Amazon.com
An adventurous, musically structured yarn that begins in 18th-century Africa and ends in present-day New York City, Twelve Bar Blues, British writer Patrick Neate's second book, was a surprise winner of the 2002 Whitbread Novel of the Year. For the most part Neate's prose is enthralling, beginning with a semihallucinatory tale of a jealous witch doctor's sabotage of his childhood friend. The latter is stolen by slave traders and sent to America; a century or so later, his descendant, Fortis "Lick" Holden, survives poverty in Louisiana to become an early pioneer of the jazz form. Over the course of Neate's story, we meet up with Louis Armstrong in 1920s New Orleans; cruise the slums and jazz joints of Chicago, London, and Africa; meet up with Tongo Kalulu, the love-conflicted chief of the Zimindo, a strong tribe; and travel to America with a black, retired London prostitute in search of her real father. Neate has a few lapses in judgment: several supporting characters don't ring true (one feels like a thin surrogate for the author), and the air goes out of his writing when he begins to think in clichés. But all is forgiven through the scope of this wild novel, with its inspired network of familial connections over many years and its deep mysteries that reach, like roots, through layers of American history and identity. --Tom Keogh
Book Description
The raucous novel that won the prestigious Whitbread Novel Award, Twelve Bar Blues is a virtuoso epic tale of fate and family, jazz and juju that spans three continents and two centuries to tell a story of enduring roots and indelible love. At its heart is Lick Holden, a talented but tormented young musician who sets the jazz scene of early-twentieth-century New Orleans on fire with the passionate tones of his coronet. But Lick's true passion is for his beautiful lost stepsister Sylvie, for whom he searches for among the streets, music halls, and bordellos of the South. Their story reverberates through the decades into the life of Sylvia Di Napoli, a black English former prostitute turned singer who travels from London to New York and Chicago in 1999 in search of the answer to the mystery of her family's roots. Funny and poignant, Twelve Bar Blues is a dynamic novel with all the emotional energy and breakneck tempo of a red-hot Big Easy jazz band that will hook you — like a favorite tune — until the very last page.
Customer Reviews:
Amazing and intricate storytelling.......2004-02-26
Patrick Neate has created an absolute jem in "Twelve Bar Blues", a story spanning three continents and several generations of people. The best of the interwoven stories is that of Lick Holden, the forgotten jazz musician who has become more legend than anything, and his struggles with the tough Louisiana life, plus his development into a semi-famed musician.
Everything about this book is completely engrossing, and it ends up being quite the page-turner. The plot, the characters and the style really make this a winner. Neate is a brilliant story-teller, and "Twelve Bar Blues" is worthy of all its acclaim.
Contrived.......2003-08-17
It is difficult to write outside of one's own idiom, and this book demonstrates this clearly. The so called African passages are entirely contrived - the names, the cultural references, the characters and the ceremonies are totally devoid of any depth of feeling and context. The other parts naturally flow from this. Clearly,the context is alien to the writer, and a lot of the dialogue and the descriptions for the African American/New Orleans experience border on being downright offensive. References to Jigs, bush negroes etc are out of context and culturally irrelevant. A compelling story, but perhaps readers would be better served by reading a biography of Louis Armstrong.
fantastic.......2003-04-18
While overseas, I picked this book up on a whim; I was pleasantly surprised. Neate is an excellent story-teller and and even better writer. I am surprised that it is not a best-seller back in the states...by far the best piece of fiction I have read in years.
"No story so important as the one you tells about yourself.".......2002-10-23
This powerful novel of identity, both personal and cultural, spans several generations and moves through Africa, New Orleans, and New York, deftly integrating the personal sufferings of the characters with the music which sets them free--jazz. An African legend establishes at the beginning of the novel the complex interrelationships between music, love, sorrow, spells (be they from magic, dreams, drugs, or drink) and tragic fate. As later characters face the same complex of forces and fates in their own generations, "the American Negro experience" is dramatically revealed, along with the emotional release which comes with the birth of blues and jazz.
Telling the story of Lick Holden, "the greatest...horn man that was ever lost to history," Neate recreates the early days of New Orleans jazz in Storyville, with characters like Buddy Bolden, Fate Marable, Louis "Dipper" Armstrong, Kid Ory, and King Oliver. Whenever one of these legends performed, he "felt his music transcend his present...[and] he knew that he was more than a disempowered, dislocated, disrespected third generation slave." For Lick Holden, "the horn was his prayer voice and there was...God in his music."
Crafting the novel in the pattern of the twelve bar blues, described in the opening pages, Neate presents each half of the novel in twelve chapters, which move back and forth and around in time and location, from the early 1900's to the present, from Africa to New Orleans, New York, and Chicago. Lick's life story and his long love of Sylvie intertwines with the African legend at the beginning of the novel and with a present-day search by Sylvia DiNapoli, a black woman in her mid-forties, for her past. An additional contemporary setting in Africa, involving later generations of the characters from the opening legend, offers a counterpoint to Sylvia's search, and like a jazz motif, becomes part of it. The dominant themes of fate and choice, love and sorrow, dreams and tragedy, guilt and redemption weave through all the personal stories, as each generation expresses its soul in music--"which set [their] blackness free."
Powerfully drawn episodes, full of vitality and color, pulsate with the kind of detail which makes characters and locations simultaneously unique and universal. The "coincidences" at the conclusion are foreshadowed throughout, both by the twelve-bar pattern of the narrative development and by the repetitions in the lifestyles and choices of the characters. Soaring above the domestic tragedy of everyday life, this Whitbread Award winner is an imaginative and heartfelt story of every man's need to know where he comes from, who he is, and where he is going. Mary Whipple
Dark horse but worthy Whitbread winner : an amazing read !.......2002-08-27
Patrick Neate's "Twelve Bar Blues (TBB)" richly deserves the Whitbread Book of the Year Award. It's an epic novel tracing the torrid lives and lineage of gifted black cornet player Lick Holden from New Orleans who in the 1920s spends half his life searching for his coffee coloured half-sister Sylvie and present day retired prostitute Sylvia Di Napoli from London who will go to the ends of this world to discover her lost identity. Interlocking with these two fascinating stories is an experimental piece of magical realism that connects the past of Lick and Sylvia with the present in black Africa. Though the unfolding plot reveals a sprawling family tree that cuts across three continents, it isn't hard to guess how Lick and Sylvia are related to one another. Just as Lick survives many close shaves with Naps as his guardian angel, Sylvia's chance encounter with white drifter Jim Tulloch on route to New York turns out to be the source of her redemption. There is a recurring line in the novel about knowing or not knowing one's past and its bearing on the present that best sums up the quest of our protagonists. Lick knows his past but how has this helped him deal with his one obsession ? Sylvia, on the other hand, is resigned to a bleak future as an ex-prostitute and retired singer. She thinks discovering her past will save her but is too jaded to see that redemption is sitting right next to her. Who can blame her, though ? Fate and chance have a way of bringing a curious symmetry to life that we least expect. The African subplot in Neate's enthralling tale of ethnicity, lost identity and fate isn't as loose and arbitrary as it seems. The village chief has no hangups about his past. He's proudly African and has no slave history in his family to contend with. His problem is with the future, in particular an urban wife and the uncertain paternity of the child she's carrying. TBB is a phenomenal literary achievement. It's earthy, brutal and passionate, yet wonderfully lyrical and otherworldly at the same time. Just as the fourth part of Lick's anatomy expands when he's riding the crest of a note from his cornet, the novel is magically transformed whenever Neate comes up with a passage that resonates with irony. TBB is a masterpiece of modern fiction that has to be read. Don't miss it !
Product Description
Another must-have Red Dog Music Book by Larry McCabe. This book contains a goldmine of 101 authentic electric blues rhythm patterns that can be applied to thousands of real songs. Each pattern is recorded note-for-note on the companion CD, and written in standard notation and tablature. Supplemental articles cover blues progressions and rhythm pattern types. The book will help any early-intermediate or intermediate guitarist acquire well-rounded blues rhythm guitar skills. Ideal also for pro reference and teaching studios. It is a book for guitarists who are familiar with, and enthusiasts of, urban blues and other forms of non-commercial music.
The patterns are in the urban blues style heard on recordings by artists such as Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, Jimmy Reed, Elmore James, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, James Cotton, Little Walter, BB King, Albert King, John Hammond, Anson Funderburgh, Hubert Sumlin, Little Ed and the Blues Imperials, Pinetop Perkins, Willie Dixon, R.L. Burnside, Butterfield Blues Band, Otis Spann Charlie Musselwhite, Lonnie Mack, Boozoo Chavis, Ry Cooder, Gatemouth Brown, Freddie King, Sonny Boy Williamson, Robert Lockwood, Lonnie Johnson, and similar musicians who recorded for Chess Records, Delmark Records, Sun Records, Alligator Records, Arhoolie Records and other labels that focus on roots music performers and Afro-American music.
Book Description
The first novel in a highly original fantasy trilogy
One young girl holds the fate of a city in her hands-If she fails, it spells her doom-and the end of her world.
Twice in the history of the city of Amenkor, the White Fire had swept over the land. Over a thousand years ago it came from the east, covering the entire city, touching everyone, leaving them unburned-but bringing madness in its wake, a madness that only ended with the death of the ruling Mistress of the city. Five years ago the Fire came again, and Amenkor has been spiraling into ruin ever since. The city's only hope rests in the hands of a young girl, Varis, who has taught herself the art of survival and has been trained in the ways of the assassin. Venturing deep into the heart of Amenkor, Varis will face her harshest challenges and greatest opportunities. And it is here that she will either find her destiny-or meet her doom.
Customer Reviews:
A Different Variety of Mind.......2007-05-30
This is the tale of a gutter rat who has no name until she is designated "Varis," meaning hunter, by the man who trains her as an assassin.
Throughout the novel, memories of her desperate past are mingled with present events which remain mysterious until the final chapter. Varis is beset by poverty, filth, and the evil passions of degraded men, but she fights back with a spark of humanity that shines within her like the few happy memories she retains of her dead mother. She has other weapons as well, talents that lift her above the miserable dregs of humanity that surround her. Two magical forces frame her life--the "River" and the "Fire."
The River is a kind of extrasensory perception that Varis possesses. To me, the best parts of the book are Varis' explorations of the River. I thought these were well-written, crisp and believable. The River becomes a useful hunting tool, like a bloodhound's nose.
The Fire remains a much vaguer force. By the end of the novel we understand what the River is, to some extent, but the Fire remains beyond the horizon, presumably to be explored in a sequel.
Juxtaposed with Varis, as her main antagonist in this unusual book, is the Skewed Throne itself. To pierce the ominous mystery surrounding it is the goal of Varis' final hunt.
I enjoyed the story for the in-depth view it provides of a mind very different from our own but similar enough in its yearnings to evoke sympathy.
A gritty debut fantasy!.......2007-04-07
Varis is a young urchin, "gutterscum" by her own admission, a street smart thief who manages to survive on the margin by her own wits, resorting to violence when the circumstances are forced upon her. Living from hand to mouth in "The Dredge", a shanty town and slum beyond the borders of Amenkor, her developing abilities for murder and thievery attract the attention of Erick, a royal guardsman and assassin who seeks out and kills any marks the ruling Mistress has judged must be eliminated. Under Erick's tutelage her abilities are honed to a ruthless edge but Varis has another skill she has not disclosed to anyone - an innate magic she calls "The River", a supernatural flow into which she can submerge herself. In "The River" she sees evil in shades of red and innocence in shades of gray.
When Erick assigns her to kill a mark that Varis knows to be innocent, their ways part and Varis retreats back to the core of Amenkor proper. Once again, her agility, her survival skills and her murderous ability with knives bring her under scrutiny. Borund, a local merchant, hires her as a bodyguard and Varis finds herself embroiled in a conspiracy among the Amenkor merchants, an attempt to seize monopolistic control of trade at a time when the survival of the city itself seems in question. The First Mistress seems to be losing her sanity and is issuing nonsensical orders. The pitiless unfolding of events places Varis in the position of being the only one who can save Amenkor!
A fine plot line with much promise, to be sure! And, in his debut outing, Palmatier has certainly crafted his story with enviable writing skills in the development of his characters, in the clever narration of exciting action sequences, and in the layout of easy-flowing natural dialogue. Varis' own brief and lucid description of her young life seems brutal in its crystalline clarity but totally natural in its presentation:
"I decided I'd be better off on my own. So I left. I ran away, moved deeper into the slums beyond the Dredge. I lived like an animal there, scrounging in garbage heaps, eating anything I could find, scraps you and Borund wouldn't even feed to a dog. I was dying and I didn't even know it."
But I also felt that Palmatier was tip-toeing across a knife edged ridge that far too narrow for my liking - the difficult decision an author must make about how much to introduce, how much to disclose, how much to resolve and how much to leave for explanation and completion in future works! Oh sure, there is obviously a sequel in the works. But there are only two plot devices which move "The Skewed Throne" from normal medieval fiction into the realm of fantasy - the magic of "The River" and "The White Fire", some sort of bizarre, powerful event that sweeps through Amenkor from time to time! Even Varis owns up to having no idea about the meaning of The Fire:
"I felt its purpose. Nothing to do with Amenkor, nothing to do with me. It was residual energy, the remains of an event so powerful it had stretched across the ocean, burned across the sea from a distant land. The consequence of a magic that no one in the throne knew the intent of, that was totally unfamiliar. It was nothing to us."
Personally, I'd need more resolution in this introductory novel to move it to a higher rating as a stand alone novel. But (and this is a fervent hope), in the belief that all will come clear in future novels, I'll certainly move on to the second novel in the trilogy "The Cracked Throne" and recommend it to other fantasy lovers as well.
Paul Weiss
Brings me back to fantasy.......2007-03-29
I pretty much stopped reading fantasy back in grad school. I think it was Terry Goodkin's first one that did me in. Too many boy with untapped power has wizard friend who points him on his way and he saves the world. Skewed Throne, though, I really enjoyed. I liked the magic and that there wasn't too much of it. The way she used it seemed natural. It was fun to try to figure out how the magic worked, and I can't wait to find out more details. Magic seems to be an inborn talent rather than a learned skill. I also like that the action is constrained to the city. I like urban adventures.
By the end, we better learn the secret behind the white fire. If it turns out just to be a natural random phenomenon, I'll be disappointed. :)
The main thing I liked was that it was a personal struggle kind of story. Sure, she was saving the city, but it didn't read like a high *yawn* fantasy. It read more like a mystery/adventure. She was out to save herself and not a hero out to save the world. I had some nitpicky complaints, but no deal breakers.
Bottom line: I'd get the next one and I'd recommend it to people (and already have).
a very good read.......2007-03-24
Varis is a young girl who considers herself "gutterscum." The majority of her childhood was spent as a street orphan, learning to steal to survive. Home is a place called the Dredge, the slums on the outskirts of a once prosperous city called Amenkor. On a daily basis, Varis witnesses unspeakable crimes and actions by others who are fighting to survive, much like she is herself. One day, she meets a seeker named Erick. Erick works directly for the mistress, and when she says someone needs to die, that person is sought out and killed. Erick enlists the help of Varis, to help him find these marks and ultimately despise of them. Through this job of sorts, Varis continues to hone her survival skills, and add some new skills to her growing list. Eventually things take a turn for the worse, and Varis flees the Dredge, leaving behind the only place she has ever known.
Once in Amenkor, Varis is faced with surviving in a whole new world. After seeing her fighting skills at their best, a wealthy merchant hires Varis as his personal bodyguard. Through this man, Varis finds a sense of belonging, and realizes that there is a greater purpose to her life than she originally thought. The mistress isn't at her best mentally, and eventually Varis finds herself in a situation she never imagined possible. I don't want to give away anymore than that. This is one of those books that's tough to summarize in a few sentences. While its not an overly complicated plot, there is quite a bit to it, and I just covered the basis.
While the plot kept me interested, what really drew me into the book was Varis herself. Joshua Palmatier, the author, has created a strong female heroine in this story, and you can't help but come to admire her. Admiration aside, Palmatier also captures a wide range of human emotions in Varis; everything from lonliness and fear, to acceptance and love. To me, that's what makes a good story. It takes more than a good plot line, you need to feel like you're right there with the characters, and in this book I did.
If you like fantasy, go get this book. If you don't like fantasy, go get this book. While it is labeled in the sci-fi/fantasy genre, its not just that. It's a story of survival and human emotion; of coming to terms with yourself as a human being..there's a lot to it, and its very well written. It's also the first in a trilogy, so there are two more that you can read when you're done.
Great new voice.......2007-02-24
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I think for a debut novel it was terrific, and I'm looking forward to finishing up the rest of the story, and seeing how Palmatier's voice develops.
The first half of the book is a little slow, but at the same time, I really liked the way the real environment was set up. Despite having something of a set of morals, Varis is no "thief with a heart of gold." The reader gets a very good sense of what it's like to grow up on the streets of the Dredge, one step away from starvation.
It seemed that the end happened all in a rush, after many pages of slow setup. For me, the book didn't really start to move until Varis met Borund.
There were a few things that bugged me. Varis seems to get her face mashed into people's chests rather frequently. I don't know if this was an attempt to make her small size and fragility more apparent or what, but it did seem to happen a lot.
Also, I would have thought that, growing up an uneducated guttersnipe as she did, that she would be mostly ignorant of the greater city and what lay beyond it. Yet she seems awfully aware and knowledgeable about "the real Amenkor." Most children I have read true accounts of, who grow up in that sort of poverty, are too concentrated on where their next bit of food is coming from to have any sense of the rest of the world. Palmatier did such a good job of describing and making me really feel Varis' world of the Dredge and what her life was like, that her knowledge just struck me as slightly incongruous.
All in all, I did enjoy this, and I am looking forward to reading the next one!
Average customer rating:
- Sense of belonging
- Sighhhhh
- A satisfying read for a rainy/snowy day...
- Modern Tale of Running Away
- sweet, uplifting story
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Wild Highland Home
Alexandra Raife
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Contemporary
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| Romance
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ASIN: 0451194691 |
Book Description
When a woman gives up the fast-paced life of London and purchases an isolated cottage on a remote Scottish loch, no one believes that she will remain there. But for her, moving hereis the key to the journey she must embark onto heal herself and put a tragic past behindher. Yet this new life is not without its own shareof complications, as she finds herself deeply attracted to a local man of quiet strength...one who possesses his own inner conflicts and may not be free to love in return....
* Author of the captivating novel Drumveyn
* Compares to bestselling author Rosamunde Pilcher
* We have another novel coming from Alexandra Raife
Customer Reviews:
Sense of belonging.......2001-07-12
What a wonderful, wonderful book! I can't believe it is out of print; I bought it two months ago from....ummmm....well, not from Amazon. The (unnamed) store had several copies in stock.
What I liked about it, more than the romance, which is quite sweet but rather commonplace to novels, was the evolving story about Clare finally finding a "home." Made me wish I could move right over there and find a village just like that, where people care about each other and are willing to be honest with one another. So rare nowadays.
Sighhhhh.......2001-04-18
Since I seem to be reading Raife's novels backwards, I was thrilled to see Clare and Donald of "Belonging" in this earlier work, so that I could savor the beginnings of their romance. And it was fascinating to see Trudy and Una at earlier stages as well; along with "Belonging," this book made me want to pack up my earthly possessions and move to an isolated cottage in the Highlands at once. Like all of Raife's works, this novel is more than a romance. It's a true love letter to Scotland--its terrain, its people, its way of life. I have never been to the Highlands, but I've been in love with (and in) Scotland, and this novel gently conveys a sense of such peace and pleasure as we watch Clare mellow and grow from a spoiled city girl to a strong, loving woman whose eventual happiness is well deserved. I highly recommend this book!
A satisfying read for a rainy/snowy day..........2001-02-15
This is the first book I read by this author. She has a very light humourous prose. This is not a typical *romance* novel. The characters are well-developed and by the end of the book you feel like you know them and that you might drive around the little town where this takes place (outside of Fort William in Scotland) and be able to point out key landmarks. Donald and Clare, the main characters, are very human and likeable. Clare makes a journey to find herself and finds love, family, and a sense of inner confidence that she was lacking. This is a very rewarding and satisfying read. Many readers may find their own journeys and struggles mirrored in Clare's.
Modern Tale of Running Away.......2000-10-10
Please don't shy away from the cover - yes it looks like a bit like a bodice ripper, but this engrossing story is perhaps the perfect way to "run away" - albeit vicariously. Claire leaves behind an unsympathetic fast life of drinking and waking up beside the wrong person (as well as a rather mysterious dark history) to live alone in an isolated cottage in Scotland. To my way of thinking, it was far better to endure some of her hardships vicariously, but the isolation and beauty will rub off on the reader, who hopefully won't have to endure a damp, cold cottage or other deprivations. The author develops the characters in a richly believable manner, and paints the landscape with loving simplicity. As Claire embarks on her journey of discovery, the reader will have some eye-opening moments and perhaps even an epiphany as well.
sweet, uplifting story.......2000-04-08
Heartwarming story of a woman who takes a step back from her busy work dominated life to find herself.
She moves to the Highlands, into a tiny moist house with no 'mod cons' and through the course of the story, finds herself growing to love the surrounding area, the people and most of all, forgives and frees herself from her past.
A very rewarding read, I'm off to go play with the children!
Book Description
Though we have hundreds of entertainment options today--video games, the Internet, CD and MP3 players, home entertainment centers, sporting events, megamalls, movie theaters, and even robotic toys--Western culture is battling an insidious disease. It's an epidemic of boredom.Intrigued by this "deadness of soul," Richard Winter uses the latest historical, physiological and psychological research to probe the nature, causes and effects of boredom. He explores
- why some people are more likely to get bored than others
- the indifference and the loss of meaning among youth
- the attraction of extreme sports
- how advertising promotes apathy
- the link between boredom and addictions to violence and pornography
Not satisfied with mere description and analysis, Winter also offers practical ways to counteract boredom by learning to live with passion and wonder. So don't just turn on the TV, surf all the available channels and complain "there's nothing on." Instead, read this book!
Customer Reviews:
Good Book.......2006-07-11
This book is a great psychological and theological exploration of the nature and causes of boredom, along with some tips about how Christians can beat it. There's a lot of really great material in here -- modern Americans are so bored not because we don't have enough to entertain us but because we have too much to entertain us; our consumer culture and the ubiquity of advertising has trained us to always move on to the next great thing, but has also attenuated our ability to appreciate these greater and greater thrills, leading us to seek ever more astounding highs and novelty in extreme sports and hardcore pornography; a simple solution to this malaise of boredom is available to Christians if we cultivate gratefulness and a spirit of fascination with all things, even repetition.
I really loved this book because it didn't just take the theological, Ecclesiastes, all-is-vanity-just-love-it-and-live-it approach to the topic, and neither did it take the literary, longing-for-longing, weight-of-glory, God-is-younger-than-us tack. Instead, Winter weighed in with a fantastic and fascinating psychological analysis, while still infused with all the rigor and magic of the theological and literary approaches. Great stuff!
Boredom: diagnosed and treated.......2004-08-21
"Despite its extraordinary variety of diversions and resources, its frenzy for spectacles and its feverish pursuit of entertainment, America is bored. The abundance of efforts made in the United States to counter boredom have defeated themselves, and boredom has become the disease of our time" (13).
If this is true and boredom is the disease of our time, then Richard Winter is the physician who has studied boredom's pathology and holds out a promising cure. Beginning with an investigation into the causes of boredom, Winter commences by considering how understimulation, repetition and a sense of disconnection all contribute to boredom. He differentiates two varieties of boredom (short-term and longer-term boredom). And then, in light of what appears to be a marked increase in boredom in recent years, considers how an increase in leisure time, a dependence upon technology, and the overstimulation produced by the hydra of the entertainment and advertising industries, each contribute to complacency and relate to boredom.
Throughout the mid chapters, Winter angles his investigation to include further psychological and historical factors. Why some people are more likely to get bored than others is the first question to be discussed. Distinguishing between boredom, depression and the apathy of grief follows. This second topic is dealt with at greater length with the reader being treated to a `trip back in time' in order to compare the contemporary phenomena of boredom with experiences of boredom in medieval times. While the author appears concerned that his readers may not want to traverse the ages with him, I am sure most will; especially as it is here that boredom is best described and we are brought face-to-face with the phenomena of boredom and its various guises.
In the later chapters, Winter relates the rise of boredom to three things: "the decline of Christianity, the sense of entitlement to happiness and an emphasis on subjective experience or on following my inner desires" (87). He also treats the fruits of boredom, which can be summarized as sexual addiction, increased aggression, and risk taking. Most importantly of all, our good physician prescribes a number of biblically grounded and practically oriented ways of counteracting boredom. This culminates in a final chapter entitled "Why Get Up in the Morning?" A gentle and gracious reminder of our need to respond to God and to look to Him as the One who not only enables us to patiently endure our moments of frustration and boredom, but who transforms us and provides us with a passion for living.
While Winter's book leaves room for much more to be said, yet it remains a useful introduction to what I believe will be one of the major pastoral concerns of the 21st century. As a primer on boredom's causes and consequences, this work has two main strengths. First, it helps us to comprehend some of the complexities of the society we now live in. For as Winter ably demonstrates, boredom is a fascinating lens through which to view and better understand certain attitudes and activities that are the hallmarks of contemporary culture. Second, this work extends real help to pastors and counselors as they increasingly identify and deal with the spiritual havoc that boredom can produce in the lives of those whom they shepherd and serve. Indeed, those alert to the ways in which boredom robs us of our appetite for God will find suggestions for awakening and enlivening bored people, as well as clues to orienting the gospel message to those whose hearts are heavy, souls are numb and whose rote response is... `whatever'.
Winsomely written and a fresh reminder of the applicability of biblical truth to everyday concerns, Still Bored in a Culture of Entertainment is a useful book that will spark discussion and hopefully spawn further work in this area.
more theology than psychology.......2004-03-01
I bought this book on a whim because I liked the title. It began well, outlining some basic psychological research on boredom with a very accessible writing style. The book examines the nature of boredom, different varieties of boredom, and how personality is related to boredom. There is even a little personality test you can take to see how prone to boredom you are. I believe that the author is on target when he says that overstimulation and an excess of easy entertainment are the primary causes of boredom in our culture.
Unfortunately, about halfway through the book, there is a dramatic shift in tone where the author abruptly begins to relate everything to his Christian world view. This was a surprise because the cover and the information on the back of the book say nothing about religion, though it is clear that this was the purpose of the book all along. I felt rather deceived, as if I had just let a missionary into my home under false pretense. We are told that a meaningless life causes boredom, and that the only way to avoid meaninglessness is through religious faith. The author fails to convince at this point, especially after his previous discussion of the problem of boredom in early Christian monks! On very little argument or evidence, humanistic philosophies and "tolerance" are blasted as causing boredom and the rest of society's ills. Hmm, where have I heard this before?
The book ends with recommendations that borrow heavily from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's research on flow and the statement that we need to "serve" God if we are going to have a good and meaninful life. I consider this book more propaganda than anything else, and cannot recommend it.
Fine Analysis of Boredom Hit from Many Angles.......2003-04-15
Still Bored in a Culture of Entertainment
by Richard Winter (IVP, 2002)
reviewed by Ed Vasicek
Still Bored in a Culture of Entertainment discusses the rise of boredom in modern culture from a Christian perspective. Winter, a Psychiatrist and theology professor at Covenant Seminary (in St. Louis) looks at the subject of boredom from various angles.
He discusses the two main types of boredom (short term and the more permanent type), analyzes trends in modern culture that nurture boredom (over stimulation and constant entertainment), and how personality types make one more or less prone to boredom. He also documents how boredom has been viewed over the ages.
Winter analyzes how post-modern philosophy contributes toward indifference and meaninglessness, how boredom encourages addictive behavior or risk taking, and then offers a battle plan for the Christian to tackle boredom through six steps (remember the big picture, delight in the simple and ordinary, cultivate wonder, develop strong interests, actively engage instead of passively expecting others to initiate).
Some quotables include: "Boredom is a subtle form of negative thinking...", "...to the contemporary mind, goodness and beauty often seem boring and unstimulating...", and, "experience and intuition are supported by research that has found links between boredom and all sorts of negative states of mind and behavior..."
Much of the material in this book can be expanded upon by reading these three volumes, "Bowling Alone", "Natural Prozac", and "The Overspent American." I think this is a fine book, though a bit boring at times (sorry, but it is true!). Good stuff nonetheless.
Insightful analysis of our daily search for stimulation.......2003-03-17
After having the privilege of hearing Dr. Winter speak on this and other subjects this January, I was eager to read his latest written work.
This book appealed to me on many levels: As someone who knows very little about psychology, it provided a good primer on the root causes of boredom; as a parent-to-be, it left me with plenty to chew on (I especially enjoyed the treatment of the effect of delayed gratification in children); and as a student of Popular Culture, it encouraged me to more carefully consider my diet of information and entertainment.
Perhaps most importantly, however, this book challenged me to seek out the day-to-day beauty and wonder to be found in creation.
I highly recommend this well-written work.
Books:
- Two Novels: The Captain and the Colonel / Two Years, or, The Way We Lived Then (The Publications of the Southern Texts Society)
- Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture: A Novel of Mathematical Obsession
- Variations on Night and Day
- Waverley: or 'Tis Sixty Years Since (Oxford World's Classics)
- Welcome to Higby
- Wet Places At Noon
- White Jacket, or The World in a Man-of-War: Volume Five (Melville)
- Who I Was Supposed to Be: Short Stories
- With Child: Wisdom and Traditions for Pregnancy, Birth, and Motherhood
- You Are Not a Stranger Here
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
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- The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of t
- The Black Lizard Jim Thompson: After Dark My Sweet, The Alcoholics, The Criminal, Cropper's Cabin, T
- The Bounce Back Quotient
- Perfecting Corporate Character: Insightful Lessons for 21st Century Organizations
- A history of Japanese accounting reforms as a microfoundation of the democratic socio-economy: Accou
City of Tiny Lights
The London Pigeon Wars: A Novel
Where You're At
Musungu Jim and the Great Chief Tuloko
The Bridge of Sighs: A Novel
