Book Description
Inez Roseman, a noted beauty, has a charismatic husband, two bright children, and a successful career as a lead violinist with the San Francisco Symphony. On the surface, she is a woman with an enviable life. But since the birth of her second child, Inez has been plagued by a depression that’s been deepened by her husband’s philandering. Now, at forty, the violinist is obsessed with thoughts of suicide.
Sylvia Bran, a waitress and music store pianist, also has an obsession. Enraptured by the beautiful violinist, Sylvia contrives a way to get to know Inez. At once seductive and solicitous, Sylvia awakens Inez from the suffocating grip of her career, the demands of motherhood, and the tensions of her unhappy marriage. The two women become lovers, embarking on a dance of passion and betrayal that soon spins out of control.
A novel of risk, passion, and surrender, Beautiful Inez is alive with the music that draws Inez and Sylvia together. Set against the vivid backdrop of San Francisco in the early 1960s, it is an unexpected journey into the lives of two masterfully drawn, unforgettable women.
Includes a new essay and a Q + A with the author.
Customer Reviews:
good book but then the ending sucked.......2006-04-28
I was really looking forward to reading this book then I read it I mean I stayed up untill 7 in the morning to read that book and then the ending sucked why would a successful women who finally gets something going for her (Sylvia) kill her self and why wouldnt sylvia stop her from killing herself any sane person who is in love with another person wouldnt let them kill themself. Do yourselves a favor only read half of the book so it has a happy ending......
Exceptionally lovely!.......2005-10-04
It's not terribly difficult to understand why Mr. Schneider
gets the characters and the setting remarkably right. I read
this book shortly after it came out and a few days prior to
hearing him speak. He is an intelligent and caring soul
and this translates into his writing. I loved this book
because it has believable characters and it's the kind
of story that makes me ache. But perhaps my favorite part
is he gets the relationship between Inez and Sylvia
(friendship/lover) just right. You don't have to be
a lesbian to realize the nuances between these two women are
perfect pitch. This is the kind of book I sometimes carry
around just because!
Some pretty words.......2005-09-24
A promising premise, but in the end I didn't get it.
The ending was just hollow for me. I loved the tale up to half-point & then it was... nothing. A hugely forgettable story.
Not even sure why the story should even be written. Though it was written beautifully, yes. I heard from your publisher daily (why I picked up the galley from the get go).
I SO wanted to adore this book. A man writing from a woman's perspective & approaching a lesbian relationship with tenderness; and it WAS tender. I give him that. But the end was a WTF?
She has a successful career, talent, kids & a lover who adores her? Yet she bites it?
Could be my life story without the men & kids.
"The acrobatics of living. A way to stay alive".......2005-04-13
Inez Roseman is a talented, comely lead violinist with the San Francisco Symphony. She's a stunning blonde, her hair brushed back with a silver comb at each temple, a square of silk between chin and violin. A high achiever, a dedicated wife and mother, Inez is also a beguiling mixture of the beautiful and the vulnerable. Lately, she seems to be drifting away from Jake, her charismatic husband, who works as a high profile San Francisco civil rights lawyer championing the cause on behalf of the Negroes, "a favorite of liberal columnists."
The Rosemans appear to be the picture of privilege, talent, and good fortune, but both are living under a veil of illusion, where the words "love me" might as well be grace notes, the tidy embellishments in an overture that reveal little of what follows. For Jake is actually a charismatic philanderer who has been cheating on Inez with Christine, a wealthy, bored Pacific Heights society lady. Meanwhile, Inez has become preoccupied with thoughts of suicide. There's a dreaded heaviness existing over her life, the insidious curse that has made palpable her inability to feel anything save her separation from the world. Jake, of late, just can't understand Inez' moods, and the staggering depth of her melancholy and grief.
When Inez meets Sylvia Bran, a waitress, showroom pianist, and self-confessed bohemian, Inez develops a severe and almost inexplicable attraction to her; "she's like a bride at forty surrendering to some unknown experience." And when Silvia comes to see Inez perform one night, she is instantly besotted with the dizzyingly beautiful violinist. Silvia's seduction is shockingly simple: basing her life on a series of lies, she masquerades as a journalist, first obtaining an interview with Inez, and than later seducing Inez at her rooms above the Hyde Street cable car line, "where the furnishings are a "blend of splintered wicker and discarded crates."
Silvia is a self-confessed eccentric who has learned how to enjoy the smaller pleasures of life. She progressively beguiles Inez with exotic food, scented candles, the music of Ravel, and of course, sex. Inez is at first hesitant, but she allows herself to fall in love with this eccentric and captivating younger girl. Inez has been so emotionally and sexually shutdown, and so seriously melancholic that meeting Silvia unleashes something profound inside of her. Inez sees Silvia as sincere as anybody she's known aside from her own children. She'd even hand Silvia her heart of she could and be done with it, and she honestly tells her that "you didn't steal my heart; I gave it to you freely."
But thoughts of suicide continue to haunt Inez, and it's as though her death wish seems inevitable. She feels she's coated with the weight of her own history. "A habit of abstraction. A habit of disassociation." Sylvia, for her part, is the language enthusiast whose obsession with words was inherited from her suicidal mother who "made a wall of language around herself." Her mother's preoccupation with taking her life infects the whole, ever-darkening and foreboding ambiance of this love story. The novel is filled with duplicity, neglect, evaporated love, and heartbreaking tragedy. But there also is loveliness, musical genius, and proudly realistic erotic love.
Setting the story in and around San Francisco in 1962, author Bart Schneider, not only imbues the narrative with world of classical music, but also situates events against the Cuban Missile Crisis and the steadily looming fear of war. This feeling of destruction, "the end of days" constantly haunts the characters in Beautiful Inez; they seem to throw themselves into hedonistically delightful pursuits with complete and utter abandon as though time is of the essence. Mixing the sexual with the musical, Schneider has written a sad, melancholic, but also extraordinarily beautiful love story, in which a woman drowning in sadness discovers sexual and emotional intimacy on a level that she never considered possible or even thought existed.
Beautiful Inez is a complex, rich, and ambitious book, but it is not without its flaws: some of the peripheral characters seem almost superfluous, and the narrative tends to lose some of its focus at the end. But Schneider's wise decision not to concentrate on the taboo-breaking aspect of the romance, gives the story a persuasive, affecting, and almost refreshing authenticity. He treats Sylvia and Inez as two emotionally honest women, who are, not by any stretch of the imagination, heroes or even gender-identified lesbians, but merely two lonely people who have found one another, and who just happen to be female. Mike Leonard April 05.
music and sensuality.......2005-02-22
An exciting and graceful novel engaging all your senses through music, wine, and eros. Schneider weaves his terrific knowledge of San Francisco, history of music, and remarkable people in a highly imaginative way, creating intrigues and suspense and erotic tension, so that despite the beautiful lyrical sentences (which are sometimes long but alwasy artfully wrapped up, like musical phrases in Beethoven), I read the novel anxiously, delighting in every turn of the events, and every strange detail--for example, a protagonist, blessed and afflicted with the perfect pitch, can't help himself but to analyze many sounds, assigning them C sharps, etc. I will reread the novel!
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Queen's Quarterly, published by Queen's Quarterly on March 22, 2005. The length of the article is 1644 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Musical fictions.(Beautiful Inez)(Book Review)
Author: Eric Friesen
Publication:
Queen's Quarterly (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 2005
Publisher: Queen's Quarterly
Volume: 112
Issue: 1
Page: 108(6)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
lucky young Jenny Benet, a recently orphaned American girl who was raised on the Wild West frontier and educated at a Boston finishing school, has come to Egypt in company with her uncle Neville Hawthorne, a prominent British archaeologist. They're part of a team investigating the legendary Buried Pyramid, the tomb of the pharaoh Neferankhotep-who may also have been Moses the Lawgiver. But they're not the only ones interested in the site. Another party, led by the opulent and treacherous Lady Audrey Cheshire, is shadowing theirs. Someone who signs himself 'The Sphinx' has been sending threatening letters-written entirely in hieroglyphics. In Egypt, an ancient and shadowy organization seems determined to keep the tomb from being discovered. And mortals may not be all that stand in their way.
Customer Reviews:
In which I expected quite a bit more........2007-08-08
I hadn't really read Lindskold until a year or so ago. But then a blog that I frequently read pointed me towards Child of a Rainless Year which I absolutely loved. So when I was in Wisconsin and saw this book, I picked it up for the airplane ride.
All smirking Jerome K. Jerome references aside (I'll read To Say Nothing of the Dog if that's what I'm looking for) I have to say that there is very little of value in The Buried Pyramid. Hard to believe that it was written by the same writer as Child of a Rainless Year.
There's a wonderfully bigoted opening scene when the main character escapes by virtue of the fact that the fact that he knows that while the Bedouin would kill a woman, they won't kill a valuable animal. There is some kind of excuse buried in here about the character reflecting the prejudice of the supposed time period, but not much of one-- in the moment it is pretty clear that the character is supposed to be right for believing this. That was the first major strike for me.
The second major strike was the journey of the characters through the desert where a kitten is brought along for no better reason, apparently, than the aforementioned Jerome K. Jerome reference. (It also assists the plot later on, but obvious deus ex machina is nearly as bad as pointless literary trainspotting.) It violates pretty much everything sensible about the character, who is supposed to be the most sensible one in the group.
There's some bit with the gods which is kind of interesting, actually, but then which is immediately ruined by the strange, irritating and apparently completely meaningless post-judgement sequence. Actually, this bit really shows the problems that I had with the material-- nothing was at stake for these characters. I never really had the feeling that any outcomes were in doubt.
I think since I liked Child of a Rainless Year so much, then I have kind of decided to pretend that I never read this book. I'm hoping the rest Lindskold's writing follows more in the one tradition than the other.
Leaps to the Stars....Falls in the Mud.......2007-01-20
Lindskold has written a very good airplane book: easy to read, moderately entertaining, and quickly forgotten. What could have been a very deep and engrossing book turns out to be a puff of cotton candy, a sweetish treacle that satisfies for the immediate moment and yet leaves no lasting warmth in the literary tummy.
The story, as told above, is centered around two main characters: Sir Neville and Jenny Benet. Sir Neville had been to Egypt before as a soldier and fancies himself an archaeologist first and foremost and Jenny Benet is his cousin who was raised in America. The most important things to remember from these two characters is that Sir Neville has connections through an old acquaintance, Eddie, whenever he needs them and Jenny 's upbringing in America was SO well-rounded that she can basically produce any skill on demand to fill gaps in the storyline. Add an Egyptologist that knows every facet of history and you have a team that cannot fail.
And herein lies the problem with this story.
Since Sir Neville and Eddie can basically do whatever they want in Egypt thanks to connections or Eddie's conversion to Islam and since any challenge is conquered by the genius skills of Jenny (who not only is a frontier doctor, but also a tough fighter, an excellent shot and a well-mannered, boarding school-trained solver of complex puzzles) there is no real challenge in any of the situations they face. A cursory 60's Batman-style association string figures out the puzzles ("Hmmm...sausage...television....soda pop.....THE JOKER!") and Stephen the Egyptologist can read any heiroglyphic and knows any fact about ancient history; where is the thrill of danger and clever action/quick wit that saves the day? There is none. You can easily skip pages whenever the intrepid group encounters a tiny difficulty, since it will definitely be solved in record time. Each character is a static, video game character that has a special skill or five and can be called on and develops in much the same manner. There is no real development of closeness or maturity in Jenny: she is a tough-as-nails fighter genius doctor when she arrives and is one when the story is over. Even when a character dies, he is forgotten about by everyone (and even the subcharacter that spends the previous 2/3rds of the book FAWNING over him) within a few pages as if he had never existed. All the plots look contrived to be as easy to solve as possible or at least a diversion from the team's goal. It's like going on the Safari boat at Disney World and seeing the "dangerous" animatronic hippo come out of the fake river so the tour guide can shoot it with the toy gun to save the day.
And then we get to the last third of the book and its deus ex machina ending. 1. heroes are trapped in an INESCAPABLE room by the bad guys. 2. Heroes find a way out of the INESCAPABLE room. 3. Heroes find RA THE SUN GOD AND GUIDE HIS BOAT FOR HIM BECAUSE HIS FRIENDS THOTH AND ISIS ARE SOMEHOW MYSTERIOUSLY NOT THERE. 4. Shenanigans ensue! 5. Judgement by Osiris and a useless interlude that is easily won. 6. VICTORY!!!
The book itself is an easy and quick read because there is no substance to it. It's calorie-free and the characters never develop beyond their introductory profiles. The first parts of the book paint such a mysterious picture and promise so much possible intrigue and interpersonal development in the relationships between Neville and Jenny and also Neville and Eddie, who could be struggling with his total conversion to Islam and reconcile his native Englishness with his chosen path. But this never happens. Neville is enchanted with the "villain" when he needs to be and is helpless whenever she needs to manipulate him. Huzzah.
Read this book if you're trapped on a 7-hour flight, but skip it if you're looking for something with bite and substance.
Before Indiana Jones there is Jenny Benet +++.......2006-02-26
This "old-fashioned" novel by Jane Lindskold moves briskly from one scene and theme to another, but with rich detail. Its lead character, Jenny Benet, is an EDUCATED American wild west woman. She adventures with mostly Victorian British, yet key players are a British Muslim convert and a "quiet" Egyptian native. The scenes and themes are mostly Egyptian native, however. But there are other settings and players, including wild west American, Victorian Britain, imperial German, Italian and Egyptian Coptic. So the scenes, themes and players flow in a rich, balanced diversity, with direct and subtle contrasts. [...]
The plot twists and turns, with mysteries and puzzles along the way. I enjoyed breaking about half the coded messages on my own, and just went onward in any case, not wanting to lose momentum. Some of the scenes and players are very funny, and there are times when certain players get quite their just due. Egyptian tradition and speculation are woven into the whole saga and its scenes, themes, and players. The way of the Old Gods interacts with the "modern" Christian and Muslim characters in a wonderful style. Amazing that "legalistic theology" can be such a natural story matrix. Before Indiana Jones there is Jenny Benet.
Not up to her earlier standard.......2006-01-19
The story of a recently orphaned girl - Jenny Benet - who instead of becoming a frontier doctor travels back to UK to be reared by her uncle Neville. Upon arrival she finds that he is about to start out on an archeological expedition to find a hidden pyramid. When uncle neville sets out, Jenny, and her guns, are brought along. The expedition is hampered by threats from a fellow archeologist party and a religious sect bent on protecting the pyramid, and helped by cryptic warnings from an anonymous source. The book start out with a bit of backstory to the search, and end with a suddenly appearing egyptian pantheon.
My problems with the story are many. Most prominent is the simplicity and childlike way the story is told - 50 pages in I actually had to make sure it wasn't just a bad childrens book I had picked up - and the sudden tacking on of a 'fantastic' ending that is not in any way made believable or plausible.
I hoped for better..........2005-08-03
I first found Lindskold through When the Gods are Silent, an excellent book. Then Donnerjack, her completion of one of Zelazny's unfinished works, was excellent as well. I read the first three of her wolf novels; very good. So I had high hopes for The Buried Pyramid. Unfortunately, the first eighty percent of the book struck me as childish without the childlike sense of wonder, and as leading to a great climax. Also unfortunately, the great climax was nothing but a radical change in form, the sudden appearance of great magics and jarringly useless gods, and epic adventures compressed into paragraphs. I'll go try the 4th of her wolf novels now.
Average customer rating:
|
The buried pyramid
M. Zakaria Goneim
Manufacturer: Longmans, Green
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Africa | History | Subjects | Books | African Studies | Algeria | Angola | Benin | Botswana | Central Africa | Comoros | Democratic Republic of Congo | Djibouti | East Africa | Egypt | Equatorial Guinea | Eritrea | Ethiopia | Gabon | Gambia | General | Ghana | Guinea | Guinea Bissau | Ivory Coast | Kenya | Lesotho | Liberia | Libya | Madagascar | Malawi | Mali | Mauritania | Morocco | Mozambique | Namibia | Niger | Nigeria | North Africa | Rwanda | Sao Tome and Principe | Senegal | Sierra Leone | Somalia | South Africa | Southern Africa | Sudan | Swaziland | Tanzania | Togo | Tunisia | Uganda | West Africa | Western Sahara | Zambia | Zimbabwe
General | Archaeology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0007J651W |
Average customer rating:
|
Mexico The Little Booklet of Interest on, Find the Mystery of Buried Cities, Frowning Pyramids, Rare Objects of Archaeology, Cradle of Human Race ETC How Mexico Derived its Name, Aztecs, Marble Mountain, Teotihuacan
SIGNED Sincerely Yours the Author Mrs. Francis J. McGowen, Ranchita, illustrated, Foreword edited by Francis McGowen
Manufacturer: Publ by author
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Aztec | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000JCXY3O |
Book Description
Will the $45,000 champion bull become barbecue? For the first time in years, Nero Wolfe, one of the greatest fictional detectives of all time, leaves the comfort of his New York City brownstone to become entangled in a family feud that becomes deadly. Listen as Nero and Archie Goodwin, his able assistant, try to solve three mysterious deaths: the champion bull, Hickory Caesar Grindon; Clyde Osbood, who bet his life that no one would be eating Caesar-burgers; and Bronson, the blackmail artist. In his reading, Michael Prichard captures the wry wit of the narrator, Archie, as Wolfe teases out the solution to the mystery. 6 cassettes.
Download Description
Nero Wolfe, the 286 pound beer consuming marvel, who wears yellow silk pajamas, loves orchids and rarely leaves home has been a popular character for seventy years in Rex Stout's books, films and recently a successful television series. His sidekick Archie Goodwin helps prod Wolfe into action.
Customer Reviews:
Fantastic Entry in Nero Wolfe Series.......2007-05-26
Some Buried Caesar begins with an auto accident as Archie Goodwin is driving Nero Wolfe to an orchid exhibition. Wolfe, in his own considerate way, loses no opportunity to tell everyone he meets that Archie has wrecked his car. While this definitely helps fuel some of the comedy in the book, it's not quite the central plot thread. It turns out that Wolfe and company get sucked into a murder investigation where the prime suspect is a prize bull. Wolfe knows that the bull is innocent but has to prove it to the police to earn his fee. There is plenty of enjoyable snappy patter and the story moves along at a nice brisk pace. Archie also picks up something of a girlfriend, Lily Rowan, who will be around off and on for the rest of the series.
Most Wolfe novels have him safely at home in the city but this one pulls him out of his cozy confines and this definitely helps add spice to the story. Speaking of the story, it's one of Rex Stout's best. The characters are varied and interesting and the murder mystery is just as baffling as you could hope for. Some of the dialogue is laugh-out-loud funny, just as you would expect from Wolfe and Goodwin.
If you've never read a Nero Wolfe book, this one would make a great introduction to the series. If you have read some of the novels, this one is well worth adding to your collection. In short, I would recommend it without reserve to almost anyone.
Nero Wolfe in a pasture, just perfect........2007-02-19
This is a great example of why this series is so enjoyable. Nero Wolfe proven right about automobiles, Wolfe trapped in a pasture by a bull, (Threatened by food, how appropriate.) Archie meets the one woman who sticks around (Lily Rowan) and a mystery that only gets solved with one of Wolfe's outrageous, but plausible (well, almost plausible) schemes. All the usual pleasures are just a bit better in this one, Archie gets arrested (as per usual) but instead of just suffering comically, he decides to organize the inmates. The banter between Goodwin and Rowan is another highlight (You'll see why Stout kept her around) and the twists and turns all have purpose. This one is one of the true classics of the series.
Archie Meets His Match.......2005-10-17
And it's not Hickory Caesar Grindon, the bull, either. This early Wolfe introduces Archie to his lifelong companion Lily Rowan.
Lily sticks with Archie (God knows why) for the rest of the series, which means from 1939 to 1975.
Some would say that Archie should be ashamed that he never makes an honest woman of Lily - I mean, isn't 36 years long enough? But that shows that they've not understood Lily - or Archie, for that matter.
Lily is a classic proto-feminist. She is independent and wilful. SHe thinks and acts for herself. Marriage, as she would define it, poses unacceptable terms to her: having to conform her actions to the expectations of someone else.
A great pleasure was seeing Kari Matchett play Lily in the much-lamented A&E series on Nero Wolfe. She was perfect: beautiful, self assured, charming and very much her own woman.
Oh, the story: a prize bull is killed and so is another person associated therewith...Wolfe, already grossly inconvenienced and in a highly uncomfortable place, must unravel this to assure that Archie does not languish in a provincial prison.
And, of course, a relationship begins which lasts a lifetime. The language and the characters in this story are irresistable, and Michael Prichard does his usual, wonderful job in capturing the spirit of Rex Stout's writing.
It's a story that stands up to multiple listenings. Enjoy!
Some Buried Caesar.......2004-01-24
One of Stout's best Wolfe novels. The mystery itself is not really entirely gratifying, but the story and the characters that inhabit the mystery make it all worthwhile. The conflicts and dialogue of the characters add to the realism of the novel as well. One of Stout's most accomplished novels.
Wolfe Stands the Test of Time.......2002-08-13
I'm not sure I'd tale the time to sit down to read Stout's old classics, but Michael Prichard's audiobook narration captures both Archie Goodwin and his rotund boss in a way that makes a long summer car trip seem a lot shorter. Tom Pratt, who owns a bunch of fast food restaurants circa 1938, buys Hickory Caesar Grindon, a champion sire of prized Guernsey cows, for $45,000. The Osgoods, Fred and his children Clyde and Nancy, old money riding out the Great Depression on thousands of family owned acres around Crowfield, NY, want to stop the sale to Pratt who intends to barbecue Caesar. Pratt's niece Carolyn tells Archie of a vamp named Lily Rowan, who destroyed Clyde Osgood and has her brother Jimmy in mind for her next conquest. Lily, a precocious presumably promiscuous fixture in future stories, is fascinated by Archie, her "Escamillo" whom she is meeting for the first time.
Clyde is found dead in the pasture with Hickory Caesar standing over him. Wolfe's only there because Archie ran his car into a ditch on the way to an orchid exposition, but he decides to stay on to prove the bull didn't kill Clyde. He finds a letter telling of a debt owed to Bronson, a mysterious man of questionable character who came to Crowfield with Clyde. The next day Bronson is found dead in a barn stall with a pitchfork through his chest, a stall Archie was in the day before.
Police Captain Barrow believes Archie is holding out, which he is, arrests him as a material witness to murder and throws him in the county jail. A fun sidebar develops when Archie meets Basil, a con man who's mastered a game with three spoons and a pea. Basil shows Archie how to get things done in the lockup, and within a day Archie is organizing the inmates in the Crowfield County Prisoner's Union.
Wolfe appears in DA Waddell's office in his "customary unhurried waddle" and browbeats him to release Archie with the notion that he needs him to solve the crimes the DA and Capt. Barrow cannot. They do, of course, and the solution seems so obvious once Wolfe ties together all the facts he saw that others missed. Isn't that what Nero Wolfe is all about?
Average customer rating:
- The Most Creative Mind
- Short fiction, why bother, right? Wrong.
- A sound collection of Card's short stories
- Out of print? Unbelievable
- Many gems and a couple of weird ones
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Maps in a Mirror
Orson Scott Card
Manufacturer: Orb Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Anthologies
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
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| Books
General
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
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Short Stories
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Card, Orson Scott
| ( C )
| Authors, A-Z
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
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Paperback
| Card, Orson Scott
| ( C )
| Authors, A-Z
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
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ASIN: 0765308401 |
Book Description
his extraordinary collection brings together all of Orson Scott Card's short fiction written prior to 1990. Card is a bestselling science fiction and fantasy writer who has been publishing short stories and essays since 1977, when he won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. This volume has 46 stories and is en-hanced with essays and memoirs. The book includes twelve works which rarely appear elsewhere. These are stories which have been superceded by later versions. Included here are the story 'Mikal's Songbird,' which grew into the novel Songmaster; the novella length 'Ender's Game', which became the award-winning novel of the same name; and the epic poem 'Prentice Alvin and the No-Good Plow,' which was the seed for Card's ac-claimed Tales of Alvin Maker series.
Customer Reviews:
The Most Creative Mind.......2007-02-13
Is there anyone out there with a more creative mind than OSC? Can't imagine it. After reading Treasure Box (disappointing), this completely restores my faith in OSC as one of our nation's true literary gifts. He has such a unique ability to generate characters a reader can relate to within the first 2-3 paragraphs. Have no idea how he does it. This is a masterpiece of short stories. Can't recommend highly enough. Have told everyone I know to get this and purchased volumes for my daughter and others. Read this collection!
Short fiction, why bother, right? Wrong........2005-11-22
There are only about five major novelists I've encountered the short fiction of and actually enjoyed the work in both areas. I ran across several of these stories in a shorter collection a few years back and read the book to pieces.
"Eye for Eye" and "Kingsmeat" are among the best pieces of short fiction I've ever read the two of them alone are worth the price of the whole collection.
A sound collection of Card's short stories.......2005-08-13
I've always loved collections of short stories, especially when the author includes introductions and afterwords to his works. It really gives the reader a chance to see into the mind of the writer, and to understand what he is all about. Maps in a Mirror succeeds admirably in bringing together the huge spectrum of Orson Scott Card's short stories. For the most part, the stories are thought-provoking and fun. Card's commentaries provide extra insight into how the stories came about.
Some of the stories tend toward long-winded philosophy and moral arguing, which certainly isn't bad, but can become a bit tedious. Still, all of Card's gems are here, as well as many other less famous stories. There's nothing more enjoyable than being able to sit down and delve into a short story that you know you'll be finishing in one sitting. The short story is a world apart from the novel, and Card certainly does the style justice.
Out of print? Unbelievable.......2004-11-23
I've just made my way through each of the individual books that make up this outstanding collection, and then decided to go back and buy a copy of Maps in a Mirror - just to simplify my collection. As a huge OSC fan, I first read a couple of his short stories through a comparative literature class, and was fascinated by his style...and his ability to draw you in quickly to each of his characters. After reading his book on futuristic Mormon's in a post-apocolypse Western US (Folk of the Fringe), I was hooked. This book is a must have for any OSC fan.
Many gems and a couple of weird ones.......2004-03-30
Card's short stories frequently differ thematically from his longer work. While his longer work revolves around free will and human interaction, his short stories are often written for one main point. It's fair, I think, to judge his short stories by how well and interestingly he gets that point across. Actually, I don't always agree with Card himself when he describes his reasons for writing a story. Sometimes I think he's not being completely candid, but mostly I just take a different point from the story than perhaps he concentrated on.
These reviews are only for some of his short stories -- the ones in "Maps in a Mirror Vol. 2," which is half of this fine book here.
"Unaccompanied Sonata." The point: suffering for your vision will be recognized, and the suffering is worth it. This is the first piece of work I read by Card, when it came out in Omni in 1979. I didn't even remember his name, and it wasn't until ten years or so later, and after I had read Ender's Game and many of his other works, that I made the connection. Even as a young teenager in 1979, this writing spoke to me like few I had ever read. Maybe the writing plays to the secret beliefs we all have that we're misunderstood geniuses; I don't know. I just know I loved it. Rating: Outstanding.
"A Cross-country Trip to Kill Richard Nixon." The point: the country, in the form of Siggy, needed catharsis and understanding of Nixon, and would be able to achieve it. I take Card at his word that this is the main point of the story. It's interesting to read, but not worth too much as a prism for introspection or even as social commentary. Rating: Good.
"The Porcelain Salamander." The point: love sometimes calls for the ultimate sacrifice, and we should always remember that sacrifice. This story seems almost childish on the surface, but invites reflection. Card really does a masterful job of saying what he wants to say, then getting out, and not being too maudlin. Rating: Excellent.
"Middle Woman." The point: ordinary people, even in extraordinary circumstances, are capable of resolving their own problems. This is in one sense the most humanistic of Card's stories, in that it clings to the belief, which I happen to share, that humans are capable of solving their own problems without reference to metaphysical intervention. Rating: Outstanding.
"The Bully and the Beast." The point: good hearts are overlooked by the mainstream of society, while evil hearts are often celebrated. The point actually gets a little lost in this story, because Card gets carried away with the tale itself. However, he never loses the thread of his point, and in the end, the tale is extremely engaging. Rating: Excellent.
"The Princess and the Bear." The point: true love and false love may be confused in the beginning, but will eventually show themselves for what they are. This story is highly readable, but may not be suitable for children, despite its cutesy title. I don't know if I agree with the premise of this story, but it is told in a very enjoyable manner. Rating: Excellent.
"Sandmagic." The point: revenge is bitter and takes the soul of he who practices it. Once again, Card does not waste time in this story, and deviates little from his theme. Card's point is a point well taken, although I frankly cheered while Cer gets his revenge on Nefyryd. But that's probably a character flaw in myself, rather than a flaw in Card's writing. Rating: Excellent.
"The Best Day." The point: the search for happiness for its own sake will be fruitless; happiness is found indirectly if at all. Card does an adequate job bringing his point home in a short amount of time. I don't know if I agree with this philosophy, but I think it was well presented and worth reading. Rating: Satisfactory.
"A Plague of Butterflies." The point: I'm not sure, perhaps the point is that decisions of momentous consequence sometimes must be made by a person whose conventional morality stops him from doing the right thing. I agree with Card that you really do need to read "Wyrms" to more fully appreciate the story. I don't agree with him that he needed to be more faithful to magical realism, since (a) Card can do anything he wants, he's the writer and (b) magic realism is a writing form that has been considerably abused by many writers, particularly Gabriel Marquez, and why compound the abuse? Overall, this story is too disjointed and abstruse for all but hard-care Card fans, and its theme is muddy at best. Rating: Satisfactory.
"The Monkey Thought 'Twas All In Fun." The point: misunderstandings lead to tragedy, even where everyone involved has the best of intentions. Card was way, way too long making his point, and was self-indulgent and needlessly flamboyant in his storytelling. Rating: Unsatisfactory.
Average customer rating:
- Somewhat sanguinary but mostly enjoyable collection
- Best Story
- Real Variety
- interesting twist
- A Mixed Bag in Terms of Quality, but Still Worth it.
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Flux (Maps in a Mirror)
Orson Scott Card
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Similar Items:
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The Changed Man: Short Fiction of Orson Scott Card Vol 1 (Maps in a Mirror)
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Maps in a Mirror
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Treason
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Future On Ice (Future on Fire)
ASIN: 0812516850 |
Customer Reviews:
Somewhat sanguinary but mostly enjoyable collection.......2002-03-18
Card's short stories frequently differ thematically from his longer work. While his longer work revolves around free will and human interaction, his short stories are often written for one main point. It's fair, I think, to judge his short stories by how well and interestingly he gets that point across.
This group of stories is tied together by their speculation on what the future holds for us (hence, "Flux," or a fluid future). Let me run down the plots of each of the stories and give you my rating of them.
"A Thousand Deaths." The point: Some people, at least, no matter what you do to them, cannot change their view of what is right or wrong. This story is an excellent counterpoint to "1984," which posited that people can be completely degraded and crushed. Despite the horrific murders in the story, I liked its humanism. The Ruskies as bad guys was a departure from the usual science fiction fare, and was also appreciated. Rating: Excellent.
"Clap Hands and Sing." The point: everyone, even those we least suspect, has the desire to redo some important aspect of their lives. This story resonates with me, since I too have a Rachel Carpenter in my past, and I wish I had a THIEF to make that one decision differently. Not that I made the wrong decision the first time, but like all human beings, I would love to have it both ways. Rating: Outstanding.
"Dogwalker." The point: A clever adversary overcomes even genius and well-made plans. I don't know whether the purpose of this story was for Card to prove to himself that he could write a good cyberpunk story, or to make a moral point -- something tells me it's the former. Card himself even admits as much in his "Afterword." But there's no need for atonement. The story is very enjoyable either way, and Card can, indeed, write good cyberpunk. Rating: Excellent.
"But We Try Not to Act Like It." The point: a person is dehumanized and destroyed by a society that treats the person paternalistically and as a member of a class as opposed to an individual. This story reminded me of many other (and better) works, from Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" to Jack Williamson's "With Folded Hands" to Huxley's "Brave New World." This would be a good story to read if the person has not read any other stories in this genre, but for anyone else it's unsatisfying. Rating: Unsatisfactory.
"I Put My Blue Jeans On." The point: attempts to destroy your enemy will destroy you instead, even to the point of robbing you of your humanity if not your life. The story about biological warfare gone amuck is superficial and a little silly, and the point has been made numerous other times. Still, as a Brazophile the Brazilian references were appreciated. Rating: Satisfactory.
"In the Doghouse." The point: intelligence is overlooked because of bias. Card originally planned to use an American ethnic group instead of dogs as the beings to receive superhuman intelligence, but I have to agree with him that had he done so, he probably would have been tarred and feathered, and ridden out of town on a rail. Oh well, even though it ducks a political fastball, it still deserves a Good rating.
"The Originist." The point: human beings are defined by their relationships -- and ability to form relationships -- with each other; those relationships are evidenced by emotional ties, private language and common myths. Card's bites off more than he can chew here, because an ontological examination of human beings is a topic that invites a book or a series of books, and really cannot be adequately addressed in a short story or novella. Card has consistently explored this idea throughout his books, frankly without too much success. He actually does his best on this subject when he briefly mentions it in "Ender's Game," where Graff explains to Valentine that the emotional connections between humans are real, and proof of their reality is found in the fact that they can cause Valentine and Ender to act in ways they otherwise would not.
As you read through this story, don't get too bogged down in the idea of humanity's planet of origin. Card uses the question of planet origin as a MacGuffin; the story never resolves it (actually, we learn terra's fate only in Asimov's "Foundation and Earth" and "Robots and Empire"). Rating: Good.
Best Story.......1999-12-21
I loved this book. It's a great series, but this was my favorite in the collection. The two stories I loved most were "A Thousand Deaths" and "Dogwalker". The first one is excellent and, event though there are some out of date concepts in it, it still freaked me out.
The second story, though, is the BEST! "Dogwalker" is good science fiction, but also a really great story with emotion that will totally make you cry.
Real Variety.......1998-02-09
My favorites were - 'The Originist' because I'm interested in the origin of species'. It was well written and kept my attention. - 'In The Doghouse' because it was silly and entertaining, with a twist at the end. - 'But We Try Not to Act Like It' was frightening like 'Farenheit 451'. - 'A Thousand Deaths' was chillingly recurring. ---Debby---
interesting twist.......1997-09-02
i find this book quite entertainng because of the very original stories. A thousand deaths is my favorite. It shows how a man overcomes the fear of death, yet it ends with a strange twist to it.
this book is ver y good and i recommend i
A Mixed Bag in Terms of Quality, but Still Worth it........1997-07-14
Flux contains seven stories, each of varying quality (as Card himself admits). Because of this, a brief comment on each story:"A Thousand Deaths"-compelling, and my favorite, but not for the squeamish,"Clap Hands and Sing"-Mediocre time travel love story,"Dogwalker"-Interesting Cyberpunk, but you'll have to read every paragraph at least twice,"But We Try Not to Act Like It"-Bizarre TV-stations-rule-the-world story, with a hint of black comedy (OSC hated it),"I Put My Blue Genes On"-Highly imaginative recombinate DNA story,"In the Doghouse"-Ridiculous story about aliens possessing our dogs,"The Originist"-Based on Asimov's Foundation universe, it's interesting, but easy to put down. Although a couple stories were a real snooze, it's still worth curling up with on a rainy day
Customer Reviews:
Maps.......2003-09-06
Excellent!! I have come to expect great stories from Card, and this didn't disappoint me. I found 'The Changed Man and the King of Words' the best, but they are all incredible. I recommend making a full collection of Card's work.
No one else has mentioned it, so I will: this book is a section in Maps in a Mirror.
Dread.......2003-05-26
The copy I have says on the back that this is a collection of stories that all deal with the feeling of "dread".
And even though I KNEW that, I still felt it, in every single story. Oh my god, where is he going with this? Or, worse: Oh my god I think I KNOW where he's going with this and I REALLY don't want it to go there...
And I read them all together, in a couple days I'd finished the book. And even during the last story, I was still dreading what would happen on the next page. I didn't get used to it. I didn't feel disassociated from what I was reading.
Card can really get under your skin, you know?
Classic Card.......2002-08-22
So the rating system isn't exactly fair. It's hard to judge a whole book of short stories. All are good. Most are VERY good. A few are exceptional.
For example, the Changed Man and the King of Words. Of all the OSC short stories I've read (and I freely admit that I haven't read them all YET) this one was probably the best, sharing the #1 position with Dogwalker (in a different book). Then again, there may have been a little Classic/English-anti-science-major brought out by the story, but that only made, for a me, a great story greater. I don't actually think that's possible, but hey, it's my review.
Either way, find yourself someone selling this book used and buy it, it's worth way more than I paid for it :)
Mixed bag of horror and suspense stories.......2002-03-19
Card's short stories frequently differ thematically from his longer work. While his longer work revolves around free will and human interaction, his short stories are often written for one main point. It's fair to judge his short stories by how well and interestingly he gets that point across.
"Eumenides in the Fourth Floor Lavatory." The point: payback for past sins is inescapable. This story is unappealing because it violates a cardinal rule of moralistic storytelling. Howard is pursued by his guilt, which has taken in the form of a deformed infant, but the only reason the infant can pursue him in the first place is because he was sufficiently humane to rescue the baby. Card seems to be saying that if Howard had left the child in the lavatory, he could have walked away from his guilt entirely. A good fable should show the reader how a man's moral failings, and not his moral strengths, become his undoing. Rating: Unsatisfactory.
"Quietus." The point: death can be accepted more easily if one has children. This story is extremely appealing to me, because it simultaneously incorporates familiar Mormon references and ordinary scenes into a surreal storyline. The result is disorienting, yet perfected suited to Card's exposition. Rating: Outstanding.
"Deep Breathing Exercises." The point: if we pay close attention, we are all linked together in death. I'm not sure if Card had any point to make, or whether he had just the one idea of synchronous breathing. Probably the latter, although Card is fascinated with human interaction as a general principle, as evidenced in his works such as "Xenocide." Overall, the story is worth a read and that's about it. Rating: Good.
"Fat Farm." The point: you cannot escape the consequences of your vices. Card uses a fun way of making his moral point. My only objection is that we don't find out the dirty job that Barth H has been tasked to do. I'd love to see a continuation of this story. Rating: Excellent.
"Closing the Timelid." The point: if we give in to our senses we will come to crave anything, even death. I suppose other lessons could be drawn from this story, but I believe the principal one is the one I describe above. The story itself is so-so -- it doesn't really capture your attention like Card's somewhat similar "Clap Hands and Sing." Rating: Satisfactory.
"Freeway Games." The point: what goes around comes around. I sum up the story with a cliché because there's not much substance to it; that said, it's a very entertaining read. Rating: Good.
"A Sepulchre of Songs." The point: fulfillment of our deepest wishes may come at too high a price. This story turned out to be a gem, while in the hands of a lesser author it could have been awful. It's easy to be manipulative when it comes to suffering children. Hollywood uses it as a plot device when things are dragging, so "kids in jep" has a justifiably bad rep. Here, however, Card shows the proper amount of skill and tact when dealing with the subject, and its use is central to the story. Rating: Outstanding.
"Prior Restraint." The point: if people had the ability to manipulate the present through time travel, they would, no matter what evil it would cause. Asimov wrote a better story with the same point, called "The Winds of Change." Here, Card even puts a kid in jep (actually, he kills him off) unnecessarily, which is a no-no. Shame on Card for doing that and for putting together an ineffectual and boring story. Rating: Unsatisfactory.
"The Changed Man and the King of Words." The point: if we do not guard our inner selves, myth can overpower us. Card has a fascinating point, and post-September 11, one that is extremely relevant. However, he lets the story get too wrapped up in its form (Greek, Shakespearian tragedies; Freud) to allow proper exposition of its substance. He also throws in lots of metaphor and symbolism but doesn't do a good job stitching them together. It's still an entertaining read, but is ultimately somewhat unsatisfying, which Card himself admits in his "Afterword." Rating: Good.
"Memories of My Head." The point: the division between reality and fantasy for a depressed, desperate person can be awfully thin. I found myself liking this story in spite of myself, because even though it doesn't really go anywhere, it captures a boiling rage so perfectly and combines it with a disorienting point of view. Read the story to enjoy its mood, not for any particular elucidation. But I still have a nagging suspicion that I'm missing something more profound. Rating: Excellent.
"Lost Boys." The point: love can bind us after death, even if only temporarily. Once again Card puts kids in jep, but like "Sepulchre of Songs" he does so with skill. Yes, the story is emotionally manipulative, but Card is appropriately only semi-apologetic about it. One minor complaint: the connection between the video game and the lost boys is never really connected in the short story. I understand that they are in the book, but I have not yet read the book, so I can't say for sure. Rating: Excellent.
Simply Stunning!.......1999-06-10
The Changed Man is an absolute rush of intense, dark creativity. There seems to be so many threads in the fabric of each story and it's so descriptive you can see every detail Card is writing about. It's especially frightening if you have a vivid imagination. You walk away from it saying 'What in the world did I just read?'
Average customer rating:
- A great introduction to the nature of the mind and wisdom
- Complex enough to offer considerable insights
|
Everyday Consciousness And Buddha Awakening
RinpochefKhenchenT
Manufacturer: Snow Lion Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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The Practice of the Tranquility & Insight: A Guide to Tibetan Buddhist Mediation
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ASIN: 1559391707 |
Book Description
This book is an introduction to Buddhist psychology and supplies essential instructions for successful meditation practice.
Customer Reviews:
A great introduction to the nature of the mind and wisdom.......2004-12-09
This book is a real find. It is extraordinarily well written and packs a lot of very useful information about the potential of the mind in few pages.
Not all Buddhist schools align with the Kagyu view on the eight consciousnesses, but I have never read a more convincing treatise on them before. Having read other books by the highly realised master Thrangu Rinpoche I expected a lot and was far from disappointed. The beauty of this book for me is that, whenever a point was made that left a question in my mind, it was very quickly answered.
The chapters on the five transcendental wisdoms are brilliant and explained in a very practical way. This is definitely Dharma that is easily applicable to everyday life.
I strongly recommend you buy this book if you have any interest in the nature of the mind, but as with all Dharma books, you'll get nothing out of it unless you contemplate what you have read, meditate on it and incorporate it into your everyday life.
Happy reading and safe travel on the path to enlightenment!
Complex enough to offer considerable insights.......2003-09-18
Everyday Consciousness And Buddha-Awakening is an introduction to Buddhist psychology and meditation. Written by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche (a prominent teacher of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism), and skillfully translated into English and edited for a contemporary readership by Susanne Schefczyk, the accessible text covers the six collections of consciousness, the five types of primordial awareness, the basics of pursuing meditation to balance the elements of the body, and more. An excellent and confidently recommended guide primarily intended for those new to Buddhist Studies, Everyday Consciousness And Buddha-Awakening is complex enough to offer considerable insights for those with some experience in following the manifold path of Buddhism.
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