Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Aug 01, 2009

Laura rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 05, 2010

Sara added it

In the opening pages of Masha Hamilton s suspenseful new novel, Carol lies awake in bed, struck with the certainty that her son is in trouble. She s right. Jonas is 21, hidden away in a safe house, forbidden from contacting his friends or family, steeling his nerves with prayer. In 31 hours, he is going to walk into a New York City subway station with a bomb strapped to his chest. What follows is a fast paced blur as Carol desperately seeks out anyone who can help her find her son, and as Jona More...

0 comments like

Apr 04, 2010

Literary Feline rated it:

In 2006, I read and reviewed The Attack by Yasmina Khadra, a book that came to mind after I finished reading Masha Hamilton's 31 Hours. That particular book is about the aftermath of a suicide bombing, a doctor discovering he had not known his troubled wife as well as he thought he had only after her death. He goes on a mission to find out why she became a suicide bomber. Masha Hamilton offers a similar perspective in 31 Hours, only she captures the hours when a young man, 21 year old Jonas, is More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 21, 2010

Grace rated it:

Masha Hamilton's "31 Hours" is a powerful novel that spares nothing to discuss terrorism, American society, growing up, letting go, first love, and standing up for what you believe in, even if no one you love will understand.

The novel chronicles the 31 hours leading up to the main character Jonas' scheduled detonation of the explosive vest he is wearing in the New York City subway system. The events of the 31 hours are divided by chapters that represent Jonas, his best fri More...

0 comments like

Dec 16, 2009

Sue rated it:

Carol Meitzner wakes with a feeling of dread. She knows in her heart that her 21 year old son, Jonas, is in trouble. She doesn’t know what kind of trouble or how much, but he has not been returning her calls. Carol soon learns that his girlfriend, Vic, has not seen or heard from him recently, either. Jonas’s father doesn’t think they should be so worried. Wrong. In 31 hours, their son Jonas and 6 others are planning to walk into key terminals of the NYC subway system and detonate explosive ves More...

0 comments like

Dec 13, 2009

Elevate Difference rated it:

Following the event, I promised myself I would never read "a 9/11 book," fiction or not. Having admitted that, I can't explain what exactly led me to almost eagerly pick up John Updike's Terrorist in the year it was published, save for the vague hope that this was a writer who could help make some sense out of a senseless situation. As long as I was breaking my vow, lifting the corner of Pandora's box long enough to peak in, I wanted assurance the hands of the author were skilled, stro More...

0 comments like

Sep 07, 2009

Cheryl rated it:

Jonas Meitzer is isolated from his family, friends, and girlfriend. He is preparing for a mission that could be the next 9/11. While he awaits his next set of orders, he applies the training he learned while in Pakistan. For someone who is about to sacrifice everything, Jonas has a very Zen like attitude about him.

Carol Meitzner has not heard from her son in a while. This is unusual as her relationship with her son is a good one. Mrs. Meitzner wakes up from a dead sleep at about thr More...

0 comments like

Aug 12, 2009

Clockstein rated it:

31 Hours by Masha Hamilton is a story that will haunt readers long after the covers are closed. Carol Meitzner wakes up suddenly one night with a mother's intuition that something is incredibly wrong with her twenty-one year old son, Jonas. She hasn't heard from him in over a week, which is unusual for the close pair, but this goes beyond the normal worries of a mother. For the next 31 hours, she will try to find him before something, she doesn't know what, goes irrevocably wrong. While Carol lo More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 23, 2010

Kelly rated it:

Masha Hamilton said 'you either love or hate her endings'. In the Camel Bookmobile I accepted the ending but for 31 hours I was disappointed. I wanted more!! I enjoyed the book, although felt it could have been developed much more.
The story is about a 20 yr old man, Josh (?), who is preparing to become a suicide bomber, blowing up a subway in New York. The story tells a bit about how he met Masoud, went to Pakistan and got caught up in a feeling of community which then caused h More...

0 comments like

Sep 15, 2009

Caroline rated it:

This is a devastatingly good read about a group of loosely-connected people in New York City over a period of (you guessed it) thirty-one hours. We meet three families and learn how they overlap: Sonny and his sister; Jonas and his parents; the sisters Vic, Mara and their parents, all pretty regular folks traveling a Manhattan and Brooklyn landscape that is quite familiar (and more familiar to me than the settings of Hamilton's earlier, terrific, novels). Jonas is a boy like I can imagine one of More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 13, 2011

Beth Anne rated it:

ebook.

this is an extremely tough book to review. it's disturbing, sad, thought provoking...and then the ending. it blew me away. i know i will be thinking about this story for a long time. it's one of those books that won't leave me alone for quite a while.

i loved mara. she was my favorite character. i felt so horrible for her from the first moment we met her. and because i loved her so much, i ended up disliking vic because she basically walks away from mara...leavi More...

0 comments like

Jan 08, 2010

Kevin rated it:

I am planing a longer blog post on this but my first reaction was interesting and well done but not without its problems.

Hamilton does a great job with the characters and keeping the tension and suspense building as the 31 hours of the title play out. You really feel like you are getting to know actual New Yorkers and their perspectives; and how their lives play out in this famous city. The alternating chapters structure works and the voices are clear and distinct.

But the More...

0 comments like

Aug 20, 2011

Mayda rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Aug 15, 2011

Chris rated it:

A beautifully written story about a disillusioned young American man, drawn to the moral righteousness of Islam as introduced to him by a terrorist organizer. As Jonas secretly prepares for the terrorist act he has committed to taking in 31 hours, a vivid picture of New York City emerges in alternating chapters about Jonas's mother, his best friend and her sister, and a homeless man who works the subway and observes its unique "life". Hamilton's portrayal of a home-grown but very hu More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 20, 2009

Kathrina rated it:

I'm very impressed with this book. Hamilton is a sophisticated, talented writer who has created characters worth knowing, and whose inner conflicts drive the story, rather than a manipulated plot. The book is horrific in the sense of how her characters perceive the world, not in any blatant, bloody way. And it could have gone that route, but Hamilton was wise to end the story where she did. We've already seen the terror once we've read the last page.
I loved the character of Sonny, feel li More...

0 comments like

Feb 18, 2010

Chelsea rated it:

31 Hours offers disturbing insight into a world few people know much about.

Right from the start, this quick read creates a fantastic sense of urgency - Carol's son Jonas is missing and she senses something is not right with him. Her intuition proves true, although she does not know it yet, as Jonas is preparing himself to carry out an extreme mission for the Islam faith. The chapters rotate through points of view from a number of characters, most of which we learn deeply care for Jon More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 22, 2011

Diane rated it:

This novel tells the story of the last 31 hours of life of a man who has decided to become a suicide bomber. It alternates between his final hours, and the contemporaneous story of his parents and girlfriend, who are growing increasingly worried about him. An interesting concept, the book was disappointing. The characters all seemed like stereotypes, and none was overly compelling. The author failed to make any of their lives interesting. I thought the depiction of the main character was pa More...

0 comments like

May 20, 2010

Cory rated it:

Here's the thing about the Masha Hamilton books I've read . . . the endings are bunk. They don't end happily, and in this case, they don't tie up ANY loose ends at all. But I still love her books! Why? Because the endings are bunk because she wanted them to be that way, and not because she just didn't have the skill to finish it well. They are wonderfully written and have a point to them, instead of just being all tied up in some improbably Hollywood-style bow. I may say that the endings a More...

0 comments like

Sep 16, 2009

Laura rated it:

I'd expected 31 Hours to be high on the action. The action wasn't physical, it was all inside the character's heads.

I found it to be highly compelling reading. I was amazed at how real all of the characters were. I felt like I got to know all of them.

This isn't to say I never got confused by the book. I'd frequently have to pause at the beginning of a chapter to orient myself as to who I was dealing with-- each chapter featured a different character, out of a very More...

0 comments like

Sep 21, 2009

Falling Off The Shelf rated it:

This review was originally posted on my review blog : Falling Off The Shelf.

When I first read the synopsis of this book, I was immediately interested, and just knew that I had to know what was going to happen in this novel. Within reading the first few pages I was already intrigued, and had a hard time putting the book down. I was also confused, to think that a person as young as Jonas could let such thoughts flow through his brain. I was, and am still angry with the character of Jon More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 11, 2010

Rebecca (N) rated it:

This is our library book club selection for November so I will read it. It's about a young man who decides to become a suicide bomber. I think I would rather drop a brick on my foot several times than read it but I will press on (and not drop the brick on my foot.)

An update: this is a beautifully written book. More later.

11/11/10

I can't say I loved reading the book although Masha Hamilton is a good writer and I plan to read more of her books. But it was an engross More...

0 comments like

Jan 01, 2010

Janice rated it:

A very timely book considering the recent terrorist attempts. While the book doesn't go into exhausting detail it conveys 31 hours of events, feelings, love/guilt, etc. of a missing terriorist's family and friends including the terrorist's coming to terms with his own value/belief system. I won't say if it the last 31 hours or not since I don't want to spoil the ending for those reading or may want to read the book. For this particular story, I would have wanted a little more detail. It would More...

0 comments like

Sep 02, 2009

MK rated it:

This book has left me literally shaking - almost wordless. Much like we see Germany's fall into madness of the Nazis through Trudy's eye in "Stones from the River", we follow Jonas as he passes the point of no return to complete his "assignment" in 31 Hours through the narratives of his mother, girlfriend and himself. We feel the tension rising with Sonny as he prowls the NY subway systems looking for alms. And most of all, there's poor Mara as she struggles to make sense More...

0 comments like

Oct 14, 2010

Deana rated it:

This book was really interesting to me. The author really tries hard to make Jonas a sympathetic character even though he's been trained to blow up the NYC subway system. I learned a lot from the book about Islam, and in many places the religion is painted in a good light (for instance, in Mahmoud's phone call with his father). Jonas seems to feel that he takes part in ALL religions, but at the same time, in none.

I did not like Jonas' mother character. Too much "motherly intuit More...

0 comments like

Jan 31, 2010

Nicole rated it:

When Carol Meitzner wakes up in the middle of the night she is as sure as anything that her son, Jonas, is in danger. Even though she tries to keep calm and give her 21-year old a healthy amount of space in which to live his life and make his own decisions, in the back of her mind she knows that it’s not like him to be out of touch with her. She just knows that she has to get to him. Carol does the best she can to keep her fear in check and to make discrete inquiries into Jonas’ possible whereab More...

0 comments like

Nov 21, 2009

Shiloah rated it:

"A woman in New York awakens knowing, as deeply as a mother’s blood can know, that her grown son is in danger. She has not heard from him in weeks. His name is Jonas. His girlfriend, Vic, doesn’t know what she has done wrong, but Jonas won’t answer his cell phone. We soon learn that Jonas is isolated in a safe-house apartment in New York City, pondering his conversion to Islam and his experiences training in Pakistan, preparing for the violent action he has been instructed to take in 31 hou More...

0 comments like

Oct 13, 2009

Kathy (Bermudaonion) rated it:

Twenty-one year old Jonas is a college student living away from home. He can’t seem to find his place in the world and his search for answers has led him to explore different religions.

Ever since his parents divorced, Jonas has been pretty close to his mother, Carol, and usually keeps in touch with her. Carol awakens in the middle of the night with a sense of dread, and realizes she hasn’t heard from him in a while. She realized that lately

"Jonas had seemed so tro More...

0 comments like

Jul 23, 2009

Susan rated it:

This was a tense and timely story of 21-year-old Jonas, a new convert to Islam. The sense of alienation he feels has brought him to a position of vulnerability, ripe for exploitation. While the drama of Jonas spins itself to it's conclusion we get to know some of the other people in his orbit, some of whom are trying desperately to reach him. You'll share their sense of helplessness and frustration. Excellent writing . . short and powerful.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 26, 2011

Beth rated it:

An intriguing story that tries to break stereotypes, and tries to explore the complexities of morality and idealism, and tries to touch on the mysteries of faith and a mother's intuition, and tries... and tries... and tries. While the "how will this situation resolve?" question kept me reading 'til the end, I felt like the book was beating me over the head the whole time with its own self-awareness. Next time, don't try so hard.

0 comments like

Oct 18, 2011

Nicole rated it:

This books was interesting. It's about an "All-American" 21 year old who has converted to Muslim and is in the process of readying himself to be a suicide bomber. The chapters are set in NY time and Mecca time and the lives that are woven throughout are intriguing. The end is definitely is not wrapped up in a pretty package with a bow on top - it left me with a lot of questions - I think that was probably the most frustrating part of the book. I didn't want to use my imagination in More...

0 comments like

reviews