By Class Books

Was able to find a used copy claimed to be in like new condition. It was just as advertised. Enjoyed the book immensely

Reading this novel is akin to being reborn- as a snake eases out of its present coil and strips down to a more essential skin, so too will this violated madonna of lyricism attune you to the fundamentals of what it is to be human. This book strips away the veneer of polite society and illumes the central questions of humanity: why do we hate, love who we love and live as we do? At the end of this pulsating, haunting and all-seeing unveiling, I asked myself the overarching question that is central to each of our daily existence: why do I breathe?

This book has been mischaracterized as magic realism in the notes below. While people are entitled to call it whatever they want, if you want to revert to widely accepted definitions of the style, it isn't, not at all. And therein lies its power: there is no supernatural realm, no genius ghost, no divine intervention. This is us. Really, this is what we are. How can we address that which we carry within ourselves, escaping even our utterest exhaled breath? No matter how deep the sugared sighs of humankind, there is something so appalling that lurks in the human psyche that generally goes unacknowledged, and most people live it on a daily basis. This is one of the few works that can even hope to awake the quixotic part of us, that laments what we are, and gives hope that the reader's empathy will incite something better. This book turns the staid precepts of our world upside down: violation becomes salvation and successfully brings us to the searing understanding where the sickening is natural and right, because time honoured social convention fosters the blinding nightmare.

Only three writers have severely affected my ability to see the page in my life. I cried for Estha and Rahel, for two people who no one could ever understand except each other. I cried because to my knowledge this is the best book ever written on the caste system, and what it says about every single one of us. This is not just a book about India. It is a vast commentary on humanity, and most of all on love- that over-invoked, roughly used, oft bedraggled, and disregarded commodity.

The God of Small Things runs fingers of of feeling over your spine with its rivers of lyricism. It is fresh, insightful and sparkling- one of the great books of our time. There is no other work like it out there. Read it and see.

I read this book as a literature student in college and it is still one of my favorite books of all time. Her words read like poetry. It literally took my breath away in its beauty and message. Highly recommended for those who enjoy reading about the effects of globalization on so-called Third World countries, as well as those who appreciate a good romantic novel in the magical realist tradition.

I had high hopes for this book when I picked it up. Halfway through this book and I find that I have to force myself to turn the next page. If you love reading interesting and in depth books that you can understand, this is not the book for you. The author's words are a spiral of mumbo jumbo that drags on and on. I often found myself re-reading the same sentence 3 or 4 times in order to grasp the meaning but it never comes. If I had to compare this book to something, I would compare it to a long a strange dream... it doesn't make sense and it's not something you would remember after 5 minutes!

Unfortunately, I have yet to receive this item. I remain anxious, as I look forward to receiving and reading it. I am familiar with the writings of this author and expect that I will continue to respect her logic and writing abilities.

This book series has always been stereotyped as the book that only shallow and rich girls read. Well, I am neither shallow (I hope not) nor rich (maybe in my dreams) but surprisingly, this book was strangely good.

If you read hard enough, you'll discover the message that Lisi Harrison intended to put out. It describes the trials and woes of school, peer pressure, making new friends, dealing with enemies, and just being a girl.

In reality, the girls LH describes are the girls seen today. They are superficial, mean, and catty. But does one really know what goes on in their heads? The insecurities of the populars are revealed, and that is what redeems this book series. How not everyone can be perfect, but still want to act like it.

LH probably wants to show girls that being popular isn't everything. That, in reality, it is the silliest thing to want to fight for. Claire was ridiculous for fighting to be friends with girls who didn't like her. Massie manipulated her friends to terrorize Claire just because she felt threatened. Really, what teenage girls would want to live like this?

The author didn't want girls to model after her characters, but learn from their mistakes. But still, I think that it is a bit silly to put out a strong lesson in such an immature setting. I doubt that 7th graders live like this, try high school.

The humor is a bit sappy, but the characters are all unique and represent the different kinds of obstacles that girls today face. Dylan, with her body issues. Kristen, with her poverty. Alicia, a person who is always overshadowed. Claire, a new girl who just wants to fit in. And Massie, a girl who seems perfect, but actually isn't.

So when reading this book, look through the glamour and glitz and try to see the real message. That makes reading this book worthwhile, I think.

I am an adult with a weakness for reading children's literature and I have to say that I really love this series. There are always references to designer clothes and rich lifestyles and it is a guilty pleasure to read about this. I do admit that it is rather shallow but don't take it seriously and just read it as light-hearted entertainment. Also, there is no sex and no swearing and would be completely appropriate for ages 12 and up.

Ha HA HA. Seriously. There is only one explanation to why anyone would read this book. And that is brain damage. Yeah, you heard me losers!Emahgawd, this book blows.

Massie=LBR OOOOOOOO. Burn. Yeah I called you a loser. Whacha gonna do about it? Chase after me on your horsie?

This book is fun and entertaining for young adult girls who like reading about drama and fun. Massie is the "owner" of the clique and the "founder." She has three best friends Kristen- the sporty chick, Alicia- the one who wants Massie to go down, and Dylan- the one who loves to eat. They call themselves the Pretty Committee. The Pretty Comittee takes in the new girl, Claire, who is from Florida, even though she is a fashion "no-no." Read about the Pretty committee and their ups and downs in this fun series. A great summer read!
Lily, Age 13

I thought that this was a great way to start off a great series!!! Massie's character is a bit to mean to Claire, but the end of the book makes you want to read the next book, "Best Friends for Never". I would recommend this book to girls between the ages of 12 and 18. It also all depends on the type of personality the reader has. A girl into fashion and drama would totally enjoy this book!

To keep this as short as possible; I picked up the book because it won a Pulitzer prize, and the good reviews it had. I was in a period of reading a lot of non-fiction, and wanted to take a break with some fiction.

The rating of 3 stars is because it was not good or bad, my reaction was apathy. I was a bit disappointed with the structure and format. That lack of actual chapters was a bit boring.

The book seemed to drag on, had there been less unnecessary detail, it would have gotten a better review. Instead I feel I read much more about a particular thing than I needed to. I loved the way John Updike expressed the detail, but I think he went overboard in some cases. Especially since there is no real action in the book and are only a few main events that happen.

I'm not sure I would particularly recommend the book to somebody. I will mention it and tell them my lack of reaction to it. The characters can be interesting, and in some aspects I wish I could hear more about them. I do not think I will pick up the other Rabbit books anytime soon though.

Some of it can be a bit detailed about sex, if that is of concern to anybody. I had to chuckle at some of the euphemisms used.

If you want a book where the main character is indecisive, escapes, but does not really move away or change, then this book would be of interest. Every character has their annoying qualities, even Rabbit. Surprisingly my favorite character was the minister. There is some decent deep thought play that is spoken but never really discussed from him. Especially for the time period.

In the beginning, I was sort of depressed. the subject matter, the darkly setting, uneasy texture. However, I liked to read gradually. I loved it. And the main character of the novel is portrayed with sophisticatedly. A complex personality but somewhat amusing and certainly playful. I look forward to reading next Rabbit novels!

This novel brought tears to my eyes....of boredom and disgust !

I can't believe that they have been touting this book as one of the greatest of American literature. It is about a twenty-something guy who is married with a son. He used to be a star basketball player and now, caught in a love-hate marriage and a dead-end job, the banality and drabness of his life is getting to him.

Interesting so far, isn't it ? But Updike makes a mess of a promising plot. Here is what happens....our hero decides to run away from his family, his job, his friends, everything......he gets into the car and intends to drive someplace far away. Ah, one thinks....a great American road trip is in order.....but no such luck. He returns to his town the same night, settles down with a prostitute, and when his wife is about to deliver a baby, goes back to her, again gets tired of her, goes back to the prostitute but is not sure if he should abandon his wife, and runs again.

Sounds stupid ? It is.

And the writing is tortuously slow and maddeningly muddy. It seems that Updike wrote this novel to please his literature teachers who would prefer form over substance. He writes these long paragraphs without punctuation apparently trying to describe and mirror the random thoughts of his characters....trying to evoke a stream-of-consciousness feel about these passages but fails miserably. Such passages only make the book even more tedious and ambiguous.

Here is an example of what has been called Updike's 'Crystal-clear prose:'

"And further inside, so ghostly it comes to him last, hangs a jagged cloud, the star of an explosion, whose center is uncertain in refraction but whose arms fly from the core of pallor as straight as long eraser-marks diagonally into all planes of the cube."

And if you guys want an example of Updike's cute punctuation, here are the last few words of the novel:

"....he runs. Ah: runs. Runs."

Updike, like all bad literary-wannabe authors, keep describing the weather, the food, the scenery with great, tear-inducing meticulousness but doesn't develop his stereotypical characters even one bit during the course of the book.

This garbage is not worth anybody's time and is a good example of why such so-called literature doesn't interest the masses. This is pretentious writing without even the slightest hint of talent or creativity. Two thumbs-down !

I read this book 5 years ago, learned to hate John Updike, and haven't picked up a book of his since. (Looking at the book on amazon and some of the other one-star reviews, maybe I should give his more recent works a shot, but this one has kept me angry for a long time.) Today, I started what seems like it will be a bad book that described "plump, round buttocks," and naturally thought again of Updike and how much I had hated his description of women. I'm not quite motivated enough to diss him to go and check out another copy from the library to search for the phrases that I hated the most (white mounds of flesh..), but I was delighted to see that I was not alone in my disdain for this novel and this author (at least at this phase of his writing..), and I am pleased to add another single-star (regrettably not zero-star) review to his depressingly high pile of praise.

There is no doubt that the author's writing is poignant and insightful. The behaviors of protagonist clearly convey the dilemmas, challenges and impulses of youth. The story itself was not very interesting to me, however, the protagonist's internal thought process was. My only problem, however, is that the thoughts read more of the author, meaning a sophisticated, analytical intellectual, and not of the character. It felf as if watching a movie with a director's commentary.

This is, of course, a modern classic, which means that we're far from the certainities of the classical XIXth. Century novel, as set by , e.g., Balzac or Zola, where an all-seeing narrator tells everything there is to know about both plot & characters;instead we have a completely beffuddled narrator trying to make head or tail of the events he has lived, therefore losing his sense of "order" - of a well-ordered, black on white bourgeois universe - in the process. Of course, some pioneers had already taken this path before, such as the Brazilian novelist Machado de Assis, whose "Dom Casmurro" has certain similarities ( as also a prevading feeling of doubt and confusion) in plot with "The Good Soldier". No wonder, however, that this novel was published in 1915, when all old bourgeois certainities were being actively put to rest.

Although this is a classic, I found it to be a hard read. I did not like any of the characters. I found the style intriguing, though convoluted. The narrator admits to telling the story in "a very rambling way." He explains, "One remembers points that one has forgotten and one explains them all the more minutely since one recognizes that one has forgotten to mention them in their proper places . . . ." It is a tale of irony, in which nobody gets what they want: "The things were all there to content everybody; yet everybody has the wrong thing. Perhaps you can make head or tail of it; it is beyond me." It is beyond me, too. Nevertheless, I am glad that I read it.

I know that I will outrage alot of people with this review but here goes... This is one of only 2 books that I have ever read that I truly REGRET devoting the time to , but once I start a book I always finish.I don't know what else to say except that it was painful for me to finish this. I just don't get it. The main character was quite annoying to me and the story was SO SLOW and predictable I really just wanted it to end. I would not recommend this book for fun and if it is required reading for you I am sorry.

Although formulaic in concept for early 20th century literature, this book's style separates itself from its peers.

During pre World War I, we meet the British Edward and Leonora Ashburnham and American Florence and John Dowell. As though it was a Fitzgerald novel -- the American couple resides in luxury, in Europe, the woman is talkative but fragile, and there is something brewing among the comrades -- it is definately somethin different. Although the same plot could be used and written by Waugh, Forster or maybe Woolf, it definitely is not their novel.

Unlike Waugh, unlike Fitzgerald or unlike all of the others, this book is light, very light, on dialogue. Instead, it is mostly a narrative by Mr. Dowell about the descent of his wife, of his best friend Edward and his love of life, Nancy Rufford.

Because it is a recantation of events, there are passages which repeat what was just previously read, but somehow the style (disjointed in a manner which narrative story telling would have to be) works. Oh, and how it works majestically as it passes in and out of time and through and around events so that the picture is delivered to you like a focus of a camera lens. This is not a temporal chronological recitation of what happened. The author circles us in and out of what he calls "the Saddest Story. . . because there was no current to draw things along to a swift and inevitable end." And in this sad story, "There is not even a villain in the story . . ." Reeling in and out of the sadness, it is an abstract-like collage, much like what his contemporary artists would depict with paint. This story surreally depicts Ashburnham's demise. And, the demise of those about him.

True to its form, it starts sad and ends sadder. Split into four parts, three parts end with tragic deaths (two in suicide and one perceived to be a suicide) and one ends with the acknowledgment of a failed marriage. Do not expect even one laugh from this novel.

I have not read anything by a living author which mirrors the style of this book. For that reason alone, I would recommend this novel. And, it is a classic - through and through.

I would also recommend getting a copy of Knopf's Everyman's Library edition with the edifying and insightful introduction by Alan Judd and Max Saunders. Much of Ford's life resembles one of the characters. If you get the Knopf edition, you will know why, and a lot more.

This book is written by an annoying, weak man. The formal innovations are vaguley interesting, but in any case do not rescue the work from its primary deficit: you must sit there for several hours with the voice of a neurotic chatty little wimp who reminds one of a certain kind of homosexual man streaming through your mind, mostly in the form of digressions and non-sequitors. This is neither entertaining nor enlightening, and since it's the product of design it is actually a little infuriating. I too listen with good faith to the academic hierarchy present and past for recommendations, and I had in my version the hitherto utterly reliable Frank Kermode as Introducer; but damn, this book - its characters, its plots, its language, its taxing convolusions - is just annoying. Its only virtue is that reading it might raise awareness that vaguely condescending moralistic little works like this about unheroic, petty, neurotic, sordid, idle, superficially cosmopolitan people are a mistake to begin with, and - since we all have only 70 or 80 years on earth and aren't all compulsive aesthetes - time would be better spent elsewhere. There is nothing of the hard Sophoclean light here.

The book is short and "sweet" but definitely a fun read. While "Maggie Sweet" will never be confused with Southern literature such as Faulkner, or even Lee Smith, Stacy does an excellent job with making us laugh and earning our sympathy by the third chapter. Fans of Fannie Flagg and Adriana Trigiani will love this book. Maggie is a "desperate housewife" of a sort, and her struggle to have her childhood dreams is what propels this story along. With the obvious cliches scattered through the whole book,this is forgivable and you won't be disappointed. The characters are like those in your own community. If this book is intended to be the first of a series, it is a striking and stirring beginning. Funny, memorable, and unpretentious.

I couldn't put this book down once I began reading it. It was such a fun read! Maggie Sweet is a great wife, mother, daughter, etc. and had thought that she was happy doing all of the things that "good 'ole Maggie Sweet" should do. (A description she overhears her husband tell one of his historian society friends.) Her 20th high school reunion is coming up and she begins to question her life as she is living it. Will she ever get to realize her life long dream of becoming a hair stylist? Or, will she continue to live the life her husband expects her to live? The characters that Ms. Stacy has created in this book are delightful! I can't wait to read her next book!

I absolutely loved this book! Maggie Sweet sure stood up for herself and took charge in the end! I just can't believe that she stayed with that awful husband of hers as long as she did.

This is the story of Maggie Sweet...a woman in a crappy marriage to a man years older than her (he was one of her teachers in high school), who finally gets to the point that she's had enough. Especially when the high school love of her life, Jerry, returns home after his divorce with his wife.

Will Jerry and Maggie live happily ever after? Will the kids ever forgive her for her final decision? And will Maggie finally get to have a successful career doing hair?...I'm not sure, but I'm really hoping the next book gives us a look into the new life Maggie has planned for herself.

I definitely recommend this as a great southern read. There's tons of gossip, drama, and sweet tea! I'm gonna read the next installment the second I get my hands on a copy!

Any bored houswife or middle-aged-crazy dame will identify with Maggie, the dedicated wife and mother who spends all her time meeting everyone's needs but her own, until at last given the chance to break free and do something for herself. An excellent addition to women's fiction.

I loved this book from cover to cover. I love our main character Maggie Sweet. I identified with her very well. Although, I was hoping that things would have turned out better for her and her husband, I hope that she finds true love wherever she may end up. I can't wait to read the next installment! I would have loved the other characters to have more of a female closeness but this book still delighted me!

This book takes place in a school. The main characters are Julio, Arthur, Cricket and Lucas. The name of the book is Class President. Julio runs for class president.
Julio is secretly running for class president and his best friend doesn't know. I liked this book because it was funny.

It was funny because Lucas could not see the numbers on the bus because he broke his glasses. Read and find out if he wins.

My book is Class President. It was in a school. The book had lots of main characters like Julio, Lucas, Cricket and Arthur. The main idea is to see who becomes class president, Cricket or Julio.

First the teacher Mr.Flores tells the class that they are going to have elect a class president. Julio thinks he can not become class president, so he wants his best friend Lucas to become class president. But Julio proves to be a really good class president. Lucas does not want to be class president, so Julio takes his place. He wins and becomes class president.

The book Class President was vary interesting. It has a happy ending. It is a good book for 4th and 5th graders.

The story takes place in school.The main characters are Julio and Arthur. In the story Julio becomes class president. The name of the book is Class President. The fifth grade teacher decided to have an election for a class president. Two students a boy and a girl want to run for class president. Read the book and find out who wins!

The story is about the election of a class president for the fifth grade class. The students voted for Julio as the class president instead of Crickit. Lucas dropped his nomination for class president in support of Julio.
The main characters in the story are Julio, Cricket and Lucas. The supporting characters are the teacher, principal and Arthur.
The story is interesting because it has funny characters like the twins Marcos and Marius. Another funny thing is when the class made up the imaginary million dollars and they had to think about what they would do with the million dollars. It was interesting because they raised money for Arthur's glasses. You should read this book because it was interesting.

The story is about a fifth grade class that is electing a class president and Julio's best friends are running for president. The setting takes place at school and the main characters are Julio, Arthur, Cricket, and Lukas. Julio secretly wants to run for class president but he doesn't want to run against his best friend. I think this book is fun to read because it is exciting and surprising. Arthur breaks his glasses and the class raises money to pay for them. In the end Arthur doesn't have to pay for his glasses. In one part of the story Julio baby-sits two crazy twins. They are a lot of fun. This book is great .

This book is a panegyric to Citation by one of his biggest fans. I used to idolize Secretariat, but on closer inspection, great as he was, he just did not achieve Citation's level of greatness. As his trainers, Ben and Jimmy Jones, said, they rated a horse's class by "who he beat, how he beat them, how many times he beat them, and finally time." It is an interesting parlor game to guess what Citation would have achieved if he were healthy at 4 years old and raced. Unfortunately, he sat out his entire 4th year, when a thoroughbred is at his prime, with injuries. When he tried to make a comback at five, he was not the same Citation as at 2 and 3. Georgeff describes Citation's heartbreaking return at ages 5 and 6, when he did something he was not used to ... lose races (a few to the great Noor, by just a nose, in record time, though). Just to fulfill owner Wright's dream of owning the first million dollar horse. Arcaro, who no longer rode him, bemoaned the nickel-and-diming that the owners put Citation through. Others called it criminal and said that if it were today, Wright would be put in jail for what he did to Citation.

Sure, Georgeff is biased ... if he did not love Citation, he would not have written this book. Yes, the book is redundant in places in its praise of Citation. But the book provides pretty convincing proof, that, Citation, not Secretariat or Man of War, should be considered the greatest racehorse of the 20th century (if such a thing can be determined). And Charles Hatton is in the definite minority in his deprecation of Citation. Every week, Hatton had a new "greatest racehorse." Most sport writers place Citation at or near the top.

The book is very discursive, jumps around in places and strays from the subject sometimes. The descriptions of the horse races is wondereful.

My one complaint is that there is no chart at the back listing Citation's races, the ones he won, the ones he lost, times, jockeys, lifetime stats, etc. I had to plod through the book and make my own chart. Looking at the chart reminded me of the remark "So far Citation's done more than any horse I've ever seen ... and I've seen Man of War." Truly a horse for the ages.

someone who obviously cannot add has stated that citation would have retired at 3 with a more impressive record than man o'war or secretariat. citation was a brilliant racehorse, one of the finest of all time...but he lost twice in two years, and man o'war only lost once(which can also be easily explained) in two years. horses cannot be compared against each other who have not faced each other on the track (don't forget former-plater seabiscuit beat one of the finest horses ever in war admiral, and the fastest-horse ever whirlaway also lost in a match race).
citation was great, but this book isn't.
actually, it is one of the worst books on thoroughbreds i have ever read (only rivalled by horses of a different color, by that dullard squires).
avoid!!

It appears that this book and those on other great horses was inspired by the interest in the book and movie on Seabiscuit. However, Seabiscuit was not in Citation's class.

As a long-time follower of the "sport of kings," I consider Citation as the greatest thoroughbred ever. Had Citation been retired at the end of his three-year-old season, as were Man o'War and Secretariat, he would have had a record of 27 wins in 29 races, the two second-places losses easily explained. That record is more impressive than those of Man o' War and Secretariat, the two horses usually rated higher than Mighty Cy in polls of racing experts. Unfortunately, Mighty Cy's owner wanted to make him the first million dollar winner and brought him back as a five-year-old, after more than a year's layoff. Clearly, the horse lost something in that long layoff and was the not the competitor he was as a two- and three-year-old, winning only five of his next 16 races before finally going over the million dollar mark. When comparing Cy with Man o' War and Secretariat, it seems only reasonable to consider only his two- and three-year-old seasons. Who knows what those two horses might have done as five- and six-year-olds?

Author Georgeff captures the greatness of Citation, appropriately referring to him as "the greatest thoroughbred in modern history" and "in a class by himself." I couldn't put the book down once I started on it.

Having only lived in the '90's and the early part of this century myself, you can't help but think when you look at fascinating black and white photographs of Citation and think, "What would they have looked like in color?" Georgeff puts the color into those photos and then takes it a step further, letting you into Citation and his private circle of the Wrights, Freeman McMillan, Ben and Jimmy Jones, Margaret Glass, and the likes of all the jockeys close to him. Most times in the book, I felt like I was standing right next to Citation in his stall, watching the conversations around me. His races come back to life through Georgeff's words, showing the man has a deep devotion to the famous racehorse. I highly respect him of that. Eddie Aracaro, who is considered the greatest jockey of all time, was born in Cincinati, Ohio, just an hour and a half from where I am. Being the big racing enthusist I am, I was clearly humbled at the thought that 'The Master' came from little old Ohio. The famous father and son trainers Ben and Jimmy Jones were able to read horses so well, and that is portrayed through how they thought of Citation. This book was compelling and had been so thoroughly researched that it is just like taking you back to the golden days of the 1940's and 50's. I was clearly convinced that, taking the words of Ben Jones saying, "Anything Citation can see, he can catch!" I bet if Citation can see Secretariat and Man o' War, then he could whip 'em both. Best of all, this memorair portrays Citation exactly as he should be remembered: Citation was the Secretariat without television.

When reading this book, the reader becomes surround by the life of Citation. Georgeff writes with a passion unmatched and fills the book with describtive details. Everyone that was important to mighty Cy's career was in this book and their opinions. The debate Georgeff makes, that Citation is the greatest horse to every race, throughout the book is proved with expert opinions, Georgeff personal experiences, and history. The character list is extremely long that includes barn owners, trainers, and jockeys that all argee that Cy was the best. Sometimes the characters can get confusing and the timeline can get a little mixed up, but all in all the story is wonderful. If you want a good, detail-packed story, this is the book for you. OSU

Book came fast. And in good shape.

Warning: The F-Bomb is used over 100 times. So if you are sensitive to swearing, there is a lot of it.

When I was in college, I read several chapters of Ain't No Makin It as assigned reading for a sociology class. Years later, I came back to the book because I had frequently thought of it and wanted to reread it. Not only is the study enlightening, the writing is clear, insightful and elegant. MacLeod makes highly intelligent arguments without using pretentious language. His sense of metaphor is lovely, always helpful, and never a stretch. Overall, it is a humble body of work from someone who has every right to toot his own horn.

This book is not rubbish. Yes it is slightly propagandistic on the part of "socialism" (though I agree with the views of a previous reviewer), though if you'd seen this type of poverty and social immobility in a FIRST WORLD COUNTRY you'd want to do the same thing. If you read this book and come out with the view that "they should have worked harder", then I believe you are only accepting the view that these people projected onto you. THEY believe they won't make it, so they don't do any work. Also to these Calvinists, maybe you'd like to do a little research of your own into the US education system, especially concentrating on the amount spent on these individuals. They say segregation is dead in the US, it's just gone underground (I'm including "involuntary minorities" eg the Hallway Hangers).

I read this years ago in an anthropology/sociology class in college, and I can say that it still carries as much weight today as it did then. Jay manages to weave entertaining narration with factual reporting, resulting in a moving work that points a critical finger at our society. I've actually met the author, and can say that he is an honest, engaging and professional writer. At no point did he milk the drama angle of this work, nor use it to further his own agenda. I noticed another reviewer called this book "socialist junk"; to this person I say: just because this work is a testament to some of the failures of America's precious capitalist model does not immediately make it socialist. Moreover, if socialism means having a conscience about racism and socioeconomic discrimination, then sign me up!

There are two books here, one useful and interesting and one not.

The useful and interesting book tells the story of two groups of young men growing up in a public housing project. One group is mostly white and bitterly alienated from society. The other group is mostly black and is hopeful about the future. The group of poor whites turns into junkies, criminals, alcholics and losers. The group of poor blacks turns a modestly less poor version of their parents. The poor whites experience absolutely no upward mobility; the poor blacks experience a modest amount of it. The story is detailed enough to be interesting. These are not people most of us know, in day to day life, so the book is worth reading to get to know them.

The less interesting book is the Marxist theory in which all of this is embedded. MacLeod does not argue for Marx. He just assumes that all educated people think in Marxian terms and all educated people are respectful of theoriests such as Antonia Gramsci, the early 20th century Italian Communist.

As a result, in quiet, understated sort of way, MacLeod produces yet another Left wing manifesto whose purpose is to make the reader hate the United States and lose all faith in our society. Starting out with a conclusion that ought to be common sense -- poor people tend to stay poor, generation after generation, and it is very hard for a poor person to lift themself out of poverty -- MacLeod goes on to conclude that, therefore, the United States is a radically evil society that all people should despise.

This conclusion is not new, and it is not helpful. OK, say we all agree that America is horrible, terrible bad, what good does that do anyone? At least past thinkers such as Gramsci really believed that the Communist Revolution was coming, and would make things better. MacLeod knows perfectly well that there is no Communist Revolution coming in America, and that, if there was, it would makes things a great deal worse.

In fact, MacLeod's actual evidence undercuts his theory. His evidence shows that hard work does pay off. No, none of his subjects jump all the way from the bottom of the society to the top in one lifetime. A number of them, however, make modest improvements by working hard. If they keep it up, and particularly if they teach their children to do the same, it is not hard to see progress here. At this rate, in two or three generations, these guys are going to be solidly middle class. They are coming up in the same way, and at the same speed, as the immigrants who got here in the 19th century.

On the other hand, all of MacLeod's embittered loser heroes -- who he loves, because they see the falsity of America's promises -- do nothing but hurt themselves. MacLeod goes back and talks to them years later. Uniformly, their lives have gone nowhere. They have crummy jobs. They are in and out of jail. Virtually all of his subjects have come to believe that they should have worked harder at school and tried harder to make something of themselves.

These guys changed their minds, because they have to live with the consequences of blowing off their education and not trying to get ahead. MacLeod, however, has not changed his mind. He still loves his embittered loser heroes, because he would rather than their lives get flushed down the drain than that anyone challenge his empty left wing rhetoric. Who cares about the poor? Not the MacLeoods of the world; the poor, to them, are just vehicles for scoring propaganda points.

A wonderful Jaffe storytelling sequel to Class Reunion. Now 25 years after four girls have graduated from Radcliffe, they reconnect throughout the book, each with lives of happiness, betrayals, secrets and as you watch them create their goals, you're "pulling" for each one of them. Although I did not read this immediately after Class Reunion, I as able to remember each girl's personality, attitude, lifestyle, dreams... and the men in their lives. You'll find yourself asking "Which one am I like"???

What a great sequel! This book flows so seamlessly with it's predecessor 'Class Reunion', that it's difficult to remember where that book ended, and this one started. We pick up almost right where we left off in 'Class Reunion'...5 years after the girls 20th reunion from Radcliffe.

This book also has some new voices too! We hear Kat's (Emily's daughter) narrative, as well as Emma's, who is Annabel's daughter. Also, Teddy, Daphne's youngest son, starts up a journal that we read...but that, I thought, was a bit out of place. In the whole book, there were only about 4 entries in the journal...and while it was nice because it gave you a different point of view into the Caldwell family, I think I would have liked to have seen it a little more developed.

Regardless, the book was great. I was bummed when I finished because I'd gotten so used to picking up a book, and reading about the lives of these four women, whom I've come to feel like I know personally. I just received two more of Ms. Jaffe's books in the mail, and can't wait to start on them...I'm so glad I discovered her books, they've quickly become my all time favorites!

This book continues the stories of the four Harvard/Radcliffe graduates of the '50s. However, it isn't quite as gripping plotwise, as the original "Class Reunion". I don't want to give the plot away, because it is just fascinating how they all end up. However, the ending seemed incomplete in that not everyone's life was tied up and set.

I think that Rona should have a third sequal which takes the four college graduates into menopause. In her later books, Road Taken, and Room-Mating season, she certainly takes her characters into old-age!

But, this is definitely one of the better Rona Jaffe novels, and absolutely required once you finish "Class Reunion".

In the early eighties I read Jaffe`s "Class Reunion", my third Jaffe novel. It was translated into German and I was lucky to find it in hardcover before it came out in paperback.
At the university library I made some research on Rona Jaffe books(remember those were the pre-Internet days) and found out there is a sequel to "Class Reunion" - of course I was thrilled and wanted to know how the story goes on. [...]BR>Not having any experience so far with reading American novels in English I ordered the paperback issue of "After the Reunion" in English and got it after 8 weeks. Spent the whole summer with this novel looking up about twenty words per page, but I succeeded and at the end I had the feeling, it was worth the effort. I definitely couldn`t understand why Rowohlt didn`t find this novel worth to be translated into German.

[...].BR>There`s only one other American novelist that I can recommend as highly as Rona Jaffe, and that`s Nancy Thayer. Both have written some of the best novels for women over the last 20 years.

I wish there would be a TV mini series on "Class Reunion" and "After the Reunion".

I enjoyed this book just as much as Class Reunion. In fact, Class Reunion should have just been one big book. This book brings things full circle. The girls meet up again and become actual friends as they had started out as in Class Reunion. At the end, I kept wanting more pages b/c I wanted to know what happened to them. (I'd convinced myself on the last page that I saw more text and was disappointed when there wasn't more!) Everyone's "second" life seemed to be working for them and they seemed to be happy. It's kind of like they fell into something wonderful instead of going towards something that they were "supposed" to want. This books makes me seriously think about the things I want in my own life.

This book is written in two seperate parts. I did not read the part for "single by chance" as I am going the choice route. This book was lame. REALLY lame! Not up to date on the subject. Also clearly written for a certain group (caucasian) of women. Does not speak to everyone--didn't speak to me at all. Would not recommend this book. There are SEVERAL better options out there!!

This book tells only one side of the story. For example, there are some facts:

1. "A survey of 108 rapists undertaken by Raymond A. Knight and Robert A. Prentky, revealed that 60 percent came from female-headed homes, that 70 percent of those describable as "violent" came from female-headed homes, that 80 percent of those motivated by "displaced anger" came from female-headed homes."

2. Ramsey Clark in 1970, in his celebrated book "Crime in America", wrote, in discussing the male juvenile criminals who are a threat to the public, that "three-fourths came from broken homes."

The dirty little secret of this "single motherhood" phenomenon is that it doesn't produce better children than the old-fashioned family. Most criminals come from fatherless families. The poorest households are those with one parent. Children of a single mother achieve less in life than the rest, they have less sanity and they have no models of male responsibility so they tend to repeat the circle. A child needs a mother and a father (no, not an uncle, a grandpa or the guy next door but a daddy).

I know that some women are not able to get a lifetime partner who helps them raise the children. But if this happens, it's best to remain childless. Please ladies, grow up. The world does not revolve around your reproductive wishes. Everybody have wishes that cannot fulfill. Don't make pay innocent human beings for your selfishness.

Add another one to Hertz's Fan club! Her writing style and explanations of real life America have assisted us in understanding the thinking of today's women ...Her research shows that the family unit and the tradition of motherhood may be changing with the times but will continue to be maintained.
These women contribute greatly to American society today and so does Rosanna Hertz. A book that must be read!

As someone who is currently single and trying to become a mother, this is not a book I would recommend. I was looking for something a bit more practical and this read more like someone's thesis. Also, I didn't identify with many of the women profiled. Their reasons or the reasons given for choosing this path just didn't ring true for me.

The one part of the book I enjoyed was hearing the different stories about how the women explained the "fathers" to the children. That was very helpful since I've been struggling with the story that I will tell.

...and so much for "Leave it to Beaver". The traditional family structure of the days of Eisenhower are officially over. Hertz makes it very clear that Mothers by choice who are single can do a fine job of child rearing. That furthermore, not only are these Mothers not anti male, they often go to extraordinary lengths to make sure that there are male figures in the lives of their children.

For anyone who wants to understand this phenomenon in further detail, this is a fascinating book. I would recommend it to James Dobson, but I don't think he would be open to its thesis.

It is not a "How to Do it Book," it is a quality sociological analysis using extended interviews to tease out many stories that outline the diverse patterns of single Motherhood that can produce a happy family and well adjusted child.

One caveat that Hertz makes clear from the beginning. This is an analysis of women who fall in the broadly defined middle class. The story of young urban teenagers, often minorities who become single Mothers by some mixture of choice and neglect would almost surely produce a very different set of stories. It would be interesting if Hertz might do a study in the future that compares social class as it intersects with "Single by Chance, Mothers by Choice."