Book Description
Set against the backdrop of South Africa's troubled history, natural beauty, and complex contemporary society, this stunning debut novel tells the story of forty-year-old Kate Jensen's reluctant return from the States to her homeland to seek the truth about her family's history and her mother's paranoia. Nature Lessons, already a book-club favorite, reads like a cross between a memoir and a mystery.
Customer Reviews:
An excellent novel - first, or otherwise.......2003-09-18
Brasfield creates a fascinating mystery out of her protagonist's desire to understand a painful upbringing. She weaves together information about Kate Jensen's mother's mental illness, her country's political climate, and the oddly over-zealous attentions of her uncle, Oom Piet. Brasfield's management of a mentally ill character is particularly impressive; Kate's mother is neither simple nor predictable. If you enjoy reading about politics, South Africa, relationships between men and women, family interactions - or even if you just like a good mystery - read Nature Lessons.
A Haunting Journey.......2003-06-28
It is not often that one finds the combination of beautiful writing and a compelling story. Nature Lessons is that and more. Set against the exotic yet turbulent atmosphere of South Africa during apartheid, we meet the young Kate Jensen, who recounts her life with a mentally ill mother. Woven in with the story of young Kate, is the journey of the older Kate who returns to South Africa to search for her mother. Their stories create a tapestry rich in the lasting effects of cultural, political, and psychological dynamics on a young girl. It grips the reader from the first page and takes one on a haunting journey.
Amazing Details.......2003-06-24
Intriguing storyline and amazing use of description. Lynette is a first-class story teller and author. This is a book you won't want to put down.
A wonderful read.......2003-06-21
This is a great book. For those of you who loved Oprah's book club, this is much like her selections but not as grim. The story keeps you guessing, the characters are well drawn interesting people. The story is set mainly in South Africa and illustrates the effects of Aparteid on a society from a child's perspective.
NATURE LESSONS: Lessons well worth learning.......2003-06-12
This beautifully written novel highlights the dilemma of a dysfuncional mother/child relationship and the havoc it creates in the development of the child. The perspective of the daughter grown and the daughter as an adult that Brasfield takes, elevates the story to far more than a good read. It is food for thought so intense that there isn't a page that the reader will not nod and say, "Yes. I've been there. I know just how she feels."
Brasfield poses the eternal question of how to judge a child's assessment of its mother and who can define what is abuse and what is rational behavior. She also points up the dilemma of judging mental desease in the context of the times. For example, the mother in Nature Lessons is living in South Africa where many of her paranoid delusions have basis in fact. Who is to say that she is not right? Who can really know if the government is not indeed spying on her and her family. This is a book you cannot put down and when you reach the last page, you will want to reopen it and start reading this poetic prose once more. The issues presented are those that no one can forget. We all are living them and battling their effects throughout our lives.
Book Description
With The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Stephen R. Donaldson changed the face of fantasy fiction forever. In The Mirror of Her Dreams, the astonishing first novel in the two-volume Mordant’s Need series, Donaldson shows us a world of wondrous beauty and seductive illusion, where mirrors hold the deadliest of magics and nothing is what it seems. . . .
The daughter of rich but neglectful parents, Terisa Morgan lives alone in a New York City apartment, a young woman who has grown to doubt her own existence. Surrounded by the flat reassurance of mirrors, she leads an unfulfilled life—until the night a strange man named Geraden comes crashing through one of her mirrors, on a quest to find a champion to save his kingdom of Mordant from a pervasive evil that threatens the land. Terisa is no champion. She wields neither magic nor power. And yet, much to her own surprise, when Geraden begs her to come back with him, she agrees.
Now, in a culture where women are little more than the playthings of powerful men, in a castle honeycombed with secret passages and clever traps, in a kingdom threatened from without and within by enemies able to appear and vanish out of thin air, Terisa must become more than the pale reflection of a person. For the way back to Earth is closed to her. And the enemies of Mordant will stop at nothing to see her dead.
Customer Reviews:
Great reading.......2007-09-02
This story is great. I love the futuristic aspects as well as the old world feel. I would recomend this to anyone.
You'll never look at mirrors the same way again........2007-08-14
I read this book when it first came out and I absolutely loved it. I have read it several times in the 20 years since. This past week I read it again while packing for a move. Every time I read it I'm struck by the world Donaldson has created in Mordant--much more real and diverse than the world of Harry Potter, and more akin to Middle Earth. It is slow going in the beginning, no doubt about it, but that gives Donaldson a chance to introduce us to the myriad of characters--some flat, some richly detailed--and plots stewing about in Orison. As Terisa wonders, just how many sides are there, anyway? Our confusion mirrors Terisa's (no pun intended!) as she struggles to believe in herself, her own reality, and this new, alien world she's been thrust into.
I'd recommend having A Man Rides Through before you finish this story. The ending is a whopper of a cliffhanger, and it took what seemed like forever to get my hands on it finally, just to find out what happened!
I know a lot of people hated Terisa--and she's not the brightest bulb in the box. A lifetime of passivity teaches you not to think--that thinking is dangerous and causes nothing but trouble. I'd argue that Donaldson portrays her that way because she was, essentially, not truly in our world, didn't truly exist here. She has severe psychological self-esteem issues. We are caught up in her passivity as she tries to fight it, tries to project some sense of personality or reality to herself. As a protagonist she leaves a lot to be desired, but she is no worse than say, Sparhawk from Eddings' Elenium series.
Probably the best fantasy series I've ever read outside of Tolkien.
Would Make a Great Door Stop.......2007-06-29
Slow, slow, slow. This book is so slow you will wonder if time itself has stopped. I just cannot believe that anyone that has read more than a handful of books could give this a 5 star rating. Maybe the problem is with Amazon's rating system. I think we would get some more accurate reviews if instead of 5 stars the rating said something like "one of best book ever read". A 5 star rating should be reserved for that small collection of works that represent the very best you have read.........this book cannot be in anyone's collection of the best.
Even if the book is not slow it is bad for other reasons.
First of all Donaldson is consistent in his ability to create repulsive main characters. I can understand that he has made Terisa somewhat hollow, so that he can let her grow and discover herself in the story, but she is just too empty to be believed. It is easier to think of her as a doll rather than a person. She has absolutely no personality, and wanders through the story like a zombie at the whim of who ever she happens to be with at the time.
Secondly, I'm truly amazed that more female reviewers aren't outraged over the portrayal of the females encountered in this book. I can see why the men would like them.......they are all brainless bimbos ready to jump into bed with whatever guy happens to be available. Even the king's daughters have one track minds. One of them seeks nothing but power, and the other is a daydreamer looking for her "knight in shining armor". Terisa's lust for the letch Master Eremis throughout the story makes an already repulsive character even more disgusting.
Thirdly, the book is 99% meaningless conversations between characters and only 1% action which occurs every 100 pages or so. Even with all the talk, nothing gets resolved, no solutions are reached, and we are left as much in the dark at the end of the book as we were in the beginning.
The only positive thing I can say about this book is that it is without a doubt the largest book I have ever read. I borrowed the hardback version from the local library and was amazed at the size. Part of the size is because the pages appear to be made out of cardboard rather than paper. The only reason I can give you for reading this book is so that you can boast that you have read the largest volume on the shelves. If you don't make it through the book you can always use it as a doorstop.
Fine Literature!.......2007-04-23
As I expected, Stephen R. Donaldson began another engrossing fantasy adventure with a fantastic first installment. The Mirror Of Her Dreams, book one of the two volume Mordant's Need saga, begins as the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant did, in the familiar world which you and I inhabit. Also as in the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, we meet a person, this time a female, with serious issues who is miraculously conveyed to another world that is very different from our own, and is expected to be its savior.
Here, Terisa Morgan, a young woman with debilitating self esteem issues, is transported to Mordant where she is expected to be the Champion of Orison and save the kingdom from destruction at the hands of invading armies. Donaldson's ability to peel away at the psyche of a person is unmatched in the science fiction and fantasy genres. He takes a deeply flawed person and, over the course of the epic, exposes their defects in all their ugliness, and illuminates the long process of becoming whole again.
Although Mordant's Need seems to follow the same formula Donaldson used in The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the story is still fresh and engaging because Donaldson is such a superb writer. Donaldson is a wordsmith. His attention to detail, especially when describing his characters and their angst, really pulls the reader into making an emotional connection with the story.
The author creates a finely detailed world in which he sets about rich characters to plot and scheme. The book is a mystery of sorts. Violence and intrigue unfold around Terisa while she flails about the kingdom trying to figure out what her purpose there is. Donaldson is a meticulous story teller. If you were a fan of his Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, than you will surely love Mordant's Need. I highly recommend it to all fantasy readers.
One of the best.......2006-09-05
I read "Mirror of Her Dreams" in the local library quite by chance many years ago, and immediately bought it. Since then it has set the standard by which I judge other fantasy novels. Just recently I found my old dog-eared copy and even after the umpteenth re-reading the story has lost none of its magic.
Terisa, who starts the book in such self-doubt she is uncertain of her very existence, is brought through a mirror by mistake into a castle in another world thick with deception and desperation. The King of Mordant has gone mad, and his land is falling into ruin, beset by enemies without, and hidden traitors within. No one knows where Terisa's unexpected arrival fits into Mordant's impending doom, but there are those determined to find out, or use her for their own ends - or eliminate her. Caught unavoidably in the proverbial web of intrique, the frightened and lost Terisa has no choice but to thread her way through the plots with her own wits and discover who is friend and who is foe.
I would not call the start of the book "slow," but rather "measured," as characters are carefully introduced and plots are intricately spun. Normally I have very little patience for books that drag, but this one doesn't - even the long passages of exposition by characters like Eremis, Elega and Quillon draw you in. Every character in this book is a joy to read, from the fumble-footed but heroically earnest Geraden, to the harsh and dominating Castellan Lebbick, to the mad King Joyse, to the scheming Master Eremis. Terisa herself ranks as one of my favourite fantasy heroines, and by the end of the book (in a cliff-hangar that ensures you must read the second part, "A Man Rides Through") has started to find her own courage and become the woman who will help save Mordant - in the next volume.
Donaldson shows the fantasy world how to do court intrique, and not until Martin's recent "A Song of Ice and Fire" series has anyone matched him.
Average customer rating:
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Mirror of Her Dreams Need 1
Stephen Donaldson
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
 Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books | Alternate History | Anthologies | Arthurian | Contemporary | Epic | General | Historical | History & Criticism | Magic & Wizards | Series
ASIN: 0002230739 |
Average customer rating:
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The Mirror of her Dreams
Manufacturer: Fontana Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000DZFPA2 |
Product Description
Donaldson presents another lengthy, dense fantasy adventure in the first of the two-book sequence Mordant's Need. This first volume introduces the land of Mordant, beset from without by armies and monsters and from within by plots, dissension and madness. The search for a champion goes awry as the Congery of Imagers first lures poor little rich girl Terisa Morgan from our world, and then snatches a mysterious warrior whose futuristic weapons destroy part of the castle he is supposed to defend. Terisa rises to the challenge, quickly becoming a key figure, a wild card among the many cliques and powers vying to save or seize king and kingdom. Donaldson scores with the magic discipline of imagery, in which mirrors serve as windows on alternate worlds. His characterization, however, is either derivative or programmatic (in a world without ordinary mirrors, no one can be taken at face value). Readers are likely to be hooked by the interlocking intrigues and progressive revelations among a large cast in a vast old castle riddled with secret passages.
Customer Reviews:
Deep world, shallow plot.......2004-04-29
The unique (and a little kludgey) Warden organisms invented by Chalker do create a world with a great deal of potential for the author and his characters. Alas, I felt this potential was frustratingly missed. Because of the complexity of the world's structure, too many paragraphs were spent to define, justify and close the loopholes in the Warden system. Although the characters were rather well drawn, there was little real interaction, tension, or resolution among them (with one notable exception). Now, in SciFi I can usually let that slide if the action makes up for it. Unfortunately, this was the most unsatisfying aspect of the book. 224 pages of good set-up end in 7 pages of climax, during which our buff, well-trained hero, sporting some brand new but untested powers... COMPLETELY SITS OUT THE BATTLE! He is left to watch the thinly described action from so far away he needs a telescope to see the people. Opps. I wonder if this book was the victim of some evil 250 page limit set by the publisher, or worse, by the author.
We too have a snake in the grass.......2003-10-06
Reading this book and stating that you are spellbound or hooked from one chapter to the next does not tell you about the essence of the tale. To say that this Science Fiction is superior in imagery and concept is still lacking in definition. There is something else that drew me back to read the series again. It was not the story, so much, but the reality that it represents. It is about this world whose scientific physical makeup is different than ours. We are made of cells and cells structure with DNA in control. In these worlds the Wardens are in control. The are involved in each and every molecular makeup of everything. Based upon persons background and his discipline and control will explain his possible position in these worlds.
It is much like earth in that way. It is a metaphor, yet a parallel to our own world. We still have a caste so to speak in existence on earth. Even in United States, even though there are no castles, knights or dukes, we still live according to our self-discipline, our self-awareness, education, skills, and our internal chemistry. A genius might still be a poor fellow living on the dole of others while a seemly simple person lives on the fruits of the world. It about what I stated above. This is what Chalker is telling us. It is a involved parody about our own world. You are able to watch Cal, the main character evolved as he begins to learn his own powers, his respect for his teachers, his peers, and his desire to rise. He is a survivor, he is spent the time to get his body and mind in order now he is getting his training and skills in order to conquer the planet. Don't analyze the content, but enjoy the story and stop and think about the parallel to our own world.
A unique page-turner!.......2003-01-15
The underlying concept of this book is truly unique unto the world of SciFi. As such, it was a very refreshing read. Additionally, the author manages to grab you and suck you in right from the first few paragraphs. It is also a pleasure to not have to read several chapters to "get into" the story. I am very appreciative of an author's efforts in this area. I also enjoyed Chalker's level of character development. He has an excellent understanding of how much character detail and background needs to be given to satisfy the reader and move the story forward. In my mind, he strikes the perfect balance between giving you enough information to satisfy your curiousity without providing an overload of unnecessary and boring minutia. Finally, I would have to disagree with the previous reviewer's comment of the "author's stupid moralizing attitude." Although there is certainly a point made of portraying the moral thought processes going on within the central character, this book is by no means preachy or a morality tale. There are certainly some morality aspects of the future of "civilization" but they are an integral part of the storyline. The story would be far less cohesive and simply make less sense without them. The bottom-line is that the other reviewer gives the impression that readers will feel they are being preached to and that is absolutely not the feeling I got. I simply feel like I just finished reading a unique and well-written novel.
One of the best fictional universes in the whole SF.......1999-10-08
The book is the first in the Lords of the Diamond series. It takes you to a world very much different from ours. The world's dominated by a small organism that lives in everything - both living and dead matter. It makes the conditions on the planet very different from what we are used to and allows the use of a kind of pseudo-magic through controlling the mentioned organism. I'm telling it so thoroughly because I want you to realize that this is not just another magic universe book. The world created by Mr. Chalker is extremely original and amazing.
What's bad about the book is the author's stupid moralizing attitude. The characters are very clearly divided into good guys and bad guys and in case you don't understand who's who, Mr. Chalker explains it to you through most primitive and disgusting preachments. (Read my review to John Maddox Roberts's excellent book "SPQR" to see what I mean.)
Despite of this annoying flaw, the idea of the book is so brilliant that I'm forced to give it five stars. It's one of my favored books. I finally succeeded to get the other three volumes and I can't wait to read them all.
Product Description
Classic science fiction, set on 4 different worlds.
Book Description
A highly readable look at secular culture and a practical guide for Christians combating its challenges. Written with the informed, college-educated, Christian reader in mind.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent discussion starter but poorly documented.......2007-02-11
Honeysett's book provides a good background in understanding the theories and ideas of five thinkers almost every college student is likely to confront. I use the word "confront" advisedly, because, for many of these students, the views summarized here will directly challenge the belief systems and values they have grown up with.
The first section of the book covers the views of Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Walter Benjamin, Judith Butler, and Jean Baudrillard, while the second section discusses how Christians can address and challenge some of these views as they become more and more prevalent in our culture.
Honeysett has structured the text with discussion questions, appendices of terms and resources, so its format would work well for using the book with small groups of high school or community college students. Parents of these same students might benefit from a similar study, to be more aware of the challenges to faith that their kids are facing on campus.
I have given the book only three stars because there are only ten footnotes in the entire text. Honeysett states that "unfortunately for copyright reasons it isn't possible to include the essays discussed in this guide," but more specific references to support his summary statements should be included in discussing matters as weighty as these.
Superb primer on postmodernity and postmodernism.......2005-11-08
Marcus Honeysett has written an engaging and important primer on postmodernism, a subject that typically resists lucid introductions. While other books by evangelicals put postmodernist thought into historical and intellectual context, they often lack the requisite apologetic critique so evident in "Meltdown." Yet a successful Christian apologetic requires the refutation of the postmodernist denial of objective truth and normative rationality. This is because apologetics must appeal to rational arguments to defend the objective truth revealed in the Bible. Without objective truth (or what Francis Schaeffer called "true truth") and rationality, apologetics has no tools with which to work.
"Meltdown" is an extraordinary book for at least two reasons. First, the author's assessment of postmodernism (the philosophy) and postmodernity (the set of contemporary cultural conditions in the West) is dead-on. Unlike not a few evangelical authors, Honeysett discerns that postmodernism is not our great liberation from modernist metanarratives. Rather it is a truth-denying, authority-denying philosophy set against the truths authoritatively revealed in Holy Scripture and in Jesus Christ. Instead of fruitfully opening people to all kinds of spirituality (Christianity included), postmodernity discourages rational discourse, is hostile to Christian truth-claims, and encourages relativism and philosophical pluralism. Against the flow of many evangelical trendsetters, Honeysett has not made his peace with postmodernism-and for this we should be grateful.
Second, Honeysett states his case in an understandable but intellectually responsible and deeply challenging fashion. This combination of being both accessible and accurate on challenging topics is indeed rare. (He also exhorts when needed, which is refreshing in a book not lacking in academic substance.) This is no simple task when dealing with such daunting themes and authors as complex (and often opaque) as Derrida, Baudrillard, Foucault, and Butler. Honeysett navigates the conceptual terrain deftly, summarizing difficult material without over-simplifying, analyzing it logically (often exposing internal contradictions in postmodernist theory), and assessing it biblically. He shows a knack for discerning just where postmodern thought collides with Christian truth, why this matters (and not just to academics), and what we should think about it.
It is encouraging that postmodernism is vigorously opposed by a number of Christians, especially among those leading the renaissance in Christian philosophical work in the analytic tradition-a tradition that is antithetical to the continental waters in which postmodernism was spawned. Yet too many evangelical theologians have been accommodating to postmodernism in significant ways.
Honeysett's treatment of Jean Baudrillard (who is something like an updated French nihilistic version of Marshall McLuhan) is, to my knowledge, the only Christian critique of this important thinker who challenges the very notion of objective reality in our media-saturated environment. Baudrillard has recently emitted some egregious statements about the twin towers of the World Trade Center committing suicide on September 11, 2001, which some have taken as grounds for dismissing him without reflection or critique. But despite his penchant for flamboyance and his tortuous prose, Baudrillard is a thinker with which to reckon.
Honeysett also keenly assesses key aspects of postmodern culture, which is every bit as important to understand as postmodernist philosophies. Few may read the philosophers, but all imbibe the culture. First, Honeysett investigates the postmodern ethos of the university culture-something he knows well as a thoughtful campus minister-and shows how to respond to it with integrity and intellect. I especially appreciated this advice in light of my twelve years of involvement in campus ministry. Sadly, evangelical campus ministries often fail to engage the intellects of students, leaving them prey to "arguments and every proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God" (2 Corinthians 10:5). This must change if Christianity is to win a fair hearing on intellectual matters.
Second, in discussing "postmodern Bible reading," Honeysett rightly argues that too many Christians have swallowed a postmodernist rejection of all objective authority, which has corrupted their understanding of the Bible as God's authoritative revelation of objective truth. The answer is to return to Scripture as the ultimate source for truth; it should not be deemed a subjective, self-help tool. This cannot be underscored too strongly. A popular and contemporary evangelical writer claims that a strong view of biblical authority is merely a modernist invention that postmodernist Christians should throw off as an aberration. This leaves the Christian in the postmodern ocean with neither an anchor nor a rudder for navigating the intellectual storms of the day. The question of biblical authority is a crucial issue at all times. Postmodernism has not rendered it a moot point.
Third, Honeysett notes that postmodern ideas have similarly undermined a biblical understanding of the church, which is too often viewed as more of a consumer item than as an institution founded by the divine Son of God for his glory (Matthew 16:13-19). Since American evangelicals are notoriously weak on ecclesiology (given their proclivity for individualism, innovation, and parachurch entrepreneurialism), this reminder comes as a needed tonic.
Fourth, Honeysett forthrightly attacks postmodern influence in culture as "immoral," because it rejects God and fills the void with the autonomous self and its God-denying principles. Although he does not quote him, Pascal's warning fits the spirit of Honeysett's critique. "When everything is moving at once, nothing appears to be moving, as on board ship. When everyone is moving toward depravity, no one seems to be moving, but if someone stops he shows up the others who are rushing on, by acting as a fixed point"
Fifth, Honeysett observes that a leading engine of the postmodernist rejection of truth and authority is television, in both its nature and its content. Christians should, therefore, engage it critically and carefully and not be swept away with its unreality (as Baudrillard warns). Honeysett is one of the few evangelicals who understands that communication media are not neutral, but invariably shape their content according to their form. As McLuhan said, "The medium is the message." As long as evangelicals have their minds shaped by the medium of television (which favors the graphic over the textual and the titillating over the edifying), they will remain intellectually enfeebled and unable to discern and disarm the deceptions of postmodernism.
Honeysett concludes this rousing and thoughtful primer by emphasizing the need to proclaim the "authentic Jesus" in a postmodern world of pluralism, syncretism, and outright hostility to the gospel. The authentic Jesus must be presented to the watching world in terms of a fully biblical and philosophically defensible concept of truth, a concept that cuts against the grain of postmodernism. While so many evangelicals scavenge for food among postmodernist philosophies, the worldview outside of Christianity that is gaining the most adherents has no truck with postmodernism whatsoever. It wins converts and promotes a view of civilization based on the concept of authoritative, universal, absolute, and objective truth. That worldview is Islam.
My hope is that Meltdown will be read and discussed by high school seniors in preparation for college, Christian university students and campus ministers, and by anyone who wants to make sense of the postmodern world and speak to it in the name of Jesus Christ, who is nothing less than the Truth Incarnate and the only hope for erring mortals east of Eden (John 14:6).
Books:
- Nectar: A Novel of Temptation
- On Sarpy Creek
- One Hundred Years of Solitude: Modes of Reading (Twayne's Masterworks Studies, No. 70)
- Ordinary Love and Good Will: Two Novellas
- Out of the Night That Covers Me
- Pepe Rios
- Phantasmatic Indochina: French Colonial Ideology in Architecture, Film, and Literature (Asia-Pacific)
- Prisoner in a Red-Rose Chain
- Reckless Eyeballing
- Ring around the Moon: A Novel
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