Dinner with a Perfect Stranger: An Invitation Worth Considering

Average customer rating:

Dinner with a Perfect Stranger

A Perfect Book

A wonderful book..

kateinkalifornia

Reads like a religious brochure

Dinner with a Perfect Stranger: An Invitation Worth Considering
David Gregory
Manufacturer: WaterBrook Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Christian Living | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
General | Fiction | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

A Day with a Perfect Stranger

The Perfect Stranger

90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death & Life

I Never Knew That Was in the Bible: A Resource of Common Expressions and Curious Words from the Bestselling Book of All Time

Heaven Heaven

ASIN: 1578569052
Release Date: 2005-07-12

Amazon.com

In Dinner With a Perfect Stranger, David Gregory relates the story of two men sharing a meal. The point of interest is knowing that one man believes he is Jesus. What will the other man think by the time the evening is through? The conversation begins, as one could imagine, scratching the dry hard surface of skepticism and doubt, but gently and persistently goes deeper and deeper, spiraling in from that starting point until they are eventually talking about the true stuff of life; the career drifting off-track, the marriage experiencing its own kind of strain, the life being lived where the philosophical questions of youth have given way to simply coping with modern day-to-day living.

Gregory's book is a refreshing reminder of what evangelical Christianity is at its very best -- a faith enlivened by the personal relationship between the Creator and the created. In the end, evangelical Christians are focused on who Jesus Christ is, and more specifically, who He is to them. Doctrinal stances, theological conundrums, questions about literal or non-literal Biblical interpretation, these are all beside the point for the certain type of Christian whose central focus is the life and person of Jesus.

In the Narnia series, C.S. Lewis touched on some of the core questions of religion, from the Christian viewpoint (is there a hell? What is heaven like, really? How can other religions be wrong, and just one be right?) Taking his cue from Lewis, Gregory does the same, realizing that questions like these come alive when they're in the context of a story, and we can be the third party, watching with interest while they are put on the table and considered. In the end, Gregory's book succeeds because of his willingness to approach interesting, hard questions like these. He is always, undoubtedly, aiming for the heart, but he realizes that to win the heart one must never forget that the mind has to come along for the ride. --Ed Dobeas

Book Description

You are Invited to a Dinner with Jesus of Nazareth

The mysterious envelope arrives on Nick Cominsky’s desk amid a stack of credit card applications and business-related junk mail. Although his seventy-hour workweek has already eaten into his limited family time, Nick can’t pass up the opportunity to see what kind of plot his colleagues have hatched.

The normally confident, cynical Nick soon finds himself thrown off-balance, drawn into an intriguing conversation with a baffling man who appears to be more than comfortable discussing everything from world religions to the existence of heaven and hell. And this man who calls himself Jesus also seems to know a disturbing amount about Nick’s personal life.

…………..

"You’re bored, Nick. You were made for more than this. You’re worried about God stealing your fun, but you’ve got it backwards.… There’s no adventure like being joined to the Creator of the universe." He leaned back off the table. "And your first mission would be to let him guide you out of the mess you’re in at work."
………….

As the evening progresses, their conversation touches on life, God, meaning, pain, faith, and doubt–and it seems that having Dinner with a Perfect Stranger may change Nick’s life forever.

Customer Reviews:

Dinner with a Perfect Stranger.......2007-10-12

A beautifully written narrative that has solid apologetics yet captures the imagination and the heart.

A Perfect Book.......2007-09-17

I received this book as a gift and enjoyed it so much that I bought it to give to my daughter-in-law. What would it be like to have dinner with Jesus? This book answers that question in a way that includes humor and an inside look at witnessing as Jesus might do it if he invited an unbeliever struggling with life's problems to dinner. A thought-provoking book beautifully written.

A wonderful book.........2007-09-07

An excellent book. Perfect for the whole family to listen to. It is funny at times and then brings the right amount of drama at the right time. It makes you think things through and to a higher level.

kateinkalifornia.......2007-08-29

A quick read, I actually read it twice. I will keep it and lend it out, but I want it back. It's one for my permanent collection.

Reads like a religious brochure.......2007-08-24

My mom gave me this book to read as, one would guess, a last minute ditch effort to get me back into religion. Flipping through the book and seeing that it was only around 100 pages, and was printed in nice big "kid's book" letters, I figured, hey, what's a couple hours? I'm certainly willing to hear other viewpoints, and weigh them accordingly.

My first complaint is that if this is how religious people think that non-religious people think, feel, and act, then they are sorely mistaken. It's as if everyone that isn't Christian is empty, sad, and just sort of generally depressed. I guess using logic and consistency in your life makes you depressed? I guess not accepting whim-based rules about how to live life because "this book said so" and instead working rigorously to come up with a consistent set of morals and values makes you feel empty?

Anyways, the author attempts to make logical proofs, and in doing so, shows that he has no clue what a logical proof is. His undeniable, irrefutable proof that god exists is that an earlier part of the bible predicts a later part of the bible. Seriously. Nevermind that the later part of the bible was written a couple centuries after the fact, and by monks who were fully aware of the prophecies in Daniel, etc.

He also makes the claim that either Buddhism, or Hinduism, (i forget which, and i don't have the book in front of me) can't be true because it says that the universe is eternal. "How does that stack up against what your scientists have recently discovered?" alluding to the idea that we now *think* that the universe had a starting point. Regardless of the fact that we don't KNOW that it had a starting point, using science to dethrone one religion after another but not applying it to your own is a methodology only useful to those completely wrapped up in their own beliefs. One wishes the guy having dinner with Jesus would have responded with "well... that's funny... what does our science say about the idea of consciousness without matter? Or simultaneously being all-knowing and all-powerful? Or energy without any means to measure it? I guess that means your dad doesn't exist... which in turn means you don't exist, because you're one with your dad or whatever... so I guess I'm talking to myself... which would explain why the waiter has been looking at me strangely all night."

There was also a fantastic bit at the end about how if Jesus was in this guy's heart, he (Jesus) could love the guy's wife when he (the guy) couldn't anymore. Or something to that effect. I'd talk more about that, but I don't want to misquote it and have someone negate the whole review based on it, so I'll let it go.

I could go on for pages about the rediculous assumptions this book makes about how life should be lived, and the causes of evil in the world, etc. But I won't. Suffice it to say that this book is patently ridiculous, and actually rather offensive to truly free-thinking, open and honest people.

Then again, the author believes in a god that said "Thou Shall Not Kill" and then went on to murder millions and millions of people, as well as an entire planet's worth of animals that are completely amoral. So I guess anything goes, and he's as capable as anyone else to cherry-pick the parts that he does and doesn't support out of the bible.

Average customer rating:

depressing
An absolute must read (and read again)
NOT A STORY TO PASS ON . . .
Ain't no sin but white people
One of Those Never-to-be-Forgotten Works [7][31][T]

Beloved
Toni Morrison
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

American Pastoral
Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West
Invisible Man
Their Eyes Were Watching God
As I Lay Dying

ASIN: 1400033411
Release Date: 2004-06-08

Book Description

Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, Beloved is a towering achievement.

Customer Reviews:

depressing.......2007-10-10

This book was depressing-nothing light about it-the style of writing is different and visual but if you are in it for a story, it is a tough read.

An absolute must read (and read again).......2007-09-19

Here is a shockingly raw story that could only be told so completely by Toni Morrison's unique brand of lyricism. This book is more than a tutorial on the atrocities of slavery. It is a jagged look at the power of fear, intimidation, guilt, shame, and how we can be haunted mercilessly by our pasts. It is also a story of the redemptive power of love and forgiveness (beginning with onesself). The movie Beloved follows the story line, dialogue, and symbolism almost verbatim. It's a great visual to enhance this book that should be read again and again throughtout the years. I think the reader will be surprised by their burgeoning understanding of this powerful work.

NOT A STORY TO PASS ON . . ........2007-08-28

I read this book for the first time in 1999; I had to think about it prior to knowing how I felt about it. However, I have come to realize that this is a kind of African American Reference book, not only for understanding slavery, but for many cultural pitfalls that are indigneous to the Af-Am community. Therefore, if you don't know anything about the history of blacks as enslaved community, or if you don't wish to be provoked into thinking, don't attempt to read this or any of her earlier works. I came to the understanding that Morrison writes in a kind of double consciousness when I was reading the inane reviews of Paradise. One can't be taught to understand Morrison, nor can she be read superficially.

Ain't no sin but white people.......2007-07-23

Each whitepeople should be made to read this book until he vomits and cries. This is what whitepeople did to black people--they stole their souls, took color from their eyes. . .If this book doesn't break apart your heart and scar up your soul, you ain't human.

One of Those Never-to-be-Forgotten Works [7][31][T].......2007-07-15

Written about slavery and post-slavery travails and the impossibility to enjoy new-found freedom, the horrors experienced by the family of Baby Sugg - most particularly her daughter-in-law, Sethe, and her granddaughter, Denver - lead us to cry for each and their Beloved.

To anyone who has not read Morrison, I give one warning: her topics are very depressing. But, her writing style is not. Therefore, she manages to capture your attention in reading about horrible events and opens your mind to things which we ordinarily do not read about or learn: for instance, after majoring in American History, I learned for the first time in this book that black men would be punished by having a tack put into their mouth at which time their mouths became deformed, tongue dried to the point of needing weeks to repair, and became mentally humiliated to an unknown degree.

There is a bit of Stephen King in this book - an apparition with the single name of Beloved returns to the family. To avenge? Or, to love? Or by her love is she an avenger? In any event, this character speaks few words but influences Denver and Sethe immensely, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse.

One force which seems to wrestle sanely in the insanely cruel world of slavery is Paul D. After having experienced worse tortures, mental and physical, than most others, he maintains a balanced perspective. He is the ballast to Sethe's tumultuous inner conflict. Sethe, we learn, experiences a "Sophie's Choice" situation which others view with disdain, but which we learn to understand. Even though we may not agree to the same, we understand. Morrison explains to us why good people can perform bad acts. In most simplest terms, she writes their reason of being good people that do bad things is, " That anybody white could take your whole self for anything that came to mind. Not just work, kill, or maim you, but dirty you. Dirty you so bad that you couldn't like yourself anymore."

But, those who had been slaves sought to protect their young - those who would be born free or became free before their memories jelled - from having this white-man manifestation of hate for self.

Strong topic. Strong delivery. Unique writing style. Great novel. Deeply touching. Deeply depressing. Probably, one of those never-to-be-forgotten works which you will remember for years after you turned the last page.

The Making of a Surgeon in the 21st Century

Average customer rating:

Honest although not very entertaining
A Colorful and Interesting Account
More like, "The Whining of a Resident"
The Making of a Surgeon in the 21st Century
A natural follow up to Dr. Nolen's book

The Making of a Surgeon in the 21st Century
Craig A. Miller
Manufacturer: Blue Dolphin Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Education & Training | Medicine | Subjects | Books

General | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Surgery | Disorders & Diseases | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Science Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Hot Lights, Cold Steel: Life, Death and Sleepless Nights in a Surgeon's First Years
Making of a Surgeon
When the Air Hits Your Brain
On Call: A Doctor's Days and Nights in Residency
Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance

ASIN: 157733115X

Book Description

The Making of a Surgeon in the 21st Century is a highly personalized description of one individual's experiences during a five-year residency in general surgery at a major university hospital. It describes the personal challenges and rewards, the drama of triumph and tragedy, the agony of indecision and the thrill of success. Residency is the most profoundly life-altering sequence of events in a surgeon's life.

What does it take to make a surgeon?

It takes a college degree and a medical school education, followed by a residency. And it takes a willingness to subordinate one's personal life to acquiring the skills and knowledge which a surgeon must possess. This sacrifice takes its toll - on families, on mental health, on life-style. A surgical trainee may not get out on his own until well in his thirties - living, in the meantime, a meager existence at best.

Post-graduate training in surgery is longer than that of any other medical specialty, five years at least. Tortuous on-call schedules often demand exceedingly long work hours - 100-hour work weeks being the norm. Compounding the problem are very high stress levels, the burdens shouldered by the resident's family in his frequent absence and often an enormous educational debt.

Nevertheless, every year hundreds of fresh medical school graduates compete for the few available positions. They are consistently the very best of their classes.

Why would otherwise intelligent, highly motivated individuals actively seek such a miserable existence?

Surgeons have, of course, been glorified in the mass media as the swaggering, brilliant, fiercely independent cowboys of the medical profession. Their compensation has also been great. But beyond this is a personal quality best defined as decisiveness. They want to make the difference, in no uncertain terms. In surgery, when the patient enters the operating room he is suffering from disease. Thanks to the surgeon, he may be wheeled out cured. It doesn't happen every time, of course, but the possibility is there (in other disciplines of medicine "cure" is, unfortunately, an unusual event). Who wouldn't want to be such a healer, making a palpable, tangible difference?

Customer Reviews:

Honest although not very entertaining.......2007-08-04

The Making of a Surgeon in the 21st Century is an honest account of the challenges and satisfaction that many surgeons-in-training could relate to. He explains what surgeons go through in easy to understand language and probably it would be a worthwhile read for the families of surgeons-in-training to give them insight and understanding of the process. Dr Miller is not a particularly entertaining writer - certainly not in the same league as Atul Gawande - but that is possibly one of the things that make the experiences seem more genuine.

A Colorful and Interesting Account.......2006-06-24

Medical memoirs have become a popular genre. Most are quite revealing as to the virtual hell a four to five year resident must experience to become a qualified practitioner. The resident surgeon's experience has to be the most hellish in terms of the amount of hours worked, (100 hour weeks) the pressure brought to bear from the attending staff, sometimes extremely sadistic, abrasive and demeaning, not to mention the continuos mental strain from lack of sleep and the stress on the residents family, some families, unfortunately, disintegrate at some point along the way. Craig Miller's book clearly expresses all these things, however it is the spirit in which he communicates these experiences that makes his memoir worthwhile reading.

A better word would be a colourful account of his experiences as a resident. He not only explains the program in easy to comprehend prose, it is his anecdotes, describing the many characters that make-up this world that is entertaining as well as intriguing. About halfway through the text, I wondered if he had changed the names of the attending staff, nurses, and fellow surgeons that he profiles, because his characterizations are really, for the most part, quite scathing. In some cases the descriptions bordered on the libellous, smelling a legal suit some time in the future. However I'm sure his editors took this into consideration before publication. I certainly hope so.

The most revealing and educational part of the book was Miller's explanation of the standard step-by-step procedure (the Advanced Trauma Life Support protocols) when working in the ER, the initial steps of trauma management. Interestingly it is broken down simply so that the attending staff do not have to "think", but sequentially run through this procedure of "A is for Airway, B is for Breathing, C is for circulation, D is for Disability and E is for exposure." (P. 207) Miller is extremely annoyed how TV dramas as well as `reality' documentaries give the wrong impression to add to the pathos. In fact the ATLS protocols, following the A, B, C, D, E standard procedure avoids the chaos, ensuring the best for the trauma victim. This section of the text was extremely informative.

By the end of Miller's Chief Residency, he had the confidence and the confidence of his teachers to forge on alone, and realized he had truly become a surgeon. Having read the book in an afternoon, his writing was such that I felt his relief and sense of accomplishment by the end of his five-year residency. This has to be one of the most difficult and gruelling training out of all the professions, physically, intellectually and emotionally. In the Epilogue, Miller expresses his ambivalence about the current residency system in terms of its viciousness and amazing effectiveness in producing top-notch surgeons. The system hasn't changed since the 19th century. The process certainly takes its toll but for a price and is the price worth it?

A recommended read for anyone interested in the education of a surgeon.

More like, "The Whining of a Resident".......2006-05-08

William Nolen's original "The Making of a Surgeon" was a near epic inspirational recounting of one's surgical training. It celebrated the training process that molded eager, talented young doctors into, what else, surgeons. He portrayed a system that was necessarily grueling in order to insure that the products were worthy and capable of having people's very lives placed into their hands. Miller's tale, on the other hand, is more the revisionist whining of a worker who believes his boss never appreciated his talents or efforts. The entire book reads much like the faculty roast he recounts near the end: a steady spiteful payback; a re-vengeful, cathartic diatribe in which the targets are the very faculty and institution that tolerated him as a green, imperfect but promising young recruit and trained him to be a surgeon. If your preference is inspiration, stick with the original. If you enjoy wallowing in self-pity and pointing the fingers at others to explain your own shortcomings, you'll enjoy Miller's version.

The Making of a Surgeon in the 21st Century.......2006-04-23

I agree........this book was very factual and intertaining at the same time. I liked his style of writing and felt like he was right beside me, speaking about his experiences. I cheered in the end. The brutal years that he went through in his training came to a perfect end with the roast! He finally got "his day"!

A natural follow up to Dr. Nolen's book.......2005-10-16

The world of surgical training has changed tremendously over the past few years. As little as 5 years ago, the rule in surgical residency training was 110-120 hour-work weeks and even some rotations demanded 24 hour in-house coverage for several weeks at a time. This "old school" period is brilliantly narrated by William A. Nolen in "The Making of a Surgeon", but today's reality, significantly different, was captured splendidly by Dr. Miller.

Dr. Miller comes through with what feels like a natural follow-up of Dr. Nolen's work. There are interesting comparisons of several features of our current training as opposed to that of Dr. Nolen's era.

This book was very entertaining, critical and even funny. Suitable for both the non-health system related reader, as well as medical students and residents as a way of comparing our own training. Dr. Miller managed to explain technical terms in a very simple and short fashion that doesn't interrupt his rhythm even for the expert surgical readers.

I highly recommend this book particularly to medical students contemplating a surgical career. If you don't find yourself laughing at Miller's humor, then surgery might not be your most suitable future!

Simon Kenton: His Life and Period, 1755-1836 (The First American Frontier)

Average customer rating:

Simon Kenton: His Life and Period, 1755-1836 (The First American Frontier)
Edna Kenton
Manufacturer: Ayer Co Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

The Frontiersmen: A Narrative
The Life of Daniel Boone

ASIN: 0405028652

Average customer rating:

True Blue
Sad, Disturbing and Unforgettable
This book broke my heart
An Inspiring and moving story
I would give it a million stars if I could

The Bluest Eye
Toni Morrison
Manufacturer: Plume
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

United States | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Beloved
Paradise (Oprah's Book Club)
The Great Gatsby
Their Eyes Were Watching God
The Bluest Eye and Sula (Cliffs Notes)

ASIN: 0452287065
Release Date: 2005-09-06

Amazon.com

Oprah Book Club® Selection, April 2000: Originally published in 1970, The Bluest Eye is Toni Morrison's first novel. In an afterword written more than two decades later, the author expressed her dissatisfaction with the book's language and structure: "It required a sophistication unavailable to me." Perhaps we can chalk up this verdict to modesty, or to the Nobel laureate's impossibly high standards of quality control. In any case, her debut is nothing if not sophisticated, in terms of both narrative ingenuity and rhetorical sweep. It also shows the young author drawing a bead on the subjects that would dominate much of her career: racial hatred, historical memory, and the dazzling or degrading power of language itself.

Set in Lorain, Ohio, in 1941, The Bluest Eye is something of an ensemble piece. The point of view is passed like a baton from one character to the next, with Morrison's own voice functioning as a kind of gold standard throughout. The focus, though, is on an 11-year-old black girl named Pecola Breedlove, whose entire family has been given a cosmetic cross to bear:

You looked at them and wondered why they were so ugly; you looked closely and could not find the source. Then you realized that it came from conviction, their conviction. It was as though some mysterious all-knowing master had given each one a cloak of ugliness to wear, and they had each accepted it without question.... And they took the ugliness in their hands, threw it as a mantle over them, and went about the world with it.

There are far uglier things in the world than, well, ugliness, and poor Pecola is subjected to most of them. She's spat upon, ridiculed, and ultimately raped and impregnated by her own father. No wonder she yearns to be the very opposite of what she is--yearns, in other words, to be a white child, possessed of the blondest hair and the bluest eye.

This vein of self-hatred is exactly what keeps Morrison's novel from devolving into a cut-and-dried scenario of victimization. She may in fact pin too much of the blame on the beauty myth: "Along with the idea of romantic love, she was introduced to another--physical beauty. Probably the most destructive ideas in the history of human thought. Both originated in envy, thrived in insecurity, and ended in disillusion." Yet the destructive power of these ideas is essentially colorblind, which gives The Bluest Eye the sort of universal reach that Morrison's imitators can only dream of. And that, combined with the novel's modulated pathos and musical, fine-grained language, makes for not merely a sophisticated debut but a permanent one. --James Marcus

Book Description

The Bluest Eye, published in 1970, is the first novel written by Toni Morrison, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature.

It is the story of eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove--a black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others--who prays for her eyes to turn blue: so that she will be beautiful, so that people will look at her, so that her world will be different. This is the story of the nightmare at the heart of her yearning and the tragedy of its fulfillment.

Download Description

The Bluest Eye is the story of eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove - a black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others - who prays for her eyes to turn blue: so that she will be beautiful, so that people will look at her, so that her world will be different.

Customer Reviews:

True Blue.......2007-10-08

I found this novel very difficult to comprehend at first. What helped me was to read the author's "Afterword," and then go back and read the novel again. Parts of the book were so dead-on that it was frightening, but other parts I could not connect with. After Morrison revealed in her "Afterword" why she wrote as she did, the story became clearer and more compelling.
It is a little bit like a puzzle; Mama's ranting on about the three quarts of milk, the description of Geraldine, the affection Mrs. Breedlove sheds on the pink and yellow girl, and her soliloquy of how she and Cholly got together and why they stayed together. You sometimes forget that book is about Pecola, but then, when all the little pieces fit together, you are left with a complete picture. Or maybe it is like Cholly's life, "coherent only in the head of a musician." (p. 159) The Bluest Eye is like a musical composition; each instrument playing their own unique part, but combined, they create a symphony. Definitely worth a repeat read. Recommended for a mature audience.

Sad, Disturbing and Unforgettable.......2007-09-11

I read this book in honor of September's Banned Books discussion that my book club is having. This book has been banned in several places because of its contents, for various reasons. I had thought I read this book way back when in high school ~~ but whatever I read then didn't compare to this book. This book is totally unforgettable and tragic.

This is not just one story. This is a collection of stories of different people in different times of their lives and their stories lead up to the tragedy of poor little Pecola Breedlove, an ugly girl (I suspect that is a metaphor that Morrison is trying to say about the ugliness of poverty and racial tensions) who is not loved. The stories are of her father as a youngster; of her mother who was a totally different person who married for love only to be brow-beaten by poverty; of people around Pecola, and about two sisters who tried to befriend her but got swept away by circumstances created by the adults in their lives. This is a novel that depicts humanity at its worst. This is of a time before civil rights were fought for ~~ perhaps dreamed of but it hasn't been swept to the point where people are actually standing up and taking note of it. This is a story about poverty and how it dehumanizes the characters. This is a story about neglect. Pecola is set in the center of the storm that she has not created herself but is too young to resist and too ignorant to ignore.

This is an eye-opener of a novel because even during my "poorest" days as a student, I never had to worry about finding enough to eat. Pecola is not a sheltered nor were any of the characters coddled (except for Mrs. Breedlove's charge in that fancy house that she's the cook at). Yes, there are crude moments in the book but for some reason, it just emphasized the poverty of the people's lives. Yes, there is rape. That is the tragedy. But it was not explicit like a lot of the soft-porn novels floating around out there. It is a very sad and tragic book ~~ a disturbing look into reality portrayed in a time that I don't know of.

Would I recommend this book to anyone? Yes. Would I "love" this book? No. There is nothing lovable about this book ~~ there's no happy endings. It really should not be portrayed as a novel because most fiction ends with a happy ending ~~ not this one. And this book would definitely provoke thoughtful conversations among friends.

9-11-07

This book broke my heart.......2007-09-09

I read this book for an English class (back in '95) called, "Class & Money in American Literature." Few books have stuck with me like this book has. Caution: if you are depressed, don't read this book. This book shows how people take things out on each other and how destructive this dumping on each other is. I just wanted to comfort Pecola the whole time I was reading the book by reassuring her that she was fine the way she was while exhorting her to no longer internalize her naysayers. Her false conclusion that she wasn't worth much broke my heart. Pecola is scapegoated and victimized by every significant person in her life. In fact, this book reads as a case study of scapegoating/victimization taken to the limit.

This book also reminds us that the media's tendency to push images of idealized (and unattainable) beauty on the public can negatively affect people's self-image, particularly if the way many people look isn't represented positively, if at all. The Bluest Eye is an eye opener about how children internalize messages from the prevailing culture, a phenomenon painfully illustrated by Pecola's desire for blue eyes and how she thinks that eye color will make her happy.

Forgive me for self-indulging in TMI...I gave this book to my brother for Xmas about three years ago. It was a rather pointed gift, as the themes of dumping, projection, and targeting are rampant in the book. Though we're thankfully on better terms (his new wife has managed to "stepfordize" him in a most benefitial way--my sister, who has also experienced plenty of our brother's dark side, is amazed at the transformation), I continue to send him books (in the guise of birthday and Christmas presents) and email articles about inter-sibling conflict, personal growth, bullying, and gingerism. I guess this superimposed "bibliotherapy" may be working, as he's treating me better, and we even on very rare occasion tell each other that we love each other.

An Inspiring and moving story.......2007-08-29

The Bluest Eye is truly an inspiring and a moving story. Through a child eyes, Ms. Morrison takes us on a journey to the most innocent and perverse thoughts every human being has, including violence and despair. This book will make you think and feel. I applaud the author for writing about our misinformed society. This book is a must read for every person that has an interest in our social conditions.

I would give it a million stars if I could.......2007-06-12

Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, I can safely say, is my favorite novel of all time. It's depressing, complex, and downright tragic as an innocent little girl is destroyed by a vicious society set on convincing her that she is both ugly and worthless. Through a brutal rape by her own father, Pecola's life is ruined as her childhood is permanently destroyed and the one pathetic hope that keeps her alive is her strong desire for blue eyes.

Morrison refuses to depict this story in chronological order, as the narrator explains that it is not the "why" that we are able to answer but rather the "how." With that in mind, Morrison quickly summarizes the story and then dives in to the analysis of how this little girl's tragedy was made possible. We, as readers, are then opened up to a broader explanation of not merely this girl's tragedy on an isolated, individual level. Rather, she is the physical manifestation of the psychological problems faced by African-Americans living in a hostile society that told them they were inferior. Pecola's problems are slightly mirrored from those considered at the high ranks of black society (Geraldine), all the way to black society's most tragic victims (the Breedloves). Morrison refuses to allow the reader to simply pity Pecola's mindset. Instead, she forces us, no matter the background or race, to feel guilty. We, a society that has not yet completely embraced people from all portions of our community, are completely responsible for her downfall. Because, Morrison argues, in a world that continually controls us into believing that all minorities are inferior, we have left her to suffer.

But Toni Morrison doesn't stop there, a point that would already label The Bluest Eye as an amazing novel. Morrison expands the picture from psychological racism into a rarely considered topic of psychological sexism. All of the main female characters in this story are in some shape or form sexually assaulted by the dominant male figures. Morrison brilliantly expands the picture to fearlessly explore sexism and how it has damaged the psyche of our nation's society.

I won't lie, I was initially disgusted by several of the scenes in this novel, the main one being a brutal rape described in great detail. But I realized that this book was meant to horrify me and open my eyes to what Morrison was exposing. The book is incredibly complex, so it deserves your utmost attention. I can not overrate this book; you must read it.

Average customer rating:

Fine work from a Nobel laureate
Sorry Toni...just not a fan...
Very stupid book
Hallucinatory
Morrisons first novel

Sula (Oprah's Book Club)
Toni Morrison
Manufacturer: Plume
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Friendship | Women's Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Paradise (Oprah's Book Club)
The Bluest Eye (Oprah's Book Club)
Song of Solomon
Tar Baby
Their Eyes Were Watching God

ASIN: 0452283868

Amazon.com

In Sula, Toni Morrison, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize for literature, tells the story of two women--friends since childhood, separated in young adulthood, and reunited as grown women. Nel Wright grows up to become a wife and mother, happy to remain in her hometown of Medallion, Ohio. Sula Peace leaves Medallion to experience college, men, and life in the big city, an exceptional choice for a black woman to make in the late 1920s.

As girls, Nel and Sula are the best of friends, only children who find in each other a kindred spirit to share in each girl's loneliness and imagination. When they meet again as adults, it's clear that Nel has chosen a life of acceptance and accommodation, while Sula must fight to defend her seemingly unconventional choices and beliefs. But regardless of the physical and emotional distance that threatens this extraordinary friendship, the bond between the women remains unbreakable: "Her old friend had come home.... Sula, whose past she had lived through and with whom the present was a constant sharing of perceptions. Talking to Sula had always been a conversation with herself."

Lyrical and gripping, Sula is an honest look at the power of friendship amid a backdrop of family, love, race, and the human condition. --Gisele Toueg

Book Description

Toni Morrison's first novel, The Bluest Eye (1970), was acclaimed as the work of an important talent, written--as John Leonard said in The New York Times--in a prose "so precise, so faithful to speech and so charged with pain and wonder that the novel becomes poetry."

Her new novel has the same power, the same beauty.

At its center--a friendship between two women, a friendship whose intensity first sustains, then injures. Sula and Nel--both black, both smart, both poor, raised in a small Ohio town--meet when they are twelve, wishbone thin and dreaming of princes.

Through their girlhood years they share everything--perceptions, judgments, yearnings, secrets, even crime--until Sula gets out, out of the Bottom, the hilltop neighborhood where beneath the sporting life of the men hanging around the place in headrags and soft felt hats there hides a fierce resentment at failed crops, lost jobs, thieving insurance men, bug-ridden flour...at the invisible line that cannot be overstepped.

Sula leaps it and roams the cities of America for ten years. Then she returns to the town, to her friend. But Nel is a wife now, settled with her man and her three children. She belongs. She accommodates to the Bottom, where you avoid the hand of God by getting in it, by staying upright, helping out at church suppers, asking after folks--where you deal with evil by surviving it.

Not Sula. As willing to feel pain as to give pain, she can never accommodate. Nel can't understand her any more, and the others never did. Sula scares them. Mention her now, and they recall that she put her grandma in an old folks' home (the old lady who let a train take her leg for the insurance)...that a child drowned in the river years ago...that there was a plague of robins when she first returned...

In clear, dark, resonant language, Toni Morrison brilliantly evokes not only a bond between two lives, but the harsh, loveless, ultimately mad world in which that bond is destroyed, the world of the Bottom and its people, through forty years, up to the time of their bewildered realization that even more than they feared Sula, their pariah, they needed her.

Customer Reviews:

Fine work from a Nobel laureate.......2007-09-02

This novel tells the story of two life-long friends. Sula comes from a line of independent women and grows up to have contempt for the small-town morality of the Bottom, where she grew up, as well as an abiding hostility toward her mother and grandmother. Nell embraces the life of the community and tries to pursue a conventional life as wife and mother. In their future awaits an act of betrayal that will force them to reevaluate each other and their own lives. Toni Morrison's beautiful prose brings to life the community of the Bottom.

Sorry Toni...just not a fan..........2007-07-29

I know it is almost blasphemous to put down Toni Morrison's writing in this day and age. I just did not like this book. I found all the character's despicable and for that reason could never connect with any of them. This is a short book but I had to really push myself to finish the book. This was my first try at Toni Morrison and probably will be my last. I see where her prose is a big hit but if the plot and characters are no good then no amount of prose can save a book.
Sorry, no Toni Morrison fan here.

Very stupid book.......2007-07-07

I do not like this book at all. I had to read it for my college English class. It was a complete waste of my time. I got in arguements with the teacher about whether Sula is a heroine or not. She cheated with her best friend's husband and destroyed their marriage. She watched her mother burning in fire without doing anything to save her life. Her mother died of a severe burn. Sula is a very contemtible character to me. In addition, the language of this novel is very crude and uninnovative. For example, the author used descriptions such as "Christmas came down like a dull axe, too dull to cut through but too shabby to ignore." In the end of the book, Sula died in a hospital, a very pathetic death. No one came to see her except her best friend, whom she had betrayed before. I think books with stories like this should not be celebrated. Sula as the main character lacks moral standards and principles. I just could not believe that it has won the Pulitzer Prize. Please please please do not read it!!!

Hallucinatory.......2007-06-15

There are good storytellers,there are wannabies and there are real artists.Toni Morrison belongs to later category,truly gifted writter whose poetic expressions recalls fairy tale world of Gabriel Garcia Marquez (but just vaguely,she is very much her own woman and has nobody even approaching her league) and who knows how to create atmosphere full of sensuality,fear and hallucinations.Something in Morrison writting directly continues ancient line of folk tales but of course with a twist - she tells her stories from afro-american perspective - also notable is the way she weaves her characters into rich tapestry just to leave some threads in the air.Maybe this is the reason why I rate this otherwise excellent novel four out of five stars,since some unforgettable characters are unexplained,just touched lightly and disposed without a fuss just as we start to like them.Almost like Morrison prefers nature to her characters,the title one being black famme fatale,sort of Shug Avery but ultimately unexplained or beter said,without motives.All of her novels share this tendency and its easier to love Morrison because of her wonderful style than because of the stories themselves,often left maddeningly unexplained.As for the title of this novel,any of the characters here would have been contender to this book title since they all leave strong mark and Sula is just one of the many pictoresque faces,the way I see it,the friendship between two women just a small part of the story but not a main one.And I have to remark on squirmishness of some of reviewers here who find the novel "graphic" - maybe its my european background,but we found nothing unusual about honest writting about sex and death,they are both part of life experience and its testament to Morrison art that it doesnt sound contrived or forced,in fact she does it with such ease that I wasnt even aware about "graphic" parts until I read comments here.Reccomended.

Morrisons first novel.......2007-06-11

Sula is Morrison's classic first novel, and is enchanting. To understand the magic, I think you have to know the language only Morrison can write in. It's slang, and slippery phrases paint her scenes, and is what I truly like about her books, she gets you there in a different way than any other writer. Sula is the story of two friends, and their families, and the Bottoms that they live in. Sula is a pariah, and effects the lives of many. The toneless tragedy Morrison depicts is what can make her writing mysteriously captive, odd, beautiful, and even amazing. Sula is a story that floats along quickly, but the ease in painful natures won't soon slip out of your mind. It's a truly great book.

Average customer rating:

Writing at its best
Couldn't Put It Down
The Frontiersmen
What a book!
My All Time Favorite Historical Narrative !!!!

The Frontiersmen: A Narrative
Allan W. Eckert
Manufacturer: Jesse Stuart Foundation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Historical | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Wilderness Empire: A Narrative (Eckert, Allan W. Winning of America Series.)
The Conquerors (Winning of America Series)
The Wilderness War: A Narrative (Eckert, Allan W. Winning of America Series.)
Twilight of Empire (Eckert, Allan W. Winning of America Series.)
Gateway to Empire (Eckert, Allan W. Winning of America Series.)

ASIN: 0945084919

Book Description

The frontiersmen were a remarkable breed of men. They were often rough and illiterate, sometimes brutal and vicious, often seeking an escape in the wilderness of mid-America from crimes committed back east. In the beautiful but deadly country which would one day come to be known as West Virginia, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, more often than not they left their bones to bleach beside forest paths or on the banks of the Ohio River, victims of Indians who claimed the vast virgin territory and strove to turn back the growing tide of whites. These frontiersmen are the subjects of Allan Eckert's dramatic history.

Against the background of such names as George Rogers Clark, Daniel Boone, Arthur St. Clair, Anthony Wayne, Simon Girty and William Henry Harrison, Eckert has recreated the life of one of America's most outstanding heroes, Simon Kenton. Kenton's role in opening the Northwest Territory to settlement more than rivaled that of his friend Daniel Boone. By his eighteenth birthday, Kenton had already won frontier renown as woodsman, fighter and scout. His incredible physical strength and endurance, his great dignity and innate kindness made him the ideal prototype of the frontier hero.

Yet there is another story to The Frontiersmen. It is equally the story of one of history's greatest leaders, whose misfortune was to be born to a doomed cause and a dying race. Tecumseh, the brilliant Shawnee chief, welded together by the sheer force of his intellect and charisma an incredible Indian confederacy that came desperately close to breaking the thrust of the white man's westward expansion. Like Kenton, Tecumseh was the paragon of his people's virtues, and the story of his life, in Allan Eckert's hands, reveals most profoundly the grandeur and the tragedy of the American Indian.

No less importantly, The Frontiersmen is the story of wilderness America itself, its penetration and settlement, and it is Eckert's particular grace to be able to evoke life and meaning from the raw facts of this story. In The Frontiersmen not only do we care about our long-forgotten fathers, we live again with them.

Researched for seven years, The Frontiersmen is the first in Mr. Eckert's "The Winning of America" series.

Customer Reviews:

Writing at its best.......2007-10-08

If you like compelling writing that generates a lightning bolt narrative about manifest destiny and those who were major players in this exciting but heart breaking game, this book is for you. I also recommend another thunder storm of a book: Walking the Trail, One Man's Journey Along the Cherokee Trail of Tears by Cherokee author Jerry Ellis. He was the first person in the modern world to WALK the 900 mile route of the Trail of Tears and the book was nominated for a Pulitzer and National Book Award.

Couldn't Put It Down.......2007-08-27

This was a great read. Once I started I couldn't put it down. I plan on reading the other 5 books by Allan Eckert. It takes you back to pure human nature and puts you in touch with yourself. You have to ask how you would respond to the situations encountered by these brave frontiersmen. I'm telling most of my friends about this book.

The Frontiersmen.......2007-08-15

A very powerful and informative historical narrative of some of the personalities that shaped the settlement of this country ;from the perspective of Simon Kenton. A "must read" !

What a book!.......2007-07-28

I can't decide which I like better, this book or Eckert's 'Dark and Bloody River', but they are both MUST READ's for any history fan. For even a casual reader this book will hold your attention, and provide you with a facinating insight into our nation's history.

My All Time Favorite Historical Narrative !!!!.......2007-06-05

This is a fantastic book if you love Early American Historical Narratives which I love. I first read this book about twenty years ago, and recently read it again. The author's foot notes and reference material allow you to really dive into the time period of the book!

Average customer rating:

It got better near the end
Disappointed
Poor writing can't save this story
Was it Fated to be so bad?
Interesting

The Book of Fate
Brad Meltzer
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Political | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Mystery & Thriller Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

The Collectors
Echo Park (Harry Bosch)
Wild Fire
Act of Treason (Mitch Rapp Novels)
The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town

ASIN: 0446530999

Book Description

In six minutes, one of us would be dead. None of us knew it was coming... So says Wes Holloway, a once-cocky and ambitious presidential aide, about the day that changed his life forever. On that Fourth of July, Wes put Ron Boyle, the chief executive's oldest friend, into the presidential limousine. By the time the trip came to an end, Wes was permanently disfigured, and Boyle was dead, the victim of a crazed assassin. Eight years later, Boyle is spotted, alive and well, in Malaysia. In that moment, Wes has the chance to undo the worst day of his life. Trying to figure out what really happened takes Wes back to a decade-old presidential crossword puzzle, mysterious facts buried in Masonic history, and a two-hundred-year-old code invented by Thomas Jefferson. But what Wes doesn't realize is that The Book of Fate holds everyone's secrets. Especially the ones worth dying for. The Book of Fate. What does it say about you?

Customer Reviews:

It got better near the end.......2007-10-10

THIS BOOK STARTS OUT REALLY BAD BUT DOES SORT OF GET BETTER IN THE END. A NUMBER OF REVEIWERS SAID THAT THEY COULDN'T EVEN FINISH THE BOOK. IF THEY HAD THE PATIENCE TO STICK AROUND UNTIL THE END, THEY MIGHT HAVE HAD A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT IMPRESSION.

I really hated this book in the beginning. I didn't think I would finish it. It gets really boring and hard to get through in the middle. There is one section in the middle where the heroes are discussing the clues and their theories on what they think is happening that is just incomprehensible.

This is a typical thriller best seller. The main character was a presidential aid who finds himself in the middle of a conspiracy. The conspiracy is ridiculous. But, what is worse, the heroes theories on what they think is going on are completely ludicrous.

But, in the end there are a few twists and when you hear the real story, if kind of makes more sense and is almost plausible.

There are also some interesting aspects to the story, such as the main hero being disfigured. Unfortunately, there is too much dwelling on complaining about being disfigured as oppposed to actually exploring what it is like.

Another nice aspect of the book is that none of the characters is perfect (unlike books by Clancey or Grissam where the heroes are super heroes). One character is even partially evil and partially good.

There are some interesting insights of what being an ex-president is like, but much of it did not ring true.

Best of all, there is no computer genious who can crack any code and defeat any password, like most books have these days.

Really, it is probably a two star book. But, I am giving it 3 stars because I hated it so much at first, but did sort of enjoy the ending.

I WOULD NOT RECOOMEND BUYING THIS BOOK. WHEN YOU SEE THIS MANY NEGATIVE REVIEWS ON AMAZON, AND AN AVERAGE 3 STAR RATING, YOU KNOW THAT SOMETHING MUST BE WRONG. TYPICALLY, REVIEWERS GIVE 5 STARS TO ANYTHING THAT IS REMOTELY ENJOYABLE.

Disappointed.......2007-09-18

I've enjoyed all of Meltzer's other books. I could only force myself to read 3/4 of this one. There are too many other GOOD books out there to waste my time on this muddled, boring, tedious book. I hated all the characters, the plot was confusing and far-fetched. I didn't like the fact that he tells whats going to happen before it happens, and then tells about it again when it happens. Hopefully, Mr. Meltzer will read these Amazon reviews and realize his fans would like him to stick to the formulas that have worked for him before.

Poor writing can't save this story.......2007-08-28

First, I'll freely admit, I only made it through 1/3 of the book, so my review must be judged with that in mind.

This was my first story by this author, and I hate to say it, but his writing style did not fit well with me. For starters, his decision to write in the first-person drove me absoltely nuts. Many sentences included I over and over, at first I noticed it, then it got tedious, then it started to drive me nuts. I know there are somewhat conflicting opinions on first-person writing, but from what I understand it takes a real talent to make it work, I don't think Brad has that ability.

Second, and this is harder to nail down, but the more I read it, the more I felt like the writing was forced, or just didn't read well. It was like an out-of-tune guitar, the tune was correct, but it sounded god-awful.

Its sad to say, but I think the only reason this book made it to the top of the list was because it is knock-off of the Da Vinci Code, or at least Da Vinci-esque.

Was it Fated to be so bad?.......2007-08-16

I've only read one other book of Meltzer's and that was The Zero Game. That book was a random pick-up at the bookstore and a surprise in disguise. I told my husband how much I loved it and how soon I was going to get another of Meltzer's book.

So I got The Book of Fate.

Good Lord. It started off well enough. But it got bad so fast, I kept checking the cover to make sure I was actually reading a Meltzer. Why were there so many holes? Why could I not care for Wes, the President, or anyone else? What was the link to Thomas Jefferson? What was the point of the crossword puzzle?

Maybe he had a good idea when he started out. But somewhere it got bogged down in silly details and the details or explanations that should've come forth, never materialized.

I was very disappointed. I wish I could get my money back.

Interesting.......2007-08-15

This is an interesting political thriller with good and bad sides. Although it starts off quite promising it does "slow" down and looses its uniqueness.

Having said that, it does not mean that this book has no merit. The characters are well developed, it is well writen and it flows. All in all an intersting read.

Anatomy & Physiology Revealed CDs 1-4 complete series

Average customer rating:

Review of Human Physiology CD
Excellent study tool
helpful review
excellant study source
Great Anatomy Resource!

Anatomy & Physiology Revealed CDs 1-4 complete series
Medical College of Ohio
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Science/Engineering/Math
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: CD-ROM

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Anatomy | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Anatomy | Basic Science | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Physiology | Basic Science | Medicine | Subjects | Books

General | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Science Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Medicine | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Professional | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Science | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Workbook t/a Anatomy & Physiology REVEALED®
Human Anatomy
Anatomy & Physiology: The Unity of Form and Function 4th Edition
Anatomy & Physiology: The Unity of Form and Function
Hole's Human Anatomy & Physiology

ASIN: 0073215538

Book Description

Anatomy & Physiology Revealed is the ultimate interactive cadaver dissection experience. This state-of-the-art tutorial uses cadaver photos combined with a layering technique that allows the student to peel away layers of the human body to reveal structures beneath the surface. Anatomy & Physiology Revealed offers animations, radiologic imaging, audio pronunciations, and a comprehensive quizzing tool. This tutorial can be used as part of any one or two semester undergraduate Anatomy & Physiology course; it is available as a stand-alone or can be combined with any of McGraw-Hill's Anatomy & Physiology textbooks.

Customer Reviews:

Review of Human Physiology CD.......2007-09-30

This product is very good for the learning of the anatomy of a human. There are excellent quizzes to test your knowledge. The cadavers which are used are prepared excellently for viewing. The one issue with this product is that it took a long period of time to load when ever you wanted to change the view.

Excellent study tool.......2007-08-26

This product has it all! Access to Cadaver dissection and all relevant information about all anatomical structures, as well as self tests, histology, and radiography. A must for all medical students!

helpful review.......2007-08-09

we took this as a crash course, it was very helpful as we did not have cadavers. It is great to help you place where things are, especially in putting into context depth as it allows you to see layer by layer on yhe body and gives some great practice test.

excellant study source.......2007-05-14

I found this very useful during my human anatomy classes. The pictures and dissection tools are very clear.

Great Anatomy Resource!.......2007-03-14

A great tool to have if you are studying anatomy, especially if your access to the lab is limited. Well worth it for the benefit. Great visuals! Great self-testing tools. Very satisfied.

Average customer rating:

Fascinating book!
Review of Sula by Toni Morrison
Review of Sula
Sula was a disappointment.
Difficult yet rewarding

Sula
Toni Morrison
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Friendship | Women's Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Paradise (Oprah's Book Club)
Jazz
Tar Baby
Song of Solomon
The Bluest Eye (Oprah's Book Club)

ASIN: 1400033438
Release Date: 2004-06-08

Book Description

Two girls who grow up to become women. Two friends who become something worse than enemies. In this brilliantly imagined novel, Toni Morrison tells the story of Nel Wright and Sula Peace, who meet as children in the small town of Medallion, Ohio. Their devotion is fierce enough to withstand bullies and the burden of a dreadful secret. It endures even after Nel has grown up to be a pillar of the black community and Sula has become a pariah. But their friendship ends in an unforgivable betrayal—or does it end? Terrifying, comic, ribald and tragic, Sula is a work that overflows with life.

Customer Reviews:

Fascinating book!.......2007-04-11

I loved this book. It was quite a page-turner. I'm a big fan of Toni Morrison and this book did not disappoint. I highly recommend it.

Review of Sula by Toni Morrison.......2007-04-02

I was assigned "Sula" by Toni Morrison as part of the requirements for my Literature by Women class. I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book. Morrison is quite descriptive of her characters that are so colorful that is very easy to imagine them in your mind; almost as vivid as watching the scenes live.
The book is about several different people and it was quite a change from others styles of writing, how Morrison transitioned over time from one character to the next. The two main characters are two black females, Nel and Sula. The book travels through their lives from before they were born to after one of their deaths. Along the path we meet many different characters, family and friends, who live in their community of the Bottoms located near Medallion, Ohio.
The book begins in the late 1800's and continues until the 1960's. It begins just as slavery ends and ends in the midst of the civil rights movement. However the book does not go into detail about these topics it centers more on the daily lives of the people in this community and their relationships, whether it is friendships, courtships or family relationships.
We also learn just how different two young black women can be and still become the best of friends and even through adversity come back to each other and take care of one another when no one else will. We also learn that there is very little that the mothers in this book would not do for their children, up to including homicide to protect them, sometimes even from themselves.
I definitely recommend this book to any adult reader (It is not suitable for the young as it does include violence and sexual content). This definitely will encourage me to read other Toni Morrison topics.

Review of Sula.......2007-03-31

**contains some spoilers**

I wrote this literary for an English paper, which is why it's so long:

Literary Critique of "Sula"
Toni Morrison's "Sula" takes the reader on a turbulent ride of vague themes and inconsequential plot lines. But while there is much to be admonished in "Sula", there are a number of redeeming aspects; unfortunately the sum of these aspects do not come close to bringing salvation. Changing character focus and molding of a main character without the courtesy of proper exposition leave the reader of "Sula" feeling confused and cheated. By analyzing Toni Morrison's failings in the areas of character utilization, appealing plot, and general readability a greater appreciation for better written works can be had.

Toni Morrison's "Sula" is the story of a small close knit African American community set in Ohio in the early to mid 1900's. The hill top community known as the "Bottom" is the exhibit of many compelling characters and subject of trials and omens. The reader is introduced to the bottom at the end of it's existence and is then lead through time, on a journey to discover the late heart and soul of this community. The people in Sula include the crazy, the dying, the surviving, and the stones. The main characters, Sula Peace and Nel Wright, are the eventual focus of the story, but several supporting characters pervade throughout the novel.

"Sula" begins with an apt introduction of character and setting. Shadrack, Helene Wright, Eva and Hanna Peace, all key supporting characters, are all given a grand entrance into the story. The stories of Shadrack, Helene Wright, Eva and Hanna Peace are one of the redeeming qualities of "Sula". These characters serve as clues to the personalities and sentiments of the town and main characters, Nel and Sula. You learn about these characters; their struggles, their triumphs, and their growth. But, after spending nearly one third of the novel identifying with these supporting characters, you are taken to the relatively unspectacular world of two pubescent girls. This abrupt transition of character focus resulted in a dramatic loss of depth which the novel had enveloped you in. Dominant characters are downsized to the role of lack luster exposition for Sula and Nel. And a loss is had for the readers interest in the supporting characters who, for the most part, have told their story in it's entirety.

In the story of Eva Peace we learn of her struggle to keep her family alive and fed; a story which relates more to Hanna Peace than it does to Sula Peace or Nel Wright, and only vaguely to the development of Sula's personality by showing the type of people Sula was raised by. And when set into focus a second time, Eva's only contribution to the tale of Sula's main characters is granting the reader knowledge of Sula's emotional detachment. While this information is important to convey to the reader it is done via a very obtrusive and elaborate method in which, foreshadowed by a series of omens and dreams, Hanna Peace, Sula's mother, died. Such disjointed attempts at story progression and ultimately inconsequential plot lines plague "Sula".

In the story of Helene Wright, Morrison describes an incident on a train in which Helene is chastised and affected so deeply she resolves never to be made to feel a certain way again,

It was on that train , shuffling toward Cincinnati, that she resolved to be on guard--always. She wanted to make certain that no man ever looked at her that way. That no midnight eyes or marbled flesh would ever accost her and turn her to jelly. (Sula 22)

This rousing resolution begged for a revisiting by either Helene or her daughter Nel, but none ever came, again leaving the reader with no reason to maintain an interest.

By altering the story to rely more and more on the stories of Sula and Nel Morrison puts great pressure on the ability of these two girls to carry the strength of the story to it's conclusion, a pressure that buckled the initially strong stirrups of this story after some poor character development was relied on.

Sula takes the essence of her mother's neglect and promiscuity, her own emotional detachment, and he grand mother's willingness to go to extremes to get what she needs and returns to the Bottom as a person containing all those elements. Morrison provides no description of how this character was molded into the woman she returned as, she only provided the ingredients for the mold. This left the entirety of Sula's progression to adulthood as an unknown; something open to the imagination of the reader which was a critical flaw because it gave the impression that this progression was not important enough to describe. This combined with aforementioned disharmonies of the story made reading "Sula" a hurdling exercise in that the reader was made to fill in the gaps.

The final hurdle one must over come when reading "Sula" is deciphering the some of various meanings and symbolisms used throughout Sula which are made more apparent by the final words of the narrator.

In the end Toni Morrison's "Sula" fails to deliver on a complete and fulfilling novel. The combination of unharmonious story telling, ultimately irrelevant exposition, and uninspired use of otherwise fantastic characters served to squelch any remnants of affection left for this novel from its initial success.

Sula was a disappointment........2006-08-02

You know, I read daily, and I adore a wide variety of genres and styles. I began this book with an optimistic interest. Unfortunately, in the end, I found this book to be a bitter disappointment.

The book started very promisingly, with Ms. Morrison breathing a vivid life into her characters and her town. I was immediately invested in these characters; identifying with their emotions and their lives. However, I did find the writing to be extremely disjointed in some areas, which left me with a vague sense of dissatisfaction. As the book progressed, this disjointed style grew, as did my sense of dissatisfaction.

At some point, my initial interest and joy, turned into a sense of obligation. I never start a book without finishing it. Unfortunately, finishing this book became a chore. I grew more and more annoyed with Ms. Morrison's odd style of writing -- and the near-cliche oddities of the citizens who populated Ms. Morrison's town. (Apparently, the more oddities one can ascribe to one's characters, the better.) Overkill would be an understatement.

In the end, the novel that began so promisingly, left me feeling annoyed and bitterly disappointed. The last half of this novel felt rushed, and underdeveloped. Not because Ms. Morrison lacks talent, but because she apparently lacks follow-through.

Perhaps I wouldn't have been so disappointed with the development of this novel if I had not learned to care for these characters. It is not the fate of the characters which I find disappointing, it is the hurried and nonsensical style with which that fate was related. These characters deserved better.

Difficult yet rewarding.......2005-12-22

This is Toni Morrison's second novel, and she really hits her stride here. Like all her works, the writing is brilliant. The novel takes place in an all-black, small Ohio hill neighborhood called (ironically) Bottom from around 1917 to 1965. It's mainly about the blacks' relations with each other rather than with the whites, although racial discrimination is the all-pervasive larger context. The main theme is the friendship between two very different women, Sula and Nell. Sula's family (grandmother Eva, mother Hannah, and brothers deweys) also figures prominently. The novel has several episodes of seemingly senseless violence, including self-mutilation, and violence between parents and children. The main protagonist Sula is like no other character in world literature. Like a romantic heroine, she rebels against all social customs, revealing them in the process as simply conventions, not natural. She commits adultery, murder, and betrays her closest friends and family. When she dies, no one mourns. But while she deconstructs conventional morality, she does not completely discredit it, since the result of breaking taboos is not liberation, but destruction. There are no easy morals here. A difficult, even maddening and scandalous novel, it is deeply rewarding for readers who are willing to have all their preconceptions challenged.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books