Book Description
Although Paul Wedekind has found work as a fisherman along the coast of Rhode Island, he knows his new life is not yet his own. Years ago, as a patriotic young man in East Germany, he enlisted in its army, only to be recruited by the terrifying and omnipotent forces of the Stasi. On a tour of Afghanistan, he and a boyhood friend were taken prisoner and tortured by the Mujahadin - a nightmare that endlessly haunts him.
Years later, believing his friend dead, Paul is sent to America as an agent for the KGB, where his life is changed forever by one woman - a contact named Suleika. Soon, the violent events of the past will threaten their love, and their lives. On the dangerous waters off the New England coast, these two exiles must find the strength to satisfy the impossible demands of men who claim to own them.
An atmospheric, utterly gripping new novel by one of America's most acclaimed younger writers.
Customer Reviews:
East German Agent Stranded in US when Wall Comes Down.......2003-10-22
This is a believable and compelling story about the violent and dangerous life of East German agents, recruited under pressure; threatened and beaten to carry out their assignments. The assignment of this guy is to spy on a friend, and later to be a courier in disguise in Newport, R.I. (smuggling things to and from a Russian submarine). This is where he is when the Wall comes down and has to decide what the heck to do when stranded in a free country with a fake ID. Everything about this caught me by surprise.
A Haunting Quilt of One Man's Life.......2002-11-17
First, I do not believe there is anyone around right now who can write as well as Mr. Watkins. "Calm at Sunset, Calm at Dawn" I feel was his best, but this is darn close.
"My Disappearance" is written in the first person. The narrator (later named Paul Watkins) weaves the stories of his three lives - East German soldier/spy in Afghanistan, spy in America and lover in America - into a quilt made up of wonerfully woven words and twisting plotlines.
From the first page, Watkins interjects a mysterious tensionthat trails through the book as is a constant undercurrent adding significantly to this yarn of a spy left in the cold when the Berlin Wall falls.
I strongly recommend all of Watkins. This one should be one of the first and not to missed.
A Lesser Watkins.......2002-10-01
I have to say that I do enjoy Watkins work in general. Yet I felt this piece was a bit forced and unconvincing. The book has a nice start, raises ones curiosity quick then drifts a bit.
I think that the story was damaged by the use of a love story with Suleika. Her character was uninteresting, obstuctive, and could have been replaced with a good dog. It almost seemed as though Watkins felt forced to insert love scenes that went nowhere. Each mention of her seemed to bring about a roadbump in the story. I wonder if there was a rewrite that caused this. The death of her husband, with no explainations as to who he was, seemed unpolished. Was Watkins (character in the book) first supposed to be more of an outsider? That would make more sense then coming to town and having the other spy fall in love with you, being that her husband is dead and all.
I must also say that naming the main character the same as yourself is a bit much. It made me take pause and wonder if I should continue to the end.
In fairness I did enjoy the story itself. The interactions with the old friend and the days in camp were very interesting and well done. I would hope that this kind of detailing continues in his future work and that the heavy romance takes a back seat.
Watkins always pleases.......2002-03-25
What happens to spies whose country seizes to exist? This happened to those Stasi spies who were abandoned in America and elsewhere at the end of the Cold War. Paul Wederkin is just such as spy. The story tells how he came to be there, through his Afghani war experience, his friendship and the death of his friend. However, the real surprise is in the beginning when his dead fried walks into a Rhode Island bar and murders someone in front of him.
This story packs just a little too much action into too small a space for me. Its pace is a bit frenetic. However, the depth of character and prose lyricism remains strong as in all Watkins' books.
To give you an idea, before the story even opens, our hero, the East German Paul Wedekind has been a promising engineering student who has been recruited (coerced) by the secret police to spy on his friend, has served in Afghanistan, has been taken prisoner by the Afghans and has at last come to America as a spy for the Russians. Whew! And before dinner, too!.
But that's only the intro: the real story is about his work in America. The Cold War is over and he hopes he has been forgotten but that's overly optimistic. The adventure is grand and utterly amazing, but that's okay, because you love the story anyway.
His crisp and disciplined prose continues to delight me and I predict the day will come when folks quit comparing him to Hemingway and begin compariing Hemingway to him.
The Cold War hots up.......2000-11-04
You know how sometimes it takes several pages before you really get into a book? Well, this book only needed one sentence to get me nibbling at the bait, and two more paragraphs to have me completely hooked.
In the Newport, Rhode Island bar where Suleika and Paul were going through the death throes of their relationship, a sudden, brutal murder brought back into Paul's life a man who he had betrayed and long thought dead.
The central character is quickly revealed as an East German operative named Paul Wederkind, planted into the RI fishing community, shortly before the Berlin Wall came down. The old tub of a fishing boat he operates with Suleika, the widow of the man he secretly entered the USA to assist, also serves to covertly transport "cargo" to and from Russian submarines.
As the story unfolds, we learn about the machinations of the East German secret police, the war in Afghanistan, the Cold War - all things that normally would not interest me, but the writing is so compelling, I found myself just absorbing the story.
I've long been a fan of speculative fiction exploring alternate history, but in this book, the author seems to create an alternate biography. Partway through the book, Paul Wederkind changes his name to a more Americanised form, Watkins - is this really an autobiography? Well, the book jacket tells us Paul Watkins (the author) was born of Welsh parents and educated at Eton and Yale, so I guess not. Maybe this is his more exciting alternate life - I can associate with that. But he obviously has a Suleika in his own life - the author photo on the jacket is attributed to someone of that name.
This is the first of Paul Watkins' books I've read, and I'm grateful he seems to have been reasonably prolific, so I can enjoy more of this wonderful writing.
Amazon.com
Novelist Maria Flook lobs a psychic grenade with this mordantly candid dual memoir. She gets inside her runaway sister's head to give a first-person account of life as a teenage prostitute and depicts her own out-of-control adolescence with equally spooky control. No sexual or substance-abuse excess is too weird, no humiliation too abject to escape the pinpoint precision of Flook's blunt prose. Her ice-cold, scarily sexy mother and well-meaning, ineffectual father are penned just as memorably.
Book Description
When Maria Flook's fourteen-year-old sister Karen disappeared from their suburban home, the author was changed forever.
My Sister Life maps the story of two castaways from American suburbia who, while apart from each other, live mysteriously parallel lives.
With unrelenting realism and beguiling wit, Flook gives us an intimate account of her sister's life as a child prostitute, and of their coming of age in the 1960s--that surreal and wrenching moment of baby-boomer disenfranchisement, when the sexual revolution collided with the domestic fallout from the Vietnam War. From the ocean liners and Paris vacations of their refined upbringing to the gritty peepshows and adult theaters where they find jobs, the girls flee from a beautiful and tormented matriarch with secrets of her own.
Her missing sister becomes Flook's secret heroine--the sole example to follow in her journey into womanhood. The sisters live in trailer parks. They are faced with sexual assault, car thefts, and petty crimes with unpredictable men. Escaping from an abusive Vietnam vet, Karen takes her toddler to join her sister, who is herself raising a baby on her own; it is the first time they are under the same roof since their childhood. Their unorthodox reunion allows the sisters to forge a life-saving bond.
My Sister Life moves beyond biography or memoir to give us an astonishing vision of an American family--an authentic testimony to the defiant, undaunted faith between two sisters who connect after years apart.
Customer Reviews:
Like watching a train wreck.......2007-01-16
I bought this after reading Maria Flook's book about the murder of Christa Worthington. This book certainly kept my attention, but in a very disturbing way - couldn't sleep the whole night the first night that I read it, mainly due to the horror of the child prostitution depictions. As with the Worthington murder story, one has to wonder how much is fiction - Ms. Flook takes many liberties with interjecting the supposedly thoughts and feelings of her subjects. Again though, the book absolutely was a "must finish" - couldn't imagine these girls surviving their childhoods - I had to find out what happened.
Too Many Onion Layers.......2005-08-05
Without a doubt, Maria Flook is a very skilled writer. She writes very vividly, deftly uncovering every little aspect of the story, examining each and every possible layer of an onion, or two. This makes for an interesting read, however with so many onion layers being scrutinized, there becomes too many layers and the book becomes repetitive, full of too much information - some of it nonessential to the story, and by the end of the book, Flook loses focus. I find it ironic that Flook quotes her sister as telling her that she talks too much; she should allow others to paint their own picture. Her sister could not have said it any better. While I did enjoy reading this book, I felt as if I was given a very flat, one-sided view of Flook's life. In some parts, I felt that Flook should have allowed the readers to come to their own conclusions, rather than force feed us with her own interpretations.
This book depicts an ugly underside belly of life. It is not very pretty, but I think that not all writing has to be. The world can be a very ugly place. It's a story about Flook's life, starting at the age of twelve at the time she last saw her older sister step out of the house and disappear. The book starts out great, but by the last page, completely loses focus and the writing style changes, too. I get the feeling that Flook, after having written so much on her story, tires towards the end, and the style becomes much more abbreviated as she attempts to cram everything that she can and ends up essentially listing all the remaining events that happened. Maybe it would have been better to have written two books, instead ... as Mary Karr does with her autobiography in writing her two books, Liar's Club and Cherry. It's an OK read by a writer I believe is talented.
a good read.......2004-12-25
I admire people like Flook who can lay their souls on the line.
But because she's so dead-on honest, it's confounding why she doesn't seem to have the courage to go beneath and explore why what happened happened.
In the end, the greatest lesson I learned from this book is not to wear too much Gold Bond Body Powder at summer gatherings. Or, any gathering.
blame game.......2004-02-02
an interesting memoir that ultimately fails b/c it isn't honest. author seems to want to lay blame at somewhat ineffectual mother's feet for her and her sister's OWN worst decisions (dating men that beat them, prostitution, taking hard drugs, etc.) though the mother was smart enough to do neither.
it's well-written and an interesting psychological study of the author in a way she probably didn't intend. chock full of lots of father glorification and beating up of the mother and no taking responsibility for one's own behavior, if you like that sort of thing.
So bad I couldn't finish it!.......2003-12-28
This book got great reviews by professional book reviewers, but I really couldn't get past the first couple of chapters! Quite dull.
Average customer rating:
|
The Story of My Disappearance
Manufacturer: Recorded Books Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
ASIN: 0788721798 |
Product Description
6 cassettes, 8.5 hours, unabridged.
Customer Reviews:
Graphic SF Reader.......2007-09-03
Some rave about this one. I don't mind it, but I much prefer the Hard Travelling Heroes, and Quiver, among others, and even the Archer's Quest. I always liked my Green Arrow the other way, hero as opposed to roo shooter.
The essence of a Hero.......2006-10-30
Ollie is the essence of a real hero. He can walk between the lines that difer a Hero and a superhero, so his decisions are made from a human (person) perspective.
This story is told in a way that you can feel what Ollie is feeling. He is old and doesn't have the money nor the motives that once were so important to him. He want to become a normal person again, but the crime doesn't rest.
It is my first Green Arrow comic and I can tell that now he is one of my favorites heroes. Mr. Grell capture the essence of Ollie and show the diferent stages of his life. So for someone that had never read a G.A comic this should be the first.
The art is amazing!
An attempt at a 10 PM TV Drama as a superhero comic book!.......2006-03-14
Mike Grell's run on "Green Arrow" is sometimes unfairly criticized as being a part of the "dark and gritty" trend of the eighties, and nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, it was an attempt to inject grownup drama into comics. Not the melodramatic stuff that so effectively dominates the industry (and I love it, so don't get me wrong), but legitimate, textbook drama. Some of the stories were gritty. Some were dark. Others were very light and funny. You never knew what to expect inside Grell's "Green Arrow", except that it would be "for mature readers only".
Grell's run began with this story, "The Longbow Hunters", wherein Ollie Queen (Green Arrow) moves to Seattle from his longtime fictional home of Star City and sets up a new life with his sweetheart, Dinah (Black Canary) Lance. But Ollie is growing older and slowing down. He senses his mortality and wants to create a legacy for himself, but Dinah doesn't want children. Meanwhile, Ollie re-evealuates his role as Green Arrow, until then a loudmouth liberal stereotype with trick arrows.
Admidst all this change, something life-changing happens to Dinah, which forces Ollie to accept responsibility for his life and abandon some of his more childish superhero affectations in favor of a more grounded, real-life approach to things.
By the end of things, Ollie becomes a three-dimensional character of contradictions and depth, not the borderline caricature he had been. He keeps enough of his idealism to remain a superhero, but he begins to fight with a new edge that makes you wonder if he hadn't decided that his old friend/sparring partner Hawkman had been right after all during some of their legendary disagreements.
A fine, thought-provoking realistic masterpiece.
And I haven't even mentioned Grell's art. Suffice to say that it may be the best of his career. This work overall is Grell's best. Great!
Recommended!
A good begining.......2006-02-19
The story is recomend for any one who wants to learn more about where Green Arrow begain. You can not read Quiver with out this book.
mike grell is overlooked.......2005-09-28
mike grell is an often overlooked comic writers who deserves the same credit as say frank miller for taking a character and totally revitalizing it as seen in this comic
this is with out a doubt the best green arrow trade i've ever read if not one of the best trades ever
Product Description
Squarebound comic book published in 1987. Authored and illustrated by Mike Grell (the creator of Warlord) and intended to update the Green Arrow character for the 1980s/1990s. Book one of three.
Product Description
This is the 3 comic book limited series that was printed in 1987 by D.C. Comics. All three issues are included in this set. This is not a trade paper back or hard bound edition. These are the first printing of the comics. The images are the actual scans.
Book Description
Meet Jimmy Neutron, boy genius. He navigates outer space in his homemade rocket ship. He launches make-shift toaster satellites before breakfast. And his robotic dog, Goddard, has more uses than a Swiss Army knife! But when Jimmy discovers that his parents, along with all of Retroville's grown-ups, have been kidnapped by aliens, it takes a genius to figure out how to rescue them...before it's too late!
Customer Reviews:
Jimmy Neutron ROCKS!!!.......2003-01-15
I read Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius. I thought it was a really good because it's really funny. I like the part when Jimmy fetches his dog Goddard a steel bone. I think kids who are 9 years would like this book. I recommend this book a really good book because it is really funny book!
The Boy Genius is Terry Collins!.......2002-02-26
I tell you, Mr. Terry Collins has done it again. This series is GREAT! I was a little scared at first because i thought it would be just another childrens book (which means no plot and just slightly nice looking pictures). This book was completely the opposite! I am proud to say i am 46 year old man and i enjoyed this book very much! i know that some my say i am simple minded but heck, what do they know! this book ROCKS!!! END OF STORY!
Amazon.com
Thanks to increased exposure to the world's finest cheeses, Americans are finally learning to love and appreciate this versatile food. But how to enjoy cheese at home? Max McCalman, maître fromager at Manhattan's three-star Picholine restaurant, provides real help. The Cheese Plate, written with David Gibbons, offers introduction to the world's cheese repertoires, cheese manufacturing and finishing methods, how to choose cheese and pair it with wine and other foods, and more--all of which is sensibly and accessibly presented. Without attempting a comprehensive investigation, McCalman nonetheless touches all the necessary bases, providing just the right blend of fundamental and sophisticated counsel.
Beginning with chapters that explore cheese creation--a fascinating partnership of animal, terroir (place of origin), and skills honed over the millennia--the book then provides succinct buying, storing, and serving advice. (Buying rule No. 1: cultivate a cheese monger.) Here and throughout, McCalman offers a wealth of diverse investigations like the Seven Degrees of Ripeness (1, too young; 4, peak; 7, "fuggedaboudit") and Is Shrink-Wrapping Bad for Cheese? (yes, cheese must breath); he also provides informative asides on cheese makers like Britain's famed Neal's Yard Dairy, plus cheese-plate blueprints for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. A final section profiles McCalman's favorite cheeses, country by country. With color photos, a glossary, and list of resources, the book is an exemplary place to begin or further a cheese-at-home education. --Arthur Boehm
Book Description
If you’ve ever had genuine farmhouse Cheddar from England, or real Alsatian Munster, or aged Parmigiano-Reggiano, you know that fine hand-crafted cheeses have absolutely nothing to do with the bland, shrink-wrapped, food-colored offerings that evoke school cafeterias. Artisanal cheeses—from luscious triple crèmes to the “boss” blues—are complex and richly rewarding, very similar to fine wines. And these cheeses get even more rewarding if you know something about their subtleties, their attributes, and how to get the most out of them—like which wines go with which cheeses (and why), or how a multiple-cheese tasting should progress, or what an appropriate portion size is, or which accompaniments work best, or why the Loire chèvres peak in autumn.
Max McCalman is one of the world’s foremost experts on these matters. As the maître fromager (or “cheese master”) at the acclaimed restaurants Picholine and Artisanal in New York City, he spends his entire day, every day, dealing with cheese—ordering it, tasting it, studying it, serving it. And
The Cheese Plate is the culmination of his years of passion and study for this subject: the definitive work on how to enjoy the world’s greatest cheeses (and what those cheeses are) at home.
The Cheese Plate begins with the fundamentals: history, what exactly cheese is, and how it’s made. Then Max moves onto the subject that has made him a star in the culinary world—the art of cheese tasting. To begin with, it’s important to know how to buy, store, and serve cheeses, and then how to taste them (again, as with wines, the best results come with a little finesse). Then you’ll want to pair cheeses with other foods and beverages, especially wines, to bring out the best of both. And with all this expertise in hand, you’ll want to construct cheese plates, from a quick lunch assortment to a full after-dinner tasting extravaganza. Finally, you’ll appreciate a rundown of the best cheeses in the world—where they’re from, what they look and taste like, their perfect wine accompaniments—so that you can become a maître fromager in your own right.
Customer Reviews:
Mad Max...........2007-10-07
I really am not sure what I was looking for from this book, but I didn't find it. I guess I was looking for a book to give me a full spectrum view of fine cheeses (I don't have any fine cheese experience). Max certainly goes over the entire spectrum of cheeses, however his seriousness and dedication to cheese gets in the way from being able to communicate with a cheese amature like myself. Overall, the book had too much detail and although I wanted to learn about cheese, the book couldn't hold me attention and I didn't get me the education I was looking for.
The Best Yet.......2007-06-11
I am a relative newcomer to the world of cheese. While I have read several books on cheese, this is - by far - the best introduction and guide to the world of cheese that I have found. Thank you!
The nice and useful book.......2006-11-10
Every cheeselover must have this book. This is not the standard cheese encyclopedia and cookbook. Max wrote it with the passion and full involvement into his great job.
Gorgeous Book.......2006-03-02
I glanced through this book before giving it as a gift. It was well received and the recipient continues to talk about it. She says she learns something new about cheese every day.
Sumptuous Book.......2005-09-11
This is a beautiful book full of very useful information, like pairing wines with cheese and how to choose cheeses for a tasting party, and georgeous color photography. This is not a cheese finder, it's a book on how to enjoy cheese. Paired with the Cheese Primer by Steven Jenkins, the cheese neophite will have all the information needed for enjoying the world cheeses.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Cheers, published by Thomson Gale on September 1, 2007. The length of the article is 1865 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: Any way you slice it ... Fine cheeses take their place at the bar, before dinner, in small plates and desserts and are best enjoyed when paired with interesting and sometimes unexpected beverage companions.
Author: Michele Grayson
Publication:
Cheers (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 18
Issue: 7
Page: 60(3)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Food Processing, published by Putman Media, Inc. on December 1, 1992. The length of the article is 967 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: Sample-ready film microbiological plates promote time and cost reductions at Land O'Lakes Dairy Foods Operations. The film plates, produced by Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing 3M Microbiology Products, use space more efficiently than traditional plates, require no media preparation by technicians and come prepared with a dye which makes it easier to read the colonies. Aerobic plate count, coliform count, yeast and mold and E coli tests are performed at the facility using the sample-ready film microbiological plates.
Citation Details
Title: Film plates free technician time; eliminating need to prepare media and pour plates allows time for developing 'real-time' quality control techniques. (sample-ready film microbiological plates)
Author: James R. Eilers
Publication:
Food Processing (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 1, 1992
Publisher: Putman Media, Inc.
Volume: v53
Issue: n12
Page: p85(2)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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- Treasure island ; Kidnapped ; Weir of Hermiston ; The master of Ballantrae ; The black arrow ; The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
- Turner: In the Tate Collection
- Ward No. 6 and Other Stories, 1892-1895 (Penguin Classics)
- Who Has Seen The Wind
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