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by Andrea Barrett
Trish, have you ever read any of the autobiographical seafaring tales by the legendary Tristam Jones? He was a great sailor and he could spin a yarn that would make you forget words like "character development". Let me know if you find anything and I'll look too. ]]>
Fredsky
read and liked
Trish's
review of Voyage of the Narwhal:
"In keeping with my seafaring survival theme (from just-read Skeletons Of The Zahara), this one had my attention! I initially thought that there was just too much character development, but the real problem was that more time was spent on the charact...more "
"In keeping with my seafaring survival theme (from just-read Skeletons Of The Zahara), this one had my attention! I initially thought that there was just too much character development, but the real problem was that more time was spent on the charact...more "
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I enjoyed this book the whole way through. It might be that I have finally accustomed myself to the writing of Lisa See, or that the material is familiar because I grew up in San Francisco and my parents told me many stories like the ones in this book. Either way, I had a hard time putting this book down, and for me that is always a good sign.
The story is about two beautiful sisters from Shanghai whose luxurious lives turn upside down and who are forced to flee, in shock and mostly ruined, to America in 1937. What happens to them in America isn't all so great either. But Shanghai Girls is not simply a narrative of a pair of lives (and worthless women's lives, at that); it tells a story about China and the strict boundaries between people within and without the family unit; it tells the story of women during wartime, which sounds universally horrendous, no matter how it's flavored; and it tells the story of constant complexities of love and hate between these, and so many other, sisters.
Ms. See never spares her characters from disaster, probably another reason this book is so compelling. I thought the writing was true and consistent until the last two or three pages. I have a feeling she rushed through the last chapter. Whatever the cause, I felt she broke voice. It is still a fine book. Thank you, Ms. See, and thanks for the trip back to my home, California. ]]>
by Alan Armstrong
"Beef"! ]]>
Fredsky
read and liked
Denise's
review of Whittington:
"With remarkably efficient but evocotive writing, Armstrong uses a clever artifice to tell the stories of two boys who each overcome a difficult challenge with the aid of a rather unusual cat. The first escapes a certain life of servitude in the Middl...more "
"With remarkably efficient but evocotive writing, Armstrong uses a clever artifice to tell the stories of two boys who each overcome a difficult challenge with the aid of a rather unusual cat. The first escapes a certain life of servitude in the Middl...more "
A fabulous book about a voyage into the Arctic on a scientific expedition, led by a scoundrel and backed by a somewhat timid (or possibly merely torn by family loyalty) biologist. It's beautifully written, dark, complicated and maddening with a really good villain. A great, horrible trip to the cold world of floating, entrapping ice. ]]>
"I cannot rememberer if I have read Bump or not. Sorry, Bump. I've been distracted."
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I just loved reading this book! It was such a relief after all the Jodi Picolt I tried to like. David Ball writes from many points of view, but it is always clear whose point of view it is. It was somewhat slow in the beginning, when he was setting it all up, but I adjusted to the excessively formal behavior of the French and just went along until suddenly we are in the desert and sand is everywhere, and the Tuareg are sharpening their swords and daggers, and the next oasis is operated below ground by prisoner slaves who are crawling through low tunnels like worms digging new water passages, sandbag by sandbag. Mr. Ball writes with authority and a fine sense of place. Since I've been reading this book every time I get the chance for the past week, I have lived in and out of tents, ridden the swift-footed racing camel, the mihari, walked and starved and nearly died of thirst on several treks through the Sahara. This book, being in the historical-fiction/adventure genre, has a reasonably easy to predict plot. The plot keeps everything moving along, and this plot does that very well. I love this book for the energy Mr. Ball put into it, and joy he seems to have felt all the way along. At least 4.5 stars! ]]>