Burke Books

Burke has created an imperfect protagonist with Billy Bob Holland, and although the book has some complex plots and subplots that may seem a bit conventionalized, the strength of the descriptive writing is such and the broad swath of characters he creates makes up for it. But more significantly is that James Lee Burke has in his more recent books created reverberations between the local and the culture at large. Virtually every law enforcement organization from the feds to the Mexican federales are shown to be not the law abiding and enforcing institutions they claim to be, and it's about as accessible a metaphor to the degradation of the cultural ideas of fairness, goodness, concern for the underdog and the perversion of personal independence that seems to have befallen a good number of Americans. You can read it for the language, the characters, the attention to emotional and physical detail, but when all is said and done, you have a portrait of America that is not very pretty and not painted by a so called 'liberal' but by a protagonist who, as Hemingway said every good writer should have, "A built-in Sh-T detector."

I have read quite a few of Burkes books and am getting a bit bored with his reference to vietnam and LQ in all his Billy Bob books. Like the characters though and will continue to read James Lee just ready for another plot line will try Whit Dove next

If you want a good mystery with Texas flavor and a touch of darkness - this is a great read.

Defense attorney Billy Bob Holland is an ex-Texas Ranger who has taken a murder case where the chief suspect is his illegitimate son. But this isn't a simple plot; it involves his father and his great grandfather's diary as well. The past also haunts him literally-in the form of L.Q. Navarro. As a Ranger, Billy Bob accidentally killed his partner and friend. Periodically L.Q. appears to Billy Bob and offers him advice. The intricate plot and fluid writing definitely draw you into the Billy Bob's world in Deaf Smith. For instance, there isn't just one villain; the novel is full of unsavory characters. I fell in love with the lyric images floating from the pages and atmosphere, but I have to admit the ending was a bit confusing.

Fans of James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux/cajun cop series now have a new series with Texas lawyer Billy Bob Holland. If this had been the first Burke book for me, I would have rated it higher.

The main plot involves Billy Bob defending his illegitimate son against a murder charge in a fishy-smelling situation involving a rich kid deviant with fetal alcohol syndrome and speed on the brain, a former football hero, DEA officers, and a sociopath named Garland T. Moon.

The inner plot involves Billy Bob wrestling with ghosts and demons from his past, namely private conversations he has with his old partner from their Texas Ranger days. There is also some mystery surrounding the death of Billy Bob's father in 1965.

Burke does an excellent job weaving all of the plot threads together, and the characters are believable. His descriptions are spare and elegant, and he has the ability provide sensory detail in a few short sentences.

One word of warning is that the cast is a rogue's gallery, like other Burke novels, and features a very flawed protaganist, but one we can root for just the same. Still, we're in some dark territory here, and Burke's writing is edgy, graphic and not for everyone.

While the book was well-written, I didn't get enough distance between Dave Robicheaux and Billy Bob Holland, who are essentially the same character. Both are men in their forties who stay in good shape, have father issues, and share similar demons in their past. The same self-righteous attitude was evident in both men. I hope that Billy Bob's voice takes a different shape in future novels of this series.

The other problem is that Burke is starting to recycle some of his details. The wealthy southerners always hold glasses wrapped with paper napkins secured with a rubber band. He's used this one a lot. There's also one where the night smells of fish spawning that's been used multiple times.

Still, this was a gripping read filled with tension on every page that made me want to know what was going to happen next.

Alafair Burke's new series heroine, NYPD Detective Ellie Hatcher, has really come alive for me over the course of two books. Ellie is young and charmingly unjaded about her job and the things she sees. She was first introduced in DEAD CONNECTION and I enjoyed Burke's fast-paced narrative.

One of the things that I like most about Ellie is her innocence about life. Sure, she's great at catching killers and breaking down witnesses, and even at thinking outside the box. But when it comes to personal relationships and how to manage them, Ellie struggles and gets blindsided by events and people she trusts but shouldn't.

She's also an organic character. Things in her world change, and she changes with them. The partner she had in the first book (and I'd really recommend reading these books in order rather than jumping in with this one) is gone. Her acceptance into the world of the homicide detectives hasn't been easy because of the way she got into her present position and who her past partner was.

Despite her charm, Ellie also comes with a lot of baggage. Her father was a cop, and there's a lot of mystery concerning his death. At least, to Ellie there is. That early, unresolved loss has left her with a lot of questions and a history of being in the news trying to trigger a new investigation into her father's passing. I believe Burke will eventually deal with that issue, but I'm patiently waiting. Both novels have been stamina reads, putting me in the chair and reading into the wee hours of the night.

You just can't put this book down. From the opening passages of young Chelsea Hart's murder, to Ellie's discovery of the body while on her morning run with her brother, Burke dragged me relentlessly through the twists and turns of her plot. I dogged Ellie's heels, in constant competition with her to ferret out the clues and the trail that would lead me to the serial killer's identity.

This first gruesome murder eventually leads Ellie back into her ex-partner's investigations. It doesn't take her long to realize that he'd been onto the serial killer years ago, and that only the serial killer's mysterious sabbatical from murdering young women probably kept those cases from being solved.

Jess, Ellie's brother, is also in this novel, though not as much as he had been in the first. Jess has quickly become a favorite of mine and I really missed him in this book. Where Ellie is naïve, Jess has got connections all over New York - most of them women he's dated or gotten to know. However, Jess can't deal with the harsher aspects of Ellie's job and that really comes on stage during the early pages of this novel.

J. J. Rogan, Ellie's new partner, is an intriguing conundrum as well. He sticks out from the homicide department as well and carries his own cross. But I liked how well he and Ellie fit together. I was also relieved to find that they weren't going to get locked up in a romantic tangle. They're both bright and driven, young enough to still play the game every minute of the day and believe they're going to make a difference.

The investigation moves quickly through the book. I enjoyed all the directions and the landscape Ellie follows and explores while she chases the killer. Burke resides in New York, and the city comes to life in her pages.

Since she's also been an assistant district attorney and is currently a law professor, Burke's dealing with the legal system in the book is dead-on. The frustrations on both sides of the prosecutor's table (police officer and district attorney) get described well and are easily understood. You can learn a lot about the system and the way the criminal game is played in the courtroom without ever knowing you're getting an education.

But it's Ellie's chase, her constant battle to figure out the clues and to deal with her boyfriend's betrayal, that really drive this story. You never forget that Ellie is a woman, a real person, in addition to being a homicide detective. Burke lavishes detail without overwhelming the reader, provides machine gun fire dialogue riddled with fun pop culture references, and challenges the reader to a blistering mystery rife with danger.

The sequel to Dead Connection, "Angel's Tip" follows police detective Ellie Hatcher as the discovery of the mutilated corpse of a young woman triggers her involvement in the hunt for a cold-blooded, insane serial killer.
Although the plot is a little formulaic and there is a little room for improvement in the character development (which is why I didn't give this novel five stars), what makes the book fascinating is the insight into homicide investigation. As much as the romantic interactions sometimes feel a little stilted and unnatural, the professional interactions between the characters flow naturally and give an unusual insight in their motivations and thought processes, as well as the inner workings of a criminal investigation in minute details. I'm assuming the author's background helped her tremendously in this difficult endeavor.
A highly recommended, fast pace thriller.

The author puts together a solid police procedural. I liked the writing style and the plot of a maybe serial killer. You read inside the killer's mind, but yet you don't know who he is. Some of the major characters, especially Detective Hatcher's brother, could be more fully fleshed out. He is featured in the front of the book but mostly neglected in the back. The last two chapters are a little weak compared to the rest of the book but I enjoyed reading the book and will surely want to read some more of the author's work.

Alafair Burke introduced readers to Ellie Hatcher in "Dead Connection," and the NYPD detective returns in this wonderful new novel. After only five years on the police force, Ellie has now made detective in the Homicide South division, much to the chagrin [or worse] of the others in her squad. After just one week in the homicide bureau, she comes upon a murder victim while on her morning run, a nineteen-year-old girl brutally strangled and stabbed, the body apparently dumped in the vacant lot in which she is found.

Chelsea Hart, along with her two freshman classmates from Indiana University, were spending Spring Break in the Big Apple. On the final night of their trip, she promised her friends that she would join them at their midtown Manhattan hotel in time for their flight back home, not wanting to cut short her "best night ever," at a trendy club in the West Village. (The "Angel's Tip" of the title is, apparently, a currently popular martini.) She never made it back to the hotel.

While a novice as a detective, Ellie has great instincts and is earning the grudging respect of her new partner, J.J. Rogan, but is still working on a similar gain in estimation from the others with whom she works. When Ellie begins to suspect that Chelsea Hart's murder is but the latest of several similar killings that began a decade earlier, that avenue of investigation is viewed with skepticism.

Ellie lives with her brother Jess, a member of a local rock band, or rather Jess lives with her, his places of residence and employment all short-lived. When several days after the discovery of Chelsea's body another young woman is killed outside of the club where Jess works, the stakes are raised. What follows is a suspense-filled book with solid plotting and a nerve-jangling conclusion. This is the author's fifth novel, all dealing with NYC cops and prosecutors [Ms. Burke is a former deputy district attorney], and should earn her a lot of new fans. The book is very fast reading and immensely enjoyable, and is highly recommended.

With Alafair Burke's fifth mystery, she seems to be getting a hefty push from her publishing house. I've seen "Angel's Tip" stacked near the front of almost every book store I enter. I'm glad to see this happening for her, because each novel gets stronger and more fluid.

"Angel's Tip" is the best Burke mystery yet. The story is set in NYC, opening with a trio of young ladies hitting the town for the last few hours before their flight home. One of them decides to stay out a little longer, despite her friends' worries, and she never makes the flight. Through a number of seeming coincidences, Ellie Hatcher ends up on the job, along with her new partner, a seasoned detective with a loyal streak.

But not all are as loyal as they seem. Soon the children's blocks that are stacking together so neatly for a tidy homicide trial come crumbling down, not just once, but twice, even three times, as Ellie's theories about the killer and past crimes begin to rattle cages--on both sides of the law.

The plot moves forward with clock-like precision, Burke's blessing and curse. Her stories unfold with clarity and logic, but feel sometimes more like nonfiction because of the straightforward style. "Angel's Tip" is a great step forward, though, giving the characters as much depth and motivation as ever, spicing it up with good dialogue and bits of humor. Just when I was sure I knew where the story was leading, it turned back on itself one more time--without trying to outdo itself, in the manner Harlan Coben, mystery-plotter-extraordinaire, sometimes does.

The Ellie Hatcher series is a good one, allowing the protagonist more street time, and Burke could probably expand that aspect without losing any of her credibility. With Burke's continued improvement on every level of her writing, I will keep coming back for more of her stories.

[***** = breathtaking, **** = excellent, *** = good, ** = flawed, * = bad]

I'm not a worshipful fan of every single thing that Burke writes, but I found Black Cherry Blues one of his best. Robicheaux gets framed on a murder charge, and once he's out on bail, he must travel to Montana to investigate an illegal Mafia take-over of tribal lands that, in a complicated way, pertains to his murder trial.

The character interactions are nothing short of amazing. I found myself shaking my head again and again at the foolish actions of has-been singer Dixie Lee, mentally urging Robicheaux to get the heck away from him, and simultaneously kind of liking him for being so colorful! And Clete Purcell ... words fail me. Was there ever a cop who was more out-of-control than this self-destructive hellraiser? His hospital scene with Robicheaux made me burst out laughing at the same time that it almost brought a tear to my eye.

Definitely read this book. There are scenes that give you the chilling feeling that you are one imperfect guy with the impersonal forces of the universe arrayed against you. The book puts you deep into Robicheaux's psyche. Longer review at the Mystery Books site on BellaOnline (BellaOnline.com).

Black Cherry Blues is my second James Lee Burke read - I also enjoyed Pegasus Descending. I think this is the superior book in my opinion but nevertheless I'm now hooked on the Dave Robicheaux series and have to get them all.

I would compare Burke's writing to Michael Connelly in regards to a dark element in all the characters - "good" and "bad" ones. These are flawed characters who've lived hard lives. Dave Robicheaux is like your "Harry Bosch" character of Michael Connelly's except with a more small town Louisiana/Cajun flavor.

Burke has a real talent for taking you to Louisiana and back - the anecdotes about growing up cajun are fascinating and warmly sentimental.

The rich descriptions, atmosphere and cultural flavor coupled with a strong Clint Eastwood type of character make these stories winners. There is a sort of noir feel like the old Clint Eastwood movies.

Pegasus Descending got me interested but this book hooked me and made me a serious fan.

I highly recommend - especially if you like Michael Connelly's work.

My first book by this author, and definitely not the last. There is quite decent plot in it, even though sometimes one asks oneself, is the main character masochist or what? Some outcomes are predictable, but generally a good mystery book. I also like the description of Montana.

James Lee Burke has a way with words that captivate you from the first sentence. The first page of this book will have your heart racing towards the end! Will Patton has to be from Louisiana.He has a natural southern draw I have been hearing all my life. Very good Book!!

Narrator was excellent but James Lee Burke flowers descriptions up too much like he is being paid by the word wow. I work from home and listen to so many audio books. Black cherries Blues I couldn't concentrate on it after two cassettes I had to stop I was day dreaming too much so started a different audio book with a different author fully engrossed in it instantly from the first line. If James Lee Burke would just get on with the storyline which is actually quite OK more people would follow his books. sorry will never buy another James Lee Burke again.

His name is Burke. If you've read Vachss before, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, you still know. He's that `good' guy who's so hardened from life's blows he's almost bad. He's the living refutation of the old maxim that lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place. Poor Burke--what hasn't he suffered? Well, I guess you have to cut Vachss a break; after all these Burke novels, he's got to keep coming up with new chips to put on his hero's shoulders, new secrets to reveal, fresh atrocities once suffered. Burke's past is a minefield of post traumatic stress that a fly couldn't land on without detonating; you practically can't ask him if he wants a refill on his coffee without expecting a punch in the mouth. Virtually everything causes him to flash back on some horrific childhood molestation or beating. It's safer to ignore him altogether.



Anyway, that's Burke. Still angry. Still rescuing kids, still chasing down pederasts, still erupting into marginally appropriate rages, even after all these years. More power to him, I guess.



As for *Dead and Gone,* well, this time around he's lured into an ambush. I won't go into details because it ruins the surprise, even though the blockhead who wrote the copy for this novel gives it away right there on the back cover. Burke is grievously wounded, blah blah blah. He struggles grimly to recover, yada yada yada. He's driven by what he's always driven by: the thirst for revenge.



Okay, you know you've got to suspend disbelief when you're reading a novel like this. For all its so-called `gritty realism,' it's basically a macho fantasy. The realism only extends to such things like getting the weapons specifications correct, accurately describing the logistics of a boat ride from Key West to Oregon, knowing the latest street nicknames for heroin. Any other contact with the real world is purely incidental. So it is that Burke happens to know an entire community--an entire community!--of underground experts in virtually every specialized field you can imagine. In fact, one seems to materialize out of thin air whenever the situation requires. Need a plastic surgeon, a computer genius, a couple of tons of dynamite. Either Burke knows a guy or he knows a guy who knows a guy. And all these folks are living in the shadows, bad guys ((or gals)) who are really good guys ((or gals)), and they've all been victims of abuse. It's like Robin Hood and his Band of Merry Men. They only hurt the evil and help the innocent. They're called the `Children of the Secret.'



And I'm even willing to buy it. Although, in *Dead and Gone* I think Vachss overuses the device until it becomes a parody of itself. Fact is, Burke spends a lot of time just hanging around places while this or that reclusive outlaw genius figures out where Burke is supposed to go next and upon whom he's supposed to wreak his homicidal tantrum of vengeance. It's a good thing he's picked himself up a spunky girlfriend, a thumb-sucking Cambodian cutie named Gem. Yes, she literally has a thumb-sucking habit. But she doesn't suck her own. She sucks Burke's! She's perfectly okay with her new boyfriend's brooding depressions and psychotic overreactions. His erectile dysfunction--no problem! She'll work with him on that. And she'll go the whole 9 yards, no Viagra shortcut for her. By the end of the novel, she's gotten so used to the unpredictable emotional weather around Burke that when she feels the instantaneous subzero drop in room temperature that tells her she's inadvertently said something to displease her angst-filled new boyfriend, she drops her shorts and bends over for a spanking. He obliges. `Did I suffer enough,' she asks. I kid you not. Burke may have had it rough as a kid, but, man, he's living large now.



You'd think that after swallowing all this, you'd be able to swallow the pay-off of this novel, but Vachss seems almost to be daring you, if he's not trying to choke you altogether. Really, he needs to dip back into the Great Big Book of PC Villains and find himself some new bad guys. Pedophiles, yawn, but fine, if we must, and, after all, that is Burke's whole thing. Even if we must force ourselves to believe that they exist in numbers that would dwarf the population of India, China, and half the United States combined. But I cannot, I simply cannot accept that we still fear the takeover of our government by neo-nazis. Isn't one bogeyman enough? Does Vachss have to throw in the other old bugbear, too? And, on top of it all, in defiance of all reason, propose that white supremacists and pederasts are actually forming an alliance, that they're uniting to form a....well, you'll just have to read it for yourself. It may be too dumb for words, but Vachss has managed to write it down all the same.



Well, I've written a lot about this book and I really didn't dislike it for what it was...which isn't much. Just a bit of entertainment, some mental popcorn, not to be taken too seriously. I can't imagine anyone reading too many Burke novels in a row, however; they're all too much the same. Maybe one every three years or so would be enough. I'll get back to you then.

This is who knows what number in the Burke series. Although each book is a self-contained mystery, you're really best reading the earlier books first to get a handle on the characters and the flashbacks that occur.

But by this book, things seem a little tedious. Burke spends too much time brooding, and thinking. Yeah we get, bad stuff happened to you, bad stuff happens to other people. You're tortured, you want to hurt others. We get it. Move on already.

The action is pretty slow in this book too, after the inital chapter book spends about a third of the book just 'laying low' and another third slowly tracking down those who hurt him. (read: a lot of waiting, and following. yawn)

Still the character of Burke and his relentless pursuit of those who hurt and prey on children is admirable, even if his methods are usually not. (Although you have to wonder if those people get what they deserve.)

The twelfth novel in this series knocks the wind out of you from the start and never lets up. It's not long before Burke is out of his element and far from home, and it's the first time in this world that we see him lose his sense of security. And this unsettles us--because unlike most books--it reminds us that these characters don't exist in a vacuum.

The journey will take you deeper into Burke's past and open another chapter in his life. Without giving away plot points, Vachss demonstrates a link between Nazism and pedophiles; one that really exists, but for reasons you cannot possibly imagine.

It's thought provoking, chilling stuff, and it will make you angry.

This is the twelfth Burke novel by my reckoning - "Pain Management" is the thirteenth - and it's a little different. While some readers may find that hard to accept, it is implicit in Andrew Vachss' style of merciless realism. Without giving too much away, Burke's elaborate defences finally let him down as he accepts one job too many. It spells the end of his life in New York, and very nearly the end of his life period. Things drifted a little out of focus for me as Burke sets out to track down those responsible, winding up in Portland, Oregon with a new identity and a new girlfriend. But then the momentum builds again, relentlessly, to an elegantly understated climax. On the way, we get some more flashes of Burke's early life when he and Wesley befriended a saintly boy with a talent governments would kill to lay their hands on. And pay a flying visit to a place that is almost literally out of this world.

Vachss' style can't be everyone's favourite, or he would be top of the best-seller lists. But I for one rate his books as one of the things that make life worth living.

VACHSS IS EXCELLENCE - SOME OF HIS BOOKS ARE MORE DISTURBING THAN OTHERS AND THIS IS ONE OF THEM. BURKE IS A CHARACTER OF A LIFETIME. WITH BURKE , VACHSS HAS ENSURED HIS PLACE IN CONTEMPORARY MYSTERY WRITING AND CAN REST ASSURED THAT HE WILL KEEP MAKING MONEY FOR HIS TRUE PASSION IN LIFE, HELPING CHILDREN.

As Harold Bloom says, this has become an unplayable play after the Holocaust. This is only an additional reason why one should read it. The play is fantastic and gives us one of Shakespeare's most memorable characters: Shylock. Whether you see him as villain or victim, Shylock is unforgettable. As is his speech defending the Jewish.

Anti-festive character who is Shylock on this play sacrificed unjustly. Shylock is a character who is legally invoking his rights as a money-lender among the community which experiencing transition from agriculture society to capitalistic society. Moroever, the character Portia's defending Bassanio as an disguised attorney is unreasonable in some ways and speech is crude, indeed.
In my opinion, to reach the axiomatically righteous conclusion, we should reverse pur point of view toward the 'Justice'. It is a transformation of way of our thinking. Therefore, I recommend rhis masterpiece for someone who aspire to ponder about our human being's viewpoint.

The New Folger Library of Shakespeare's Tragedies and Comedies are among the best pocket editions available for the student and the journeyman lover of the Bard.

Before the actual text of the play which is wisely presented on the right hand page with explanatory notes (metaphors, allusions, similes, etc.) facing on the left hand page (words and phrases are defined by scholars based on their usage during Shakespeare's time; if scholars are inconclusive as to meaning, the word `uncertain' is used to connote this disagreement), the usual `Reading Shakespeare's Language', `Shakespeare's Life', `Shakespeare's Theatre', `Publication of Shakespeare's Plays' and `Introduction to the Text' introduce the reader to the Shakespearean world. Following the text, an essay by Alexander Leggatt follows illuminating `The Merchant of Venice' for the modern reader. In addition, an eleven page `Further Reading' list pinpoints books and essays on topics like the play itself, Shakespeare, the time in which he lived and the Globe Theatre. Rounding out the vital information is a three page "Key to Famous Lines and Phrases" complete with speaker and verse notation.

As far as the play itself, I will keep my remarks limited, saying only that for the modern audience, Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" borders on the provocative. All with politically correct upbringing or today's cultural sensitivity training cannot help but focus on the reigning prejudice of the early Medieval and Renaissance time period, namely the exclusion of Jews from all forms of normal life since mainstream thought withheld that this race was primarily responsible for Christ's crucifixion.

Indeed, today's reader will pose the question as to whether or not this play should be deemed more tragedy than comedy and must remember that as a comedy, "The Merchant of Venice" focuses on marriage, couples (Bassanio/Portia, Lorenzo/Jessica, Gratiano/Nerissa) and their emotional and financial interrelationships and uses sly humor and innuendo to poke fun at Venice's societal `outsiders'(Shylock, Morocco, Aragorn and in a lesser sense Antonio) who do not form a Shakespearean couple per se. Looked at from this perspective, the character of Shylock becomes simply the play's foremost societal outcast, in spite of the famous speech where he asks seemingly so poignantly, "If you prick us, do we not bleed?"

Bottom line: Shakespeare is Shakespeare. If your modern sensibilities are offended by Shakespeare's treatment of Shylock the Jew, the Prince of Morocco and the Prince of Aragorn and question the unhappy and solitary Antonio's intense feelings for Bassanio, simply keep in mind that the world at that time looked at such things differently. Within the definition of comedy, this play with its multitude of lovely speeches and images works well indeed. The New Folger Library edition simply makes the play more easily accessible and understood on the various levels of language and scholarship. I recommend this series wholeheartedly.

Diana F. Von Behren
"reneofc"

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE can be described as a tragedy only if one follows the modern definition of "tragedy" and not the Greek. The genre of tragedy in which Shakespeare wrote required that all of the players, or at least all of the main players, die at the end, à la ROMEO AND JULIET, JULIUS CAESAR, MACBETH, and HAMLET. In fact, MERCHANT OF VENICE can only be described as a tragedy if Shylock is seen as the main character and not Antonio. (Note, in the list of players at the beginning of the play, only Antonio is called a "merchant of Venice".) In sum, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE can only be described as a tragedy if it is completely removed from its historical context.

Shakespeare intended that the actions taken by Antonio, by Shylock, by Bassanio, and even by Portia be seen as comically extreme. Antonio goes to the lengths of seeking help from a man he despises to help a man he loves. Shylock demands nothing but justice, even when the demands of the agreement he made is met and even doubled. Everywhere in this play is there action taken to the extreme.

Only a refusal to acknowledge the historical context would be blind to the comedy. There are stage plays, television shows, and screenplays aplenty which follow the example set forth in MERCHANT OF VENICE, showing how comical people can be when their actions are taken to the extreme. If MERCHANT OF VENICE can be view in THIS context, then the comedy shines through.

As a writer, I find it comical that anyone would use MERCHANT OF VENICE to point the finger of "racism" at Shakespeare. Part of a writer's challenge is to present convincingly views even he or she disagrees with. The best writer would try to dismantle and disprove the very beliefs he or she holds dear. That Shakespeare has often been judged a racist based on his portrayal of Shylock serves only as testimony to the continuing success of this play. Shylock's speech, complimented by another reviewer, is ample proof that Shakespeare's own views are well hid. Shylock's speech demonstrates magnificently that Shakespeare was able to get inside the head of any man (or woman) in his stories and write the words which that man would speak, faithfully render the thoughts which that man would think, have that man act as only that man would act, and all of it be believable. Simply put, unless you knew beforehand a writer's views on any subject, it would be difficult to find the needle of truth in his or her haystack of fiction if that writer has done their job well, and in this case Shakespeare was damned near flawless!

It is true that the movie, starring Al Pacino, does not present this play as a comedy, but that hardly detracts from its excellence. It shows, in fact, that MERCHANT OF VENICE plays well as both a drama and a comedy. In our age, however, given the importance of religious tolerance, I'll admit that it is probably best played as a drama.

As for the Pelican series of Shakespeare's plays, they are an excellent resource for anyone wanting to read and study the Bard's work. I've several volumes in this series and hope to eventually own them all. Each volume contains two identical essays, "The Theatrical World" (which provides a good understanding of the historical context, as well as an idea of just how much we know about Shakespeare as an individual) and "The Texts of Shakespeare" (which gives more historical context and also discusses some of the difficulties which editors have experienced in presenting these plays in print to modern audiences). There is then an introduction to each play, which is best left unread until afterwards if you aren't familiar with the play. The footnotes are few, but well-chosen, and do help in understanding words and phrases whose meanings have changed over the centuries.

Shylock is the only sympathetic character in the play. Modernity has altered the villain in "The Merchant of Venice" from Shylock to the entire cast of characters EXCEPT for Shylock. Any sense of comedy in the play died for those with a sense of religious tolerance, and Shylock comes off as merely oppressed. I found Act 5 almost nauseating after the forced conversion. That, coupled with the happy racism makes a perversion of decency and happy endings. This play is a tragedy. The recent movie version done starring Al Pacino turned it into a tragedy, and amazingly, a play written as a comedy seems to work very well as a tragedy.

Antonio gladly spits upon Shylock and calls him a dog, but stunningly, when Antonio finds himself in a financial pinch he goes to Shylock for money. More brash is Antonio's promise to act the same in the future: "I am as like to call thee so again, / To spet on thee again, to spurn thee, too." (1.3.127-28) From this point on, sympathy for Antonio is paralyzed in a modern reader's mind, from reminders of past images, from slavery and anti-Semitism, where the dehumanizing of a group of people is accepted by a society. The entire text afterward reads like an indictment of humanity, as if Shakespeare is making the Elizabethans laugh at their own behavior.

In perhaps the best argument in Shylock's defense in the trial, he point out the fact that those who speak of mercy own slaves. "What judgment shall I dread, doing no wrong? / You have among you many a purchased slave." (4.1.89-90) Shylock, as fanatical as he is over the pound of flesh, is asking for only a pound of a man, when the slaveholders own the entire person. The play is littered with prejudiced remarks that clearly show how animalistic Shylock was to them.

Every conversation involving Shylock has ridicule from the Christians, without remorse or a feeling of comedy. The Christian children are taught to mock Shylock, they run after him in the street. The merchants spit on him, the Duke reviles him, his daughter renounces her religion and robs him.

Still an amazing story, with a few of the best on mercy and prejudice ever written.

Let me tell you - when Burke first lit out for Oregon, I was kind of disappointed. NYC has become such a character in the previous novels, I incorrectly assumed Portland would be a snoozer (I know, I'm such an East Coast-er). Boy was I wrong!

In "Pain Management" Burke is hired to track down a missing 16-year-old. His always on-target instinct tells him that there is something not quite right with the girl's family, and things just go to town from there. Burke manages to come across all types of underbelly characters, and Vachss is able to portray his experiences without making them sound too spy-novel.

Add to the mix a pharmaceutical drug plotline, lots of violence, sex, and a healthy serving of blues and doo-wop, and you've got yet another Vachss masterpiece.

As good as this book is - I really miss Burke's family back in NYC. I've got the next book sitting right here waiting for me, and I can't get to it fast enough.

Pain Management is touching and inspirational. Out of one of the grimmest parts of society, goodness blossoms in an effort to save people from deadly pain. Burke is his endearing self, as always. I recommend the novel as heartily as Andrew Vachss' other books which are also excellent.

I think that _Blue Belle_ was the first Vachss novel that I tried, and after reading that I ripped through his subsequent novels with a sense of discovery and pleasure. To be honest, I lost that interest and amazement a number of books ago. While the first book set in Oregon gave me a glimmer of new hope, this book really isn't there either.

A lot of the problem is that what made Burke so interesting in the first few books was the very real tension between light and dark in the character. He was constantly in balance, and the nastiness made for a really refreshing read after all the weaker characters that you find in detective novels today. Unfortunately, Burke has been around too long, and he's just too much a defender to really believe in the Dark Knight anymore. He's taken on too many good causes and acted too much as protector of the helpless. Good thing in a person, less good if you want to keep the tension of someone strung between good and evil. I'm sure that the continuing novels serve Vachss' not-so-hidden agenda of educating his audience, but they just aren't as interesting to read at this point.

I'm a little troubled with myself for writing this kind of review, as I recognize that there are larger issues with these books than a good escapist read. I applaud Vacchs' determination in the work he does for children and I think he's chosen a nearly ideal vehicle for getting his messages out.

I just wish that I had the same compulsion to read Burke novels as I did with the first.

Anyways, this book (Burke tries to ignore his problematic relationship with Gem, while taking on the case of a 16-year old runaway) is well-written and will probably appeal. Still worth a read, in any case.

Andrew Vachss has to be an interesting individual. You get the idea that Burke, the main character in his novels, is a somewhat nastier version of himself. Burke is a shadowy figure, with only one name (only one was given when he was an orphan) and a mysterious, cloudy, bitter view of the world. He works around the edges of things, making money on the black market, specializing in being untraceable and invisible, or almost. He is almost completely uninterested in the fate of people he doesn't know, and for the most part he's pretty cold. He has a real hatred for criminals who exploit children.

In this outing, he's gone to ground in Portland Oregon. This is a departure for Vachss, who's set almost all of his books in New York City. He bounces around town, establishing a "rep" so that someone can hire him to do something. Eventually a troubled father contacts him, looking for his daughter. Burke agrees to look, and does so with his usual disregard for rules, animosity towards authority figures, and dark, mysterious methods. When he finds the girl, the answers are not at all what you were expecting, satisfying though they are. There's a whole interlude where Burke helps a woman who steals drugs for the chronically ill, and it's from this side-plot that the book gets its title.

I liked the story, about as much as I usually do with Vachss. Everything's very dark (I don't think I could read two of these in a row without contemplating suicide) and murky, and the structure of the book is strange, too. For those who aren't familiar, Vachss has veered between numbering his chapters and not bothering. They're anywhere between a couple of lines and a page or two of text, very short, very choppy. The author seems to just only write part of the story, several lines of dialog, and expect the reader to fill in the rest.

Given that, this is a good book.

Burke is laying low in Oregon. He's not in his element (New York), and this affects "Pain Management" as it affected "Down in The Zero." For me, a Burke story works best when the villain inspires a gut-deep flash of pure HATRED. I didn't get that fix this time. Also, just the words "New York" carry a seediness integral to the mood of Vachss' work.

Under an alias, Burke agrees to locate a well-heeled hippie's daughter. Things about her disappearance don't add up, and Burke encounters some locals who may or may not help him. They also may or may not be milking him for their own cause - getting pain meds to those in greatest need despite America's short-sighted treatment policies. These two plotlines never really merge. The daughter's family bears a secret that caused her to take off, but it's...well, a more "esoteric" reason than molestation. On the plus side, Vachss offers some intelligent, sympathetic young characters. He reminds us that everyone has the potential to be both Cain AND Abel.

Burke's usual anger and vigilance fall short of his melancholy. Things with Gem are decaying, and this almost becomes a distraction from the plot. His woman troubles don't end there; Ann O. Dyne is the most annoying girl Burke has dealt with since Fancy ("Down in The Zero") or Nadine ("Choice of Evil"). She's not stupid, just annoying. Flood, Blossom and Belle are still the top-tier Burkettes.

Vachss' effort to broaden the scope of issues in Burke novels is commendable. However, it doesn't play to Burke's strengths. Baby Boy Burke is a conman first and a killer first-and-a-half. "Pain Management," while thought-provoking, didn't hit me as hard as earlier works. Burke has the blues six feet deep, and the only effective remedy is to get back to New York and take it out on the lowest of the low. With "Only Child," I hope to see How Burke Got His Groove Back.

So far the book starts with its usual style.
The only thing I would like to know is why the style of the book has changed, and by this I mean the physical appearance? I like the old size and style better.

After a couple of disappointing books Andrew Vachss redeems himself. Do yourself a favor and start with this series at the beginning. Great characters, satisfying endings.

This is another great book for Burke fans. Just when you think that you have a grasp on the world of child-sellers, porn and black mailers, Vachss gives you a look at something even more twisted and corrupt than the tabloid headlines. Since all of Vachss's stories are based on real situations, this one really gets me wondering about a seemingly "decent society," where double cross is a certain as a new day. --Doug Setter, author of One Less Victim

I have read many books by Andrew Vachss. His writing is edgy, and hard.

This book was a disappointment. I read 318 pages of junk to get to six pages of classic Andrew Vachss' prose. When the ending finally came, the one big question was never thoroughly answered.

I read all of Vachss' books and have decided that his early Burke stories are the best. I'll continue to buy them, though, because his friends are such great characters.

James Burke takes the reader through history and the inventions that were made. He is very insightful as to the reasons for the inventions and he explains how events lead from one thing to the next. It follows his TV series very closely. It would be useful to any history teacher as a reference.

James Burke has built a career out of showing people that not only aren't history and science boring but that the two disciplnes relate to one another in the most unexpected ways. Burke takes modern day events or objects and shows the reader how these things came to be, tracing back the origins to antiquity and describing the many interesting twists and turns of their development.

For those who have seen any of Burke's television series, (THE DAY THE UNIVERSE CHANGED and CONNECTIONS) this is an enjoyable companion work. Those who haven't seen either of the televised versions or read any of Burke's other works will find CONNECTIONS a delightful introduction to Burke's unusual approach to history. He makes history and science not only palpable but interesting to those who suffered through long boring lectures that required memorizing names, dates and formulae for the sole purpose of passing a standardized test.

I used to regularly watch Mr. Burke's "Connections" television series on cable, and I enjoyed his rather unorthodox portrayal of history. However, some of his connections between events struck me as tenuous at best. Perhaps that was a result of the time constraints imposed by a television show, because many of the same examples appear in this book, and the connections are much more adequately explained.

How are technology, invention and progress impacted by the events of history? This is the question explored by James Burke in this book. Each chapter explores a chain of events and circumstances that produced a sequence of technological advances that ultimately produced a piece of our modern technology. Through these examples, he demostrates how the inventive process is dependent not only on the needs of a particular time and place, but also on earlier developments, many of which are in seemingly unrelated fields. Burke's view of history, which he explains in the final chapter, is a complex weaving of science and technology with the changes in politics, environment and economics, each driving a change in the other, ultimately creating the complex world we live in. This book includes lots of interesting historical information and provides unique insights into the role of science and technology in history.

I saw James Burke's Connections Series when it came out years ago and it made a tremendous impact on me. I then read the book cover to cover!

It was a joy to watch Burke carefully take us (the viewers) with him on an amazing journey. He showed time and again how people throughout history used their critical thinking skills to create amazing human creations from seemingly unrelated discoveries and decisions that were made before them.

Burke showed that whatever we create today, we can't possibly imagine what type of morphing it will go through time and what incredible thing it may become tomorrow.

Connections (the series and book) also allow us to peek into the mind of the inventor. For example in his book Connections, Burke writes about Thomas Edison: "When Edison died he had over a thousand patents filed in his name, thanks to the work of the men in his laboratory. Each man was a specialist in his field, serving the needs of Edison's fertile imagination as well as his acute understanding of the seller's market in which he lived. Edison never developed an idea unless he knew in advance that it would be profitable."

Years after reading the book and watching the series I went to a James Burke lecture. He is as personable, passionate, interesting, animated and fun in person as he is on the series! At one point during the lecture I asked a question and he answered it and joked with me. When he signed my book later he asked if I was okay with his ribbing. I said I was pleased that he had such a great sense of humor and allowed me to be part of it!

The underlying theme in connections is how we as humans are connected to our species though our works and discoveries. We are in this thing called life together!.

6 Stars for this Series and Book...5 stars just isn't enough!

The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking

After having consumed the Connections book, television miniseries and audiobook, I would like to comment on the three.

In terms of the volume of content, the book is peerless. It is by far more comprehensive than the audiobook or the tele series. It also allows the reader the luxury of re-reading selections or dwelling on areas as needed. This is not the case, of course with the audiobook or tele series, unless of course, you count the pause button.

The audio version is my least recommended of the three. It is a very demanding piece to listen to, and is generally too involved for the settings in which other audiobooks are generally consumed: driving, doing housework, etc. It is very difficult to follow and visualize all Burke covers without missing a turn on the road or missing a logical leap and having to rewind. However, it is read by Burke with his unique character.

I derive a large degree of enjoyment from Burke's distinctive wit and the frenetic pace at which he presents his material. The very way the tele series is shot showing him forever on the move while on trains, cars, enormous farm equipment, snowmobiles and other vehicles conveys the sense of movement with which progress, science and history are moving forward before our eyes. Actually seeing the processes he describes in the tele series is most helpful.

Finally, all 2 versions include his approach of viewing scientific history as a series of interrelated cause and effect relationships which is most refreshing to me. He stands opposed to the standard American practice of glorifying the inventor or innovator, and instead credits the cumulative body of scientific knowledge, and the more than occasional accident.

For those interested in the subject matter, the print version offers the most comprehensive coverage. But for those who would like a little more entertainment and sugar with their medicine, the pricier tele miniseries is both enlightening and amusing.

Death in Venice (1912) is a disturbing story, one that is not easy to forget. It is also exceptional literature, a classic of the twentieth century. Thomas Mann's Death in Venice might be best compared to the subtle, psychologically complex fiction of Henry James, Joseph Conrad, and Fyodor Dostoevsky.

In Munich the aging, highly respected author Gustav Aschenbach is in need of change, rest in a new setting, to overcome his growing fatigue that is impacting his writing. While recovering in Venice, Aschenbach slowly, but inexorably, becomes mesmerized by a young Polish boy staying at the seashore with his aristocratic family. Aschenbach is intellectually aware of his growing obsession, but he is seemingly unable to break away. Thomas Mann's somber portrayal of this troubled man is a masterpiece of subtle nuances and psychological intensity.

Thomas Mann's lengthy sentences and complex grammatical structures severely complicate the task of translating Death in Venice. I have read two excellent and yet substantially different translations. The most faithful translation is by Stanley Appelbaum (in this Dover edition, 1995) that tries to be as literal as possible, carefully preserving the comparative length of the original sentences as well as the internal sequence of each original German sentence. Contrastingly, the H. T. Lowe-Porter translation (found elsewhere) is less literal, but is considered the most delightful and readable version, although at the expense of subdividing many of Mann's lengthy sentences. Lowe-Porter's version has been the standard translation for many years.

The Dover edition provides an excellent 10-page commentary, including footnotes.

Mann's masterpiece is an achingly beautiful, exquisitely crafted, spellbinding exploration of beauty, age, love, sex, life, and of course death. I can think of no other book where the setting so effectively establishes the book's atmosphere, so powerfully reinforces its themes and ideas. The plot is so simple, yet wrapped in layers of meaning, both inviting and resisting interpretation.

This book is short yet incredibly rich; it reminds me of a tiny, delicately carved precious jewel. And what a beautiful jewel to dive into and immerse oneself in. Read this book!

Thomas Mann has taken an ages old theme, the attraction of an older, worn out man for a youthful boy, dressed it up in a series of classical allusions, and details how this attraction merely accelerates the decay of the man whose decline began long before he first saw the boy. In DEATH IN VENICE, Gustave von Aschenbach is a German writer living in pre-World War I Europe, who has been trying to balance the struggles involved in maintaining his hard-worn writing laurels with the demands those struggles have placed on his life, his health, and his emotional keel. He has become an ascetic, denying himself the pleasures of the flesh. His muse is a jealous one and demands his attention full time. Over the years, he has willingly paid the price, but the true cost becomes apparent to him only as he turns fifty years of age. He senses a void in his life. He does not know what it is or how to compensate, so he decides that travel in the answer. One of the ironies of Mann's novella is that Aschenbach's readers undoubtedly give him credit for the worldly-wise sophisticate that his many literary works of art suggest he must be. But the truth is that because of his rigorous denial of himself, in terms of maturity and emotional serenity, he is a greenhorn. He tends to view the world as he does through his books, which are laden with an abundance of classical erudition. But the real world is not Plato's Republic reborn. It is a testing ground which favors those whose feet are firmly grounded in the world of the body. Early on, as Mann subtly alludes to Aschenbach's mental and physical infirmities, his fate is a doom foretold.

Aschenbach is puzzled by the continual appearance of a weird looking old man who pops up at convenient moments to glare at him in a puzzling manner. The first time that Aschenbach sees him, he pays him scant attention, but as the visits increase in his trips around Europe, both Aschenbach's and the reader's wonderment grow. After a while, the old man begins to assume allegorical--or at least mystical--proportions. One can almost see a misty haze envelop both during their encounters. It is tempting to treat these visitations as unreal hallucinations of a mind slowly unhinging with Aschenbach seeing a version of himself, following him around Europe, as if to remind him of his looming mortality.

While in Europe, he notices a good looking Polish boy of about fourteen. Aschenbach begins to fantasize about him but dares not do more than just gaze at him from a distance. As if in a rush, the years of ascetic self-denial rupture, opening the door to his latent homosexual tendencies. Mann cleverly avoids calling a spade a spade. Instead he dresses up this fantasy in terms of Aschenbach's limited social background that had been fueled by a lifetime of classical learning. The boy, whose name is Tadziu, is described as a young Adonis, an Apollo, and other such. The only words that pass between then occur at the very end, when Aschenbach sees the boy tormented by bullies and almost, but not quite, intervenes. Aschenbach locks eyes with the boy and in that moment he knows the forbidden joy that, in a different universe might have been his. He dies, possibly of the plague, happy and decidedly ignorant of who he himself really was. Mann passes no moral judgments against Aschenbach. This is no gay bashing novel nor does he hold it up as a trumpeting to engage in illicit activities, but in the ending of what-might-have-been, Mann suggests that life's choices and future happiness might better be served with a clearer moral vision of who we are, what we want, and where we are going.

I did not like this book as much as many of the other reviewers. The main problem I had was that I simply could not relate to Aschenbach, the protaganist of the story. I mean, I thought that his obsession with the male child was weird. Unlike Lolita, there was no dark humor in the obsession. There was just a very raw, profound, longing and appreciation for the beauty of the young child. I found that somewhat sick and I cannot say that I've ever had many of the feelings that Aschenbach relates in the work.

Many people seem to think that the most boring part of this book is the part where Aschenbach thinks about his art. Maybe I'm an odd duck, but I actually found this to be the most interesting part of the novella. I like how Aschenbach talks about how he wants to make a name for himself through his art, and about how he wakes up early every morning to pour his soul into his craft. This is the part of the book that I best understood. It really resonated with me.

Even though the story was not my favorite, I must say that I appreciated the author's use of language. The translation I read (by Stanley Applebaum) was lively and captured the author's verbal imagination. I will probably never read this novella again, but I do think that I might like other work by Mann (provided that he is writing about different subject matter!).

I do not know who would really appreciate this book. I guess I would recommend this book largely to people who appreciate art for art's sake, and also to people who like novels which really penetrate the psyche of the main character. Readers less artistically inclined might find this work to be heavy sledding.

I was a philosophy major in college and I hated this book. But then again, the whole NAMBLA fic genre really doesn't do it for me. I'm sure some literary aesthetes are going to pick this review apart, good for them. I'm incredibly well-read and thought this one was just a tepid bore. Save your time, read some Dostoevsky, some Dickens, some Milton, (...).

Can the headstrong Katrina and the sexy brute Marcus, Mr. Alpha male himself find love and happiness even though they are from different eras. I loved them together and I so enjoyed reading the book and plus I'm just a sucker for love and a happy ending.

I loved this book. I thought it wouldn't end happily. I was worried there for a minute. It was a great romance novel. I truly enjoyed this read and you will to.

After seeing this book on a few BW/WM sites I decided to track down a copy to see if it lived up to the hype of a good read. I have to admit that I was not at all disappointed. Unlike some stories where I am left often hating the heroine and questioning why the two lead characters got together...........I was so enthralled with both Kit and Marcus from page 1.....So much so I read the whole book in one day. It was so nice to get to read a strong woman and a strong man in the story that recognize what they had was special.

Good Idea and the concept is great but it was executed horribly. First, who ever edited this book should get a new job because there were way too many errors and inconsistencies. As an avid reader these errors take away from the story and makes it harder to read. I also believe it would have been more appealing if the characters spoke in old English while in England, also the plots time line was not consistent. Overall, there are a lot more problems with the book but I do commend the writer for having the courage to write her first book. I would suggest this book to anyone who just wants to read a book but it is lacking lots of substance that would make it a good book.

While the premise of this book was quite fascinating and delectable, I found that the frequency of grammatical and spelling errors distracted me from the book itself. This book clearly needed to go through the editorial process at least three more times. There were some passages that totally did not need to be there and thus much of the book came across as redundant.

Also, the language and speech patterns of men and women who live in the 12th century were not even adhered or applied in the novel. I was quite frustrated that author had not researched the lifestyle and language of people that lived in the 12th century of merry Olde England and neither did the author make her knights plausible. Knights at that period of time don't seem like the type to be buddy-buddy, and men in our time are leery of getting as close as the main characters friends do in the book. This book felt like someone threw it together without really considering how much hard work and dedication it takes to write a time-travel romance. I found it very hard to believe that the female main character was transported to England from Kentucky without some type of backstory or explanation as to why the mists alter her life as it did. At least have her be in England while she goes back in time.

Other than that, I loved the book. I gives me hope that I too can write time-travel romance with an interracial/multicultural couple. I just wished that the novel itself had more of a polished aura about it.