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 bought the above title as a gift for my sister who has macular degeneration. She was very pleased with the collection, and I was pleased with the speed it was sent to her. Thank you.

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.

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.

Before you buy this edition, use Amazon's Search/Look Inside feature to read the first few pages of all available translations so that you can buy the one you like the most. Buying a bad translation will ruin your experience. I bought Andrew MacAndrew's because the text just flows.

Now a review of the book itself. The main story is good and most of the characters are outstanding, but I'm not a Christian and the book's Christian theme put me off. Besides, Alyosha was such a boring hero, all he did was smile a lot and utter a line once in a while. For some reason, Alyosha never had any internal monologue and it was hard for me to know him. I wonder why the hero was boring while the villain, Fyodor, was so entertaining, even though he could also be annoying. But Dmitry and Ivan were the best characters by far. They may not represent the ideals of Christianity like Alyosha. Who cares? They were much more human and my heart went to them.

This is a tremendous story, but you already knew that because of the author. But this version is awful because the font is either 7 or 8 CPI. Considering that this is almost an 800-page book, your vision will be permanently worse if you read this entire book. I understand that it is a long story that they need to keep short, but it's really unhealthy to read a typeface so small.

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

The everyman library edition has very small font. It is a pain to read it.

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.

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.

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

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.

Beneath its beautiful cover this book started well then rapidly became a modernist exercise in denunciation of matters, beliefs, situations that find Kathleen Norris' disfavor. She hides her complaints well at first with her pretense of praise for the ancient Benedictine traditions, but like M. Scott Peck's In Search of Stones, which this work reminds me of so much, it soon becomes clear the topics within have varying degrees of subject matter in common with what this misleadingly marketed book is about. I wanted a book about modern Benedictines and the experience of residing among them and instead got a bellicose, self-obsessed, self-congratulatory account of times selective spent brushing up against a semi-monastic existence. A boring, frustrating, sometimes almost unfathomable letdown because in description The Cloister Walk sounded so good.

For the life of me, I don't see what people get out of Kathleen Norris' writing! Her thoughts are jumbled, scattered, rambling, disjointed, and highly self-absorbed to boot!

If you want to read a REAL book about monastic life, I recommend The Genessee Diary. Pass on this one. I feel that I've completely wasted the few hours I spent trudging through this tome.

Book Review
The Cloister Walk
In Kathleen Norris' book, The Cloister Walk, she invites the readers into her life as a Protestant, poet, feminist, married woman who is drawn to the monistic life of the Benedictines. She details the struggles she has with reconciling what she knew as a child with what she is learning today. Kathleen also finds great joy in experiencing life as she does, and seems to have no intentions of converting to the Catholic faith; she is happy being Protestant. While Kathleen takes the reader on her journey with her, she takes time to fill the reader in on her past so that they can fully appreciate her present.
This book was not what I expected when I first chose it specifically from its title. I was expecting a book about someone who is in a cloister and writing about that life, but once I understood what the intent of the book was I enjoyed journeying with Kathleen. I also found myself wanting to know what happened in her life once the pages ended. One of the biggest strengths of the book was that it was engaging and kept me interested in Kathleen's life. The book also shed some light on the Benedictine life and left me wanting to know more. In my position at my parish, I am often asked about good books. I can easily suggest this one as an option, though not as a book to obtain knowledge about the Catholic faith, but as a good summer read, which I think can often times be very valuable.

It's been a few years, but memory tells me this was - and is - a wonderful book. I suppose it makes a difference to have been to the monastery in Minnesota where the author went, and to have met Ms. Norris; nonetheless, she has a lot to say. Her thought-full exposition of the Psalms was particularly helpful, although I would have been happier if she had chosen a more recent translation (such as the NRSV or the CEV)than the often-difficult-to-understand King James Version. I have recommended this book many times, and continue to do so.

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.

once i started to read this book i couldn't put it down until it was finished, was sad to see it end. it gives alot of detail into janis joplin's early family life as well as school and friends and the start and finish of her music career. would recommend this to any joplin fan, a must have!!

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.

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.

So this is a story about Coleman Silk who is black. He was raised in a respectable black family, with an optometrist father and a mother who was one of the first black Head Nurses in New Jersey. The Silks however, as Coleman came to find out, were much more accepted in their NJ neighborhood because they were light skinned. Coleman especially was light with soft curly hair and green eyes. Because of this, Coleman, after dropping out of Howard University and eventually joining the military as a white man (because he learned he can "pass" and because of other reasons...) began to live his life as a Jewish man and eventually living a life of lies until the day he died. Coleman Silk would like to think that he would have kept this secret from ever coming out if only he wasn't accused of being called a racist at the university he was teaching at. He was so surprised with this racist accusation because he was the least likely person to be accused of that. Philip Roth is an acclaimed writer and I can definitely see why. This story is so well written that I find myself thinking about Coleman Silk and his life while I'm about to sleep and how if he did it this way and that maybe his life could be different. Then I realize I'm thinking about a fictional character in a book. But see, that's how good books are supposed to be. It makes you think about it even when you're not reading about it.

A college professor is forced to resign for alleged racism and begins an affair with an illiterate woman. In my opinion, this is very close to the perfect book. The writing is genius, and the scope of the book is enormous.

I'm a great admirer of Philip Roth's books, and I have no doubt that he's one of the country's greatest novelists (in fact, I don't quite understand why he hasn't been awarded the Nobel). But even the great ones occasionally hit clunkers, and The Human Stain is a clunker. I really wanted to like the book, but I just couldn't. It has its grand moments--it is, after all, written by Roth--but it's too long, too messy, too grandiose in places, too underdeveloped in others. By midpoint, I felt I was drowning in a sea of words and alternately bored and irritated, longing for the crispness and elegance of Roth's Everyman or Portnoy.

I'm not sure why Roth opted for such a baroque style in Human Stain-- endless soliloquies, teutonically long sentences, tireless and tiresome flashbacks--but it all becomes simply too much after awhile, especially since his characters are too underdeveloped to carry the narrative. The protagonist, Coleman Silk, despite everything we come to know about him, remains rather one-dimensional. Huge secrets don't necessarily make for depth. Coleman's love interest, Faunia Farley, is even less alive. She seems little more than a shadow, which is especially odd given that the tragic events of her life are surely rich fodder. Lester, Faunia's ex-husband and screwed-up vet, is a caricature who seems to do nothing but rant, rave, and sweat. The Chinese cafe scene which serves as part of Lester's "therapy" is worthy of a bad movie. The only character that really has color is Delphine Roux. Would that she was more present.

In all fairness, there are some good moments in the novel. I've never been as totally surprised by a novel as I was when, in the book's second part, Coleman's ethnicity is revealed. I just didn't see it coming, and it took me ten or so pages before I fully grasped what was going on. This was masterful on Roth's part. Additionally, his depiction of small college politics and political correctness was deliciously barbed, and enjoyable for anyone who's ever taught at such a place as the fictional but all too real Athena College. But such Lucky Jim-like dissections of academia aren't, after all, uncommon in fiction. They may be fun to read, but there's no shortage of them.

At the end of the day, the tragedy of Coleman Silk that serves as The Human Stain's message is one worthy of an American Euripides. For all his genius, Mr. Roth was unable to do it justice.

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.

...It's so obvious it hardly needs saying.

Coleman Silk is a professor ousted from his position on false charges of racism, and, at 71, carrying on a torrid and secret affair with an illiterate 34-year-old cleaning woman. But when it comes to secrets, that's the least of Silk's.

Reading Roth is often breathlessly easy, a pure joy; at other times, he's a challenge, demanding full attention and a little forbearance. But both are always rewarded. And I can't think of another writer who so accurately captures the inner workings of the male mind. An uncompromising, intelligent, complex exploration of race, identity, sex, and American morality.

This book was recommended to me when I worked for William Burroughs Communication. Oh, how I could relate, having been around artist junkies and wandering poets and moody, irrational alcoholic geniuses - and not being recognized as one myself (although much healthier by this time of my life). These women write about the life of US, the women who were also in those circles of creative insanity, putting up with violent, lazy, thieving, cheating men who said they loved us. Throughout history the lives of women in powerful movements wre hidden. They paid the rent, made sure there was food, made carbon copies of their lovers' work. But they also WROTE, beautifully, from the point of view of women who love their lovers, love their friends, and love finding their strength. These women grow as they age, becoming more compassionate and critical. After reading this, I was led to Jan Kerouac, Joyce Johnson, Diane di Prima, etc. - voices who wrote like mine, affirmed my life story. I read so much of the male Beats writing, and loved it, but didn't feel I was really in the story. Who were the women? They were us.

Denise Levertov never was, and never will be, a so-called "Beat" writer: she could actually write. (Which means she knew that the most basic rule of writing is: rewriting.) Any more than she will be diminished and narrowed by the so-called "feminists" who insist she was a "woman writer" therefore only suitable for women readers (to which ideological morons she delivered swift kicks to the teeth).

And no amount of effort to drag her, kicking and screaming, into the "Beat" "canon," will succeed, or succeed in giving that "canon" a "class" and credibility it mostly didn't earn and doesn't deserve. Kerouac might have been able to write -- if, that is, he'd tried the language- and reader-respecting work of rewriting. But nothing will cure Ginsberg of the reality that he was 99 per cent vapid masturbatory windbag.

Any interested in the history of the beat era must have WOMEN OF THE BEAT GENERATION: THE WRITERS, ARTISTS AND MUSES AT THE HEART OF A REVOLUTION. Much has been written on famous beat men but comparatively little on the women who also made their mark during the time: long overdue but better late than never is an exploration of the histories of these women, from Barbara Guest and Diane DiPrima to Jan Kerouac and Anne Waldman. A literary and social history which should not be missed.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

For a group that is now remembered as a progressive voice in the ultra-conformist wilderness of the 1950s, the Beats were a surprisingly chauvinistic bunch of guys, all too ordinary for their time. That unfortunate fact helps explain the relative obscurity of most of the women who ran with, influenced and, in some cases, loved them. (You probably know that William S. Burroughs accidentally murdered his common-law wife while playing William Tell, but do you know her name?) This wonderful volume goes a long way towards correcting that oversight. Featuring previously unpublished letters, rare pictures and - best of all - a generous sampling of creative works, it's a near-perfect survey of the Beats' female contemporaries, lovers and even a few of their precursors.

Although most of the women profiled here published at least one work in their own right at some point, many of those are not currently in print anywhere else. Additionally, some of the poems and stories here are previously unpublished, and in the case of many of the wives and lovers (referred to as "The Muses"), the works presented here are by far the most intimate look at their lives published thus far. In short, there's something here for everyone: a good starting point for newcomers to the Beats as well as a good supplementary piece for even the most serious students of women's literature.

Yes, there were women writing as well, and doing all the other cool stuff at the time. Many of them are still writing or continued to write long after their affair with the "beat" generation. This book is a great introduction to these writers. It's very informative, has just enough of the good gossip and lots of really great writing.