Julie Brown Books

There are a few too many convenient aspects to the plot, but overall a well done story of coming to terms with sexual identity, first love and (predictable) heartbreak. I found the character of Xanadu to be rather annoying and flat. I felt mild emotional engagement with Mike's plight & story; however, halfway through the story I was truthfully much more interested in her friendship with Jamie, and Jamie's story.

The book may have been Mike's story but by the last page I was wishing for Jamie's story, wishing that there was a book about his journey and what happens after his "moment" in this book.

Far From Xanadu is well written, poignant and heartfelt, but also predictable and a little over done. Mike is too butch, too sad and too untouchable to relate to. The feelings and problems evident in her life are presented in a meaningful way, but one loses sight of that underneath the characters presentation. I didn't like Xanadu from the beginning, and her and Mike's realtionship is hard to relate to, because it's so erratic. Julie Anne Peters definetly means well in this novel, and she is very good at portraying teenage problems, just not so good at making them relatable to the average teen.

I found this book to be an interesting read. I liked the character of Mike, even though I can't exactly emphasize with the "buff" side of her. I hated the character of Xanadu. The plot was somewhat predictable but nonetheless, I still continued to read the book.

I would not exactly recommend this book to anyone who is looking to read a story about first love, teen lesbians, small town drama, etc. But, if you're bored on a summer day and have nothing else to do, then sure, go for it.

I found Far From Xanadu a good reaad, being gay myself and a reader of many books for gay teens, it was wery emotional and I could actutally find a voice. Although I was a little repulsed that a girl would be very buff. But she's a likable character. I mostly liked Jamie because he is most like me I feel. But I liked it, good book.

This book just has so much in it. I no how Mike fells, I am going thought that too. I love how Peters what her books, i have read one other.

THis story touchs home.

I am not really good at summerizing stroys but in short, you will love this book one it just so emotinal and understand of the heart.

a must read.

The most beautiful aspect of the play is Iago's ingenious deception of Othello. In every phrase, Iago knows just what to say to swing his Moor closer to the belief in Desdemona's infidelity. The subtle strategist to his general (and the puppeteer to Roderigo and Cassio), Iago is in full glory practicing his art of insinuation.

Iago is the master of duplicity: "Divinity of hell! When devils will the blackest sins put on, they do suggest at first with heavenly shows". Here he echoes Banquo in Macbeth: "To win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths, win us with honest trifles, to betray's in deepest consequence". However, while in Macbeth the devious instruments of darkness were netherworldly creatures, here Iago himself takes on devil's work. Treachery plays here the most insidious part: it lays the ground for murder.

Treachery itself takes its roots in hatred. While Richard III and Macbeth are murderers for their own advancement, Iago's guiding star in his hunt is hatred. His "I hate the Moor" at the end of the 1st act, breaking the flow of the soliloquy in which he derides Roderigo (and not unlike Richard III's "Ha!") is the essence of Iago in a line.

The reasons for his hatred are not as clear cut. Iago knows that his being cuckolded by Othello is a mere suspicion (but willfully decides that he does not want to know for sure and will act as if it were true). This is his private (false) excuse for hating Othello. His public one, or at least the one he presents to Roderigo, is having been passed over in the pecking order of military ranking. But he only gives this argument to Roderigo and never repeats it in any soliloquies. And we know how much Iago can be trusted when he speaks to someone else...

His take on Cassio is not much more lucid. Cassio is surely not married, and yet according to Iago, he is "a fellow almost damned in a fair wife" (whether this is one of Shakespearean slips where he forgot to give Cassio a wife or a mutation of "life" into "wife", the phrase is just too beautiful to disregard, even if it does not fit with the text). "He hath a daily beauty in his life that makes me ugly" complains Iago of Cassio. He also worries of having been cuckolded by the lieutenant. The former may signify Iago's fear of looking bad in the face of Cassio's promotion (although "daily" and especially "beauty" do not really fit, so the phrase could signify other things and overall seems obscure). The latter suspicion is just preposterous.
So it appears that Iago, whom in this play Shakespeare gave most artful language, is sometimes inconsequential and opaque. While it may not have been Shakespeare's intent, one could conclude from this that hatred may exist for Iago without any real reasons at all. Some people fall in love for no reason, Iago may have fallen in hatred for no reason. Maybe Iago's excuses for his actions are just his awkward attempts at justifying his inexplicable hatred?

In any case, with all his hatred and scheming, Iago is another spectacular Shakespearean villain endowed with inspired language. His art of intrigue ensures him a place among Shakespeare's leading characters (villains for the most part) and will entertain our enduring fascination with human nature's dark side...

Definitely Shakespeare stays true to his form and creates another literary masterpiece. Just like that of Romeo and Juliet, this is another tragic play. It is set around the early 1600s in England and tells the story of the marriage of Othello, a black man of high standings, and Desdemona, a white lady.

Iago acts as the catalyst for the conflict, trying to disassemble the marriage and Othello and Desdemona. In Shakespeare's dialogue, he uses rather explicit imagery in describing the pair to others to arouse racial prejudice against their marriage. He does all this to get back at Othello for not promoting Iago to a higher position and giving the rank to another soldier. At the climax of the story, the "honest Iago" (yes, I remember this quote quite clearly, as it is mentioned multiple times and is an oxymoron because while everyone believes him to be honest, on the inside he is a clever schemer) successfully convinces Othello that Desdemona has been unfaithful to him.

The story gains its momentum by revolving around the handkerchief which Othello gives to Desdemona.. Iago successfully steals it from her and gives it to Cassio, who thinks another lady has given it to him. When Othello sees the handkerchief in Cassio's hands all the thins Iago says comes back into his head, and he smother Desdemonda killing her.

Shakespeare's play is of a man different from the rest of the people, he is the grey pebble on the sandy shore. This plays into his psyche, making him more susceptible to believe that Desdemona has betrayed him. He also incorporates the settings to his advantage from the more civilized and governed Venice to the island of Cyprus, a place where there is no law. When in Venice, there are no tragedies, all conflicts are resolved through talks and negotiations. However, when they move to Cyprus, the disputes are settled with fighting. The use of nature to determine their motives is another reason why Shakespeare is one of the best writers of his time.

Shakespeare uses the underlying theme of revenge as the basis for his story. It all starts when Othello promotes Cassio to lieutenant rather than Iago, even between Cassio and his own lover, and even extending to Iago and his accomplice, a forlorn man who once wanted Desdemona's hand in marriage. This finally climaxes to Othello and Desdemona. It seems as if the only one who does not take a role in this cycle of revenge is Desdemona. She seems to accept her fate and prays before her death. In the play, she is the most pure of them all.

With Shakespeare's clever banter in Othello and his use of figurative language, he makes this play to be an enjoying one. The story moves quickly and keeps one entranced with Shakespeare's language.

Two words: Read it

Definitely another one of Shakespeare's masterpieces. The plot is just enticing and climatic, with many moments of uniqueness and suspense. Besides the awesome plot, it is the reader's engagement in each character's actions that draw this tragedy closer to every reader.

In these 250 pages, Shakespeare accounts one of humanity's darkest secrets--namely vindication. Othello, the main protagonist, married to a beautiful Desdemona, is a revered Christian Moor and an ingenious general of the armies of Venice. Despite this high status, he is portrayed as an easy prey for Iago, the main antagonist. Having hired the less experienced Cassio as lieutenant, Othello has actually marked the beginning of his downfall. Working with Rodrigo who tries to win Desdemona's favor, Iago undertakes the task of destroying both Othello and Cassio. The remaining plot consists of Iago's numerous attempts, failures and successes. Iago, however, does not immediately resolve to using violence to satisfy his revenge, a decision that might surprise the reader at first. On the contrary, he succeeds to win Othello's trust through his malice, manipulative word choices and ironic statements. With Othello trust as his goal, Iago states, "Men should be what they seem, / Or those that be not, would they might seem none!" Hearing this, Othello would build more trust in Iago, who now seemingly shares the same moral principles of Othello. Using this recently gained trust for his advantage and Othello's ignorance, Iago seeds in Othello the thought of Desdemona's affair with Cassio, an action that is purely part of his machinations. The result is obvious: Othello immediately fires Cassio and hires Iago as the lieutenant for his recompense. However, this does not satisfy the antagonist, as he still has not destroyed Othello. Giving him further "proofs"--for these were merely part of his plan and thus not veritable--Iago establishes feelings of hatred and envy in Othello, who now confesses, "I do not think but Desdemona's honest." Othello's change in attitude is manifested as he calls his wife "the whore of Venice" and then "slaps" her, an act that downgrades her and demonstrates his fury. The plot from here is for you to find out. Although the plot is full of deception and destruction, Shakespeare succeeds in having a happy conclusion for this classic book.

Knowledge of both the location and the era in which this book took place is definitely necessary to understand such terms as "the Moor," "Cyrus...Venice," and the abundant contrasts between "black" and "white." The book is set in the end of the sixteenth century, a period when Turkey tried to invade Venice. Most of the plot takes place in Cyrus, one of the Venetian cities attacked and later conquered by the Turks in 1570. Because of his war backdrop, Othello is referred to as "the general of Venice" throughout the book, amplifying his position as a revered leader in society. Othello's true race, on the other hand, has long been debated by critics. "Moor," nowadays, refers to the Islamic Arabic inhabitants of North Africa. In Shakespeare's time, the term might have either referred to Africans from other regions or tanned Europeans. Shakespeare often mentions "the black Moor," ensuring the addition of skin color in order to differentiate Othello from other Venetians. This difference of skin color, however, is ambiguous and should not be interpreted as a racial discrimination as the modern reader might believe.

Overall, a book that describes an individual's vendetta and ultimate downfall, "Othello" is not only as entertaining as another classical masterpiece of Shakespeare's but also a source where readers can truly fathom what we call today Karma.

Othello is one of Shakespeare's strongest plays. Certainly Iago is one of his strongest villains. This story is about the differences between good and evil and the struggle that goes on within any persons soul when choices have to be made. Iago is so masterfully portrayed that I felt strangely disturbed when I finished this play. Other characters in the play are also wonderfully portrayed. This is certainly one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies.

This book is great for people that have a difficult time understanding Shakespeare. The side notes are more elaborate than most of the other editions and they include an act by act summary so that you know exactly what's going on and don't get lost in all the wording.

Simply put - I purchased this Astronomy book through Amazon because the price was the same as elsewhere but I would save on shipping. I expected a NEW book but received a Used Book in good condition.
The Book itself so far seems well laid out and interesting but the course I am taking has just reached the 1/3 mark toward completion.

The authors of this book say it is for the laymen. Bull. This book is not only exceptionally difficult to comprehend with all the manifold "big terms and measurments" they throw at you, but is also annoying, and does not provide answers. God it's annoying.

The diagrams for something you are reading are not even on the page you are reading, so you have to flip two or three pages to find which diagram they are talking about--as paradoxical as that sounds. They (diagrams) are difficult to understand, and sometimes just a damn mess.

I can't even tell you how many times I almost fell asleep reading their (the author's ramblings) piles of excess information--literally mountains and heaps of excess, useless, complex, redundant, information that only professional astronomers or math-adepts could understand.

This book is so not for someone who wants to take a casual astronomy course. After I am done with it, I'm going to set it on fire. Stay away from this thing.

I have had a lifetime love of Astronomy but have lacked the mathmatical background for a thorough understanding. Most popular books on the subject rarely cover the field in the manner that I desire. Astronomy Today is a textbook for a beginning course in astronomy at the college level and does, in fact, cover a great deal of information without the need for mathmatical knowledge. The authors express their ideas and information in clear, concise language and clearly manifest an enthusiasm for their subject. I have enjoyed the book immensely.

This is an excellent textbook, but I deducted one star (from a possible five-star rating) because of the absurd comments made by the authors in the beginning of the book. In this fourth edition of Astronomy Today, a textbook published by Prentice Hall for college students, the authors open the very first chapter with the following statements:

"Of all the scientific insights attained to date, one stands out boldly: Earth is neither central nor special. We inhabit no unique place in the universe. Astronomical research, especially within the past few decades, strongly suggests that we live on what seems to be an ordinary rocky planet called Earth, one of the nine known planets orbiting an average star called the Sun, a star near the edge of a huge collection of stars called the Milky Way Galaxy, which is one galaxy among countless billions of others spread throughout the observable universe."

Huh!? Earth isn't special? Compare the other planets in our Solar System to Earth and tell us it isn't special. And Earth is "...an ordinary rocky planet..."? It's the only planet we know of with vast oceans of liquid water, a breathable atmosphere, lush vegetation, and a spectacular collection of life forms. The authors of this textbook must have been "out to lunch" when they wrote that trite introduction, or... this is just another deliberate attempt by "philosophers of gobbledygook" to strip the Earth of its special place in the universe and to squash any special characteristics that may differentiate it from everything else in the cosmos. I strongly suspect the latter viewpoint is the correct one.

The fact is the Earth is indeed a very special place, and the Sun is a very special star. In fact, the Sun-Earth relationship represents a very special arrangement that permits life to thrive upon our planet. Mercury, Venus and Mars may be nothing more than ordinary rocky planets, but Earth is truly unique from all the other planets in our Solar System, and may be truly unique in all the universe.

I stand by my initial rating of the textbook: 4 stars and an excellent read. I just have a wee bit of a problem with blind astronomers.

This book is designed to be the astronomy book that non-science majors would use to meet their one-year of science requirement as part of their undergraduate degree. As such it is written without the mathematics content that would be normal in a course aimed at astronoly or physics students. In addition, this particular book has several advantages. To identify just a few:

1. Throughout the book there is an emphasis on teaching the scientific method. This area has been strengthened in this edition because (I'm guessing) the current attempts by the un-intelligent design people to disparage scientific theories.

2. Revised to include the latest discoveries being made by the Mars rovers and the down grading of poor Pluto to a minor planet.

3. Updating the current theories regarding dark matter and dark energy.

In summary this is a well written, well illustrated text, ideally suited for the non-scientists.

I was sort of disappointed when I got this book and began reading it. It wasn't really what I had expected, but looking back, I can't remember what exactly I was expecting.
The book is basically about two women who developed this "scorecard" to get their lives and husbands in line. Both came from pretty different scenarios and the content of the book is mostly about their specific situations and what they did to change them. I guess I was looking for more of a generic guideline. The book does provide some worksheets for you to work through your own things, but it follows the format they created.
I never did finish the book. I'm not sure I would recommend to buy it - I'll sell you mine; it's still brand new.

When did we women create an atmosphere where it's okay, nay encouraged, to denigrate men for fun and profit? If a couple of guys wrote a book on keeping score on their wives, and encourage their male readers to kick their own wives out of the house if the women are not performing, those authors would be tarred and feathered faster than you can say 'misandry'. Men are no more animals to be trained to do tricks than women are property to be bought and sold. Kicking our partners down does not raise ourselves up; it does the opposite. "Fixing" a man? Is your husband no more to you than a wobbly chair you'd like to exile to the attic? Books like this encourage us to blot out the humanity of the other gender, and in the process, degrades our own.

This book could be called: How to Fix Any Relationship in One Year or Less. There is something for everyone here whether one is male/female, dating, married, straight or gay. The advice/scorecard can be applied to any relationship that needs help, including parents/teens, friends, and coworkers. My husband and I read it and even though we've been married for many years we were motivated to make some changes. A friend said it helped her to clarify issues and make some tough decisions that were long overdue.

What a great booK!! Great insite in to working together to solve problems as a couple. I loved the stories about each couple throughout the book and what they did to get back together!!
Kudos to Julie Bell and Donna Brown for not giving up on their men!!

If only my husband and I had access to this book when we first got married; it would have been so much easier for us to develop the communication and financial skills that help make a good marriage.

This blueprint is exceptionally easy to understand and the core messages are repeated enough throughout the book that you eventually memorize them. If you asked me to define the core messages that are the most important to me on a personal level, they would be "prioritize," "negotiate," "motivate." I find the examples that are sprinkled throughout the book on how to accomplish these objectives very helpful.

The strength of this book though, is that it follows through with step-by-step instructions on how to communicate effectively, how to draw the family into acknowledging the importance of our priorities and care enough (motivation) to make them their priority as well.

It's no wonder these two women are where they are in the corporate world. They are excellent communicators and teachers. Actually, this book should be in collage libraries to help prepare students for success in their future lives, whether they get married or remain single.

The book gives a general but thorough overview over the topics sales managers face in everyday situation. It is easy to read and good to understand.

Having used this text in the classroom several years, I feel that I really know this book. It is a great reference for your professional marketing library.

This book is a handy primer on dialysis written in simple language and useful for the novice as well as containing nuggets of information useful for the practising renal physician. The book is quite comprehensive as it covers almost all the aspects of dialysis and has good charts for summary of various aspects of dialysis. In short it is a valuable book, an essential aid in the dialysis room and well worth the money spent.

Peters continues the story in this sequel to "Revenge of the Snob Squad." In this book, the girls deal with budding romance as Jenny harbors a secret crush for Kevin Rooney, schoolyard god and member in good standing of the "in" crowd. Meanwhile Prairie enlists the help of the group to ignite a romance with computer nerd Hugh Torkerson (aka "Tork the Dork.")

This book and its predecessor give readers a welcome respite from books about "goody-two-shoes" groups of girls like the Sweet Valley High or Babysitters' Club series. They also deal with heavy subjects--social isolation, eating disorders and dysfunctional families--with a combination of seriousness and sarcasm that ring more true than the way these subjects are handled in "fluffier" books.

This book is a great resource for anyone wanting to learn the 'how to' of Systems Analysis and Design. It is easy to read and the examples are interesting and relevant. I definitely recommend this book.

Please,,,,,,display that book's pages no 23,& 84 .book name:management information system(5th edition).
writer:james A.

The Kendalls have definitely created a comprehensive book on systems analysis. Virtually every aspect is covered here, and in plenty of detail. There are plenty of review questions and problems, hypothetical consulting situations, an ongoing case-study, and even an associated web-based case study.

While being well written, I feel that this text may be a bit overdone. Most sections are longer than neccessary, over-explaining fairly obvious concepts. So although the reader can never complain about being short-changed, I would be amazed if any reader needed ALL of the explanations to understand what was being discussed.

I have also noticed a few cases of dated information creeping through from previous editions. One example is a discussion on groupware that talks about features of Windows for Workgroups and Windows NT, and mentions the 'upcoming' Chicago release. Chicago was the working name for Windows 95, which was hardly 'upcoming' for a text published in 1999.

It feels as if the Kendalls have been adding new information to their revised editions, but not revising thoroughly enough to remove old or out of date references. If a really good job of revision was done here, I think this text could be reduced by at least a hundred pages or so without any real loss of useful content.

Since it emphasises practice more than theory, it may not appeal to all types, but for anyone who needs to know HOW to be a systems analyst, this is probably the book to read.

I used this book in my systems analysis and design course. First off, it is over priced. I understand that college books are expensive, but this one was too overpriced.

Second, it is not helpful. It spends chapters talking about how to get information from users. Did I really need several chapters to tell me to interview them, send out surveys, and observe them? That is kind of obvious information.

Following this course, I took a software development course. The two classes are in series. Techniques learned from this book did not help me. When it came time to write documents (project proposals, documents for external design and internal design phases, etc.) this book was no help. There were no examples of what should be in them.

Not helpful unless you are clueless as to where to begin. Even then it's not a tremendous help.

The text covers the topic with ample examples and diagrams, plus cases short and long. The level of detail is appropriate for a graduate level course. The book is too ... The authors could eliminate the chapter on the office environment. They should condense the chapters on questionnaires and system presentation. Another solution: put the lengthy end-of-chapter case material on a CD; it is doubtful that all of it is used in any course. Perhaps the authors have too much clout to be edited.

A fascinating study of how grief effects people; from those closest to the bereaved, rippling out to those who may not have known (in this case) Lennie all that well but are shocked and unsettled by her murder.

Unlike most people who have reviewed this novel I didn't find the lack of inverted comma's a problem but then I seem to have read a couple of other books recently whose authors have not used them so maybe I've just got used to that style.

The blurb on the back of the book warned me that it's 'not a murder mystery' and whilst correct, I have to say it gripped me as if it was.
I found it realistic and sensitive and with a spattering of humour I appreciated, which because it was dry didn't detract at all from the mood and seriousness.

Myerson got into the head of Tess especially well and told what I think was a very realistic portrayal of mixed and confused emotions which most of us have to deal with at some point in our lives without having a murder on top to effect our judgement and relationships.
She also got across how Tess's husband Mick, the children of both families and Al, Lennies husband felt...and how gossip spreads in a small town.

An impressive book that will make you want to gather your family close and tell them how much you love them.

Tess and her family chose a life by the sea, in a small Suffolk town. A safe town, a good place to work and to raise your children. As Tess begins to recover from baby number four, a crack is made right down the centre of the cocooned, quaint world in which she lives. Lennie, mother of two, liked by everyone, best friend to Tess and hubby Mick, has been murdered. No clues and no suspects. It's only known that the killer was fast and brutal. Lennie is attacked at a beach side carpark after a local committee meeting, her heart cut from her chest and taken away.

Lennie leaves behind two boys and her husband Alex, an old flame to Tess from her pre-family days. As the whole town is watchful, the character of it changes. Tess begins to query the stability of her own marriage as the blinkers are taken off what might have seemed her happy life. A police liaison is called in to assist the family, and it is this new face who judges Tess not as a wife or a new mother. Tess is pulled between this possible new love with Lacey and the ties that bind her inexplicably to her already fragile family. When two of her children claim to see Lennie watching them from a distance, Tess is pulled back with a jolt to realize who it is that always will suffer the most.

The "Something Might Happen" idea is that Tess cannot overstep the boundaries of her position, in case things will change. The death of her best friend has taken some of the control away and is down this slippery slope upon which Tess begins to slide. There is no direct speech in this novel so you are privy to all and only the thoughts, worries and concerns of Tess. That limits the read somewhat, and lessens the suspenseful element. The character of Tess is not remarkable, yet completely believable as she views the aftermath of a violent event on the lives of her neighbours and loved ones. "Something Might Happen" is a slow moving novel exploring the ripple effect of crime in a small town with no corners of the psyche remaining unexplored.

Something Might Happen is a tense and absorbing novel. It looks at what happens to the family and friends of a woman called Lennie after she is brutally murdered in a close-knit village in England. The story is told through the eyes of Tess, Lennie's best friend. As the book progresses we uncover a lot about Lennie and her husband Alex, as well as Tess and her husband Mick. Other characters also have a large part to play, notably Tess's four children, the police officers investigating the murder, the family liaison officer and Lennie's father, Bob.

At first I was startled with the way that the novel is written in the present tense, which is different from anything that I've read before. It was very effective in making the action seem real and up close and I got used to it quickly. The characters were complex and interesting although they often did things that were not good for themselves - but I guess that's grief for you.

The dialogue was faultless and really captured the way that each person was responding to the murder. The descriptions were also great - the ones for Tess's baby Liv really made her come to life in my mind. The tension grew and grew, but I was still not prepared for the ending, which was a real shock.

Overall Something Might Happen is a thought-provoking book. It makes you think about the fact that something can easily happen at any moment to fracture our world. It's not a whodunit as such but I think most fans of crime novels would like it - it falls into the psychological category. I'm certain that I shall remember the characters and plot for a long time to come.

JoAnne

I didn't like this book. I read it quickly and never stopped for some reason, perhaps because I thought it would surely get better, but it never did. It's about a woman losing her friend to a violent crime. The killer is never found. The surviving friend can't cope with the loss of her friend well and has an affair with a man who comes to the aid of the victims family during their crisis. IE he's a police liason who comes to help the victims family cope, he's there to help the main characters dead friends husband. However the main protaganist ends up sleeping with him and it's all sort of hazy as to why.

The main character is breastfeeding her child and there are so many (...) references to her doing this that it's borderline insane. I swear every other chapter was "my heavy breasts" "late to feed the child" blah blah blah!!! This book had a great plot in theory but bad production when it came time to capture it all.

Later in the story the main protagonist loses her own daughter to an apparent drowning. Her 9 yr old daughter believes she can see the original murder victim and drowns in the beach while trying to talk to the dead victim. This happens while her Mommy is off sleeping with the cop liason dude. But her husband claims he doesn't want to know about it and they eventually move away from the beachy town where all this dead and carnage occurs and she still thinks fondly of the cop liason guy. This is all to unrealistic it makes me gag.

The whole novel ends where she tells "us" the reader that they've moved and moved on with life and she still thinks about the way the conversation would go if she were to ever talk to the cop liason guy again. Pathetic!!!

The most alarming part of this story is the depiction of the violence of the crime against the murder victim. The murderer cuts out her heart and it's never found again or maybe it is but the writer is never clear on this. Only states that later on a bag is found containing an unidentified mass of bloody dried up ..mass. She calls it a mass so we're never clear on that issue.

This book bites. Don't waste your time. Great cover, greater promise. Big letdown. Shame on you Julie Myerson..shame shame... Such a great plot line done so poorly and unrealistically. Thank god I bought it used for less than $5.

Isn't it always in the midst of everyday routine that fate steps in and changes everything? The obscure glitch suddenly becomes more sinister: someone is late or doesn't show up at the usual time. There is no explanation, but within hours, there is a phone call that changes a family forever, the façade of safety abruptly shattered.

At the best of times, we like to think we live as if every moment matters, but the truth is that we forget, caught up in the mundane tasks that fill the hours of the day. For two English couples living near the ocean with their children, their days are predictable, with young children to Shepard from one place to another, play dates and sports events. Brutality strikes a blow to this comfortable domesticity for one couple, when Lennie, wife of Alex, fails to return home one late evening after a meeting. When Alex phones Tess and Mick, their best friends, they begin the long descent into acceptance of the truth: that Lennie has been murdered, a senseless murder with no apparent suspect or motive. In addition, the body has been mutilated in a particularly gruesome manner.

Tess becomes the central figure in the drama, as Lennie's best friend and close to Alex as well. A grief counselor is assigned to Lennie's family and, because of his proximity to the unfolding personal drama, Lacey is in a position to monitor the emotional storms that are shaking the foundations of both families. Like Alex and Mick, Lacey is drawn to Tess, the mother of four, caring for a new baby, her other children and the only source of comfort for them all. But Tess is questioning her own role in the tragedy, whether she was Lennie's best friend, after all. She is also drawn to Lacey, who is all the more attractive because he isn't part of the emotional intricacies of the last few years. No matter what Tess decides personally, her choice will impact the future of each family.

As the protagonists struggle to reassert their daily patterns before Lennie's murder, it is hoped that the imminent burial of the young mother will put to rest the self-doubts and second-guessing of the last few weeks. But fate intrudes once more, another subtle twist provided by the skilled author, plunging both families into yet another trauma before they have properly dealt with the first. In this process, the author exhibits her consummate writing talent.

Myerson's style is remarkably uncluttered and the novel is structured in such as way that allows the reader to perch, like the proverbial fly on the wall, watching the story unfold. The character's forceful personalities create the texture of their relationships, for example, between Tess and her husband, Mick, Tess and her daughter, Rose. With minimal, never superfluous description, Myerson's characters define each scene with their actions. The reader is privy to the same sense of immediacy experienced by the protagonists, as vulnerable to the vagaries of fate as anyone in the story. This author virtually enables her reader's participation in the process, understanding Tess' motivation when deciding her future. Luan Gaines/2003.

I read Revenge of The Snob Squad. I thought it was a good book. I liked this book because it had some adventure and it also had some sad parts. I think other kids between the age's ten-twelve would like to read this book. I recommend this book to other people.

Subject matter NOT appropriate for elementary grades because it is full of name-calling, hate, sneakiness, deceipt, lying, breaking of school rules, etc. Introduces children to "psychic stuff".

Jenny is on a team with thes other girls. they are not poplar. they call themslvs the Snob Squad. then they take reveng out on Ashly Krups. It is soooo funny. we met Julie Ann Peters at our school. she is soooo funny too,and she is nice and preety.

"Revenge of the Snob Squad" is a dark, middle school comedy about a group of self-proclaimed misfits. They are thrown together on a gym class track team and learn that revenge can indeed be sweet.

Peters' narrator, the compulsive eater Jenny, is called "Lardo Legs" by the popular "in" crowd. Instead of swallowing her bitterness, she ingests a constant stream of candy bars. She also points her sarcastic barbs at those around her--parents, classmates and even herself. She joins ranks with Prairie Cactus, who has a strange name and a pronounced limp, hulking Max McFarland, the biggest girl in the sixth grade, and Lydia Beals, a whining, klutzy girl the other kids call Bealsqueal.

Together the Snob Squad discovers that there is more than safety in numbers; there is also pride and friendship.