Average customer rating:
- Simple, not genius
- Unravelled, Not Tightly-Woven
- A Terrible Book
- Poor writing,characters and storyline=bad book
- Baldacci comes through again
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Simple Genius
David Baldacci
Manufacturer: Hachette Audio
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Binding: Audio CD
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Baldacci, David
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The Overlook (Harry Bosch)
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The Woods
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The Collectors
ASIN: 1594839042
Release Date: 2007-04-24 |
Book Description
Sean King and Michelle Maxwell are back, and struggling in the emotional aftermath of the events that brought them to the brink in Hour Game. Dogged by personal demons, Maxwell is seeking solace in a psychiatric institution, after barely surviving a violent barroom brawl. And King, having failed to right their troubled partnership, watches bewildered and mortified by his partner's rapid decline. Relieved to have some distraction, he hastily accepts an offer to investigate a murder at a retreat called Babbage Town, a secret enclave of scientific geniuses working to surpass the capabilities of the most sophisticated microprocessor in the world. But to what end? And more immediate, why do so many of the key players in the menacing project have ties to the institution where Maxwell's staying? Suddenly, the pair find themselves in a race against time to expose a plot that could unhinge the entire global power structure...and destroy what's left of their lives.
Customer Reviews:
Simple, not genius.......2007-10-25
In 4th grade I wrote a book. It involved a secret tunnel, an abandoned house, buried treasure, my best friend, and a happily ever after ending. It didn't involve the CIA, female Bruce Lee characters that were mentally unstable, or invincible protagonists, but frankly -- other than that -- there isn't that much difference between my juvenile imagination of 30+ years ago and the story line in Mr. Baldacci's latest installment.
Yeah, it's that lame.
After having read all of Baldacci's books, I've found them to be a mixed bag. Some are truly fun, others a little too polemic. This one is neither. Basically, it tried much too hard to be clever and failed much too miserably. In the end, the story felt utterly contrived with every single individual in the book being so ridiculously unauthentic that I felt I was reading a book populated with charicatures rather than characters.
I'm usually not quite so ungenerous, but I really expected better from Baldacci.
This one definitely doesn't rank among Baldacci's best. If you miss it, rest assured that you haven't missed much.
Unravelled, Not Tightly-Woven.......2007-10-23
Since it was the first time I picked up a David Baldaccci book, I didn't have preconceived ideas when I read Simple Genius. On a level of intrigue and action, the book didn't disappoint. The style is minimalist, not deep in character processes and motivations. Dialogue and action fill the pages, unencumbered by narrative intrusion. This works well enough for the action plot, but leaves the main relationship sparse between Sean King and Michelle Maxwell.
Where Simple Genius falls short of its promise is its tendency to put out leads that eventually play out to slight ends. Side plots and characters become more distractions than real supports to the final result of the book. Viggie is prominently featured as a code-breaking savant girl, but she ends up having little to do in the last third of the book except become needlessly kidnapped to keep her in the story. Ian Whitfield, his wife Valerie, and Alicia similarly get tied into the story, but their roles seem contrived in the end.
Spoiler Alert (skip to the next paragraph if you want to learn things for yourself): Enigma Codes, Babbage Town, and the secret research on quantum computers all act as if they will figure prominently into the climax, but they play out as separate activities. For drug smuggling and a treasure find to be the central revelations of the investigation turns out to be disappointing clichés.
I enjoyed reading Simple Genius and might look at other Baldacci books to see where he takes his plots and characters. This is a page turner, but it could have used a critical re-write prior to publication.
A Terrible Book.......2007-10-05
As a long-standing fan it pains me to write a negative review for Mr. Baldacci's latest novel, but it seems as if he phoned this one into his publisher. Flat characters, over-plotted, silly dialogue...and those are the book's good points. Don't waste your time or money.
Poor writing,characters and storyline=bad book.......2007-09-24
A member of our book group chose this book for us. We had read Camel Club and found the characters amusing and the story OK, but Simple Genius is embarrassingly boring. The characters lack any depth, the storyline is ridiculous and not even marginally believable;and the dialogue could have been written by a first grader. Do yourself a favor and don't buy this one.
Baldacci comes through again.......2007-09-17
Briefly, an enjoyable "page-turner." It was hard to put down, both for the action and for the 3-dimensional main characters. Not a criticism, but the author in his credits should have given a nod to Clive Cussler.
Thanks, David. I'm awaiting your next one.
Book Description
Bricks and Brownstone: The New York Rowhouse 1783–1929 was first published in 1972, and remains the only book ever written on the New York row house. It has been met with impressive critical praise ever since and Rizzoli is proud to publish this revised and updated edition as the introductory volume in the new Rizzoli Classics program, dedicated to keeping in print important architecture titles.
Charles Lockwood looks at different architecture styles of the New York row house. The book is comprehensive, examining the history of New York's changing neighborhoods and the history of the various row house architectural styles--the Federal, Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, and Second Empire, as well as the eclectic but picturesque styles of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The text and illustrations also delve into the architectural details, paying meticulous attention to all features, including doorways, glass, mantels, staircases, ceiling ornaments, and ironwork.
Twenty years later, this edition is updated to include specially commissioned new color photographs of interiors and exteriors of some of New York's most impressive homes. Also included is Best of the Brownstones Walking Tours, carefully detailed and illustrated with color photographs.
Customer Reviews:
NEW YORK CLASSIC.......2006-09-23
Simply a fantastic book on a most deserving subject. The author captures what makes NYC's brownstones so saught after and prized. New York City is blessed with an embarassment of rich's when it comes to classic townhomes and brownstones and they are given a scholarly treatment here. I highly recommend this book to anyone with any interest in classic row houses, fine architecture and craftsmanship, or just enjoy great books in general, you won't be disappointed.
Simply a beautiful book.......2006-02-20
As a preservation contractor this book is a fantastic addition to my library.
If you're planning on buying a townhouse or you're just interested in them.......2005-10-23
there isn't a better book on this subject. I'm a Real Estate professional at Stribling & Associates. As such, I'm in and out of townhouses nearly on a daily basis. I have found this book to be an invaluable reference, as well as a joy to read. There's a tremendous amount of information contained in one place. Even those who already have great deal of knowledge, will discover new things in every chapter. I highly recommend this book to townhouse owners, prospective customers, & architects. Additionally, Historians or anyone with a love for, or interest in, the history of the City of New York will benefit greatly, as housing is an integral part of life in the world's greatest metropolis. --Jamie
Book Description
What exactly is a slope? What's the difference between a tile and a plate? Why is it bad to simply stack bricks in columns to make a wall? The Unofficial LEGO Builder's Guide is here to answer your questions.
Focusing on building actual models with real bricks, The Unofficial LEGO Builder's Guide comes with complete instructions to build several cool models but also encourages you to use your imagination to create your own fantastic creations.
Inside, you'll learn:
- The best ways to connect bricks and creative uses for those patterns
- Tricks for calculating and using scale (it's not as hard as you think)
- The step-by-step plans to create a train station on the scale of LEGO people (a.k.a. "minifigs")
- How to build spheres, jumbo-sized LEGO bricks, micro-scaled models, and a mini space shuttle
- Tips for sorting and storing all of your LEGO pieces
The Unofficial LEGO Builder's Guide also includes the Brickopedia, a visual guide to nearly 300 of the most useful and reusable elements of the LEGO system, with historical notes, common uses, part numbers, and the year each piece first appeared in a LEGO set.
The firm foundation for your LEGO hobby starts here!
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Reference Book and Helpful Author.......2007-09-16
The Unofficial Guide helped me to figure out the next step to helping my sons with Legos. We have several kits and its all a big mess. However, now with this book, I have been able to organize my thoughts and come up with a way to make Legos a good learning tool. The book has many helpful tips about Lego building techniques and terminology. Its a great reference book. Specifically, the Brickopedia section in the back shows that each part has a part number. In addition, the reference to the BrickLink web page to order missing parts was helpful. I also sent an email to the author and Mr. Bedford responded within 24 hours with a kind and courteous note. Its a great book with an honest and helpful author. Five stars!
The Unofficial LEGO Builder's Guide.......2007-05-08
this isn't very understandable. I didn't like it at all
Helpfull guide with lots of examples.......2007-01-16
As a adult fan of Lego (AFOL) it was a helpful guide in helping me
to design and build my own creation (MOC).
I now have detailed plans combined with creativity and it has begun
to take shape.
Like in the real world building your own house;
With this book you become archetect, contractor and builder.
The book gives a lot of infrmation in 320 pages!
Packed with useful information.......2007-01-13
Who knew there were so many ways to put bricks together? I loved the part showing building techniques which I hadn't tried before. The tips on microscale building allow you to build large scenes with less bricks than other scales. There is a lot of content here, and I highly recommend it.
Eric and Barbara Strand Frisco, TX
The ultimate book for the ultimate building toy!.......2007-01-13
Lego may be the most versatile and beautifully designed construction toy of all time. It's an ingenious blend of engineering, art and fun. Read Allan Bedford's book and you'll probably agree!
I've been a Lego fan for over 40 years, but most of the time I've just been reliving childhood memories from the mid-1960s - occasionally building houses out of red and white bricks, then putting them back into storage. Allan Bedford's book has changed all that. It has shown me what I've been missing all these years!
The creative - and yes, artistic! - potential of Lego is absolutely mind-boggling. Bedford's book explores areas most people couldn't even imagine. There's something for everyone: mosaics and sculptures for artistic types, buildings and vehicles for aspiring architects and engineers, microscale projects for those who prefer or need to keep things really small (note: it's the best way to build things at work without attracting too much attention!), and even sorting and storage tips for serious builders and collectors. And be warned: after you read this book, you won't be able to resist buying a LOT more Lego!
A special feature of Bedford's book is the Brickopedia - an appendix illustrating hundreds of Lego pieces, including the year each was introduced. It alone is worth the price of the book. It made me appreciate the truly brilliant design of the Lego elements that have appeared since the 1960s.
Once you're familiar with the newer Lego bits in the Brickopedia, you'll be delighted with the way they can be used in different Lego constructions. Just recognizing them is half the fun: the front of Santa's sleigh can show up as part of an automobile spoiler; a shark's tooth can morph into the visor of a traffic light; and a snowman's nose can be used as a fire hose nozzle.
One of Picasso's most loved and whimsical sculptures is a bull's head fashioned from a bicycle seat and a pair of handle bars (Tête de taureau,1942). It took artistic vision and a playful creativity to put these components together. Lego opens the door to the vision and creativity that reside within us. Allan Bedford's book is the long-awaited key!
Book Description
REA … Real review, Real practice, Real results.
Take your teaching career to the head of the class.
MTEL COMMUNICATION AND LITERACY TEST (FIELD 01)
For Massachusetts Licensure
Are you prepared to excel on the MTEL?
* Get to know the test, how it is scored, and much more.
* Set up a study schedule by following our flexible, results-driven timeline
* Take one of the practice tests to discover what you know and what you should know
* Use REA's advice to ready yourself for proper study and success
Sharpen your knowledge and skills
* The book's comprehensive review covers all topics on the official exam
* Lessons reinforce necessary skills
* Key tutorials enhance specific abilities needed on the test
* Targeted drills increase comprehension and help organize study
Practice for real
* Create the closest experience to test-day conditions with three full-length practice tests
* Chart your progress with full and detailed explanations of all answers
* Boost confidence with test-taking strategies and experienced advice
Get to the head of the class! Get certified!
REA books and software have proven to be the extra support teacher candidates need to pass their challenging test for state licensure. Our comprehensive study guides are teacher-recommended and written by educators who have mastered the test and the related program of study.
Customer Reviews:
A book worth buying.......2007-06-14
Just like many other reviewers commented, I heard horror stories about having to take this exam 2 or 3 times. I bought this book and studied the book in its entirety and the test pattern was exactly the same. I gave the writing test in Apl and passed in first attempt. Please make sure to read all the 12 sections in vocabulary and will help you to finish that section of Reading easily. With this handy book, I am sure I can pass the reading test also in my first attempt as long as I read every page. The book is worth buying.
Great practice for the real exam.......2007-05-13
Basically, this book is just like the real exam. If you do this book in its entirety and follow the study guide, you should be well prepared for this exam. Make sure to study those vocabulary words!
Mtel Comm. & Literacy.......2007-05-13
This book is the only book I used for test prep. for the Reading and Writing parts of the MTEL. It covered everything that was on the test. I highly recommend this book as a study guide.
exactly what i needed.......2007-05-12
This book was great! It helped me know what to expect on the test. The opening chapter recommends having an 8-week study plan, but I did it in a few days and did well on the test. But, it might take others longer if they have weak grammar and writing skills. I read through each section, took the mini-test, and then took 2 of the 3 full length practice tests at the end. The real test was actually easier than the practice tests! I would definitely recommend this book.
Great Book.......2007-02-06
I like the book very much even though I haven't start reviewing yet, but I already flip pages.. look like it better MTEL reviewer book than the one I buy from Kaplan. this is really the one that I had to study for my morning test. I will order another book for my afternoon test later on.
Book Description
Twenty years ago, four teenagers at summer camp walked into the woods at night. Two were found murdered, and the others were never seen again. Four families had their lives changed forever. Now, two decades later, they are about to change again.
For Paul Copeland, the county prosecutor of Essex, New Jersey, mourning the loss of his sister has only recently begun to subside. Cope, as he is known, is now dealing with raising his six-year-old daughter as a single father after his wife has died of cancer. Balancing family life and a rapidly ascending career as a prosecutor distracts him from his past traumas, but only for so long. When a homicide victim is found with evidence linking him to Cope, the well-buried secrets of the prosecutor's family are threatened.
Is this homicide victim one of the campers who disappeared with his sister? Could his sister be alive? Cope has to confront so much he left behind that summer twenty years ago: his first love, Lucy; his mother, who abandoned the family; and the secrets that his Russian parents might have been hiding even from their own children. Cope must decide what is better left hidden in the dark and what truths can be brought to the light.
Customer Reviews:
Holy Cow, Harlan..........2007-10-07
I have no idea what process Harlan Coben may have been working through on a personal level when he wrote this book - for his sake, I hope it was cathartic. Unfortunately for me, it also used up many bedtime hours of normally pleasurable reading. In fact, it is such a disappointing departure that I'm secretly convinced that someone else (an intern, perhaps?) wrote this book while Coben was vacationing: in the real woods of northern Montana.
The very things that make Coben's Myron Bolatar series such fun reading - the quirky characters, wise-guy dialog, flawed heroes and wacky plots - were sadly missing from The Woods.
Add to that a plot line that can only be described as ludicrous. When I'm reading a mystery, trying to follow along and deduce the killer's identity, it's never a nice feeling to discover that the reason the killer was so elusive is that no one in their right mind could have thought up the explanation.
(Following are similes - not spoilers) - How well would To Kill A Mockingbird have turned out, I wonder, had we learned that the actual murderer was a local neighborhood boy who was in reality a trained CIA operative no longer working with the Khmer Rouge, but now living a secret identity in Hohokus, New Jersey and an active member of the remnants of the Bahder-Meinhof gang?
Like an idiot, I blindly followed this trail all the way to its miserable ending. My reluctance to wake the family is the only reason I didn't shout out "You have GOT to be kidding me!" and fling open a window and chuck this book out into where it should never have been milled from in the first place: The Woods.
Harlan, let us know when you're back on track, or when you've fired whoever wrote this book and paid you to use your name on it. It's not that we want to pigeon-hole you into only Myron Bolitar novels. But next time you venture afield of that formula, I'm going to need to say a BEVY of killer reviews before I'll pick it up. I didn't donate this book to our local library - I recycled it.
A waste of time to read this.......2007-10-05
Where to start on what annoyed me about this book?? The characters are highly unrealistic...he writes them like he's in junior high. All the women are stop traffic beautiful with bodies that no man can resist. All husbands are cheaters and men are so full of lust they can't complete a sentence when a beautiful woman is in the room. It was so juvenile you just had to laugh. And he wrote such obvious clues about where the plot was going next. I love a good suprise and a few twists and turns, but this was just loaded with them. And the trial, how good of a fiction author can you claim to be when you steal all of the details out of a real trial (Duke). Flat out of creativity there? And finally, the ending. Completely lame. If it had been included earlier with more development behind it, that's one thing, but to drop it on the last page...lame.
If you insist on reading this book, make sure you get it cheap at a used book store or better yet at the library, don't waste your money on it.
Stay out of the Woods... .......2007-10-03
This was on my summer reading list. It was a quick and easy read. Very predictable and sophmoric in writing style. Coben is heavily into dialogue that adds nothing to the story except extra words. He tries to be hip and cool, and can't pull it off. A total waste of my time.
Another Fast Paced Coben Book.......2007-10-03
You pick this book up and you won't put it down---from the very first page. That's what I love about Harlan Coben. Does it make sense or is it realistic? Who cares? It is pure enjoyment, a fun read by an excellent writer.
The Woods by Harlan Coben.......2007-10-02
Don't get me wrong, this was a good book. I just find that since I have read so many of his books already, I knew how it was going to end. It wasn't his best work, in my opinion.
Average customer rating:
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Modern Masonry : Brick, Block, Stone
Clois E. Kicklighter
Manufacturer: Goodheart-Wilcox Publisher
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ASIN: 1566379628 |
Book Description
Continuing the award-winning Krazy Kat sunday reprints, as designed by Chris Ware.
George Herriman integrated full spectacular color into Krazy Kat in June 1935. The gorgeous evolution continues in our third color volume. Which includes the Sunday strips from all of 1939 and 1940. The color format opens the floodgates for a massive amount of spectacular rare color art from series editor Bill Blackbeard and designer Chris Ware's files, including an unpublished Herriman painting from the 1920s and other surprises.
Krazy Kat is a love story, focusing on the relationships of its three main characters. Krazy Kat adored Ignatz Mouse. Ignatz Mouse simply tolerated Krazy Kat, except for recurrent onsets of targeted tumescence, which found expression in the fast delivery of bricks to Krazy's cranium. Offisa Pup loved Krazy and sought to protect "her" (Herriman always maintained that Krazy was gender-less) by throwing Ignatz in jail. Each of the characters was ignorant of the others' true motivations, and this simple structure allowed Herriman to build entire worlds of meaning into the actions, building thematic depth and sweeping his readers up by the looping verbal rhythms of Krazy & Co.'s unique dialogue. Most of these strips in this volume have not seen print since originally running in Hearst newspapers over 70 years ago.
Customer Reviews:
Another brick in the wall.......2007-06-17
My comic-book store was a little tardy in getting this to me, not that it really matters when you're talking about a strip as well-aged as "Krazy Kat" was in the first place... Reading these colorful Sunday strips, you'd never guess that the world had been plunged into its worst war during this period. Herriman ultimately did slip a few off-hand references to WWII ("tank" bricks, etc.) into later 40s strips, but the brick-related schemes, alliteration, songs, and strange backgrounds during these dreadful 24 months are pretty much indistinguishable from those seen earlier in the 30s. Editor Bill Blackbeard provides his usual quota of half-insightful, half-doubtful "debafflers" - does he REALLY believe that Herriman's offhand use of the phone number "Coconino 69696" in one strip was a veiled reference to oral sex?? - and Jeet Heer contributes an interesting, albeit poorly proof-read, piece on Herriman's use of color. Essential reading for serious comics scholars.
The ménage à trois skips into the 1940s..........2007-04-23
Ever since that historic event on July 26th, 1910 wherein an unnamed mouse "beaned" an unnamed Kat in George Herriman's "The Dingbat Family," an unlikely unreconcilable love has gone unrequited. Somewhere between then and 1940 the Kat fell in love with the mouse. The mouse, with a slight touch of sadism perhaps, grew more and more to savor the tossing of bricks at the Kat's head. Little by little the Kat's non-verbal cartoon responses to these beanings turned from stars of pain into thick, pulsing hearts of love. An impossible love bloomed, a Krazy love. A love between natural enemies, a Kat and a mouse. This irrational and fundamentally flawed comic love came to resemble that often painful and soul-gorging love that vulnerable human beings can experience. The entire comic soon crytallized that nagging and irrational side of the human experience, that mosquito we can't slap, namely, the horrific fact that we sometimes fall hopelessly in love with that which hates us. With that which can never, and never will, return our pining love. But for some reason we cannot stop loving. We then begin to interpret and hope, foolishly, that specific acts the loved object perpetrates are in fact potential signs that reveal a hidden, perhaps unacknowledged, reciprocal love. In such fuzzy states, our wild human brains sometimes interpret insults and negligence as signs of hope. After all, when logic dissipates, abuse trumps indifference, doesn't it? The human condition can sometimes resemble a hammer to the knees. What's wrong with us?
"Krazy Kat," as a work of art, embraces and encapsulates this irrational love. We're not even sure, as longtime readers, whether Krazy is a boy or a girl. Regardless, Krazy continues to love Ignatz unconditionally. Ignatz's singular act of whacking Krazy with bricks metamorphizes into a singular act of love, or so it appears to Krazy's lovesick soul. Ignatz, with a parallel compulsion, loves hurling bricks at Krazy to the point of crazed addiction. Enter the third actor, Offissa Pupp, who patrols Coconino County in the eternal pursuit of sin. Some signs hint that Pupp has eyes for Krazy, so Ignatz's brick tossing arouses the highest contempt within his law-abiding by-the-book being. When caught, Ignatz lands in the ubiquitous jail. But Krazy sighs and romances about the love-brick that bounced off of his/her skull. The law comes inbetween an irrational love. Offissa Pupp thinks he's protecting Krazy from the beast Ignatz, when really he's preventing the one act that Krazy thirsts for day in and day out. Myopic, unknowing law, or, in more general terms, morality, stifles irrational pleasure. This tension never ceases, and it tugs and pulls at our humanity.
By 1940, George Herriman had developed this theme to a level that can only be described as poetry. Such depth of personal expression can unfortunately lead to public neglect, and the final years of Krazy Kat saw the comic's swift decline into obscurity. People don't often look to the comics page for insights into human nature. But in the case of "Krazy Kat" they should have. Unfortunately, the comic was so revolutionary that few probably sensed what was happening on those blanket-sized pages bursting with surreal color and shapes. Readers just wanted a few yuks. Not only that, fewer and fewer people had access to the comic as the 1940s emerged. Thus, at its peak, the comic vaporized from public view. Only Herriman's lifetime contract with Hearst kept it alive in less than a handful of newspapers.
Fantagraphics has also kept "Krazy Kat" alive by publishing this amazing series. Reproduced in full Krazy Kolor, the full impact of these strips explodes on the senses. The September 8th, 1940 strip provides one major highlight. It includes both the classic "zip... pow" centerpiece and the "Mus' be my 'eggo'" panel across the bottom of the main comic. Throughout the quality remains at the utmost. Ancillary characters also appear, most notably Mimi, the French poodle school teacher, who alters the love theme for a short spell.
"Krazy Kat" ended with Herriman's death in 1944. Fantagraphics thus has a mere two volumes to publish to complete a series that has never seen a full reprint. Early on, they also promised to return to the beginning and republish the Sunday panels from 1916 to 1924. These were previously published by Eclipse, but the series ended at 1924. If Fantagraphics succeeds in this endeavor, they will have provided a great service to those who can't get enough of one of the best comic strips ever to grace a newspaper. Roll on.
Customer Reviews:
10 Stars!!!!.......2005-08-10
If you're a teacher, you need this book! What a great tool. I've taught both intermediate elementary grades and middle school, and I can tell you that this book gives so many useful tips and strategies to help those struggling readers we all have in our classrooms. ALL of Janet Allen's books are worth buying and reading. I have all of them and constantly refer to them for ideas or reminders. I do not joke when I say that several of the pages in her book are folded down, as a way to remind me that there is something incredible to remember on that page. Her book recommendations are great too.
Another reason this book is so amazing is that Janet Allen is honest. Not all of her strategies work every year. We all know that we don't get carbon-copy classrooms every year and have to modify and tweak our instructional strategies to reach our students. That's the beauty of Allen's books, you can adapt them to how they fit best with your class.
If you like this book, buy "Words, Words, Words" and "There's Room for me Here" as companion-pieces to "Yellow Brick Roads." Great reading, and worth your while!!!!
Informational and Uplifting!.......2001-09-08
Janet Allen's book is a wonderful resource for any middle or high school teachers of literacy - especially those teachers involved with at risk learners. Allen's work is also always uplifting and motivational. She reminds all of us who work with kids that all kids truly can learn, as long as we are willing to meet them where they are. Allen does not just offer a philosophical perpective, hower. Yellow Brick Road is also filled with practical and "do"able activities and strategies to implement in a classroom teacher's instruction. The book is an easy and enjoyable read.
A Book to Shake up the Reading Teacher!.......2001-06-13
Yellow Brick Roads is a must read for the reading teacher who is deluged with new books each year. It will tie up many loose ends for you, rejuvenate you, and validate your gut feelings about the teaching of reading.
Janet Allen's greatest gift is really to the struggling readers themselves. She has total respect for her students, and that respect shines through her writing. She reminds us that our students are our greatest teachers, and that we must observe and listen to them carefully in order to support their literacy growth. Teacher as researcher is the guiding princeple here. She will also help you convince the schedule makers that you need more time for the teaching of reading. I am ready to reread it the third time this summer!
Amazon.com
Wildly embraced by critics, readers, and contest judges (who put it on the short-list for the 2003 Man Booker Prize), Brick Lane is indeed a rare find: a book that lives up to its hype. Monica Ali's debut novel chronicles the life of Nazneen, a Bangladeshi girl so sickly at birth that the midwife at first declares her stillborn. At 18 her parents arrange a marriage to Chanu, a Bengali immigrant living in England. Although Chanu--who's twice Nazneen's age--turns out to be a foolish blowhard who "had a face like a frog," Nazneen accepts her fate, which seems to be the main life lesson taught by the women in her family. "If God wanted us to ask questions," her mother tells her, "he would have made us men." Over the next decade-and-a-half Nazneen grows into a strong, confident woman who doesn't defy fate so much as bend it to her will. The great delight to be had in Brick Lane lies with Ali's characters, from Chanu the kindly fool to Mrs. Islam the elderly loan shark to Karim the political rabblerouser, all living in a hothouse of Bengali immigrants. Brick Lane combines the wide scope of a social novel about the struggles of Islamic immigrants in pre- and post-9/11 England with the intimate story of Nazneen, one of the more memorable heroines to come along in a long time. If Dickens or Trollope were loosed upon contemporary London, this is exactly the sort of novel they would cook up. --Claire Dederer
Book Description
After an arranged marriage to Chanu, a man twenty years older, Nazneen is taken to London, leaving her home and heart in the Bangladeshi village where she was born. Her new world is full of mysteries. How can she cross the road without being hit by a car (an operation akin to dodging raindrops in the monsoon)? What is the secret of her bullying neighbor Mrs. Islam? What is a Hell's Angel? And how must she comfort the na‹ve and disillusioned Chanu?
As a good Muslim girl, Nazneen struggles to not question why things happen. She submits, as she must, to Fate and devotes herself to her husband and daughters. Yet to her amazement, she begins an affair with a handsome young radical, and her erotic awakening throws her old certainties into chaos.
Monica Ali's splendid novel is about journeys both external and internal, where the marvellous and the terrifying spiral together.
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"Monica Ali's gorgeous first novel is the deeply moving story of one woman, Nazneen, born in a Bangladeshi village and transported to London at age eighteen to enter into an arranged marriage. Already hailed by the London Observer as ""one of the most significant British novelists of her generation,"" Ali has written a stunningly accomplished debut about one outsider's quest to find her voice. What could not be changed must be borne. And since nothing could be changed, everything had to be borne. This principle ruled her life. It was mantra, fettle, and challenge. Nazneen's inauspicious entry into the world, an apparent stillbirth on the hard mud floor of a village hut, imbues in her a sense of fatalism that she carries across continents when she is married off to Chanu, a man old enough to be her father. Nazneen moves to London and, for years, keeps house, cares for her husband, and bears children, just as a girl from the village is supposed to do. But gradually she is transformed by her experience, and begins to question whether fate controls her or whether she has a hand in her own destiny. Motherhood is a catalyst -- Nazneen's daughters chafe against their father's traditions and pride -- and to her own amazement, Nazneen falls in love with a young man in the community. She discovers both the complexity that comes with free choice and the depth of her attachment to her husband, her daughters, and her new world. While Nazneen journeys along her path of self-realization, her sister, Hasina, rushes headlong at her life, first making a ""love marriage,"" then fleeing her violent husband. Woven through the novel, Hasina's letters from Dhaka recount a world of overwhelming adversity. Shaped, yet not bound, by their landscapes and memories, both sisters struggle to dream -- and live -- beyond the rules prescribed for them.
Customer Reviews:
Brick Lane: a journey and a destination.......2007-10-05
This was Ms Ali's debut novel, and was shortlisted for the 2003 Man Booker Prize. While Brick Lane is about a particular set of experiences for a specific set of characters, it is also more broadly about the dislocation experienced by all migrants.
Brick Lane tells the story of Hazneen, who came to England from Bangladesh at the age of 18 for an arranged marriage to Chanu. When she arrives, she has very limited English, but falls into the role of a dutiful wife to a man who is also culturally dislocated and whose rigid adherence to remembered custom and practice renders him sadly ineffectual.
This novel explores cultural difference, family ties and associated impacts on individuals.
Highly recommended - not because it provides all of the answers or instant understanding but because it identifies so many of the questions.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Intelligent, subtle and broad........2007-09-23
"Brick Lane" is an important and intelligent addition to immigrant British literature that deserves, and will amply reward, a thoughtful read. But it is a novel, not a text book about Bangladeshis in London, or about Bangladesh itself.
Unsubtly trailing the central concept of Fate over every chapter, it explores how the lead character, Nazneen, fights the Fate that is written for her, or at least appears to. From her refusal to accept her own birth as a still born to her passing comment in the closing pages of the book "But that was before I knew what I could do"; a comment which finally refutes her own mother's enduring words of suffering "we are women, what can we do".
For non-Muslim readers, it is important to note that Fate is a central part of Islam. Muslims believe that life is predetermined and individual choice (but not individual responsibility) is limited. This leads to complex theological and logical issues, which Brick Lane fudges. It is never clear whether Nazneen has followed her Fate, or changed it, although the book strongly suggests the latter. Ali takes this concept to its extreme in the sketch of the drug addict, Tariq. Addiction is not his Fate. His doctor says he will get better "if that's what he decides".
Ali contrasts Nazneen's "victories" over her Fate, against the series of disappointments of her husband, the heart-rendingly tragi-comic Chanu. Chanu is educated, full of potential. But Chanu's inaction leaves his promise unfulfilled. This is again contrasted with Nazneen's sister, Hasina. Left in Bangladesh, she sends letters about her two failed and violent marriages and her spell of prostitution; misfortunes suffered inspite of her best efforts to make life better for herself.
And then there's Karim. Nazneen's British born Bangladeshi lover, sometimes criticized as being "one-dimensional". But, their relationship is supposed to be one-dimensional. Nazneen herself comments that she "made him up". The relationship is a metaphor for the immigrant experience; from the point of view of the newly arrived "village girl" adjusting to the new country and from the point of view of the confused British born Bangladeshi. Through Nazneen, Karim "loves" the country he has never known. But through her pathetic father, Nazneen's own British born daughter, Shahana, "hates" it. Ali intelligently and subtly explores all these ideas in this broad work, which also has good background sketches of most of the issues that affect immigrant communities.
And for the benefit any non-immigrants reading this review, who have ever wondered what its like for us, I would point you to the most profound comment I have ever read about growing up in a second generation immigrant community; "Karim was born a foreigner. He did not have a place in this world. That was why he defended it."
The short anwer.......2007-09-09
This is a novel-reader's novel. Because this book covers half a life, it helps to have lived half a life, and to love good writing. Best also, though, not to know in advance what happens to the person "who was left to her fate," or how others have interpreted that fate, because "Brick Lane" is also a ripping good yarn. If you put it aside -- and most busy people will more than once -- wait until it calls. It will: you've been abandoned as a stranger in a strange land, and no one can finish that journey for you.
Very enjoyable.......2007-08-22
The core of this book revolves around the themes of submission, immigration and integration. It's the story of Nazneen, a quiet young girl whose life changes when the arranged marriage to a much older man takes them to London's East End. She leaves behind all she had ever known in her native Bangladesh. Whilst her husband Chanu's hopes and dreams of a "big life" are slowly shattered, Nazneen devotes herself to raising her family, trying to adjust and make sense of a world that she doesn't quite understand. A lot happens in London and new people enter their life, influencing their thoughts and actions. Nazneen has always thought of herself and the events in her life to belong to fate and fate only but, without quite realising it, a hidden strength and determination lead her to an unexpected path.
This book has a special depth, especially in connection with racial and social issues. The prose is flawless and make the characters come to life so vividly. I also very much appreciated the letters written in broken English by Nazneen's sister Hasina, which in themselves represent a different side of the story, directly from a member of the family left behind in Bangladesh.
Some parts of this book are very moving and dramatic, however there are some ironic and comical events/dialogues, sad in themselves given the often pathetic circumstances, but they made me smile nevertheless.
A lovely, gripping book, well done to Ms. Ali!
This was hard work.......2007-06-01
I bought all the books that had been nominated for the 2003 MAN Booker Prize, Brick Lane being one of them so I had reasonably high expectations. I'm a little relieved, judging by the other reviews around mine here, to find out that I'm not the only one who couldn't wait to finish it (some gave up). It was interesting at first, but it seemed interminably long and by the time I was crying out for it to end, I was barely halfway through! Perhaps people from that part of London will find it more appealing, or those from Bangladesh. But this was one of those rare occasions when I thought I could use my time more usefully than read a book. How on earth did it get nominated ahead of (for example) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time? Beats me. All I can say is that it must be aimed at a niche market, those in that group will doubtless sing its praises but for the mass-market....I'm not so sure. Sometimes, the best people to write observations of specific cultures are those who live outside of those cultures rather than those who live within them. Maybe an 'outsider' can do it in a way that a wider audience will understand and appreciate.
Customer Reviews:
more bs.......2007-10-03
This book came in a timely fashion, was in good shape, and was what it was promised to be. I am happy with this purchase.
Interesting tips.......2007-01-09
This book is straight forward and you will learn tips from the pros. I had very little experience when reading this book; afterwards I knew tricks that my friend the brick layer did not know. I then went on to doing my own brick work around the home.
An amateur's opinion.......2006-02-21
My title should be self-explanatory.
I am a rank amateur on this subject. I found this book extremely informative and would recommend it for amateurs. The information is both clear and well presented. A very good read.
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