Book Reviews

This is my first Temperance Brennan story. Once I got used to her being older than the Tempe in the TV series (less than a chapter), I totally enjoyed it. I look forward to getting to know this Temperance Brennan.

Sweeping Up Glass by Carolyn Wall is a richly told tale. We meet the narrator/main character, Olivia, when she's a woman in her forties. She's a woman who has lived and is living a hard life. She backtracks and tells the reader how she got where she is and then the story continues in present tense.

For the most part, all of Walls characters are three dimensional. Olivia is a very likable character. It's easy to sympathize with her even though, at times, I felt that she was doing the wrong thing or being too stubborn. We see all the characters through Olivia's eyes. The depth of what we learn about them is proportional to her acquaintance and association with them. Because of this, the antagonists at times seemed to do things for no reason. We learn with Olivia, however.

There are some mysteries in the story. We want to know who is shooting the wolves and why. Olivia's pap is buried by the outhouse and we want to understand why and how that happened. There are other mysteries, all woven deftly through the story. The end has an unexpected twist, and yet, it is logical and not out of place in the story. I thought the romance was a bit too contrived at the end, but just a little. It was not totally out of the realm of possibility.

It could have been depressing, Olivia's life has been quite difficult, but Wall makes the tale real, neither overwhelming us with the negative turns life can take, nor making it a fairy tale that ends with an unrealistic 'happily ever after.'

Over all, this was a wonderful book. I was totally absorbed as I read. I would recommend this to anyone.

While I'm not sure I accept the basic principles of feng shui, this book was very helpful in understanding why my space gets cluttered. Her ideas on how to clear clutter are quite useful.

This is a hard book for me to review. I enjoyed reading it, but it is all a little strange. I guess it could be considered an alternate reality -- one that is close to our reality. I have no doubt that Rodoreda was saying something larger than the story, but, unfortunately, without clues, I have been unable to grasp what that is. The back cover says it could be a metaphor to Franco's Spain. I suspect that someone with more knowledge of Spanish history, particularly in the last century, would be more aware of what Rodoreda is saying, if that is the case.

The story follows the life of a boy from age 14 to about 20. They live in a little town over a river. They have some strange customs regarding death and the river and other things. The story starts out rather sweetly, though you can sense that minor chord of oddness or even something macabre. At the end, it is happiness that is only vaguely sensed. It reminds me of dystopian science fiction. Since the boy is the narrator, this sense is a reflection of what he is feeling, how he sees things, and the negativity toward the end is understandable, considering all he has gone through. It was hard for me to see to what degree his view is distorted, though, or even if it is distorted. The world he lived in was already so odd to me.

Rodoreda's style reminds me of fairy tales -- the kind that haven't been sweetened or Disneyized. The language is lyrical and poetic and the story becomes quite dark. I suspect that it may actually be the same kind of story. I believe that many fairy tales were written as commentary to their times.

It is definitely something I want to reread. I liked it enough to want to understand it better than I do and I'm hunting for some kind of reading guide for it.

I have been reminded that I didn't post a review for this book. I thought I'd written one, but can't find it. It has been over a year since I read the book.

I remember that I enjoyed reading it. Ganeshananthan starts her story with the love marriage of the narrator's parents. Yalini talks about them and how they ended up in the US and about other family members elsewhere in the world, mainly Sri Lanka and Canada. She learns the reality of the turmoil in Sri Lanka and why some, her uncle in particular, have chosen to fight. This book wasn't what I expected. Having seen several popular Indian movies, I thought it would be an Indian romance. Rather than that, it is a book about choices, and a book of ties. Some choices are made for us, such as traditional arranged marriages, and some we make ourselves. But the line between the two types of choices is not always that clear. There are many factors that lead us to make choices and sometimes not making one is a choice in itself.

Once I started to read this book, I wanted to continue reading. I chose this book because I have always heard about what a good writer Joyce Carol Oates is. I was not disappointed by her writing. Oates' style is beautiful, compelling. After I finished the book, however, I couldn't help but wonder what the point of it was.

Unquestionably, characters are more important than plot. Since the story was inspired by a true story, what happened is known. The book is all about how people behave and how they are affected by what happens. The story is told from the point of view of the older brother of the slain child. We see his parents through his eyes as a child (though clearly filtered through his older mind), and some of the other adults around him. We also see his sister through those same eyes. Although he does not paint her as angelic or perfect, by any means, he maintains more of the feelings for her that he had as a child -- a normal love/hate, or love/jealous/envy that siblings have. He has a lot of guilt, though nothing in the story shows that guilt to be valid. It is the guilt often felt by children who have survived a tragedy. What makes this story unsuccessful for me is that he never overcomes that guilt. In fact, it seems to grow with him. It is nothing new that such a feeling of guilt will lead one on a spiral downward.

She gives a vivid picture of the social strata and how some people see their lives only in terms of their position. Specific location was not important to the story. Such things happen anywhere. Societal position, however, was very important to the story. Posh suburbs, private schools, personal training were all part of the lifestyle of the main characters and had a lot to do with what happened from the author's point of view as I understand it. Again, none of this is new, including sacrifice of family -- even literally.

It honestly seems to me that she has merely taken a true story that has stuck in the nation's mind and tried, without knowing exactly what, to make something of it.

The book is worth reading for Oates' style and eloquence, but skip it if you're not fond of depressing for depressing's sake.

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I have read the author's website and see that this book is satirical... something I'm not particularly good at picking up on my own. After some thought I may have a new review at a later date.

I enjoyed reading this book. I find Alice Walker to be an intelligent, thoughtful woman. While we are not particularly alike in any way, I found that I related to a lot of what she says. She's Southern Black and I'm Northern White, but we are both women. She grew up rural and I grew up inner city. In an odd way that's a connection. Her essays open doors and windows for me, help me to see, to better understand a life other than one like my own. I would recommend it to anyone, particularly White women wanting to better understand our Black sisters, anyone wanting in insiders view of feminism from a Black woman's perspective, and anyone wanting to understand why the Civil Rights movement was so important. She covers all these topics and more.

When I first started this, I though it terribly sad. I didn't see the connections clearly at first, but I read on. At the the end, I still believe it terribly sad, but I have a much larger picture than the mere words, by themselves, give. Life often is sad. Yet, among the sadness, one is able to pick up moments of joy. It is one of the beauties of poetry to be able to say so much in so few words. Dove's chronology in the back give it the connections to reality, but aren't necessary to see the life stories given. Probably most of the poems here could stand on their own, but they would be less by themselves. We would understand less. It would be as if one were to read only a single chapter of a novel. It's a beautiful book, one that calls me to reread.

This is a book I purchased with the idea of gaining an understanding of character types for writing stories. It provides those insights and much more.

Pearson descripes the six archetype and also shows how all the archetypes are part each person. We don't go through them in any set order, though a couple of paths are most common, based on our society. Even more, though, she makes it clear that we may seem to be in one particular archetype mode, and as we grow and learn, move into another and another until we've covered all six, (or get stuck in one) we actually are processing all six all the time. She clarifies what each archetype is and contrasts it to stagnant societal understanding or stereotype.

Although my copy of the book was written in 1989, it does not seem at all dated. In fact, I see more of the changes she believes our society is going through. You can see what archetype was and is dominant in our society. I think it can help make change less scary to those who identify more with the outgoing archetype and more hopeful for those who don't identify. She addresses this particularly with the stereotypes for male and female roles.

This isn't a book you can use to make people change (probably not even yourself), but it offers understanding of where others, and you, are. It helps answer the question "Why do people do what they do?" This understanding can be what you need to help you make a change, if you are ready, but no one will change until it is time for them to change.

The book is a lot of psychology, but Pearson treats religion with respect. I appreciate this. I didn't find it at odds with my own beliefs as I have sometimes found with some psychology books.

As someone who occasionally writes stories, I find it gives background and understanding that will help me flesh out my characters when I need to figure out things like motivation. Mostly, though it's been a book that helps me see who I am and maybe where I'm going.

I don't know why I chose this book. When it arrived and I read the page of praise before the title page, I groaned a little inside -"I chose this?" I usually chose fiction for review. But I did choose it and though I had no clue how I could review it, as I read, it became clear to me.

Eyes Wide Open is a call to Christians to stop trying/pretending to be perfect because of their salvation. Salvation makes believers perfect in God's eyes because He sees Christ in them, but back here on Earth there is no one perfect. Christians who fit in to either category (trying or pretending) are not letting their light shine to light the way for others. Those who are trying, either give up or start pretending. If Christians truly see themselves as they are, they realize that even when they mess up they are not necessarily ineffective in their roles as Christians. God still loves them. If they pretend to have it all together and are near perfect (no one comes right out and says they are perfect. It's a way of behaving.) because they are Christian, they are not walking in truth and are not as effective as they could be -- sometimes not effective in a positive way at all. Wilhite states on page 166 "...the cultural war is over. And we lost."

In the past I have read some books for Christians that I would not recommend to non-Christians. I could see where such a book would push all the wrong buttons for them, that the book required a believer's understanding. I don't think this is such a book. I can see this as a way for people who have been turned off by an overzealous evangelism to better understand Christianity.

Wilhite first shows believers the need to see themselves clearly as who they are, saints, priests, and servants, and still not perfect in this life. Following that, he shows them the need to change (to stop faking it or to stop giving up) and the need to be open to influence. In summary, he's pointing out that we need to be the Christians Jesus called us to be.

His style is conversational and he sounds truly down-to-Earth. If you feel stagnant or like a failure in your Christian walk, or if you've been turned off by the "holier-than-you" Christians, this book will be a breath of fresh air. Wilhite doesn't offer new or deeper insights. His lesson is basic, but he is on solid Biblical ground and he makes his message clear. Christians have reason to hope. We can change the world for the better, wherever we are, both physically and in our spiritual walk.