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Mystery is often more alluring than knowledge. A fictional memoir of the legendary American-born beauty Virginie Gautreau, the subject of John Singer Sargent's famous 1884 painting, Portrait of Madame X, Gioia Diliberto's I Am Madame X risks dashing cold water on one of the loveliest and most persistent mysteries in Western art history: what the model is thinking. Following in the footsteps of Tracy Chevalier's Girl with a Pearl Earring, though with much more historical documentation at her disposal, Diliberto gives voice to a woman whose memory rests on this single painting. A gem of Belle Époque Paris, Virginie Gautreau had fled Louisiana with her mother during the Civil War. Married at a young age to a French banker, she attracted every kind of attention with her unusual beauty and her daring fashion sense. Her affairs were widely whispered about. Diliberto presents a vivid picture of Virginie's life and times, and brings to life one model's troubled but stimulating relationship with the artist who immortalized her. --Regina Marler
Book Description
When John Singer Sargent unveiled Madame X -- his famous portrait of American beauty Virginie Gautreau -- at the 1884 Paris Salon, its subject's bold pose and provocative dress shocked the public and the critics, smashing Sargent's dreams of a Paris career. In this remarkable novel, Gioia Diliberto tells Virginie's story, drawing on the sketchy historical facts to re-create Virginie's tempestuous personality and the captivating milieu of nineteenth-century Paris. Born in New Orleans and raised on a lush plantation, Virginie fled to France during the Civil War, where she was absorbed into the fascinating and wealthy world of grand ballrooms, dressmakers' salons, and artists' ateliers. Even before Sargent painted her portrait, Virginie's reputation for promiscuity and showy self-display made her the subject of vicious Paris gossip.
Immersing the reader in Belle Epoque Paris, I Am Madame X is a compulsively readable and richly imagined novel illuminating the struggle between Virginie and Sargent over the outcome of a painting that changed their lives and affected the course of art history.
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"The life of Virginie Gautreau, the notorious beauty of Madame X, John Singer Sargent's most famous and scandalous portrait, provides inspiration for this absorbing and intriguing novel. Madame X caused an immediate furor when Sargent unveiled it at the 1884 Paris Salon. The subject's bold pose, provocative dress, and decadent pallor shocked the public, and the critics panned the picture, smashing Sargent's dream of a Paris career. The artist soon relocated to England, where he established himself as the favorite portrait painter of the wealthy. In this remarkable novel, Gioia Diliberto tells Virginie's story, drawing on the sketchy facts of Virginie's life to re-create her tempestuous personality and the captivating milieu of nineteenth-century Paris. Born in New Orleans to two of Louisiana's prominent Creole families and raised at Parlange, her grandmother's lush plantation, Virginie fled to France with her mother and sister during the Civil War. The family settled in Paris among other expatriate Southerners and hoped, through their French ancestry, to insinuate themselves into high society. They soon were absorbed into the fascinating and wealthy world of grand ballrooms, dressmakers' salons, luxurious country estates, and artists' ateliers. Because of Virginie's striking appearance and vivid character, her mother pinned the family's hopes for social acceptance on her daughter, who became a ""professional beauty"" and married a French banker. Even before Sargent painted her portrait, Virginie's reputation for promiscuity and showy self-display made her the subject of vicious Paris gossip. I Am Madame X is a compulsively readable immersion in Belle Epoque Paris. It is also the story of a great work of art, illuminating the struggle between Virginie and Sargent as they fought to control the outcome of a painting that changed their lives and affected the course of art history. "
Customer Reviews:
Review of X.......2007-06-25
I Am Madame X is a novel about Virginie Gateau's life as she tells it. She explains her beauty, her beliefs, her family, and the history durignthe time where she lives.
Gioia Diliberto's purpose for this novel is to teach an audience that enjoys a sad romance about history and how some people in those times lived through it. If the author is arguing , she must be defending the idea that Americans of the time were not the proud, snotty, arrogant, culture corrupters that the French thought them to be and that women are not worthless after they give themselves way out of married. The support to her believe that Americans are not all bad, come from some of the characters themselves. Virginie Amelie Gautreau and John Singer Sargent were born in( or their parents were from) the U.S.A. but came to France and totally supported the French, living their lives to please the French with their beauty and artwork. Neither John or Virginie ever tried to force American culture on the French people they knew, or steal from the fame of other French people. Virginie's life shows that she totally supported the culture of the French, she rarely ever spoke English and believed herself to be French at heart. Event though Virginie gave her virginity away at such a young age and despite her mother's predictions of a miserable life because of her promiscuity, Virginie got married, was respected by many people, and had may lovers. Just by showing a character who beat the stereotypical beliefs, Gioia's wins her arguments by example.
I think that Gioia Dilberto did a fabulous job of meeting the objectives of teaching her audience about France during and after it's civil war, portraying the characters thoughts and actions throughout the novel, and writing a based on real people novel that is not entirely exposé.
My conclusions about the novel are that it is a great book not only for those who are interested in romance and history, but also those who want to know more about a women's feelings toward beauty and other women who are more beautiful then she. This book gives a taste of the life of wealthy people who lived in France and America. It is a taste of history through exciting and emotional fiction. It shows the power of peer pressure on adults, and that idea is not openly portrayed enough.
I really enjoyed the novel, it would be even better if the real Virginie was able to deal with her emotions better, but that is how she lived. I definitely enjoyed the book and would recommend it anyone I know who likes to read about other people's lives. Even with Virginie's depressing bitterness and pain, I give this book four and a half drops.
an evocative historical novel..........2006-05-31
Madame X was a beautifully written and well researched novel. As someone who has just started reading historical fiction, and as a reader who wants the accuracity to not bog down the enjoyment of the story-I found Madame X to be both informative and very exciting.
Especially well written were the chapters set during and post civil war New Orleans, followed by the characters "fish out of water" feelings as an expatriate in Paris.
A quick, enjoyable novel, highly recommended to beginning fans of historical fiction.
4.5 stars.
Enjoyable but not exceptional.......2005-09-20
Some reviews have compared this book to Girl with a Pearl Earring or The Virgin Blue. I liked Chevalier's stories much better...richer characters, deeper storyline. I read this entire book and mostly enjoyed it. I was never tempted to give up on it. But, on the other hand, I was not moved by it. The characters were hard to relate to....vapid, hysterical, social climbing, shallow, etc. Those are the words that come to mind. The character of the lame Aunt Julie was my favorite. She seemed genuine and strong. If you read this book, you'll probably like it but if you don't read it you haven't missed reading a GREAT book.
Marvelous Fiction.......2004-08-17
Sometimes, one must wonder about the synchronicity of energy in the universe. First, STRAPLESS, a joint biography of artist John Singer Sargent and his most famous subject, Virginie Gautreau, is published. Virtually on the heels of STRAPLESS comes I AM MADAME X, a fictionalized biography of the same Virginie Gautreau.
To be sure, I AM MADAME X is the easier of these two books to read, and it tells a marvelous tale. Still, since it openly is fiction, it is difficult to discern where historic fact ends and author Gioia Diliberto's fertile imagination has taken over the purportedly first-person report. Though Diliberto's scholarship seems excellent, there is no doubt that she has fabricated backstories to explain some of the recognized events in Virginie's life.
There is her detailed explanation of Virginie's strange marriage, and a subplot about an American black woman who has moved to Paris and is trying to pass as white. How true any of these anecdotes may be are impossible for the reader to know.
Too, the author's conclusion as to the pleasure that Virginie and her family derived from Sargent's famous painting is in direct contradiction to the details offered in the non-fictional biography.
Nonetheless, I AM MADAME X provides one of the best "contemporaneous" accounts of the Paris Commune of 1870, and of the emergence of the Belle Epoque period.
Taken together, STRAPLESS and I AM MADAME X offer wonderful insight into the late 19th Century Parisian social set.
Tres Amusant.......2004-05-11
Please forgive my spotty HS French(see above)but I thought that was a good way to describe this story about the beautiful woman behind the "infamous" Madame X portrait by Sargeant. I realize it was historical fiction and was glad that the author carefully explained it at the end of the book. Still,however,her "Madame" does emerge as a flesh & blood woman. Not always likeable,but very engaging and very much her own person. The descriptions of 19th century Paris are also vivid and realisitic. And the painter himself,J.S Seargant is depicted as eccentric but exacting in what he wants from his subject Finally, all that fuss over a painting which by todays standards is diginifed and evena bit chaste shows how far we've come since that time! If you liked "Girl With The Pearl Earring" you would probably enjoy this book as well...
Customer Reviews:
Spangler shines in this her best tale!.......2004-10-01
There are some hot names in Futuristic/Sci-Romance today, but to those who embraced the sub genre years ago, you will know one name was there leading the way: Catherine Spangler. She just gets better and better with each book in her Shielder series - Shielder, Shamara, Shadower, Shadow Crossing and Shadow Fires (Dorchester Publishing). Shadow Crossing, I think is my favorite of all her talented works. I just love the premise!
Celie Cameron was raised in a rough part of the Universe, saw horrors done to her family that have left their scars, deep scars. Now, after escaping through a worm whole with other Shielders, she is a smuggler, skirting on the edge of the law in Quadrant 9. In the past two years, she has been more legit - okay, boring. Her deliveries are almost always legit, there is no need for laser blasting, fights with The Controller ships. So when she lands, delivering her next shipment on time, she is caught off guard by the condition of the planet where she lands. The place are slums, and it smells of trouble. In fact, the whole place smells.
She has little time to consider this appalling condition, because she discover Raven, has stolen away and plans on having an adventure with Calie. Nineteen, Raven is a Shielder, an orphan, who had been sold into slavery by the Anteks. Nessa and Chase rescued her (Shielder; Lovespell 1999) and raised her as their daughter. With the apprehension over the planet's condition, and now the burden of worrying over Raven, Celie just wants to make contact with Max, her client, get her money and "get the hell out of Dodge" before something bad happens.
She meets Rurick, who she thinks is Max. The sexy man, with the golden eyes, turns out to be Max's android. One made to look just like Max. Max, Rurick, Calie and Raven and making the transfer of merchandise, when they are attacked. Max saves Raven, and Calie and Rurick escape into Max's ship. Calie is upset, leaving her ship behind means she has nothing, but Rurick and Max refuse to return Raven and her. Calie soon learns that Max and Rurick are on an important mission to fight an ever-growing evil.
I cannot reveal more without ruining the delightful tale. It's Spangler at her very best. Max and Rurick are both sexy, hunks, but with a great sense of humor that keeps you smiling at their antics, especially as Raven falls for the stoic Max, and Calie lets down her walls of fear to let Rurick near.
So if you love high-flying Sci-Romance, then don't hesitate. This is one super read.
Very highly recommended.......2003-12-04
There was a time when Celie Cameron smuggled contraband all over the quadrant, surviving by wit and bravado. Now with Shielders safely settled in a new quadrant, questions of inequality and poverty seem to be solved. That is, until Celie takes an illegal shipment to the planet of Joba. The government certainly has failed to eliminate poverty and need on this desolate planet. And when she tries to make her delivery, things go dangerously wrong.
Shocking discoveries once rocked Rurick and shook the foundation of his beliefs when he realized the failure of the Interstellar Council to uphold the life quality codes they established. Poverty and disease are rampant, and he intends to do what he can to help the planet of Altair. Indeed, he fears how many might die before he can bring much needed supplies. Then gunfire forces Celie, her assistant Raven, his robot, and himself to retreat to Rurick's ship, leaving Celie's ship behind. Celie soon finds herself intrigued by the robot that seems almost human, especially when she learns of his pleasure programming. But she and Rurick both have secrets and one is that Rurick dare not reveal his true identity.
Author Catherine Spangler's gift for memorable futuristic romance absolutely sparkles in SHADOW CROSSINGS. While it works just as well as a standalone, SHADOW CROSSING takes its part in the series of books about Shielders with aplomb. As always, Spangler populates her universe with characters readers come to love. Celie and Rurick share a powerful passion even as they work at cross purposes. Seemingly insurmountable differences present challenges they most overcome. Secondary plots likewise dazzle, especially with the return of fan favorites from previous novels. An absolute reading pleasure, SHADOW CROSSING comes very highly recommended.
Android or Human.......2003-09-18
This was the first Catherine Spangler book I have read, and it prompted me to by the rest of her series. This book has a multitude of twists and turns, some subtle and some not. The first bing Rurick, posing as an android to hide the fact that he is the Prince of Jardonia. He and Celie start into a relationship that is rocky at best. And later in the book when it comes into the light that he is really the prince and not his andriod double, Max, who he was poising as, things really start to get rocky.
This book was a great read, with intreging secondary plots. It pulls in other charitures from her other books to show the continuation of thier lives. And although they get off to a rocky start the book gets better and better as you continue to read. Action and adventure, life and death, love and lust, all play into this intreging story line that I couldn't put down untill I was finished!
The one thing I will say aginst this book is that I didn't think they went far enough into the betrail of his friend to full empasize the deep hurt it caused. It seemed more to me as the meens of a way to tie things all together at the end. I would give this book 4.5 stars but they didn't have that option. It is still a great read!
Celie's story.......2003-08-18
We've read of Celie in earlier books of the Shadower series, and here at last the young girl is grown up and gets a story of her own.
Celie had spent much of her youth as a smuggler, and although she's gone all respectable, she misses the rush of danger and risk. She's got her own craft now, and the deliveries she makes are scheduled and routine. But her longing for adventure is about to be answered in the form of Rurick. He's a prince of a guy, and has been artificially cloned in the form of a replica android, as his life is one of risk. Celie is drawn into his world, and they go through much adventuring together. But Celie's life has never been easy, and there is no way she will fit into his. She's hiding a devastating secret - or at least she thinks she is - but more than that, unlike android Max, she's just not built for royalty. She has to be true to herself, and Celie can't see herself fitting into Rurick's lifestyle.
For those that have read the earlier Shadower novels, here's a chance to read Celie and even Raven's stories. I found that while it rounded the series off nicely, it's the least favourite of the series as much of the dangers faced by the Shadowers has been overcome. But it's nice to have all the ends tied up, and I'm glad Celie's story has been told.
Fun, Exciting, Wonderful, Sensual.......2003-08-07
The third book set in a science fiction world. I loved them all. Read also Shadower and Shamara. There's a double romance here which makes it extra special. I liked the new little alien life discovered by Rurick and Celie although it didn't have much to do with the story -- it was just cute and did allow the main characters to make a point or two.
Rurick pretends to be an android as a security measure since he is really a crown prince. Celie is a smuggler with a good heart. Never boring -- never slow. It was great from start to finish and it was good to see older characters again.
Customer Reviews:
A grueling account.......2004-08-21
Englishmen Ranulph Fiennes and Mike Stroud together made four failed attempts on the North Pole. Their major success was an expedition both inwardly expected to fail - the unsupported (carry everything) crossing of Antarctica.
There had already been an unsupported trip to the South Pole. Indeed, as they were making their crossing, the Scandinavian explorer Erling Kagge - who claimed the first unsupported trip to the North Pole, disputed by his rivals Stroud and Fiennes - was making the first solo unsupported trip to the South Pole.
The crossing of the Antarctic continent, however impractical, was the next logical goal. This account, and another by Fiennes entitled "Mind Over Matter," stress the grinding wear and tear on the human body, the bleak, black thoughts that accompany every labored step, and the life-threatening hazards of weather, crevassed terrain and starvation.
The difference in their stories is entirely point-of-view and personality.
Fiennes, the leader, sounds a practical, matter-of-fact note - his appendices on leadership, equipment, history and topography are nearly as long as his personal account. Stroud, the younger and smaller man, is more volatile and impassioned, resentful of the very notion of leadership in a two-man expedition.
They began the trip unsure that they would even be able to budge their sledges - loaded with 485 pounds of food, fuel and equipment. "It would be so embarrassing if, once in our harnesses, our efforts came to nought and the sledges refused to budge," says Stroud.
After four hours they had moved only a couple of miles on their 1,700 hundred mile journey. And the next day they had their first equipment failure - a thermos that left one of the major respites of their day, hot soup, cold and full of gelatinous fat globs.
On they went. Sails, parachutes inflated by the wind, had been an early bone of contention between them. Stroud was insistent, Fiennes, dubious about their usefulness and the added weight, agreed reluctantly. On their first try both found them terrifying and exhilarating.
Says Stroud, "Compared with the toil of manhauling, to be pulled forward at high speed was a delight so intense that to ignore it, merely because it was difficult and dangerous, was near impossible."
And Fiennes, "After a hectic ten minutes of being dragged over ice ridges, crossing ski tips and being struck in the back by the sledge....I suddenly spotted a blueish shadow some forty feet ahead."
Fiennes threw himself to one side. Stroud, used to seeing his companion fall, started to go around. Going too fast to stop, he plunged into the crevasse. Says Fiennes, "Appalling thoughts crowded my mind: chiefly how I would explain Mike's death to his wife and mother."
But Stroud had landed on a precarious snow bridge. The description of extricating him and his sledge is harrowing. The sledge was permanently but not crucially damaged. On they went.
Black thoughts, with no other outlet, turned on one another. Their chief friction was pacing. Stroud believed Fiennes was going slower than necessary because of brooding over his age (47); Fiennes believed Stroud was wasting energy by going too fast and later attributed hypothermic episodes to this depletion. Both experienced intense anger toward the other, most of which they avoided expressing except in their diaries.
Consuming 5,200 calories a day, they were using 6,000 to 8,000, even 10,000. Slow starvation far outpaced the lessening of weight on the sledges. Because of Stroud's medical record keeping, (ironically described in greater daily detail by Fiennes) chemical changes and physical debilitation were documented with appalling exactitude.
Both were subject to digestion problems, chronic frostbite infections, sores from chafing clothing and harnesses, skin damage from the depleted ozone layer, blindness from white-outs and from the absence of anything to focus on. But starvation was chief among their troubles, leading to muscle loss (even of the heart muscle) as well as every bit of insulating fat.
When Fiennes finally called a halt after Stroud experienced several life-threatening bouts of hypothermia and hypoglycemia they had crossed the continent, although not the ice shelf which intervened between continent and ocean. They had succeeded, raising millions (at a penny per mile) for the Multiple Sclerosis Society, accomplishing major physiological research and being first to cross the continent unsupported. This, despite all the practical, idealistic reasons given, was their reason for going, a reason incomprehensible to most of us.
Both books are well-written, expressive of separate personalities undergoing the same grueling physical and mental hardships. Both acknowledge they could not have made it without the other, for mental reasons as well as physical. Both are riveting accounts of exploration in a place few of us ever wish to go.
There are two sides to every story.......2002-11-04
Adverturers come in all shapes and sizes - of ego, that is! And this book is an excellent opportunity to see the diversity of people who succeed at extremely challenging outdoor pursuits. I thoroughly enjoyed this account from a relatively modest style of person, who took on and succeeded at a challenge, the difficulty of which left me aching and bleary eyed just thinking about it.
In an era where many traditional sports have taken on some kind of "extreme" variant, this book defines "extreme" in a way that makes other pursuits pale by comparison. I was gripped that it provided an interesting insight into what life is like when you take on the genuinely extreme challenge.
People that merely, say, base jump from a helicopter onto the top of a snow-covered mountain in order to snowboard from apex to base, are amateurs compared to these chaps. They - voluntarily! - walked across the Antarctic continent via the South Pole just because they thought they could. Of course, they did raise a legendary amount of money to benefit research into multiple sclerosis, but that is not central to the story told in this book.
Mike Stroud gives one side of the story, in a manner that reveals his concerns over his own fallibility, whilst at the same time providing a case study in how an apparently ordinary bloke does an extraordinary thing. He is clearly not the ego-on-two-legs-type that many imagine these guys would be - but the writing reeks of someone committed to his views and those views involving a huge amount of thought. So, despite a self-effacing style, he seems unlikely to lack belief in himself - despite acute and moving accounts of his struggles to retain focus on a harrowing and debilitating slog across the most incredibly inhospitable tract of terrain. I liked the fact that he did things well beyond ordinary, despite not being ten-foot-tall-and-bulletproof the way we imagine many of these guys to be!
The other side of the story is told by his trek partner, Ranulph Fiennes (Sir, actually, with a bunch of that English stuff about being a Baronet and all), in his book "Mind over Matter". In many respects of style and personality, he is most things that Mike Stroud is not, so anyone with a picture of the larger-than-life-ego-on-two-legs kind of adventurer might well here some bells ringing when they read this account.
The contradictions between the two accounts are not black and white, but, in the shades of grey, there was enough interest at the time of their publication to put them both into that elite class of public figures - where they were the subject of a newspaper cartoonist's pen. Another thing that I like about Stroud's account is that he highlighted this, rather than papering over it.
Frankly, I liked Fiennes' account of the trip as well, but it was more predictable in a curious sort of way. Possibly the most can be gained from Mike Stroud's book when Fiennes' acount is read also - classic stuff where neither is completely right or wrong, and that is probably less important in any case than gaining a picture of how you are seen by others, or how divergent your image of yourself can be from that harboured by close colleagues.
This book - and Fiennes' - may well give you an appetite for more along the same lines, if you don't have one already! Try reading "The Worst Journey in the World" by Apsley Cherry-Garrard, or "Home of the Blizzard" by Douglas Mawson.
Enduring endurance.......2000-01-26
A fascinating epic with all the hardships and truths told. An honest account of human mental and physical strengths and weaknessness. At times it unecessarily draws you into the on going ego battle between Stroud and Fiennes.
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Crossing the Bar/Head/Our Lady of Shadows: Head ; Our Lady of Shadows (Seren Drama)
Lucy Gough
Manufacturer: Seren Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 British | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | 18th Century | 19th Century | 20th Century | Classics | Contemporary | General | Historical | Humor | Letters & Correspondence | Middle | Old | Poetry | Renaissance | Shakespeare | Short Stories
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ASIN: 185411266X |
Average customer rating:
- Wonderful Travelogue on Southeast Asia
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Crossing the Shadow Line
Andrew Eames
Manufacturer: Hodder & Stoughton General Division
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Travel | Writing | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0340421487 |
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful Travelogue on Southeast Asia.......2000-04-21
The author's tales of travel and adventure bring to life the beauty and simplicity of traveling off the beaten path. An inspiring read.
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Crossing the Shadow Line: Travels in South-East Asia
Andrew Eames
Manufacturer: Hodder & Stoughton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Asia | History | Subjects | Books | Afghanistan | Armenia | Bangladesh | Belarus | Bhutan | Brunei | Cambodia | Central Asia | China | Far East | General | Georgia | Hong Kong | India | Indonesia | Japan | Korea | Laos | Malaysia | Maldives | Mauritius | Mongolia | Myanmar | Nepal | Pakistan | Philippines | Russia | Seychelles | Singapore | South Asia | Southeast Asia | Sri Lanka | Taiwan | Thailand | Tibet | Turkey | Vietnam
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ASIN: 0340398620 |
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Crossing the Shadow-Line: The Literature of Estrangement
Martin Bock
Manufacturer: Ohio State Univ Pr (Txt)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
20th Century | British | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
British | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0814204716 |
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Shadow Crossing
Lea Harper
Manufacturer: Black Moss Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
20th Century | Poetry | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Poetry | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
British | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | 18th Century | 19th Century | 20th Century | Classics | Contemporary | General | Historical | Humor | Letters & Correspondence | Middle | Old | Poetry | Renaissance | Shakespeare | Short Stories
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ASIN: 0887533469 |
Book Description
In this second collection after the successful All That Saves Us, praised by critics as being "timely and unique," and winner of the LaPointe Prize, Lea Harper turns her attention to the subtleties in how experience shapes our attitudes. The signature of the past bares witness in the present. For example, a life is overshadowed by the sudden appearance of one's birth mother. Or a daughter grapples with her origins of 'mixed' blood, or a country struggles with dual allegiances. Harper, a Juno nominee two years ago for her songwriting, has performed all over Canada, the U.S., Jamaica and South America. Her poetry has appeared in journals and magazines all over the world. Writer Ronnie Brown wrote of her this way: "Harper is a perfectionist. In her talented hands poetry becomes a scalpel with which she deftly excises all the darkness, disease and decay beneath the surface of things and lays it on the lines for all of us to read..."
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Shadow's Crossing
Toni V. Sweeney
Manufacturer: Amazon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
Magic & Wizards | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
All Shorts | Amazon Shorts | Stores | Books
General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Amazon Shorts | Stores | Books
Magic & Wizards | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Amazon Shorts | Stores | Books
All Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Amazon Shorts | Stores | Books
ASIN: B000FIL1CS
Release Date: 2006-04-20 |
Book Description
“Shadow's Crossing” was originally a chapter in a sword-and-sorcery novel but was so complete in itself that I deleted it from the manuscript to make it into a short story. I wanted to produce a story in which Death was shown to be affected by the lives he took—lives taken not vindictively, but because it was his duty—and rather than being strengthened by them, he was weakened by each soul he gathered. Death also shows mercy (and feels empathetic to) the various people he touches, from the infant he allows to live, to the ferryman to whom he shows his gratitude in an unusual way.
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- GREAT STORIES; AVERAGE STORYTELLING
- Murder and War between the scientists and the fanatics
- Ben Bova at his best and worst...
- Seedy, immature, sloppy
- a pleasant read
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Moonwar H
Ben Bova
Manufacturer: Eos
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
United States
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| 18th Century
| 19th Century
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| Collections & Readers
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| History & Criticism
| Humor
| Jewish American
| Letters & Correspondence
| Native American
| Poetry
| Short Stories
| Women Writers
Bova, Ben
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ASIN: 0380973030 |
Amazon.com
Ben Bova can really turn out the space sagas. Moonwar, the sequel to Bova's popular 1996 Moonrise, continues the story of Douglas Stavenger, the Kennedy-esque scion of Moonbase's founding dynasty. Moonbase is flourishing under Stavenger's management, but its existence--and Stavenger's very life--depends on nanotechnology, outlawed on Earth in response to a wave of Luddite fear and violence. United Nations peacekeepers arrive on the moon to enforce the anti-nanotech laws, accompanied by intrepid network news reporter Edith Elgin, who promptly falls for Doug. In the meantime, Doug's mother Joanna chooses to return to Earth, but once there she's held hostage by the secretary-general of the UN, who wants Doug to surrender to his forces (and be killed). Smarmy politicians, beautiful TV babes, calculating corporate barons--it's like Washington in the space age, with nonstop action and cool technology.
Book Description
Moonbase rose up like the Phoenix out of the lunar dust-- a new society thriving on an inhospitable world battling the bitter enmity of powerful Earthside foes for the right to exist.
Now it's total war.
MOONWAR
This is our future.
Ben Bova sees it as dearly as if it were outside his window.
A Hugo Award-winning extrapolator--the best-selling explorer of Mars--Bova thrills us with the astounding possibilities of science and technology. But it's his humanism that sets Ben Bova's SF uniquely apart. His characters live and breathe, captivating us with their dreams, their foibles and their distinctly human crises. Armed with these potent weapons, he leads us into MOONWAR--the second book in his monumental Moonbase Saga for a life-or-death confrontation in the magnificent desolation of a harsh and airless world.
Seven years after the remarkable Stavenger family made Moonbase a reality, a substantial community lives, labors and flourishes under the leadership of Doug Stavenger, thanks to the wonders of nanotechnology--virus-size machines that can build, refine, cure, create. . .and destroy. But the science that sustains and supports the young off Earth colony has been declared illegal and immoral by the home planet's rulers. And one man with the power to dictate policy is launching war's madness across the heavens--determined to lay claim to Stavenger's peaceful city or obliterate it if necessary--forcing an isolated society with no arms or military to defend itself with nothing but ingenuity and the tools that built and maintain the settlement.
Customer Reviews:
GREAT STORIES; AVERAGE STORYTELLING.......2005-03-11
I shall write of both "Moonrise" and "Moonwar."
These are the stories of Moonbase, a permanent lunar settlement built by an American corporation in the mid-21st century. These tales chronicle the political and societal tension wrought by unpopular scientific endeavors, and the unforeseen consequences thereof. The books portray a future wherein a new fascism creeps across the entire globe, embraced by a superstitious public, and at dire odds with the free-thinking scientists living on the Moon--men and women who journeyed there to escape the shackles of Earthside ignorance and fear. You will find intrigue, betrayal, villainy, sexual bartering, rugged individualism, and even love within these books' pages.
But Ben Bova's vocabulary is disappointing. His dialog is often uninspired and even predictable. His narrative, his pacing, his exposition, his character development, and even his plot development are all very Saturday matinee. Even worse, his understanding of relationships is shallow.
But what gets these books off the ground and keeps the reader till their last pages is Ben Bova's love of space exploration. The man fervently believes that space exploration will benefit all of mankind, and not just the bureaucrats or big business. When Ben Bova describes an exclusively astronomical scene, his passion is undeniable. In the first book, there's a scene wherein an 18-year-old walks upon the lunar surface for the first time, and it borders on epiphanous. Ben Bova brings the Moon's unique beauty into sharp focus; sometimes, you can actually feel the regolith beneath your boots. It's this passion, I believe, that makes these books worth reading--in spite of their shortfalls.
Murder and War between the scientists and the fanatics.......2004-02-06
Moonbase has expanded, and now is host to over two thousand employees and researchers. Doug Stavenger lives on Moonbase as Earth is too dangerous for him because the Luddite extreemist factions are out to kill anyone who uses nanotechnology.
The UN is determined to stamp out use of Nanotechnology on the surface, but thier ulterior motives are to gain controll of Nanotechnology for use as they see fit.
Moonwar is a bit predictable, and the 'bad guys' are just way too disfunctional as people to have attained the positions of power in government they have achieved. The 'New Morality' which is quickly gripping the world in a theocracy, opposes nanotechnology, and will use Murder and terrorism to attain thier goals.
Soon, forces culminate into a battle at Moonbase, those in Moonbase thwarting two different attacks and flushing out suicide bombers. It's a bit too easy for them though.
Overall, a nice book if you've read the first one, but not as realistic as it could be, and not very beliveable.
Ben Bova at his best and worst..........2003-11-16
MOONWAR exemplifies Ben Bova at both his best and his worst. As a sci-fi thriller, it is near first-rate. Moonbase continues to face resistance from Earth's nano-Luddites-religious fanatics who fear the nano-tech used to sustain the luna colony-and from U.N. Secretary General Georges Faure, who has an agenda of his own. Bova keeps the action and suspense rolling, as the hero of both this and the previous Moonbase novel, Doug Stavenger, struggles to counter these overwhelming odds. Bova proves something of a master of page-turning suspense, keeping his reader on the edge of the seat. Unfortunately, Bova seldom develops his characters beyond anything more than the bare bones, one-dimensional heroes and villains in whom it is very difficult to invest emotionally, even when their lives are on the line. Faure remains a moustache twirling villain throughout the novel when he could well have been developed into a complex figure of real politick. Stavenger proves a near Christ-like entity, finding himself resurrected again and again thanks to the nano-bugs introduced into his system in the previous novel. Worse is Killifer, a vindictive former Moonbase employee, who becomes so monstrous in his actions that he rivals Greg Masterson, Doug's ludicrously evil half-brother from MOONRISE. It is frustrating that a writer with such a great sense of pace and suspense should indulge again and again in such unsatisfying plot devices. As a prose stylist, Bova has his strengths-terse and immediate at times, lavishly descriptive at others-but weaknesses, as well. His physical description of characters especially-laden with tried and stale observations-almost always make me wince. One female character is "vigorous and feisty" with "steel-gray eyes," another has "Texas cheerleader's looks," another is a "petit brunette with video-star looks." On the other hand, Bova's descriptions of the luna surface and of Moonbase's infrastructure are often masterful and enthralling, though there is more of both in the first novel than the second. Both Moonbase titles are quick, decent reads, but lack the sense of real wonder that Bova captures in his Mars novels.
Seedy, immature, sloppy.......2003-06-30
Very standard b-grade thriller fare, cf. Tom Clancy.
Maybe it has a big turnaround, but I couldn't push myself much past the first hundred pages.
Cardboard characters that are described as massively intelligent and resourceful, yet are lucky to exhibit the maturity and insight of adolescents. The arch-villain is supposed to be smart enough to have fooled basically everyone on earth to run a virtual world government, yet he's utterly transparent. Oh, and he casually hits on a sexy reporter, forcing her to sleep with him to get access to a story she wants - as if he's not actually handing her a much bigger story/blackmail threat. It's gratuitously playing to the seedy crowd.
The premise is that only our hero and his supporters on the moonbase understand that the new 'nanotechnology' - viruslike micro-organisms that can be used to build rocketships and furniture and cure diseases - is good, but the whole world has been fooled by the villain into thinking they're bad. It only works for that high-school Adrian Mole stage where you do still think that no-one understands except you.
Oh, and of course this nanotechnology gibberish means that Bova can suddenly pull out any magic trick - 'hey, they can make us invisible' - as if it's part of a coherent plot. As with fantasies where wizards can suddenly pull out spells we've never heard of at no cost, ultimately there is no suspense. And the only thing going for this book (no character, no humour, no insight, no wit - maybe he does good action that I never got to) is suspense (even down to titling each chapter as a countdown). The SF aspect just gives Bova a chance at a particular market - perhaps wise financially, but he abuses the genre to give more licence to sloppy plotting.
a pleasant read.......2003-06-06
Simply said: its enjoyable bedtime reading. The author presents interesting ideas and believable concepts without delving too much into _boring_ detail.
Average customer rating:
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Moonwar
Ben Bova
Manufacturer: Avon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OP161I |
Average customer rating:
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Moonwar
Ben Bova
Manufacturer: Avon Eos
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000VAJZNC |
Average customer rating:
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Kabbalat Shabbat: Welcoming Shabbat in the Synagogue (My People's Prayer Book: Traditional Prayers, Modern Commentaries Series)
Manufacturer: Jewish Lights Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1580231217 |
Book Description
This stunning work, an empowering entryway to the spiritual revival of our times, enables all of us to claim our connection to the heritage of the traditional Jewish prayer book. It helps rejuvenate Jewish worship in today's world, and makes its power accessible to all.
Vol. 8--Kabbalat Shabbat (Welcoming Shabbat in the Synagogue) features the authentic Hebrew text with a new translation designed to let people know exactly what the prayers say. Introductions tell the reader what to look for in the prayer service, as well as how to truly use the commentaries and to search for--and find--meaning in the prayer book.
Framed with beautifully designed Talmud-style pages, commentaries from many of today's most respected Jewish scholars from all movements of Judaism examine Kabbalat Shabbat from the perspectives of ancient Rabbis and modern theologians, as well as feminist, halakhic, Talmudic, linguistic, biblical, Chasidic, mystical, and historical perspectives.
Commentators:
Marc Brettler - Our Biblical Heritage
Elliot N. Dorff - Theological Reflections
David Ellenson - How the Modern Prayer Book Evolved
Ellen Frankel - A Woman's Voice
Alyssa Gray - Our Talmudic Heritage
Joel M. Hoffman - What the Prayers Really Say
Lawrence A. Hoffman - History of the Liturgy
Reuven Kimelman - Kabbalah
Sharon Koren - The Context of Kabbalah
Lawrence Kushner and Nehemia Polen - Chasidic and Mystical Perspectives
Daniel Landes - The Halakhah of Prayer
Wendy I. Zierler - Jewish Feminism
Customer Reviews:
Rabbi Hoffmann.......2007-05-07
I first bought book No.#7 Shabbat At Home. I'm half-Jewish and related to Christian Swedish Royalty. I thought by buying this book, Welcoming Shabbat Synagogue. That I would finally be allowed to go to Shuel, a Temple or a Synagogue without the threat of being treated like a cranial and falsely accused of being after Jewish Girls, because they already have a male full Jewish Soulmate.
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