Holli

Great book from a favorite author

Revisado: 02-15-11

This was a surprise. I have become a big Greg Iles fan, my first book being "Footprints of God". All of his other novels (that I've read) have been set primarily in the South. This one starts there for about a minute, then the rest is WW II England and Germany. Although much of the set up of the novel is a bit improbable, it's a great story and very well told. I was on the edge of the driver's seat for hours. The climax scene took almost half the book! He is so good at grabbing the readers attention and not letting go. One thing I really liked in this WW II novel is the character of Jonas, who represents a strong, capable Jew who strikes back on behalf of the millions of Jews who were victimized. It was nice to see, even if symbolic. I also liked that the message that just being German, just being a Jew, American, Englishman, etc didn't mean you were required to play your part for your team. There are ways to stand up for what is right, even when what is right is so hard to see. I would recommend this.

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fun but strange

Revisado: 02-15-11

I felt like I was thrust back in time, actually to 1974, pretty much an alien culture now. This is a man in the midst of a slow speed come apart. Reading this is like being a voyeur at a bad train wreck. It is set in England, so much of the slang and some of the accent were lost on me, so that at times I had a hard time telling what was going on. If foul language offends you, you should skip this one. I do believe that the author had purpose for the language as it is the vernacular of the characters he has written. After listening for a while it made me happy to come outside and sit in my sunny back yard under the orange tree and soak in the sunshine and smell of flowers. This book is dark in mood, setting and events. It starts with a funeral interupted by news of the murder of a young girl and degenerates from there. Overall, though, I'm glad I gave it a chance.

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good entertaining read

Revisado: 02-15-11

This was my first Dean Koontz book. I just "re-read" the audible version years later. It is as good as I remembered. If you've read a lot of Dean Koontz, you'll recognize some themes, like the fastidious, perfectionist, ultra wealthy bad guy and the passionately in love with his wife, super ethical good guy. Sometimes though, it's just good to know who wears the white hat and who wears the black hat. This has some great twists and turns and is very cleverly concieved. Koontz is always guaranteed to entertain me. The narrator did a nice job, I forgot I was listening to someone else reading.

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good on so many levels

Revisado: 02-15-11

This is the first time EVER that I've finished a book and gone right back to the beginning and started over and listened again. I've reread books years later and I've read books so good that I needed a hiatus to fully digest before moving on, but this had so many levels of meaning that I thought I better listen again for the things I missed. It was just as good the second time.

Every assumption you thought you had gets turned on it's head by the end. Even fairly simple, straight forward ones. I love the particular attention to the meaning of words, mostly in Kikanga but also in English and French. A slight change of pitch dramatically changes the meaning of a word or a phrase -- but on the other hand you start to see how these multiple meanings are all part of the same and why they fit into the same word. Wow. So complex. TaTa Jesus is bangala!! My kids were shaking their heads as I occasionally said this out loud, because it has a certain song to it and the double meaning is too rich!

The narrator was fantastic. She captured the 5 female voices perfectly. Sometimes I'd get in the car and forget where I left off and who was talking. In a minute I would be able to say, oh, that's Rachel because each voice was so distinctive. This is partly because of the author attention to personality differences.

There is much here about cultures, politics, religion, commerce, language, local food production, Apartheid and tropical diseases. It's also about family relationships, the human-ness of every culture, the burdens parents pass on to their children.... all wrapped up in a great story that is just enjoyable to read. This makes it to the top of my favorites list.

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What a great science and sociology experiment

Revisado: 09-27-10

Great book! I was hooked from the beginning. Stephen King has contemplated every little thing that could be affected by a total sealing of a geographic spot from the weather, to the human responses to horror, deprivation and opportunity. Amazing how human beings can take a bad situation and rapidly ramp it up to a terrible one. Very tight, very well done. Highly recommended.

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surprisingly enjoyable

Revisado: 09-27-10

I started off not loving this book, then got really hooked - to the point of volunteering for errands so I could listen some more. I thought it was an interesting study on what would happen in this situation. I loved Auntie's diary entries. I have to say the ending disappointed me. I'm not sure how it could have been done better, but it left me wishing it had gone differently. All in all, it was very good mind candy.

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should have concentrated on fewer characters

Revisado: 09-27-10

This wasn't bad, it wasn't great either. It is written in the typical Swedish style, very precise and tight. However, so many individuals are introduced and the author goes into such detail on so many people that I mistakenly thought several were going to play a greater role in the book. The detective, Vivi, for example. We go into surprising depth on characters that end up playing very minor roles. There are also too many settings. We bounce from rural Sweden to urban Sweden, Beijing to Reno, Nevada to Denmark, back to Beijing then off to two different African countries. It was just too big a bite to take. This could have been a great book if it was scaled back, both in characters and locations. Also, much is made of the mugging in Beijing, but not really resolved.

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Disturbingly good

Revisado: 09-27-10

I had a negative reaction to Eva in the first chapter. I thought, oh, no, I bought a book I'm going to hate. Interestingly, my negative reaction made perfect sense by the end and I saw that it was by design. This was a thought provoker. The entire book is a series of letters from the main character and therefore very introspective. When it was over I was tempted to start it over from the begining. I certainly wasn't ready to listen to the next book. I needed time to digest this one and allow it to percolate for a while. There is a surprise interview with the author at the end, which was like going to my own book club. I'm so glad she stuck to her guns and didn't soften Eva up at all. Barbara Rosenblatt did an excellent job narrating. She became Eva. Sad, ironic, intelligent and well spoken.

Highly recommended.

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great historic snapshot, couldn't relate

Revisado: 05-10-10

For Civil War buffs, this is a great book, just for the detail of what a battle was like, how it affected the people who fought, those who lived on and around the battlefield, what a "hospital" was like and how the aftermath lingered and affected people.

The actual story of the main characters was a little strange. Carrie's determination to do penance for the rest of her life for...what? maybe losing her children? seemed to have been redeemed at one point only to have her dive back into self imposed punishement because of the soldiers. The relationship between Carrie and the soldier who lost his leg is odd. She cares for him so much she does a monstrous thing, then it seems to be swept aside as if it never happened and they are closer than ever. Odd.

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Loved it

Revisado: 05-10-10

What a beautifully told story. The narrator was fantastic. She made me cry and the Polish accent was perfect. Cassandra Campbell does not sound like a Polish name so I'm very impressed with her ease of pronunciation of some impossible Polish words. The actual Polish sprinkled liberally throughout was very understandable in context and I felt almost like I was learning a new language. I was one of the American tourists that came through Krakow in 1986. If I close my eyes I can imagine I walked right past Baba Yaga and didn't even know it. It was fascinating to see it through her eyes.

I have already recommended it to many friends.

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