Debra Winger Books

This book covers a period just prior to internet prevalence and the digitally connected world. This book is one that any adult on the autism/Asperger's (a/A) scale will readily identify with as it addresses issues people on the spectrum contended with prior to being able to find one another and understand living with "undefined differences."

Donna Williams' early life reads like a Dickensian classic. She survived poverty, prostitution, homelessness and the abuse that so often accompanies these societal obstacles in a person's life. She has traveled extensively from a geographical perspective as well as a diagnostic one. It was only when she had long reached adulthood that she was formerly diagnosed with autism.

Many people with autism born during the Baby Boom were misdiagnosed with schizophrenia and other unrelated conditions. Bad placements and inappropriate placements were very much the order of the day for many years. It is only in recent times, thanks to pioneer experts such as Donna Williams, Jerry Newman and Tony Attwood that these misperceptions about autism can hopefully be laid to rest.

Donna Williams, as with probably everybody on the a/A spectrum likens autism to sociology (learning about how humans behave and interact and what general expectations are) and feeling like an alien for not having this inborn, instictive and intuitive knowledge. People on the spectrum will certainly be able to identify with her experiences and how she describes them as well as her feelings regarding same. I like the way she describes her client-doctor relationship with her therapist, Dr. Marek. It sounded like a dance, of sorts where each was dancing timidly around the other, trying to figure out what step to take next.

Like the Bronte Sisters who created wonderfully creative, diversely populated fictional towns, Donna Williams sets out to create such an "Autistitopia" (Autistic Utopia).

Sheer luck and an unlikely friend come through like the Cavalry for her. Her first manuscript was left in England. A stranger found it and forwarded it to her. From there, an agent contacts her, expressing an avid interest in her work. That was the first quantum stride forward that transformed Donna Williams from a private citizen into a leading expert and scholar in matters relating to autism and treatments. This book is a shining beacon of hope and a ray of strong sunlight. WE NEED THIS BOOK!

It's 1994 in a world where most people don't yet have email or internet and the undiagnosed adults on the Autistic Spectrum born in the 1960s and earlier still don't know each other exist, often believing they are the only one's like themselves in the entire world.

After a life of abuse, domestic prostitution, homelessness and poverty Donna Williams has wandered her way back to Australia and finally found the answer to 'what kind of mad am I'. The words of her childhood like deaf, psychotic, disturbed now get swept aside with a formal diagnosis as Autistic as she stumbles upon and enters into therapy with an eccentric an innovative psychologist, Theo Marek and they try to understand each other with astoundingly different language, concepts, realities and 'normality', viewing each other as one might an alien.

Having finally discovered the population she has been kept from all her life, Donna develops a small town dream and determines with her IQ of under 70 to become a teacher and change and advance the world of Developmental Disabilities and how those with them are treated in Special Education and beyond.

But the manuscript of her first book remains in a tea chest in England, a copy of it left with a stranger who unknown to her has forwarded it on. And soon a fax arrives through the post from a literary agent with a copy of that book in his hands. The book she wrote only for herself, filled with darkness and shame and surreal idiosyncracy of her previously undiagnosed Autistic world is set to become an international bestseller and propel the woman terrified of being 'known' out of the shadows and straight into the limelight as one of the most famous people ever diagnosed with Autism in the world.

An incredible, uplifting book.

Donna Williams was diagnosed with autism as an adult, after many misdiagnosises. In her past, she faced child abuse, homelessness and prostitution. Now, that she began to realize her problems had a definite basis, she began to do something about them. Although her behavior was considered "antisocial" and eccentric, her insight into the human condition is remarkable. She has worked as a teacher of special needs children, and received awards for her "do-goodness." In this book, she casts aside the "characters" and poses that have made up her world, and begins to relate to people as herself, not as how she imagined they would want her to. Eventually, she began to publish memoir, which was picked up and published internationally. Her triumphs both in the professional and personal spheres will have you cheering, as she fights to master autism. "I will not let it control me" she writes, and she hasn't.

There are many books written about autism. While we can learn from researchers and professionals, we gain a whole new perspective when we listen to someone who has autism describe what it's like. Donna Williams is a bright, articulate young woman who freely shares insight into what it's like to live in the world of autism.

The first book was an amazing journey for me, and to read the second book was just as wonderful as the first. It left me wondering if there was a third book. A must read!

This is my favorite book. I read it in less than a day wich is rare for me. Some other books I love are Catcher and the Rye, and The Sound and the Furry. Donna Williams is amazing. This book is amazing.

This is my favorite book. I read it in less than a day wich is rare for me. Some other books I love are Catcher and the Rye, and The Sound and the Furry. Donna Williams is amazing. This book is amazing.

At the age of four Donna's main carers are gone when her grandfather dies and her grandmother is sent away. Now, with her surreal and eccentric father basically banned from contact with her, she becomes the possession of a disability-phobic, obsessive, disturbed and alcoholic mother who is determined to play out her own lost childhood and make her seemingly deaf, somewhat 'psychotic' and disturbed idiot daughter a pretty and perfect dancing doll.

But inside of Donna there are other people she has collected along her road to survival; Willie who is like a civil rights activist on steroids and the smiling facade of Carol.

Carol plays the mother's doll to protect the soul of the real Donna. Intertwined with Willie's violent and defensive outbursts and paranoic protection and Donna's often bizarre and quite Autistic responses and behaviours, Carol, behaving like people on TV sit-coms, goes to school,even goes through the motions of 'friends', and develops a broad range of mimicked speech, stored phrases and charicatures, saving Donna from a life in an institution and often from the very real threat of death.

As the teenage years approach Carol and Willie fight it out for control of the body with the real Donna on the sidelines as the lot of them drift into homelessness, poverty and domestic prostitution passed from stranger to stranger.

After an attempted suicide she falls into the care of a psychiatrist and goes on to get a university education. But knowlege is not wisdom and without independence skills, Donna follows a stranger across the ocean where, on arrival, he abandons her to an itinerant bag-lady existance throughout Europe. This second journey begins with a man who will change her life and sense of self forever as she meets and falls in love with a real life 'mirror'with the same challenges as her own and, later faced with the loss of this first deep love, goes on a desperate and dangerous quest to find out 'what kind of mad' she is in the hope there is hope she can change it and as a result finds out she is Autistic; a realisation that ends up changing the entire field of Developmental Disabilities forever.

An international bestseller, in over 17 languages throughout the world, Nobody Nowhere is a moving, gripping, surreal, myth-shattering, sometimes hilarious but ultimately uplifting book and one that will stay with you as one of the most moving and exceptional works you will ever read.

Life, normality and reality will not be the same after you read this book.

I think Donna Williams is one of the world's greatest authors. Although she suffers from pervasive developmental disorder, (autism related), she has shown great courage and will be of great benefit in the future for other people with disabilities.

I suffer, myself, from Asperger's Syndrome (I am 23 years old) and I have benefited from Donna's three autobiographies written.

I am trying hard to find information and correspondence with other autistic people like myself; but the process has not been a walover. I recommend reading of the books, from "Nobody Nowhere"(first) to "Like Color to the Blind" (third) because all three books run in sequence.

I have rated Nobody Nowhere a perfect 10!

Adrian Pooley

I have been unable to take these CDs out of my automobile's CD changer since I bought this set. It has really rekindled my interest in Faulkner. I never cease to be awestruck by this great American writer's ability to capture the distinct voices of people of all classes, races, ages and of both genders. And the three able actors who read these stories--Debra Winger ("A Rose for Emily" and "Barn Burning"), Keith Carradine ("Spotted Horses"), and Arliss Howard ("That Evening Sun" and "Wash") all do an excellent job of rendering these voices with great authenticity and compassion. Besides being examples of Faulkner's best short stories, the stories provide an excllent introduction to several families that are central to his most powerful and memorable novels ("That Evening Sun" introduces us to the Compson children who are the subject and narrators of THE SOUND AND THE FURY; "Barn Burning" and "Spotted Horses" introduces us to the "tribe" of Snopeses who are the focus of Faulkners great trilogy, THE HAMLET, THE TOWN, and THE MANSION; and "Wash" gives us insight into Colonel Sutpen, whose full story is told in ABSALOM, ABSALOM!" The selection of stories also does a good job of representing the range of Faulkner's talent and vision--the folksy humor of country people, the tragic character of the oppressed and marginalized, and the frustration people experience when their traditional values fail to equip them for the intrusion of modernity. It's all here.

The CD set is augmented by several readings by Faulkner himself. (These are old recordings that were originally issued on vinyl and reissued on audiocassette, but it's great to have them on CD at long last.) Faulkner's reading from AS I LAY DYING is fast and breathless and is especially poignant in the Vardaman sections where he endows the youngest Bundren with a seer-like wisdom and nerve-rattling existentialism. The excerpt from perhaps his most difficult novel, A FABLE, and his brilliant Nobel Prize acceptance speech are stunning indictments an man's propensity to wage war coupled with a celebration of the human race's capactiy to endure and prevail in spite of depth of its folly.

My only regret is that I paid full price for these CDs at a bricks and mortar store (who shall remain nameless). Get it from Amazon.com! It's the best price I've seen. And with the money you save, treat yourself to Hans H. Skei's book, READING FAULKNER'S BEST SHORT STORIES, which discusses all of the stories on this CD.

Caedmon has done it again. This is an excellent selection of Faulkner's short stories (A Rose for Emily, Barn Burning, That Evening Sun, Spotted Horses, and Wash--all unabridged) and excerpts from a few of his longer works, all read very well with passion and control by Debra Winger, Keith Carradine and Arliss Howard. But the best part of this collection has to be the opportunity to hear Faulkner himself read from "As I Lay Dying", "A Fable" and "The Old Man", plus his 1949 Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech. Running 5 hours long, on 5 discs, this is a great collection for Faulkner enthusiasts and audio book addicts alike.

Debra & her husband, Howard, director) star in "Big Bad Love'..adapted from collection short stories by Larry Brown.Which is so very camp for those who thought she couldn't make it into the 'Inner Circle'. Include this in revised edition,soon.

"All religions are based upon this desire and I am a believer." He comes as close as any author to expressing truth in fiction.

Dostoevsky is my favorite author. This epic tale has inspired me. It has casts aside doubts that have labored my soul, and my faith. The author can capture the essence of a person's soul like no one I've heard, seen, or read. If everyone read, and took heart in his messages, how grand it would be.

How could a young student ever hope to study this novel, with its size, complexity and challenging themes? I read Crime and Punishment as a youth many years ago and have never forgotten it, putting off trying the large classics of Russian literature such as "Brothers". At last I have read BK and feel richly rewarded from the experience.

In a review of the Cliff Notes for BK, I appreciated the value of the supporting notes to a solo reader, and suggest the notes as a companion for anyone contemplating the novel without the support of a teacher. The novel almost demands to be taught, rather than read solo, or risk being overwhelmed, as Dostoevsky explores many themes in depth. It's not that the plot itself is particularly deep or hard to follow, but the collective detail on the characters and their interplay, the look at Russia when it was still a religious country (leading up to the revolution), the sophisticated exchanges on religion and morals, and so on all form the incredible structure that is this novel. If you don't want the Cliff or Spark notes, try some other advance prep or plan to do some Internet browsing once you begin.

The focus on religion and its role in how people act and in their prospects for redemption was more than I anticipated. The elder Zossima, Ivan, and others put forth lengthy, reasoned arguments. The author never makes one side be the fool or demand an impossible standard for humans. The author allows strong statements to be made against God and Christianity, or at least the church as constituted in his day. One can't help but notice Dostoevsky's speaking through Zossima, especially to Russians, when he says how the unbelievers in Russia will fail and that the people will prevent the atheists from taking control of his beloved Russia. How wrong he was!

Dostoevsky clearly understood the dark side of humanity as well as individuals' capacity for love and redemption through suffering and acceptance of inevitable failures. It is the more direct, human-touch Christianity of Alyosha that will triumph in Dostoevsky's world, rather than the purely intellectual and disbelieving Ivan, a point brought home again with Ivan's breakdown.

The author uses relatively extreme personalities to show human traits, with the result that they become rather unrealistic. That is acceptable because they are not single-dimensional. For example, Dmitri, perhaps the main character in the novel, has many flaws, amply demonstrated to a near-extreme, enough that I skimmed some parts when he was particularly annoying. Even so, Dostoevsky allows Dmitri some good points, as with his basic honor that helps anchor his road to potential redemption.

My translation was the Bantam Classics paperback by Andrew MacAndrew.

Many reviews discuss the novel itself, so I'll just comment on this particular edition: My only complaint with this edition is its tiny margins. This, of course, is not an issue for the outside margins, but because the print is so close to the binding, I had to actually pull the two halves of the book in opposite directions to read the print near the gutter. It sounds like I'm nitpicking, but this book is by no means a quick read. Pulling on a book for a couple of hours every night is more tiring than I would have expected. I read a bit of the new edition -- translated by Pevear and Volokhonsky (Link:)The Brothers Karamazov -- in a bookstore today, and it was so comfortable, that I don't think I fully realized what I had been missing until then.

Other than that, and a few typos here and there, it's not a bad edition if you get a cheap one. I bought mine at a thrift store for 35 cents, so I can't complain. This qualifies as a book worthy of a nice edition, and if I were to read this again, which is quite possible, I would spend the $10-$12 for the Pevear/Volokhonsky.

Careful...I was looking for the award-winning Pevear/Volokohonsky translation for the Kindle. It is NOT among the current translations available for the Kindle (as of 3/12/08). (I downloaded the samples and compared the first few paragraphs to my paperback Pevear/Volkohonsky copy)

If the first paragraph is any indication of quality, pass on the versions $0.99 or less, which start with an awkward run-on sentence bad enough to make me think the translator was not very facile with english.

I loved Kathleen Norris's earlier books, "The Cloister Walk" and "Dakota". She's an odd mix--a poet, feminist, theological conservative, and country bumpkin. But I guess it's the poet I relate so strongly to. Her prose is lyrical, and I find myself thinking about something she has said at odd moments for some time after I've put her books down. Her words resonate, and her descriptions and stories convey a vocabulary of faith. She has the courage to ponder the tough questions and deal with doubt and possibility while sharing her inspiring observations.

Unlike the the Author, Katherine Norris , I have been a Catholic all my 71 Years and She has renewed my faith and spirituality and taught me more about the religion I grew up in then all the catechism classes and college courses in theology I studied.
She is right up there with Henri Nouen and Edwina Gateley.
What beautiful reading.
Rita Peters

This book impressed me immensely; well beyond what I had expected and I had read two previous books by Kathleen Norris. It is a marvelous format that works like a sort of "Day by Day" series of inspiring and/or compelling theological thoughts. Rather than follow a litergical order of verses, Norris uses different words and terms associated with Christianity to fuel her observations. I honestly was expecting a sort of academic treatise on what various terms meant. What I got instead was an illustration of the essence of the meaning of various aspects and perspectives of Christianity. From the very beginning I was inspired by what Ms. Norris was sharing. She has observed a lot through her years and has a remarkable ability to recall those observations into illuminating stories.

Part of the impression this book made upon me may have had something to do with the fact that I started reading it towards the end of a retreat I was on. It was at the Benedictine Convent and Abbey where Ms. Norris spent much of her time. I hadn't even considered the connection when I took the book along but I was quickly in tune with her comments about her experiences with the Benedictine nuns and monks. Part of the appeal of her book to me had to have something to do with so many events taking place in locales I am familiar with. However, the broader appeal of the book lies in her sincere devotion to the Benedictine Way while equally active in the main stream Protestant Church. She seems intent on exploring ways to find a closer and clearer meaning to her faith. Like Ms. Norris, I had experienced years apart from religion before returning to it with a sincere intention to become a "Good Christian". However, I needed to first understand what it is that comprises a "Good Christian". Kathleen Norris spoke to me in the voice of experience of someone who has gone quite a bit further than I. I say that even though my journey has led me to ordination as an Episcopal Priest. Ms. Norris shares a lot of her experiences as a somewhat reluctant lay minister in the Presyterian Church. I am satified that she has found her vocation.

Ms. Norris is a Poet in the literal sense because it is her real profession. I'm not one for poetry but I have always enjoyed the rare author who can write prose and leave the impression that one has read poetry. Her book, "Dakota" is a masterpiece of that style as is "Amazing Grace". I confess that I was not as drawn into her book, "The Cloister Walk". I think that is why I was a bit shy about starting "Amazing Grace". However, I am very greatful that I took it on that retreat. I would recommend this book to anyone who aspires to know more about the Christian faith. Those even mildly interested will find a voice that speaks in a clear, compelling and informative manner. Too many similar book instruct; Ms. Norris inspires.

I really enjoyed the fresh look at words used in faith discussions. I particularly liked the one on Silence.

My aunt recommended this book to me several years ago but I was involved with other things at the time and did not get it. Then Amazon recommended it to me again later and that time I did get it. I read it one essay at a time as a part of my daily devotional. It's a great feeling when an articulate, gifted writer puts into words one's own beliefs as this one did for me.
Page 310: ". . . Here, too, is the justification of the mystic's certainty, as in Shaw's 'St. Joan,' when she responds calmly to an inquisitor's pouncing on the word imagination, as if to spring a trap. 'I hear voices telling me what to do,' Joan says. 'They come from God.' 'They come from your imagination?' her interrogator asks, and she replies, 'Of course. That is how the messages of God come to us.'"
Kathleen Norris's extensive study of the Christian religious history is expressed in this book and benefits the reader.
It is poetic in parts which presents a difficulty for me because although I value poetry and admire poets, as an analyical person, I often don't get it. (She says her husband is both poetic and analytical -- a wonderful gift.) Nevertheless it was a priceless experience.
This is not a book for fundamentalist Christians. It is a book for us spiritual seekers who love God with all our hearts.

This interesting book gives the reader an unusual inside view into the cloistered life, especially for those of us who would dearly love to have the experience but probably never will have the privilege.

One of the elements of Kathleen Norris which makes reading her so fundamentally satisfying is her ability to weave the words and thoughts of others so seamlessly into her own observations of endeavoring to live a life of faith. "The Cloister Walk" seems to do this with greater facility and to greater effect than "Dakota: A Spiritual Geography."

In "The Cloister Walk," Norris, an apathetic Christian turned agnostic turned yearning Protestant, relates her experiences (physical and spiritual) as an oblate with the Benedictines. This is an accessible memoir of one woman's account of opening the eyes of her heart in her search for God and one that can be enjoyed by anyone striving to hear a still small voice within.

If you liked Kathleen Norris' Amazing Grace you will love The Cloister Walk. It is a beautiful personal narrative of her faith journey as well as a journal about writing poetry. She uses such beautiful metaphoric language. A joy to read.

Folks, I've been listening to the audio version of _The Cloister Walk_, by Kathleen Norris and I have to say that I like what I am hearing.

Ms. Norris is an Episcopalian--her bio says she started as a Presbyterian--imbued with an exquisite spirit for things Benedictine and monastic, granted to her by the Holy Spirit through her call as a Benedictine Oblate, which makes us colleagues of sorts, though we have never met.

The book is Ms. Norris recounting her experience in various Benedictine communities and of the Spirit of charity, celibate chastity, adoration, and liturgy she discovered therein. She approaches spiritual exercises, the Word of God in the Bible and in the Mass, with the soul of a poet. In fact, she sees these sacred objects and activities first as poetry, endowed with the power to communicate hidden things through word and metaphor and song.

Her chapter on "Virgin Martyrs" touched me the deepest. I have never heard the interplay of virginity and martyrdom so clearly explained before. In fact, in this chapter, Ms. Norris succeeds in rescuing for a feminist audience the true meanings of virginity and martyrdom, reassesing its value as a woman's assertion to her own identity in counterpoint to a world that holds a woman's body physical and psychological integrity as something of little value, scandalous even, and paradoxically anti-woman.

I compare Norris' work on contemplation with that of Thomas Merton, without the latter's fascination for things oriental or his inclination to please everyone by being everthing to every one--and that's a sad, but true criticism of my beloved Thomas Merton.

Now, the downside. Actress Debra Winger read the book and although she pronounces every word clearly and distinctly, she does so with so much flatness that she sounds unenthusiastic about the subject matter. She should've read this with wondernment; her business-like tone is too, well, depressing.

Anyway, buy the book or listen to the tape if you're a busy person like myself. You won't regret either.

First of all, after reading a few of the reviews of this book here in amazon, I have to wonder: are you reading the same book the rest of us are?

That said, this book fully deserves five stars. The author is smart, devout, and eager to learn. A Protestant, she tells of her experience in a monastery over a period of several months. I believe the person who would get the most out of this book is either a Protestant or a "seeker" eager to grow spiritually. We Protestants know too little about the traditions of our Catholic brothers and sisters: there is a rich spirituality there we can draw from (and vice-versa.) This is not a difficult book to read, yet it is not an easy book to read, either. It's easy in that the author writes so honestly and plainly it's like talking to an old friend about her experiences. However, since nearly every chapter is profound one can't skim through this book like a Grisham thriller. The very nature and objective of the book is to be food for spiritual growth. It takes a while to chew some of this stuff. I recently picked the book back up after reading the first 275 out of 400 pages. I set it down for months, not because it's boring but because, I suppose, my subconscious mind needed to chew on those 275 pages a while. The book has been lying around as if it knew I was going to pick it back up at the right time.
How many books can you say that about? Precious few, my friend.

Add this most substantial book to your devotional reading and , after reading it, I guarantee you will find yourself picking it up over and over over the years.

Laura is no Balzac. She doesn't share the reality of her sister's life in a way that makes it as important and real the way a master would. But, what can a person expect? She does share and reveal much. It's way too much to ask that she (Laura) could write a book that truly reveals the depths of Janis' life and times such that it will influence people for ages to come. I would like such a work because I feel that Janis' life should not be forgotten. If you have feelings for Janis like I do then this book is a must read. If someone someday takes what Laura has written and makes it into a book that captures all of the emotion and reality of Janis' life and times so that even a casual reader will be amazed then that will be an amazing book. I think Laura would agree.

I WAS PLEASANTLY surprised at the way this book showed us the real Janis. I was expecting a glossed over version of her life, but Janis's sister told the good and the bad. Through it all you can sense the love and affection her family had for her. Laura Joplin is an excellant writer and her insights on why Janis did the things she did was very refreshing. I was 13 years old when Janis died and had already begun to be a part of the rejected "hippie" crowd. My crowd was the first in our school to be a part of that culture. I identified with alot of what Janis went through and I remember buying her albums and listening over and over. I loved her. I remember the days of pot and LSD and speed, and my personal favorite, quaaludes. The drug culture was much different then and much safer. I thank God for a praying Grandmother and for a fear of needles, or I could have gone further and ended up like Janis. Few of our group ever experimented with injecting, but I could understand how Janis got caught up in it. This book showed a side of Janis that was so much like us and showed that she was really an insecure girl wanting acceptance like the rest of us.
Thank you Laura, for giving us insight to the real person your sister was.

I thought this book was outstanding. Not only does it give good insight on what made Janis tick, it gave a very indepth history of the hippie movement from it's earliest conception. I found it fascinating.

Janis' sister, Dr. Laura Joplin, provides the reader with special insight to many core concepts of Janis, such as Janis' mission of encouraging freedom of expression for all, on every subject, as well as her passion for ending racial and all other forms of discrimination. Janis so humorously exposed hypocracy and so wonderfully raised questions that many are afraid to ask. What irony that her gifts to the human race were cut off so prematurely by some of the traps of life.

I really enjoyed this biography by Janis' sister. It was quite different than some of the other biographies out there in that it's written by someone with lots of details about Janis' early life and family. However it was funny to read about Janis from someone who seems so "straight". Her sister was obviously outside of the Janis-scene of the 60's, so it was an interesting perspective.

Let me just start with the silliest comment: the only way to find out whether you like this book or not, is by reading it. Most reviews here and on Amazon.uk reflect ambivalent feelings. After turning the last page, mine was not altogether negative, but not entirely positive either. This was also my first book by Philip Roth.

Ageing but vigorous professor Coleman Silk is accused of racism in the classroom and forcefully rejecting it (in vain), he chooses to retire after a long, fulfilling and esteemed teaching career. His tale is told by his friend, writer Nathan Zuckerman. Hardly acknowledging each other for years, a friendship begins and Zuckerman tries to understand the multiple facets defining Silk's personality. Unbeknownst to him, he will later discover a secret that Silk has kept for decades, a secret which his life had been, and still is, based on.

Looping around the main theme, there are other characters who are connected with Silk and bear relevance. In the background, Coleman's parents and siblings. Their beginnings, the struggles to send all their children to proper schools for the best education possible. We then have his wife, a strong, independent personality who died during the `racism ordeal', and their four adult children (it's 1998 by then). Silk's bursting rage and pain towards these two -to him- related events (the accusations and his wife's death), find a degree of comfort through the acquaintance -later developing into something much more- of Faunia, a janitor in the Athena college where he used to teach. Faunia, a tormented soul herself, does not seem to be left alone by her ex-husband, Les, who keeps stalking her after a terrible tragedy struck at their home some years previously. Some other characters from the past who are irretrievably connected with Coleman, pop into the picture. His former girlfriend, Steena, met and loved in his twenties. The young French dean at Athena, Dolphine Roux, who supported the racism accusations. Zuckerman himself finds a niche for some of his personal details.

So many people, so many different personalities, so many tragedies. This book explores a variety of themes -race, rape, depression, death, loneliness- which make it certainly for a substantial, full-of-texture read. It also speaks of love, love for a profession, for a person, for life in general, but the intricacy with which the author interpolates this concept is open to debate. This is why I cannot define in full its identifying quality, or, for that matter, what exactly I did not like about this book. Perhaps a certain dislike for the structure of some of the chapters: sentences which do not see a full stop, a pause, for an entire page for example. This rendered the read a bit tedious. Also, I found the numerous references to the Clinton/Lewinski's `interlude' somewhat irrelevant to the core of the story and if the purpose was to pinpoint that Silk's own story began to unfold back then, in 1998, well, it was clear enough already. Not to mention the final paragraphs -and this is not a spoiler- when an incredible and unrealistic conversation ensues in a cemetery. I mean, was that to supply the reader with some final `answers' -which could not have been `real' anyway since it was all a mental image?- .

And yet. Coleman Silk is a personage. And his secret, the secret from which we are often distracted due to a number of superimposed, unnecessary (to me) details, is the central theme of this book. Like it or not, mixed feelings or not, I've never written such a long review before. There must be a reason, although I myself am not sure what that is. What I am sure about is that this tale is so imbued with wrenching issues that it cannot fail to dazzle, provoke and stimulate conversations.

This was one of the most boring reads I have ever encountered. I loved his book "The Plot Against America," but this put me to sleep just trying to read it!

Amazing book, written by a master, I recommend this to everyone. It is poetic, and real, one of Roth's best novels. If you enjoy reading this book is for you.

I read this book based on recommendations from friends, I have seen the movie and found the actors from the movie getting in the way of the book. It took a significant amount of time to get rid of the images of Anthony Hopkins etc. Take it that the book is a very pale image of the work, and it would be better not to see the movie prior to reading the book.
The writing, as you would expect is exceptional. I did find a significant amount of the language quite crude, however it is still a masterpiece. There are elegant swipes at the academic pseudo-liberalism and infighting, a significant swipe at over-analysis, great characterisation and significant plot points interweaving throughout.
So the only quibble I have is the narrator - Nathan Zuckerman writes this book about his friend Coleman Silk, Coleman's secret is gradually revealed etc. however the narrative voice slips too often from Nathan to what can really only be Coleman's interior self. I think the slow revelation of Coleman's steely, inhuman determination can only be illustrated by a third party, the narrative therefore should not contain so much of what Coleman felt, even if sometimes it is expressed as Zuckermann's view of what Coleman might/must have felt. This aside, it's a tremendous read

This book pretty much has a little bit of everything: a scathing attack on American sexual and racial pathology, an impassioned defense of un-castrated male and female sexuality, an apologetic celebration of the sexual instinct regardless of age or class boundaries, a full frontal assault on the inanity and hypocrisy of the politically correct American academy, an examination of our nation's tortured racial and class history, an existential meditation on the power of imminent mortality to upend and transform our everyday lives---this is in short, an incredibly rich and dense book, happily carried along by Roth's incomparably superb prose style.

Yes there are slow spots where he rambles a bit too much and gives us a lot more social history than we particularly care for, but once you learn to skim through those sections it is really a brisk read. I kind of wish there was less about Lester, the nutty Vietnam vet's interior landscape, and more about the relationship between Faunia Farley and Coleman Silk. The ending has an interesting Zen-like, not-knowing/unknowable quality to it that is both ominous and fascinating. If you are looking for a neat, all-questions-answered resolution this is not the book for you.

Needless to say, it's worth reading even if you've seen the movie, which is actually pretty good for a novelistic adaptation.

Tom Robbins has been a favorite writer of mine since the 70's. However, I was only aware of his fiction. In Wild Ducks, I found a whole new genre of his writings and musings. Some essays, some reports, some simply not available for a pigeon hole but all highly entertaining. If you have been a long term fan of Tom Robbins, you owe it to yourself to read this book.

tom robbins is a talented artist to say the least.

his wild, loose gift for language is knees and ankles above most, truly a vonnegut or southern for the mtv generation.

his style is bold an unmistakable, were you to give nearly any selection from this book to a reader at least familiar with robbins's they would surely be able to deduce the author based on his frantic off-the-cuff style and wildly imaginative metaphors.

in this artist retrospective the reader is presented with a wild smattering of material from this prolific wordsmith, and while robbins's claim to literary fame is due primarily to his novels, equally erotic and existential, the contents of "wild ducks..." is mostly of the non-fiction variety.

reviews, tributes, and travel writing populate the majority of pages in this volume but some short fiction is included for those who like to keep everything un-real.

the only problem i have with this collection, the flaw that kept it from grabbing that big five-star-brass-ring -the dung beatle in the ointment- is the poetry and lyrics section. the vast majority of poetry is trying at best, dreary and cloying at worst and robbins, though a modern literary marvel, is no exception to this rule. his poetry is bad bordering on worse and his attempts at writing country music lyrics are, well at least i hope, stabs at satirizing that dreadful playground of would be cowboys/girls. save for three amusing haiku and few [shell] silverstein-esque children's poems this section was as dreadful as i imagine dickens re-writing whitman would be.

so, thank you, mr. robbins, for collecting a career's worth of excellent prose into a single volume for those of us that missed it the first time around, and while i'm sure there's still a mess of shorts still fit to print next time leave out the poetry.

I thought it was good. It was neat to see some of the magazine publishings. If you're looking for a novel, this obviously isn't one and if you thought it was going to be, then you need to research what you buy a little better.
If you're looking for a little more diverse stuff from Uncle Tom, then here it is. If you're looking for a Can 'O Beans, then yes, skip it.

If you can't get a full blown novel (hope one is in the hopper even as I write) then you can enjoy surfing the mind of this great intellect and wit by reading his collection of articles, reviews, etc.

I'm not a fan of short stories. I'm less of a fan of gathering together a bunch of old articles and selling them as a book. I am, however, a huge fan of Tom Robbins.

While it was good to read some Tom again, I can't say I was tremendously impressed by this selection of "short writings." Personally, in terms of cleaning out a hard drive and putting it in novel form, I much prefer Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time I did enjoy some of Tom's poetry, and the homage to the Doors but other than that, the material was seriously dated.

Hopefully there will be a new novel soon. I miss him. And these last two forays (this and Villa Incognito) have left me wanting.