton. The adult Susan Barton tells her that she is 'father born' and that she is really not her adult missing daugher in Brazil. We come to realize that the young Susan Barton is the narrative DeFoe is writing about Susan's life and the young girl goes not match Susan's perception of reality. We come to realize that DeFoe is learning that Susan will be his 'foe' in trying to develop the story and therefore distance from her is required for his creative process.

In the end this novel combines a range of narrative styles, including converstaional and letter styles. We are sometimes not sure of the narrator, especially in the final pages. Issues around power and race, power and gender, colonialism, and the creative process all twist together. Coetzee honors the creative process and the necessity to edit out those voices that will not enhance the final work of art - yet here he offers a fine creative product in which at least one edited voice is allowed to speak for herself, at least in the Coetzee novel.

Susan Barton is not the only unheard voice. Friday is said to be mute but we are unsure of this through much of the book. We are unsure of his past, his loss of voice, and the range of actions he takes - many of which are ritual and not clear to Susan or the reader. The passage where Friday opens his mouth and the ocean winds and surf are heard would appear to be a comment on the fact that words, despite their power, have limitations, they approximate reality, they are not perfect mirrors of reality.

Read this book with a friend since you will want to discuss the ambiguities with someone.

At the Coalface of Postmodernism.......2006-03-16

Foe "establishes itself as a prior, more original text" (Krupat 1992:9) to Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe. The primary difference is that, in Coetzee's "prior" text, a young woman, Susan Barton, is washed ashore on Crusoe's island following a mutiny. She becomes the real narrator of the story -- and the story she tells is radically different to that which the original Robinson Crusoe narrates. Not only that, but her man of Letters, Foe, finally takes her story and writes her out of it, giving it shape as the present Robinson Crusoe. I shall offer my own, original interpretation of the book.

The first section may be autobiographical -- perhaps charting the author's inner journey from modernism to postmodernism. It describes the island, windswept and desolate -- unlike Defoe's original rich setting. Barton is a "livewire" who is concerned that Cruso has "narrowed his horizon". She is concerned about his "indifference to salvation". However, Cruso is quite content to lose himself "in the contemplation of the wastes of water and sky" -- rather than constructing doubtful meanings for the past, present, or future.

The second section enters into many of the problems of narrative and history. It takes place after Barton's rescue and return to England. Cruso, unable to bear the loss of his island, dies on the return journey. Barton seeks a publisher for her story (Foe), and corresponds with him. But Barton's mind is beset with problems as to how, or even whether, her story should be told. Is the story important after all? Whose story should be told? Is she distorting its content? What should she do with Friday, who is unable to speak? In fact, even when she gets into his clothes, she is unable to understand him.

The third section apparently contemplates theories of truth. Bearing in mind J.M. Coetzee's training as a computer scientist and linguist, I shall draw on the structure of computer languages. "The trick I have learned," says Foe, "is to plant a sign or marker in the ground" (this might refer to the main program). "I shall have something to return to" (one returns to the main program after a subroutine). "The more often I come back to the mark . . . the more I am heartened." The implication is, perhaps, that a life ultimately becomes its own meaning.

The fourth and final part of the novel is a short one, and may represent an attempt to paint reality beyond words and reason. There is a confusion of dream-like imagery. Barton says that God "wrote a Word so long that we have yet to come to the end of it." That is, it would seem impossible to confine truth to words or narrative, or to any enclosed system of meaning. In the closing scene, "a slow stream" comes from the mute Friday. "It runs northward and southward, to the ends of the earth" -- perhaps implying that the inflence of truth is inevitable, regardless of what narration may do to it.

The novel has been described as "an archetypal postmodern novel". In fact it takes one to the "coalface" of postmodernism. It leads one carefully through each of the many deconstructing questions about meaning. This is no textbook on postmodernism, nor even a representation of the same. This is to observe a postmodernist at work, and this makes the book unique.

Krupat, Arnold. Ethnocriticism: Ethnography, History, Literature, 1992. Berkeley: University of California Press.

an enthusiast's choice.......2006-01-27

J.M. Coetzee is clearly an enigma of a man as well as a hell of a writer. I read this book for a college lit. class and ended up extracting a great topic that I based my thesis on. Definitely a great (and short) book, but far from "light" reading. Also, I would highly recommend re-reading the orginial Robinson Crusoe to fully appreciate this book.

a review.......2005-12-07

Coetzee is a South African writer who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 (not for this book); the first author to win two Booker prizes, and is known for his novels that look at race issues. This novel is a retelling of Robinson Crusoe as an "archetypal postmodern" novel. It operates on many levels and there have been 100s (1000s?) of academic journal musings written about it's many allegorical, literary and philosophical permutations about race, colonialism, feminism, creativity. I found it to be in such rarefied air that it was a blockage to an enjoyable story. For a didactic novel it is gold.

Best "Robinson Crusoe" book........2005-04-18

I had to read Robinson Crusoe and Foe for my English 101 class, mainly due to the fact that I have/had to write a Compare and Contrast essay on the two. I can safely say that Foe is by far a much better title than its predecessor. Why, I ask myself. I think it's because of the old-style grammar back then, it's just difficult to get into.

Foe on the other hand, starts off right in the beginning with adventure. It's no snooze. I love this book.

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