Literary Criticism & Collections Books - Page 4

Cliffsnotes on Kingsolvers the Bean Trees (Cliffs Notes)

Barbara Kingsolver, Cliffs Notes

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 385 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Ten years ago, Barbara Kingsolver published a first novel that is well on its way to becoming a classic work of American fiction. The Bean Trees is a book readers have taken to their hearts. It is now a standard in college literature classes across the nation and has been translated for a readership stretching from Japan to Romania.

When it was first published, however, its author was unknown. Word of mouth spread slowly among booksellers, librarians, critics and readers with a passion to share their favorite books. In The Bean Trees they found a spirited protagonist, Taylor Greer, who grew up in poor in rural Kentucky with the goals of avoiding pregnancy and getting away. But when Taylor heads west with high hopes and a barely functional car, she meets the human condition head-on. By the time she arrives in Tucson, she has acquired a completely unexpected child and must somehow come to terms with both motherhood and the necessity for putting down roots. Hers is a story about love and friendship, abandonment and belonging, and the discovery of surprising resources in apparently empty places.

Most readers of The Bean Trees discovered the novel in its paperback edition. On the 10th anniversary of its first publication, HarperFlamingo is proud to offer readers this special hardback edition, redesigned to be easy on the eyes and priced to be accessible to every lover of good fiction.

James Joyce's a Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man (Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations)

James Joyce

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 240 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

terrible, terrible, terrible book 1 out of 5 stars.
2 of 7 people found this review helpful.

I don't know where to start. It's pretty difficult to review a book in which nothing takes place. This book lacks... well, just about everything. It lacks half a sentence of substance. Nothing in the story is connected; I read the book and wondered, "What is this about? What was the story?" Actually, I have a confession to make: I didn't actually read the book in its entirety; I read the first half and was so disgusted by it that I had to read the summaries for the rest of the chapters online. It is that bad.

Normally I listen to other people's opinions but I am making it a fact in my mind that this book is the worst book I have ever read. If you disagree, you are wrong. That is how terrible this book was. It was a complete waste of my money. It was required reading for school. I always read the books regardless of whether I like them or not, only reading summaries after finishing to make sure I understood the whole story. This is the first book I have ever relied on reviews to finish. My teacher worhips this book but there is nothing good about it. If anybody can explain to me what this book is about in a way that makes sense, I will give them ten dollars.

So far, everyone in my school has failed to explain it to me. This book is everything Flowers for Algernon tries to be (that's not a good thing).

Editorial Review:

Considered to be cast in a daring rhetorical mode, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is the first novel by James Joyce. Originally published as a series, the novel continually interacts with Irish history and culture.

The title, James Joyce’s A Portrait of Artist As Young Man, part of Chelsea House Publishers’ Modern Critical Interpretations series, presents the most important 20th-century criticism on James Joyce’s A Portrait of Artist As Young Man through extracts of critical essays by well-known literary critics. This collection of criticism also features a short biography on James Joyce, a chronology of the author’s life, and an introductory essay written by Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Yale University.

Native Son (Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations)

Richard Wright

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 186 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Fear - Flight - Fate 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This a great American novel about the greatest of American problems: race. Wright's series of three one-word titles for the sections of his book ("Fear" - "Flight" - "Fate") captures the issue in all of its raw horror.

The best part is "Fear", which opens the novel. Wright is brilliant in describing the grim conditions of Bigger Thomas' condition, his constant fear and anxiety, and his violent response to that condition. The only work that I can think of that better portrays this condition is Wright's own autobiographical "Black Boy", which describes the way in which fear is institutionalized in the Jim Crow South to control the population.

The book was and is controversial for choosing a murderer to portray the condition of Black America in 1940 and for showing how that murder and subsequent attempt at extortion were in a perverse way the first free and self-affirming acts of Bigger's life. I don't believe, however, that Wright is glorifying violence or confirming racial stereotypes about the "animals" who inhabit the "ghetto."

First, there is some ambiguity to the criminal act that is reminiscent of the crimes portrayed in the novels of Dreiser, whom Wright admired. But as was the case with the crimes depicted by another writer admired by Wright -- Dostoyevsky -- the author clearly disapproves of the act, and it requires condemnation and punishment. One can empathize with the odd circumstances that lead to Bigger's crime and can see it as more of a product of fear than anything else -- perhaps he even should have been convicted of reckless homicide or manslaughter. That one can understand the crime in the sense of recognizing the humanity of the criminal does not remove the criminality of the act or the need for condemnation. Indeed this makes the novel more interesting and compelling.

Second, the point of making Bigger a hero and having the reader identify with him is not to glorify violence or to demean Blacks. The point is to emphasize the need to recognize collective guilt. Bigger is the "Native Son." He's a product of America, and we are all responsible for making him and for doing something about the underlying problem. We identify with Bigger because we all made him.

When I first read the book, I liked the lengthy closing argument of Bigger's Marxist criminal defense lawyer, wherein Wright addresses the larger social forces that determine Bigger's fate and that mitigate his guilt. It's good old-fashioned critical Marxism, and Wright was a "card-carrying" Communist at the time he wrote the book. On re-reading, I find the speech far too long and abstract.

Another insight into the book on a second reading is Wright's humor. This is an oddly funny book. Wright has some fun lampooning the anti-semitism and racism of the whites in the book, and it is at times damned funny. Even Bigger at times can smile ironically to himself at some dumb move or twist of fate he experiences.

Mr. James is a great reader of the audio version of the book. His inflections for the white and black characters are just terrific. He has a wonderful voice and is one of the best readers I've experienced.

One of the top ten American novels of the 20th Century -- I highly recommend it.

Editorial Review:

- Critical essays reflecting a variety of schools of criticism - Notes on the contributing critics, a chronology of the author's life, and an index - An introductory essay by Harold Bloom.

Ramona Quimby, Age 8

Beverly Cleary

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 47 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

This book brings back memories 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Ramona Quimby, Age 8 is written by Beverly Cleary and gets a 5 star rating by me.
I am rating this book 5 stars because it just brings back memories to kids older than 8. If you aren't older than 8 then it shows you sort of shows you what is to come in the future. Her lifestyle is a lot like a real human's lifestyle. That is another reason why I enjoyed reading this book so much. The author just amazes me because she makes a charcter that is not really a real person turn to life. As an example she lives with her sister who always bothers her. She has a cat and a next door neighbor named Henry.
My life relates to hers so much. When I was in 2nd grade people would like to take my things without asking. Just like in the novel, when Danny "The yard ape" steals her eraser and throws it around with his friend. This book also relates to my life when Ramona got that egg dropped on her head. When I was in fourth grade one of the same situations happen to me. My friend Eric started laughing really hard and spit his yogurt all over me then after that I had to go to the nurse and get it all cleaned up.
Some other books I would recommend are, Ramona and Her Mother, Ramona and her Father, and all the other Ramona Quimby books. I really recommend you to read this book.

Six by Seuss: A Treasury of Dr. Seuss Classics

Dr. Seuss

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Suess rocks 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I really like this book as the price was a great deal. Of course I think its better to have the individual books but I couldn't resist the price and its not too bulky for reading, although I wouldn't want the book to be any bigger.

Six by Seuss: A treasury of seuss classics 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Quality book. Excellent for baby gift. The illustrations were exactly as I remembered.

Kids love it!!! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is a great book for anyone looking to buy Dr.Seuss books. Why buy 1 book when you get this one for less and it has 6 long stories.

A terrific bargain for Seuss lovers 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Most "compilation" children's books--books that collect a large number of originals into one volume--are horrible. They typically include only part of the original story, or only some of the pictures, or else they shrink the pictures in order to save space. This one, though, is the real deal--it's six complete Dr. Seuss books, collected under one cover but otherwise exactly the same as if you were buying the six originals. If your children love Dr. Seuss (are there any that don't?) then this will get you through a lot of bedtimes.

I should also emphasize one other point that has confused some new parents I have talked to: these are Dr. Seuss "big books", which are only suitable for children four and older (a couple of them won't work until your child is five or six, or didn't for mine). Younger children simply don't have the attention span to appreciate these stories. For them, you should stick to his "Beginner Books" (Green Eggs and Ham, Seven Apples up on Top, The Foot Book, etc.).

Editorial Review:

An anthology of six stories by Dr. Seuss, including "And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street," "The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins," "Horton Hatches the Egg," "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," "The Lorax," and "Yertle the Turtle."

Anna Banana: 101 Jump Rope Rhymes

Joanna Cole

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

should have left some of those old rhymes out 1 out of 5 stars.
13 of 14 people found this review helpful.

I love the idea for the book, but the author should have been more selective in choosing rhymes that are appropriate for today's children.

I was disappointed to find rhymes such as these included: "Standing at the bar, smoking a cigar. Laughing at the donkey ha-ha-har!" "All in, a bottle of gin. All out, a bottle of stout." and "Johnny gave me apples, Johnny gave me pears, Johnny gave me fifty cents and kissed me on the stairs. I'd rather scrub the dishes, I'd rather scrub the floor, I'd rather kiss the iceman behind the kitchen door." Other rhymes include a "big fat policeman" who grabs the child and makes him pay a dollar, and a yelling teacher with a great big stick. "How many times were you fired?" the child asks the teacher.

There are so many fun and positive jump rope rhymes, it's too bad the author includes these and others that are just not appropriate even if they were popular 50 years ago.

Editorial Review:

How many times can you jump rope? This rhyme makes the game of rope jumping even more fun. It's a counting rhyme, and there are lots of others like it. There are also red-hot pepper rhymes for jumping very fast, and rhymes for jumpingin and out of the rope. There are even fortune-telling rhymes that answer questions and help you predict the future!

The rhymes in this book began as a way to keep the rhythm while jumping rope, but they also lent poetry and humor to the game. Here are over one hundred traditional rhymes that will make rope jumping challenging and, best of all, fun.

Hamlet (Barron's Book Notes)

William Shakespeare, Tessa Krailing

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 154 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

To thine own self be true ... 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

NOTE: THE FOLLOWING CHIEFLY PERTAINS TO THE NEW FOLGER LIBRARY EDITION.

William Shakespeare's "Hamlet" is arguably the most famous play ever written in the English language; it presents the world with questions and characters that have been the subject of thespian and scholarly debate ever since the Prince of Denmark's first appearance on the stage of London's Globe Theatre. Probably written and first performed in 1601 (estimates vary between 1600 and 1602), the play draws on Saxo Grammaticus's late 12th/early 13th century chronicle "Gesta Danorum," which includes a popular legend with a similar plot centering around a prince named Amleth; as well as several more contemporaneous sources, primarily Francois de Belleforest's "Histoires Tragiques, Extraicts des Oeuvres Italiennes de Bandel" (1559-1580), which expands on the story told in the "Gesta Danorum," and a lost play known as the "Ur-Hamlet" (i.e., original "Hamlet"), sometimes also attributed to Shakespeare, but equally likely written by a different author a few decades earlier. Another work frequently cited in this context is 16th century playwright Thomas Kyd's "Spanish Tragedie."

Pursuant to Shakespeare's wishes and like all of his works, "Hamlet" was not immediately published, and the original manuscript did not survive. However, in the absence of copyright laws or other forms of protection of what today would be called the playwright's intellectual property rights, first bootleg copies (so-called quartos) based on transcripts made during or after performances began to appear in 1603. Yet, it would not be until 1623 - seven years after Shakespeare's 1616 death - that his former fellow actors John Hemmings and Henry Condell published 36 of his plays (including this one) in a collection known as the First Folio.

As no print version of any of Shakespeare's plays has a bona fide claim to its author's first-hand blessings, ever since the Bard's death the world is left with numerous questions about his characters' motivations and psychological makeup; first and foremost, in this particular case: who is this Prince of Denmark anyway, and what's driving him - is he a reluctant suicide or reluctant avenger? A Renaissance man? Wrecked by Freudian guilt? Genuinely mad, or merely putting on a clever act of deception? Or is he someone else entirely? - Indeed, we're even left in doubt as to what exactly it was that Shakespeare meant his characters to say, with all attendant interpretative consequences: Does the Prince wish for his "too too sullied" or his "too too solid" flesh to "melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew" in his first major soliloquy (Act I, Scene 2)? Does he really contemplate "the stamp of [that] one defect" which may fatally taint the perception of a man's other virtues, "be they as pure as grace," before meeting his father's ghost (I, 4)? Does Polonius, when sending Reynaldo on a spying mission after Laertes, refer to his scheme as "a fetch of wit" or "a fetch of warrant" (II, 1)? Do Hamlet's musings in "To be, or not to be" (III, 1) concern "enterprises of great pith and moment" or "of great pitch and moment," whose "currents turn awry and lose the name of action" by his doubts? Does or doesn't the sight of the Norwegian army while Hamlet is on his way to England (IV, 4) prompt him, who has so far failed to carry out his purpose, to reflect "How all occasions do inform against me," and conclude his soliloquy with the vow "from this time forth my thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth"?

How you answer any of these questions, and how you consequently view the play's characters, depends in no small part on the text you read. Like all Folger Shakespeare editions, this one is based on what the editors have deemed the "best early printed version," while allowing the reader a unique direct comparison of the principal reliable versions by including a text essentially combining these versions, with unobtrusive markers characterizing those passages appearing only in one particular version. For "Hamlet," the editors eschewed the play's very first (1603) quarto, which was possibly compiled by a journeyman actor and whose inconsistencies with all subsequent versions (textually as well as plot-wise and even regarding character names) have caused it to be generally considered a "bad" quarto, in favor of the 1604 Second Quarto, which some even believe to be based on Shakespeare's own first draft of the play and which, in any event, while more extensive than the 1623 First Folio (in turn, thought to be closest to the version(s) actually produced on the Globe Theatre stage), boasts about as secure a claim of authenticity as the latter. In some instances, the text follows the Second Quarto (Q2) without visually alerting the reader to the differences vis-a-vis the First Folio (F1), thus compelling those more used to the latter version to seek out the extensive end notes to reassure themselves that (in the examples given above) it might indeed be "solid flesh," "warrant," and "pith and moment" (F1) instead of "sullied flesh," "wit," and "pitch and moment" (Q2). In other instances, however, the First Folio's language (clearly marked as such) is given preference over that of the Second Quarto; while crucially, the text also includes all those passages *only* contained in the latter, including the "stamp of one defect" and "bloody thoughts" monologues, whose interpretation has such a direct bearing on many a reader's understanding of Hamlet's character.

The text is amplified by illustrations and annotations for those unfamiliar with 16th century English, scene-by-scene plot summaries, a short biography of Shakespeare, and introductory and concluding essays on this and the Bard's other plays and on Shakespearean theatre, as well as extensive suggestions for further reading, and a key to the play's most famous lines. While it is unlikely that after 400 years of debate any one version, be it in print, on stage or on screen, will be able to generate unanimous acceptance as the "definitive" rendition of this complex play, this is an excellent starting point for an in-depth excursion into the Prince of Denmark's world.

Also recommended:
The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition
BBC Shakespeare Tragedies DVD Giftbox
Olivier's Shakespeare - Criterion Collection (Hamlet / Henry V / Richard III)
William Shakespeare's Hamlet (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Grigori Kozintsev's Hamlet
Hamlet
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
Peter Brook's King Lear
Richard III
Julius Caesar

Editorial Review:

A guide to reading "Hamlet" with a critical and appreciative mind. Includes background on the author's life and times, sample tests, term paper suggestions, and a reading list.

The Witches

Roald DAHL

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 254 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A Gem 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I love this book! I was at my cousin's house when she had book club, and having read this many times, I forgot how great it was! Luckily, I chose to read it again, and fell in love for the second time! With characters that only Roahld Dahl himself could come up with, this book is a find. An eccentric grandmother, a curious boy, and evil creatures, this book is masterpiece. One of my favorites in the Dahl collection, thank you to the author!!!!

another great Dahl story! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This story has three parts: the first - scary and gruesome, the second - funny, full of adventure and predictable, the third - warm, unexpected and full of promise and excitement.

What stays with me is the love between the grandson and the grandmother - they fully accept one another despite their differences and they enthusiastically enjoy life and each other.

The ending is left open for the imagination - not taken to a close like so much these days where nothing is left to ponder upon.

For Readers Who Just Wanna' Have Fun 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Adult readers, please shut off your reality and turn on your imagination; please read Roald Dahl's THE WITCHES. It's written for 7-12 year olds, but I guarantee you'll also have fun with it.

My favorite lines pinched my nostrils together when I read them. "I ... ran into The Grand High Witch's bedroom. There was the same musty smell about the place that I had noticed in the Ballroom [a witches' meeting]. It was the stench of witches. It reminded me of the smell inside the men's public lavatory at our local railway-station."

Pee-ew! That's some stench!

E. L. Doctorow's Ragtime (Modern Critical Interpretations)

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Total reviews: 120 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

History? Fiction? Fictory? Who cares, it's great! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Give this one a few chapters to hook you, as Doctorow's style here won't suit everyone's tastes. There is very little dialogue, and often he employs repetitive staccato sentences in brief summary descriptions, like: "He came in. He sat down. He counted his change. He put it in his pocket and left." Now, the way he does it actually fits each scene perfectly, but occasionally you'll notice it.

That small criticism aside, however, RAGTIME is teeming with historical figures and random tidbits while telling a rollicking story. Along the way you'll meet Houdini, Henry Ford, J. P. Morgan, George Washington Carver, Emma Goldman, Evelyn Nesbitt and many more. You'll get lost in another time and never want to come back.

And while you're reading, ask yourself two simple questions: First, who is telling this story? And second, how do they know all these things? You'll be glad you paid attention.

Editorial Review:

- Presents the most important 20th-century criticism on major works from "The Odyssey through modern literature- The critical essays reflect a variety of schools of criticism- Contains critical biographies, notes on the contributing critics, a chronology of the author's life, and an index- Introductory essay by Harold Bloom

Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman (Bloom's Guides)

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Total reviews: 202 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Rat Race Lost, State of Denial 5 out of 5 stars.
19 of 20 people found this review helpful.

Hopeless fathers & sons were a favorite theme of Miller. The pressure of failing aspirations. The horror of failure. Drawn between overconfidence and self-doubt. Flashbacks on scenes from a dreary life. Lies to others and oneself. Failures in job and family.
The play is one of the quintessential pieces of modern American theater. Its themes are known and have been expounded endlessly. Why is it still fresh? I have never watched it on stage nor screen. I have known it for ages, but could not find enough interest to look for a performance, nor to read it. Now LoA does it.
Looking at the reviews here on the Penguin modern classic page, I am wondering about the spread in reviews. From 5 to 1 stars all is there, with a downward slope towards the negative votes. The play has more friends than foes, but on an absolute level, the nays would sink an ordinary ship. Of course quality questions are not decided by democracy. One particularly daft observer produced a perfect inverted version of cultural Stalinism. With perfect perverted logic, he tells us that only positive depictions of the American dream are acceptable. That is completely in line with 'socialist realism': if the artist fails to enthuse about the reigning system, he is condemned.
Thanks to LoA for making me get to know the man Miller. I will definitely look for a movie version or go to a play if I find an opportunity.

Editorial Review:

Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, part of Chelsea House Publishers' Bloom's Guides collection, presents concise critical excerpts from Death of a Salesman to provide a scholarly overview of the work. This comprehensive study guide also features "The Story Behind the Story," which details the conditions under which Death of a Salesman was written. This title also includes a short biography on Arthur Miller and a descriptive list of characters.