Chicken Boy

Book Description

Meet Tobin McCauley. He's got a near-certifiable grandmother, a pack of juvenile-delinquent siblings, and a dad who's not going to win father of the year any time soon. To top it off, Tobin's only friend truly believes that the study of chickens will reveal...the meaning of life? Getting through seventh grade isn't easy for anyone, but when the first day of school starts out with your granny's arrest, you know you've got real problems. Throw on a five-day suspension, a chicken that lays green eggs, and a family feud that's tearing everyone to pieces, and you're in for one heck of a ride.

Customer Reviews:

See the world through new eyes.......2007-02-13

Chicken Boy, by Frances O'Roark Dowell, sounds very childish and silly, but is a very true and can almost be sickening. The boy, Tobin, lives with is brothers and sisters in an old house behind a gas station. They live in pretty much a pig sty. This is mainly because Tobin's mother died of cancer and since then, their house has been a mess and his Grandma and dad will not talk to each other. This book gives you a real life feeling, it shows you how other people's lives can be. Tobin goes back to school and he doesn't have any friends. There is only one class he likes, and that is English. His teacher really believes he can do great things when no one can. One day, he gets in a fight with a boy and another boy, Harrison, helps him. Tobin and Harrison become good friends. Harrison raises chickens and is using them for a science extra credit project. Tobin gets to know all the chickens and soon gets involved with taking care of them. He buys his own chickens and takes care of them. He gets very close to them and learns that he can relate to them more than some humans and they give him a new outlook on life. This book is really touching because even through all Tobin is going through, he always goes to see the chickens.
By Grace

Am I just missing the charm?.......2007-01-11

I've given this book two tries---- once with my eyes and once with my ears (iPod). I just can't get through it. Sometimes the starred reviews in SLJ and Booklist completely mystify me-- this is a book that needs some filling in. The characters have the complexity of line drawings. I bet there's a good book here; it just needs a few more drafts.

For example, the protaganist's new friend--- I'm sure there are less believable characters in literature, but I can't think of any at the moment. And the little goofy bits of description--- the father remarks that the boy's school smells like every other school, like chalk. Ok, who here can dredge up the odor of chalk? Have I just missed the odor of chalk all these years working in a school? It all reminds me of narrators who refer dramatically to the smell of blood-- when really that's a remark that only a vampire character is justified in making. Have I been missing the well-known smell of blood all these years, too? Good lord, the smell of chalk. Granted, the father character also says the school smelled of gym socks, and that smell would apply to the locker room. Quibbles, yes. But when the characters are so dull, my mind drifts to the little annoying flaws of language. Whose doesn't?

When I saw Chicken Boy was up for a 2008 Grand Canyon Reader Award, I thought I would just chime in here. Different strokes, I guess--but kids will be bored by this book. Librarians, be ready to contend with the smell of boredom.

Another Winner from Dowell.......2006-02-02

Frances Dowell is one of the finest young people's authors
out there today. From the masterful and gripping Dovey Coe
to the canny Secret Language of Girls, to the thoughtful
and gripping world of Chicken Boy, Dowell shows again and
again that she understands kids and their concerns. Her books
have both strong storytelling and a moral code. She makes characters that provoke lively discussion between parents
and kids and teachers. There's so much gloss out there today,
books that seem more concerned with showing girls how to be pretty and boys how to be cool. Dowell's books show kids and grownups how to be loving, responsible, kind human beings.
And she does it with grace and style and wonderful stories.
Her characters seek to improve and expand their hearts and
minds.
Dowell's books are essential.

Discovering the real Chicken Boy.......2005-11-23

Chicken Boy tells the story of young Tobin McCauley who comes from a bad family and who is just sure he will end up the same way. People do not expect much from him and he does not expect much from himself. His world changes when he enters the seventh grade and begins to form his own identity rather than accepting the one forced on him by his family's reputation. He is surprised when he makes a friend and together they learn how to raise chickens so as to discover if the birds have souls. Tobin begins to recognize that his family does not have to be the way that they are and he makes small efforts to alter their lifestyle. He is torn between staying with his father who only attempts to provide a home life after a Social Services visit and his granny who called Social Services because she resents Tobin's father, but Tobin is sent to a foster home instead. He realizes how much he loves his family when they gather for counseling sessions and he learns that the good things in himself come from his family as well and not just the bad. The character of Tobin is well written with a "who cares" attitude because he knows what the world thinks of him. He surprises himself when he feels strangely good inside for sticking up for a teacher and for giving an extra credit oral report to the class about the soul of a chicken -- a feat never attempted by a McCauley. He does not like how his family lives up to their public image and longs to be away from them until he is forced into the situation. Chicken Boy captures the time in a boy's life when he feels most alienated from his family but his situation makes him realize how much he never wants to be away from them. He learns about himself while trying to figure out the nature of chickens and forges his own identity rahter than becoming just another lowdown member of the McCauley family.

Average customer rating:

Too raw for me, too much desperate sex, I've read similar
What a book!
rates a second reading
A waste of my time.
Family Dysfunction at Its Best

Back Roads (Oprah's Book Club)
Tawni O'Dell
Manufacturer: Viking Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0670894184
Release Date: 2000-03-28

Amazon.com

Oprah Book Club® Selection, March 2000: Not since S.E. Hinton (The Outsiders) has a female novelist penned such a tough and titillating portrait of lower-class, crime-ridden manhood. Set in "beautiful, ruined" western Pennsylvania, amid Eat n' Parks and Lick n' Putts, Tawni O'Dell's Back Roads follows Harley Altmyer as he walks a raging, self-conscious line between crime and innocence. Why is he being held by the authorities, and what's he so mad about? In the recent past, it's his mother, who murdered his father and went to jail for life. In the far past, it's Dad himself: an abusive, hopeless man. In the present, it's the responsibility for his three younger sisters, which makes him fantasize about smashing their faces in until they "spit up bloody macaroni and cheese."

But Harley still has a conscience--barely. He doesn't strike his sisters; he's been trying to protect them. The oldest is sassy Amber, 16, who's having sex on the living-room couch with townies who abuse her; next is frighteningly stoic 12-year-old Misty, with eyes "a glazed brown like a medicine bottle"; the youngest is adorable Jody, who at 6 pens to-do lists with items such as "PRAY FOR DADDYS SOWL." Overburdened with the practicalities of life, and the ever-mounting losses, Harley has started seeing his own words floating in the air in front of his face. "CLOSURE. TRUTH. MOST GUYS."

This first novel opens well. O'Dell does an impeccable job of making Harley both brutal and forgivable. Here, for instance, he retreats to his basement room: "I lay there until dawn, thinking about Dad, and feeling the same useless frustration I had felt the first time I had seen him piss on a sparkling white drift of pure new snow."

But that delicacy is soon lost, and Back Roads risks becoming an overabundant affair, pitched high, with a roller-coaster trajectory. Harley's anger metamorphoses into an almost bloodthirsty lust for his sexy, middle-aged neighbor, which stirs up myriad forbidden family secrets. Misty, it turns out, has been hiding something. Amber revolts. And even Jody's scribbles turn malevolent. While the writing is good throughout, the tension and plotting assume an unpleasant adolescent posture--bodice-ripping passion and mordant gloom combined. Nonetheless, O'Dell's assured and touching portrait of her protagonist emerges unscathed. You will likely remember luckless, fated Harley Altmyer long after his tsunamic tale has receded. And no matter what the judge decides, you will understand why this impoverished, angry young man was probably the most innocent one of all. --Jean Lenihan

Book Description

An intense, vibrant debut novel set among the back roads of Pennsylvania's mining country

Harley Altmyer should be in college drinking Rolling Rock and chasing girls. He should be freed from his closed-minded, stricken coal town, with its lack of jobs and no sense of humor. Instead, he's constantly reminded of just how messed up his life is.

With his mother in jail for killing his abusive father, Harley is an orphan with the responsibilities of an adult and the fiery, aggressive libido of a teenager. Just nineteen years old, he's marooned in the Pennsylvania backwoods caring for his three younger sisters, whose feelings about him range from stifling dependence to loathing. And once he develops an obsession with the sexy, melancholic mother of two living down the road, those Victoria's Secret catalogs just won't do the trick anymore. He wants Callie Mercer so badly he fears he will explode. But it's the family secrets, the lies, and the unspoken truths that light the fuse and erupt into a series of staggering surprises, leaving what's left of his family in tatters. Through every ordeal, the unforgettable Harley could never know that his endearing humor, his love for his sisters, and his bumbling heroics would redeem them all.

Funny and heartbreaking, O'Dell's pitch-perfect characters capture the maddening confusion of adolescence and the prickly nature of family with irony and unerring honesty. Back Roads is a riveting novel by a formidable new talent.

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"""One day you're that guy who's happy he managed to survive high school and get that almighty piece of paper, and you're thinking you might try to get a job at Redi-Mix concrete where your dad's worked since the beginning of time. And at least you've got a family you can stand even if they are all sisters. One day you're that guy, and the next day you're assigned to a social worker and a therapist and given the choice of either being a LEGAL ADULT with three DEPENDENTS or an ORPHAN with NOBODY."" --From Back Roads Harley Altmyer should be in college drinking Rolling Rock and chasing girls. He should be freed from his closed-minded, stricken coal town, with its lack of jobs and no sense of humor. Instead, he's constantly reminded of just how messed up his life is. With his mother in jail for killing his abusive father, Harley is an orphan with the responsibilities of an adult and the fiery, aggressive libido of a teenager. Just nineteen years old, he's marooned in the Pennsylvania backwoods caring for his three younger sisters, whose feelings about him range from stifling dependence to loathing. And once he develops an obsession with the sexy, melancholic mother of two living down the road, those Victoria's Secret catalogs just won't do the trick anymore. He wants Callie Mercer so badly he fears he will explode. But it's the family secrets, the lies, and the unspoken truths that light the fuse and erupt into a series of staggering surprises, leaving what's left of his family in tatters. Through every ordeal, the unforgettable Harley could never know that his endearing humor, his love for his sisters, and his bumbling heroics would redeem them all. Funny and heartbreaking, Tawni O'Dell's pitch-perfect characters capture the maddening confusion of adolescence and the prickly nature of family with irony and unerring honesty. Back Roads is a riveting novel by a formidable new talent."

Customer Reviews:

Too raw for me, too much desperate sex, I've read similar.......2007-10-14

"Glass Castle" also has kids raising themselves in poverty in crummy houses, scratching for enough money to buy food, but I liked it better because the characters are better-developed, there's hope, and they rise above their environment. Here all the family's past conflict is in retrospect, the main character is a head-case, fantasizes about sex and violence. The ending is like a trainwreck which may explain why people read it in one sitting, and the twists seem a bit contrived and too weird.
You know nobody is going to get anywhere, you get little of the flavor of the town since the characters and settings are very limited; the places Harley works and their home are most of where the story unfolds. His sister Amber pushes him constantly and he just takes it yet has fantasies of smashing people's faces into glass. You never know much about his parents except how they treated their kids and a tiny bit about where they were from & how they came to be married; a big grey area considering the family later dissolves (to put it mildly) and you have little to base it on. Tons of sex, sexual circumstances, situations and language as though that's all a teenage boy thinks about, but it is written by a woman.......

What a book!.......2007-10-04

This is quite a book. I'm in a book club, otherwise I wouldn't have chosen to read it, but I'm glad I did. Once you're into it you can't put it down. Because I worked for the Dept.of Welfare for 34 years, the story didn't shock me, but it made me uneasy as it should anyone who reads it. I thought I had the ending figured out, but I didn't see this one coming! A great read for people with an open mind to the real world.

rates a second reading.......2007-09-22

I read this book twice, and that puts it in a category that includes "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "The Grapes of Wrath".

If you have difficulty relating to hard-core dysfunction or are squeamish about humanity's less attractive flaws, you probably will find the book difficult to enjoy. It is definitely not a "feel good" book.

For me, however, it made several indelible points; closure is a crock, people often behave the way they do because circumstances place them in situations where they must behave the way they do in order to survive, and there is no limit to the complexity of human sexuality and the fragility of the human psyche.

O'Dell's fiction may be limited geographically and by the socio-economic strata with which she is familiar, but her knowledge of the human heart is infinite.

I recommend this book highly.

A waste of my time........2007-09-05

I bought this book to take with me to the beach. It held my attention and I read it in just a few days, but I was very disappointed when I finished it. The whole story and the characters seemed very unrealistic.

Family Dysfunction at Its Best.......2007-08-27

O'Dell's story captures all the facets of an extremely dysfunctional family with raw, shocking realism - outright physical and verbal abuse, insinuated sexual abuse, incest and murder. As the novel unfolds, it becomes obvious that the male narrator is mentally disturbed but it's nearly impossible not to sympathize with his situation. O'Dell also does an excellent job of portraying his sexual frustrations, not to mention the overall confusion and desperation of a young man who has had too much responsibility thrust upon him. I highly recommend this novel. It is compulsively readable and well written.

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Truth and Beauty
Semantics
Chuig an mé mhuinta scafóideach
Yerra, Be-Jaysus, not another one of the lot
A brilliant story, richly told

In the Province of Saints: A Novel
Thomas O'Malley
Manufacturer: Little, Brown and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0316110396

Book Description

An unforgettable first novel about a young boy growing up in rural Ireland, in the shadow of a dark secret.

Customer Reviews:

Truth and Beauty.......2006-05-07

As the New York Times and The Washington Post suggest, this is, indeed, a beautiful, heartbreaking tale in which the lives of real people in difficult circumstances are explored. This may, truly, be depressing to readers who have never had to endure hardship or poverty or experience violence in their lives but O'Malley has a need to explore people whose lives aren't as comfortable as ours, people who endure and succeed despite the hard choices that they must make-this seems such an integral and necessary function of the human condition and of living and O'Malley captures this fully. Perhaps those readers (I'm amazed by the reviewer who critiques the book without even finishing it?) who have never had to experience hardship or never been witness to it are merely more complacent than some of us and desire fictions that offer a safe, alternative perspective to this reality. That is entirely their choice. Myself, I eagerly await O'Malley's next work!

Semantics.......2006-04-20

A number of reader reviews have used the word "heartbreaking" to describe this book. I have not finished reading it yet, but I'm not sure about "heartbreaking": I'm finding it downright depressing. The writing is magnificent: O'Malley's powers of description are formidable - darkly poetic and even magisterial. But the gloom is relentless. In the hope that it will begin to soar as it reaches its resolution I'll persevere.

Chuig an mé mhuinta scafóideach .......2006-03-16

In the Province of Saints is an exquisitely written book that reveals the real Ireland that many of us Irish experienced in the years before the Celtic Tiger. It's too bad that the reviewer, Seaghaan Mar, cannot see past his petty prejudices to truly read and appreciate this beautifully crafted book. Perhaps he was reading a book other than this one? It is clear from his comments that he has no real understanding of the Irish or of our experiences (hardly folklore). O'Malley's characters are rich and fully realized, and every moment of rural life is captured with such precision and authenticity that one feels the author's love and respect for these people. There is darkness here and the hardships are those that many Irish have experienced, but this does nothing to dim this distinct vision nor does it lessen the worth and meaning of such hardships. O'Malley writes without a shred of self-pity or sentimentality and this is a testament to his maturity, and that in the very dark yet very real moments of these character's lives O'Malley casts light, tenderness, and hope. He shows us all the darkness so that we may see the light, something every person (Irish or otherwise) can understand. With In the Province of Saints, O'Malley reveals his authority and command as a writer, a writer mature beyond his years, and already, it seems, masterful in the form. No wonder Booklist has chosen this book as one of the ten best first books of 2005 and the New York Public Library has picked it as one of the best twenty five books from last year, in their Books to Remember for 2005.

I look forward to reading more from this promising writer.

Yerra, Be-Jaysus, not another one of the lot.......2006-03-09

Another dreadful sceal on mBealoideas e seo (a story from the folklore this is)about the horrors of Loife in Oul' Oireland, the bogs, mud, eternal rain, crucified mothers, drunken, good-fer-nothin' Da's, poverty so crushing it could be called Gaelic, emotional poverty so deep it's a wonder everyone doesn't commit suicide. Except they are Catholic, with all of those penitential burdens. They just run off--to Sasana, Boston. This story needs Myles na gCopalin to do it justice. Are any people as deeply self-deprecating as the Irish? Are they soon to be done with this penitential flogging of themselves in books and go back to ascending Croagh Patrick barefoot? My relatives came out of County Galway, Irish speaking, long ago and had as much good as bad to say about the Old Country. I wish this guy, who can write, at least in short bursts, would lend his story-telling more balance.
That said, he has promise when he matures.

A brilliant story, richly told.......2005-12-14

Thomas O'Malley's In the Province of Saints is a novel to savor. It tells the story of Michael McDonagh, a young boy in a poor, broken family rural Ireland in the late 1970s, from the time he is 9 or 10 until he is 13 or 14. The novel is told in heartbreakingly beautiful prose that is completely absorbing; as a reader, you will feel you are there, in Michael's skin, watching the clouds brood on the horizon and smelling the pigs in the yard.

The novel concerns Michael's confrontation and struggle with, and ultimately his understanding of his father's repeated abandonment of his mother and his family, first through his philandering and later through his departure for America; his mother's growing illness and imminent death; Michael's own sexuality; and finally, his sense of responsibility for his family and for himself. This is a world in which right and wrong, historically spelled out by the church, social hierarchy and the family, are ostensibly black and white. But in the late 20th Century, it is a world in which right and wrong are often reversed, and in which survival and even salvation depend upon violating traditional boundaries. Thus, we see, time and again, a cycle of transgression, punishment, penitence and redemption that Michael, his father, other members of his family and those around him not only endure but embrace both to get along day to day and to grow beyond their circumstances. For example, we see Michael at the age of 9 or 10, stealing eggs and bread from the neighbors because the family is in arrears with the dairy man. His mother discovers his wrong, and slaps his face in punishment, but the boy stands fast, and despite her rebuke, the mother keeps the stolen food. The scene is rich in moral ambiguity and the struggle of both characters to find what is right. Much later in the novel, this transgression is echoed by Michael's blatant vandalism of a neighbor's shed -- payback for the neighbor's exaction of penitence from Michael's father. The spiral goes on, with Michael eventually witnessing the ultimate transgression by others, which places him in the position of deciding whether to step into the role of judge and mete out punishment or to take another path.

The story is both compelling and moving. One of O'Malley's many great accomplishments in this novel is a portrayal of a land and characters that is panoramic in scope -- with respect to both the exterior and interior landscapes. Likewise, young Michael's growth from a boy to a young man is meticulously, yet subtly drawn, even down to the language, which early on seems deliberately (and rightly) hesitant and tentative, but which becomes bolder and more forceful as Michael matures.

This is a novel that will engage you completely, that will absorb you with the richness of its language and that will endear you to its noble, fallible characters.

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Not just a "gay" book.
rich, flowing prose and passion
A Boyish Bond
For Jim
An atmospheric story of complex relationships

At Swim, Two Boys: A Novel
Jamie O'Neill
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0743222954

Amazon.com

You may have read the hype. Irishman Jamie O'Neill was working as a London hospital porter when his 10-year labor of love, the 200,000-word manuscript of At Swim, Two Boys, written on a laptop during quiet patches at work, was suddenly snapped up for a hefty six-figure advance. For once, the book fully deserves the hype.

In the spring of 1915, Jim Mack and "the Doyler," two Dublin boys, make a pact to swim to an island in Dublin Bay the following Easter. By the time they do, Dublin has been consumed by the Easter Uprising, and the boys' friendship has blossomed into love--a love that will in time be overtaken by tragedy. O'Neill's prose, playing merrily with vocabulary, syntax, and idiom, has unsurprisingly drawn comparisons to James Joyce and Samuel Beckett, but in his creation of comic characters (such as Jim's pathetic but irrepressible father) and in the sheer scale of his work, Charles Dickens springs to mind first. But Dickens never wrote a love story between young men as achingly beautiful as this.

In the character of Anthony MacMurrough, who is haunted by voices as he pursues his illegal and dangerous desire for Dublin boys, O'Neill has created a complex and fascinating center to his novel, rescuing the love story from mawkishness, and allowing a serious meditation on history, politics, and desire. For as Ireland seeks its own future free of British government, so Jim, Doyle, and MacMurrough look back to Sparta to find a way to live. As Dr Scrotes, one of MacMurrough's voices, commands:

Help these boys build a nation of their own. Ransack the histories for clues to their past. Plunder the literature for words they can speak.

In this massive, enthralling, and brilliant debut, Jamie O'Neill has indeed done just that: provided a nation for what Walt Whitman calls, in O'Neill's epigraph, "the love of comrades." --Alan Stewart, Amazon.co.uk

Book Description

Set during the year preceding the Easter Uprising of 1916 -- Ireland's brave but fractured revolt against British rule -- At Swim, Two Boys is a tender, tragic love story and a brilliant depiction of people caught in the tide of history. Powerful and artful, and ten years in the writing, it is a masterwork from Jamie O'Neill.

Jim Mack is a naïve young scholar and the son of a foolish, aspiring shopkeeper. Doyler Doyle is the rough-diamond son -- revolutionary and blasphemous -- of Mr. Mack's old army pal. Out at the Forty Foot, that great jut of rock where gentlemen bathe in the nude, the two boys make a pact: Doyler will teach Jim to swim, and in a year, on Easter of 1916, they will swim to the distant beacon of Muglins Rock and claim that island for themselves. All the while Mr. Mack, who has grand plans for a corner shop empire, remains unaware of the depth of the boys' burgeoning friendship and of the changing landscape of a nation.

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Set in Dublin, At Swim, Two Boys follows the year to Easter 1916, the time of Ireland's brave but fractured uprising against British rule. O'Neill tells the story of the love of two boys: Jim, a naive and reticent scholar and the younger son of the foolish aspiring shopkeeper Mr. Mack, and Doyler, the dark, rough-diamond son of Mr. Mack's old army pal. Doyler might once have made a scholar like Jim, might once have had prospects like Jim, but his folks sent him to work, and now, schoolboy no more, he hauls the parish midden cart, with socialism and revolution and willful blasphemy stuffed under his cap. And yet the future is rosy, Jim's father is sure. His elder son is away fighting the Hun for God and the British Army, and he has such plans for Jim and their corner shop empire. But Mr. Mack cannot see that the landscape is changing, nor does he realize the depth of Jim's burgeoning friendship with Doyler. Out at the Forty Foot, that great jut of rock where gentlemen bathe in the scandalous nude, the two boys meet day after day. There they make a pact: Doyler will teach Jim to swim, and in a year, Easter 1916, they will swim the bay to the distant beacon of Muglins Rock and claim that island for themselves. Ten years in the writing, At Swim, Two Boys has already caused a sensation in England and Ireland, earning lavish praise for its masterful portrayal of class, tradition, and the conflict that has haunted Ireland for centuries. Jamie O'Neill's poetic and evocative storytelling makes him a natural successor to James Joyce and Flann O'Brien. At its heart, At Swim, Two Boys is a tender and tragic love story that will resonate with all readers. But it is also a compelling and important work, a novel about people caught up in the tide of history -- set in a place and culture both unfamiliar and unforgettable.

Customer Reviews:

Not just a "gay" book........2007-08-16

I rarely review anything on this site--not books, not movies, not CDs. I never feel that strongly about a product. But this book is different. When I bought it, I was skeptical about all the hype. Usually with a book that is so universally loved you are setting yourself up for a disappointment. Not so with this. It surpasses the hype in so many ways.

First of all--yes, the three main characters are gsy, but this is in no way a "gay book". It is a romance novel, a war novel, a coming-of-age. It is epic, and purely Irish in its nature. Don't give up after the first few chapters. This definitely isn't American English. It isn't even British English. It's *Irish* English. The prose is dense but lyrical, and reads like a song or a poem. Even if you absolutely hate the characters or plot, I can't imagine anyone who bothers to read past chapter two not completely awestruck by Jamie O'Neill's use of language. This book was ten years in the writing, and it shows.

You probably already know the plot, so I won't annoy you with that. But this book will break your heart into a million little pieces and haunt you for the rest of your life. So read it. Right now.

rich, flowing prose and passion.......2007-06-18

It's always wonderful when an artist truly takes the time to let a work develop. This massive yet warmly flowing work of historic fiction is worth grazing through lovingly.

I needn't go into repeating the plot, which has been aptly written up in other reviews. Simply, if you want to enjoy a large and fully developed novel on a grand yet intimate scale.

A Boyish Bond.......2007-05-21

Read about the bond between two boys in this historical fiction novel set in the suburbs of Dublin, Ireland.

For Jim.......2007-05-16

I have to admit I had a hard time getting into this book. The first chapter especially, as it centers around Jim Mack's father and what is esentially a very foreign world, Ireland 1915. Even when the story shifts to the more genteel world (and language) of Eveline and Anthony MacMurrough, I still thought about putting the book down for lighter fare. I'm glad I didn't, because this book is an astonishing experience. My personal test of any great work of fiction is how much do I care about the characters. Would I want to know these people in real life? Absolutely! And even the most minor characters here are brought to vivid life. All three of the main characters touched my heart, but I loved Jim most of all, and I've even found myself asking "What would Jim do?" whenever I'm faced with a difficult situation. He is a wise, kind soul, and that makes his destruction even more infuriating (doesn't give anything away). All three men are swept up by Doyler's love of Ireland and his revolutionary leanings, and at one point the book goes on for an extended passage about his time in Dublin with the Citizen's Army. It gets a little, um, boring, but all of a sudden Doyler is asked if he misses Jim, and this is what he says: "I miss him, aye...He was pal o' me heart, so he was. I try not to think of him, only I can't get him off my mind. He's with me always day and night. I do see him places he's never been, in the middle of a crowd I see him. His face looks out from the top of a tram, a schoolboy wouldn't pass but I'm thinking it's him. I try to make him go away, for I'm a soldier now and I'm under orders. But he's always there and I'm desperate to hold him. I doubt I'm a man except he's by me." It's the most beautiful moment in what is ultimately a devastating work of art. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a movie version that is just as beautiful.

An atmospheric story of complex relationships.......2007-03-24

I'm usually not a big fan of historical fiction. It often tends toward too much melodrama as it attempts to build a story and characters around real, often complicated events. "At Swim" has some of these problems toward its end, but most of the story is a realistic narrative about the bond that develops between two adolescent boys, Jim & Doyler. Jim belongs to the petit bourgeois and Doyler to the poor, working class. The book is as much about social stratification as it is about sexuality. Both boys develop ties to MacMurrough, a young man who has been exiled to his Anglo-Irish aunt, after an embarrassing trial and imprisonment for soliciting a young mechanic. MacMurrough develops somewhat complicated relationships with both boys, particularly Doyler. He begins by paying Doyler for sex, but comes to be something of a mentor. Both Jim & MacMurrough provide outlets for Doyler's thwarted desires for social and economic advancement. Doyler is a socialist and engaged with one of the groups involved in the Easter Uprising of 1916.Tthe relationship between Jim & Doyler is one that gives voice to Doyler's gentleness and is one of many forces that challenge Jim. He is drawn Doyler's worldliness in matters of sex, politics, and other things, but he also is pulled by family's need for "respectability" and the teachings of the Church. The petit bourgeois world of his family pushes him toward social advancement, but also admonishes against "pride", an Irish working class sin, which often has held people back from education or economic advancement. Jim's father is caught in the same social trap--he is a Babbit-ish small businessman who unintentionally had let his own "airs" get in the way of a friendship with Doyler's father when they both were in the British Army. The story includes Mr. Mack's efforts to repair that tie, after he suffers the social slight of his older son's impregnating a local servant girls (that son, Gordie, is MIA in WWI when the pregnancy is revealed).

The book captures the social world of small town/suburban Dublin. Parts of the book reminded me of "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" and "The Dubliners". I was less reminded of "Ulysses" and not concerned that O'Neil might be drawing from Joyce or anyone else. He could do far worse for inspiration and I didn't see any real "cribbing".

The book is heavy on Irish dialect, particularly, in the beginning, although I didn't have that much difficulty getting through it. It's not something that was transmitted through my Irish roots, but it's not that difficult to figure out. There's also a bit of Irish Gaelic, but that's typically translated. The book appears to have been published originally in the UK, so i am guessing that the primary audience was the Irish diaspora (which is huge) in England, as well as Northern Ireland, and of course, the Republic Of Ireland. So, it wasn't written for us Yanks and people who don't like that really shouldn't read the book.

I had two quibbles with "At Swim", which knocked off a star. The subplot about Gordie's baby is poorly integrated into the story. It seems like one of those elements that may have been larger in an earlier draft, but cut back as time goes on. One could see the baby as a violation of Gordie's exalted status in the house--he was Jim's admired role model and clearly his father's favored son. That he fathered a child and did it with a servant girls also is a blight against the Macks' precarious hold on middle class respectability. Much of the book is about social class and the injuries committed to less fortunate people by a wealthy, somewhat indolent gentry, represented by the MacMurroughs and Jim's classmates at the prep school where he attends as a scholarship boy.

We come to learn that MacMurrough's aunt is part of the Anglo-Irish support for the Uprising. Much of the early push for Irish independence came from this part of society, rather than from the mass of Catholic peasants. The Anglo-Irish tended toward the Anglican (some were Catholic), and should not be confused with the mostly Calvinist Protestants of Northern Ireland, who continue to favor union with Britain. Many involved in the fight for independence were social non-conformists and context makes it easier to see young MacMurrough as making a token contribution to the cause, at his aunt's insistence. The aunt's role as a funder & supporter is a bit sudden and overwrought. We're asked to believe that she was such an important figure that there was a mural of her at a rebel meeting hall. This aspect of the story (the aristocrat as rebel) could have been made a little more realistic and her role could have been introduced sooner and allowed to develop more naturally. The ending is tragic and one we expect, but is handled with less bathos than might be expected from the set-up. In the end, this is a coming of age story about Jim, yet we're not sure where life will take him next.

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"The Firecracker Boys" never quit!
Essential, scary reading
Creepy
A Well Written and Researched Cautionary Tale
A dull diatribe on something that never happened

The Firecracker Boys
Dan O'Neill
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0312134169

Customer Reviews:

"The Firecracker Boys" never quit!.......2005-09-07

With John Bolton as our renegade permanent representative to the UN, working for the US nuclear weapons industry by trying to stop the UN program of nonproliferation, "The Firecracker Boys" so brilliantly described in Dan O'Neill's book continue even today with their diabolical efforts. Not to mention NASA's plan to send nuclear powered rockets into space.

Essential, scary reading.......2004-03-13

About a fascinating chapter in American history, and how the democratic process prevailed--barely--over the certain vested interests in the military-industrial complex. Makes Dwight Eisenhower look like a prophet--and also details some of the career of Edward Tellar, rightly celebrated as the father of the American H-bomb but then subsequently responsible for much bad science, including Ronald Reagan's Star Wars. This book is very well researched and documented. One moral to draw: citizens must be involved with public policy. The former Soviet Union, undertaking a similar project, turned areas of Siberia so radioactive that it will not be safe to dwell there for 10,000 or more years. We almost did the same in Alaska--but thankfully did not. Read this book to (1) understand how this disaster was averted, and what we can do to continue to safeguard our democratic processes; and (2) for great--true--story.

Creepy.......2003-11-19

I cannot help but notcice how the reviewers which seem to have been deeply disgusted by this book prefer to remain anonymous. Even if their opinion is that nuclear testing should continue, it disturbs me that these reviewers were not taken aback by the colossal mountain of half-truths, misrepresentations, and downright lies that the AEC (Atomic Energy Comission) used to lobby this project to Alaskans.

And remember, these are the same guys who concluded that it would be acceptable to conduct underground nuclear tests near one of the most active fault lines in the world, on Amchitka Island out on the Aleutian chain.

I can only say that never again will I be able to look at a map of my state without imagining a "polar bear shaped harbor" etched in to the wind battered coast somewhere between Barrow and Kotzebue.

A Well Written and Researched Cautionary Tale.......2002-02-04

Behind the blithe title of this book is a serious work. More, it's an important book. Its subject is Project Chariot, a proposed nuclear excavation on Alaska's Bering Strait. Project Plowshare, initiated in the late 50's, was the umbrella effort to put nuclear explosions to work for non-military purposes, and Project Chariot was billed as one of its first trials. The Firecracker Boys is the history of the conception, marketing, and eventual failure by the nuclear establishment in the face of a burgeoning environmental movement.

But the book is more than a history; it's the story of the the people on both sides of the fight, and of nuclear testing.There are few books which analyze the history of nuclear testing in the United States, and while detailing the story of Project Chariot, Dan O'Neill gives the most comprehensive history I've yet read of nuclear testing in general. This was surprising to me because I have been in search of such a book, and was delighted to discover it behind what would seem to be a narrow slice of the annals of nuclear testing.

O'Neill shows us the world of the Eskimos who, for centuries or longer, lived not far from the selected site of the harbor which was to be blasted from the Bering shore. We also get a view into the life and motivations of Edward Teller, the vociferous proponent of Plowshare's geographical engineering, and other nuclear scientists and officials: "If your mountain isn't in the right place, drop us a card". In addition, the Atomic Energy Commission, in an effort to appear interested in the safety of such a detonation, instituted a program of scientific studies of the site and of the Eskimos nearby. When the biologists, geologist and sociologists refused to be cowed and censored by the AEC, the scientists spoke out at great risk in order to let the truth be known.

The struggle for the truth, as told by O'Neill, is an important element of the book, and a cautionary tale for today. The U.S. Government, under the auspices of the AEC, misled and deceived the citizens of the U.S. about the safety and necessity of nuclear testing. The author patiently outlines the contrast between recently declassified materials, and what the officials of the AEC were saying to the press, the Eskimos and to the American public about the dangers of fallout from nuclear testing. No doubt, the AEC felt it was justified in such disregard and duplicity in the name of national security and of the progress of science. When agents of the government act in a manner beyond accountability and scrutiny, and with ideological obsessiveness, the result is usually detrimental to the public. In this well written and well researched book, Dan O'Neill tells a mostly forgotten story which every American should know.

A dull diatribe on something that never happened.......2000-10-05

The author writes with a 20-20 hindsight that doesn't even begin to try to understand the bomb, the Cold War, or the nature of those times. What point was there in writing an anti-nuclear book about a nuclear detonation that NEVER happened?

Boy-Wives and Female Husbands: Studies of African Homosexualities

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A wonderful resource
An Eye Opening Book
Awesome geographical and historical range!

Boy-Wives and Female Husbands: Studies of African Homosexualities
Will Roscoe , and Stephen O. Murray
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0312238290

Amazon.com

Among the most persistent European myths about Africa, explain the editors of this anthology, is that homosexuality is "absent or incidental" in African societies. Since black Africans were felt to be the most primitive of people--the closest to nature--it followed that they must be the most heterosexual, their "sexual energies and outlets devoted exclusively to their 'natural' purpose: biological reproduction." That the field work of early anthropologists didn't always support this assumption merely led researchers to suppress their findings, or to fail to inquire too closely of subjects who were reluctant, in any case, to discuss their sexual lives with outsiders. The contributors to this volume argue convincingly that even native denials of homosexuality are often politically motivated (the sexual values of the West having permeated most of these cultures), and should be regarded as skeptically as the accounts of Western anthropologists, who in most cases have not seriously investigated same-sex patterns, "failing to report what they do observe, and discounting what they report." In the essays collected here, dating from the colonial period to the present and covering the major regions of black Africa, evidence of same-sex marriages, cross-dressing, role reversal, and premarital peer homosexuality challenges the myth and calls for further study. --Regina Marler

Book Description

Claims concerning the presence and status of homosexuality in historic African cultures have become central points of contention in debates among contemporary African Americans. Some of those involved in the debate have even asserted that the original languages of Africa contained no words for gay or lesbian, therefore concluding that they did not exist. As the first work of its kind on the subject, Boy-Wives and Female-Husbands answers an urgent need for accurate, well-researched, and balanced work on African sexuality. It offers perspectives from the fields of anthropology and history, along with extensive evidence from ethnographic and literary sources. The essays explore such topics as woman-woman marriages, early reports of Malagasy "berdaches," male homosexuality in contemporary West Africa, alternative gender identities among the Swahili, the regulation of sexuality in colonial Zimbabwe, and the portrayals of homosexuality in modern African literature. Bound to be an invaluable resource for discussions of traditional and contemporary African cultures, Boy-Wives and Female-Husbands is a book whose time has clearly come.

Customer Reviews:

A wonderful resource.......2003-07-14

*~*

"Boy-Wives and Female-Husbands: Studies of African Homosexualities" is a wonderful resource for those interested in learning African homosexualities. I gave it four stars because there is little about Somali homosexuality but the book is perfect. It goes from coast to coast and all in between.

I didn't know much about African homosexuality before I bought this book. Now I'm familiar with my home continent's homosexual "tendecies." :-)

I bought a few copies for friends as gifts and they loved it. Some of them have told me it read more like novels than a cultural study, which it is. It is fascinating to the last note. Enjoy, darlings.

An Eye Opening Book.......2000-04-28

Here is a book with oral histories and folklore tales from ethnographers that went to Africa. The book is an eyeopening one into the sexuality aspect of Africans often challenging theories of sexuality. It is an excellent book to answer to the question of How & Why Does Same Sex Sexual Behavior Varies Cross Culturally? It was writing an essay on this topic that got me to this book, I have always wanted to know about this issue since there has been a lot of denial from African colleagues but once I have read the first few pages of the book that 'denial' and "shh" feelings that exist within many Africans, was brought to light. The same smoothness and revelation is experienced throughout the book. The book seperates Africa into four regional sections to illustrate the diversity of African culture within that vast continent. It is very easy to read and simple too. If you are a book worm, you will love this one. It is the book for History, Anthropology or Gender Study students or those with interest in the above mention + Sexuality. The book now occupies a special place in my selective collection, get one too, I am sure there will be no regrets!

Awesome geographical and historical range!.......1999-11-30

The first book to attempt to survey homosexualities across (sub-Saharan) Africa is also a very good one. At a time when certain East African leaders are trying to hold onto power by scapegoating homosexuality as "un-African," Murray and Roscoe show that there are and have been a wide range of roles in "traditional" African cultures for those who love persons of their own sex. Once this is established - and it is established beyond any reasonable doubt - most readers will probably be more interested in the parts of the book dealing with contemporary individuals (including a young Kikuyu's male's memoir, Amory's chapter on the changing conceptions on the Swahili coast, and an explanation of the view in Lesotho and elsewherre that two women cannot have "sex," so that their physical relations are not seen as "sexual").

The book concludes by looking at the "social construction" of homosexualities by cross-tabulating societies with a kind of homosexuality (with relationships structured by age, structured by gender, or more-or-less egalitarian ones) with other structures (e.g., of inheritance, postpartum taboos) in the same societies. No absolute, categorical patterns emerge. I.e., there are correlations, but no clear "if x, then homosexuality y" conclusions.

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Thrilling!
This musical rocks! Fully.
LVLT and BATBOY
Musical Difficulty - 10 / Lyrics & Message - 1
Apology To A Cow

Bat Boy: The Musical
Keythe Farley , Brian Flemming , and Laurence O'Keefe
Manufacturer: Dramatists Play Service
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0822218348

Customer Reviews:

Thrilling!.......2007-04-01

I read this play and later saw it, too, performed at the local high school. The script itself is a brilliant work, but if you really want the full experience it is a must-see show. The music is heart-rending and inspiring, and the lyrics are creative and meaningful. I find the story, if a bit twisted, to be very truthful to our modern society, and it gives insight to our natural discriminatory ways. The Bat Boy has to face the hatred of the townsfolk and struggle to get them to see him for who he really is. This simple theme is packed with twists and turns galore, plenty of suspense, and loads of laughs. Every time a song or a scene gets pulled to a tense or teary climax, there will be a line, or even a subtle word, that provides comic relief. The script alone is wonderful to read, but I recommend you buy the CD with it, because the music is so incredible. Overall, a thrilling play!

This musical rocks! Fully........2007-02-08

My school is putting this on and I'm in it. When I first researched it, I was a bit skeptical, but the superb music and writing changed everything - this script only verifies my appreciation for Farley and Flemming's work. There's so much room for fun - choreography, character, song, setting, and things like that. The musical probably has every questionable subject possible: incest, rape, interspecies sex, gore, and the like - we have a box for letters, as most school productions of this likely do. But you watch it (or act in it) and you enjoy it so much, and you laugh yourself silly while thinking it's "so wrong". But that's the great part - it exposes all this material and makes fun of it without losing the sharp, dry wit, the earnest motives. And O'Keefe's music, of course, carries the day. Anyway, the script matches the musical well - it's concise and clear. Watch the show or be in it - it flows so well you'll have the time of your life.

LVLT and BATBOY.......2007-01-04

A few years ago a friend of mine gave me the CD of the original Broadway Cast. I really enjoyed this musical. About a year ater that, the Las Vegas Little Theatre in Las Vegas produced the musical, and I was the Stage Manager. I fell in love with the wild story, and its craziness. BATBOY isn't everyone's cup of tea in the theatre, but I loved the show. If you are an avid reader of "those kinds of newspapers", you'll get more than a few laughs over the CD, and the script. Oh yes, my CD was stolen from me, and I just had to have another copy for my collection. I still have my copy of the play.

Musical Difficulty - 10 / Lyrics & Message - 1.......2005-04-24

If you can divorce yourself from the lyrics (and show) that really says nothing... and says it quite crassly, the music is amazing.

I believe the composer is extremely talented and could make a competition quality arrangement of "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall". Too bad this set of music doesn't say something equally important. Perhaps next time.

Apology To A Cow.......2005-03-14

This script is for the off-Broadway production "Bat Boy: The Musical." The published script is very accurate compared to the version I have seen staged and to the soundtrack (which is available on CD). The main character, Bat Boy, comes, of course, from "The Weekly World News" where he is a running character (most lately seen assisting Marines in Iraq). Here he falls for a young girl and love prevails (sort of) over the protests of just about everyone.

The story is largely a comedy, but I think "tragi-comedy" is really more accurate. There are little jokes and puns everywhere in the script, and the songs are funny and well written. The show has one big shocker that most people won't see coming, so I won't spoil it, although it's a pretty grim little secret: not to fear though, the script is only 94 pages long, and is easily read in an hour, so your suspense won't last long.

This makes a good companion to the soundtrack or play, but if you can, the best option is to simply go see this production staged somewhere: when done well it is a wonderful (if quirky) little show!

Where Did Daddy's Hair Go? (Picture Book)

Average customer rating:

A well loved gift!
Top Notch Childrens Book
Where did Daddy's Hair Go?
Wow what a wonderful sounding book.

Where Did Daddy's Hair Go? (Picture Book)
Joe O'Connor
Manufacturer: Random House Books for Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0375835717
Release Date: 2006-04-25

Book Description

Young Jeremiah never noticed it before, but now he can’t seem to think of anything else: his daddy is missing a lot of hair! In fact, Daddy even says that he has “lost” his hair. But whatever’s lost can be found again, right? Jeremiah’s search leads him all over the house and yard. Not a sign of the missing hair. Luckily, Dad isn’t too upset about it. So maybe it’s not such a big deal to misplace a full head of hair after all?

In coming to terms with his father’s baldness, Jeremiah also ends up embracing diversity.

Customer Reviews:

A well loved gift!.......2007-08-23

I bought this book for my niece for the obvious reason. Her dad is bald. I never actually read the book, just handed it to my sister to read to my niece. Anyway, my sister called me to tell me how adorable the story is and her and her husband love reading this to their child. My sister told me when I get a chance I should read the book, because it's actually a VERY SWEET STORY!

Top Notch Childrens Book.......2007-01-10

Fun, entertaining with great illustrations. My daughter loves it and as a follicly challenged man I get a chuckle out of it too.

Where did Daddy's Hair Go?.......2006-11-10

This is a great feel good book. I have it in my salon and all who read it laugh during the reading and appreciate the ending.

Wow what a wonderful sounding book........2004-11-30

Wow, I had my dad order this book for my little brother and me. Just looking at the cover, it said READ ME. When my father told me that it had come in I was so excited. I read it immediatly. It was wonderful. I especially loved the pictures.

Average customer rating:

Of conquistadors, gold, greed, and happiness
maybe
A very good tale of what gold thirst can make of a person!
Blood, Sweat, & Tears
The King's Fifth

The King's Fifth
Scott O'Dell
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0618747834

Book Description

In this deeply affecting novel Scott O'Dell envelops the reader in the heroic world of the conquistadors—a world that is at once somber and many-colored. Though they may have been ruthless, these steel-helmeted young men of Spain lived their lives on the very edge of eternity with style and uncommon courage.

Customer Reviews:

Of conquistadors, gold, greed, and happiness.......2007-01-30

Esteban was a cartographer, or map maker, on a ship on the coast of South America. Their ship was to rendezvous with another to make a search for the Cities of Gold. One of the officers aboard the ship wants to mutiny, and strike out to search for the cities, in hopes of collecting even more gold and fame. He talks Esteban into accompanying him, along with some others.

They travel and encounter all kinds of dangers from nature and from the natives. They ask the people they come across for gold, but to them, it is not important. Esteban and his companions find it all important. As they travel on toward the Cities of Gold, their lust for gold gains a tighter and tighter grip upon them. At the beginning, Esteban marveled at the way the desire for gold had warped others, but later on, he ceases to care for others, and is willing to sacrifice whatever and whoever may come between him and the riches his soul so greedily craves. He ends up with a great amount of gold, which he tries to carry back with him. Eventually, he sees that his greed was killing him, and deposits the gold where it can never be recovered.

The story is told from Esteban's prison cell. It is the law to give one fifth of all discovered treasure to the king of Spain. The chapters alternate with Esteban recalling his journey through South America, and his recording what is happening in the prison. He says his indictment is true; he did discover treasure, and he did not give the king his fifth. His prosecutors and jailor are not so much concerned with the king's fifth, however. They want to know where the treasure is, so they can find it. They ask for maps, which Esteban draws; but he says they will never find it. Even he, who knows where it is, could never find it. He is offered his freedom from his sentence if he will be a guide to the gold, but he turns it down. He has realized that, after all, the gold is not important. He has learned what is important, and when he has served his sentence, he will pursue the things and people that matter.

maybe.......2007-01-20

the british are coming the british are coming! not really. i did not like this book because it jumped between two different places every chapter which made it confusing. what i mean by that is in one chapter the main character is talking about looking for gold and in the next chapter he is actually on that adventure. my final remark is it jumps through two different time in that persons life. diggity doggity doo....... actually that was my last remark. ha ha ha! just kidding. but other than jumping through tenses it was pretty good.

A very good tale of what gold thirst can make of a person! .......2006-07-31

I first heard of the book seeing that it was the original for the Japanese animation series "The Mysterous Cities of Gold" and so, of course, I always wished to read it. Most people who I know that turn to this book because of the series are very disappointed. I was not. Of course, this is much different. But if you forget MCOG and just read the book for the book itself, it is very good! It's point is different from the MCOG, which is a beautiful tale of adventure and friendship. The book is the struggle of the hero with himself, his learning of himself, his overcoming himself in the great epidemic of gold thirst. The whole book is situated in jail, where Esteban de Sandoval, a 16-year old cartograph of the Spanish Conquistadors Army, is waiting for his trial for not submitting the Royal fifth of the treasure they have found to the Spanish King. He recalls the journey in search of the Mysterious Cities of Gold of Cibola, judges his companions and himself... His real trial is this recollection, not what is expecting him. Whatever the official judgement is, we discover what he did in the end, and how he passed his real trial. And for all the MCOG fans, certainly don't miss it!

Blood, Sweat, & Tears.......2005-11-23

For Grade 8 Language Arts class we are reading this book. It is set in the year 1541, the golden age of Spanish conquest in the Americas, or the "New Spain." Esteban de Sandoval, a young cartographer, was imprisoned after the failed expedition to the Seven Cities of Cibola. He was accused of hiding gold and not giving the share to the King of Spain, Charles V. However, another person, Don Felipe, also wants the share of the treasure and he wants Esteban to write a map for him. The gold is in such a large quantity, it was believed it took twelve mules to transport it. The story is told in a flashback and present pattern, where the author skips from Esteban writing in his journal what happened on the expedition to what is happening to Esteban while he was imprisoned in Vera Cruz, awaiting trial from the Royal Audencia. Esteban was part of a search party that was traveling to find the legendary Seven Cities of Gold. His party involves Mendoza, the leader, and Zia, the Indian guide, and a few other Spaniards, including a priest. The book contains many thrilling plots, from the death of the Spaniards, to final search and capture of the gold. This book also gives me unknown knowledge, things you wouldn't read in textbooks. For example, I never knew that a Native American could never ride a horse, as decreed by Hernando Cortes, known as Cortes' Law. The book also adds a brand new perspective to the stereotypical view of conquistadors. We thought they were savage barbarians, hell-bent on plundering cities and seizing gold, not people with humanity and emotion. This book shows the latter part of the conquistadors. In the concluding stage of the book, everyone in Esteban's expedition died except for himself and the Indian guide, Zia. However, Zia left him and Esteban was the only individual in possession of the gold. He could have taken it and become so rich, the King would have to fear him. Instead, he dumped all the gold into a deep chasm, lost forever to the Spaniards. Esteban saw all his fellow countrymen who died just for gold, and he saw the pointlessness of wealth and importance of human life. In fact, in the very ending part of the book, his jailer and the fortress commander both came forward asking Esteban to lead them to the lost treasure. The commander even offered Esteban freedom. However, Esteban didn't want more people losing their lives for something worthless, like what the Indians of Cibola told him, so he rejected both of their offers. Readers interested in adventure and historical fiction will find this book captivating and powerful, and some may find it even tragic. I chose this book by pure coincidence. I was requesting to read another book, and my LA teacher recommended me to this book, and he said it's very interesting. I was skeptical, but I tried it out. After a few days and two hundred pages later, I refused to set the book down. What I loved about the book is how Esteban came from a naïve boy to a conquistador, and to the final stage in which how he became a mature man and understood the real value of life. Esteban truly experienced blood, sweat, and tears.

The King's Fifth.......2004-01-23

This critique is for my seventh grade language arts class. The King's Fifth is a unique book. However, on a scale from 1 to 5 I would only give 3 stars, because there's no realy story line. There's also not that much creativity used in this piece of work. For the most part it's grammatically correct and contains great voice through the dialogues. However, it does provide historical information and facts with a historical theme. Although I don't prefer this genre of book, others would. I recommend it to you if you like to read for information or like slower story lines. But, if you are like me and prefer faster action and suspense then you probably wouldn't like this book.
The King's Fifth is about a prisoner who is also a cartographer. He was taken captive by the king's soldiers after returning from a trip to the seven golden cities. He and his fellow voyagers found and secretly kept an amazing treasure, which the king wanted, too. Will he survive, be freed or hung? You'll have to read it to find out.

House of Testosterone: One Mom's Survival in a Household of Males

Average customer rating:

This Book Is a Must Read For All Mom's of Boys
A Man's Point of View
Right on Point
Great gift book
Kathy R. (New York, New York)

House of Testosterone: One Mom's Survival in a Household of Males
Sharon O'Donnell
Manufacturer: Jefferson Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0977808602

Book Description

Though serious enough to provide thoughtful discussion about male psychology and marital stress, this book makes humor—based on real dialogue scribbled in notebooks over the years by the mother of three boys—the main event. Bewilderment and hilarity slosh together as the author contemplates never-ending bathroom jokes, bemoans her family's persistence in calling intermission at the theater "half time," and shares her tips for surviving unbearable vacations in the RV. In the end, this plucky, lighthearted story of a rowdy household is a lesson in forsaking unrealistic expectations and tackling each day with a sense of adventure.

Customer Reviews:

This Book Is a Must Read For All Mom's of Boys.......2007-06-30

As the only female in a household of males (even the dog) I totally identified with this book.

I sat down to read the first chapter and ended up finishing the book in one sitting. I felt compelled to read on to find out about the next escapade, all the while comparing it to the chaos in my own home and before I knew it several hours had passed and I had finished the entire book.

Sharon very cleverly uses her skill with words to pull a multitude of emotions from her reader. I did an awful lot of laughing out loud while reading House of Testosterone but also found myself crying several times. It was also very reassuring to see that my house is "normal" well, as normal as it can be with all these guys in it.

A Man's Point of View.......2007-06-25

I am here to offer a different point of view. I am not a mother, but the father of only one daughter. I found this book to be so true to life
because I could see myself in many of the situations the author describes, especially the chapters "I can Fix it Myself" and "You Look Fine" It is fun to read even if you only have a few minutes, but I found it hard to put down.

Right on Point.......2007-03-27

This book is humorous and heartfelt. As I was reading it, there were moments where I wanted to cry or just burst out laughing. This is a good book to read whether you are a mother or not. It is very informative, right on point about males all round, regardless of their age. I will use this book as my guide to raising my two sons. It is a must buy for yourself or as a gift.

Great gift book.......2007-03-08

THis book was humorous, but also poignant at times. Having three boys myself, I could relate to many of the situations in the book. It is also a book you can read a little at a time, and read over again for a laugh. I was actually laughing out loud! This also makes a good gift book for moms with boys. I have bought them for many of my friends. Also, I enjoyed going to the author's website. Lilly G

Kathy R. (New York, New York).......2007-01-11

As a single woman whose major contact with men is in the dating scene, I found this book to have smart, funny and illuminating insights into the male mind and male behavior. Whatever the age of the male, the differences between the sexes provide for poignant, heartfelt and hilarious moments. While the author's incidents are located within the realm of one specific family, I couldn't help smiling or laughing at how much it strikes a chord with my own, very different life. Whether you're a mom or not, women will appreciate her honest and humorous look at one woman's struggles with mankind!

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