Helprin, Mark

Average customer rating:

A Rewarding Tale
Beverly Penn by The Waterboys
An extremely disappointing effort
The World According to Mark
magical New York fairytale

Winter's Tale
Mark Helprin
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0156031191

Book Description

New York City is subsumed in arctic winds, dark nights, and white lights, its life unfolds, for it is an extraordinary hive of the imagination, the greatest house ever built, and nothing exists that can check its vitality. One night in winter, Peter Lake--orphan and master-mechanic, attempts to rob a fortress-like mansion on the Upper West Side.

Though he thinks hte house is empty, the daughter of the house is home. Thus begins the love between Peter Lake, a middle-aged Irish burglar, and Beverly Penn, a young girl, who is dying.

Peter Lake, a simple, uneducated man, because of a love that, at first he does not fully understand, is driven to stop time and bring back the dead. His great struggle, in a city ever alight with its own energy and beseiged by unprecedented winters, is one of the most beautiful and extraordinary stories of American literature.

Customer Reviews:

A Rewarding Tale.......2007-06-03

Before delving into Winter's Tale, you must suspend your disbelief. Time will not proceed in a straight line, and travel through it will be possible. Cities and characters will disappear and reappear elsewhere. Horses will fly, the dead will come alive, and clouds will swallow people, places, and even cruise ships. To believe in these elements, you'll need to believe in magic. A challenge, yes, but if you're up to it, you're in for a real treat.

Helprin's novel tells the story of Peter Lake, an orphan turned bayman turned master thief who falls in love with a young heiress dying of consumption in 1920's New York. Their love transcends place, time, and even death, as we seen when, about a third of the way into the novel, the plot jumps ahead to New York at the turn of the millennium and Peter Lake reappears in Manhattan without having aged a day. As he struggles to reclaim his past, we are introduced to several newcomers to the city whose lives become intertwined with each other and with Peter Lake in a universal quest for love, justice, and God.

Always guided by a power higher than themselves, Helprin's characters embody the author's own sense of right and wrong, and their world is one in which good triumphs over evil, beauty shines through darkness, and perfect justice is possible. Helprin's voice is one of enchanting optimism, and his magical prose carries the complex story as it weaves characters and time periods together. Most enjoyable are his descriptions of New York, a city that Helprin clearly loves and brings to life, not only as the backdrop for his story, but as the central and most important character in the novel.

Despite Helprin's skill as a writer - or perhaps because of it - Winter's Tale is not an easy read. The story can be quite confusing and its magical elements difficult to grasp. While most of his metaphors (of which there are many) are strikingly clear, some are a bit opaque and can weigh down the pace of the story, especially in the middle and weakest third of the novel.

However, Helprin's captivating prose and uplifting themes overshadow the novel's flaws. Just as Helprin's characters are rewarded for their struggle, so the reader will be rewarded with this positively inspiring tale.

Beverly Penn by The Waterboys.......2007-04-22

This will probably be of limited interest to most of you but I just discovered an odd link between 2 artists whose work I admire: Mark Helprin, the author of this great novel Winter's Tale and The Waterboys, the talented rock group led by the great singer / songwriter Mike Scott. On the expanded 2 cd reissue of their acclaimed mid 80's album This Is The Sea there is a song called Beverly Penn, about a main character in Winter's Tale. It turns out that this is a truly wonderful song, a great tribute from one artist to another. Here are the lyrics to Beverly Penn:

Girl sleeping on a mansion roof
under a wintery sky
wrapped she is in furs and sable
starlight in her eye
and what is the name of this creature?
where did she live and when?
who was it and why was it
that Peter Lake loved Beverly Penn

Four O'Clock on a marble morning
water pouring on her skin
in fever her life bursts open
and a hurricane blows in
when high from the dreams of this creature
a thief on a horse descends
it was dawn and it was December
and Peter Lake loved Beverly Penn

It was all of a windy day
and the sky was full of crows
when her lovely soul ascended
she just close her heart and rose
and whither the soul of this creature?
tell me the story again
of scarves and songs and the skin of space
and how Peter Lake loved Beverly Penn

I would dive in a freezing river
set fire to a hundred men
if I could for just one time
love somebody the way that he loved Beverly Penn

An extremely disappointing effort.......2007-04-20

I had been planning on reading "Winter's Tale" for several years after hearing some friends rave about Helprin's writing. The novel is divided into four sections. The first section of the book (the romance between Beverly and Peter Lake) bore out the praise - it was beautifully written, very imaginative and affecting. The second section tells of the arrival in New York of several characters who will be important in the rest of the novel. It was OK.

The third section is bad and the fourth section - 250 pages of rambling and incoherent hyperbolic verbal diarrhea - is a disaster. Helprin seems to have completely lost self-control as work on this novel progressed. The novel descends into a hectic and pointless series of grandiloquently-described episodes in which telling a story has been entirely subsumed in verbiage.

My recommendation is that you read the first section (about 200 pages) and just put the book down. You will have had a rewarding read and sampled Helprin's often beautiful writing. Oh, this should have been such a better book than it was.

The World According to Mark.......2007-01-29

Published in 1983 in the midst of the Reagan (Counter) Revolution, WINTER'S TALE reenacts the 19th century cult of the self-made man (and, somewhat liberally, woman) as the true American Hero. In short, Helprin extols the pre-Progressive Era as a glorious, if messy, alternative to the "immoral" effects of welfare state liberalism.

Regressively repackaging the fabulist techniques of South America's magical realists, Helprin creates for our edification a small band of geniuses who fight for the right to express their personal excellence (through neo-liberal capitalism) against the leveling tide of utopian utilitarianism (aka Marxism/60s Liberalism). All his characters are exalted individuals, even the villain, and so all become very quickly tiresome. Because they are geniuses, they don't learn anything as the story progresses. Instead we learn that genius must be given every opportunity to express itself, as long as it is for the benefit of mankind. As such, WINTER'S TALE violates the core idea of what a novel is.

Real novels tend to be suspicious of the exalted, especially of those who occupy exalted positions based on birth or social class. Helprin, while not a supporter of an aristocracy based on birth, does believe in a perverted version of the Jeffersonian idea of a natural aristocracy. Perverted because it fails to take into account the barriers erected by elites to the expression of this American idea of a wise and benevolent meritocracy. It therefore suits his neo-liberal ideological bent to set the larger part of his story at a time in American history where there was more class fluidity, a time before the large corporate enterprises and their hierarchical management structures began to foreclose the possibility of true individualism.

And so he hypocritically points to this pre-corporatist time as a valid model for our hyper-corporate era without having to take into consideration today's anti-individualist ethos. Writers like Swift, Defoe, Dickens, Melville, Hugo and Zola exposed the hypocrisy of the new economic elite who supplanted the old aristocracy by turning a burning interrogatory spotlight on the cruel iniquities generated by the bourgeoisie and their partners in government. Helprin shines a soft-focus light on the savage iniquities of the Industrial Revolution and decides, all in all, it was a better time.

WINTER'S TALE suffers from an underlying ideological framework that treats characters as hostages to an argument for the rightness and naturalness of neo-liberal paternalism. Unlike a real novel, WINTER'S TALE papers over the cracks in our belief in the resurrected values of Calvinist capitalism, tightens the ideological blinders that support such a view, and keeps true believer's prejudices firmly, and for many, blessedly, intact.

magical New York fairytale.......2007-01-19

I actually bought this book off Amazon as a gift (not the first time I've given it). I've read it many times over the past 18 years and it continues to be one of my all-time favorites. Winter's Tale is a must-read for anyone with a soft spot for New York City. This is a magical modern fairytale that conquers time and death and offers a fascinating insight into the rise of our nation's greatest city. It's one of those books that will break your heart and then slowly sew it back together.

Average customer rating:

My favorite Mark Helprin work
Great book!
The the moving pen on the end of a long line
Alternately absurd and tragic, like life itself.
Overdone, wordy, lacks depth of character

A Soldier of the Great War
Mark Helprin
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0156031132

Book Description

For Alessandro Giullani, the young son of a prosperous Roman Lawyer, golden trees shimmer in the sun beneath a sky of perfect blue. At night the moon is amber and the city of Rome seethes with light. He races horses across the country to the sea, and in the Alps he practices the precise and sublime art of mountain climbing. At the ancient university in Bologna he is a student of painting and the science of beauty. And he falls in love. His is a world of adventure and dreams, of music, storm, and the spirit. Then the Great War intervenes.

Half a century later, in August of 1964, Alessandro, a white-haired professor, still tall and proud, finds himself unexpectedly on the road with an illiterate young factory worker. As they walk toward Monte Prato, a village seventy kilometers distant, the old man tells the story of his life. How he became a soldier. A hero. A prisoner. A deserter. A wanderer in the hell that claimed Europe. And how he tragically lost one family and gained another.

The boy is dazzled by the action and envious of the richness and color of the story, and realizes that the old man's magnificent tale of love and war is more than a tale: it is the recapitulation of his life, his reckoning with mortality, and above all, a love song for his family.

Customer Reviews:

My favorite Mark Helprin work.......2007-05-30

I've always been a big reader (read all the old classics growing up and majored in English in college) but have become pretty jaded over the years. So many books out there seem to be well-written but poorly plotted, or have a fantastic plot but the prose is dull, dull, dull. And don't get me started about endings - they rarely seem to live up to the rest of the work. But Mark Helprin has become a reliable choice for me lately. I've enjoyed each of his books, in its own way, and this one is my favorite. This book is at well-paced turns bizarrely funny and heartbreakingly sad. I found myself wanting to savor every word, yet eager to get to the next page. It definitely captures the absurdity and toll of war, but it doesn't leave you feeling hopeless. It renews your faith in the perseverence of the human spirit and our capacity to appreciate all that is beautiful on this earth and love deeply against the odds.

Great book!.......2007-05-12

This book is wonderful. Better than Corelli's Mandolin. Everything by Helprin is wonderful. I've read most of his stuff. Freddy and Frederica is a terrific audible book as well.

The the moving pen on the end of a long line.......2007-02-13

If you have read the classics of literature, Homer, Dante, Milton then you will appreciate Helprin and the Soldier, stay enjoy the company because in the end that is what matters. If you prefer aimless bodily functions described in detail, Joyce, the lost generation and any other truly 20th century nothingness then Helprin will speak over your head, move along, please don't clutter up the sidewalk.

Alternately absurd and tragic, like life itself........2007-01-15

I've heard that agents and editors can tell from the first sentence (perhaps even the first word) if a manuscript is worthy of publishing. I suppose they've already made up their minds based on the formatting of the manuscript and any prior knowledge of the author. Here's the first sentence from A Soldier of the Great War. "On the ninth of August, 1964, Rome lay asleep in afternoon light as the sun swirled in a blinding pinwheel above its roofs, its low hills, and its gilded domes."
Well, this is not a sentence I'm too excited about, it seems flowery and overwrought.
However, contrary to ill-advised snap judgment, this amazing book quickly takes off like a rocket. After this sentence, we begin a sprawling historical novel, beautifully written and vivid as an old man reminisces about his life as an Italian boy, son, soldier, husband, and trail guide. Along the way, it touches on religion, physics, human nature, art, mountain climbing, and most of all, love. Truly, a grand and eloquent adventure. Alternately, it is absurd, amusing, tragic and heart-breaking. Helprin truly makes you love these characters, as he clearly did.
The dialog is particularly good, for example:
"The way you winked," Ludovico said accusingly, "the way you winked at me was just like a religious fanatic."
Sorry," Allesandro said. "I'll try to wink like a Marxist."
I also enjoyed the mad scribe Orfeo and his precious sap that binds the universe.
"Please, Orfeo," the attorney Guiliani interrupted. "We agreed that because of my condition we would refrain from speaking of the exalted one and the blessed sap."
Completely inspired writing and my hat is off to Mr. Helprin for this tour-de-force.
Ken Coffman is the author of Steel Waters and other novels.

Overdone, wordy, lacks depth of character.......2007-01-10

After reading reviews from several sources I was looking forward to a good book with an interesting plot and rich, poetic writing. The first chapter seemed promising until the author has the full moon rising in the middle of the night. Thereafter I could not trust any of the facts in the book. The dialogue in the first chapter was enjoyable and clever, but Chapter 2 departs from the character's conversation and goes back in time to self-absorbed narrative for nearly the rest of the book. Some good dialogue again pops up here and there, but like a cheap rack of spicy ribs, the tasty meat is hard to enjoy when the reader is forced to wade and skim through hefty paragraphs of exaggerated descriptions, flowery nature adoration, and whole chapters that seem entirely unnecessary. The main character, in spite of the immense proportion of the book spent inside his mind, remains flat: flawless, better, smarter, and stronger than anyone else in the story--thus a boring person.

Average customer rating:

recommended! (with reservations)
Very, very desperately in need of an edit
No title.
Who's on First? This book hurts-- your chest from laughing
not so good to read

Freddy and Fredericka
Mark Helprin
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0143037250

Amazon.com

Mark Helprin's picaresque romp, Freddy and Fredericka, begins with a secret rite on a Scottish hillside: the Prince of Wales, poised in his crisp field uniform, urges a falcon named Craig-Vyvyan to fly from his arm. The latest in a line of royal falcons with the ability to discern true kings and queens, Craig-Vyvyan sniffs the air, sizes up the bewildered heir to the throne, and refuses to budge. The falcon knows he isn't king-material, and so does the falconer, and so, in his heart of heart's, does the Prince of Wales. From this promising opening, Helprin spins a tale that ricochets in tone between the silliness of The Naked Gun movies and the gravity of a Wesleyan sermon. To prove their worth and prepare them to rule, the Prince and Princess of Wales--loose caricatures of Charles and Diana--are parachuted naked into New Jersey by night and ordered to reconquer America for Britain.

Helprin's theme is nobility--acquired, as well as innate. He puts the spoiled but well-meaning Prince and Princess through a series of farcical trials before they reach the startling conclusion that clean living, hard work, and humility will bring out the best in them. The "funny" parts of Freddy and Fredericka would have benefited from vigorous pruning--the book itself is too long--but there are stirring passages on love and duty sprinkled among the gags and loopy names, and some spectacular landscape descriptions--covert portraits of the force that drives the green fuse through the flower and gives the House of Windsor its curious destiny. --Regina Marler

Book Description

Mark Helprin's legions of devoted readers cherish his timeless novels and short stories, which are uplifting in their conviction of the goodness and resilience of the human spirit. Freddy and Fredericka—a brilliantly refashioned fairy tale and a magnificently funny farce—only seems like a radical departure of form, for behind the laughter, Helprin speaks of leaps of faith and second chances, courage and the primacy of love. Helprin's latest work, an extraordinarily funny allegory about a most peculiar British royal family, is immensely mocking of contemporary monarchy and yet deeply sympathetic to the individuals caught in its lonely absurdities. BACKCOVER: “With a pitch-perfect sense of the absurd . . . he has produced a delightful romp of a book.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times “Freddy and Fredericka recalls American journeys of self-discovery by Mark Twain, John Steinbeck and Jack Kerouac. . . . I promise you, this will be one of the fastest . . . novels you'll ever read.” —Los Angeles Times “A rollicking, heartwarming examination of the state of the nation . . . Working his own magic, Helprin transforms the thinly veiled satire of the monarchy into a quirky love song to the colonies.” —People

Customer Reviews:

recommended! (with reservations).......2007-03-18

I couldn't wait to finish this book so I could legitimately rave about it. And now that I have finished, I can't praise it as unreservedly as I would like. First though: the prose, oh the prose. Butterscotch and gold. The thing is almost perfect until after the penultimate section ("Manifest Destiny"). Delectable literary jokes throughout. Pages of hilarious dialogue (and what, after all, is the use of a book without pictures or conversations?). But most of all, it yields more moments of sheer satisfied joy than any book I can remember reading. It answers the question of how we are to live.

Then in that final section, to my great dismay, something changed and Helprin started hitting false notes that made me cringe, especially after so many chapters of such symphonic perfection. He did recover in the last two chapters, at least a little bit. The right tone for the ending was bittersweet and he finally seemed to recognize that. After the tremendous fire scene (I won't spoil it by saying what happened), he shouldn't have even tried to return to his previous tone; he should have colored the rest of the book with its memory, its sacrificial crimson.

I highly recommend the book, but with reservations.

Very, very desperately in need of an edit.......2007-02-24

I am sad to agree with the reviewer that said this was one of the worst books he/she had tried to read, because I was so excited to buy this book - from the description on the back to the enthusiastic one-liners from newspapers sprinkling the cover. It even started out nicely, with enormous promise in the first 15 pages or so, but ever since I have found almost every page painful to read. It is as if someone had a really elaborate dream they decided to write down ... nothing makes any sense, nothing seems to really drive the plot forward, and what could have been a fun premise instead is just words, words, words and even more words. It seems like it should be funny, it seems like a great idea, but none of it translates into anything with any real logic or that makes me want to read more about these characters and their adventures.

No title........2007-01-31

Mark Helprin is capable of writing some of the most elegant prose in contemporary fiction. He can make anything he describes sing with life. That is his strength. But he is no humorist and is out of his depth when he tries to be witty. He is alternately earnest and silly in this novel. The wordplay and puns are facile and make his more heartfelt observations, where he reverts to type, seem cringingly inappropriate. Freddy and Fredericka may have been a lark to write, but it is not all that much fun to read. I was distracted by Helprin's self-indulgence almost all the way through. At least the author had a good time. I did not.

Who's on First? This book hurts-- your chest from laughing.......2007-01-30

Generally I dislike silly over the top farce, especially when it picks an easy target-- and making fun of the British monarchy falls into that category.

The plot of this book involve a geeky, overeducated prince with big ears (Charles-ish) and a beautiful, airheadish blonde Princess (Diana-like). When a noble falcon refuses to fly for the prince-- the falcon is the real "king-maker," unbeknownst to the general public-- Freddy and Fredericka are sent on a secret mission by the mysterious Mr. Neil to reconquer the colonies by parachuting in, nude, with no resources.

OK, the plot is silly. But here's the thing-- it allows a gorgeous picaresque with scene after scene of what's beautiful and hilarious about America.

Throughout the book, Helprin often indulges parallel line conversation a la "Who's On First"-- "My father, who's sane," the prince says at a press conference. "Your father Hussein?" says a dumbfounded press agent.

And so it goes. Favorite bits include the prince (before being sent on a mission) calling a dog named "Taxi" and having to brush away meek and bewildered taxi drivers who keep coming up to help...

At times the plot is a little draggy and I wasn't feeling the big romance of the prince and princess falling in love with each other for real.

But stick it out to the last 100 pages because that's where the humor REALLY kicks in. It felt like I was laughing out loud to the point of tears and helplessness every five pages. I almost dreaded turning the page because my chest hurt so much. You wouldn't think there's any new humor to be found in American politics post the Daily Show, but Helprin manages to find some-- and he writes some of the funniest press conferences every imagined, not to mention an acceptance speech that begins with the line "Have you ever had a hair on your tongue?"

And it adds up to more than a Monty Python romp-- it adds up to a valentine to the chivalry of what being a king means, and the glory of what democracy is.

This makes the book so much more than situation comedy and wordplay-- it makes it something with a point sneaking its way into your gut. A joy!

not so good to read.......2007-01-10

i do not like this style.. I did not finish it.

Average customer rating:

A mixed collection of short stories
Enchanting,
Moving and Superb Fiction
I expected much more from Mr. Helprin
A writer Like No Other

The Pacific and Other Stories
Mark Helprin
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0143035762

Book Description

At long last, almost ten years since his previous book, Mark Helprin returns with The Pacific and Other Stories, a collection of sixteen stories that display the remarkable scope, incomparable wit, and deft prose that have come to be his signature. A British paratrooper jumps into occupied territory; the 1958 New York Yankees gain an unexpected teammate in a puny, teenaged Hasidic Jew; a September 11th widow receives an astonishing gift from the contractor working on her new apartment—these and other stories exhibit the constantly changing variety of the ocean itself, the peaks and troughs of life. Lighthearted, glittering fables are met with starker tales that sound the depths of sacrifice and duty. The Pacific and Other Stories is a resplendent, powerful collection of lasting substance and emotional import.

Customer Reviews:

A mixed collection of short stories.......2007-05-04

This is a mixed collection of short stories reflecting many different moods. The stories range from the lighthearted to the dark. Many are set during wars, some are about survivors after wars. Il Colore Ritrovato is about a bookkeeper who becomes an impresario when he discovers a gifted singer; Reconstruction is about a man whose mind escapes into his past; Monday about a contractor doing a good deed after 9/11; A Brilliant Idea of His Own is a man surviving during a special wartime mission during World War II; Vandevere's House is about a man obsessed with his possessions; Prelude is a somewhat funny story about the ultimate bureaucrat set to an assignment and then forgotten as he sets his own schedule (but he draws a paycheck).

The next story, Perfection, is a long, somewhat surreal story about a boy who saves the New York Yankees. The stories after that seemed to drift into a somewhat dark tone. Sidney Balbion is a washed up jewish entertainer in 1939, heading to his home country of Poland. Mar Nueva is a tragedy. Rain is about a deputy inspector of customs, getting old, and carrying on after the death of his son. Passchendaele is about a man's obsession with his neighbor's wife. Jabob Bayer and the Telephone I really do not know how to classify - it is set in a Russian Jewish community prior to World War I where people are breaking away from old traditions. Sail Shining in White is about a man confronting death. Charlotte of the Utrechtseweg is about a British officer dying at Arnhem. Last Tea at the Armorers is about a Jewish woman, survivor of a death camp when she was child, who is finding a new life in Israel.

The last story, The Pacific, is about the woman left behind when her husband goes off as a young U.S. Marine Corps officer in World War II to fight the battles in the Pacific. She works in a defense plant with 500 other women, and telegrams periodically arrive with bad news for women - a telegram was always bad news.

The stories are worth reading, but not everyone will like every story. I did not give the collection five stars because of the major mood swings, plus the fact that I could really not get into a couple of the stories

Enchanting,.......2007-01-24

intelligent fables for adults. Great clarity of character developement. No word seems out of place. Imagery and mood are palpable. A splendid read.

Moving and Superb Fiction.......2006-07-03

Superb fiction with the single most moving "9-11" story I have ever read.

I expected much more from Mr. Helprin.......2006-01-17

Ever having since discovered Mark Helprin through Winter's Tale two decades ago, I have not missed a word. I so looked forward to this collection, but when I was finished, I felt empty. I cannot recall a single story or character. Nothing captured me like Helprin's earlier works. We long to feast on the words of certain authors. Helprin is on my list, but this wasn't even a snack.

A writer Like No Other.......2005-12-10

If I were to meet Mr. Helprin and could ask him one question, it would be, "What writers have influenced your work?" For his writing, his style, his tone, is like no other writer's. His style is aesthetically exquisite. The author's voice pours through his work and delivers to the reader something fresh, a sense of morality, of honor, of respect and light. I love his work because it is unusual, different from any other fiction I have ever experienced.

Average customer rating:

Helprin delivers an elegant masterpiece
extremely enjoyable triumph of the human spirit
Beauty and Ugly Truth as well
mostly lousy, some good bits.
Stirring story, beautiful writing

The Veil of Snows
Mark Helprin
Manufacturer: Viking
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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A City in Winter: The Queen's Tale
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ASIN: 0670874914

Book Description

"Long ago, in the time of the old emperor, I was young and just beginning in my profession. The Usurper was there, and one could not escape his evil presence.... An enthralling story in the time-honored tradition of Lewis Carroll and C. S. Lewis. Although her kingdom has lived in peace for many years, the queen has always feared the day the Usurper would return to plunge her city into darkness. Even as she rejoices in the birth of her first child, she sees signs of impending danger. Her husband and his army have vanished in the wilderness. With only a short time left to reinforce the kingdom's defense, her faithful general masterminds a strategy to keep the city safe, against great odds. But even when the Usurper's victory may seem to be complete, the mysterious veil of snows hides a symbol of undying hope. The Veil of Snows is a moving and powerful tale about the light of the human spirit,light that can never be wholly extinguished. The Veil of Snows, which stands on its own as a compelling story, also completes the Helprin/Van Allsburg trilogy that began with their first collaboration, Swan Lake, which Publishers Weekly called "elegant and beautiful...wise and musical." As Kirkus noted in a pointered review of A City in Winter, the second book, "The sheer scale of the city [Helprin] envisions will enthrall readers of any age...." Mark Helprin is the acclaimed author of books for adults and children, including A Soldier of the Great War and the best-selling Winter's Tale (both Harcourt). He lives in New York state. Chris Van Allsburg is a two-time Caldecott winner, for Jumanji and The Polar Express (both Houghton).

Customer Reviews:

Helprin delivers an elegant masterpiece.......2000-09-12

In "Veil" Mark Helprin and Chris Van Allsburgh offer up a mythic tale which, while dark, will disturb and delight readers of all ages (though the elegant, sometimes labrynthine prose style will probably appeal more to older, more sophisticated readers). This book (as well as its predecessor, "A City In Winter,") is no doubt destined to become a classic, both to fans of fantasy and of children's literature for its moving story and its religious/philosophical themes.

Van Allsburgh's illustrations, while charming, are not essential to the understanding of the story, often interrupting the imaginitave "flow" of the prose itself. However, younger readers will still appreciate the bright, colorful images.

With this title, Mark Helprin has solidified his reputation as one of, if not the, premier American fantasists, a reputation which began with the mythic "Winter's Tale." It will remind Helprin fans why they are fans to begin with, and is no doubt destined to create some new ones.

extremely enjoyable triumph of the human spirit.......2000-08-04

having listened to this book on audio cassette i have nothing but good things to say for the narrator and writer. I loved this story and have listened to it more than once. I can only hope the author will do us the honor of continuing this trilogy.

Finding something with little or no bad language is challenge enough these days but to get to hear and/or read something of this caliber is a joy unto itself. please Mr Helprin write another installment of the story. please please please

In all honesty I am 25 years old very well read in varios topics of interest to me but still this book deserves credit.

Beauty and Ugly Truth as well.......2000-01-15

A simply incredible book of hard-to-find wonder. Unlike some of the others, my husband and I liked the Tookyshiem parts best. The queen's speech against them was a classic. At least that's my opinion. A gem of a book. They should reprint the prequels!

mostly lousy, some good bits........2000-01-09

Helprin is one of my absolute favorites, but not when he writes second-rate material like this. Less a novella than a gloomy satire on...things Helprin doesn't like (media, ideology, computers, progressive education [! ]), this book reveals a great visionary to be a great crank as well. Reread Winter's Tale or Swan Lake instead.

Stirring story, beautiful writing.......1999-11-12

This book appeared the summer before my third year of college; my mother and I read it aloud to each other while we moved me out of the house, expecting entertainment, but finding so much more than only that. The prose is simply incredible, and I don't know that I've encountered such exquisite writing anywhere else. I'm entirely disappointed that the prequels are out of print.

Average customer rating:

Curious and Entertaining
READ A CITY IN WINTER!!!!
Very Nice
A Classic Tale
A letter to Mark Helprin

A City in Winter: The Queen's Tale
Mark Helprin
Manufacturer: Viking Juvenile
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0670868434

Amazon.com

Another ambitious and glossy collaboration between novelist Mark Helprin and illustrator Chris Van Allsburg, continuing the story of Swan Lake, their earlier book that recreated the ballet classic for children. Emulating Maurice Sendak's reinterpretation of The Nutcracker, both the earlier book and A City in Winter abound in winter season atmosphere and fairy tale magic. At the end of Swan Lake, the unnamed little girl who has heard the story of a prince and his beautiful lover Odette usurped from their kingdom by evil forces, realizes that she is the daughter of the pair, and the rightful heir to the kingdom. As the sequel begins, the girl is now an adult, restored to the throne as queen. She recalls her return to the city at age ten, and tells how the restoration came about.

Customer Reviews:

Curious and Entertaining.......2004-09-26

What a strange book this is! Part childrens' fairy tale (old school - bad things do happen to good people), part political satire, part fantasy, A City in Winter weaves an enchanting melody amidst its disconcordant environment.

I'm not sure who the target audience is - the illustrations and language make the book suitable for kids, while the bizarre characters and convoluted social system are friendly rejoinders against centralism and establishment.

One thing is certain - it is brilliantly written - a captivating book that takes little time to devour. The imagery is outstanding, the characters are engaging and enjoyable, and the plot moves along handsomely. For as short a book as this is, there is sufficient depth to make it worth more than one read.

READ A CITY IN WINTER!!!!.......2004-05-18

A City In Winter is a wonderful book. It's about a little girl who goes on an adventure to find the person who killed her parents. When she gets to the village, she meets two bakers who's names are Astrahn and Notorincus. They help her throgh the story. They told the little girl that if she ever got caught, to tell them that she's a yam culer. During the story, the little girl works in the yam kitchen and finally meets up with the tutor, that raised her when she was little. He knows that she is the queen and in order to keep her safe, he sacrifices himself to tell everyone that the queen is alive. Also in order for the queen to be safe, Astrahn and Notorincus ran up the stairs to the tutor's room. On the way, Astrahn is shot and can't go on. So Notorincus finished running up the stairs and kept the queen safe.In the end the little girl opens the door and everything and everyone gets silent, for they know that she is the queen.I thought that this book was a great book!!

Very Nice.......2002-04-25

This i must say is one of the most kickin books i ever read. the themes of good and evil are represented so fully in this book.The sequel to this novel is just as well recieved by me. If you really are reading this then i hope i have touched your soul and that you read this book. This is specificly to Mark Helprin, you are the coolest author i have read in so long.If you write anymore then you email me and i will read it as soon as i can find it. In other words you rule.
Peace out,
Joe

A Classic Tale.......2002-02-27

I loved this series by Mark Helprin. I'm a big fan of Winters Tale, and this was just as enjoyable. These are wonderful to read aloud to children, or to pass around and take turns with, as we've done with the Harry Potter and other series. Beautiful artwork, and thick shining pages make this book a keepsake, and a sumptuous pleasure to read. In this retelling of Swan Lake, all things are possible... you'll find yourself laughing one moment, tense the next, and always riveted. I also found the strong and triumphant female lead character refreshing, ..the story is told from her point of view, after all this has happened, a narrative to her not yet born child.

A letter to Mark Helprin.......2001-05-11

Dear Mr. Helprin,

Hi! I'm one of your fans. I'm a ten-year-old fourth grader. I have just read your book A City in Winter and I enjoyed it. I also liked the illustrations-nice choice to collaborate with Chris Van Allsburg. I loved everything about your book!

I can even summarize A City in Winter for you. Your story starts out with a queen writing to her unborn child about her difficult life. She writes about her grandparents being assassinated by an evil usurper when her mother was a baby, and the same usurper assassinated her own mother and father when she was a baby.

Until this Queen was ten years old she lived in the mountains as a simple country girl who barely knew a soul. Her tutor, or as she knew him growing up "Grandfather," told her about her real history when she was almost ten years old. When she discovered her history, she set out to find and free her rightful kingdom from the evil usurper who rules her people cruelly.

When she reached her kingdom she became a yam sorter in the palace that the usurper had conquered. In the middle of her time there her tutor came to her and gave her the message that the scholars in her kingdom had been waiting for a sign of her existence for ten years. The sign would be "a burning angel through a darkening sky." This sign would alert her Damavand army generals that they should assemble and it would give the people courage to rise up against the usurper. At the end of the book the Queen opens a door and looks out over her assembled troops, but what will happen to her next? Have you written or have you considered writing a continuation of this book? If you haven't, I recommend doing so because I found the ending a real cliffhanger.

I would recommend this book to anyone. Your writing is sculpted beautifully; you make me feel like I'm in the kingdom you write about. I'd like to find out more about your life and your writing.

Your fan,

Divina

Memoir from Antproof Case
Average customer rating:

A terrific read

My all time favorite work of fiction

My grave disappointment

4.5 stars, really

Lottery Lucky Narrator is Liar You Love to Read About

Memoir from Antproof Case
Mark Helprin
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0380727331

Book Description

From Mark Helprin, acclaimed author of A Soldier of the Great War and A Winter's Tale, comes a miraculous song of the twentieth century.</center>

In a mountain garden in Brazil, an old American is writing his memoirs, placing the pages carefully in his antproof case. As he reminisces we learn he was a World War II ace who was shot down twice, an investment banker who met with popes and presidents, a multimillionaire, a man who was never not in love. He spent his adolescence in an insane asylum in Switzerland; he was the thief of the century, a murderer, and a protector of the innocent. And all his life, he waged a valiant, losing, one-man battle against the world's most insidious enslaver: coffee.

Customer Reviews:

A terrific read.......2007-03-25

This was the third of Helprin's books I've read, and the one I like the best. It is along the lines of humorous historical fantasy like Freddy and Fredericka. The writing is outstanding, and like Freddy & Fredericka, replete with many many laugh out loud lines. There seems be some difference of opinion among the reviews of Helprin's books, since it seems that if you loved Winter's Tale, you didn't like this one. I bought Winter's Tale after reading Freddy & Fredericka, but Winter's Tale was so dull, boring, and downright silly that I stopped reading after getting only a thrid into it.

My all time favorite work of fiction.......2006-06-19

An old man, living in Brazil and barely eking out a living teaching English to Brazilian military cadets, looks back on his long life as a New York Investment banker, his marriage to a billionaire heiress, his exploits as a P-51 pilot in World War II-- and a lifelong hatred of coffee.

I would warn you- Helprin's style is to reveal a little now, then come back to it later in his story telling. If that style bothers you, then you probably wouldn't enjoy this book.

Funny? Oh, my. Very. On several occasions I had to put down the book as I was laughing so hard. I found myself on several occasions reading some sections to my wife.

I won't give the plot away, but let's let is suffice to say that the protagonist "gets away with it" as he reveals in the book. And in the end, he passes his knowledge on to his Brazillian son via a manuscript which is stored safely in an antproof case.

Hysterically funny, though-provoking, witty and different, this is prose at its best. And if you like this one, get a copy of Helprin's A Soldier of the Great War.

My grave disappointment.......2006-01-22

Years ago, my sister-in-law gave my wife a copy of Helprin's Winter's Tale. I was enthralled by the book, willingly falling into its fantasy world and happily accepting its swashbuckling escapism. I keep a copy of it in my own small library, which is something I usually reserve for books not readily available at the library. Since reading it, I've read many of Helprin's other works, always hoping I'd find another I enjoyed as much. His gift for lush description and glorious renditions of love are engulfing, but they need to be tied together with an engaging story. I have not found this in any other works since Winter's Tale.

If obesity were Antproof Case's only shortcoming, it might be worth 3 stars if cut to 300 pages. But even if that were done, it would still be smug, self-righteous, self-indulgent and self-congratulatory. The narrator's tiresome obsession with the evils of coffee present him as more mentally unbalanced than I think the author intended. If this man is this whacked out over something as trivial and overstated as the dangers and prevalence of coffee addiction, why would I give credence to his other views?

The coffee issue is just one example of persistant overstatement in this book; everything happens on a hyperbolic scale. There needs to be a middle ground between the highest highs and the lowest lows to give the characters and story a point of reference that allows me to relate to them.

4.5 stars, really.......2005-12-31

I'd like those of you who criticized this novel to give Memoir from Antproof Case a second try. In my high school junior
English class, we have to read 2,000 pages by one author and write a literary criticism/analysis on each novel that we read, as well as a persuasive paper and a comparitive analysis, and finally a 25 page thesis. I chose Mark Helprin.

So far I have read three of his novels, and I find his idealistic, romantic, pure outlooks on the human soul and his frustration at the fact that the world is corrupt (yet full of innocent hopefuls who will never be able to change the world as a whole, no matter how hard they try) truly compelling. This novel is not my favorite novel by him, however - if you would
like to give him a second try, as I recommend, I would suggest that you read Freddy and Fredericka. It is his latest novel, published just 5 months ago, and is an anachronism on British monarchy and American government. Unlike his other novels, the entire thing has an underlying thread of immensely fun humor, as well as conveying his well-loved theme of innocence, purity,
and a hatred of corruption. My copy is a well-dog-eared book, and I think you should give it a try.

Thank you so much for your time.

Lottery Lucky Narrator is Liar You Love to Read About.......2005-11-03

Writing about billionaires in the 1940's is something which many cannot associate with. If anyone?

Trying to get you to believe that one person can accomplish what the narrator did is next to impossible: be relieved from criminal murder by being sent to boarding school in Europe, getting incredible education in Europe to allow acceptance to Harvard, graduating from Harvard to be employed by wealthiest man in world, falling in love and marrying perhaps wealthiest woman in world, divoring her and not asking a penny for it, robbing and murdering the wealthiest man in world and getting away with it, living in Brazil with a hot chicata who is younger than any rightfully aged daughter of narrator would be, keeping physically fit by exercising hours each day while also working a 12-hour a day job in New York City, lying to most anyone he meets and never being caught, and (my favorite) being shot down in WW II while flying, and not parachuting, and living to tell about it without any serious ailments later in life.

The plot is fraught with exageration. The narrator is so enthralled with personal character that he is either superman or super idiot. In either event, his tales are too tall to believe. And his insistance to make the story attempt us to believe the same is equally lame.

So, to overcome the story line think Hemingway. It is not difficult. Most book stores have Helprin's books next to Hemingway in the fiction section. And, many compare his writing style to Hemingway. And, such comparison is legitimate.

The story is just what Hemingway would create -- a story. Baffle them with your bull#%&* The reader should not attempt to believe the narrative version is an attempt to depict truth. Think of the narrator as a liar. As a liar, the narrator becomes more intriguing. His imagination is wonderful. The repeated lottery-like-lucky story really exceeds the alleged accomplishments. Fiction is greater than truth.

That is what makes this writer good. And, his use of the language is equally great. This man can write.

If there is a weakness, it does not concern me. This is not someone who writes for the female gender. But, in the spirit of Tim Allen we say, "So what?!" War, getting young women who don't want your money, seducing billionaires who are beautiful, robbing the man you hate the most, and handling "take this job and shove it" by murder, are XY-chromosone, testosterone laced issues we male readers cannot get enough of.

Write on Helprin.

Average customer rating:

Magical!
A Prelude to Great Works
Brilliant Beautiful Stories
Not a Good Jumping-Off Point
All Helprin fans should run and buy this collection

Ellis Island and Other Stories
Mark Helprin
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

Winner of the National Jewish Book Award and nominee for both the PEN/Faulkner Award and the American Book Award, these ten stories and the celebrated title novella are “beyond compare . . . [Helprin’s] imagination should be protected by some intellectual equivalent of the National Park Service” (The Philadelphia Inquirer).

Customer Reviews:

Magical!.......2001-08-01

Few writers can evoke a sense of place and mood like Helprin. The first story, "The Schreuderspitze", is as mystical and moving a story as you'll ever read. "Ellis Island" brings to mind the best of Issac Bashevis Singer. These are brilliant, mature, beautifully crafted tales by a master.

A Prelude to Great Works.......2001-05-09

I am not a regular reader of short stories. In general, I do not like them. Still, as a Mark Helprin fan, this is one of his few works that I had not read. I pressed on ... when I concluded the final story, Ellis Island, I felt completely satisfied with the journey. If you've never read Helprin, I believe "Ellis Island" and "A Vermont Tale" are most representative of his longer works. Each story will tempt you to read his novels, all of which are poetic magic. As I read through these stories, I saw glimpses of each subsequent novel, particularly my favorite, "A Winter's Tale." If you've read Helprin before, you owe yourself the time to read this collection. If you are new to Helprin, this work will encourage you to read more.

Brilliant Beautiful Stories.......2000-09-20

My first encounter with Mark Helprin was his long novel, Winter's Tale. I thought it was perfect: glorious and mysterious, realistic and magical, funny and fantastic and wondrous and sad. It was almost too much of a good thing; sort of like chocolate decadence topped with mocha ice-cream and drenched in hot fudge sauce.

The stories in Ellis Island and Other Stories offer the same enticing overdose of goodness but in smaller doses. Lest you be thrown off by the cover or the title, these stories are definitely not history or even historical fiction. They are not exclusively about immigrants, Europe or the War, although threads of these subjects do run through them.

The title story, Ellis Island is the longest and the last. It is about the Ellis Island and immigration, of course, but it is also fantastic fantasy complete with a wonderful machine that melts the snow from the streets supported only by its own jets of fire, the Saromsker Rabbi and his glorious sermon on bees, the lovely Hava, and Elise, whose hair is nothing less than a pillar of fire. Of the eleven stories, Ellis Island comes closest to Winter's Tale in its spirit of fantasy, although A Vermont Winter best describes the perfection of a deep Northeastern snow. As in Winter's Tale, in Ellis Island, Helprin is not averse to destroying beautiful things for the sake of a larger good, even if the logic of his narrative does not demand that he do so. But that, you see, is Helprin; for him death is just another part of art.

All of these stories are brilliant and all of them are beautiful. In The Schreuderspitze, a photographer deals with tragedy in the luminous beauty of the Alps; in Letters from the Samantha, questions of humanity and guilt are dealt with on an iron-hulled sailing ship in 1879; in Martin Bayer, we get to know a small boy on the eve of war; in North Light and A Room of Frail Dancers, we glimpse the devastating effects of battle on soldiers. La Volpaia is wonderful, wise and witty and Tamar is nothing if not lovely in the extreme. White Gardens and Palais de Justice defy any sort of description; you simply must read them and then savor them yourself.

Anyone who has read any of Helprin's other works knows he certainly has a way with words. Here are words from the end of Tamar that not only describe the story's beautiful seventeen year old protagonist, but serve to sum up this volume as a whole: Perhaps things are most beautiful when they are not quite real; when you look upon a scene as an outsider; and come to possess it in its entirety and forever; when you live in the present with the lucidity and feeling of memory; when for want of connection, the world deepens and becomes art.

These stories are nothing if they are not art.

Not a Good Jumping-Off Point.......2000-06-10

I have to preface my comments by stating that though I was dissappointed with this collection, I remain an ardent fan of Mark Helperin. A Soldier of the Great War is one of the most finely-realized novels of the past twenty years. It's in many ways unfare to compare a writer's masterpiece with a collection of short-stories written 25 years earlier. But simply as someone making recommendations to other readers, I would suggest starting with a writer's magnum opus and working one's way back from there. I'd recommend reading The Brother's Karamazov before suggesting Poor Folk, for instance, or Anna Karenina before the Kreutzer Sonata.

What Ellis Island represents is a writer still in the process of finding his footing. We see in many of these stories the genesis of what will become the themes and motifs that will preoccupy the mature artist. The characters are consumed by romanticism and wanderlust, even the Vermont cranes who occupy a central position in the collection. The writing is lyrical and quite often moving. At times, however,it comes across as too consciously poetic, the metaphors forced. While Helperin strives for Joycean epiphanies, his endings too often come off as carelessly constructed fade-outs. This is particularly true of "The Schreuderspitze" and "Martin Bayer." I agree, however, with the reader who singled out "A Vermont Tale" for praise. It stands out in this volume as a forerunner for the type of controlled symbolism Helperin will later perfect. It really is, to use a hackneyed term, a "haunting" tale.

The title-piece of this collection, "Ellis Island," was the source of my biggest let-down. The narrator, who goes by several names (as the mood hits or the situation dictates), is a thoroughly unsympathetic character, in my opinion, and I really don't believe Helperin intended him as such. The setting is turn-of-the century New York and "Moishe" (we'll call him that to avoid confusion here) arrives at Ellis Island along with a boatload of Jewish immigrants. When he is inspected, his odd demeanor causes the agent to lable him as an anarchist and he is shunted off along with other undesireables to be deported. He is saved from his situation by a red-haired Scandinavian beauty who presents herself herself at an opportune moment (for some reason couples are allowed more readily into the New World than singles). When finally ashore in New York, Moishe sets off on a series of improbable adventures (this is where the "magical realism" comes in). He has a brief affair with a "beautiful" artist's model (Helperin's characters never settle for plain-looking women)and finally beds down and settles with a "beautiful" seamstress. Finally he recalls the compact he'd made with the "beautiful", red-haired Dane and returns to Ellis Island (and here I don't want to spoil the ending for readers who haven't read it yet). Suffice it to say, however, that the ending intentionally parallels the ending of "A Vermont Tale," involving the loons. Let's also just leave off by saying that the ending didn't "work" for me and left me feeling that Moishe comes across as less than heroic, which Helperin hasn't led us to expect.

If this series of stories had been written by an author for whom I had lower expectations, I would have awarded it 4 stars. My standards were set so high by "A Soldier," however, that I had to settle on three. Definitely give his novels a try if you haven't already done so.

All Helprin fans should run and buy this collection.......2000-05-19

I read this beautiful short story collection after just finishing all of Helprin's lengthy novels. I was surprised that a writer who produced such brilliant long works of fiction (A Winter's Tale and Soldier of the Great War) could write just as well in a short story format. These stories are incredible. The one about the loons in Vermont is one of the most devastatingly haunting stories I have ever read. The opening story is one of my favorites as well. After finishing all of Helprin's works, I'm convinced that he's one of those rare writers that inspires you to want to walk around in his mind for a day to see how he pens such memorable works.

Average customer rating:

My favorite book. Ever.
A truly beautiful book
When the world was young
The best read ever
A truly wonderful story

Swan Lake
Mark Helprin
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin/Walter Lorraine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0395498589

Book Description

The two-time Caldecott medalist illustrates Mark Helprin's enchanting story of the characters in Tchaikovsky's famous ballet.

Customer Reviews:

My favorite book. Ever. .......2006-01-25

I first read this book when it was newly acquired by our local public library. I was all of 11 then, and while I'd read a fair amount of books (I was a precocious child), this one stood out. I never forgot it. Ten years later, I wanted my own copy. I had to search high and low for it, finding it only through special order (and it took WEEKS to get).

At the age of 21, I was just as affected. This book transcends the original story of Swan Lake, grabs you by the throat and insinuates itself into your soul. I'm not kidding, either. Helprin tells the truth about humans and love in profoundly simple, poetic language. I'm not even sure it should be called a child's book.

I don't know what else to say. Read it. Make them publish more of these books.

A truly beautiful book.......2003-11-25

I still remember the first time I read Swan Lake; I was in tears. I was not sad, exactly, but deeply moved. This book is timeless, and the prose is beautifully balanced. The story itself is strong and very well-written, with some very neat characters. This book could be read to slightly older children, and there are clear-cut 'villains' and 'heroes', but the heroes are human, they can fall and make mistakes, and this story is not for those who love unambiguous happy endings. Helprin is too aware of the world for that. I would also not recommend it for people who greatly dislike reading fantasy. It has a vague feel of a fairy tale, though it is too real and vivid for that. The pictures, by Chris Van Allsburg (known for The Polar Express), are extremely beautiful and fit the writing style. I would highly recommend this book, as well as the other two in this series, A Veil of Snows and A City in Winter. Swan Lake can stand alone, but the other two complement it very well. I don't even know how many times I have read these books, but I found them rewarding every time.

When the world was young.......2002-08-24

these were the images. The ability to heighten your senses. To smell the sunshine on the grass. To be alive in the breezes. Awaken to love and loyalty. Heart stopping and heart wrenching. A tale for all ages.

The best read ever.......2001-04-16

This is one of the best books I have ever read! I have read it several times over and the story never grows old. It holds me captivated to the very last page through every reading. (I also cry every single time.) If you are the kind of person who loves the story of Romeo and Juliet I garentee that this book is for you.

A truly wonderful story.......2000-07-09

Swan Lake is a beautiful book. The story of the old man, the little girl, the true prince and the beautiful Odette is told with simple elegance through the eyes of the wise old grandfather. I read this book out loud with my friend, and we could have stayed up all night, caught up in the beautiful, heartbreaking tale of love and life and learning. We laughed and cried, and sat stiff with suspense. We were filled by turns with sorrow and joy, despair and hope and sometimes a mixture of them all. Everyone should read Swan Lake, for this book is truly a treasure, a gem that will shine brightly for years to come.

Average customer rating:

A Wonderful Collection of Stories
Helprin's short stories are lovely.

A Dove of the East: And Other Stories
Mark Helprin
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0156031019

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The twenty stories here, many of which first appeared in The New Yorker and have since been anthologized throughout the world, are strikingly beautiful essays on enduring and universal questions: In Rome, in the hour of his death, and American priest must choose between his Church and his God. An Israeli scout risks the safety and respect of his comrades in an act of transfiguring gentleness and charity. In a hot, dirty typewriter ribbon factory in the Bronx, a young man finds love. A Dutch child in a Canadian orphanage carries in her heart, her love for her parents and the pain of war. A soldier is overpowered by his days of burying the dead. A Sicilian widow meditates on the end of her family line. These twenty stories are strikingly beautiful pieces on enduring, universal questions by a writer the San Francisco Review of Books calls "a master crafter of the short story."

Customer Reviews:

A Wonderful Collection of Stories.......2002-04-21

Helprin truly is, as a friend observed, one of our greatest living writers. These stories are sublime and affecting. Katrina, Katrin' is as moving a story as I have read, and A Dove of the East does extra duty - it's a thought-provoking examination of the human condition on one level, and a look back in time at the Middle East.

These stories do what good stories should: Make their impact during and immediately after reading, and then reappear in your consciousness at a later time, triggered by a tangential event perhaps, or an emotional shard.

Helprin's short stories are lovely........2000-05-23

If you are wondering if it is worth while to read one of Helprin's mammoth novels (they are all, uhm, Big), you can get an idea from reading either a book in the Swan Lake trilogy (hard-to-find children's books, illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg), or one of his short story collections. I cherish his short stories, and this collection is one of my favorites. The variety of time, place, and subject matter, the vividness of the telling, and the kindness and sympathy he gives his subjects - all make the stories worthwhile.

Mark Helprin's novels, and many of his short stories, make me feel as though constellations are coruscating in my mind. Richard Powers's novels, e.g. The Gold Bug Variations, also have this effect on me. I wish the whole world would read their books!

Authors:

Authors

Authors