Books

Short Stories
The New Pritikin Program: The Easy and Delicious Way to Shed Fat
Total Woman
Keeping the Love You Find: Guide for Singles
7 Weeks to a Settled Stomach
The Way of Energy: Mastering the Chinese Art of Internal Strength with Chi Kung Exercise
Healthy Parenting : an Empowering Guide for Adult Children: A Fireside/Parkside Recovery Book
More Joy of Sex: More Joy of Sex
The Sex Encyclopedia: An A-to-z Guide to the Latest Information on Sexual Health, Safety, and Technique from the Nation's Top Sex Experts
The Choice Is Yours: A Teenager's Guide to Self-discovery, Relationship, Values, and Spiritual Growth
Love Is a Decision
Hope and Help for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: The Official Guide of the CFS/CFIDS Network
Earl Mindell's Herb Bible
ADA Family Cookbook (American Diabetes Association/The American Dietetic Associat)
ADA Family Cookbook (American Diabetes Association/The American Dietetic Associat)
Becoming Orgasmic: A Sexual and Personal Growth Programme for Women
How to Stop the Battle with Your Child: A Practical Guide to Solving Everyday Problems With Children
Winning Edge: Nutrition for Athletic Fitness and Performance
The New Joy of Sex (Joy of Sex Series)
Best Party Book
Estrogen: Is It Right for You? : a Thorough Factual Guide to Help You Decide
How to Stop Your Relatives from Driving You Crazy: Strategies for Coping With "Challenging" Relatives
Marguerite Kelly's Family Almanac/the Perfect Companion for Today's Family: A Helping Guide to Navigating Through the Everyday Issues of Modern Life
Giving the Love That Heals: A Guide for Parents
The Exercise Exchange Program: The Unique System That Allows You to Design Your Own Diet and Workout Every Day for a Lifetime of Good Health

Average customer rating:

A Spiritual Vitamin Tablet
Sincere Message...Flat Plotline
Book review
The Ultimate Gift
Great Book!

The Ultimate Gift
Jim Stovall
Manufacturer: RiverOak Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Success Secrets of Super Achievers
Wisdom of the Ages
You Don't Have to Be Blind to See
Family Wealth--Keeping It in the Family: How Family Members and Their Advisers Preserve Human, Intellectual, and Financial Assets for Generations
Firing Back: How Great Leaders Rebound After Career Disasters

ASIN: 1589193571

Book Description

What would you do to inherit a million dollars? Would you be willing to change your life? Jason Stevens is about to find out in Jim Stovall's The Ultimate Gift. Red Stevens has died, and the older members of his family receive their millions with greedy anticipation. But a different fate awaits young Jason, whom Stevens, his great-uncle, believes may be the last vestige of hope in the family. "Although to date your life seems to be a sorry excuse for anything I would call promising, there does seem to be a spark of something in you that I hope we can fan into a flame. For that reason, I am not making you an instant millionaire." What Stevens does give Jason leads to The Ultimate Gift. Young and old will take this timeless tale to heart.

Customer Reviews:

A Spiritual Vitamin Tablet.......2007-06-27

Not only is this book inspirational and heart warming but also VERY pragmatic.....It creates a road map to newer, more powerful, success filled life...

Sincere Message...Flat Plotline.......2007-06-25

The intent of Jim Stovall, in writing this book, was to share the importance of life's major "gifts" in the form of a story. The author, Jim Stovall, has made many achievements himself; despite blindness, he has authored various books and is Co-founder and President of the Narrative Television Network (NTN).

The story is narrated by Mr. Hamilton, an 80 year-old attorney, who is reading the will of his departed friend/client, Red Stevens, to Red's family members. Red had chosen one of his family members, his nephew Jason, to receive a particularly special inheritance. Each month, Jason is supposed to come to Mr. Hamilton's office and watch a video that his uncle Red made. In this video, Red gives Jason an assignment that he hopes will help him understand the meaning of each "gift". If Jason is able to properly complete each assignment, he will receive 'the Ultimate Gift' in the end. The "gifts" are as follows: Work, Money, Friends, Learning, Problems, Family, Laughter, Dreams, Giving, Gratitude, a Day, Love, and (lastly) the Ultimate Gift. At the beginning, Jason is impatient and obnoxious (which is why Red singled him out for this plan), but he gradually works harder at accomplishing what he had been enlisted to do. Jason comes to better understand the meaning of life through the tasks that he is asked to perform, such as using $1,500 to help five different people, helping out at the 'Red Stevens Home for Boys' for a month, and finding one person who is having a hard time in life that maintains a sense of humor.

While this all may look good in summary, the major flaw of this book is that the characters are lacking in complexity. They appear to merely be placed there for the purpose of illustrating Stovall's "gifts", though the considerate nature of Mr. Hamilton is revealed in his willingness to help his friend/client Red Stevens carry out his final wishes in the elaborate plan made for Jason and the gradual transformation of Jason from an obnoxious brat to a fairly understanding human being are both indicators of real human sentiment. I may be missing the point here, since this book is more about comprehending life's "gifts" than anything else, but the characters in this book seem to be little more than bland archetypes.

So, what does this book offer that you can't get elsewhere? The concept of "The Ultimate Gift" may be appealing to some readers because Stovall decides to descriptively *show* (through a plot) and not merely *tell* what he is trying to convey. If this would've been written in the form of, say, a self-help book, with similar lessons, would it have attracted as much attention? Perhaps not, because then it wouldn't be much different from most of them!

Book review.......2007-06-09

Book content was average. A little predictable, a little boring. I thought it would be more inspiring, however, the message was sweet.

The Ultimate Gift.......2007-06-06

It wasn't my favorite book. I felt that it was unrealistic, even though it is only trying to make a point. It makes its point, which is really just common sense when you think of it--it wasn't anything that struck me as profound. It could be corny at times and it was extremely repetitive. It is easy reading, and is worth a look if you like these kinds of stories.

Great Book!.......2007-06-01

This book is great. It is easy reading and has great motivational ideas. It is a book that you can read over again. I also think it would be a great gift for anyone.

Average customer rating:

Great Book
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
A lovely journey into the China of the 1800's
Captivating
Fascinating

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel
Lisa See
Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0812968069
Release Date: 2006-02-21

Book Description

In nineteenth-century China, in a remote Hunan county, a girl named Lily, at the tender age of seven, is paired with a laotong, “old same,” in an emotional match that will last a lifetime. The laotong, Snow Flower, introduces herself by sending Lily a silk fan on which she’s painted a poem in nu shu, a unique language that Chinese women created in order to communicate in secret, away from the influence of men. As the years pass, Lily and Snow Flower send messages on fans, compose stories on handkerchiefs, reaching out of isolation to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments. Together, they endure the agony of foot-binding, and reflect upon their arranged marriages, shared loneliness, and the joys and tragedies of motherhood. The two find solace, developing a bond that keeps their spirits alive. But when a misunderstanding arises, their deep friendship suddenly threatens to tear apart.

Download Description

Lisa See is the author of Flower Net (an Edgar Award nominee), The Interior, and Dragon Bones, as well as the critically acclaimed memoir On Gold Mountain. The Organization of Chinese American Women named her the 2001 National Woman of the Year. She lives in Los Angeles.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

Great Book.......2007-06-30

I absolutely adored this book. Set against the backdrop of nineteenth century China, Lisa See takes you on a journey through the lives of two amazing women. The rich history and descriptions really make the story come alive. I found myself carrying the book in my purse so I could read it during my spare moments throughout the day. I would highly reccomend it... enjoy!

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.......2007-06-30

This is the July selection chosen by the Book Group I am in. I wanted to have a copy to read on the plane trip to visit families in Colorado. (One of our daughters-in-law was born in Hong Kong and I am interested in learning more about Chinese history and customs.) The story is told by one Chinese woman, her life from early childhood to her eighties. Back then footbinding of young girls was the custom, and girls' activities revolved around preparation for their future wedding and joining the family of their arranged-for husband. For a little girl, another Chinese girl who shares the same birth year is chosen to become lifetime good friends, sharing hopes, dreams, sorrows and happiness. The narrator is Lily. Her lifelong friend is Snow Flower, and they share secret messages by writing on a fan that is passed back and forth from one house to the other. Many customs of yore are described in this book.

A lovely journey into the China of the 1800's.......2007-06-27

This story of friendship was fascinating and moving. The secret language of the women of China was something that no one could take away from them and their stories and experiences could be shared with others. The lessons to be learned are numerous. I really loved reading this book and hated the story to end. It was told beautifully.

Captivating.......2007-06-27

The story was fascinating. I have to say it was great place to visit-read about-but I wouldn't want to have lived there. Three cheers for liberation and the abandonment of foot-binding.

I most enjoyed the camaderie of the women.

Fascinating.......2007-06-27

This story was a most interesting - even fascinating - book. It was a sort of historical novel that took place in China. I really enjoyed it even though much of it was appalling because is really is about the way it was.

Average customer rating:

Lost In Time
Suite Francaise
YUCK
Moving
Excellent Depiction of the German Occupation

Suite Française
Irene Nemirovsky
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1400044731
Release Date: 2006-04-11

Book Description

By the early l940s, when Ukrainian-born Irène Némirovsky began working on what would become Suite Française—the first two parts of a planned five-part novel—she was already a highly successful writer living in Paris. But she was also a Jew, and in 1942 she was arrested and deported to Auschwitz: a month later she was dead at the age of thirty-nine. Two years earlier, living in a small village in central France—where she, her husband, and their two small daughters had fled in a vain attempt to elude the Nazis —she’d begun her novel, a luminous portrayal of a human drama in which she herself would become a victim. When she was arrested, she had completed two parts of the epic, the handwritten manuscripts of which were hidden in a suitcase that her daughters would take with them into hiding and eventually into freedom. Sixty-four years later, at long last, we can read Némirovsky’s literary masterpiece

The first part, “A Storm in June,” opens in the chaos of the massive 1940 exodus from Paris on the eve of the Nazi invasion during which several families and individuals are thrown together under circumstances beyond their control. They share nothing but the harsh demands of survival—some trying to maintain lives of privilege, others struggling simply to preserve their lives—but soon, all together, they will be forced to face the awful exigencies of physical and emotional displacement, and the annihilation of the world they know. In the second part, “Dolce,” we enter the increasingly complex life of a German-occupied provincial village. Coexisting uneasily with the soldiers billeted among them, the villagers—from aristocrats to shopkeepers to peasants—cope as best they can. Some choose resistance, others collaboration, and as their community is transformed by these acts, the lives of these these men and women reveal nothing less than the very essence of humanity.

Suite Française is a singularly piercing evocation—at once subtle and severe, deeply compassionate and fiercely ironic—of life and death in occupied France, and a brilliant, profoundly moving work of art.

Download Description

Irène Némirovsky was born in Kiev in 1903 into a wealthy banking family and emigrated to France during the Russian Revolution. After attending the Sorbonne, she began to write and swiftly achieved success with her first novel, David Golder, which was followed by The Ball, The Flies of Autumn, Dogs and Wolves and The Courilof Affair. She died in 1942.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

Lost In Time.......2007-06-30

What a startling book! The reader has to be constantly cognizant that the book was being written while it was taking place - the author was living and writing in the same time frame. The Storm in June was moving and fast paced, as I begun Dolce I prepared myself that this book had no ending. The four other sequelles were lost in time and only Irene Nemirovsky knows the true ending. JMR

Suite Francaise.......2007-06-27

The book was interesting, but a bit confusing with so many charachters to keep track of. I thought the appendices were more interesting than the story.

YUCK.......2007-06-23

Sorry, but I can't believe anyone enjoyed this book. It was our book club pick for the month and halfway through I sent out an email asking for ANYONE to give me some hope to continue. No one could do it. It was difficult to keep track of the characters, and I didn't "care" about any of them, they just weren't developed enough.

Moving.......2007-06-16

Russian/Jewish author, Irene Nemirovsky set out to write a 4 or 5 part epic in 1939, just prior to WW2. She achieved only two of the books which were to make up her epic before being captured by the Germans and killed in Auschwitz concentration camp. Her surviving work, which was scribbled in tiny writing in notebooks, was somehow saved by her daughters and remained lost for over 50 years. This book is the first two sections of her work, unedited and without a final polish, nevertheless it is a masterpiece of simple yet superb writing, detailing the lives of various classes of Frenchmen, and how they all coped with bombing, evacuation, lack of food and amenities and the things which make up everyday life. Some of the so called upper classes do not come out of it smelling like roses, while the so called "noble peasants" appear brutish and ugly with selfish and animal like behaviour. When I started this book, I was expecting to read about acts of unspeakable cruelty, committed by the Gestapo but the author did not live long enough to write about these future events. The world has surely lost by not being able to read this lady's thoughts over the years of late 1941 and into 1942, as her writing is masterly yet simple and without any of the so called "clever tricks" that some writers aspire to in order to appear more brilliant. M/s Neminovsky writes without pretension and from the heart.

Excellent Depiction of the German Occupation.......2007-06-15

I was in a bookstore, and a woman was showing her friend this book and supplying him with some background information. She said, rather loudly, "I thought the book could have used an editor." Yes, well if that's her biggest criticism ...

Lack of editing or not, I couldn't put this book down until I finished it. "Suite Francaise" is extraordinary, not just because of the weighty story behind its birth but because of the way it was written. This is no story of the unsullied French pitched in territorial battle against the demonic Germans. That would have been too easy. Nemirovsky's characters and situations are complex, illustrated by how easily alliances can shift in the interest of self-preservation. (Nemirovsky does, however, prove herself to be a bit of a moralist.) I especially loved the first novella, "Storm in June." The descriptions of the people fleeing Paris a classic nailbiter. I'm also grateful for the appendices which outline some of Nemirovsky's ideas for the latter, unrealized sections of the book.

In a perfect world, Irene Nemirovsky would have lived and completed the novel; but in a perfect world, the events that led her to write this book wouldn't have occurred. I'm glad this book was found and is a testament to Nemirovsky's writing abilities as well as an addition to her legacy.

Average customer rating:

Life happens
wow
Passive writing
Whats in a Name...
Great book!

The Namesake: A Novel
Jhumpa Lahiri
Manufacturer: Mariner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Interpreter of Maladies
Water for Elephants: A Novel
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Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel
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ASIN: 0618485228

Amazon.com

Any talk of The Namesake--Jhumpa Lahiri's follow-up to her Pulitzer Prize-winning debut, Interpreter of Maladies--must begin with a name: Gogol Ganguli. Born to an Indian academic and his wife, Gogol is afflicted from birth with a name that is neither Indian nor American nor even really a first name at all. He is given the name by his father who, before he came to America to study at MIT, was almost killed in a train wreck in India. Rescuers caught sight of the volume of Nikolai Gogol's short stories that he held, and hauled him from the train. Ashoke gives his American-born son the name as a kind of placeholder, and the awkward thing sticks.

Awkwardness is Gogol's birthright. He grows up a bright American boy, goes to Yale, has pretty girlfriends, becomes a successful architect, but like many second-generation immigrants, he can never quite find his place in the world. There's a lovely section where he dates a wealthy, cultured young Manhattan woman who lives with her charming parents. They fold Gogol into their easy, elegant life, but even here he can find no peace and he breaks off the relationship. His mother finally sets him up on a blind date with the daughter of a Bengali friend, and Gogol thinks he has found his match. Moushumi, like Gogol, is at odds with the Indian-American world she inhabits. She has found, however, a circuitous escape: "At Brown, her rebellion had been academic ... she'd pursued a double major in French. Immersing herself in a third language, a third culture, had been her refuge--she approached French, unlike things American or Indian, without guilt, or misgiving, or expectation of any kind." Lahiri documents these quiet rebellions and random longings with great sensitivity. There's no cleverness or showing-off in The Namesake, just beautifully confident storytelling. Gogol's story is neither comedy nor tragedy; it's simply that ordinary, hard-to-get-down-on-paper commodity: real life. --Claire Dederer

Book Description

Jhumpa Lahiri's debut story collection, Interpreter of Maladies, took the literary world by storm when it won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000. Fans who flocked to her stories will be captivated by her best-selling first novel, now in paperback for the first time. The Namesake is a finely wrought, deeply moving family drama that illuminates this acclaimed author's signature themes: the immigrant experience, the clash of cultures, the tangled ties between generations. The Namesake takes the Ganguli family from their tradition-bound life in Calcutta through their fraught transformation into Americans. On the heels of an arranged wedding, Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli settle in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Ashoke does his best to adapt while his wife pines for home. When their son, Gogol, is born, the task of naming him betrays their hope of respecting old ways in a new world. And we watch as Gogol stumbles along the first-generation path, strewn with conflicting loyalties, comic detours, and wrenching love affairs. With empathy and penetrating insight, Lahiri explores the expectations bestowed on us by our parents and the means by which we come to define who we are.

Customer Reviews:

Life happens.......2007-06-27

For anyone who has ever been torn between two cultures, between love and family responsibility, between tradition and trail-blazing, this book will resonate. On one hand, it's a colorful and honest depiction of a family torn between native Calcutta and suburban Massachusetts, later New York City, but on a deeper level, this story is about the joy, regret, wonder and frustration of being part of a tight-knit family (both nuclear and manufactured). The characters are wonderfully real--and flawed--to the point where you understand that while Lahiri doesn't hand you a happy ending, she gives you something infinitely more satisfying.

Life happens. And this book is written as if it has been lived.

wow.......2007-06-21

I was so moved by the movie that I had to buy the book. The book was so much better than the movie. The movie I loved but this far surpasses it. I couldn't put it down and when I was done I wanted to start all over again!

Passive writing.......2007-06-21

I haven't read all the other reviews, so I may be repeating what others have said. The plot of this story is interesting, as are the characters. However, the author's writing style creates such a distance between the reader and the story that it's hard to get too connected to it. The story is mostly narrative, with very little conversation. Not much seems to happen directly, it is all told in the passive voice. This makes it really hard to feel for the characters. I would've liked this book much more if the writing style were different.

Whats in a Name..........2007-06-11

This is one of the few books that I have read that did not have to tie the title back into the story as it was inter woven all throughout the book. Its a effortless read and provides quite a bit of insight into struggles of immigrants and provides a very good perspective of understanding completely different priorities through the eyes of 3 completely different persons that share a very strong blood bond.

If you have liked the Kite Runner, Shantaram, The Bee Keepers Daughter, you will definitely appreciate this book.

I would recommend the book, but not the movie, the screenplay does not do justice to the literary content of the book.

Great book!.......2007-06-08

I loved this book. Great look into Indian culture. Couldn't put it down!

Average customer rating:

BUY IT!
Lush, deceptively poetic tripe.
Sensuous writing, loose construction
This should have been a short story
My favorite book of the past year

The Inheritance of Loss
Kiran Desai
Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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March
The Sea (Man Booker Prize)
Snow

ASIN: 0802142818

Book Description

Kiran Desai's first novel, Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard, was published to unanimous acclaim in over twenty-two countries. Now Desai takes us to the northeastern Himalayas where a rising insurgency challenges the old way of life. In a crumbling, isolated house at the foot of Mount Kanchenjunga lives an embittered old judge who wants to retire in peace when his orphaned granddaughter Sai arrives on his doorstep. The judge's chatty cook watches over her, but his thoughts are mostly with his son, Biju, hopscotching from one New York restaurant job to another, trying to stay a step ahead of the INS, forced to consider his country's place in the world. When a Nepalese insurgency in the mountains threatens Sai's new-sprung romance with her handsome Nepali tutor and causes their lives to descend into chaos, they, too, are forced to confront their colliding interests. The nation fights itself. The cook witnesses the hierarchy being overturned and discarded. The judge must revisit his past, his own role in this grasping world of conflicting desires-every moment holding out the possibility for hope or betrayal. A novel of depth and emotion, Desai's second, long-awaited novel fulfills the grand promise established by her first.

Customer Reviews:

BUY IT!.......2007-06-27

If you like excellent writing, character development from the inside out or a geopolitical canvas that stretches across time and space, buy it, read it, enjoy it.

Lush, deceptively poetic tripe........2007-06-25

The only reason I was able to finish this utter mess of a novel was the often sumptuous nature imagery, and even that had a vacuous core, for it possessed no connection to the characters and did nothing to create a cohesive tapestry of images that would ultimately make for memorability. Just a collection of pretty descriptions. And that, alas, is not enough to salvage this despicable, muddled excuse for literature.

The writing is pretentious and very one-sided- Kiran Desai is either lacking in the ability to produce more sophisticated descriptions, or deems her readers unworthy of more complex writing- writing that actually requires some thinking. Everything is spelled out. If someone is angry, Desai comes right out and says "he was drowning in anger". If someone is sad or lonely- well, you get the idea. Good writers don't do this. They are far more specific, more attuned to the minute details that actually bring a character to life and cause the reader to empathize with him/her, or at least to develop an idea of what the character is going through. There is also not enough justification- this book is filed with many 'lonely' or 'sad' or 'angry' characters, and yet, Desai never probes deep enough into their psyche- we never really come out with a clear indication as to WHY they characters are so damn miserable. That, to me, is lazy, careless writing. Vapid clichés abound on nearly every page, along with sweeping generalizations that are meant to tug at the heartstrings of the foolish, simple-minded reader.

All of the characters are one-dimensional caricatures. Desai fails to realize that empathizing with your characters- whether the reader chooses to or not- is one of the keys to successful writing. Otherwise, the novel falls flat- as is the case with The Inheritance of Loss.

This novel also aims to tackle far too much in very little space: revolutionary upheavals, love, betrayal, marital abuse, illegal immigration, racism, blahblahblah. Dostoyevsky spent 630 pages depicting the cause and effect of a single crime, and yet Desai seems to feel that one novel is enough to tackle about 50 different thematic issues. Needless to say, the subjects are handled in a very superficial manner- nothing is really developed, or brought to a close. At the end, I really didn't know (or care, for that matter) what this book was trying to say.

I honestly do not know what warrants a Booker Prize nowadays. But it sure isn't pure literary merit.

Sensuous writing, loose construction.......2007-06-20

From the first page the reader is struck by the extraordinary richness and brilliance of the author's imagery (though this is less consistent as the novel proceeds), and soon afterwards by the delineation the characters who are living in or near Kalimpong, under Kanchenjunga, the Himalayan peak on the border between India and Nepal. Living in an isolated house outside Kalimpong are Jemubhai Patel, a crusty, embittered and rage-filled retired judge who had withdrawn into this remote corner of India; his orphaned granddaughter Sai, for whom he needs has to provide a home and a tutor to teach her; and the judge's long-serving cook, who basks in the reflected glory of what the judge once was, and, above all, in the pride that he has a son, Biju, `working for the Americans', unaware of the menial jobs he is doing in New York as an illegal immigrant, along with the flotsam of other illegals from all over the Third World. With the exception of the cook, none of the book's main characters, especially the western-educated ones, really know where they belong when the clash of cultures becomes an issue.

For in that particular corner of India the Nepalese are the majority population, and the area is plagued by the rise and increasing activity of the Gorkha National Liberation Front with its demands for an independent Gorkhaland. Class is also an issue here. In the second half of the book, the activities of these people impinges on all the characters in the book: on the elderly middle-class and anglicised Indians in the area, but also on the unnamed poor caught between the violence of the rebels and the brutality of the police. The young are also affected: Gyan, Sai's tutor, is a poor but educated Nepali; and initially they are very much in love. One central part of the story is how Gyan becomes drawn into the liberation movement and what that does to the relationship between him and Sai.

All this could have made for a very strong story line; but around it are pages and pages which contribute nothing to the plot, but mainly paint people and places, mostly in India, but also in New York where the cook's son is working.

At the end, one strand of the story finds a moving resolution; but many other strands are left as loose ends: perhaps a symbol that for such conflicted lives as are pictured in these pages there is not likely to be a resolution.

Kiran Desai writes engagingly, and I did enjoy reading this book; but I found it rather self-indulgent, meandering, and too loosely constructed to be really satisfying. It won the Man Booker Prize in 2006, so the judges obviously did not feel the same.

This should have been a short story.......2007-06-20

This book dragged on and on and on. The entire novel consists of character development until the last couple of chapters. This book ends in the same style as her book "Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard"; there is no resolution, but it doesn't seem at all like she takes this tack in order to leave things up to the reader... she merely ends the book about 3 chapters shy of the actual end of the story. Unlike Hullabaloo, however, this book wasn't much fun, wasn't very clever, blah blah blah. The only reason I didn't give it one star is because I learned a little bit about Indian history.

My favorite book of the past year.......2007-06-18

Lyrical prose, excellent eye for detail, and great depth of insight and sense of nuance in human behavior. Don't bother with this book, though, if you regularly find yourself complaining about other works of 'high literature' that "nothing much happens" or "it's too depressing" -- you'll surely feel the same way about this book (but it is a wonderful piece of fiction, nonetheless).

Average customer rating:

Taut, Gripping Novel Makes Reader Think
Stradling realities and identities
Not too much about Fundamentalism...
Not quite about "fundamentalism"
almost great

The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Mohsin Hamid
Manufacturer: Harcourt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0151013047
Release Date: 2007-04-03

Amazon.com

Mohsin Hamid's first novel, Moth Smoke, dealt with the confluence of personal and political themes, and his second, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, revisits that territory in the person of Changez, a young Pakistani. Told in a single monologue, the narrative never flags. Changez is by turns naive, sinister, unctuous, mildly threatening, overbearing, insulting, angry, resentful, and sad. He tells his story to a nameless, mysterious American who sits across from him at a Lahore cafe. Educated at Princeton, employed by a first-rate valuation firm, Changez was living the American dream, earning more money than he thought possible, caught up in the New York social scene and in love with a beautiful, wealthy, damaged girl. The romance is negligible; Erica is emotionally unavailable, endlessly grieving the death of her lifelong friend and boyfriend, Chris.

Changez is in Manila on 9/11 and sees the towers come down on TV. He tells the American, "...I smiled. Yes, despicable as it may sound, my initial reaction was to be remarkably pleased... I was caught up in the symbolism of it all, the fact that someone had so visibly brought America to her knees..." When he returns to New York, there is a palpable change in attitudes toward him, starting right at immigration. His name and his face render him suspect.

Ongoing trouble between Pakistan and India urge Changez to return home for a visit, despite his parents' advice to stay where he is. While there, he realizes that he has changed in a way that shames him. "I was struck at first by how shabby our house appeared... I was saddened to find it in such a state... This was where I came from... and it smacked of lowliness." He exorcises that feeling and once again appreciates his home for its "unmistakable personality and idiosyncratic charm." While at home, he lets his beard grow. Advised to shave it, even by his mother, he refuses. It will be his line in the sand, his statement about who he is. His company sends him to Chile for another business valuation; his mind filled with the troubles in Pakistan and the U.S. involvement with India that keeps the pressure on. His work and the money he earns have been overtaken by resentment of the United States and all it stands for.

Hamid's prose is filled with insight, subtly delivered: "I felt my age: an almost childlike twenty-two, rather than that permanent middle-age that attaches itself to the man who lives alone and supports himself by wearing a suit in a city not of his birth." In telling of the janissaries, Christian boys captured by Ottomans and trained to be soldiers in the Muslim Army, his Chilean host tells him: "The janissaries were always taken in childhood. It would have been far more difficult to devote themselves to their adopted empire, you see, if they had memories they could not forget." Changez cannot forget, and Hamid makes the reader understand that--and all that follows. --Valerie Ryan

A Conversation with Mohsin Hamid

Set in modern-day Pakistan, Mohsin Hamid's debut novel, Moth Smoke, went on to win awards and was listed as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. His bold new novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, is a daring, fast-paced monologue of a young Pakistani man telling his life story to a mysterious American stranger. It's a controversial look at the dark side of the American Dream, exploring the aftermath of 9/11, international unease, and the dangerous pull of nostalgia. Amazon.com senior editor Brad Thomas Parsons shared an e-mail exchange with Mohsin Hamid to talk about his powerful new book

Read the Amazon.com Interview with Mohsin Hamid

Book Description

At a café table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with an uneasy American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful meeting . . .

Changez is living an immigrant’s dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by the elite "valuation" firm of Underwood Samson. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his infatuation with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore.

But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changez’s own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love.

Customer Reviews:

Taut, Gripping Novel Makes Reader Think.......2007-06-27

I can not remember reading such a simple story that managed to be so tightly paced and so loaded with prolonged, steady, suspense. The crafting is original and gripping, but that's only the half of why reading this short novel is so worthwhile.

Other reviewers here have given a lot of info on the plot, and I won't repeat it or produce any spoilers. I do want to address why this is a good book to read right now.

Readers (ostensibly westerners) cannot help but come away from protagonist's friendly storytelling without thinking at least a little differently about America's image in the world. War on Terror, Terrorism, Fundamentalism: the media and government use these terms to a point where we are numbed to the issues behind them. What better way to get a handle on what makes enmity, than to sit down and listen to someone in the position of enemy. Did America put this man in that position, or did he? It's not simple.

If you can't visit Pakistan, if you can't talk to a Pakistani, read this book.

Stradling realities and identities.......2007-06-24

I first saw and heard him six weeks ago at a book reading in the British Council in Delhi.

His name is Mohsin Hamid. He grew up in Lahore, Pakistan and studied at Princeton University and Harvard Law School, in the United States. When he came on the stage I saw a slight man, with receding hair, glasses and a quiet air. He was introduced by the British Council staff and began reading. His voice was pleasant to the ear and without accent.

Hamid read from the first chapter of his book, describing an on-campus interview with a large and successful firm that specializes in 'valuations' of firms up for acquisition.

The book is written in first person, as a conversation between himself and an American stranger he encounters in a cafe in Lahore. The conversation is his story and happens between dusk and nightfall. I too finished it in two hours, between 10 PM and 12 AM.

The story is about a young man, Changez, who is the amongst the best and brightest of his graduating class at Princeton, and his entry into the world of New York - his work, his meeting and getting to know a beautiful American woman called Erica, and his life in the exalted circles of the city, that Erica introduces him to. But, in the aftermath of September 11, his position in the city he has grown to love, changes. Erica slowly disappears into her ghosts of the past and he begins to see his work through a new lens. His identity shifts - unearthing allegiances more fundamental than power, money and love.

Hamids' transformation of Changez - from a middle class well educated young man to someone who begins to be more questioning of what he had adopted so readily - is easy to understand. It evokes a classic dilemma that provokes a choice - between the supposed freedom and democracy of America, to the dictatorship and restrictions of Pakistan. Is this the clash of civilizations?

Not really. But, it is a difference of realities and perceptions. And, this difference is hard to bridge. When events such as September 11 occur, they provide us with the opportunity to ask the most fundamental questions, of ourselves and those around us. Who am I? What do I stand for? What do I believe in? Who is my family, my community? What is my country?

People like Hamid and me, who span across at least two predominant cultures, are caught at the edge of each. Where do we belong? I like to think of myself as a person who is comfortable with a leg in each and yet I want my own identity. I won't let my country, family or people tell me what to think or how to behave. But, when I live in a culture that is predominantly the other, I may have to conform to that culture. I don't need to give up what I hold dear, but I need my ear to the ground in a way I don't in my own country.

Changez leaves America, his job, and that world. He returns to Pakistan and tries to make sense of what is happening around him. In many ways, he becomes more fundamental than he ever was. Very reluctantly.

The 184 page, double spaced book is riveting. It is sharp, the writing is tight and the descriptions perfect. Not an extra syllable is used and the pace of the narrative brisk.

This is Hamid's second book. His first, Moth Smoke was published in ten languages and won many awards. He also writes about politics from a Muslim perspective for Time, New York Times and the Guardian, among others.

Not too much about Fundamentalism..........2007-06-22

The story of the Reluctant Fundamentalist is a monologue by Changez, a Pakistani-born graduate from Princeton, to a visitor in his native town of Lahore.

The book is about Changez's change/realization, which transforms him from an American financial analyst from Princeton to an individual reintroduced to his cultural identity and family. The book begins when Changez accepts a job at a valuation firm and begins a relationship with an American girl named Erica. During the story, 9-11 occurs and the Indian-Pakistani conflict arises. Changez sees America's global role as one of self-interest and he feels as though he is leaving behind his natural culture and identity.

The Reluctant Fundamentalism does not delve into religious fundamentalism much at all, nor does it go into any detail about criticism of the United State's foreign policy. It focuses around Changez inner struggle, his relationship with Erica, his relationship with his work, and his continuing desire for resolution in his sense of identity.

Overall, an enjoyable, easy, and relatively quick read.

Not quite about "fundamentalism".......2007-06-20

Mohsin Hamid's second novel is more polished in prose and stylistic maturity than his first. Using the retrospective monologue as his narrative medium, Hamid has crafted a post-9/11 reflection of a young Pakistani male torn between his adopted identity in America and his ethnic lineage. However, like the protagonist of his first novel, Moth Smoke, the Reluctant Fundamentalist is also part of the Pakistani elite and must therefore be considered as a minor representation of culture and society in Pakistan. Indeed, even among the expatriate community, the character of Changez, as a debonair management consultant, transformed by workplace woes in New York is highly rarefied.

The smart play on the word "fundamentalist" that Hamid employs compares Wall Street "fundamentals" and "bottom-line" culture with the simplistic linear reasoning of the religious fundamentalists. But here is where we find the most significant missed opportunity of the novel. Absent from the narrative is any cogent reflection of theological underpinnings of fundamentalists cultures, apart from Changez's decision to grow a beard. Perhaps because of Hamid's own secular persuasion, he has conflated anti-imperialist sentiments of many secular Pakistani youth with "fundamentalist culture." However, the absolutist ideologies that radicals such as Muhammad Atta employed were most certainly infused with a contortion of theological logic. Granted that these males were "educated" in the West but the catalyst in their turn to radicalism was not merely anti-imperialist sentiments but rather a vituperative view of other Faiths.

As long as one is not mislead by the cover marketing of the novel and the cursory reviews that consider this a novel of terrorist transformation, readers will find this to be an engaging read of literary value

almost great.......2007-06-17

Hamid has a remarkable gift. His writing is concise, gripping, and intriguing. The Reluctant Fundamentalist is an impressive work unto itself due to Hamid's narrowly confining himself to a very limited structure. I have read several books that try so hard to be clever in their construction and all but a few of them fall flatly. This book however still manages to sing and hits every note that Hamid aims for with a solid strike.

The constraints placed on this novel are almost insurmountable. First of all, and most notable, is that Hamid chooses to tell this story as a one sided conversation in the first person. Every word here is spoken aloud from the protagonists point of view. The other side of the conversation is only referred to in response. Secondly, the entire story unfolds at a 'real time' pace. From dusk to early evening over a few drinks and a dinner, a life's history unfolds. These two major blocks that Hamid has chosen to set in his way from the outset do not hinder this story in the least. Instead, the unusual style manages to bring the reader into a place that is as unfamiliar as I think Hamid would like for us to feel about being in Pakistan.

One novella kept coming to mind as I read this story. It was 'Mezzanine' by Baker, a story that unfolds as a person takes a trip up an escalator to a mezzanine. Clever, well done, but not on par with this novel. Also, I kept thinking of all the undergrad English majors who aspire to write a book exactly this well conceived.

Where the Reluctant Fundamentalist falls a little, is not with Hamid's superior writing, but instead with his limited reach plot wise. I felt that his love story was a little on the simple side and I came not to care very much about it. I was looking over and over again to see if Hamid might be using the love story as a greater metaphor, like that his love was the USA rejecting him while not even seeing him. This book is all metaphore in a way, and can be disected to ones contentment on many levels. The only serious problem with the metaphore angle is that if you want something concrete or obvious, you wont find much to nail down that is very satisfying. I was underwhelmed towards the end in the manner that Hamid chose to wrap everything up. The final pages are great, they leave you in the dark and hanging on a 'what just happened?' Soprano's style thread.

I look forwards to many more Hamid books down the road.

Average customer rating:

Mildly entertaining
Emotional
This Book Will Touch You
A beautiful story
Bothersome in a necessary way

The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini
Manufacturer: Riverhead Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Rayovac Reading Light: Pillow Light (Colors May Vary)

ASIN: 1594480001
Release Date: 2004-04-27

Amazon.com

In his debut novel, The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini accomplishes what very few contemporary novelists are able to do. He manages to provide an educational and eye-opening account of a country's political turmoil--in this case, Afghanistan--while also developing characters whose heartbreaking struggles and emotional triumphs resonate with readers long after the last page has been turned over. And he does this on his first try.

The Kite Runner follows the story of Amir, the privileged son of a wealthy businessman in Kabul, and Hassan, the son of Amir's father's servant. As children in the relatively stable Afghanistan of the early 1970s, the boys are inseparable. They spend idyllic days running kites and telling stories of mystical places and powerful warriors until an unspeakable event changes the nature of their relationship forever, and eventually cements their bond in ways neither boy could have ever predicted. Even after Amir and his father flee to America, Amir remains haunted by his cowardly actions and disloyalty. In part, it is these demons and the sometimes impossible quest for forgiveness that bring him back to his war-torn native land after it comes under Taliban rule. ("...I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded, not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night.")

Some of the plot's turns and twists may be somewhat implausible, but Hosseini has created characters that seem so real that one almost forgets that The Kite Runner is a novel and not a memoir. At a time when Afghanistan has been thrust into the forefront of America's collective consciousness ("people sipping lattes at Starbucks were talking about the battle for Kunduz"), Hosseini offers an honest, sometimes tragic, sometimes funny, but always heartfelt view of a fascinating land. Perhaps the only true flaw in this extraordinary novel is that it ends all too soon. --Gisele Toueg

Book Description

The timely and critically acclaimed debut novel that's becoming a word-of-mouth phenomenon...

Download Description

"Taking us from Afghanistan in the final days of the monarchy to the present, The Kite Runner is the unforgettable, beautifully told story of the friendship between two boys growing up in Kabul. Raised in the same household and sharing the same wet nurse, Amir and Hassan nonetheless grow up in different worlds: Amir is the son of a prominent and wealthy man, while Hassan , the son of Amir's father's servant, is a Hazara, member of a shunned ethnic minority. Their intertwined lives, and their fates, reflect the eventual tragedy of the world around them. When the Soviets invade and Amir and his father flee the country for a new life in California, Amir thinks that he has escaped his past. And yet he cannot leave the memory of Hassan behind him. The Kite Runner is a novel about friendship, betrayal, and the price of loyalty. It is about the bonds between fathers and sons, and the power of their lies. Written against a history that has not been told in fiction before, The Kite Runner describes the rich culture and beauty of a land in the process of being destroyed. But with the devastation, Khaled Hosseini also gives us hope: through the novel's faith in the power of reading and storytelling, and in the possibilities he shows for redemption."

Customer Reviews:

Mildly entertaining.......2007-06-29

Doesn't live up to the hype but a reasonable way to kill some time. Not boring but not great literature either.

Emotional.......2007-06-28

The Kite Runner has a plot that is fabulously woven together between cultures and countries. In-depth character development always makes for a great book. I yearned to fight kites and try to catch the kite that is cut. I felt I could see the Afghan way of life and their land. I could feel the emotion or lack there of as needed by the characters. This is another book that had me captured from the beginning and wanting more.

This Book Will Touch You.......2007-06-28

I was probably about 20 pages into this book when I realized I had something special in my hands. Before I was half-way done with the book, it easily ranked as one of my favorite books of all time. By the end, that thought was solidified even more so. You have to experience this book for yourself. Nothing anyone can say can do justice to the story and the emotion found in "The Kite Runner". It is, to put it simply, truly phenomenal.

A beautiful story.......2007-06-28

Beautiful, heartfelt, heart wrenching, enlightening: these words only begin to describe the impact of "Kite Runner." Reading this book you learn a lot about the recent history of Afghanistan. You learn what her people are like, and you learn what fate befell them. All of this is communicated through the eyes of a very "real" young man (by which I mean he's very human with his hopes, lies, dreams, mistakes, and secret emotions). This is a book about a true friendship, and about cultural understandings and misunderstandings. This is a book for all parents, children, friends, and lovers. Note: I wouldn't give this to read to anyone under the age of fifteen or sixteen given some scenes with severe violence. I knew I'd love this book from the minute I read the first paragraph. If I could give this book seven stars, I would.

Bothersome in a necessary way.......2007-06-27

It's haunting! It's fantastic! You will ache! You will rejoice! I needed to add my name to the thousand person list that gave this book 5 stars.

As an oblivious reader I have the luxury of being totally shocked with every twist in a storyline and it happens regularly here! Amir, one of the main characters as well as the narrator, is relentless with his ability to make bad decisions. It's amazing how hopeful and desperate Hosseini allows us to become, giving Amir an abundance of opportunities to right his wrongs and how he fails us repeatedly. You want Amir to be a hero, you want him to save us from the disturbing way you can identify with him.

This book is incredibly bothersome in such a necessary way, we are educated about culture, custom, honor and politics in unforgiving detail. If you have the emotional energy consider this a "must read".

Average customer rating:

Both nuanced and gripping!
Refreshing
A fascinating read
Needs maturing
Distaff anthropologist goes native, missionaries suffer.

Fieldwork: A Novel
Mischa Berlinski
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0374299161
Release Date: 2007-02-06

Book Description

A daring, spellbinding tale of anthropologists, missionaries, demon possession, sexual taboos, murder, and an obsessed young reporter named Mischa Berlinski

When his girlfriend takes a job as a schoolteacher in northern Thailand, Mischa Berlinski goes along for the ride, working as little as possible for one of Thailand’s English-language newspapers. One evening a fellow expatriate tips him off to a story. A charismatic American anthropologist, Martiya van der Leun, has been found dead—a suicide—in the Thai prison where she was serving a fifty-year sentence for murder.

Motivated first by simple curiosity, then by deeper and more mysterious feelings, Mischa searches relentlessly to discover the details of Martiya’s crime. His search leads him to the origins of modern anthropology—and into the family history of Martiya’s victim, a brilliant young missionary whose grandparents left Oklahoma to preach the Word in the 1920s and never went back. Finally, Mischa’s obssession takes him into the world of the Thai hill tribes, whose way of life becomes a battleground for two competing, and utterly American, ways of looking at the world.

Vivid, passionate, funny, deeply researched, and page-turningly plotted, Fieldwork is a novel about fascination and taboo—scientific, religious, and sexual. It announces an assured and captivating new voice in American fiction.

Customer Reviews:

Both nuanced and gripping!.......2007-06-18

This is the best piece of contemporary fiction I have read in quite some time. It is an absolute thrill to discover a smart and complex novel that is also compulsively readable. I'm baffled by the ambivalence of the PW review -- Fieldwork is HIGHLY suspenseful; a complete page-turner (at one point, I was so absorbed that I missed my subway stop and didn't notice for ten minutes). It's easy to see, then, why Stephen King chose it as a discussion point in his (mostly rightful) critique of the painful divide between popular and literary fiction; Fieldwork indeed problematizes these genres by writing a thriller that could also easily be taught in universities (in Anthropology and English courses alike).

Please do yourself a favor and pick up this entertaining read immediately.

Refreshing .......2007-06-09

This was a fast and enjoyable read. Although the story does appear to drift in places, these digressions ultimately add to the story and character development. Using the example cited by a previous reviewer, the background story on the Walker family made them 3-dimensional and sympathetic characters. I wanted to know more about them. 9 out of 10 authors would have treated these people as caricatures. Same can be said of all the characters in this book. I found them and the story very believable.

I look forward to more work by this author.

A fascinating read.......2007-06-01

I was really glad that Stephen King recommended this book, or I most likely never would have discovered it. It is every bit as fascinating as he said it would be. I really felt as I was seeing Thailand through Mischa Berlinski's eyes. That the author is so young surprised me. That is is a story within an anthropological tale, and somewhat autobiographical is intriguing.

Needs maturing.......2007-05-30

Mr. Belinski has an engaging, educated, nice-to-read prose. But that alone can't make up for the lack of assertiveness of this book's plot. It is as if the author sometimes weren't sure of his plot choices, and to mitigate that effect delivers the events in a diluted, multi-page series of digressions.
Most of those digressions are to-the-point and informative, therefore welcome. But when Mr. Belinski errs, he errs hard.
For example, I am sure that his unnecessarily long, 50-page account of the Walker family genealogical tree cost him half his readership.
Which is a pity because, when he wants, when he is bold enough to make choices, the author makes a very good reading.
I was so annoyed by the lack of assertiveness of the book, by how fuzzy the narration of crucial events becomes, that I stopped reading a few pages before the end.
That said, I am sure that Mr. Belinski is a writer to seriously take into account and I will look forward to more novels of his, but I can't simply forgive him for the time he made me waste on this one.

Distaff anthropologist goes native, missionaries suffer........2007-05-23

Personally I had a hard time finishing the book. I really felt like the proverbial slow-boat to China.

I accept that this is a well-written book, but why all the raves? IT WAS SLOWWWW. Is it really that hard to get a well-written book that moves at a slightly faster pace?

WARNING: PLOT SPOILERS!!

I mean, what do we have here? Man hears story about Western woman in Thai prison for murdering missionary. Man discovers the story of woman and missionary. Murder is explained. In this, it sounds a little like Rudyard Kipling's "Kim." But, my God, the differences. Kipling keeps you wanting to find out, and in the end you're left asking for more. With this, everything's nicely tied up after what feels like a slow, langorous boat trip. Maybe that's what Berlinski was going for. If so, bravo, the atmosphere and pacing are perfect. But damn! It's hard to keep engaged.

Average customer rating:

Our book club loved this book
exquisite writing -- and the only short stories I've ever adored
Disappointed
Touching tale
Remarkable, Insightful and ... Outstanding

Interpreter of Maladies
Jhumpa Lahiri
Manufacturer: Mariner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 039592720X

Amazon.com

Mr. Kapasi, the protagonist of Jhumpa Lahiri's title story, would certainly have his work cut out for him if he were forced to interpret the maladies of all the characters in this eloquent debut collection. Take, for example, Shoba and Shukumar, the young couple in "A Temporary Matter" whose marriage is crumbling in the wake of a stillborn child. Or Miranda in "Sexy," who is involved in a hopeless affair with a married man. But Mr. Kapasi has problems enough of his own; in addition to his regular job working as an interpreter for a doctor who does not speak his patients' language, he also drives tourists to local sites of interest. His fare on this particular day is Mr. and Mrs. Das--first-generation Americans of Indian descent--and their children. During the course of the afternoon, Mr. Kapasi becomes enamored of Mrs. Das and then becomes her unwilling confidant when she reads too much into his profession. "I told you because of your talents," she informs him after divulging a startling secret.

I'm tired of feeling so terrible all the time. Eight years, Mr. Kapasi, I've been in pain eight years. I was hoping you could help me feel better; say the right thing. Suggest some kind of remedy.

Of course, Mr. Kapasi has no cure for what ails Mrs. Das--or himself. Lahiri's subtle, bittersweet ending is characteristic of the collection as a whole. Some of these nine tales are set in India, others in the United States, and most concern characters of Indian heritage. Yet the situations Lahiri's people face, from unhappy marriages to civil war, transcend ethnicity. As the narrator of the last story, "The Third and Final Continent," comments: "There are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept." In that single line Jhumpa Lahiri sums up a universal experience, one that applies to all who have grown up, left home, fallen in or out of love, and, above all, experienced what it means to be a foreigner, even within one's own family. --Alix Wilber

Book Description

Navigating between the Indian traditions they've inherited and the baffling new world, the characters in Jhumpa Lahiri's elegant, touching stories seek love beyond the barriers of culture and generations. In "A Temporary Matter," published in The New Yorker, a young Indian-American couple faces the heartbreak of a stillborn birth while their Boston neighborhood copes with a nightly blackout. In the title story, an interpreter guides an American family through the India of their ancestors and hears an astonishing confession. Lahiri writes with deft cultural insight reminiscent of Anita Desai and a nuanced depth that recalls Mavis Gallant. She is an important and powerful new voice.

Customer Reviews:

Our book club loved this book.......2007-06-18

Our book club loved this book. We enjoyed comparing the emotions evoked by each individual story and how the stories crossed cultures. Our hostess was very thorough and served Indian foods for an authentic atmosphere. We each had a different favorite story. Some of us read the book sequentially, others picked short stories randomly. We would recommend jotting down your thoughts after each story if you are planning a discussion.

exquisite writing -- and the only short stories I've ever adored.......2007-06-05

I am really not a short story person. I always feel cheated somehow by the lack of chapters and can never immerse myself in the characters because I know the storys ending is imminent. After reading Interperter Of Maladies all I can say is that I would read a thousand short stories by this immensely gifted author. I don't know extactly how she does it (it almost feels like magic the way she lures you in on the first page)and can keep you rivited, sated, and completely spellbound until each luminous tale ends. She is a master of detail, restraint, and while reading her stories I would often have to pause, the way you pause in front of an astonishingly beautiful painting. I couldn't just tear through them. Each sentence is a masterpiece -- not too much, not too little -- and when a story ends it feels like you've just consumed a 5000 page novel. Ms. Lahiri tugs you into her characters lives so competely and skillfully that it seems impossible to believe that you've only been with them for 20 pages. This book deserved to win. It is a treasure and I cannot wait to read more from this fantastically talented writer.

Disappointed.......2007-05-16

After reading the laudatory reviews and seeing that the book won the Pulitzer, I was expecting a book of truly engaging short stories. I'm a short story reader. I was expecting John Gardner or Maugham or Carver, or maybe an Indian version of Angela's Ashes, in short, I expected to be deeply touched, but the problem was that too many of her characters were uninteresting people. I don't know if it was a matter of them being intellectually passive, but the stories seemed to surround people who were morally boring or uncompelling thinkers. I like reading stories about doers of deeds and thinkers of big thoughts, and all of her stories were reminiscent of "American Beauty," if it had been played about by the Indian diaspora, small self-absorbed people with petty concerns, or about people who have attached themselves to small, self-absorbed people with petty concerns. I think I understood the overall themes underlying her muted tones, but there is something prozaic about the sensibilities of her characters that disappoints.

I put down the book thinking, "These are not the kind of people with whom I'd like to spend any serious time, except maybe Bibi."

Touching tale.......2007-05-08

Loved this story. So well written and hard to put down. The reader will become steeped in the culture of India, and feel a connection with self.

Remarkable, Insightful and ... Outstanding.......2007-05-04

In the normal course of our lives, we do and experience many things, some are remarkable whereas some others mundane and trivial. For Jhumpa Lahiri trivialities are not mundane nor is remarkable necessarily so. In her Pulitzer Prize winning compilation of short stories Interpreter of Maladies, she with exquisite clarity captures the essence of many aspects of life that we all see and yet do not.

Nine stories have numerous characters but one consistent and persistent theme. They all capture the essence of life's diverse shades and hues as witnessed by Indians in US and India. Lahiri writes with subdued passion but an eager eye for detail, a combination likely to enthrall the readers who find life engaging. Minor aspects of the lives of her characters find their way into the hearts of readers via a narrative that does not essentially seek a crescendo or climax but instead relies on the very vitality of the experience.

Indeed a lack of a climax that usually provides a cathartic release is mostly missing in these stories. Remarkably, these stories are outstanding because of this, and not in spite of it. There are moments in which there is an urge to skim towards the end but that will defeat the very purpose of reading Interpreter of Maladies because the essence here is the narrative and not some unusual twist of imagination that would intrigue the reader.

An extremely readable collection of insightful commentaries on everyday life.

Average customer rating:

Great Read
Childish
Cloying, Sexist Self Help Book disguised as Lyrical Fiction
This is a really positive book.
Nothing new

The Alchemist (Plus)
Paulo Coelho
Manufacturer: HarperSanFrancisco
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0061122416
Release Date: 2006-04-25

Book Description

Paulo Coelho's enchanting novel has inspired a devoted following around the world, and this tenth anniversary edition, with a new introduction from the author, will only increase that following. This story, dazzling in its powerful simplicity and inspiring wisdom, is about an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried in the Pyramids. Along the way he meets a Gypsy woman, a man who calls himself king, and an alchemist, all of whom point Santiago in the direction of his quest. No one knows what the treasure is, or if Santiago will be able to surmount the obstacles along the way. But what starts out as a journey to find worldly goods turns into a discovery of the treasures found within. Lush, evocative, and deeply humane, the story of Santiago is an eternal testament to the transforming power of our dreams and the importance of listening to our hearts.

Customer Reviews:

Great Read.......2007-06-28

I got the book by chance so I had not heard any of the hype. I have never read a "self help" book and I don't think I would say that this is a "self help" book. Great advinture and perserverence are several of the virtues of this great book. A good read for anyone who has ever wondered what if in their life.

Childish.......2007-06-26

I bought this book because of all the hype surrounding it. Sadly this is nothing more than a children's book. I agree with the other reviewers who put it in the same class as those disdainful self-help books. I think it's a good book for an adoloscent, but hardly something an adult would derive any value from. The book is full of meaningless generalizations and stereotypes. I suspect the only reason it became so popular was because it was written by an 'Exotic' Brazilian. Had the author been John Smith, nobody would care about it.

Cloying, Sexist Self Help Book disguised as Lyrical Fiction.......2007-06-19

I need to start out this review by stating that 1) I can't stand self-help books and 2) I'm a feminist (no, I don't hate men- some men are quite awesome, but I am very conscious of women and our place in the world.)

I got this book because I heard amazing things about it from friends, and also from the great reviews. I'm also a fantasy novel fan, so I was expecting a lyrical uplifting fantasy novel. Instead, I found a trite, presumptive, sexist self-help book.

Short summary (mild spoilers): A boy named Santiago follows his 'Personal Legend' in traveling from Spain to the Pyramids in Egypt searching for treasure. Along the way, he learns 'the Language of the World' the 'Soul of the World' and discovers that the 'Soul of God' is 'his own soul.'

If the statements in quotes above ('personal legend', etc) fascinate you, then you'll enjoy this book. If you think they are hokey and silly, then you'll think this is a terrible book. If you think statements such as "When you want something, all the universe conspires you to achieve it" and "All things are one" are moving and life-changing, you'll love this book. If such statements have you rolling your eyes, then this isn't your cup of tea.

As other reviewers have stated, none of the new-age 'wisdom' Coelho offers is new: Follow your dreams, follow your heart, we're all one, we are world, etc.

Its not that I find anything wrong with these messages, in fact, they are important, but must be balanced with responsibility. In my experience, 'following your dreams' (or personal legend) is not the only way toward wisdom and strength. Is the person who struggles to put food on the table every day for his or her family, consciously realizing that he or she may not be following his or her 'personal legend' any less heroic than some traveler who leaves everything and everyone he or she is responsible for to go on a spiritual quest, or to find treasure? Coelho comes very close to labeling such people, who sacrifice so much for their loved ones, as losers in life, which I find deeply insulting, and frankly, completely off the mark, as some of these people have the most to offer in terms of wisdom and experience.

The issue of responsibility (or lack thereof) is also part and parcel of this book's sexism. The main male characters in the novel have 'Personal Legends' - they are either seeking them, or have achieved them, or have failed to achieve them. But Coelho never mentions 'Personal Legend' with regard to women, other than to say that Fatima, Santiago's fiance, is 'a part of Santiago's Personal Legend." Thats all fine and well, but what about her own Personal Legend? Instead of traveling to find her dreams, she is content to sit around, do chores, and stare everyday at the desert to wait for his return. This is her 'fate' as a desert women (versus Santiago's 'fate' is to follow his Personal Legend). The fact that women don't have Personal Legends is even more galling considering the fact that according to Coelho, even minerals such as lead and copper have Personal Legends, allowing them to 'evolve' to something better (ie, gold).

In ideal world presented in THE ALCHEMIST, it seems clear that the job of men is to actively seek out their personal legend, leaving aside thoughts of family and responsibility, and its the job of women is to let them, and pine for their return. Of course, someone has to do the unheroic, inconvenient work of taking care of the children, the animals (like Santiago's sheep), the elderly, the ill...If everyone simply goes off on spiritual quests, deciding they have no responsibility other than to seek their Personal Legends, no one would be taking responsibility for the unglamorous work that simply has to take place for the world to run.

On the other hand, what if both men and women are allowed to struggle towards their 'Personal Legends,' and help each other as best as they can towards them, but recognize that their responsibilities may force them to defer, compromise, or even 'sacrifice' their dreams? This may seem depressing, but it isn't necessarily. Coelho seems to think that Personal Legends are fixed at childhood (or at birth, or even before) and are not changeable: they have to be followed through to the end, no matter how silly. But in my experience, many people have chosen to adjust, compromise, and even 'give up' on their dreams, only to find that life grants them something better, or they have a new, better dream to follow, a path providing greater wisdom. For me, these people have a more realistic, more humble, more fair, and less cliched vision of the world than Paulo Coelho's vision in THE ALCHEMIST.

Why not one star? I admit that I did get through it and at places, it was mildly interesting. Also, to tell the truth, it did help me focus more on my Personal Legend, (which certainly is not the same as it was when I was younger!) and did start me thinking about what I could do to do start on the path towards its achievement...in a responsible fashion.

This is a really positive book. .......2007-06-17

It starts out with a really interesting tale about a Sheppard in Spain, in a year that was probably a long time ago, but is still relevant to today.

I was worried when I first saw the Capitalized Words, because usually that's a signal it's an Awful Book. But, the book ended up being cool--really cool. The author talks about Personal Legends. They are the thing that you really wanted when you were a kid, but the thing that's still relevant today. It's kind of like who you really are, deep down in your soul, and what you should pursue. It's a cool concept, and the book has quite a few cool concepts like that. They're all presented in the form of a story about a Sheppard who decided to pursue what he really wants in life.

So this book talks about embracing your dreams, letting go of your fears, and doing what you are really meant to be doing. All in a very, very positive way.

And, as a side note, I think that everyone but me has read this book. Well, now me, too. Tons of people came up to me when I was reading and said, "That's a really cool book." I've only had that happen once before with one other book and five different people came up to me to talk to me about their experiences with this book.

Nothing new.......2007-06-14

The premise of this book is simple and often repeated -- follow the urging of Spirit and life will open in magical ways. A nice little re-telling of this theme but very Catholic Church in its message that men (only) would have wonderful spiritual adventures if only women didn't hold them back. Not worth reading except as an introduction to the world of following your intuition.

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