Forgetting Elena: A Novel

Book Description

Combining glittering wit, an atmosphere dense in social paranoia, and a breathtaking elegance and precision of language, White's first novel suggests a hilarious apotheosis of the comedy of manners. For, on the privileged island community where Forgetting Elena takes place, manners are everything. Or so it seems to White's excruciatingly self-conscious young narrator who desperately wants to be accepted in this world where everything from one's bathroom habits to the composition of "spontaneous" poetry is subject to rigid conventions.

Customer Reviews:

enigmatic tale works on several levels.......2000-05-04

This is a classic novel, and one that works on several levels. A satire of Fire Island gay culture? Yes, but it works even if you have no idea that this is what the book is supposed to be "about," as I didn't when I first read it years ago. The prose is seamlessly perfect, and the device of the amnesiac narrator, which shouldn't work, actually does.

Forgetting Elena.......1999-12-18

This is not an easy book. It is striking and memorable. If you read it more for the immediate effect of the imagery rather than try to figure out a plot or the characters, it is much more rewarding. I'm not knowledgeable about the model of Fire Island society but that is secondary anyway. If you are looking for a real page-turner, this book is not for you. If you read slowly and visualize what the author describes, you will be amply rewarded.This book may be about life on a beach but it is not a "beach book."

A perfect work.......1999-10-13

A vanished gay culture and setting (recognizably The Pines in the 1960s) transformed into an icy fantasy, with details borrowed from the ceremonial court life of ancient Japan and Java. An amnesiac narrator finds himself in an imaginary island society, at once funny and horrific, where refined, ever-changing rules govern the slightest action. He must somehow deduce his own identity from the enigmatic offhand remarks of others around him while not giving himself away.

Though infused with a gay sensibility, this is not a "gay book". In it, obsessive aestheticism and obsessive love face each other, gradually becoming deadly enemies.

Overrated florid monstrosity.......1999-04-13

Two readings straight through, back to back, and I still couldn't figure out what anyone sees in this overwrought piffle.

One of the masterpieces of 20th-century literature........1999-02-19

White's first novel is a fascinating study of an obsessive mind in action. The narrator, who lives on an island that in some ways resembles Fire Island, is a compulsive amnesiac who is apparently terrified to admit to anyone that he doesn't know who he is or what his relationship is to the people around him. It is clear he would feel embarassed if anyone found out. But as he attempts to determine his status in this highly stratified society, it is clear that its values are very much a part of his subconscious.

Truly a book in which form reflects content, the style of the writing is self-conscious and always exquisitely phrased. This book is not for everyone. For me, however, this novel is one of the masterpieces of 20th-century literature. It is simultaneously a mystery, a comedy of manners and a haunting love story.

Average customer rating:
A valentine for Elena. (Edmund White's novel, 'Forgetting Elena.'): An article from: The Review of Contemporary Fiction
Harry Matthews
Manufacturer: Review of Contemporary Fiction
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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ASIN: B00096NF0W
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Review of Contemporary Fiction, published by Review of Contemporary Fiction on September 22, 1996. The length of the article is 6089 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.

From the supplier: Edmund White's 'Forgetting Elena' offers a mirrored portrait with tragedy underlying the comic surface. Elena and the novel's narrator live on an island whose inhabitants are chiefly concerned with beauty. The abundance of mirrors in the story ironically demonstrates that the most meaningful reflections come from other persons. Elena frees the narrator from constant scrutiny, yet the narrator gradually forgets Elena as well as most of his life.

Citation Details
Title: A valentine for Elena. (Edmund White's novel, 'Forgetting Elena.')
Author: Harry Matthews
Publication: The Review of Contemporary Fiction (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 1996
Publisher: Review of Contemporary Fiction
Volume: v16 Issue: n3 Page: p31(12)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Customer Reviews:

Keep Far Away From this manga.......2007-08-29

Though being only slightly interesting this series is dull and un inspired.Only if because i was waiting for her to explain some plot, or what the awakening is and how it awakens. or how it could be Noriko. Or I don't know..if she was ever going to explain anything. I got to volume 4 and still didn't care about any of the characters nor did i understand this "political" crap side story the author adds in.

Noriko is your typical damsel in distress and the names of the characters couldn't be dumber. It's tired, it's been done better. and besides the characters not being able to communicate in the begining (which how this is a plus i can barely understand) THERE IS NO INNOVATION.

this story is as boring as it's undistinguishable lead characters. if i don't care after FOUR volumes...you know a story is lacking something...like real heart or genuine interest.

A good story, for younger readers.......2007-03-04

This is a review to express my feeling after having completed the 14 volume series.

I picked up this manga b/c I was having Red River withdrawal, and thought I'd give another 'teleport to a distanct country/time/place' manga a try.

The reason I'm giving this manga 4 starts instead of three is because as a story, this is well written and despite being disappointed by the lack of 'romance' in a manga that's labeled shoujo... I did enjoy it. As a fantasy/action story, this one was rather refreshing. The main heroine doesn't annoy me like so many 'virginal' pure manga heroines do, she does her best to be strong throughout and isn't self-absorbed or whiney, and you just have to love the main hero of the story. His predicament reminds me a lot of The Violinist of Hameln, raging demon on the inside that if he doesn't learn to control, will consume him, etc... The villains were pretty well done as well. Gotta love those cute lil' Chimos hehe.

For me tho, I wanted to see more development in the relationship between Noriko and Izark, there just wasn't enough romance for me to be satisfied. I was expecting even a KISS at the end or something... major dissapointment there... I can count the number of times Izark kissed Noriko on one hand throughout all fourteen volumes. I would recommend this for a younger reader, but if you are like me- (you enjoy a bit of fantasy and would rather search after a mature + label) I would recommend Red River instead.

Greetings From Far Away- An Overview of the Entire Series.......2007-01-20

Viz's Shoujo imprint has some of the best epic fantasy/romance manga on the market. From Far Away is comparable to series like Red River, Basara, and Fushigi Yugi: Genbu Kaiden in that they focus on the lives and loves of young women with great and often seemingly tragic destinies. I dearly love the above mentioned series, and since From Far Away has recently concluded its English language release, I'll tell you how it stacks up in comparison.

At the heart of From Far Away is a beauty and beast love story set in a fantasy world. The beauty is Noriko Tachiki, a spacey high schooler whose brush with death sends her hurtling through time and space to an alternate dimension. She is the Awakening, a ominous person spoken about in legend who will herald a disastrous time for this new land. The beast is Izark Kia Taj, a handsome, stand-offish mercenary with a terrible fate. He harbors the Sky Demon within himself, which will consume him when he comes in contact with the Awakening. As political turmoil and civil unrest engulf the land, powerful men would stop at nothing to claim the Sky Demon's power for themselves.

The characterization is perhaps the best aspect of From Far Away. Noriko manages to get her act together fairly quickly, and evolves into a plucky, resourceful heroine. Izark, of course, learns about love and stuff. There rather slowly unfolding romance is responsible for the best scenes in this series and any other shoujo comic I have read thus far. Of course, over the course of their journey to break their fates, they meet a colorful cast of side-characters. Another admirable aspect of From Far Away is the way the artist portrays people that otherwise wouldn't be portrayed as heroic as heroes. From a stout middle-aged woman with wisdom and nerves of steel to an aging political administrator, likable side characters drift in and out of the story.

However, the political storyline is the weakest aspect and it shares nearly as much face time as the character interactions. Of course, there is a crew of villains who want Izark and Noriko for their own nefarious purposes. The villains are never particularly well-developed and come across as being crazy evil for the flimsiest of reasons. The political situation of the world was never particularly interesting from the get-go but it is continuously developed throughout the story without ever managing to spark one iota of interest. Indeed, From Far Away stumbles by cementing Noriko and Izark as a couple way to soon. By volume 9, they are pretty much dedicated to each other and they don't have anywhere to go as characters. This leaves five volumes for the uninteresting political storyline to take center stage. Honestly, by the time the final volume was published, I was so sick of the good vs. evil storyline it almost didn't pick it up.

Overall, From Far Away is a series that went on too long. I don't think it helps that it is an acquired taste. After going back over the entire thing, I find it hard to believe that I followed it until the end because the first two volumes are dreadful. I have fond memories of many parts from the middle of the series, and I wouldn't hesitant to recommend it to younger girls that aren't mature enough to handle other shoujo epics like Basara and Red River. However, this just isn't a story that will endure multiple readings.

actually.......2007-01-14

I had actually read this story in another form (with different charaters*) and wanted to see how that story stayed true to form... and it did and i love it... i will have to find a husband who can afford my manga habit...Hey, there are worse habits.... i recommend this manga to all who read manga...

Great artwork!.......2006-08-27

This is one of my favorite manga. I love the artwork. It's beautiful! The storyline is a fantasy with a little romance thrown in. The lead female character is helpless alot so that kind of bugs me but then sometimes, very seldom, she is fearless. The lead male character is cool! A great read! This manga is 14 volumes. The end is almost here, I can't wait to see how it finishes up.

Customer Reviews:

I have a love-hate relationship with this author........2007-04-15

Generally speaking, I am polar opposite of Spider's political beliefs. I also don't like the generally improbable and often far too fantastic scenarios he sets up. This book stretched my "buy the premise" abilities to their max. This book starts right off in a world where a scientist has unleashed a virus that causes mankind to max out our sense of smell. It suggests that we have the capability to smell even more than wolves and dogs (in spite of the much poorer design of our nose for that sort of thing) and this "ability" to smell so much more overwhelms most of humanity. I didn't buy any of this for a second.

BUT, he writes readable books with characters that are interesting and I generally finish them because I am interested to see what happens. I ended up going with 2 stars on this one because the ending was so weak. Overall, I enjoyed the read enough to finish the book though, so make of that what you will.

I tend to buy Robinson's books used so I don't have as much invested in the ones I am disappointed with - but I do still buy them.

Telempath.......2005-12-17

Telempath,
This book was written 1976 and is steeped in hippie ideology's. (Smoking pot to achieve a state of Zen and the ever famous, 'peace and love will conquer all.') The idea the book is based around intrigued me and is relevant to the problems we face in the world today; terrorism. The problem with the book is that the old hippie ideas don't hold water in the real world.

(ALL VIOLENCE)(CAN BE AVOIDED BY THE TRULY SERENE MIND)
This is straight from the book. Sometimes I felt the author was forcing his views on me as I read.(Not that I disagree with all his views.) I just don't like to be force-fed political view points while reading sci-fi.

The writing style at time's annoyed me. The author had tendencies of introducing characters from nowhere then giving the ever famous (Info dump) to explain who they were. Why not work the characters into the story? What was the rush? The book is short as it is.

What could have been a very good story fell short of the mark. I read the reviews posted before mine and I couldn't disagree more with the high ratings. I'm hard pressed to give this book a 3 star rating, but I will. I like Spiders 'Callahan' stories but I had a very hard time digesting this book.

I know many praise Spider and look upon him as the next Robert Heinlein, and these followers will have a hard time with my review. I just want to say, "I tried to like the book. I really did." I just don't feel it's worthy of a 5 star rating. I gave it 3 stars, but It felt like 2 1/2

His first; not his best, but still a good read.......2003-04-29

"Telempath" follows the world's last assassin - Isham Stone - on his quest to avenge the death of 90% of civilization thanks to the creation of a virus that increases people's sense of smell by several thousand orders of magnitude. (Could you stand living in a city when suddenly every odor was a thousand times as strong and hammering at your brain?) Isham's quest leads us to the man who made this virus and to his latest endeavor: communicating with the "Muskies", ethereal beings who went unnoticed by mankind for eons until the creation of the aforementioned virus. What follows are revalations, betrayals, and eventually hope for the survival of mankind.

Spider's first novel is based on his Hugo-award winning story, "By Any Other Name" (available in a recent paperback collection with that very title). The work beyond the original short story/novella contains the early strains of themes that run throughout Spider's work - communication by thought, understanding of human nature, the sanctity of life, etc. But these strains aren't quite the virtuoso melodies one hears in the "Callahan" and "Stardancer" books. The book ends (like most of Spider's books end) with a happy ending... but dammit, it was almost TOO happy for my tastes.

I encourage readers to pick up the collection "By Any Other Name" and read the novella first. If it tickles your fancy, try "Telempath". And if you haven't read "Stardance" yet, then shame on you! Buy it right now!

Ignore the stupid cover.......2002-08-16

Baen Books just has a hard time with cover art, I guess. But this time they've underdone themselves.

Anyway, grab this book while it's back in print. It's the novel-length expansion of Spider Robinson's novella "By Any Other Name," and it's great from start to finish.

I guess I can tell you a little bit of the plot without spoiling anything. Isham Stone lives in a world in which most of civilization has collapsed, and he's going to get the man responsible. Okay, that's all I can say without giving things away.

I _can_ say that the story is told with all of Spider's trademark humaneness and wit, with no punches pulled but also with none of the gloom-and-doom pessimism that marks "noir" SF. Because this book squarely faces a number of interesting and difficult problems, _and works them through to resolution_, it's actually a profoundly hopeful story despite its apocalyptic backdrop.

Spider is one of my favorite two living SF writers (the other being James Hogan), and this is about as close as Spider comes to writing "hard" SF. Get it while it's available; Spider is incapable of writing a dull word.

God is an iron........2001-11-14

I have an original print of this book (I really dislike the new cover they've reprinted it with!), and periodically re-read "Telempath" as it's one of my favorites. One of the chapters is also in collections of short stories - "God is an Iron" - and is worth the price of the book alone. This is a terrific book, folks!!

Average customer rating:

Telempath
Spider Robinson
Manufacturer: Science Fiction Book Club
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Average customer rating:

Telempath
Spider Robinson
Manufacturer: A Berkley Medallion Book/ Berkley Publishing Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000J1MOS6

Average customer rating:

Telempath
Spider Robinson
Manufacturer: ST MARTINS PRESS *
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000SF5430

Average customer rating:

Telempath
Spider Robinson
Manufacturer: Baen Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UWHKZQ

Average customer rating:

Telempath (A Jim Baen Presentation)
Spider Robinson
Manufacturer: New York: TOR, A Tom Doherty Associates Book, 1983
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000LV80XW

Average customer rating:

Telempath
Spider Robinson
Manufacturer: MacDonald and Jane's
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000JUV2QC

Product Description

First British edition of the author's first book.

Average customer rating:

Telempath
Spider Robinson
Manufacturer: B000JVOZ7E
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000JVOZ7E

Product Description

First British edition of the author's first novel.

Average customer rating:

Telempath
Spider Robinson
Manufacturer: Science Fiction Book Club
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OVH19I

Average customer rating:

Telempath
Spider Robinson
Manufacturer: A Berkley Medallion Book/ Berkley Publishing Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000NPTCPG

Book Description

What Du Bois noted has gone largely unstudied until now. In this book, Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham gives us our first full account of the crucial role of black women in making the church a powerful institution for social and political change in the black community. Between 1880 and 1920, the black church served as the most effective vehicle by which men and women alike, pushed down by racism and poverty, regrouped and rallied against emotional and physical defeat. Focusing on the National Baptist Convention, the largest religious movement among black Americans, Higginbotham shows us how women were largely responsible for making the church a force for self-help in the black community. In her account, we see how the efforts of women enabled the church to build schools, provide food and clothing to the poor, and offer a host of social welfare services. And we observe the challenges of black women to patriarchal theology. Class, race, and gender dynamics continually interact in Higginbotham's nuanced history. She depicts the cooperation, tension, and negotiation that characterized the relationship between men and women church leaders as well as the interaction of southern black and northern white women's groups.

Higginbotham's history is at once tough-minded and engaging. It portrays the lives of individuals within this movement as lucidly as it delineates feminist thinking and racial politics. She addresses the role of black Baptist women in contesting racism and sexism through a "politics of respectability" and in demanding civil rights, voting rights, equal employment, and educational opportunities.

Righteous Discontent finally assigns women their rightful place in the story of political and social activism in the black church. It is central to an understanding of African American social and cultural life and a critical chapter in the history of religion in America.

Customer Reviews:

Righteous Discontent The Women's Movement in the...........2006-11-11

This book is very interesting Because it from the women's in the church
this is something christian should have in their libaray.

Righteous Blah.......2004-05-06

If I could give this book zero stars, I would. Higginbotham is not the feminist scholar she once was, and her writing needs more perspective. The book suggests that she's spent too long in the ivory tower. Too much post-modern psycho-babble in this volume.

Religion and Scholarship at its finest!.......2001-05-18

Evelyn Higginbotham shows us that this is not a man's world anymore with her book on the role of women the Black Baptist Church. Her writing is fluid and detaied, and she provides various examples to illustrate her points. This is the definitive text for learning about the roles that the Black Baptist church in African-American society.

a foray into black women's activism in the Womens Convention.......1999-04-16

Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham asserts that southern black women, through their participation in the National Baptist Convention fostered agency, activism, women's rights and racial dignity during the post-Reconstruction era of Jim Crow. Intrisic to her thesis is that while black women utilized the Baptist church as a support stucture against racism and poverty, they also worked to raise the status of the black race as a whole and black women specifically. One of the most important insights in this book, is an in-depth analyiztion of the feminization of religion. However,while Higginbotham's thesis is stong and engaging, altering the hereto academic focus away from prominent black Baptist activists to a wider, regional phenomenom of group participation, ultimatley her study contains a few theoretical holes. There is little critical analysis of the opposition that black women faced in their endevores, such as the creation the Womens Convention, a subsiderary of the larger National Baptist Convention. Also, there is no sense of the black "masses," consistantly refered to as such, that these women tried to help. "Masses," in this case indicates a monolith rather than an increasingly diversified group of people. Ellaboration on both of these points would have greatly improved the complexity of Higginbotham's study, as well as left the reader a great deal more informed. Over all, Righteous Discontent is a valuable source for anyone seeking information on race, gender and relgion at the turn of the century. Higginbotham's treatment of the subject is tactful and engaging, uncovering a little known but important facet of African American history.

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