Authors, A-Z Books - Page 12

The Handmaid's Tale (Everyman's Library)

Margaret Atwood

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 560 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)

A gripping vision of our society radically overturned by a theocratic revolution, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid's Tale has become one of the most powerful and most widely read novels of our time.

Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, serving in the household of the enigmatic Commander and his bitter wife. She may go out once a day to markets whose signs are now pictures because women are not allowed to read. She must pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, for in a time of declining birthrates her value lies in her fertility, and failure means exile to the dangerously polluted Colonies. Offred can remember a time when she lived with her husband and daughter and had a job, before she lost even her own name. Now she navigates the intimate secrets of those who control her every move, risking her life in breaking the rules.

Like Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Handmaid's Tale has endured not only as a literary landmark but as a warning of a possible future that is still chillingly relevant.

Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem

Maya Angelou

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

A Scandalous, Shameless Marketing Scam and a Terrible Poem 1 out of 5 stars.
3 of 12 people found this review helpful.

We all have very strong feelings about peace. Throughout human history, peace has always been lacking. We live in a time when our country is run by corrupt criminals who attack other countries for corporate profiteering. We also continue to live in a world where the three major religions all proclaim they are the one true religion and war on the other two. So, it is definitely a good time for a message of peace!

But this beautifully bound little book containing a cliche'd, trite, and just plain bad poem comes up empty. A message of peace is not sold in a one-poem book for $9.99 as an impulse-buy merchandising scam at Christmas. If Maya Angelou had printed this poem in newspapers, or sent out postcards to the world on her own dime with this poem, I would have more respect for her intentions. But this book is the worst scam, one that plays upon our hearts and souls to milk our pocketbooks. I received this book as a gift from a friend who had bought it for everyone she knew. Her intentions were beautiful: a message of peace.

The end of organized religion will bring us one step closer to a world where the are no wars in the name of God. For those of you who don't know, Christianity was created by the Romans as a method of controlling people. If you have to go through the priest to reach the divine "God", and the priest can tell you what "God" orders you to do, then the priest (the Church) has control over you. The truth is, the divine nature of this universe is inside all of us. We are all made of cosmic stardust, literally, because all matter on this planet was made from exploding stars. We are all sacred. All you have to do to reach the divine is sit quietly and reflect upon your own beautiful luminous nature.

So if you want to give a beautiful message of peace, don't give $9.99 plus tax to Angelou and Random House. Just reach out with your own beautiful nature to those you love (and those you don't). Write your own poem, your own song, whatever. Make your own little book, and make it real. Work for peace. Volunteer. Get involved. It will mean so much more than Angelou's scandalous, commercialized marketing scam of a Christmas Poem.

And if you want to read some real poetry, try Charles Bukowski. His stuff is infinitely better and you'll get hundreds of great poems for the price of one bad one from Angelou.

Editorial Review:

In this beautiful, deeply moving poem, Maya Angelou inspires us to embrace the peace and promise of Christmas, so that hope and love can once again light up our holidays and the world. “Angels and Mortals, Believers and Nonbelievers, look heavenward,” she writes, “and speak the word aloud. Peace.”

Read by the poet at the lighting of the National Christmas Tree at the White House on December 1, 2005, Maya Angelou’s celebration of the “Glad Season” is a radiant affirmation of the goodness of life and a beautiful holiday gift for people of all faiths.

The Great Divorce

C. S. Lewis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 220 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Outstanding book. 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

CS Lewis great theologian or great Christian apologist as some would say was one heck of a writer.

The Great Divorce C.S Lewis good as a stand alone story or as a more deeper spiritual book. I continue to be blown away by how good C.S Lewis is one of those authors where sometimes you get the strangest sensation that he is actually speaking directly to you.

The Great Divorce serves to remind all of us that while sin does indeed have an eternal penalty the first commandment for all Christians is love.

Great insight into the Great Divorce 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I have found the Great Divorce to be a book for all time. I saw so many people on that bus that I recognized and after a while, I recognized most all of them were a part of me or my life. I got some great insight into how we think when we think of others and how others must see me. Often we think in terms of who will be going to Heaven and who will not in our own human and limited way of thinking. C.S.Lewis puts an interesting and very introspective point of view on this often discussed theme using Christian theology in allowing us to ride in and off the bus with so many others. I think I saw how narrow we can be in our judgement concerning who will or will not be allowed beyond the gates of Heaven. Great book and one I recommend hightly.

Editorial Review:

This fantasy about a bus ride from hell to heaven--a round trip for some but not for others--raises questions about the details of the underworld. Reprint. 35,000 first printing.

The Bell Jar

Sylvia Plath

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 485 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The most famous book you've never read 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

How did I go 34 years without picking up and reading this gem? I'll tell you...It is not included on any public school reading list that I have ever seen and every college literature course that I took (just for fun) never examined Sylvia Plath's writing. Instead I had the misfortune of several lit. courses that focused on less talented modern poets/writers.

In 1963, this book would have been shocking. The main theme is mental disturbia, suicide, losing virginity, (an all out attack on the quiet suburban status quo.)

As I read this book with the jaded perspective of a modern day American citizen, I couldn't shake the overwhelming feeling of innocence this 40 year old story emits.

This book is like a three year old child attempting to shock her parents with something "provocative" but falling short of the parental outrage so desired and ending up with parental amusement.

It is only a sign of the times. In 1963 this story of Esther Greenwood most likely provided the 1-2 punch. (Only a feeling on my part, as I was not around in those days.)

Don't think I am putting this book down in my review. I enjoyed every minute I spent reading this story. There was a time that I would read a book in two days. I haven't done that in several years. Too busy, too tired, too distracted.
I couldn't stop reading the Bell Jar. My laundry, dishes, and vacuuming took a hit on this one. I was tempted to take it to work with me. Thankfully it was not a 1000 page book. I am back to full capacity once again.

I suggest you read this classic and keep one thing in mind, Sylvia Plath based this on her own crack-up in college. It is a heavy thought to me,the reader, knowing that she eventually lost her battle to her mental demons years later while living with her two young children.

Editorial Review:

Esther Greenwood is brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under—maybe for the last time. In her acclaimed and enduring masterwork, Sylvia Plath brilliantly draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that her insanity becomes palpably real, even rational—as accessible an experience as going to the movies. A deep penetration into the darkest and most harrowing corners of the human psyche, The Bell Jar is an extraordinary accomplishment and a haunting American classic.

Interview with the Vampire

Anne Rice

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 577 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Tower of Imagination 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book is simply one of the most thoroughly imagined pieces of writing in modern literature, and thoroughly disciplined and effective on paper. It disdains categories; the author stepped into a genre well-paved and hackneyed and made words fly off the paper by sheer force of talent.

The plot and characters are well summarized elsewhere; indeed one hesitates to write anything about something already reviewed 500+ times on Amazon. So I simply add these footnotes: it is not blasphemous, pornographic, deviant, anti-social etc. It is not by any means mere pop culture B grade pulp. As for what it is exactly, I have no idea & don't care. But having read hundreds & hundreds of books since early gradeschool thru age 56, including most Western & world classics, I can say it is in a small group of works of supreme imaginative force, thoroughly conceived through & through & without a nick, tear, or smudge upon its massive and impossible illusion.

One might simply call it an indignant protest against American realism and fact & knowledge obsession. It is also a protest against literarture with a purpose, program, or "message." It simply exists. It stands as an impregnable tower of the human imagination. It is Exhibet A for the proposition that, short of a God (whose existence or not is not challenged here, although that issue eerily haunts the text), there is no higher endeavor than that of human artistry.

Editorial Review:

American Psycho

Bret Easton Ellis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1080 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Not for those with a weak stomach! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I had been meaning to read this book for a long time, and I must say that I am glad to have finally read it. There is horror and gore in this book, but the only purpose is not to make you sick. Pat Bateman exists in a society that most of us will never understand. His ability to keep up appearances in a world filled with designer clothes and daily facials in the face of such a psychopathic, blood-crazy mental state really makes you think. People are so caught up in their own worlds that Pat Bateman can get away with murder. If you can understand the book for what it is...I encourage you to take it on.

Editorial Review:

Now a major motion picture from Lion's Gate Films starring Christian Bale (Metroland), Chloe Sevigny (The Last Days of Disco), Jared Leto (My So Called Life), and Reese Witherspoon (Cruel Intentions), and directed by Mary Harron (I Shot Andy Warhol).

In American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis imaginatively explores the incomprehensible depths of madness and captures the insanity of violence in our time or any other. Patrick Bateman moves among the young and trendy in 1980s Manhattan. Young, handsome, and well educated, bateman earns his fortune on Wall Street by day while spending his nights in ways we cannot begin to fathom. Expressing his true self through torture and murder, Bateman prefigures an apocalyptic horror that no society could bear to confront.

Invisible Man

Ralph Ellison

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 280 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Completely Unique 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Invisible Man / 0-679-73276-4

Ellison's master work is breathtaking, indescribable, and completely unique. This long and careful allegory of the young black man making his way through the white world is filled with passages so crammed with myth and meaning that the closest comparison I can make is to Rushdie's carefully disjointed Satanic Verses.

Simple incidents, such as Mr. Norton's introduction to Jim Trueblood are complex and fascinating. Trueblood has accidentally (or so he claims, - can we believe his impossible dream?) impregnated his own daughter, and now his daughter and wife are both pregnant at once. The lurid incident has resulted in Trueblood becoming a cause celebre for the white community - they hang on the lurid details, lap up the story again and again with prurient interest, and hold him up as justification for the doctrine of black inferiority.

Yet Mr. Norton's reaction to all this is a sort of disbelieving panic. He begs Trueblood to know why he is celebrated for this terrible thing, when others would be shunned. He takes great pity on the man, giving him monetary compensation for the horrible 'ordeal' he has been through. But something does not sit right, and Mr. Norton's interest seems very personal. He has mentioned that he had a daughter, and that something terrible had occurred to her. And we know that child molestation is not confined to the poor. Is it possible that...? And is Ellison suggesting that what a rich white man may hide, a poor black man cannot? Can we consider that what a rich white woman may chose to overlook, a poor black woman may not (as she has less money and social standing to 'lose' over the scandal)? Dare we wonder that a rich white girl can be sent away for private 'school' to bear a child in secret or get an abortion, when a poor black girl has only the option to shoulder on through the pregnancy?

It is the power of Invisible Man that these, and many other questions, are never answered - indeed, they are never even explicitly raised. But the nuanced narrative nudges them into our minds and, once there, we cannot let go of them.

Editorial Review:

Invisible Man is a milestone in American literature, a book that has continued to engage readers since its appearance in 1952.  A first novel by an unknown writer, it remained on the bestseller list for sixteen weeks, won the National Book Award for fiction, and established Ralph Ellison as one of the key writers of the century.  The nameless narrator of the novel describes growing up in a black community in the South, attending a Negro college from which he is expelled, moving to New York and becoming the chief spokesman of the Harlem branch of "the Brotherhood", and retreating amid violence and confusion to the basement lair of the Invisible Man he imagines himself to be.  The book is a passionate and witty tour de force of style, strongly influenced by T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, Joyce, and Dostoevsky.

Nineteen Eighty-Four

George Orwell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 70 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Still Relative Today 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

The views expressed in the book 1984 are very unique and yet still relate to today. The story shown in the book accurately portrays the needs of the people and how they will never be met in the face of an oppressive government. It paints a clear yet disturbing picture that must be experienced. Very good read.

So Possible it's scary 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

1984 is a great novel, even for the casual reader. What I think is terrifying is that it is possible in our time. Big brother could be watching (wiretaps with no court order) and if you don't share his view you might end up in room 101 (Guantanamo) as an "enemy combatant" with no rights.

It's a telling story about control and fabrication of information, fear mongering and make believe triumphs (top secret documents, proof of wmd, color label terror alerts, mission accomplished) sounds ridiculous - or maybe not.

Editorial Review:

Thought Police. Big Brother. Orwellian. These words have entered our vocabulary because of George Orwell's classic dystopian novel, 1984. The story of one man's nightmare odyssey as he pursues a forbidden love affair through a world ruled by warring states and a power structure that controls not only information but also individual thought and memory, 1984 is a prophetic, haunting tale.

More relevant than ever before, 1984 exposes the worst crimes imaginable-the destruction of truth, freedom, and individuality.
With a new forward by Thomas Pynchon.

The Brothers Karamazov

Fyodor Dostoevsky

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 112 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

I occupy myself with this mystery because I want to be a man 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Anyone interested in the central question facing mankind will find `The Brothers Karamazov' an essential guide. That question--on man's capacity for responsibility and the proper role of the state and religion--is posed throughout the story in dialogue and events, and is framed neatly in a 20-page section where Ivan presents a poem titled `The Grand Inquisitor' to his brother Alyosha. The chapter that bears that title (Book V, Chapter V) is a masterpiece in itself and should be studied for its narrative technique alone. But the ideas it presents are so immense, so mind-blowing and inspirational, that literary criticism is not sufficient.

Indeed, `The Brothers Karamazov' should not be classed merely as a novel--it is a book of philosophy, theology, and sociology as well that ranks with the greatest documents in those disciplines. There is a fictitious plot, of course, and the characters in the story are some of the most unique in all of literature, so it is rightly praised as a novel. But the modern reader looking for a plot of twists and romantic intrigues is bound to disappointment. Dostoevsky does not stir up drama through the placement of unexpected developments or improbable character traits. Instead, he relies on the inherent needs and wants of all men to make vivid his story.

The amount of dialogue may be shocking (tedious) to one accustomed to the modern show-don't-tell policy in storytelling. Today, novelists and screenwriters let a character's actions speak for them--it is quicker and provides a much more convincing impression. It also limits the kind of ideas that are posed in the story to simple, prosaic ones like `she likes him' or `he wants to defeat him.' By contrast, Dostoevsky allows the characters to speak for themselves, which creates a much longer and subtler exposition, but also frees the ideas to be vast and monumental.

What is the fundamental nature of socialism? What are the uses of the church in finding purpose? In finding salvation? Why is there suffering? What is the meaning of death? Read the brothers' dialogues and contemplate.

Dostoevsky's own philosophy is seen in the protagonist, Alyosha. This is so despite the fact that the author ably covers every perspective on every topic presented in the book, and one can hardly find a positive assertion throughout. If there is one, it rests in the overall effect of the words and actions, a concept Dostoevsky articulated in a personal correspondence--it is that "Man is a mystery; if you spend your entire life trying to puzzle it out, then do not say that you have wasted your time."

A word about the translations: The title of Book IV has been translated differently in every version I have seen (other chapter titles are also inconsistent, but Book IV is seemingly the most difficult to agree on). The original Russian is `Nadryvy,' which literally translates to `Ruptures,' though no translations I have seen use `Ruptures.' The word is used throughout the book to convey the motif of `pressures' or `strained conditions about to break.' The various options I have seen for this title are `Lacerations' (Garnett), `Strains' (Pevear & Volkhonsky), `Torment' (MacAndrew), `Crises' (Avsey), and `Crack-Ups' (McDuff). Given this is a central theme, the potential reader might look into which translation he prefers before buying. Apropos, the Princess Alexandra Kropotkin print version bears the Garnett translation, as does the Frederick Davidson audio recording.

Editorial Review:

The award-winning translation of Dostoevsky's last and greatest novel.

A Fine Balance (Oprah's Book Club)

Rohinton Mistry

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 567 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Devastating and Brilliant: Worth 600+ pages and more 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I have never encountered a book so moving as Mistry's A Fine Balance. Following the story of Ishvar and Om, I found myself so invested in what was happening to them - the injustice of India's government is infuriating, and the ways in which the overcoming of an obstacle only leads to another is simultaneously depressing and motivational, due to the resilience of each character.

A Fine Balance is not a light read, but once you begin, you will not be able to stop. Mistry maintains a balance between revealing the utter desperation of the homeless and the ways in which each character finds value in life, despite every force working against it.

I was moved by this book as if I were watching a movie, laughing out loud and crying to myself during the ups and downs of the plot.

The beauty of the book is in the conclusion, as Mistry does not employ any shallow devices to wrap things up in order to make the reader feel redeemed after the devastation. It is realistic, sad, and fulfilling all at once. I left questioning whether or not I would be able to live my life with the same optimism were I in the same situation.

This book will force you to view your life through a different lens, and you will be better off for reading it.

Editorial Review:

With a compassionate realism and narrative sweep that recall the work of Charles Dickens, this magnificent novel captures all the cruelty and corruption, dignity and heroism, of India. The time is 1975. The place is an unnamed city by the sea. The government has just declared a State of Emergency, in whose upheavals four strangers--a spirited widow, a young student uprooted from his idyllic hill station, and two tailors who have fled the caste violence of their native village--will be thrust together, forced to share one cramped apartment and an uncertain future.

As the characters move from distrust to friendship and from friendship to love, A Fine Balance creates an enduring panorama of the human spirit in an inhuman state.