Average customer rating:
- In her shoes.
- All the Hype
- the human bond
- A compelling pathology
- Gripping and strange.
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The Piano Teacher: A Novel
Elfriede Jelinek
Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0802118062 |
Book Description
The Piano Teacher, the most famous novel of Elfriede Jelinek, who was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Literature, is a shocking, searing, aching portrait of a woman bound between a repressive society and her darkest desires.
Erika Kohut is a piano teacher at the prestigious and formal Vienna Conservatory, who still lives with her domineering and possessive mother. Her life appears to be a seamless tissue of boredom, but Erika, a quiet thirty-eight-year-old, secretly visits Turkish peep shows at night to watch live sex shows and sadomasochistic films. Meanwhile, a handsome, self-absorbed, seventeen-year-old student has become enamored with Erika and sets out to seduce her. She resists him at first, but then the dark passions roiling under the piano teacher's subdued exterior explode in a release of sexual perversity, suppressed violence, and human degradation.
Celebrated throughout Europe for the intensity and frankness of her writings and awarded the Heinrich Böll Prize for her outstanding contribution to German letters, Elfriede Jelinek is one of the most original and controversial writers in the world today. The Piano Teacher was made into a film, released in the United States in 2001, was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes.
Customer Reviews:
In her shoes........2007-02-04
This book depicts a woman who grew up in a company of a controlling mother, who kept her in rigid boundaries. She's been deprived of everything a normal girl has while growing up. No clothing, no games, no friends, no loving tender family. Thus she constantly has to suppress her feelings and sexual drives. This abuse forms her into a person with confused, hurt psyche, cut from the world, and totally disconnected from her own emotional world as well. And because she does not understand her own feeling, she has no empathy for other people at times as well. She torments her students and Klemmer, a man who happens to step into her life. Since her relationship with her mother is based on love and hate at the same time, she is used to being tortured by someone she loves. And she projects this pattern of relationship into her connection with Klemmer. She has an anomalous and confused understanding of a relationship. She expects to be hurt on one hand, and on the other hand she is terrified of being hurt. And so this confusion of hers develops into a tragedy. It does, because Klemmer is an ordinary guy with normal perception of the world. Just like a normal society responds to anomaly, so does he, with disgust. He's hurt himself and to restore his inner balance, he revolts and ends up acting violently himself.
I love this book, because not many creators manage to delve deep into a psychology of anomalous behavior so well. Jelinek makes her life personal. Society often mistreats abnormal people, responding to them with mistrust and repulsion. That happens because we do not understand them. This book is a chance to see up close what it is like to live a life of a deviant. Now we're in her shoes.
All the Hype.......2006-10-26
From a Nobel-Prize-winning novel, I expected a whole lot more than this. Am I amiss for expecting greatness? Instead, this novel is confusing and hard to follow, and not in an incompetent reader sort of way. The novel pushes the envelope with its hyperbolic discussion of male sexuality and the male tendency/necessity to gaze at the female. Maybe in the height of the feminist-crazed, literary world, this translation from German was all the hype.
Reviewed by Jonathan Stephens
the human bond.......2006-07-24
Elfirede Jelinek approaches her subject, the human bond, with a brutal honesty that cuts to the heart of what it is to be human. This book focuses on the social creature and its struggle to become reconciled with the inexplicable pull of human relationships. Jelinek pushes past the safe comfort zone as she delves into the psyche of a distrubed woman and explores the nature of the character's interactions and relations with others--namely, her mother and her lover. What she finds is that the bonds that create also often destroy. It is in this struggle to define the self through its ties with others that one moves into dangerous terrain where the lines easily become blurred, so that it is difficult to tell where one person ends and another begins, where trust becomes vulernability and love a violation.
A compelling pathology.......2006-06-13
This is a difficult book, though gruesomely compelling in its exploration of psychological and sexual pathology. Erika Kohut, in her late thirties, is a piano teacher at what is clearly the extension division of the Conservatory. A failed concert pianist, she has been brought up under the total control of her mother, who still shares a bed with her. But Erika has a fantasy life of her own, and when she attracts the attention of a much younger student, her fantasies and the young man's interests collide, dragging both down into a mire of perversion.
The first hundred pages are the most difficult, since they set up the background for what follows. Jelinek writes in a dense but colloquial prose style that mingles various strands of psychic monologue, sometimes dealing with the past, sometimes the present, sometimes occupying a dream world, sometimes almost literal, so that the reader is forced to let go of all normal landmarks. But by the time the actual narrative takes hold, one has been mesmerised into following the story from the inside of the characters' minds rather than as a series of external events. That in itself is quite an achievement.
Jelinek was herself a student at the Vienna Conservatory, so she knows what she is talking about in musical matters. Music is used as a constant frame of reference, though more frequently as a demanding taskmaster than a romantic escape. But while all this rings true to a professional musician (I am one myself), I do not think that the metaphors would be lost to those without a musical background. On the other hand, do not read this book expecting a window on a glamorous world; there is very little glamor in Erika's life, and her service to music is no exception.
Elfriede Jelinek was the 2004 Nobel laureate in literature, but I recall that it was a controversial choice. Though her voice is unique and compelling, it is difficult for an outsider to place her among the greatest authors alive today. So I suspect that this novel can also be read as a political statement, in terms of what the Nobel citation called "the absurdity of society's clichés and their subjugating power." Unfortunately, I do not know enough about modern Austria to know whether the story of these three particular characters can be seen as an expressionist metaphor for the Austrian psyche, or as a lurid parallel to events in postwar history.
Gripping and strange........2006-04-28
Took me seven days to read this book, in the midst of living in two houses, working two full-time jobs, and exercising 2 days a week.
The author depicts Erika as a human, with needs and urges, as a child, with vulnerabilities, and as a teacher, a commanding force in the classroom.
The characterization is swiftly done, of the mother, Erika, and the student. She does a great job of switching back and forth between characters yet remaining in the first person.
A must read for anyone with a kinky side to them, as there is an intriguing edge to it sexually.
Average customer rating:
- Great Early Work of Weis
- Excellent!
- Excellent
- Another great novel!
- The second book in a great trilogy
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Doom of the Darksword (Darksword Trilogy, The)
Margaret Weis , and
Tracy Hickman
Manufacturer: Spectra
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0553271644
Release Date: 1988-05-01 |
Book Description
Born without magic, Joram was one of the Dead, denied the throne of Merilon. For years, he lived among outlaws, surviving by wit and sleight-of-hand. Now, wielding the powerful, magic absorbing Darksword, Joram retums to the enchanted Kingdom that once was his home to win revenge and claim his birthright. Here he will test Bishop Vanya and his fierce army of Duuk-tsarith in a battle unlike any their world has known. Joined by the scholarly catalyst Saryon, the young mage Mosiah, and the trickster Simkin, Jorma confronts the shattering secret of his past and discovers the ancient prophecy that puts the fate of the world in his hands--the hands that forged the Darksword.
Customer Reviews:
Great Early Work of Weis.......2004-09-05
This is a second book in a trilogy (most recently a fourth one was added... but it's not technically part of the series). Anywho~ It further develops the story. I would say it is appropriate for ages 10+. It's fun-loving and easy fantasy reading. I have read the series three times. Margaret Weis's books got me "into" fantasy several years ago. The flow of the story is smooth and the new twists and characters are excellent. If you haven't read the first of the series, you'll be a little lost, so go find yourself Forging the DarkSword. =) If you're looking for a taste of early Margaret Weis, this series is it. Might I also recommend The Rose of the Prophet series...
Excellent!.......2004-03-28
The scene between the Prince and Jarod is fantastique! Getting yer just desserts eh punk??? A MUST READ!
Excellent.......2004-02-04
The second of the Darksword Trilogy is as excellent a read as the first.
I won't go into plot details. You'll have to read this set for yourself, but I promise you, you won't be disappointed!
Another great novel!.......2003-05-15
The second installment of the popular Darksword novels takes Joram, Saryon, Mosiah, and Simpkin through an unexpected twisting and turning of events. Our party leaves the Sorcerer's camp for the city of Merilon, where Joram plans to seek his birthright. On the way, they meet Prince Garald of Sharakan, who takes the time to help Joram in a way no one has yet been able to. Merilon brings many hardships for the group; Saryan is suffering with internal conflict to the point he is constantly ill, while Mosiah feels out of place and is eager to leave the city. Joram is eager to seek his fortune, but falls in love in the midst of everything. Simpkin, of course, is doing what Simpkin does best -- being himself.
Doom of the Darksword is an intriguing sequel, rife with action, suspense, and deception, including the amusing Illusion of a Thousand Mosiahs. A riveting climax is built through the event commerorating the Dead Prince and culminates in the unexpected Turning to Stone. Joram learns his true birthright and Saryan finally finds peace. Weis and Hickman have written another brilliant novel, one that touches the heart and leaves you begging for more.
The second book in a great trilogy.......2003-02-13
In this book Joram is taught how to respect people of power. Saryon battle inside him is growing. Should he turn over Jorman or should he join Joram in finding out the truth behind the dark arts. The search for this knowledge will cost one of the main character's life. More proof that Hickman and Weis know how to write outside of Dragonlance.
Product Description
three paperback books in the series; Forging the Darksword, Doom of the Darksword, and Triumph of the Darksword.
Average customer rating:
- An overlooked classic tale expressing the zeitgeist of the 60's
- Gives a good idea of the author's development
- Return of the Nazgul, a rock n roll story
- An Interesting book
- A real let-down....
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The Armageddon Rag
George R.R. Martin
Manufacturer: Spectra
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0553383078
Release Date: 2007-01-30 |
Book Description
Onetime underground journalist Sandy Blair has traveled far from his radical roots in the ’60s—until the bizarre and brutal murder of a millionaire rock promoter draws him back. As Sandy sets out to investigate the crime, he finds himself on a magical mystery tour of the pent-up passions of his generation. For a new messiah has resurrected the once legendary rock band Nazgûl—but with an apocalyptic new beat that is a requiem of demonism, mind control, and death only Sandy may be able to change in time. . . .
Customer Reviews:
An overlooked classic tale expressing the zeitgeist of the 60's.......2007-06-05
George Martin has written better books, but, perhaps, none closer to his heart. He lived through and participated in a number of the seminal defining moments of the 60's, and has recorded, as well as anyone can do, the pain and the glory of an era. He has presented, in a modern fantasy fiction format, the hopes and dreams of a generation, exalted; and the bitter disappointment when it all falls apart, and the dreams die. You don't have to have lived through the 60's in your youth to enjoy this book. It will give it a special frisson, but being human is enough.
Gives a good idea of the author's development.......2007-04-16
An older book by this author, but a good one. You can see the development of his style from The Armageddon Rag to A Game of Thrones. Worth reading if you are a fan and even if you're not but you like eclectic science fiction/fantasy.
Return of the Nazgul, a rock n roll story.......2005-09-01
Certainly not one of George R. R. Martin's better works, 'The Armageddon Rag' still holds it charms for those of us who remember the era it was written in; and written for. 'Rag' was written in the eighties, with a trip down memory lane to the late sixties and early seventies, the birth of heavy rock and the 'freedom era'.
Sandy Blair is a writer, working hard on his latest novel that just seems to go nowhere, when he gets a call from his old magazine The Hedgehog to do a piece on the murder of Jamie Lynch, one time manager to the late, great rock band, the Nazgul. The Nazgul were the biggest band of a lost era, until the lead singer, Patrick Henry Hobbins was shot to death at one of their concerts.
Sandy accepts, and takes off on a road trip that leads him down a darkened memory lane. He finds himself pulled further and further into his past, seeing old friends and remembering old ideals. He's pulled so far in, in fact, that he looses his byline with The Hedgehog, his novel, his agent, his girlfriend, his house, and begins to question his sanity. Strange things are happening to the old band members of Nazgul, tragic things that are slowly leading the band back together.
Enter Eden Morse, who wants The Nazgul to reunite. Eden has found a replacement for Hobbins, going so far as to finance plastic surgery for the young, new singer. Eden wants Sandy to join them, to become part of the movement again, to use his words as he did in the past to promote The Nazgul.
Sandy finds himself in a nightmare when Larry Richmond, the new singer Eden insists on calling 'Pat', begins to change. Are there forces at work under the darkness of The Nazgul's reunion?
The most interesting part of 'The Armageddon Rag' is how Martin weaved together two loves of mine, Tolkien references and hard rock. As usual, his characters are fully fleshed and breathe life under his words. The downside is that the book tended to ramble in places, and the ending felt very flat compared to the suspense being built throughout the rest of the story.
All in all, if you are a fan of Martin, you should read 'The Armageddon Rag'. I found I enjoyed it more the first time I read it back in the eighties, but it still holds enough flavor to taste a second time. Enjoy!
An Interesting book.......2002-12-03
If a person can read this book without expecting it to be a Song of Ice and Fire Book, they will enhoy it. For some reason people i talk to that have read this book will say its not what they have come to expect from G. R. R. Martin! Well Duh! it was written 13 years before Game of Thrones and is about A rock band The Nazgul. So no, its not about winning the crown of the 7 kingdoms. It is however a facinating character driven story of a journalist/ex hippie trying to solve a ritualist murder of a music promoter of a band that has not played since their lead singer was assasinated on stage. G.R.R tells the story is an interesting way, as we follow Sandy the journalist around trying to get to the bottom of the mystery while finding out who he himself really is while visting his old hippie friends and seeing how time has altered their lives.
Buy this book, put on some good music and enjoy the ride...
(and for those of you that still want A Game of Thrones...There are some supernatural elements in this book)
Relic113
A real let-down...........2002-08-20
I'm sorry, I love a LOT of George's work, & I was a BIG fan of his early days during the 70s, but there's only 1 moment of magic in this whole novel -- that's in an early scene where the narrator pulls down, looks thru & Dscribes the 5 albums released by the Nazgul. This scene only lasts a few pages, but it's filled with a kind of magic, mood & vision the rest of this book just doesn't have. Some of the characters R fun people 2 follow, but the cloak-&-dagger/occult plot doesn't help. The band rehearsal & concert scenes R pretty strong, almost as if U were there in-person, but what's going on BHIND those scenes is nothing new or even 2 Xciting. I miss the fresh flavor & vivid moods of George's work from the mid-70s....
Product Description
Product Description: Blue rag book with gold print on cover and spine. Measures approximately 6-1/2 x 4-1/2 inches. The Studies in the Scriptures is a series of publications containing six volumes of great importance to the history of the Bible Students and Jehovah's Witnesses. Each detail of God's plan is presented topically. They were not intended as a replacement for the Bible, rather they were written as an aid to the study of the word of God. This volume shows the dissolution of the present order. It discusses many prophecies relating to the end of the age, noting especially our Lord's great prophecy of Matt. 24. This is a reprint of the original writing by Charles Russel. Copyright is an estimate, as none is given in the book.
Book Description
Until now, much of the wisdom contained in this book has been locked in secret hiding places in the forests and caves of India and Tibet. This book uncovers these new understandings about the subtle energy field. Kundalini shakti is a mysterious, dormant, potent force within the body that, when awakened, can bring spiritual enlightenment. This provides easy, step-by-step methods to help you begin to gently awaken your kundalini energy in a safe, reliable, and systematic way. These meditations, yoga postures, and yoga breathing methods are traditional, reliable, field-proven practices. By reading this valuable book, you will: o Discover your subtle body and energy field. o Learn about prana and how it functions in your body, mind, and spirit. o Gain understanding of kundalini energy and the chakra system. o Learn to heal blockages in your subtle body. o Learn to maintain health of your energy field. o Empower yourself as a multidimensional being.
Customer Reviews:
Digging Deeply into Ancient Wisdom.......2004-09-27
This is most profound and complete chakras book I have ever seen. I have looked everywhere for this information. Thank you, Susan Shumsky, for digging so deeply to put together this book, comprising the ancient wisdom of India, traditional yogic practices, along with your amazing revelations and healing affirmations.
Best Book on Chakras Ever Written.......2004-01-25
I have never read a better, more comprehensive book about the chakras and kundalini. In fact, I have probably not read a better book about Indian philosophy. I have read Susan Shumsky's other books, which are also fantastic, but she has really done her research on this one.
She shows not only how the chakras relate to the physical body, nervous system, etc., but also how they correspond to the cosmic body--even to the creation of the universe, Star of David, OM, Sanskrit alphabet, Hindu deities, etc., etc. Amazing how she ties everything together.
All the things I thought I knew about the chakras were so much less than what this book reveals. It may be easy to read, and the exercises are simple to do, but its deep philosophy definitely gets my vote for extreme profundity. If Exploring Chakras doesn't totally blow your mind, I would be surprised.
Good but...........2004-01-10
Coming from the perspective of a western body/energy worker, I got this book hoping to learn a little about the Eastern tradition of chakras. I certainly got it and I'm sure it's all wonderful...if you want to learn about six of this, and seven of that, and fourteen of these other things, while learning a foreign language and trying to fathom a complex diety system.
There's lots of affirmations, diagrams to color, exercises, and plugs for the authors other two books....which I hope I won't regret having purchased as much I did this one! I did love the first few chapters which was all I really needed -- I wasn't looking to take up a theology or mythic tradition, or TM.
There are some awesome diagrams tying the body organs and systems to the chakras which I appreciated for pulling a few things together for me, which is why it gets three stars. But from about page 79 on, I felt like I was slipping into a coma and wanted a nap because of the complexities of the system presented here. I was uncomfortable with the 'God' thing in the affirmations, etc., the selling of the 'find a guru or you'll hurt yourself', as well as the 'look out for the bad guys on the astral/underworld planes bit...but hey, that might just be me!
This definately isn't for intuitives. But it's absolutely great if you want to dive into Kundalini and yoga and really learn the Eastern Traditions thoroughly. This book will definately help you out there. Just make sure you buy her other books. Yep, one of those, you need the other book Exploring Meditation to do some of the exercises in this one. And you might want to get her Divine Revelation book too. (which sort of puts the kabosh on all the warnings given in this one about doing the work yourself!) Man, I hate when they do that!
Perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.......2003-11-19
This is a wonderful book. It explains everything in detail so you understand. It's great for begginers who want to know the truth. Includes some exersices. Just great. You won't waste your money if you buy this.
Quintessential Reference on Chakras.......2003-10-25
EXPLORING CHAKRAS firmly establishes itself as the penultimate source on the subject of chakras, by providing an abundance of quality information in a very organized and easy-to-read format. Author Susan Shumsky studied for years with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in his ashrams, and her more than 21 years of working with chakras comes shining through.
Shumsky brings yogic wisdom together with western practicality in such a way that every chapter overflows with delectable Sanskrit words, beautiful illustrations, and tables. I found the description of secret yogic practices to be especially fascinating. I highly recommend EXPLORING CHAKRAS to any serious student of chakras; it's the quintessential reference on the subject!
-- Cynthia Sue Larson
author of AURA ADVANTAGE: How the Colors in Your Aura Can Help You Attain What You Desire and Attract Success
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