Nicholson Books

Book review by James Otis Rodner


Love marriage

By V.V. Ganeshananthan

If you are interested in the difficulties that many immigrants suffer when trying to balance the values and customs that they bring from their country of origin and the American multiethnic free culture, this book is a must. The difficulty is especially strong when family tradition and religion are integral part of the identity. The problem for many new immigrants in the United States is not one of acceptance in their new home, but rather a sense of guilt and confusion that arises when they deny their old culture. In Love Marriage, V.V. Ganeshananthan deals with the Tamils from Sri Lanka, also known as Jaffna Tamils.

The novel has two story lines: The Tamil's struggle for independence in Sri Lanka focusing on the Tamil Tiger Liberation Forces; and the dilemma for a young immigrant girl in Canada when she is asked to accept family arranged marriages. The stories evolve around both the paternal and maternal families of the narrator. The two story lines are presented in the form of loosely related vignettes which at times confuse the reader, who may find it difficult to establish the necessary connections in time and space. To help the reader the author provides a detailed family tree of the two families involved which has a complete listing of the names of all the characters in the novel.

"Love Marriage" ends inconclusively, perhaps because the immigrants' difficulties with their host environment are never totally resolved. Yalini, our narrator, leaves the tale undecided as to any marriage plans, just as her Tamil Tiger uncle dies in Toronto without resolving the value of the Tamil struggle as such. The novel's original focus are the immigrants inner struggles for identity in within a host environment sets this tale apart from more current portrayals of immigrants seeking acceptance.

Title: Love Marriage
Authour: V. V. Ganeshananthan
Published By: Random House
Review By: Diana Rohini LaVigne, Indian Life & Style Magazine

Set in Sri Lanka during the country's infrastructure, security and economy collaspe, the novel, Love Marriage, follows the path of one family who immigrated to America seeking a brighter future but still steeped in their former homeland's traditions. When their once small daughter, Yalini, who was raised in the new world grows up, many challenges face her and her modern mind set which is juxtapose to the traditions of older generation.
It is an ill uncle in Toronto whom requires the family's care that turns her world upside down and then right side up again. His past as a Tamil Tiger solider fighting Sri Lankan's authorities provides a colorful storyline that brings out the spirit of the young girls' concerns. The dying man's own daughter, who is also Yalini's new friend in the family, accepts an arranged marriage to a politically motivated criminal with a long history. Yalini's discussions with herself and relatives reveal how unsure she was when she began this journey and how she develops into a girl unafraid of her uncle's past. Ultimately, she becomes someone he confides in during his final days.
Yalini grows through her exposure to her relatives. Shopping for a wedding dress and sharing tea together is part of the exploration and discovery process. She realizes her own feelings about each person and how she can be flexible to her traditional roots. She abandoned some of her modern thoughts and allows herself to be satisfied with more traditional thinking, even if it is something she's not been heavily exposed to.
Flipping from the past to the future, Yalini learns more about herself from others than she could have imagined. After her uncle passed, she is thrown into the inner workings of a traditional funeral and takes her traditional place in the family, although she's not always sure of what that means.
V. V. Ganeshananthan delivers a well-crafted story line that jumps into the middle of a young woman's life but easily builds her history in parallel with her future. It is a uniquely told tale with a mix of various observations and a timeline that effortlessly brings the reader from the past to the future and back again. The struggle is superbly depicted and gives readers a strong and realistic sensation of the conflict and its foundations. The conflict's impact on this family is easy to understand and gives readers an opportunity to explore Sri Lankan history, culture and people. This is a great book, especially for those raised outside Sri Lanka with family roots or ties to the country.

This is a really wonderful account of a family separated by oceans and war. The writing is first-rate and the voice is wise and compassionate. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to know more about the human aspects of foreign conflict, as well as just a splendid lesson on how to write a novel. V.V. Ganeshananthan is one to watch and I can't wait for her next.

Love Marriage is the story of Yalini, an American born daughter of a Sri Lankan family. She and her family care for her dying uncle she had never met and through this she learns and keeps a record of the past generations of her family and the turmoil in Sri Lanka.

I really enjoyed the writing style of this book, little vignettes about her different relatives, usually related to if they got married/how/to who. I especially liked the story of Yalini's, father's mother, Tharshi. At first these little stories almost stand alone and then towards the end the whole story starts to come together as one.

At times it became hard to remember who was who and what we had learned about them so far. I also wish we got to learn more about Yalini herself, I felt I knew her family better than her.

All in all I was very pleased with this book, I found it easy to read because of the quick little vignettes, the broke the story up very nicely.

When Murali, a Sri Lankan Tamil practicing medicine in the U.S., met Vani, a girl who had grown up in a village near his and had fled to the states in search of her life, they decided to marry. By Tamil tradition, their marriage was a Love Marriage, frowned on in a Hindu society that relied on adherence to traditions.
"In this globe-scattered Sri Lankan family, we speak only of two kinds of marriage. The first is the Arranged Marriage. The second is the Love Marriage," says Yalini, their American-born daughter and the narrator of this delightful first novel.
A Love Marriage is by definition an Improper Marriage. In Sri Lanka, Vani's brother Kumaran was a leader of the Tamil Tigers, a rebel group fighting for independence from the country's ruling Sinhalese majority. When he heard of the couple's marriage plans, he raged against Murali's family and threatened to kill them. Now, almost 30 years later, Kumaran is dying and he turns to Murali for help. He travels with his daughter Jenani to Canada, where Murali and Vani rent a house on the outskirts of Toronto's Sri Lankan community to care for him until the end comes.
Yalini, who complained earlier that "no matter how American I was, I was also the only Sri Lankan" in school, is forced to realize that, in the words of her cousin, "I can already see that you do not know anything about" Sri Lanka. She encounters the reality of Tamil life through the stories of her uncle, through the uncovering of her family's history, and her interactions with the Tamil community in Toronto.
First-time author V.V. Ganeshananthan has crafted an absorbing tale that carries the reader through the plot twists -- present and past -- effortlessly. Her writing style consists of short bursts of exposition; some sections are only a few lines long. Yet, at the end of the narrative, the reader feels a new sense of familiarity with a strange, far-off land and the people, who in spite of their roots, are not much different from the rest of us.

Harold Shukman is a professional historian, an Emeritus fellow of St. Anthony's College, Oxford University and a prolific author of major works on Rasputin, Stalin, Trotsky, and is an expert on the communist-socialist period of Russia in general. This 110-page work, published in 1999, is highly readable and covers its complex material with expert balance, selecting and compressing the extremely rich detail and competing interpretations (held to an absolute minimum) with ease. The overall impression is very factual and objective, the author's attitude to the man Stalin confined to very brief comment on pages 1 and 98. All in all this is an ideal introduction to the man and the period, suitable for GCSE (age 15/16) students, first year undergraduates, or the interested layman. Mr Shukman all but ignores the complexities of Soviet economic disasters, but this would require a much larger book. (Anyone interested in a selection of basics would do well to try `Basic Economics' by Thomas Sowell, professor of economics at Stanford University, a book which is an veritable education in itself. Anyone interested in professional analysis covering the period of Lenin's NEP to the point of Soviet collapse, by two top Soviet economists, would do well to consult `The Turning Point' by Shmelev & Popov (English translation, 1989).) It should also be borne in mind that the large bulk of previously secret archive materials of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (terminated: 1989) is still being declassified and carefully studied, so the fact that reports of these atrocities apparently get worse as the 21st century progresses is simply due to the process of the full truth taking time to get its boots on. In 2005 an analysis of the Soviet Gulag (concentration camps) gave a tally of 43 million Russians killed: 30 million died in the camps, 13 million died in the freezing transport trains en route. A good summary of the period of East German socialist tyranny has yet to come to my attention, but the 2006 German film on DVD `The Lives of Others' (Das Leben der Anderen) will do if you want a dramatic sample of life behind the Iron Curtain under der Stasi.

Although the books in this series can seem expensive on a cost per page basis, it is the quality that counts, and as a fast overview they represent good value. This book on Stalin makes an interesting comparison to another in the series: `Mao Zedong' by Delia Davin. This is especially instructive in revealing some of the Soviet dominance of China in the twentieth century, which killed millions of peasants there too. But what really burns me is that socialists are so holier-than-thou.

CONTENTS
Chronology (birth of Stalin 1878, to death 1953)

1. Introduction
Thumbnail sketch of his career, as the `outstanding mediocrity'

2. Beginnings
1878- : Georgia, home and education; Lenin and Trotsky; early criminal tendencies

3. Party worker
1903- : armed bank robbery; journalism; Bolsheviks and Mensheviks vie for party control

4. Power
1914- : war and Revolution; Molotov; the Red Guard, state and party apparatus set up, Cheka secret police; German-Soviet peace pact made at Brest-Litovsk in 1918 at huge cost to Russia

Photographs: including his police mug-shot and one with an unpopular former colleague airbrushed out (the Marxist approach to history!)

5. Lenin's Heir
1918- : Lenin orders murder of Tsar and his family; Lenin's NEP (New Economic Policy); The Red Terror, Orthodox churches and priests destroyed, Stalin and Trotsky clash; peasant farmers suffer State collectivisation; Lenin dies; Trotsky deported; Stalin rules)

6. The Great Turn
1929- : kulak farmers resist State robbery of grain for the cities and are dekulakised by Stalin (class warfare!); millions starve or are killed by the NKVD secret police; first Five Year Plan for industrialisation; economists face firing squad for pointing out flaws in plans; Stalin's private life)

7. Stalin the Executioner
The 1930s: State and party purges of opponents; the `Big Lie' re-writes history from Marxist view; Stalin aspires to become a god; law courts controlled by party; powers of NKVD secret police enlarged; Trotsky assassinated in 1940, in Mexico by NKVD using the `ice pick to the head' technique; 7 million enemies of the State shot; Moscow underground Metro opens - so it's not all bad then)

8. The Nation Revived
1939- : Nazism and Stalinism - mutually hostile but similar in many ways; Hitler and Stalin make secret pact to allow USSR to annex Polish, Ukrainian, and Baltic territory; Hitler invades USSR in 1941; war excuses any degree of Soviet tyranny over its own people; church partly restored to boost national feeling; Churchill declares existence of the `Iron Curtain' in 1946; communist party purge - 2000 shot in Leningrad; paranoia affects his judgement, retreats from public exposure; targets Jews to create a scapegoat; dies 1953; his top henchman Beria is executed by the new rulers

Conclusion
Russian memories today are short and selective - many hanker for the basics provided for all by Stalin but forget the starvations, fear of the Gulag, and injustice of the secret police.

Notes (chapter references to more academic works and sources)

Bibliography (main general sources, some by insiders, eg Molotov and Trotsky)

So: people aren't equal, you can't make them equal, and it's wrong to try.

This book is four-star worthy because of Volkogonov's look inside Soviet archives and his insider position. Perhaps it sounds and reads a bit heavy not just because it's written at least somewhat to an academic office but also because it's reflecting Stalin's bureaucratic personality in that way.

One of the best parts of this book was the chapters covering the period between the purges and Stalingrad, where we see just how paralyzed, thinned out and more the post-purge Red Army was.

That said, I do agree with many reviewers that this book was a bit heavy, and more designed for professional use. And that said, I've got books far more footnoted, and one on the history of the Goths that has at least as many names unpronounceable by many modern American lips.

It would be interesting to have a revised edition based on 20 more years of looks at the Soviet archives, and with better editing.

The book is the detailed biography of Stalin. Not an easy read, it is probably more suited to be a dry academic reference text, rather than bedtime reading. But I enjoyed it.

Starting and finishing it is tedious, the book is just too big. But each chapter may be read separately, depending on what topic interests you most. Assasination of Kirov, Stalin's disposal of colleagues on his way to power, his policies during war, Stalin's last years - these and other topics may be read separately.

No historical book can be absolutely objective, and this one carries opinions and impressions of the author. There is very little personal input, though. And there is no hype that often accompanies bokks on tyrants.

As I said, I like the book. I learned a lot and actually re-read a few chapters.

I agree with a_reader_999 (review elsewhere on this page) that Mr. Volkogonov allows his judgement to be clouded by his own Leninist views, blames everything bad on Stalin, and like a lot of Marxists, still lives in denial. For someone having spent his whole life on something, accepting defeat can be a very giant step indeed, so one tends to be sympathetic, but it does not make for quality objective history writing. But minus the diatribes and the nitpicking, this work provides a lot of details for the history buff, and is also quite interesting reading.

There are literally hundreds of books on Joseph Stalin to choose from. But if you are looking for a basic entry-level book that is easy to read and for a low price, I would definitely recommend this one.

Although this book is short (just a little over a hundred pages), it contains the most significant information about Stalin's personal and political life; his youth, early adulthood, rise to power, the insanity of his murderous crimes, his own personal paranoia and ultimately, his execrable death. Some of the events that are reported in this book are quite fascinating, in my opinion, which make this book a very interesting read. Stalin's relationship to his comrades and a few family members are also accounted.

From my perspective, this enlightening biography on Stalin is perfect for those who don't have the time or motive to read an encyclopaedia-size book on the former dictator. I think that high school and College students will particularly enjoy reading this book.

Fantastic work!

Fletcher's book is well written and insightful. He writes the history in the sequence it occured with details and background information. He presents an air of the time and circumstances that became history.

A previous reviewer for Amazon has compared Maria Rosa Menocal's THE ORNAMENT OF THE WORLD unfavorably to Richard Fletcher's MOORISH SPAIN. By contrast, I find them quite complementary. The difference is a matter of style: Menocal's book is philosophical, impressionistic, attempting to penetrate the "essence" of Muslim Spain, which she views as a "toleration of contradictions" and provide a vivid portrait of some of the individuals whom it produced. Fletcher's work is by contrast a conventional narrative history, although certainly a well-written one. One comes away from both books with the same conclusion: that compared with its contemporaries (as well as what was to come in Spain), Al Andalus was remarkable for its religious tolerance, aesthetic sensibility, and scholarly and scientific achievements. Its contribution to Western civilization was so great that we should really speak of our "Judeo-Christian-Islamic heritage" instead of just our "Judeo-Chrisian" one. That Fletcher chooses, in his final chapter, to negate all that he has said in his previous ones by judging Al-Andalus by standards which did not even exist until the Enlightenment is the book's greatest fault, and cost him a star, for surely the rest of the book deserves five.
There are of course other differences between the books. Having read Menocal first, I was under the impression that the Umayyad heir, Abd Al Rahman, crossed over to the Iberian peninsula in 711 and established his caliphate immediately in defiance of the Abbassid one in Baghdad, for in her quest for the essence of the culture, Menocal places little emphasis on the bare facts. But from Fletcher I have learned that the first Muslim to cross over from Africa to Europe was a certain Tariq, who led one of those periodic upsurges of Berber conquest which occurred for reasons well analyzed by Ibn Khaldun (see p. 106) and who gave his name to Gibralter, which comes from the Arabic Jebel al Tariq or the Rock of Tariq. And it seems the Umayyads did not dare to establish their own caliphate until the tenth century. But these are minor details. More important is the puzzle of the contradiction between Menocal's and Fletcher's characterizations of Peter the Venerable, abbot of Cluny: was he a proponent of the crusades, as Fletcher argues on p. 154, or an opponent of them, as Menocal argues on p. 184 of her book? As he sought out a translation of the Quran before condemning it as did most of his contemporaries, I'm inclined to believe Menocal. But Fletcher comes out ahead in his evaluation of the feuding taifa city-states which succeeded the Cordoban caliphate. With her ahistorical focus on the "essence" of Al Andalus, Menocal views these as merely chips of the broken gem of the Cordoban kingdom, carrying on in some small measure its glory. With the historical sweep of his vision, Fletcher grasps the fact that the collapse of the caliphate left it dangerously vulnerable, first to fundamentalist Berber conquerors and later, more ominously, to the Christian kingdoms to the north. These practiced a policy of "divide and conquer", until there was only one Muslim kingdom left, Granada, which fell to the most ruthlessly intolerant of Christian monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, with catastrophic results for both Jews and Muslims and repercussions which echo down to our own day.

In terms of literature and story-telling, I much preferred Menocal's "The Ornament of the World". The die-hard historians and scholars out there will most likely not agree with me because of the apparent romantic aspiration of the author to present the history of Moorish Spain in a glowing, golden light. That being said, I found Fletcher's book overwhelming and sometimes confusing in that the book is often a bombardment of dates and facts. The first chapter reads well, it provides a nice overview but from then on, pages and pages go by filled with countless names and dates that begin to tire the reader. I could never be a historian because I find most history texts bewildering in the amount of information shoved onto a page.

For those who want history, those who have a good scholarly background, I'm sure this is just a walk in the park and probably not up to standards by some. But despite the logical and linear grouping of chapters, I found the text itself often uninteresting. Fletcher no doubt knows his stuff but that doesn't presuppose he is a talented writer/editor of his own ideas. The ability to convey history with both meaning and wonder is a gift few historians I have read possess. Menocal may be the weaker historian in that she glosses over some details in her account of Moorish Spain (not a word about slavery in her book) but she is a superior storyteller, making this fascinating time in history come to life. Fletcher is a solid read but even the effort to keep track of all the names, facts and dates go to the point of exhaustion. I am very careful reader but at certain points in this book, I simply gave up and read without actually absorbing.

I absorbed Menocal's book, I felt alive and invigorated while reading it; Fletcher's put me into a dormant, sulky mood at times (although he does have his good moments, elucidating on the culture, philosophy and literature of Moorish Spain - which thankfully kept my interest).

I'm not giving it two stars because I think it is an important text to read. It merits three stars in that there is a lot here and perhaps could be of great use as a reference text. If you want 'just the facts', this is a place to start. But if you want history to enchant you or least instill the yearning to learn more, read Menocal's book, the stronger voice in my opinions in terms of beauty and passion.

MOORISH SPAIN is a well-written and well-organized history of the nearly 800 years (711-1492) of political rule of parts of the Iberian peninsula by avowed Muslims. It was originally published in 1992, so it predates 9/11, but on balance I believe that is a plus. There was less reason or temptation to sacrifice broad historical perspective and the several judgments that Fletcher ventures are less likely to be dismissed or criticized as tainted by the more recent politico-religious furors. Probably the central point that Fletcher seeks to make, and substantiate, is that Moorish Spain, for all its artistic and intellectual accomplishments, was not a quasi-utopian oasis of peace and enlightened religious toleration, in stark contrast to Christian Europe of the Crusades and anti-Semitic pogroms. Another noteworthy lesson, at least to my mind, is that the Muslim conquests on the Iberian peninsula were motivated more by political considerations than by religious fervor.

There are a few slow patches (for example, Chapter 3) and several lapses into mind-numbing lists of political succession, but on the whole Fletcher, who obviously is conversant with a considerable number of both secondary and primary sources and clearly knows his stuff very well, does an admirable job of summarizing and synthesizing. I would be surprised to find another brief (less than 200 pages) history of the period and region that is comparable, much less superior.

For all students of Islam, Richard Fletcher's 175 pages of text are critical reading that dispel the myths wide of a kind, gentle "golden age" of Andalusian Islam.

Many accounts exist from Islamic conquerors and subjugated Christians, but only three important contemporary reports meet scientific tests---a "single but crucial administrative document from the Islamic side," "a small amount of archaeological evidence" and an anonymous Christian, Latin narrative (aka "Chronicle of 754")---give a "more reliable account of events in Spain during the first half of the eighth century than any other surviving narrative sources."

In 711, after early 8th century Arab raids had laid waste to "several provinces," North African governor Musa ibn Nusayr sent Tariq's army to Spain, followed shortly after with his own fully equipped legions.

Tariq's Islamic invaders decisively defeated Roderic of Spain (and murdered him) in 712 at the "Transductine promontories," most likely situated between Algericas and Jerez.

In Toledo, Musa executed prominent nobles, wasted the countryside, also then devastating the Ebro valley and Zargoza, where he inflicted further mass murder. Toledo's Bishop fled. When the Umayyad Caliph recalled Musa to Damascus---with innumerable enslaved Visigoth lords and their gold bullion and jewels---he assigned Spain's governorship to his son Abd al-Aziz, who by 715 conquered provinces throughout the Iberian peninsula.

Other documents corroborate the Toledo Bishop's arrival in Rome, archaeological excavations discovered signs of violent 8th century devastation alongside 711 to 713 coins. Also, Abd al-Aziz' April 5, 713 treaty promised Theodemir lordship over seven southeastern Spanish towns and free Christian practice---in exchange for stiff annual poll taxes (one silver dinar per person) plus wheat, barley, unfermented grape juice, vinegar, honey and oil and promises not to aid the Islamic conquerors' enemies.

As-Samh distributed Visigoth monarchy lands "by lot" to Muslim governors and conquering soldiers from 718 through 720; the Arab minority obtained most fertile lands and North African Berbers got the less fertile central and northern peninsula and southern and eastern mountains. Some 150,000 to 200,000 Arab and Berber warriors migrated to Spain as well.

The Berbers 739 Maghreb revolt precipitated an "endemic civil war" in Andalusia. In 750, the Abbasids (descended from Mohammed's uncle Abbas) defeated the Umayyads---shifting Islam's center east to Baghdad, where the Abbasid Caliphate established its capital in 762. But in 756 Umayyad Abd al-Rahman escaped Abbasid Caliph al-Saffah ("shedder of blood"), crossing to Spain, and establishing a rival Umayyad empire in Cordoba, which ruled Spain until 1031.

It was never a kind and gentle rule or "Islamic golden age," despite frequent claims to the contrary. Apart from 8th Century devastation and waste of Spain, the Umayyads wrecked havoc later too. Emir al-Haken (796-822) established a palace cavalry of 2,000 and standing army of 60,000; crucified 72 people in 805, and leveled Cordoba's southern suburb in 818. The Umayyads divided Spain into three regions--"tugurs" (meaning "front teeth)---ruled by military governors. These remained in virtually constant states of war. Burgos, for example, was laid waste "to its foundations" in 884.

Even reputedly enlightened Abd al-Rahman III (912-961) wielded mighty military power and devastated many areas. A Pyrenean monk at San Juan de la Pena monastery documented the July 26, 920 slaughter in Valdejunquera, southwest of Pamplona. Similarly, al-Nasir's May to July 920 expedition besieged Muez castle on July 25, 920, and "put to the sword" all "combatants," including upwards of 500 "counts and knights" and destroyed many other villages en route back to Cordoba. Poet Ibn Abd Rabbihi described Osma as being left "like a blackened piece of charcoal."

On al-Rahman III's 961 death, he owned 3,750 slaves in his Cordoba palace alone.

After Rahman III's death, al-Hakem II ruled until 976, but Almanzor or Al-Mansur ("the victorious") --- Abu Amir Muhammad ibn Abi Amir al-Ma'afari --- then arose bringing freedman and general Ghalib into his circle. They headed his first campaign, against Leon, in 977.

Overall, Almanzor led 57 campaigns. He sacked Barcelona and the San Cugat del Valles monastery in 985, and plundering of Coimbra (now in Portugal) in 987. In 995, he captured Castile's count, and destroyed Carrion and Astorga. In 997 he attacked Santiago de Compostela, in 999 destroyed Pamplona and in 1002 flattened Roija and the San Millan de la Cogolla monastery.

He raided Catalonia in 1003, Castile in 1004, Leon in 1005, and Aragon in 1006. So evil was Almanzor--- who self-described all wars against Christians as jihad---he was said to be "seized by the Devil."

Yet worse came with the 11th century invasion of Morocco's Almoravids, who traversed the Atlas mountains to conquer Morocco's plain and then Spain---which they ruled from about 1080 until its liberation in 1248 by Fernando. Historian Ibn Khaldun described the Almoravid religious and military fervor as such that "noting can stand in their way...for their outlook is the same and the object they desire is common to all and is one for which they are prepared to die."

In 1148, for example, the Almohads massacred 100,000 Jews in Fez and 120,000 Jews in Marrakesh and wrecked devastation and death in Spain, from Seville to Tortosa.

Thus in 1148, the renowned Jewish philosopher and physician Maimonides fled Almohad persecution in Cordoba with his whole family disguised as Muslims, until finding asylum in Fatimid Egypt. Arabs and Muslims had "persecuted us severely, and passed baneful and discriminatory legislation against us," he later wrote. "Never did a nation molest, degrade, debase, and hate us as much as they."

His 1172 Epistle to the Jews of Yemen Maimonides advised his persecuted Jewish brethren that forced conversions they reported in Yemen duplicated those that Berbers had also forced upon Jews across the Maghreb and Spain. Maimonides referred to Mohammed as "the Madman," despairing that the objective of his "invented ... well known religion," was "procuring rule and submission...."

This book gives the true details of Andalusia, Muslim Spain.

--Alyssa A. Lappen

I bought this for my little niece who is 3 years old. She liked the little stuffed rabbit. She also liked the illustrations in the book. She listened to some of the story being read, but I believe she will enjoy it more as she gets older. Her (my) nephews of which one is 2 and the other 4 loved both also. My sister has a 23 year old and a 3 year old daughter. This is a very good set, and priced nicely for any budget.

Everyone loves the Velveteen Rabbit, but this gift set is especially nice! I bought it for my cousin's new baby, and it was very well received. The baby is in love with the plush bunny that was included with the set, and I'm sure she'll enjoy hearing the story again & again.

I bought this sort of on a lark because I thought someone I was seeing might like it. We actually started talking online because of a quoted passage from the book and that eventually lead to us meeting up and so on. The gift turned out great.

I bought it again for someone else and ended up reading the story to her as we were both lay on top of my bed. I knew the story pretty well - having watched it read on some PBS early reader program, but had never read it myself. I teared up twice. She loved the book, having it read to her, and the little stuffed rabbit.

I bought it again for my 10 year old daughter. And read it to her also. I used to read to her a lot when she was younger, but that's sort of fallen by the wayside as she grew older. She loved that also.

I bought it again for someone else I was seeing and I read it to her at the airport as we were waiting for her flight back out west. She also loved it.

There might be something to be said for "recycling" the same gift for multiple people, but the Velveteen Rabbit is an important enough story that it should be shared. About becoming "real" and what it takes. I still tear up at the same spots, even after multiple readings.

Considering the price, there are very few other items that make such a great gift for sharing. The "Principles" book makes a great add-on in case you think $11 is too little for a gift.

Well, I got this as a birthday gift from my boyfriend and I have to say, even though I didn't let him know, I was extremely disappointed in it. I asked him for a Velveteen Rabbit for my birthday, because it's what I wanted. He was so excited when he ordered it, thinking the rabbit was going to blow me away or something. Fact of the matter was, when it showed up, (actually the day before my birthday) I was so excited, like a child, opening my package. When I opened it, I don't know if I was able to hide my disappointment in the size of the bunny. It was smaller than my hand! After giving him a giant hug and a kiss for getting me what I wanted, I kind of moped and put the gift set away. Unopened. All I really wanted was a floppy velveteen rabbit like I had when I was a little girl, to hold and sleep with. I strongly believe that he thought he bought me a bigger bunny, because even he looked a little distraught and kept asking me if it was ok and if I really liked it. The picture is not just a little, but a LOT deceiving and I suggest that you READ VERY CAREFULLY between the lines and see the measurements of this tiny little rabbit. It's smaller than a Happy Meal Toy. Hell, it could even BE a Happy Meal Toy.

At the time of writing this, the description for The Velveteen Rabbit Gift Set: Hardcover book and plush package has Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 8.2 x 3.7 inches. So I figured the plush doll would be 17.2 inches tall from base to ear tip, about the size one would imagine it to be after reading the book, it's not, closer to 10 inches total. Besides that, it's a great book, one of my childhood favorites.

I bought this book simply because I loved the movie. It's very different in many ways, but enjoyable nonetheless. There isn't as much action as I expected, but the author does invest enough in the characters to make it a fairly emotional ride. I prefer the film as I think the Creasy character was so well portrayed. In the book there are times where the story labours a little, and I kept waiting and waiting for Creasy's retribution. All told there were enough really enjoyable parts for me to happily recommend this, and I loved the ending which was different to the film.

It's strange reading a book after watching a movie adaptation. You can't help but give the characters faces, accents, and behaviors that you observed on the big screen.

For A Man on Fire (the book), it is quixotic because the events really occur in Italy, and not Mexico.

Creasy is ex-Marine, ex-Legionnaire, ex-mercenary, and now ex-bodyguard. His first and only bodyguard assignment ends in the grisly death of his young charge.

He takes it personally:

"It was simply revenge. They had killed someone precious to him. He would kill in turn.

`An eye for an eye?' asked Guido quietly.

Creasy shook his head slowly and said with great emphasis, `More than that. More than an eye. Every bloody piece of them'" (p. 148).

Books have the luxury of explaining more than can be done in a 100 minute film. How Creasy gets himself into fighting shape. How he interacts with the world and other people. Guido's relationship with Creasy.

Great book, engaging and exciting. I also note that author "A.J. Quinnell" keeps his/her identity to his/herself. "A.J. Quinnell is the pseudonym of a writer who wishes to remain anonymous because his future books will detail intrigues between nations and cultures and will move freely over international boundaries. He desires the same freedom for himself." I will look for the next installment!

I was very surprised by how good it was. It's in my top 10 favorite books of all time. Also one of Quinnells best.

I wrote this review because the book is actually very good, and while the movie with Denzel Washington is good as well, I thought the book provided a lot more details into the Creasy character. Also, the book was different than the movie, as the movie was set in New Mexico, but the book also is the beginning of what I think might be a very interesting series. The only problem I have is that all the other books in the series are out of print or cost $85.00 to buy (!). So, unless they make a sequel it will be hard to find any copies of this series. Alas, the Observant Hermit Crab did some research and found a short story called Gladiator, which has Creasy in it. It can be found at this website: http://www.mortlock.info/Vhananyana/Gladiator12.pdf
The author of this book is also really interesting, and the following website tells a little about the author's life:
http://web.singnet.com.sg/~tonym/quinnell.html
To be fair, I should also post this website:
http://www.mortlock.info/Vhananyana/vhananyana.htm as it is a charity that the author is fond of. It seems like a good cause, and he is asking for donations to this charity for those that read the short story. Not trying to promote anything, but it seems to be the right thing to do given the circumstances. So, give both the movie and the book a try. Peace be with you always!

I think schtinky got it wrong. This book is about Creasy and his
redemtion. Nadia was not taking advantage of Creasy, she loved him. He loved Nadia as well, but he was only able to do so because of Pinta. She enabled him to release and recognize those good feelings which had always been repressed before. Since the plot is about Creasy and the change that he goes through, the part about his stay with Nadia's family is very relevant. Not only is he able to love Nadia, he is also able to fit in with this small community and become an "insider" so to speak.
I liked the book because it gives a lot more background information about Creasy and his friend Guido. It made the whole story more meaningful to me.

I recently finished reading Powers' first novel, "Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance", and liked it enough that I decided to try some of his other work.

Prisoners' Dilemma is a very complex novel. Unlike some of the other reviewers, I felt that the characters were the book's main strength - they are rich, conflicted and masterfully crafted. However, especially toward the end, I got totally lost. I could not follow the story.

The first 100 pages or so were engaging and interesting, but the novel kept getting stranger, until at the end I was no longer sure what was going on. It could be that I am not as sophisticated a reader as I should be, but if you are like me, be aware that this book is a tough one to follow.

Powers can craft a masterful sentence, and his prose is really great. My problem was that all this great prose never turns into a great story, for me at least.

It's rare that I truly despise a novel, but that's the case with Prisoner's Dilemma. Powers is so steeped in the intellectual tenets of his "novel of ideas" that he seems to have had no time to spare for things like character and plot development. The result is pretension babble uttered by a collection of stick figures.

There is no better way to sum up this novel than to steal from W.H. Auden. The first time through this book, I knew there was a wealth of power and beauty hiding underneath it. Perhaps this is a novel that you have to read at a vulnerable time. Perhaps events such as September 11th compel me to say to those of you who will read this review in the future "Read this book to someone you love and weep with them for the world we now inhabit. We have relinquished our own ability to see the magic inherent in the world." If, during the Grand Inquisitor scene in The Brothers Karamazov, Jesus deigned to respond to the questioner, this is perhaps what he would have said. It is a novel that attempts to free us from the gated enclaves of the suburbs, the fear and nightmare of double deadbolts, the paranoia of opening mail. Eddie Hobson, Sr. is a man who feels that he must take on the burden of everyone else's mistrust, no matter the personal consequences. He is reduced to speaking in symbols, the better to convey all the aching meaning he feels for his family and the world. He, who is the least physically able, warps his entire family to his side, forcing them to relive his transformation from naive child of the midwest to one who has seen the Brave New World brought about by anonymous men in secret offices. This novel is multi-layered, complex, and deep in ways that make this, IMHO of course, the best explanation of the American Experience since WWII. It's better than Delillo's Underworld by quite a way, and if, you want to escape from the realizations Powers forces upon you, there's always Chapter 11. Everyone's had their own version of Chapter 11, and it is gorgeous. I wanted to call people last night while reading it, just to share the wonder and beauty of it with someone. Fantastic novel, fantastic author, this book chides us with the realization that the only way out of the self-imposed isolation we've managed to hide ourselves in is to fight it every day.

If you're reading a novel which endeavors to link the lives of a Midwestern family in the late-1970s, World War II-era homefront politics, and Walt Disney, then you're going to want someone competent at the helm. On a superficial level, Richard Powers must be the man, since he's got a genius grant from the MacArthur foundation. Furthermore, he's adroitly constructed even grander Novels of Ideas like Galatea 2.2 and The Gold Bug Variations. His name inevitably comes up when critics are discussing the important young writers responsible for narrating our foray into the next millennium, along with William T. Vollman, David Foster Wallace, and Rick Moody-the "tall white male writers," as Wallace once put it.

But it took me a while to see what makes Prisoner's Dilemma the sprawling, history-rewriting novel of ideas it's been hailed as. For the first fifty pages or so, it reads like a comfortably traditional family novel reminiscent of Anne Tyler-which it is, on one of its multiple planes. But then Powers starts throwing in pseudo-factual flashbacks to the forties, with Walt Disney making wartime propaganda films (which he actually did, though not in the scope this novel suggests) and young Eddie Hobson (Sr.'s) eventual appearance in this surreal historical thread.

In less capable hands, Prisoner's Dilemma would probably come off as very, very formulaic, and just plain all-been-done-before boring. What rescues it? Well, for one, Powers' prose is beautiful and compelling. This alone should save the novel from complete damnation. The language during the italicized wartime passages is omniscient and confident, assuring us we're in capable hands as we struggle to understand-via Artie, via Eddie Sr., via ... Mickey Mouse?-the monstrosity that was the Great War. The language during the chapters set in 1978 is, by comparison, rather objective, but it still has plenty of intrusive third-person commentary inserted, lending an existential lushness to such simple acts as setting the table or playing catch in the backyard. This refusal to take for granted the mundane characterizes Powers' treatment of the Hobsons' dilemma, and, in turn, Eddie Sr.'s life. The mysterious illness that ravages Eddie and confounds his family is a physical manifestation of the ongoing battle within Eddie-a relentless tension between the Big Picture and the plight of the individual. The universal struggle to understand how one little person can matter in the midst of an incomprehensibly vast cosmos-a dilemma we all experience at some point-is magnified and played out continually in Eddie to such an extent that it precludes his ability to function adequately in the "outside" world.

The question of how humanity copes with the mounting onslaught of technological chaos is addressed repeatedly throughout Powers' narrative. During World War II, Powers recognizes that one of the greatest curative forces for Americans dealing with the war was, as it still is today, entertainment. In this case, the salve is Mickey Mouse and the whole Disney enterprise, enjoying its original heyday during the late thirties and early forties. Whole chapters are devoted to the role Disney played in the war, especially in the plight of the thousands of Japanese Americans interred Stateside. More generally, Powers describes Disney's function as a very early incarnation of the white noise in which we swaddle ourselves, in an attempt to keep out the horror we know is occurring out there: "[Mickey Mouse's] immense popularity must come from our learning, in a few years, how to ignore things that would have frozen previous generations with total horror" (98). Personified, as it is here, by such a congenial persona as Mickey Mouse and the rest of his Disney pals, it's hard to see how white noise could be all that bad. And Powers makes it clear that our relationship to the noise is ambivalent. We need it, and as much as we might decry it in attempts to elevate ourselves to more enlightened planes of world-awareness, we like taking refuge in Disney movies, or any incarnation of the entertainment noise we prefer. If the escapist quality of entertainment blossomed with Disney, and continued to grow throughout the seventies, when Artie is speaking, we in 2001 hardly need to be reminded how powerful and pervasive a mixed blessing it is now. Think of the samizdat in Infinite Jest that entertains its viewers into comas. Or, more immediately, consider the ways in which our country will-and already has-use pop culture as a psychological salve for the trauma of September 11.

Strangely, although I very much enjoyed this book I don't feel like I got much out of it. Richard Powers' intelligence, imagination, and wonderful prose shine throughout, but I'll freely confess that I just don't "get it". The author was aiming very high but despite lots of moments where something profound seems just about ready to burst forth, in most cases unfortunately it never materializes. For example, each kid wrestles with "solving" dad's puzzle of the prisoner's dilemma. Near the end Artie finally has it... or at least I think he got it but I'll be damned if I can figure out what it was. Or why solving it did him any good. With the exception of dear old mom Ailene, the characters are interesting and well-developed, though in places less than believable. I get the feeling I'm supposed to admire sister Rach's pluck and razor sharp wit but instead she comes across as one of the most annoying people I thank god have never actually met. And having myself been in high school in the late 1970's I can categorically state that at least in my neck of the woods no one ever walked their girl home singing a "Buffalo Gals" duet and lived to tell about it.

The bottom line for me was that this book promised more than it delivered. The story strives to be profound but moments of true revelation are very rare. The book tries to be clever but it's really just the author not letting you in on a secret. The story is replete with humorous lines but only a few made me laugh. When I was much younger and read a book that I just didn't get I attributed it to my own ignorance. Though that's certainly a possibility here, as a now older and somewhat wiser reader who has successfully navigated many challenging novels I'm much less willing to give authors the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps he just didn't get the idea across.

Still, I definitely recommend this book. It's wonderful to read prose this well crafted. Powers is intelligent and ambitious and, perhaps best of all, sincere.

I have always admired Gladys Knight enormously as an entertainer. Ever since hits such as "Neither one of Us" and "Midnight Train", my love for her music never waned. After all of these years, she is to be commended for her longevity in such a competitive industry.

As for the book, I enjoyed it so much that I read it within a 1-day period. Admittedly, after I read the prologue in which she gave an overview of her life, I was thinking "well, what else is there to know?" However, I quickly found the book to be quick-moving, enjoyable, and replete with lessons for living. She has had a very rich life in terms of both her ups and downs---and you'll likely be inspired by both.

Whenever I read biographical books, their historical references are usually illuminating. Gladys' book provides lots of insights into the singing and recording industry of old. I'm always fascinated by Motown stories anyway.

The book is well written with clarity that makes it flow smoothly; yet sophistication that sent me to the dictionary from time to time.

Gladys Knight's autobiography was not as compelling as Patti's DON'T BLOCK THE BLESSINGS, but make no bones about it, this lady has paid her dues for being the icon that she is, and the diva that she will always be. As a child performing on the TED MACK AMATEUR HOUR, a star was being groomed, but the pitfalls that she encountered while the Pips were being formed, from racism to the sexual attack, left a mark that made her stronger wtih each day that went by. The most interesting monents were during her discussion about how they were treated as a "second-tier" group when they brought Motown several hits. It seems that Berry Gordy and Diana Ross had other plans for the group, and the company made a few rules along the way on how they would be paid. Leaving Motown would be the biggest feather in their caps and the best part was when nobody looked back. She also clear up what went on behind the SISTERS IN THE NAME OF LOVE showcase, the "who discovered The Jackson Five" debate, and the dissolving of her three marriages. Quite long during her teenaged years, everything leads up to this moment, and never let it be said that Ms. Knight is not a survivor.

Oh, I just love Gladys and I just really enjoyed reading this book. I appreciate her for being so forthcoming with her experiences without losing any of her trademark, down home southern wit to guide the reader through each chapter. Her rifts with other performers struck me as interesting. You know, I can see, in also reading Aretha's memoir, where the two divas clash. Both ladies do have the tendency to act as if they started every musical trend and discovered everybody. Glady's account of the origin of "Midnight Train to Georgia" is totally false, as is her little conversation with Nat "King" Cole (Hon, Natalie was only maybe a year old). Nonetheless, her inside tips about the music business and juggling parenthood and the business i found very informative and useful, as i too, aspire to sing. I just love her so much and I loved this book. God Bless you Gladys.

Of a certainty, Gladys Knight is one of the top r&b vocalists of hers or any time. The girl can sing. Of all of her contemporaries Gladys still sounds the best. She out sings, Aretha, is more consistent than Patti, her career is more on track than Diana's, more lucid and controlled than Chaka and is still singing in the same keys, unlike Dionne Warwick. Today is her day. She has a great show in Vegas.

Gladys Knight's account of her life reads as a cleaned up version of the truth. She glosses over the gambling addiction in her life and never explains the truly difficult marriage she must have had with Barry Hankerson. I want to know why her son was sooo fat at such an early age. What emotional need or demon was not being fed? Ms. Knight's discretion due to concern about her children rings false. The ladies she dissed all have children. Cut the comedy, please.

Gladys threw in the obligatory gossipy tales about Aretha, Diana and a slight dis to Patti; old and tired tactics to sell a book. Do yourself a favor and find this sleeping pill in the library and look up the comments about other female artists and leave the book there.

Jealousy is an ugly thing. It was ugly when Miss Ross had Gladys and the Pips removed from a tour and it is just as ugly years later when she refers to Diana as "Miss Cute". Gladys was an innocent country church girl who got kinda gaught up in the whole show biz thang.....Suuuure, honey. We all believe you.

Motown was the best thing that ever happened to Gladys and her group. Motown gave them a number 2 hit and many other chances at success. The second class treatment is a allegation made by all but the Temptations and the Supremes. Everyone else drowned in the wave that was Diana Ross. Oh, I'm so bored with this old song! Add Gladys' name to the long list of Motown ladies who blame one woman for their inability to be everything she became.
Move over Mary, Martha, and so many others to make room for Gladys. It was her group's sucess at Motown that gave them the platform to go to Buddah and eventually shine as they did. It was just a matter of time. Didn't Gladys learn in Sunday School that everything has a season? When Gladys and her family group arrived at Motown she had uneven teeth that pushed her lip out on one side and a eye that wandered. Old pictures don't lie. Some good Motown money helped her get it together in the looks department. She should thank Motown. She refused to participate in the Motown 25. Motown helped make you a household name. From the chitlin' circuit to "good clubs" and television on the heels of "Miss Cute" and others at Motown. Shut up.

Let's tell the truth, shall we? Everyone in the "Business of Show" has enormous egos or they wouldn't be there. Some people have folk in their lives who keep them grounded more than some others. Most have internal barometers that help keep their souls in check. I have a hard time believing that any of these divas are as unassuming and humble as they want their fans to believe.

For stories that come across as more authentic read; Patti Labelle, Chaka Khan, Tina Turner or Darlene Love and a few others who paint a more balanced and honest picture of themselves.

Trivia Question: Gladys Knight made a movie in the 70's in which she was the featured actress. What was the name of it? Find out and view it then tell me if you think Berry Gordy's inordinate attention to the level one stars that ruined Gladys' chance at greater success.

Oh, just picked up the paperback to seeing her on an old 'Jeffersons' rerun (remember that). Loved this book! Gladys has always been a favorite of mine- that rich, flawless delivery underlined with down to earth truth and conviction- she is among the leading voices that brought soul music to the mainstream America in the 1960's.
I was mist intrigued by her honesty throughout the book, especially in speaking of her parenting of her children. I commended her for that. Her gambling addiction was another testament of how she overcame adversity and came out a winner, which was another source of inspiration for myself. I also really appreciated her honesty in relation to her tenure with Motown and the treatment they received while on the legendary label.
And then there was the dirt! What is the deal between she and Aretha? I always perceived that they would be good friends, especially since both encompass such mesmarizing, soulful voices.... I love Dionne, and I could not see her acting the way Patti portrayed her.
This is a inspirational, well written piece of work. I would recommend this purchase and much love and success to Ms. Knight for decades to come.

I liked the story but the book ended rather abrubtly...sort of left you hanging.

It is amazing how much is contained in so short a work. At a mere 140 pages, "The Luneburg Variation" has a lot of ground to cover. Paolo Maurensig tells the story quickly, through two different narrators, combining the elements of chess with all the atmosphere of a classic mystery thriller.

The novel opens with the death of a wealthy businessman. He is found dead, apparently from suicide, and the only clue is a chessboard made out of rags, with buttons for pieces, that is set up in a complicated mid-game position that lies beside his body. Maurensig weaves together the two separate narrations between the two sections of the novel. We learn that one narrator is 'responsible' for the businessman's death but we do not learn why, or how, until the end of the work. Paolo Maurensig takes the reader through a brief history of chess that even those not proficient at the game can understand. His characters have devoted their lives to chess - for some it has driven them crazy and torn them apart (like one of the narrators), while others they can separate it from the rest of their lives (like the dead businessman).

Yet the story is not solely about chess, where the outcome of a game can have life or death consequences, especially when one narrator finds himself in a Nazi death camp with his nemesis. What lies at the heart of the story is the mystery surrounding the death of this wealthy businessman; Maurensig gives the readers the clues, but does not state the answer directly. "The Luneburg Variation" ends as if the author and the reader were playing a game of chess, and the author says "Your move."

Mr. Maurensig's first novel is certainly worth purchasing. I am a chess player and I really found the character Hans' training and upbringing by Tabori to be quite fascinating. It is clear Mr. Maurensig knows chess at the tournament level and I would be easily persuaded to believe he is at least expert level if not a master himself.

This book is quite a dark story. A lot of sadness entails it. Of course, it's a murder mystery which is quite well planned out and flows logically. What knicked it from getting 5 stars from me is that the story bounces too much. I personally like a start to finish book, this is not that. The author jumps back and forth several times which I must say lost my attention. The author did do a good job getting my attention back.

Ultimately, it's the story that carries any novel and this is a good story. I collect chess novels, and face it there are NOT very many in existence!! Period!! So, I thank Mr. Maurensig for his successful effort and the bottom line is I recommend this book to chess players looking for literature to read on chess.

Robert P. Beveridge, the reviewer just before me (and a "top" reviewer at that), doesn't get the end of this book. If you've read the book carefully, the ending is perfectly clear and perfectly just. I won't spoil anyone's enjoyment by explaining the end, because I think the reasonably intelligent and literate reader is capable of figuring it out for himself. Suffice it to say, like great chess, or like any valuable work of art for that matter, EVERY detail counts. Pay attention, and you will be richly rewarded. I'm on my second reading, and my pleasure in the Luneburg Variation only grows.

I also think the reviewers who made a lot out of the concentration camp scenes miss the point. The book isn't about Nazis, Jews, the Holocaust, etc., at all. The author needs all that for the mise-en-scene, but the book is really ultimately about chess itself and what it can mean.

Paolo Maurensig, The Luneburg Variation (FSG, 1993)

Talk about brushing greatness. Paolo Maurensig's first novel comes so close it could probably smell the fetid, decaying breath of greatness on its shoulder, then turned away at the last minute. to leave the reader with an almost palpable feeling of something being missing.

Maurensig sets things up beautifully, opening with the discovery of the body of a chess magazine editor in his garden. When the police can't decide if it were murder or suicide, the death is labelled "mysterious circumstances" and filed away. We then travel back in time to a few hours before the man's death and are given the circumstances surrounding it. This happens in two extended flashbacks, the first of the victim's long train ride to his country estate, the second the story of a legendary chess player during world war II. (There is much more to these, but to reveal more details of them would set off a chain of unforgivable spoilers.)

All works quite nicely, and everything is going along swimmingly, until you get to the book's last page and wonder where the final present-day scene, the one the whole book begs for, went. It's certainly not in the book. It's possible the author left it out in order to preserve the "mysterious circumstances" surrounding the editor's death, but in that case, why write the rest of the book?

Maurensig has been compared to Friedrich Durrenmatt on a number of occasions. From the perspective of writing style, the comparison may well be justified; both seem fond of brief, straightforward novels with mysteries at their center about which the greatest question is "why" rather than "who?" (Heinrich Boll is another author who does this very well.) However, Durrenmatt is capable of handing the reader all the clues and letting him work things out; Maurensig left out a few pieces of this puzzle, and it makes the book, ultimately, a frustrating exercise. ** 1/2

Regardless of one's opinions about Juliet Barker's impression of Charlotte, and the rest of the Brontes, one can argue neither with the credibility of the author nor with her incredible research. The author has lived within a few miles of Haworth her entire life; was librarian and curator at the Bronte Parsonage Museum for six years; and researched this book for 11 years before publishing. The biography is 830 pages long, with an additional 150 pages of notes, and 30 pages of index. I would recommend this to those who are already well acquainted with the Brontes. It won't change your own personal myth of the Brontes, but it will shed light on trivia that might help explain background, names, and places in the various Bronte novels. For example, Charlotte's pseudonym, Currer Bell, now makes sense, though I disagree with Juliet's suggestion. This is much more than a biography; Juliet Barker includes the politics of the time, origins of modern Christian religious offshoots, the labor movement (the Luddites), and even the architecture (for example, the Late Perpendicular movement). Barker's description of the English landscape is wonderful, if a bit stilted. (When one is as emotionally linked with Yorkshire as I am, it's hard not be judgmental on descriptions of that wonderful place.) This book was meant to be read by the fire, on a cold and dark winter night, preferably in Haworth, with a soul mate who appreciates Yorkshire and all it has to offer.

I finished this last week and really enjoyed it. It is a very absorbing biography of the Bronte family through their letters. Charlotte Bronte's life was just as dramatic as her novels, and in fact formed the basis for them. The epistolary format works very well, and allows a more personal view into their lives than a regular biography can. The focus is mostly on Charlotte as Anne and Emily didn't correspond with many people.

A must-read for any Bronte fan, but be prepared for the biographers's tendency to assert her own bias about Charlotte. I felt that she took Charlotte's actions and written words from personal letters (and public letters, as in the preface to Wuthering Heights) out of context when interpreting them, at times. Even then, some of her assertions are laughable, they're so out-of-the-blue. It's actually kind of fascinating to wonder why the biographer has such a bone to pick with Charlotte. Maybe her effort to humanize Charlotte (to distinguish this bio from other Bronte bios) just got a tad too overzealous. Other than this annoyance (which tends to pop up throughout the book when you least expect it, like a zit that won't go away) I did enjoy the read - so vivid and inclusive. A nice touch is the map in the beginning, and the inclusion of small artwork selections by Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne at the beginning of each chapter.

That the Brontes were talented and have left an enduring legacy to the world of lituature is an unchallenged fact. That this book is the most exhaustive study of that family to date will probably also be undisputed. For anyone who has ever wanted to aquaint themselves with every cobblestone trod upon, every house lived in or visited, every sermon attended, every note written, every dress sewn - THIS is the book for you. In a book of 1000+ pages, the years in which the great Bronte lituature was produced is covered in a mere 125+ pages. Almost a footnote in a body of work of this size. Slightly less perhaps would have left us with much more

I first read this book in 1995. I only recently bought my own copy.

In this book, Juliet Barker provides a feast of information about the lives, times and writings of the Brontes. She is not the first to traverse this territory, but I believe that she does it more comprehensively than anyone else. The book itself is both a delight to read as well as a wonderful reference.

My only (slight) quibble is the greater focus on Charlotte. Perhaps this is inevitable: Charlotte did outlive her siblings, and published more novels.

I am biased. I have been a fan of the Brontes (especially Emily and Anne) for over 40 years.

Highly recommended to all Bronte fans.


Jennifer Cameron-Smith