Book Description
How do you recover the past when it was never yours to lose?
Delia Hopkins has led a charmed life. Raised in rural New Hampshire by her beloved, widowed father, she now has a young daughter, a handsome fiance, and her own search-and-rescue bloodhound, which she uses to find missing persons. But as Delia plans her wedding, she is plagued by flashbacks of a life she can't recall...until a policeman knocks on her door, revealing a secret about herself that changes the world as she knows it -- and threatens to jeopardize her future. With Vanishing Acts, Jodi Picoult explores how life -- as we know it -- might not turn out the way we imagined; how the people we've loved and trusted can suddenly change before our very eyes; how the memory we thought had vanished could return as a threat. Once again, Picoult handles an astonishing and timely topic with under-standing, insight, and compassion.
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"New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult is widely acclaimed for her ability to tap into the hearts and minds of real people. Now she explores what happens when a young woman's past -- a past she didn't even know she had -- catches up to her just in time to threaten her future. Delia Hopkins has led a charmed life. Raised in rural New Hampshire by her widowed father, Andrew, she now has a young daughter, a handsome fiancé, and her own search-and-rescue bloodhound, which she uses to find missing persons. But as Delia plans her wedding, she is plagued by flashbacks of a life she can't recall. And then a policeman knocks on her door, revealing a secret that changes the world as she knows it. In shock and confusion, Delia must sift through the truth -- even when it jeopardizes her life and the lives of those she loves. What happens when you learn you are not who you thought you were? When the people you've loved and trusted suddenly change before your eyes? When getting your deepest wish means giving up what you've always taken for granted? Vanishing Acts explores how life -- as we know it -- might not turn out the way we imagined; how doing the right thing could mean doing the wrong thing; how the memory we thought had vanished could return as a threat. Once again, Jodi Picoult handles a difficult and timely topic with understanding, insight, and compassion. "
Customer Reviews:
vanishing Act.......2007-10-12
This was an excellent book. The content of this story was handled with great aplomb. Having been a mother and a daughter, and knowing the law You can just feel each of the characters distress. I actually couldn't put it down at some points.
Good story with lackluster filler pages.......2007-10-06
The story of this book is really interesting. However, I felt it was much longer than it needed to be. It seemed like the author had a really hard time figuring out her characters and what actions she wanted them to take. As much as I was supposed to sympathize with Delia, the main character, I felt that it was written rather "blah," in my opinion, and therefore, had a hard time relating or even getting to know her.
Other things I found to be wrong with the book (SPOILERS!):
1. All the scenes with Andrew in the prison were totally unnecessary, in my opinion. I know the author was trying to convey certain messages about the person Andrew was/was becoming by the choices he made, but they could have been condensed down a lot further. There were other areas in the novel that were way too long-winded, like the author wanted to hear herself talk through these characters. Ruthann was cool, but a little unnecessary as well.
2. Andrew in the end: Why did the author decide to tell Delia through Andrew that he really had no idea if she was being sexually abused by Victor? Why tell us this in the very end? It was extremely out of place and out of character for Andrew. Again, the author didn't seem to want to make choices about her characters and so decided to over-complicate them.
3. Delia and Fitz - I don't think they should have ended up together. Why illustrate so beautifully how Delia and Eric need each other and their connection only for them to break up and Delia end up with Fitz. She never loved him and never will. I'm usually all for "Un-storybook endings" because that's just life, but this was also very out-of-place for me as well.
Bottom line: The book is long at just over 400 pages, and it really didn't need to be at all. It's extremely boring at times, and overall, the side-stories were lackluster. However, if you devour books quickly like I do, then you may want to fit this one in because the story is awfully intriguing.
Whoa!.......2007-09-26
Delia has endured the surprise of her life after she finds out about her father and what he has done. She also starts to realize what kind of mother she wants to be. With all the discoveries that she makes around the time she found out about what her father did, she comes to a realization about the relationship she is in with Eric, her husband. This story walks you through the bumps of the road that Delia travels down in the hardships of her life.
This book is really bad. .......2007-09-20
Don't waste your money. It is the worst book I have read in a long time.
My first Picoult.......2007-09-01
It has been a long time since a book made me cry. This book made me cry 3 times. It is a good read.
Book Description
The worlds preeminent nature photographer creates magical images of wildlife in camouflage. In this astonishing new book, legendary wildlife photographer Art Wolfe turns to one of natures most fundamental survival techniques: the vanishing act. His portraits show animals and insects relying on deception, disguises, lures, and decoys to disappear into their surroundings and so confuse the eye of the predator. In a world where nothing is as it appears to be, a lion blends into the tall grass in the late afternoon sun, a harp seal disappears against his snowy backdrop. Pastel orchids can suddenly morph into predatory praying mantises; lizard heads become tails. What at first appears to be a torn and decomposing leaf on a forest floor in Peru suddenly sprouts legs and starts walking: it is a leaf-mimic katydid. Spotting each hidden animal amid Wolfes clever compositions is both a fun and informative game. At a time when many species are performing permanent vanishing acts due to habitat loss and human encroachment, this book showcases the beauty and evolutionary brilliance of animal behavior and artfully illustrates the tenacious will to stay alive in an eat-or-be-eaten world.
Customer Reviews:
The Best!.......2007-06-05
This is such an amazing and wonderful book of photos taken by Art Wolfe. "Vanishing Act" refers to the natural camouflage of living beings as they blend into their environment, as a means of self-preservation.
Honestly, I have had to look at some of the pictures 3 or 4 times before I could locate the animal, insect, bird, etc. that was lurking there. There is a "cheat sheet" in the back of the book, but I am determined to locate these creatures without resorting to outside help.
It is so amazing that I could look at a large picture 3 or 4 times and not see what I was looking at; however, once you see it clearly you can't understand how you could have missed it in the first place. Isn't nature grand? I have two of Art Wolfe's works hanging on my walls and they are the first things commented on by any visitor to my home.
Buy this book!
Fantastic nature photographs..........2007-03-09
A mezmerizing coffee table book. It's almost a puzzle to find the incredible creatures in the photos that have natural camouflage. Large format views with lots of detail. A nature lover's must-have.
Astonishing Vanishing Act.......2007-01-27
This photography/nature/evolution/puzzle book was simply astonishing. Everyone I've shown it to, from 8-80, has been both amazed by the photographs and thoroughly enjoyed reviewing it. When I brought it to work, a common response was, "Very cool ... Can I borrow this book overnight to show my husband/wife?" I need to e-mail Art Wolfe to ask him if I could represent him on his next creative effort. That way his work will achieve wider distribution and recognition.
Beautiful Book.......2007-01-22
I saw this book at a store and had to sit down in the store and look at it page by page and since it was a $50.00 book, had to race home and buy it on Amazon. It is a BEAUTIFUL book. If you love animals and nature in general, this book is awe inspiring. I bought it for my family. It shows the miraculous strategy of camaflage in nature. It is fun to see if you can find the animals in their natural settings. There are descriptive text and fingernail pictures in the back of the book to tell you where the animal is in the picture if you weren't able to spot it and a paragraph or two about the animal in general. It is a great coffee table book for guests to look through while they are waiting.
Vanishing Act - an entirely natural puzzle.......2007-01-09
This is a coffee table book with a twist - as you peruse the photographs the animals gradually or quickly appear out of their natural background - exactly the way they are sighted in the wild and giving you exactly the same thrill of discovery. Anyone curious about the natural world from young kids to expert biologists can enjoy it because, while it's a game, it's a very primal game.
Book Description
Stevie Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson return in another fast-paced, action-packed sports mystery from bestselling sports writer John Feinstein.
The two hopeful sports reporters have kept in touch after their wild time at the Final Four, and when Susan Carol manages to score a press pass to cover the first week of the US Open Tennis Tournament in New York, Stevie works out a way to be there as well.
The behind-the-scenes action in the world of professional tennis is overwhelming and occasionally bewildering, but it turns downright inconceivable when a young Russian phenom, Natalia Makarova, disappears right before her second-round match. Somewhere between the locker rooms and the Louis Armstrong Court, one of the most-watched players of the tournament simply vanishes.
The media coverage is staggering. Everyone is looking for Natalia--including Stevie and Susan Carol. Was she kidnapped? Did she run? Is she even still alive? The rumors are growing wilder by the hour. But they don't even come close to the shocking truth...
Customer Reviews:
A Readers Review .......2007-01-18
The best book I read this year was Vanishing Act by John Feinstein.
The main characters are Susan Carol and Stevie Thomas who become kid reporters when they win a National Writing Contest. Susan Carol is a 14 year old from South Carolina and is a sports fanatic who seems to know everything about everyone. Stevie is a 13 year old from Philadelphia and plays basketball.
In this story they are sent to cover the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament with a friend reporter, Bobby Kheller. While they are waiting for a match to begin one of the players is kidnapped. When Susan and Stevie dig a little deeper they find that it was all staged to make a movie deal. They must stop the plot before it is too late.
This all takes place in New York City in modern day times.
The themes for this story are Bravery- for continuing the case after being threatened to stop their investigation. Friendship- for when Susan and Stevie stuck together to solve the case. Finally Money- because if the crooks got away with it the movie deal would give them 21.5 million dollars and more if the movie did well.
I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. I loved it because it included mystery, sports and it was a pleasure to read. This book keeps you guessing and leaves you wanting more.
Vanishing Act by John Feinstein.......2007-01-14
In Vanishing Act by John Feinstein, the main characters, Steve Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson, both have a deep love of sports and are sports reporters.
When Nadia Symanova, a tennis player, vanishes at the US Open Tennis Tournament, Steve and Susan Carol try to unravel the mystery. Has she been kidnapped because someone wants her to stay a Russian citizen and not become an American? Did she run away? The FBI, media and Steve and Susan Carol all try to find Nadia.
The story is written in current time in New York City at the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament.
The themes of the story are bravery, sacrifice, sports and hope. The moral of the story would be to always work together.
I loved the story because it's sports related and it shows the meaning of friendship. Steve and Susan Carol's actions in this book, where they save each other, help each other out on their stories and always work together is a great example of what I would want from a best friend. This story is the sequel to the story Last Shot. If you love this book, you will love Last Shot almost as much.
A fun and fast-paced story.......2007-01-13
Stevie Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson got their "fifteen minutes of fame" after helping to unravel the Final Four mystery involving the blackmailing of Minnesota State University's star player, Chip Graber. Remaining good friends, they keep in touch over email and IM all the time. When Susan Carol tells Stevie she'll be covering the U.S. Open for her local sports paper, she convinces Stevie to come along. Stevie contacts Bobby Kelleher, the Washington Herald columnist who mentored them during the Final Four, and sure enough Kelleher has a job for Stevie too. They're off to New York City, but little do they know what they'll have in store for themselves.
Right before her anticipated first game, young Russian phenom Nadia Makarova goes missing and immediately Stevie and Susan Carol find themselves trying to unfold another mystery. And yet again, there are a lot of unanswered questions. Who are Nadia Makarova's kidnappers? Why does Susan Carol's agent uncle, Brendan Gibson, seem like he's right in the middle of this? Plus, what does this mean for up-and-coming new U.S. tennis star Evelyn Rubin, who is smashing her way through games and scheduled to play Makarova?
VANISHING ACT is John Feinstein's follow-up to the New York Times bestseller, LAST SHOT. The author, a political and sports reporter for the Washington Post as well as Sports Illustrated and National Sports Daily, has written many bestselling sports-related books. In his second effort Feinstein continues to succeed, mixing real-life sports personalities like Bud Collins and Andy Roddick into the fictional world. Feinstein also reveals a behind-the-scenes look at sports agents that doesn't portray them in a very good light.
Like his previous effort, VANISHING ACT provides an almost nonfiction-like look into the professional tennis world and the U.S. Open while mixing elements of a fiction mystery novel. Readers will be happy to see the return of Stevie and Susan Carol, who have clearly grown as friends. (And Stevie's constant eating of hamburgers and pizza in an effort to grow taller is pretty humorous too.) VANISHING ACT is a fast-paced story that whizzes by like a powerful serve. It's a fun read for anyone interested in tennis or mysteries, or both.
--- Reviewed by Kristi Olson
A satisfying mystery evolves........2006-12-10
John Feinstein's VANISHING ACT is set in new York City, where a hundred athletes are competing for millions in prizes - and where a kidnapping changes the nature of the game. Everyone's looking for Nadia - but two eighth-grade rookies have the best chance of finding her - if they're in time. A satisfying mystery evolves.
Get ready to miss the school bus --it's that good!.......2006-09-05
My 11 year old almost missed the school bus this morning because he just had to finish this book. If you have a son that likes sports books, this is a sure bet. My son kept saying, "This is awesome!" and "I hope there's a sequel." all the way through.
Average customer rating:
- Thomas Perry does it again
- Compelling, textured thriller in Adirondacks
- A wonderful series!
- Exciting from start to finish...
- Archetypal adventure, second chances
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Vanishing Act
Thomas Perry
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 United States
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Dance for the Dead (Jane Whitfield Novel)
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Death Benefits
ASIN: 0679435360
Release Date: 1995-01-31 |
Book Description
JANE WHITEFIELD is . . .
. . . in the one-woman business of helping the desperate disappear. Thanks to her membership in the Wolf Clan of the Seneca tribe, she can fool any pursuer, cover any trail, and then provide her clients with new identities, complete with authentic paperwork. Jane knows all the tricks, ancient and modern; in fact, she has invented several of them herself. But when Jane opens a door out of the world for an attractive fugitive named John Felker, she walks into a trap that will take all her heritage and cunning to escape. . . .
"A unique heroine, an ultracompetent woman attuned to the ancient ways of her ancestors and to the harsh realities of the modern, bureaucratic world."
--San Francisco Chronicle
"A compelling, multifaceted protagonist. Whitefield is as tough as Sam Spade, as tender as Jo in Little Women and as resourceful as Robinson Crusoe's Friday."
--Philadelphia Inquirer
"Strong-willed . . . [A] most singular creation."
--The New York Times Book Review
"Entertainingly resourceful."
--The New York Times
"One sharp and tough cookie."
--Detroit News
From the Paperback edition.
Customer Reviews:
Thomas Perry does it again.......2006-03-19
Perry manages to continiue to surprise you in the different ways he has Jane do some very tricky things to keep her friend and herself alive. Jane uses all her innate wisdom and makes use of most of her contacts to make everything turn out for the best.
Compelling, textured thriller in Adirondacks.......2005-12-04
While learning some interesting facts ("Adirondacks" is Iroquois for "bark-eaters," a derogatory term for ineffective hunters, and George Washington ordered assorted massacres of Indian villages), I found this novel consistently engaging. The reviews suggesting the heroine's "gullibility" forget the difference between reading a novel and living an experience. Perry isn't interested in tricking his readers, but inviting them to see and experience the world as his heroine does. All in all, she's quicker to figure out the shape of a complex story than that reviewer would have been, and this novel's merits don't depend on "figuring it out" anyway. If a mythic heroince can be credible, this one is.
A wonderful series!.......2005-09-21
Vanishing Act is the first in a series of five books about Jane Whitefield, an Indian guide who will take someone from where there are people who want to kill them -- to where they are safe. She provides people with a new identity and a new life. John Felker is looking for just that. He is a former cop turned accountant who is being set up as an embezzler. Someone is skimming money from the accounting firm's customers and depositing it into an account in John's name. There is also an open contract on his life, so he needs to disappear.
The book is written in two distinctly separate parts. The first part is about how Jane makes someone disappear. We follow Jane and John cross country as they are being chased by the men who are after John. We are introduced to people along the way who help make their escape possible by providing safe places to stay or creating fake documentation or getting them transportation. When Jane finally gets John safe, the story takes a new twist. The people we have met along their journey are being murdered. Someone has been tracking them and Jane fears for John's safety. She has to go back to save him before the killers find him too.
The Native American culture and history were very interesting. Jane uses her training and skills in tracking and in creating weapons from items she finds in the woods. I thought of a few questions along the way that I wanted answers to and was a bit disappointed when those answers, found late in the book, would have cleared everything up quite early. Surely Jane is better at this than I am and should have asked them herself. But then we wouldn't have had a story, right?
Armchair Interviews says: Definitely pick Vanishing Act and up the next one in this unique series.
Exciting from start to finish..........2005-05-14
Vanishing Act by Thomas Perry is the first book I've read in the Jane Whitefield series, and was a most pleasant surprise. Instead of dealing with a cop, a PI or a bounty hunter, Jane Whitefield is a half-Indian (from the Seneca Tribe) who serves as a guide to help people "disappear." She uses her native skills to help those who are trying to flee from an abusive spouse or an unsavory past.
In Vanishing Act, an ex-cop turned accountant, John Felker, is being framed by unknown persons and there is a contract out on his life. He seeks out Jane, whom he has heard about by word of mouth. But the men pursuing Felker are right on his tail, and Jane must work hard to give them the slip. But just as Jane thinks everything is finally under control, two bombshells are dropped on her, and things are not as they seem.
One thing that I really enjoyed about this book is the background on Native Americans that Vanishing Act provides. Jane is from upstate NY, and there is much about the tribes from that area-especially before and during the Revolution. Even when she travels to California, we are given information about the California Indian tribes. In this respect, Perry is a lot like Tony Hillerman and his series of Jim Chee/Joe Leaphorn mysteries.
But while there is much to like about Vanishing Act, I thought the plot at times completely implausible. It's hard to believe that when Jane finally identifies the murderer, she would chase him up into the Adirondack Mountains without notifying anyone of where she was going, calling the police, and even leaving a message with someone as to the identify of the killer. It was just a bit beyond belief.
Still, I thoroughly enjoyed Vanishing Act, and am planning to read Shadow Woman next.
Archetypal adventure, second chances.......2005-04-29
I thoroughly enjoyed this well-crafted suspense novel and the series it kicks off. The resourceful Jane Whitfield helps people whose lives have been damaged past any possibility of salvaging leave those lives behind and start over with a new identity. Given that this was the motivation that brought many settlers first to the New World, and later to the American West, this is the ultimate American dream. In an increasingly documented world, this is becoming less and less possible. Still, it is fascinating to watch Jane at work.
Book Description
Exploring the careers of five influential women writers of the Restoration and eighteenth century, Catherine Gallagher reveals the connections between the increasing prestige of female authorship, the economy of credit and debt, and the rise of the novel. The "nobodies" of her title are not ignored, silenced, or anonymous women. Instead, they are literal nobodies: the abstractions of authorial personae, printed books, intellectual property rights, literary reputations, debts and obligations, and fictional characters. These are the exchangeable tokens of modern authorship that lent new cultural power to the increasing number of women writers through the eighteenth century. Women writers, Gallagher discovers, invented and popularized numerous ingenious similarities between their gender and their occupation. The terms "woman," "author," "marketplace," and "fiction" come to define each other reciprocally.
Gallagher analyzes the provocative plays of Aphra Behn, the scandalous court chronicles of Delarivier Manley, the properly fictional nobodies of Charlotte Lennox and Frances Burney, and finally Maria Edgeworth's attempts in the late eighteenth century to reform the unruly genre of the novel.
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Vanishing Acts
Jodi Picoult
Manufacturer: Washington Square/Pocket Bks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OLIA0M |
Average customer rating:
- European Intrigue
- Intriguing but predictable
- alias vansihing act
- Good Book Doesn't Live Up to Explosive Beginning
- Vanishing Act a Fun Read
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Vanishing Act (Alias)
Sean Gerace
Manufacturer: Bantam Books for Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Action & Adventure
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ASIN: 0553494384
Release Date: 2004-07-13 |
Book Description
When Sydney secures a cover as the assistant to a world-famous illusionist, her mission is clear.
Perform death-defying feats of magic by night, investigate a rash of art thefts by day.
Simple? Not quite.
Someone has a trick up their sleeve. And solving the mystery takes Sydney to new heights . . . without a net.
Customer Reviews:
European Intrigue.......2005-06-14
In this installment of the Alias series, rookie spy Sydney Bristow is undercover as the assistant of famous magician Trevor Raven. Works of art just happen to be stolen in the cities where the tour stops, so Sloan tasks Sydney to keep an eye on Raven's employee - and suspected villain - Victor Romero. Noah Hicks, Sydney's hunky on-again, off-again boyfriend is also on the mission, and the two of them get to spend a little time alone.
In my opinion, this is the best book of the Alias series. There is more fast-paced action and mission interactions between Sydney and Sloan, like an episode of the TV show. The mysterious Rimbaldi is also implicated in the works of art being stolen.
Intriguing but predictable.......2004-10-06
In Vanishing Act, Sydney is on a mission in Europe. Her day job and cover is an assistant to the famous illusionist, Trevor Raven. Raven's show is on tour through Europe. Whenever Sydney is not busy with a show, she is supposed to watch and research the doings of Victor Romero, one of Raven's employees. Slowly, Sydney figures out what is really going on behind the magic show. Just when she thinks she has everything figured out, Sydney demonstrates her innocence and naivete in this book. She is just too trusting. This time, her trust of others places her in grave danger.
I like this book because it shows a very human side of Sydney. She has steadily gained confidence on her missions as described in the Alias series of books. This time, Sydney misjudges and blows her cover. She may be able to overcome the ordeal but how will this experience affect her trusting of others in the future?
alias vansihing act.......2004-08-18
If you just like the Alias books and don't like the tv show I would suggest you refrain from reading the section of the reveiw, If your and alias fan:, because it contains information about things that happen in the show which might be considered spoilers.
If your an alias fan: Being an alias fan these books have always intrigued me. I've read all of the Alias books and this is one of the most enjoyable to read. Despite the fact that it was pretty obvious from the beginning which character was manipulating Sydney, reading about Sydney's past is always interesting. Sydney's past was always kind of mysterious and obviously held important secrets that have to do with a lot of the conflicts she faces on the show. So this gives the reader an insight on how she felt about Sloane, SD6, her father, and her mother before she found out the truth about her life and it gives some insight about her past love, Noah; he appeared in season 1, episodes 18 and 19, masquerade and the snowman. Speaking of season one these books kind of reminded me of season one and early season two. The books are sort of self contained, there's rembaldi but it's not the main focus. It focuses on her lying to her friends, struggling in school, a relationship with a fellow agent, Noah, that she needs to keep under the radar, and a lack of a father figure do to her rocky relationship with her father. It contains astounding action scenes. The only difference is that her skills are a lot more premature, like it says in the book, she's to trusting. This book was pretty divulging, it's definently a way to cope with having to wait till January 2005 for the next alias episode.
If your not: If your not an Alias fan this doesn't nessicarily mean the book is pointless, the action scenes were Syndney is triumphant are far from boring and the love story between her and Noah is definently interesting, through out the whole series there was probably only one part that I found kind of corny. It won't end up being your favorite book but it's a good summer read.
Good Book Doesn't Live Up to Explosive Beginning.......2004-08-04
Sydney's off on another mission. This time she's to infiltrate the European tour of famous illusionist Trevor Raven and keep an eye on his stage manager Viktor Romero. SD-6 suspects that Viktor is smuggling items from country to country using the tour as a cover. After an intense course in magic, Sydney's off. Her new co-workers are fun, and Trevor is dreamy. In fact, his attention makes Sydney struggle over her allegiance to Noah. But as the case gets more complicated, Noah shows up to help. Can Sydney put all the pieces together before one of the illusions becomes deadly?
This book starts out with a bang. It's probably the best action scene in any of the books, rivaling anything from the TV show. As a result, I had high hopes for the book. Unfortunately, it fell into all too familiar territory after that. It was enjoyable, but I saw several plot points coming from miles away. Some just screamed out at me. Still, it wasn't a bad book, and I enjoyed watching the relationship between Sydney and Noah develop. I've really enjoyed what they've done with Noah in these books, fleshing out the back story we were given in two episodes of the first season.
With a cameo series fans will love and a jaw dropping, page turning opening, Alias fans will enjoy this book. Anyone else will want to stir clear.
Vanishing Act a Fun Read.......2004-07-28
I don't know how the author, Sean Gerace, can be a male with such insight into a female character such as Sydney, but he has definitely succeeded. If you're a fan of the Alias TV series you'll love this book. A fun read, worth checking out.
Average customer rating:
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Vanishing Act
Seth J. Margolis
Manufacturer: St Martins Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
United States
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ASIN: 0312087705 |
Average customer rating:
- Worth the price of entry for Ted Chiang alone
- A mostly original anthology of the highest caliber.
- Wonderful anthology of speculative fiction!
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Vanishing Acts: A Science Fiction Anthology
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Datlow, Ellen
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ASIN: 0312869614 |
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Ellen Datlow has a fine reputation as an editor of original anthologies, both solo (Little Deaths, Sirens and Other Daemon Lovers) and with Terri Windling (their adult fairy-tale series includes Black Heart, Ivory Bones). With Windling she also edits the annual reprint volume The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror. This collection, fifteen stories and one poem, is unusual in that the pieces are a mix of originals and reprints.
The central theme is that of endangered species: plant and animal, human and alien, real and imagined. The seven pieces that stand out include all four reprints. Bruce McAllister's "The Girl Who Loved Animals" and Karen Joy Fowler's "Faded Roses" are both set in near futures bereft of most of the mammal species we love. Both cultures try different solutions. Both stories are unbearably sad. Also poignant but uplifting in its theme of the redemptive power of music is Suzy McKee Charnas's "Listening to Brahms." M. Shayne Bell's "The Thing About Benny" is a more dispassionate examination of the practical impact of reduced biodiversity, and Mark W. Tiedemann gives us a cautionary tale of difference--and possibilities wrenched from our grasp. Interestingly, it is the oldest piece in the book, Avram Davison's "Now Let Us Sleep," that perhaps comes closest to mirroring third-millennial angst, cynicism, and despair. The last story, however, is the utterly delightful "Seventy-two Letters," a new novella from Ted Chiang, that allows the reader to close the book feeling hopeful about the perpetual self-renewal of life. --Luc Duplessis
Book Description
In Vanishing Acts, Ellen Datlow has gathered an extraordinary group of stories, including a long novella by Ted Chiang, whose last story won the Nebula Award for Best Novella, that cohere around the idea of endangered speciesinterpreted to include in some cases the human race.
Customer Reviews:
Worth the price of entry for Ted Chiang alone.......2002-05-22
While some of the original stories in this volume are weaker than I'd like to see, the longest piece alone is worth the price of admission. "Seventy-Two Letters" by Ted Chiang is another magnificent creation from one of the sharpest and least prolific writers in SF today. Every story he writes is a gem, and this one, a kabbalistic steampunk allegory for the Human Genome Project, is no exception. Other very worthwhile stories include "Links" by Mark W. Tiedemann and "The Thing About Benny" by M. Shayne Bell, and the reprints by Suzy McKee Charnas, Bruce McAllister, and Avram Davidson are great too. But that novella alone makes this book worth your attention.
A mostly original anthology of the highest caliber........2001-08-07
Ellen Datlow has this incredible knack for putting together anthologies of science fiction, fantasy and horror of the highest caliber. If you missed VANISHING ACTS when it first came out in hardcover, you should definitely pick up a copy of this new trade paperback edition. Thematically intriguing, I found many new perspectives on endangered species, a subject near and dear to my heart. Suzy McKee Charnas's "Listening to Brahms" was one of my favorite stories from the old OMNI Magazine, and the new original stories by Ian McDowell, Brian Stableford, Joe Haldeman and others are all works of exceptional quality. The inclusion of Avram Davidson's "Now Let Us Sleep" from 1957 gives a very short blast from the past which is quite memorable. Highly recommended.
Wonderful anthology of speculative fiction!.......2000-07-12
I think this anthology is worth picking up for Ted Chiang's "72 Letters" all by itself. All of Chiang's stories are superb, and this one is set in an alternate Victorian age turned sideways by the use of Golems in their society. Since the name on a Golem's forehead describes its function, scientists in this age study names to analyze their meaning and power. If you like fantasy that is well thought out and sticks to its own rules, this is for you. Besides Chiang's alternative history tale, I liked Paul J. McAuley's "The Rift", about a hike down into uncharted pre-historic territory. I was a little bit alarmed about buying an anthology with 4 reprinted stories, but they are all good reads, especially Suzy McKee Charnas' "Listening To Brahms", about a group of astronauts who become the sole survivors of Earth and are saved from by extinction by copycat lizard aliens. As the book jacket proclaims, this really is one of the best anthologies of 2000.
Books:
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- Witch Child
- Year Of Ritual: Sabbats & Esbats for Solitaries & Covens
- Younger Next Year for Women
- Your Three-Year-Old: Friend or Enemy
- 3G Wireless Networks, Second Edition
- A Framework for Understanding Poverty
- A Thousand Splendid Suns
- Alice in the Know (Alice)
- Along Comes a Stranger
Books Index
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