Dunne Books

Patrick Buchanan's readable style and straightforward approach to a difficult problem, makes this book outstanding in its field. His use of commonly accepted statistics, historical trends and today's headlines assures the reader that they are on solid ground. As usual Mr. Buchanan is a bellwether of common sense and the ideals of our Founding Fathers. Immigration IS the issue of our times.

Illegal immigration is a big problem for America. It is being debated for many years. Due to a huge Hispanic population, many politicians are doing their utmost to avoid this kind of debates. I command Mr. Buchanan for facing it without hesitation. In "State of Emergency" he discusses the problem of US immigration, providing a lot of valuable statistics. This book is a wake up call for all Americans. Especially, it is a call to the politicians to forget about their divisions, political correctness and political opportunism, to unite and to do something useful for a change. For a good background on American Immigration I suggest reading Coming To America: The Story Of Immigration by Betsy Maestro.

I purchased this book for Fathers' day for my husband. I have not read the book yet,but my husband liked it very much.

Buchanan has a total grasp on world politics. His warnings are solid and the USA must not ignore them if we are to survive as a free nation. The demographic shift that is happening as you read this is real.

Disclaimer: I am not the Mike Ferry who wrote the book listed on Amazon "How to Develop a Six Figure Income in Real Estate"
(paperback Nov. 1, 1992). But I think that I shall put it on my wish list.

Consider: Jamiel Shaw Jr. (age 17) was gunned down March 2, 2008 near his home allegedly by an illegal alien 18th Street gang member just 24 hours after the killer's release from an L.A. County jail. The victim's mother (an Army Sgt.) was serving her second tour of duty in Iraq. The victim's father heard the fatal shots being fired.

Consider: Jamiel Shaw Jr. was black but not a gang member. He was a football star who last season ran 74 times for a total of 1,052 yards. The last pass of his football career was a 60 yard touchdown strike. He was intent on going to college.

Consider: The first L.A. County prosecutor assigned to the case wanted to paint the murder victim as gang affliated so the motive for murder could be tossed on the public table as gang related. The real motive for Jamiel's murder is that in and about L.A. County illegal alien reinforced gangs are killing black youths; but since L.A. is a sanctuary city no city nor county politician will tell you that can possibly be the case.

Consider: August 6, 2007 four black teens (three of whom where found to have Delaware State University I.D.s) where lined up against a wall near a school parking lot in Newark, NJ and shot in the head. Three died and one was reported in fair condition. The prime suspects are illegal aliens.

Consider: Tom Bradley was the first black mayor of Los Angeles. Ponder: Based on realistic demographics, when do you suppose L.A. will have another black mayor?

Consider: Ted Hayes who is black and has been an outspoken advocate for the homeless (he even sat in the Wally George hot seat some 20+ years back) has campaigned with the Minutemen. Why? What has he figured out about massive demographic shifts from illegal alien influxes that the rest of the Maxine Waters voters haven't? Perhaps Mr. Hayes is concerned that those same type of voters will become increasingly politically marginalized.

Consider: Congressional sources reveal that 25 people in America are killed every day by illegal aliens (12 are killed by violence and another 13 are killed by illegal alien drunk drivers). If you do the math with a 364 day year, you get 9,100 dead people in America every year who in theory should still be alive were it not for illegal immigration.

Consider: The Bubonic Plague dramatically contributed to the strengthening and ultimate rise of the middle- class in Western Europe due to the fact that labor (especially skilled labor) gained new found value because of scarcity. With massive numbers of hard working (yes, I concede most illegal aliens have a strong work ethic) illegal aliens pouring into the U.S.A., is it unreasonable to suggest that the lower rung of America's hardscrabble middle-class might some day pretty much disappear? In my neighborhood you don't see many (any) roofers that look like they can read the front cover of the Los Angeles Times. Maybe you live in the Midwest and have memories of when a living wage was paid to meat packers and chicken processors.

Consider: Pat Buchanan's other book "Where the Right Went Wrong" and look closely at the chapter titled "Economic Treason". With upper skilled jobs moving offshore and jobs that Americans just won't do here in country being given to illegal aliens, is it just nuts to suggest that (with the exception of financial planners and interior decorators) the American middle-class is under attack? Where America's middle-class goes, so goes America.

Consider: Muslim immigration (illegal and otherwise) in Western Europe. [I know that doesn't read as a complete sentence, but the word 'consider' is the verb and you (implied) is the subject.] France had some issues with this situation, but it wasn't something that thousands of torched cars and a few burned out city blocks couldn't solve... temporarily. So I wonder, how many illegal alien Muslims do we have in the U.S., and what are their intentions?

America is mankind's last best hope. We are that shining city on the hill. The hill; however, has some serious erosion problems. I know many people believe immigration strengthens and renews America. I agree. America legally allows more people into this county every year than all the other countries of the world combined. But if you defend illegal alien immigration to this country, do you have a limit? Most of the people who come here illegally leave their countries of origin because their own respective cultures and societies have failed them. How many people from corrupt cultures and faltering societies can be packed into any given area before that area starts to resemble the same culture and society those very people fled? Last I heard there are over six billion people on this planet; just how many of them do you want here?

Enjoy Pat's book. It only keeps me awake at night when I think about it.

Hate speech from a well known flack for the Dixie mafia. Incredible apologist for crime and corruption. Do your own research. Google keywords Clinton tainted blood and draw your own conclusions, to cite just one example.

Many of us get most of our "news" from the radio, the Internet, and the Pundit shoutfests on Cable. The inevitable connect-the-dots perception of things is further diminished by Talk Show hosts on interminable partison rants.
With this book, we can discover many facts about this minor or major cabal or conspiracy and its' progenitors. The Starr-Goldberg-Coulter contingent is scrutinized at length, for example, and intentions aside, revealed to have spent a lot of air-time on issues really not warranting such time and money expenditures. Just as Ken Starr himself expressed: there's just not enough meat to the bone for the Grade-A inspectors. Ultimately, the Lucienne Goldberg transcript publishing dream proved a nightmare for the whole country.
Conason and Lyons have given those of us who have less and less time to read books cover to cover a reason to do so...and to never again be swayed by any info-tainment puppeteers.

This book lays out the attacks on the Clinton in full detail. While you could probably guess the things done by Falwell, Starr and the unrepentant segregationists in Arkansas; it was illuminating to see the machinations of Tripp, Isikoff and others I never could have named before this book.
The many 4-5 star reviews tell a lot but the one star reviews are also illuminating. None of those come from people who appear to have read the book. In a just world, they would have to and, if they still were unmoved, they would have to fact check every detail.

If you love this country and have an iota of critical thinking skills, you must read this book. The reporting, analysis, and documentation are first rate, and solid. This is not a book for Democrats or liberals, but all Americans. Regardless of your political orientation, you should be disturbed by what you read here. Of course, my review assumes you believe that Enlightenment ideals were the foundation of this country, and that institutions are only as good as the integrity and intellectual honesty of the people that compose them.

I wrote this review years ago. Nothing has come out since to make me change a word of it.

Everybody laughed when Hillary Clinton complained that she and her husband Bill were targets of a "vast right-wing conspiracy" (VRWC). We know better now, thanks to Joe Conason and Gene Lyons, whose "The Hunting of the President" provides plenty of evidence for a real, criminal conspiracy.
Even they dither about whether it was vast, but that it was powerful no one can doubt. The VRWC "perverted the law and debased the media," they write.
Its small beginnings were not right-wing but personal. A couple of good ol' boys in Arkansas began slandering Bill Clinton as revenge and to make a few fast bucks. They were adopted by a devil's band of racists, Christian bigots, forgers, shysters, perjurers, shakedown artists, embezzlers, sob sisters, spies, trollops, busted speculators, libel publishers, spoiled rich boys, corrupt pols, sneaks, prudes, gullible reporters, publicity hounds, termagants, lunatics, unethical editors, forsworn judges, used-up groupies and pornographers, all eventually focused on the person of Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr, a common scold.
In the whole sorry story, on both sides, only two people came out with credit.
The only decent person involved was Arkansas state trooper Ronnie Anderson, who "had refused to answer the independent counsel's questions about Clinton's alleged extramarital liaisons. 'I said,' "If he's done something illegal, I will tell you. But I'm not going to answer a question about women that he knew because I just don't feel like it's anybody's business.""'
To their credit, the overwhelming majority of the American public was as decent as Anderson, or perhaps nervous that a powerful cabal of sex perverts backed by a free-spending rightwing kook (Richard Mellon Scaife) might decide to examine their bedroom habits, too.
The only hero was Susan McDougal, who preferred prison to selling out to Starr.
While "Hunting" is not the last word on the subject -- for one thing, it stops short of the impeachment -- it is the best place to start.
The outlines of this "J'accuse" statement were revealed earlier by Conason, Lyons and Murray Waas in the Internet magazine Salon ([...]), to general lack of interest.
.

I got this book for my b-day and tried it out yesterday with the basic recipe as instructed. Wow, it was great. I made a baguette out of 1/4 of the dough and it tasted like the ones from France. It was super easy to make and the directions were clear. I even used bread machine yeast (since that was all I had). I can't wait to keep baking fresh bread!

I live in San Francisco, land of great breads. Yes, you can buy better breads here than I can make from this book but they cost $7/loaf. And I love the basic bread recipe. My kids came for a visit and in 4 days they ate 3 loaves of it. And bought the book afterwards.

This book delivers. I make the basic bread dough recipe every week, and it takes me less than five minutes. You have to allow for the resting time, which takes me about 60 mminutes, but who cares when you no longer have to knead dough? I love this stuff, and my family is impressed that I can bake bread that looks and tastes so professional.
I've blogged my results and people who see the photos are very impressed.

Wow! I'm amazed that this quick and easy technique can produce such delicious and beautiful bread. Using their basic recipe, I've made peasant-style loaves and incredible baguettes. The baguettes were particularly noteworthy because they required almost no effort. In the past, I've struggled with trying to create a worthy baguette. Now I have a new method that is not fussy at all and makes fabulous bread. We've been eating homemade bread much more often, and my kids love it. Kudos to the authors for their amazing recipes. I am a convert.

If you are looking to bake bread, frequently, with the least possible work, this is the way to go. You just mix the dough, let is rise, then store it in the fridge until you want to bake (within 7-14 days).

"The Tea Rose"

By Jennifer Donnelly

This heartwarming tale begins working-class London where our main character Fiona lives and works. Born into a hard working Irish family, Fiona works long hard hours packing tea at Burton Tea, a major company that her father also works for as a dock worker. The Finnegans are hard working honest folk who are just trying to scrape by in life, but Fiona and her beau Joe dream of bigger and better things for themselves. Determined to open their own shop together and marry, they save every penny they can to get the money to finance their dream life together.

Life takes a turn for the worse however when Fiona's father Paddy joins the Tea Union. Disaster befalls the Finnegans when an "accident" changes their lives forever. Now struggling to make ends meet Fiona and her family are suddenly thrust into poverty, and to make matters worse Joe makes a horrible mistake that causes him to have to leave Fiona forever.

Distraught by grief, Fiona goes to Mr. Burton, the owner of the company she works for to plead for some money to help her family. While at the factory however, she overhears a conversation that she shouldn't have...a conversation that could cost her her life.

Desperate, Fiona grabs up her little brother and heads for America and her Uncle's shop in New York City. She's in for a shock when she gets there however, her Uncle's shop is going up for auction in a few short months. Determined to pursue her dream, Fiona reopens her Uncle's shop and seeks her fortune. But the ghosts of her past still haunt her and are slowly pulling her back to London to seek revenge...

"The Tea Rose" kept me riveted from the very first page. "The Tea Rose" is full of vivid historical fiction from two different countries, England and the U.S. Donnelly creates a vivid picture of two very separate worlds: The working poor, and the elite society.

I felt a deep connection with the main character of Fiona. I felt pain when she did, cried with joy with her, and wanted to leap from my chair when she triumphed. Admittedly this book would be classified as a "chick book." A deep-seeded romance is the true heart of this book, and though irksome at times really brought all of the characters together and kept the story moving at a good pace.

I honestly have no complaints about "The Tea Rose." I loved everything about this book and I didn't want it to end. All lovers of historical fiction have to read "The Tea Rose!" If you don't you are truly missing out. I will definitely be reading more of Jennifer Donnelly in the future!

Five Stars!

Great book!!!
I will read this book over and over again.
You will never see the twist and turns coming.
Jennifer Donnely writes so well it is an amazing read.

I enjoyed this book very much. It was a light read with a nice ending.

"The Tea Rose" is a novel I would recommend for lovers of historical fiction, the Victorian period, or a good romance. Though this book is lengthy, I breezed right through it. The plot moves very quickly, & I was entertained the entire time. The only real downfall of the novel is that some of the plot lines feel contrived & are too unrealistic. Oftentimes, I could guess the direction of the story because it was so cliche. The author obviously sets up what is coming next, so there are no real surprises in the plot. All in all, I loved "The Tea Rose" in spite of the necessity to suspend belief at times.

Jack the Ripper even makes an appearance!

I am an avid reader of so many genres. I happened to see this book and decided to give it a try. I cannot put it down! It is truely great. You fall in love with all the characters. Donnelly is wonderful with the way she lets us get to know each character. I also feel like I am in London, or in New York in the late 1800's. You cheer for Fiona from the first page to the last. I read that Donnelly took ten years to write this book and it is her first. But many readers of her did not start on the Tea Rose. If you have read other books of hers, please read The Tea Rose. You will not be disappointed. I just hated to let the characters go. I am reading Winter Rose next. I know I will love it too.

Before you order, note that the Signet Classics paperback version is quite small (about 4" x 6.5") with small font and small drawings. Nice for traveling light, I suppose, but I wish that, instead, I'd purchased a more attractive and easier to read-aloud version to share with my kids.

While Grahame's The Wind in the Willows may have been written for children, it mimics and speaks to adults, as well. The characters in his "low fantasy" story, though animal in name, physical description, and dwelling habitats, portray many of the same foibles and flaws as those represented by human beings.
Mr. Toad, for example, is not only wealthy and pretentious, but spoiled, haughty, self-serving, and thoughtless. He takes his truest friends for granted, and things nothing of thievery or dealing underhandedly to accomplish his selfish wants. For toad, Mr. Toad, like some people we encounter, has no real material needs, but has wants that seldom satisfy him for more than a moment.
Mr. Toad's friends, Old Badger, Water Rat, and Mole also have personalities that mirror that of adult humans. Perhaps Grahame intended to reach children at an age when they are teachable and impress upon them manners and sensibilities that will guide their interpersonal relationships as they grow.
Though the poetically beautiful settings of the story are present in the "real world," the magical occurrences of motorcar-driving frogs, gondola-sailing rats, and suit-wearing badgers, make this fantastical story entertaining, particular for children, who possess a vivid imagination that is oftentimes stifled by everyday pressures in the world of grown-ups.
Both children and adults can identify with the personalities of Grahame's imaginary characters, and there are age-old lessons taught in this story that are often present in mythology and even Biblical teachings. There is even a God-like character in the book, called The Piper, who brings the seasons and protects the animals.
The morals taught in the story are satisfying, in that, in the end, Mr. Toad is a changed man, er, frog, in that he has learned to appreciate the value of true friendship accept his good fortune with humility. Through his animal characters, Grahame represents the bad in human nature made good, while entertaining us with comedic situations that--if they didn't involve such fantastical creatures--could be considered realistic.

This is a delightful book, readable well into adulthood. Mr. Toad is particularly entertaining, but so are the wise and tolerant Badger and the adventure loving Mole and Rat. A fully realized world that even makes reference to the classics. Good prevails in the final battle, and the animals are restored to their peaceable kingdom. A wonderful book to read and reread.

This has to be my all time favorite DVD far better than other productions of this I have viewed. Absolutely delightful to watch for people of all ages - it's a keeper that you can watch over and again!

"The Wind in the Willows" reminds me a lot of the television series "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood." I make this connection because in the face of a great deal of children's entertainment that is fast-paced, zany, and explosive, it is gentle and slow, and speaks honestly to children without diluting its messages any. In many of these reviews, readers have expressed their affection for loyal mole, brave rat, etc. I agree, but to me the really cool thing is how all of these characters are actually very complex and very real, yet loveable all the same. Loyal old mole is also rather pompous and unheeding. Courageous rat is often brusque and self-centered. Brave Badger is sometimes unkind, and by the same token vain, petty, wasteful Toad is also loyal to his friends and generous- to a fault- with his things. All the characters have unexpressed longings- Rat, great lover of the river-bank, fights a conflicting desire to travel and see more things. Mole, wholeheartedly embracing his new life, also secretly longs for his old one. Badger secretly loves company. What makes the characters so compelling is how fundamentally decent, loyal, and kind they are to each other, and that's the best lesson any child can get out of this fine story. As a teacher I see the results of kids who haven't learned this lesson in my classroom day after day. I had this book read to me as a child and loved it and it has an honored place on my shelf now, where I reread it at least once every two or three years, when the modern world gets to be too much for me!

This book was a great read! I started reading and couldn't stop until it was finished. Mark Fuhrman is a top notch author, he really constructed an excellent book here.

Be careful not to do too much research about the Moxley case before reading this book, it may ruin the ending for you.

This is an okay book. Furman repeats alot of the info over and over. I didn't even finish the last few pages as they started out the same as everything we already read.

The problem with this book is that Heir Furhman takes the credit for solving the crime. This couldn't be further from the truth.

If you want to read the most factual account of this murder, read "Conviction" by Len Levitt.

However, I believe that if Mr. Skakel can't recall if he committed the murder, how can anyone else be so sure.

Let's face it, Mark Fuhrman is not somebody that I consider reliable. Dominick Dunne, another old man bent on revenge over his daughter's murder, goes after the Kennedy family. Okay, I'm not saying that Michael Skakel did it or not because he was convicted of the crime but the story's not over until the case was done in the court of law. I believe the book came well before the guilty verdict which was too soon and judgmental. Yes, the Kennedys have a lot of power and money but Greenwich is still a place where people drive expensive cars, live in mansions, and are completely out of touch with reality. I don't believe Fuhrman anymore than I believe Dunne because they're totally ready to convict based on little evidence, hearsay, and gossip.

My book is called Murder In Greenwich and it is about a murder of a 15 year old girl named Martha Moxley.The book is written by Mark Fuhrman.The case was never solved but i think its an excellent book because it gave alot of details.It also show pictures of where the murder occurred and also of Martha Moxley.The author is also an excellent writer.I recommend this book if u like Mark Fuhrman books or mystery books!I would not recommend this book to people that dont like murders or blood. ~~~~BY TORI SORIANO 16 YEARS OLD LINCOLN CITY OR!!!~~~

Just when you think it can't get any worse ... it does. This novel is a great example of noir literature. It has the usual noir elements of darkness, despair, hopelessness and betrayal. Layered on top of this noir novel is a very black comedy of gender warfare.

A young mother, living in the Tokyo suburbs and working the night shift at a boxed lunch factory, wants out of her miserable marriage to a philandering and abusive husband. Her solution? Strangle him. Unfortunately, this solution creates a new problem ... a dead body that needs to disappear. Fortunately, this young mother has empathetic lady friends who are equally desperate to get "out" of their own miserable circumstances and are therefore willing to help dispose of the body.

Unfortunately for these ladies, they find that the nightmare has just begun and this one act has pulled them into the "violent underbelly of Japanese society." In usual noir-ish fashion, all does not end well and no solutions are offered to resolve the hostilities between the sexes.

This is not my favorite type of reading, but I thought the story was well done and was an excellent example of noir and black comedy. The translation, by Stephen Snyder, seemed extraordinarily good to me; I never once thought about the fact that I was reading the book in translation.

This is one of better novels I've ever read, and not particularly a fan of the genre. There's the mystery and the mayhem, but I was driven to read because Kirino creates real female characters and you care a great deal about what happens to them. While you read because of the main characters, in the meantime the book provides rare, deep insight into the character of Japanese society through its 'outcast' elements. A much deeper and much more interesting Japan than the wornout 'kimono and sarariman' one of proper Japanophilia.

I really enjoyed this novel, but it is very dark. It is not a book you should read if you're not in a good emotional place, because Kirino digs deeper into the more sinister aspects of human nature than most crime/thriller writers, and one of the central ideas in her novel is that any of us is capable of committing or abetting horrible crimes if we are pushed to the brink by the right combination of circumstances.

This is not a novel of cartoonish violence like that in so many other contemporary thrillers. Kirino's understanding of how ordinary people get caught up in desperate situations, and how one decisive act can create a litany of unforeseen and undesirable consequences, is reminiscent of Flannery O'Connor, Jim Thompson, James Ellroy and Andrew Vachss.

Despite the grim subject matter (a woman murders her husband and three of her female co-workers agree to cut up and dispose of his body), I couldn't put this novel down because of Kirino's incisive psychological profiles and spot-on internal monologue. Each character is distinct and three-dimensional, and Kirino does a great job of bringing together seemingly unrelated and dissimilar characters in a narrative that picks up momentum until the dramatic climax.

The first two-thirds of the novel is a combination of crime thriller, unconventional feminist treatise and deconstruction of how seemingly innocuous people metamorphose into efficient criminals when placed under financial, social and emotional duress. The novel gets sensational in the final third, and I was initially disappointed at how the story became too "over-the-top," but Kirino rescues the novel in the final twenty pages and I was left breathless.

The murder and the inevitable complications it creates are so real, it's jarring. If you like your crime novels profoundly dark, then you must read this one. It's on par with anything O'Connor, Thompson, Ellroy and Vachss have done.

"Out" is Japanese noir at its darkest best. The first of Natsuo Kirino's to be translated into English, it is gruesome, edgy, bizarre, and terrifying. It has also been mistakenly categorized as mystery simply because there is no mystery here at all. We know from the onset the who, what, why, where, when, and how of the crime. What we do not know is what will happen to the criminals.

Four women work the night shift assembly line at the Miyoshi Foods factory in suburban Tokyo prepping box lunches. Masako Katori is the smartest of the four, hardened by the injustices she suffered in a previous professional job, and by the callous indifference of her husband and troubled son. Yoshie Azuma is the most efficient at the line, earning her the nickname Skipper, but she's a widow burdened at home by an antagonistic, bed-ridden mother-in-law and a selfish daughter. Yayoi Yamamoto is the timid one, abused by her husband, Kenji, whose gambling and womanizing have drained their savings. Kuniko Jonouchi is young and foolish, drowning in a sea of debts to finance her shopping habits.

Unable to endure Kenji's abuse, Yayoi snaps one night and strangles him dead with her belt. Helpless and panicked, she enlists Masako's help, and with the understandably hesitant Yoshie and Kuniko, they dismember the late Kenji and dispose of the body in various places. (About halfway into the story, a detective theorizes that the reason dismembering is more often done by women is simply because they do not have the physical strength to carry the body in one piece. It makes perfect sense...well...in a morbid sort of way.) Yayoi collects on her husband's life insurance and pays the three for their trouble. Soon, Kenji's remains are discovered, and a club owner who fought with Kenji on his last night is fingered (sorry) as the killer. But the women's relief is premature--their lives are forever changed and threatened by someone who's figured it all out and now wants payback.

Ms. Kirino presents a gritty Tokyo here, not the cherry-blossomed, tranquil, Zen-like atmosphere postcards perpetuate. This is ugly Tokyo with its yakuza (mob), seedy Kabukicho (red-light district) `hostess' clubs, and killer loan sharks. (Those into photography may recall seeing works by Watanabe Katsumi who's known for his photographs of the gangsters, prostitutes, drag queens, and sundry of Kabukicho in the `60s and `70s. That's the atmosphere and mood here, only grittier, darker, and more menacing.) There are no likeable characters either, and money is a recurring theme. Wanting it, getting it, killing for it are always at the forefront. It's a gripping read and her characters may not be sympathetic but they're believable.

The "feminist" label that's been attached to this is a curious thing. True that Masako was treated very badly at a prior company for no other reason than wanting equal pay and opportunities. However, the fact that it portrays women who are treated as second-class citizens by a patriarchal society does not in and of itself make it a feminist novel, and insofar as they are capable of despicable acts as their male counterparts only proves that crime can be an attractive proposition for both genders. There is no underlying moral philosophy here that champions equal rights for its female characters, and I don't see it as the theme; championing their survival from a killer hell-bent on revenge, yes, but that's a totally different thing. It just isn't that kind of story. The four women are in no way bound by anything approximating sisterhood. They did what they did because each had a reason to--two of them for need of money, one for something that would give her life some meaning (as absurd as that sounds, considering the act), and another for no other reason than she reached the end of her tether with an abusive husband.

The author is frank, both with the violence and the ugliness of its world. Those of a more sensitive nature will find some portions unpalatable. Those who like their novels dark, such as myself, will find this very satisfactory. Why four stars? The ending became a mishmash of events, told twice by two characters with varying perspectives, and a bewildering final chapter. Nothing new is learned by the reader when the second perspective is given, therefore, why even do it? And what precipitated the main character's abrupt and bizarre metamorphosis in the last chapter? I can guess, I suppose, but I rather the author had told me. With a tighter ending, it would have been near perfect. So, terrific story, lots of tension and very dark themes, scary but believable characters, realistic portrayal of the working-class part of Tokyo, writing may have been somewhat pedestrian, solid plotting until an ending that left me scratching my head.

Out, to which I was originally drawn because I wanted to learn more about everyday life in Japan through the eyes of one of that country's best novelists, is my first real experience with modern Japanese fiction. Since I am also a fan of hardboiled detective fiction, I actually had two reasons for getting hold of a copy of Natsuo Kirino's prize winning novel. But in reality, this is no detective novel; it can, in fact, be more accurately described as a crime thriller and, because of its gritty setting, dark plot and tough characters, a perfect representation of Japanese noir.

Natsuo Kirino has written a story about a segment of Japan's underclass that is rarely discussed by outsiders, an underclass that has everything in common with its equivalent in this country: people who work full-time jobs for such low wages that they can barely get by from one paycheck to the next. As their desperation grows over time, some in that predicament discover that the everyday struggle for survival has turned them into people they hardly recognize, people willing to do just about anything that gives them a chance to get a little bit ahead in the struggle to carve out a decent life for themselves.

The four women who work as an unofficial team during the overnight shift at a box lunch factory because it pays a few pennies more per hour than the earlier shifts can feel their lives slipping away from them. For a variety of reasons, each has come to prefer the solitary lifestyle demanded of those who return home just in time every morning to see everyone around them leave for their own day's work. Yoshie, the sole support of an invalid mother-in-law and unappreciative teenage daughter, feels trapped in a situation she can barely afford to sustain. Masako has a husband whose life is so separate from hers that she only sees him at mealtimes and a teenage son who despises her, and she has come to appreciate the way that her night shift allows her to avoid both. Kumiko, youngest of the four, lives only to shop and has gotten so far into debt that she feels physically threatened by bill collectors. And Yayoi has two small boys and a husband who squanders the family earnings on his gambling addiction and the women who work the clubs he frequents.

Of the four, it is Yayoi who cracks first. The almost casual way that her husband discloses to her one evening that he has gambled away all of their savings throws her into such a rage that she finds the strength to strangle him to death. Desperate to cover up what she has done, Yayoi seeks help from Masako, the one person she trusts to keep her secret. The two hatch a scheme to dispose of the body by cutting it into pieces and placing the pieces in garbage cans around the city, a solution that requires the help of Yoshie and Kumiko if it is to have any chance of success.

Tension mounts when enough of the body is discovered to allow its identification and the police begin to suspect that Yayoi may be involved in the murder of her husband. But it is when the group's weakest link decides to cash in on what she knows about the murder that things really begin to come apart for the women; soon all four are forced to scramble not only to keep their freedom, but to stay alive.
Out is one bloody and gruesome novel. It is filled with brutality, despair, greed and sadism and I can actually only recall one genuinely likeable character in the entire novel, someone I never expected I would grow to admire, a Brazilian/Japanese citizen in Japan to work in the country of his father. It is perhaps somewhat of a feminist novel but only in the sense that the author portrays these women, still very much second class citizens in their culture, as being capable of the same extremes and callous behavior displayed by the worst men in their lives. This is true equality, I suppose.

All four of these women were looking for a way out of their hopeless circumstances. They got more than they bargained for.

Out is an interesting novel, to say the least, but some readers may find its tone and content hard to take for 359 pages. It has certainly given me a view of Japan that I had not considered before, an impression that will haunt me for a good while. I can't say that I enjoyed this book but I have to admit that I found it morbidly fascinating.

I first fell in love with the Series of Unfortunate Events books... and so I decided to read this and I loved it. It is definitely not for kids, but it is written amazingly and keeps you riveted until the last page.

Fun to read. I thought the book was very good and not so along the lines of great, but very good. Read it and write a review you think the book deserves.

I bought this novel solely because I enjoyed Handler's later work as Lemony Snicket, but this is now my favorite of his works. The character who narrates The Basic Eight is a teenage girl whose group of friends (the "basic eight") are tested when events at a party lead to tragedy. The characters, particularly the narrator, are charming and memorable. I recommend this book to anyone with a sense of humor, but particularly to high school students, who will find Handler's understanding of the tortures of adolescence uncannily accurate. The way he leans on the fourth wall is really fun; Handler has a charming, self-aware writing style that will get you hooked. If you enjoyed the "Series of Unfortunate Events" novels, this is a don't-miss. Unlike "Series," The Basic Eight is not for youngsters; I'd recommend this for ages twelve and up. The violence is less frequent, but also less cartoonish, than the horrors of "Series."

Seriously. Buy this book for your high-school-age kid. They won't ever forget it. And read it yourself before you give it to them; you'll love it, too.

(Warning: Some plot points discussed)





I came across a favorable mention of The Basic Eight in an Amazon review of another title, Special Topics in Calamity Physics and decided to order it based on the positive feedback here.





The story is written in a diary format from the perspective of Flannery Culp, a rather nutty high school senior. (The "basic eight" refers to Flannery and her seven friends.) Flannery's senior year is fraught with tension and conflict. Her schoolwork suffers as she cuts classes, experiments with drugs, and incurs the wrath of her lecherous biology teacher, Mr. Carr after catching him in a compromising situation. When Carr ends up in a coma, Flannery becomes a suspect. Meanwhile, she's infatuated with fellow choir member Adam State (who alternates between flirting with and then shunning the young woman). Tensions reach a climax at a drunken Halloween party where Flannery discovers Adam's cruel streak and beats him to death with a croquet mallet. It's after her friends attempt to cover up the crime, that Flannery's true nature is revealed.





I wouldn't describe The Basic Eight as a "charming novel" that gets "funnier and funnier" - as the book jacket blurbs suggest. None of the major players here are particularly likeable and the story becomes truly grim.





Flannery depicts the basic eight as an elite group but I had problems believing that teenagers would hold formal dinner parties, listen to opera, vie for theater tickets (Shakespeare, no less) and dress well beyond their years (Flannery's ex-boyfriend Douglas wears linen suits and carries a pocket watch to school; her girlfriend V____ wears pearls.)





As with most books centered on independent teens, parents are absent, adult authority figures are stock stereotypes. Most unfortunate are the depictions of gay characters, Douglas and drama teacher Ron Piper.





Author Handler tries to sink his teeth into our tabloid culture, taking multiple shots at some rather easy targets: talk show hosts, self-proclaimed experts and those who use personal tragedy to gain their 15 minutes of fame - but there's nothing really new here. Reader be warned: The language in this book is occasionally coarse as are depictions of casual sex and drug/alcohol abuse.





I gave this book 2 stars - for its interesting premise and occasionally clever dialogue. As an alternative, I would highly recommend the aforementioned Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl.

This was fun to read, but not exactly the most wonderful book you will read in your life, contrary to what many of the other reviews here on Amazon would like you to believe. If it *is* the most wonderful book you've ever read, might I respectfully suggest broadening your horizons?

On the plus side:

* The voice of the first-person narrator (and murderess), Flannery Culp, is irresistible - smart, irreverent, quirky (OK, maybe a little insane as well), and highly entertaining.
* Handler is a good writer, and knows how to structure the story to keep your interest - you definitely want to keep reading to see how things turn out. His account of the horrific, climactic final party was hilariously brilliant.
* This book establishes Handler's ability to write outside his "Lemony Snicket" persona. Here he ventures into the "Secret History"/"Calamity Physics" milieu, and generally acquits himself fairly well. (something I wouldn't say about his later book "Adverbs")

On the negative side:

* His satirization of popular culture is heavy-handed at times, or too self-consciously clever. References to "The Winnie Moprah" show, or to "Benjamin Granaugh's new movie, Henry IV" are just kind of silly.
* Some reviews have criticized the book on the grounds that its final plot twist isn't quite coherent, and introduces certain inconsistencies which are never satisfactorily explained. I think this is a valid criticism, but it didn't bother me nearly as much as some other difficulties with the plot.


WARNING: SPOILER POTENTIAL


My real difficulty with the book is that the entire story is completely implausible at the most fundamental level. Specifically:

Where were Flannery's parents? Their daughter is sliding into total meltdown over a six-week period, and they don't even make so much as an appearance. Now, theoretically, one can postulate parents so distant, so uninvolved in their daughter's life, as to be completely unaware of her slide into homicidal madness. But I'm not buying it. Because - here's the thing - all this is alleged to be happening *during September and October of her high school senior year*. All that any of these kids would be focusing on during this time would be their college applications. And, given the upper middle class San Francisco milieu, there is no way that their parents would not also be focusing obsessively on the same issue. So that, when Flannery fails her calculus test in early September, it's just not credible that matters continue to degenerate without some parental intervention. But Handler never mentions the parents, not even to explain their continued absence.

So, in the end, it's an amusing little fantasy story. But one which bears no relationship whatsoever to the real world.

A fun read, but one which I will have forgotten in a month.

Page 339 in the edition of Monsoon I have: The footmen set down the litter down next to the carriage and there was a moment of confusion when nobody seemed certain what to do next.

I am astonished at the reviews that Wilbur Smith is getting. Quite frankly I'm astonished Wilbur Smith has been published. The story is amateurish in its presentation and completely without direction.

The characters are without any sort of psychological depth whatsoever and it was probably two hundred pages in before I finally was able to figure out if there was even a main character. Smith jumps from shallow heroic character to shallow cliche-evil character on a whim and with total disregard for narrative restriction or structure.

Anyway a friend lent me this book hoping I would like it and I rarely leave a book unfinished once I start it, but this one is really hammering away at my patience and taste. I'm half way through this book now and I swear to God if Tom recites his vow to get poor Dorry back one more time then I vow to bury this book at sea. And by that I mean flush it down the toilet.

I swear Wilbur, I swear I will flush Monsoon down the toilet if it takes me the rest of my life, I swear it.

Monsoon is the typically gripping Wilbur Smith epic. No matter what the subject, Smith enthralls his readers and refuses to release them, even after the novel has ended. This story, that of Hal Courtney and his four sons is an incredible story of courage, adventure and integrity. I can highly recommend this book to anyone who likes exploration, adventure, action, and the unexpected. Smith delivers on all counts. If you've never read a Wilbur Smith novel, this is a great place to start!

to hook me into the Courtney Family. I love nothing better than a sweeping family epic that spans the ages, allowing me to fllow along as one legacy brings about the next mans legacy. This book did not disappoint but then Wilbur Smith seldom disappoints.

I read this book and BIRDS OF PREY about two years ago. I couldn't wait for the winter eve's to get dark so I could start reading an get off to my armchair adventure.

Smith wrote books that I could live during the long winter months that there was nothing to do outside.

Some of my favorite books of all time.

I had never heard of Wilbur Smith, but he was recommended to me by friends in South Africa. At the airport I looked for one of his books and found many. All about 1000 pages long with embossed covers signaling bodice rippers. With a ten hour flight ahead, I thought, what the heck, give it a try.

The first impression proved accurate. What a silly, inconceivable story which can never seem to find a focal point. The three Courtney heros are gods on earth. They speak in a matter of months whatever language they come in contact with (including Arabic and obscure African dialects), they are amazing fighters who succeed in shaking off injuries more rapidly than a professional wrestler, they have an aura of command, even at age 10 or 17 that shames the most seasoned captains, they are great lovers (of course) etc. Good Lord! What two dimensional, predictable characters. And what a complicated, never-ending collection of ridiculous epic romances.

I will leave Wilbur Smith in the future to my South African friends (he is, after all, a South African, though he now lives, I understand, on the Isle of Maurice)and to the airport book stores.

Out of curiosity, I scanned the 91 reader reviews found on the Amazon site. Only 4 of the 91 seem to share my low opinion of this lightweight attempt at a good adventure story. Which confirms that Mr. Smith knows how to write for his public. And can afford exile from his native land. Which he richly deserves!

This is my favorite Pilcher novel, liked it even better than the Shell Seekers. If you love reading about English life between the wars and are a fan of "Aga-sagas" you would enjoy this book.

I got so involved with the characters I was sad when it was over. It has good character development and an interesting storyline. An all around enjoyable read. I would definietly read it again...and that's saying a lot for me.

This book is my favorite book. I read my mom's old copy last summer and just HAD to purchase a copy to keep for myself at college. Readers can live the story themselves through the main characters. An interesting description of World War Two through the eyes of a young British girl, becoming a woman. Very touching and very seemingly realistic.

Yes, it was a delightful story, I couldn't put it down I didn't want it to end. I have to say the only one thing that I wish Mrs. Pilcher would of done different is maybe to add 25 more pages and talked about Judith and Jeremy, after all she went through in the 10 years that the story takes place she well deserved and we the readers deserved to be part of her happiness. I sure hope there would be continuation to this absolutely wonderful story.

Coming Home is one of those books best described as a "sprawling saga", starring the landscapes of Cornwall England. Coming Home is the story of Judith Dunbar, beginning with her girlhood in the seaside resort of Penmarron in the years before World War 2, her young adulthood during the war, and in its aftermath. The event that changed Judith's life was meeting Loveday Carey-Lewis at a department store kitting up in preparation for St. Ursula's boarding school. Judith has been placed in the care of her aunt after her mother and her sister moved to Singapore to be with her father. Loveday, spoiled and willful, but wild and fun, has special permission to go home on weekends, and she invites Judith to Nancherrow, the family estate. Judith is immediately enfolded into Loveday's warm family life. I wanted to resent the Carey-Lewises with their upper-class advantages, but Pilcher makes it impossible. In contrast with upper-class families as typically portrayed, they are a close family with good communication, physically affectionate and emphatically not snobbish. These advantages let the family adapt well to the harsh circumstances of wartime. Judith and her family moved around a lot, so Judith never associated any one place as the fixed anchor of "home". Nancherrow becomes that place for her. After reading Coming Home, I was ready to pack up and move to Cornwall, it sounded so idyllic. Palm trees, beaches, and English country estates - what's not to like. There's love and romance too, but Coming Home is more a woman's journey to adulthood than a boy meets girl story. As Judith grows up, she can transition from becoming the receiver of kindness and generosity to being a woman who is able to give to and care for others.

If you're an Anglophile with an appetite for big books, you'll enjoy Coming Home. If you like Coming Home, you might want to check out author Mary Wesley. Wesley also draws on her own experiences to write about the wartime period in England in a similar vein.