Franklin

great overview

Revisado: 11-24-24

Was looking for good history covering AFL, IWW, and teamsters. This did that. History most leave out. depressing thesis.

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Important memoir.

Revisado: 11-09-16

This book is solid and well narrated. I have been drawn to the idea for some time that our worst enemies are bad ideas, and that it is very difficult to find the clarity to be a skeptic. Deborah Layton clearly knows this well.

This book tells how Deborah became involved with the People's Church and how Jim Jones used her to bring her family into his fold. She does a very good job of showing the many levels on which Jim Jones was instilling fear into his followers and demonstrating a culture of paranoia.

Where this book fails is in its fictitious rendering of events. Repeatedly, this memoir breaks down into dialog between the characters, acted out by the narrator. These events are so anecdotal that they hurt the power of the narrative. I am willing to believe that the author trusted Jones', without here having Jones' say "trust me."

*Spoiler* I don't believe that when she is raped by Jones, that she is so sexually ignorant that when she confronts her in front of a group that she talks about her "organisms" as opposed to "orgasms"

Repeatedly in this book the author tries to hone in, to bring a specific scene to life through the use of dialog and minute actions in a way that feels leading. It is a fine book, but the writing suffers as this author is clearly tying to put purpose into events retrospectively in order to fit the narrative she's constructed of her life.

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Predictable author writing a trite story.

Revisado: 08-07-14

What can I say. The narrator is fine. The story is predictable and unimaginative. The author chooses events from history and tries to put them into a fantastical setting. This would be fine, it's worked in other fantasy novels, but the methods he uses are so incredibly unsubtle as to make the story painful. I imagine a writing process that works like "Oh, vampires are popular, here's some vampires. I need an historic event... Ok, let's do world war II, what shall it be caused by, how about zombies. Ok, what else is cool. Oh, swords are cool, let's give everyone swords, Oh, and let's make Isis into a character."
It's plot driven, with poor characters, weak setting, and filled with unoriginality.
Find another series.

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Terrific book and a terrific listen

Revisado: 11-27-11

A lot of reviews complain about the books length, while simultaneously praising longer works such as Tolkien or Rowlings. People are really upset about the pacing. It is an intricately written story in which most the "action" happens in the final segment. The tone is dry and and full of wit. If you don't have a dry sense of humor this book may not sit well with you. Personally, I found the characters humorous and memorable, each rife with personal vices. The world which is created is grand, and the scale of the work truly marvelous. The text itself is filled with footnotes. I did not expect this to translate well into audio, but don't be afraid, it is handled well enough for the story to flow.

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