Martha Stewart Living
by Martha Stewart Living
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Even if you will never make a "gourd candle" or a "Fortuny-inspired tablecloth," Martha Stewart Living can't be beat for its wealth of ideas concerning what Martha calls "good things." A crafter for craft's sake, and an obsessively organized woman (just look at her personal calendar, included in the first few pages), there is no concept or task that is too mundane for Martha. Like Martha herself, the magazine is impeccably organized--recipes and decorating instructions appear with full-color photos, each filed in their own sections of "cooking," "keeping," "crafts," "home," and "collecting." Learn to slip matched sets of bed linens into one of their pillowcases for easy and convenient shelving, make washcloth mitts, and coordinate mismatched towels with decorative ribbon. A whiz at flower arranging, dinner parties, card and sewing crafts, and decorating, Martha covers and conquers all areas of the home--plus weddings, baby showers, and holidays. --Daphne Durham ... Read more

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inspirational but...
I have had a hard time, not only finding the ingredients for recipes and crafts, but also getting them to work out the way they claim they should in the magazine.

style for the masses
This is a fine magazine with truly scrumptious recipes if you're into the kitchen/food thing, home ideas that one can actually use (or that will inspire one to do something similar), and exquisite photography, usually quite stark and simple, of ways to enhance the aesthetic beauty of one's life.
One can serve a plain meal of soup and bread, and make it look like a feast, if you get into Martha's way of looking at things, and it does not take a spending spree to have a "Martha Look". Her basic table settings tend to be white china (one can use mix and match white plates from the local thrift store), clear glass, and colorful fabric...add some well shaped twigs in a glass vase for a centerpiece, and voila ! you have a table that could be shown in this lovely magazine; a rule for "The Look" seems to be the absence of clutter.

Of the regular monthly articles, I like "Ask Martha", which solves problems posed by readers, from health issues to how best to clean your eyeglasses, to "How can I get the coating on my chicken to stay in place when I am frying it ?".
"Clip-Art Craft" is another I appreciate, where in the August '04 edition for example, there are attractive templates for postcards, which one can copy onto card stock, glue a 4 x 6 photo to, and send to your friends. It's another grand idea from Martha !
You'll find articles on antiques, pets, gardening, seasonal fruits and vegetables, and much more, and on the last page, the yummy "Cookie of the Month".

Martha Stewart has brought style and good merchandise at affordable prices for those of us who are budget conscious, but like nice things. I have bought her bedding, and her bathroom accessories have graceful shapes and are an excellent value, and this magazine is one of my favorite aspects of the "Martha industry". The Patricians I know are not usually kind to Martha, but Proles & Plebes like me tend to greatly appreciate her.
Martha, we're going to stick by you through thick and thin !

i love it
This is the most well rounded magazine. Outstanding photography and truly well written articelsmake this a one of a kind. ... Read more

Asin: B00005NIOA
Subjects:  1. Home (Houses, Homes)    2. Food & Gourmet    3. Home & Garden    4. Crafts   

InStyle
by The Time Inc. Magazine Company
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Good Magazine, but missing something...
The InStyle Magazine is a very good magazine whether you are into style or are hopelessly trying to understand the definition of the word.I will give InStyle this:they do not just cater to the Oscar-rich type stylish people.They also cater to the not-so-rich stylish people, and even if you are not as rich as the not-so-rich folks, you can take the basic principles in the magazine and go garage-saleing in style.You really can.Why?Because they usually look at every celebrity they're featuring and break down their method of style, from hair to makeup to clothing.The reason I say it is missing something is because they don't really give you the meat and potatoes.They don't really tell you HOW to apply the makeup or HOW to do the hair.They just give you basic guidelines, like what hairstyle and makeup looks good with what face type and what style of clothing best flatters what body type.If you're looking for ideas, subscribe.If you're looking for the HOW, don't bother.

There is plenty of articles about traveling style, Oscar/Red Carpet style, party style... all the styles you can imagine.The issues are usually thick, although you only get 10 per year.It is a feast for the eyes, but again, for the know-how specifics, it falls short.

If you are interested in just learning the basics of style, such as what clothing article looks most flattering for your body type or how to buy your clothing to ensure quality, or how to care for your clothing, I would highly recommend their book: InStyle: the Secrets of Style.There might be better books out there, but I haven't run into any.Once they cover the basics, the go step-by-step style, for each article of clothing.It is not a bad investment at all.If you pair their book with a subscription to their magazine, you are likely to develop a sense of style if you don't have one, and you'll become much more confident in developing your own style without having to depend on what others think is stylish.

Last thing:I like to collect clothing catalogs like Spiegel or Victoria's Secret or Eddie Bauer or companies that I am more likely to buy my clothing from in addition to reading InStyle.That way, I can come up with my own style using the articles of clothing that are actually available from my clothing retailer without having to go way out of my league to get a specific look or dress.

Instyle Is InCredible
If your looking for the ins and outs of celebrity fashion and lifestyle, this magazine has it all. It has great photographs of your favorite stars (and what they're wearing), interesting articles, and fantastic fashion and beauty tips. I look forward to reading this magazine every month!

My Favorite Subscription
I subscribe to a ton of magazines, and this is definitely my favorite. If you are looking for in-depth articles on different issues, subscribe to Vanity Fair (another great magazine). But, if you are looking for lots of celebrities, lots of fashion and beauty, and great tips, this is for you. What I like most is that it doesn't have all of those stupid articles on how to have sex, or how to trap and keep a man (i.e. Cosmopolitan). I think we all got past that content in high school? INSTYLE is a great buy!
... Read more

Asin: B00007IJX0
Sales Rank: 2
Subjects:  1. Entertainment    2. Fashion & Style    3. Women's Fashion    4. Women's Interest    5. Lifestyle & Cultures (Guidance)    6. Beauty, Personal   

Cosmopolitan
by Hearst Magazines
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Cosmopolitan (or as it's affectionately known, Cosmo) has sex on the brain. Hugh Hefner is a monk compared to the Cosmo Girl in the fun fantasy world conjured by the magazine. The naughty cover headlines ("151,497 of You Begged to See THIS Guy Butt Naked") are legendary, veritable haikus of horniness reportedly perfected by David Brown, the movie-producer husband of Cosmo's most famous editor, Helen Gurley Brown. Inside, lots of articles will warn you that "names have been changed"--and you won't complain, considering that anonymity frees people to reveal what goes on behind closed doors in the lives of celebrities and average women. If you're the slightest bit curious to find out, say, what "shocking act" 41 percent of American women have tried, or which attribute Leo DiCaprio flashed in an interview, or what sort of "sexified" look might "melt his ice-cream cone," perk up your life with Cosmopolitan. --Bob Brandeis ... Read more

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Late Delivery
I have to agree with an earlier review.I assumed since that by subscribing I would get the magazine earlier.Every month the magazine hits the stand days before I get it.I feel if I take the time to subscribe to this magazine I should get it before it hits the stands. Also many articles do show promise on the cover only to leave me dissapointed as to what they deliver.

Make sure it's worth it
I got an amazing deal for a Cosmopolitan subscription.Little did I know that every month I would get it a few days late. That may not be a big deal for most people, but I work in a grocery store, so I know when new issues come out. You would think that with a subscription that meant you would get your copy a few days before it came out on newsstands? But as of yet, it hasn't.Currently I am waiting for the newest issue to come to my door, it's been out for 8 days now.So be careful, if you don't mind getting your issue days late every month, then it's well worth it.

too much sex!!!
It seems like there is only topic in the magazine now. I'd rather see something interesting than sex positions and sex talks, how to get a man... blah blah blah.. it's nothing new to read anymore. Well, but the fashion part is still okay. Some beauty tips are really worked. However, i'm still a fan with more expectation. ... Read more

Asin: B00005N7PM
Subjects:  1. Fashion & Style    2. Women's Fashion    3. Cosmo   

Vanity Fair
by Conde Nast Publications Inc.
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I so look forward to each issue
I've had an ongoing subscription to Vanity Fair for about 10 years.It is the one magazine subscription that I won't let expire.I really love it,especially Dominick Dunne's articles and the rabid anti- Bush stance of the entire editorial staff. Well worth the price.

Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n' Roll... with a Better Vocabulary
I've been an avid reader of Vanity Fair since first subscribing at age 16. How else would I know the goings-on of people like Jocelyn Wildenstein and Princesses Marie-Chantal, Pia, and Alexandra (aka The Miller Sisters)?

Vanity Fair consistently provides a well-balanced volume of investigative reports, society gossip, movers-and-shakers features, and luscious photography. If you care to know the who's who of everything upper-crust -- philanthropy, fine dining, theater and the arts, film, fashion -- Vanity Fair is the magazine to treasure. The photography alone is reason enough to subscribe: they are so masterfully styled and intricately decorated, images from ten years ago still are emblazoned in my (nutty-professor-forgetful) mind.

Sophisticated!!!
This is one magazine in the so-called "general" category (non political and business oriented) magazine that I always find intriguing to read. This is New Yorker meets Vogue.

The articles are thought-provoking but written in a light-hearted manner. Some articles are worthy of the Pulitzer Prize. Yes, the magazine embraces 'superficiality'... but then you should know that by now.

A weekend treat!!!! ... Read more

Asin: B00005NIPX
Sales Rank: 25
Subjects:  1. Entertainment    2. Fashion & Style    3. Women's Fashion   

Vogue
by Conde Nast Publications Inc.
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Vogue lives by the maxim that you can't be too rich or toothin--or have too many ad pages. But the glossy spreads of broomstick-thin supermodels draped in Prada and Chanel, and the endless pages of ads for the finest clothes, accessories, and makeup the beauty industry has to offer, help make it the leading magazine of women's style. Fashion is the main event, but every issue attends society parties, goes inside the home of a celebrity designer, and travels to an exotic resort or vacation spot. Like Playboy, Vogue is a magazine you can claim to read because the articles are good. Famously, the September fall fashion issue can easily top 700 pages. --Katherine Koberg ... Read more

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#1 for fashion
Not for the interviews. Vogue is about fashion. I read it to stay up with what's what.

A Highly Sought After Collectible
If it is in Vogue, it IS in fashion! This magazine, which has existed since 1892, is one of the premier magazines for women. It is an American magazine, but also has Australian, Brazilian, British, French, German, Italian, and Spanish Editions. It covers fashion, beauty, health, fitness, celebrities, movies, art, and other topics of interest to women. Vogue is mainly directed at the Jet-Set, but anyone will find its pages both entertaining, and informative. I have a subscription to it, and I collect it on the basis of its collectibility. Mine arrive in clear plastic bags, which are never opened (unless of course one of my favorite celebritie's is on the cover). I wish all magazine publishers used the clear bag method of shipping, because an subscription label directly on the cover of a magazine is frowned upon by most collectors. So unless you buy it right off the shelf, or it is bagged, most collectors will not be interested in it. Getting back to Vogue, if you want to keep up with what is IN in fashion, this is the magazine to have. You know those $1,000 dresses you've heard about? You'll find many of them modeled in here! Fashions photographed by some of the world's most renowned photographers, are featured in the magazine. If you're someone who enjoys reading about the Elite in women's topics, you'll want to subscribe to VOGUE.

Read it for the interviews
The clothes are fun to look at too - even though most of us can't even dream about buying stuff by Prada or Carolina Herrera. Maybe that's WHY Vogue is so much fun. This mag evades the snob category by covering very serious subjects in its articles and interviews, and they do slip in affordable fashions for the average woman.Fun, so it rates a five for me ... Read more

Asin: B00005N7TG
Subjects:  1. Fashion & Style    2. Women's Fashion   

Good Housekeeping
by Hearst Magazines
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Good Housekeeping
Good Housekeeping does not send a notice to the person receiving the subscription in a timly manner. It shouldn't take 2 to 3 weeks to receive notification.

Boring and full of ads!
My Dad bought this magazine for my mom and I usually pick up the copies to browse them.That is all both my mom in her fifties and I in my twenties do browse it as it is a joke.It is not that special it is chucked full of ads.The cover stories are dull and boring and many of the articles you would want to read have about one paragraph good information.I find this magazine a waste of our money.It will not be getting renewed at the end of the subscription.My mom has already stated that.

More a community than a magazine
Good Housekeeping has it all - wonderful recipes, health tips, diet tips, articles, parenting advice, product reviews - and delivers it with the warmth of a beloved next door neighbor. Buy a subscription in companion with Woman's Day for the best in women's reading. ... Read more

Asin: B00005N7QG
Sales Rank: 40
Subjects:  1. Home (Houses, Homes)    2. Women's Interest   

Marie Claire
by Hearst Magazines
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Sex, romance, shoes, lingerie, diet, guns, war--Marie Claire is a grab bag of hot issues for the modern woman. Combining a powerful feature on gun control laws with an article on the best lingerie to wear with low-slung jeans, Marie Claire proves that beauty magazines need not be all fluff and no substance. It provides one-stop shopping for the Cosmo woman craving a little more from her fashion magazine--the kind of woman who can talk politics while painting her nails and solving her relationship woes, all while on the treadmill. Yet for all its attempts to become a jill of all trades, Marie Claire remains a powerhouse in one field: beauty. From the hottest lip or polish color to the latest haircut, from the best tools of the trade to the must-have scent of the year, Marie Claire remains unsurpassed as the best source for beauty advice, and those pages alone are worth the cover price. --Daphne Durham ... Read more

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Substance as well as style
For my money, "Marie Claire" is the best of the women's fashion magazines.Other reviewers have compared it to "Cosmo," but "Marie Claire" has got a lot more depth to it.Yeah, the fashion spreads and fun articles are there, but this magazine goes beyond the usual fashion mag drivel to actually talk about real issues that affect women all over the world--things like forced arranged marriages, the international trade in sex slaves, how caste affects women in India, etc. etc.Even the fluff pieces are written witha certain amount of insight.The bottom line is that "Marie Claire" actually treats its readers as intelligent beings rather than just consumers of trendy fashion items.

great for women's studies majors
this magazine is great if you are interested in social issure concerning women.I am a women's studies major, and i always use the special report section of this magazine for sources for my research

Me and my best friend Marie Claire
Every issue is like a night out for drinks with the girls!It covers everything we talk about from men and sex to fashion and beauty, even health tips, and especially what's going on in the world today! Everything that effects a woman in today's society.
It's honest, earnest and fun to read.

Marie Claire is my best friend and my best friend's best friend.Keep up the good work. ... Read more

Asin: B00005N7RA
Subjects:  1. Fashion & Style    2. Women's Fashion   

Weight Watchers Magazine
by Pro Circ
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Worthwhile for diet and nutrition newbies
WW magazine is one of the best for those wanting sound and sensible advice on adopting a healhty lifestyle.The articles are well written and accessible, though at times a bit on the basic side.It's perfect for the clueless or confused and frustrated with all the diet hoopla.

My only complaint is that I do wonder at times if the recipes are actually tested before publication.Sometimes, the technique used is inappropriate and renders an inedible product to my taste.I must admit I'm a foodie, and love to cook and bake, and am probably pickier than most.Be forewarned, and read through recipes before proceeding is my suggestion.You may choose to execute the recipes differently to get a better texture or alter the spices and herbs to add more flavor.

I have lost 43 pounds with the WW meetings program, and have found the magazine helpful, motivational, and inspiring.I'd encourage a subscription for anyone who really wants to learn to change their lifestyle.The magazine will teach you how to do it right on many fronts, from fitness to food shopping to dealing with special ocassions, family and friends, work, you name it.Weight Watchers has a strategy for adapting your new behaviors to every situation.It's all addressed here!

Useful for everyone
I have been on weight watchers now for three years. However I just started subscribing to the Weight Watchers magazine in the past six months. In many ways it continues to inspire and jum start my motivation. When I am feeling frustrated I can look in the magazine to find something, ranging from recipes to great success stories, to motivate me. This months issue on vacations will be really useful for you in thinking about this summer. Even if you are not on wieght watchers and are interested in health living this magazine will be helpful to you.

Get WW, If Only for the Receipes
I lost 34 pounds on Weight Watchers and part of that was because of their phenomenal publication. My wife and enjoy every issue, filled with new research, helpful facts, loads of coupons and those recipes.

My wife enjoys cooking from the recipes. What I love about WW is that you can live a normal life and eat the things you want. You'll be surprised at how many calories you can cut out of a regular dish just by substituting certan ingredients. And you don't even taste the difference! Sometimes its even better.

If you're trying to lose weight through WW, you really should have the magazine. It's inexpensive and it will help you along the way. ... Read more

Asin: B00005NIPE
Sales Rank: 32
Subjects:  1. Food & Gourmet    2. Health & Fitness    3. Women's Health   

East of Eden (Oprah's Book Club)
by Penguin Books
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Paperback (18 June, 2003)
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One of the Greatest Novels In American Literature
I agree with other reviewers who said this was a life-changing novel.In my estimation, this novel is second only to "Gone With The Wind" in terms of excellence. John Steinbeck has created characters that somehow never quite leave you, and a story that keeps you enthralled long after you have finished the novel.If you are interested in seeing the movie, rent the 1981 remake with Jane Seymour, Timothy Bottoms, etc.Although it seems a sacrilege to say it as the great James Dean was in the original, the remake is much better.It follows the book faithfully and is able to explore themes that could not be explored in the 1950s.Jane Seymour, at the height of her beauty, is utterly believable as the evil Kathy.

A classic,
t is often for someone to come across great reads that actually changes the person's life. Reading Dostoyevsky's "The Idiot" and John Steinbeck's "East of Eden" had a profound influence on me. There was so much to learn from those stories since they were so complete in treating humanity. In fact, these are deep, insightful and inspirational books that one can not easily throw aside after one has finished. These major classics are books to ponder about, books for us to think and reflect over and over. If you haven't read this great piece of American literature, then I suggest that you do so.I also recommend: Anna Karenina and Disciples of Fortune-these are two other classic works withrich stories.

Absolutely Amazing

Standing in front of monsterous shelves at Border's, staring at my summer reading list with 600 pages of Steinbeck in my hands, I think: "My teacher is trying to kill me." That was two years ago.

If I could pin down any one reason or instance that transformed me from the proverbial couch potato to avid reader, this epic novel would be it.

Steinbeck's East of Eden is absolutely spacktastuler (yes, so good, I just had to fabricate a word for it).The novel, set in the early 20th century, follows the story of the Trask family.A parallel to the biblical story of Cain and Abel, the conflicts between members of the family in two generations serve to explore the nature of good and evil and mankind's tendencies toward each.Steinbeck is able to envoke deep-seeded, universal questions while stunning the reader with a playful subtleness.

Perhaps most defined is the developement of character.The reader cannot help but fall in love (or undying disgust)with each of Steinbeck's masterfully crafted personas.

The book is long - 600 pages in four parts - but every bit the worth and more.The ending, not to be spoiled, even served to leave a beading tear in the eye of this hopeless "tough guy."

Truly a masterpiece of modern times. ... Read more

Isbn: 0142004235
Sales Rank: 894
Subjects:  1. Children of prostitutes    2. Classics    3. Fathers and sons    4. Fiction    5. Literature - Classics / Criticism    6. Salinas River Valley (Calif.)    7. Sibling rivalry   

Cry, the Beloved Country (Oprah's Book Club)
by Scribner
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Paperback (29 September, 2003)
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A gripping story
It is a blessing for a booklover to come across a story which is so deep like Cry the beloved country. The characters are dissected and made so real. The plot is awesome and the pace of the story is fast moving. Plotted in the depth of Apartheid South Africa, this story brought out the lamentation of a soul of a nation, a lamentation that is felt by all the different ethnic and racial groups involved. I watched the movie on the story "Amok" and it gave the full visual presentation of the story. I will recommend this book to all booklovers with a curious mind about an era, a people and a nation that stared at disaster straight in the eyes and chose the option of peace.Disciples of Fortune,Animal farm , Disgrace
are other novels with ingenious characters and an inspiring hero.

Powerful Book
This is a powerful book. The theme is universal. If the names were changed it could have been about native americans or any oppressed peoples. In parts of it I felt a "Grapes of Wrath" type quality. People go to the city with hope looking for a better life. There they loose their hope and turn to vices and crime.They disappear into the woodwork not making contact with their former lives - almost like a loss of innocence.

The only problem I had with the book was that the progress and improvement experienced in the valley occured because of a tragic murder. I almost got the feeling as I was readingthat it was a good thing this man was killed. That bothered me. I am sure that is not what the author had in mind. Otherwise, it is a very worthwhile book to read - especially the first two books.

Just great!
Alan Paton writes eloquently about personal struggles, triumphs, and losses. Almost biblical, the lyrical dialogues and descriptions draw you into the reality that is South Africa and don't let you go. Stephen Kumalo becomes a hero and a friend to empathize with and admire. As a college student, I have read this book 5 times and written papers on it for English, History, and Sociology classes. (I got A's on all of them!) I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys great literature and a great story. The 1995 movie with James Earl Jones was superbly done and was the first of the three versions made to be filmed in South Africa. The last scene with Kumalo on the mountaintop was so beautiful and moving it made me cry
... Read more

Isbn: 0743262174
Sales Rank: 734
Subjects:  1. Classics    2. Fiction    3. General    4. Literature - Classics / Criticism    5. Fiction / General    6. Political    7. Historical    8. South Africa    9. Race relations    10. Reading Group Guide   

The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel
by Perennial
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Paperback (01 October, 1999)
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Oprah Book Club® Selection, June 2000: As any reader of The Mosquito Coast knows, men who drag their families to far-off climes in pursuit of an Idea seldom come to any good, while those familiar with At Play in the Fields of the Lord or Kalimantaan understand that the minute a missionary sets foot on the fictional stage, all hell is about to break loose. So when Barbara Kingsolver sends missionary Nathan Price along with his wife and four daughters off to Africa in The Poisonwood Bible, you can be sure that salvation is the one thing they're not likely to find. The year is 1959 and the place is the Belgian Congo. Nathan, a Baptist preacher, has come to spread the Word in a remote village reachable only by airplane. To say that he and his family are woefully unprepared would be an understatement: "We came from Bethlehem, Georgia, bearing Betty Crocker cake mixes into the jungle," says Leah, one of Nathan's daughters. But of course it isn't long before they discover that the tremendous humidity has rendered the mixes unusable, their clothes are unsuitable, and they'vearrived in the middle of political upheaval as the Congolese seek to wrest independence from Belgium. In addition to poisonous snakes, dangerous animals, and the hostility of the villagers to Nathan's fiery take-no-prisoners brand of Christianity, there are also rebels in the jungle and the threat of war in the air. Could things get any worse?

In fact they can and they do. The first part of The Poisonwood Bible revolves around Nathan's intransigent, bullying personality and his effect on both his family and the village they have come to. As political instability grows in the Congo, so does the local witch doctor's animus toward the Prices, and both seem to converge with tragic consequences about halfway through the novel. From that point on, the family is dispersed and the novel follows each member's fortune across a span of more than 30 years.

The Poisonwood Bible is arguably Barbara Kingsolver's most ambitious work, and it reveals both her great strengths and her weaknesses. As Nathan Price's wife and daughters tell their stories in alternating chapters, Kingsolver does a good job of differentiating the voices. But at times they can grate--teenage Rachel's tendency towards precious malapropisms is particularly annoying (students practice their "French congregations"; Nathan's refusal to take his family home is a "tapestry of justice"). More problematic is Kingsolver's tendency to wear her politics on her sleeve; this is particularly evident in the second half of the novel, in which she uses her characters as mouthpieces to explicate the complicated and tragic history of the Belgian Congo.

Despite these weaknesses, Kingsolver's fully realized, three-dimensional characters make The Poisonwood Bible compelling, especially in the first half, when Nathan Price is still at the center of the action. And in her treatment of Africa and the Africans she is at her best, exhibiting the acute perception, moral engagement, and lyrical prose that have made her previous novels so successful. --Alix Wilber ... Read more

Reviews (1279)

A healing look atlife's scars
This is a book about how life can be unfair, how people can be horribly biased in their views, how religion can be hokey (on many counts), and explores the reactions of those subjected to trauma in five very distinct voices.I admired Kingsolver's ability to lend a unique voice to each of the story's narrators: the wife and daughters of a self-righteous, horrid minister.The blights and scars the Congo imposes upon this family are healed in very individual ways, much like the Congo itself grows over with vines and heals itself after an injury.This book explores the effects of values on a world society, and highlights how superficial many Americans (and Europeans) can be, and the imposition of the American government on other nations' leaders and governmental organization.It even touches on the nature of God, if such exists, and the presence of the supernatural in the natural.At the very least, even if the concepts explored are antithetical to your own views, this book prompts deep thought and discussion.Highly recommended.

Poisonwood Bible review
I have chosen to write my book report on the novel Posionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. The book is set in the Congo, just as the fight for freedom from Belguim peaks. A white missionary family has just arrived and is caught in the political battle. They face many times of trouble during their stay.
At the head of the family is a strong, fervent Southern Baptist Man who is determined to spread God's word to every poverty stricken child. Nathan Price will let nothing stand in his way and certainly has no time to deal with his wife, Orlenna, and their four daughters. With his "It's the Lord's way!" and indifferent attitude towards his family, many of the local villagers dislike him.
Following in his wake is Orlenna and the daughters, Ruth May, Leah, Adah, and Rachel. The eldest is Rachel whose beauty and pale, fine hair amazes the locals, is very vain and lazy. The twins Leah and Adah are complete opposites. Leah wants to be just like her father and tries to please him. But Adah is less than perfect with her crippled left side. She looks at the world with a whole different viewpoint. Adah rarely speaks, and reads & writes backwards. The youngest, Ruth May, has a completely child like view of the world. Her entertaining descriptions of the Congo keep you laughing throughout the book.
Another thing that gives the book an extra twist is the fact that every other chapter is told by a different person. Mainly by the daughters, but Orlenna gives you kind of flashbacks at the beginning of the chapters.
So if you like political power struggles, crazy Catholic birds, and the tribes of Ham you should definitely read this book.

Annoyingly good
I read The Poisonwood Bible knowing that it was a hippie touchstone, the staple of hairy-armpitted Fair Trade obsessives who eschew deodourant and will admit, if pushed, that they think Marx will eventually be proved right. As such, I was well prepared to hate the book. Sadly, I couldn't.

It's beautifully written, evocative and painful. Whether one respects the underlying politics or not, it's very difficult not to invest emotional capital with the characters, and to be moved. The pacing of the story is unusual: it departs from normal narrative rhythm and keeps the reader off-balance. The use of language is calculated and effective, funny and clever.

I think this is an excellent novel, damn it. ... Read more

Isbn: 0060930535
Subjects:  1. 1960-1997    2. Congo (Democratic Republic)    3. Fiction    4. Fiction - General    5. History    6. Literary    7. Fiction / Literary    8. Reading Group Guide    9. Missionaries   

A Fine Balance
by Vintage
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (30 November, 2001)
list price: $15.00 -- our price: $10.20
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Reviews (453)

Outstanding

"You have to maintain a fine balance between hope and despair.....in the end, it's all a question of balance." Thus, author Rohinton Mistry masterfully recounts the fates of four people struggling to survive during one of India's most chaotic periods in history.These four individuals - Dina, Maneck, Ishvar and Om - come from different backgrounds and different castes but find themselves living in the same small flat.In India where existence cannot be taken for granted survival becomes the only goal.It is through this common goal these four disparate individuals forge a sense of understanding and compassion for each other.

For those not familiar with India's history, Mistry reflects an India with an oppressive caste-system, a corrupt governmental and judicial system, and an India whose cities are filled with wretched poverty.Yet through this morass Mistry also shows the adaptability, the compassion and the incredible will of the people who survive through it all.

A Fine Balance should be one of those must-read books on your list.It is an absolutely captivating and magnificent read.

Like Watching the Grass Grow
I am not a professional book reviewer or critic.However, I am an avid reader, and this is the 3rd book in recent memory that I could not finish because it did not hold my interest - and moved slowly.The first two were: Cold Mountain and Infinite Jest.
If you are like me, very busy with minimal time to read, this is not the book for you.

Worth the long read
Initially, I was daunted by the book's over 700 pages. I thought to myself, "Am I crazy to recommend this book for my bookclub? Will folks be able to get through such a long book?" Then as I started reading it, I discovered that Mistry's writing was so captivating that I could easily read 100 pages in one sitting, which then became 200 pages, and finally was able to finish reading all 752 pages of the UK published version in less than five days! His writing is full of imagery, evoking a variety of emotions -- disgust, sadness, laughter, compassion, and hope.

I appreciated that the back of the book did not give away any of the story line, allowing the readers to find out for themselves how the lives of Dina, Ishvar, Om, & Maneck, all with unique social backgrounds and life stories, intertwine during one of India's most tumultuous political periods.

Although "A Fine Balance" is fiction, it is steep in political science, sociology, and anthropology lessons/case studies about India. Mistry sews a tale that focuses on the human experience rather than simply recounting India's political history. I do not doubt that the book describes actual incidences, locations, and characters, especially the ones focused on the "every day" life and not just the "headline" events. Ironically (or unfortunately), what happened (is happening) in India is not isolated and is observed in the histories of countries throughout the world, developed as well as undeveloped.

Finally, the title is very telling about the book. Is it literal, referring to a street act described within the novel? Or is it about the fine balance between humanity/inhumanity, sanity/insanity, dependence/independence, or hope/despair that the characters face?

I'm glad that I came across this book...what a wonderful discovery. ... Read more

Isbn: 140003065X
Sales Rank: 1252
Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - General    3. Literary    4. Fiction / Literary    5. Reading Group Guide   

House of Sand and Fog
by Vintage
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (16 November, 2000)
list price: $14.00 -- our price: $11.20
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Editorial Review

Oprah Book Club® Selection, November 2000: Andre Dubus III wastes no time in capturing the dark side of the immigrant experience in America at the end of the 20th century. House of Sand and Fog opens with a highway crew composed of several nationalities picking up litter on a hot California summer day. Massoud Amir Behrani, a former colonel in the Iranian military under the Shah, reflects on his job-search efforts since arriving in the U.S. four years before: "I have spent hundreds of dollars copying my credentials; I have worn my French suits and my Italian shoes to hand-deliver my qualifications; I have waited and then called back after the correct waiting time; but there is nothing."The father of two, Behrani has spent most of the money he brought with him from Iran on an apartment and furnishings that are too expensive, desperately trying to keep up appearances in order to enhance his daughter's chances of making a good marriage. Now the daughter is married, and on impulse he sinks his remaining funds into a house he buys at auction, thus unwittingly putting himself and his family on a trajectory to disaster. The house, it seems, once belonged to Kathy Nicolo, a self-destructive alcoholic who wants it back. What starts out as a legal tussle soon escalates into a personal confrontation--with dire results.

Dubus tells his tragic tale from the viewpoints of the two main adversaries, Behrani and Kathy. To both of them, the house represents something more than just a place to live. For the colonel, it is a foot in the door of the American dream; for Kathy, a reminder of a kinder, gentler past. In prose that is simple yet evocative, House of Sand and Fog builds to its inevitable denouement, one that is painfully dark but unfailingly honest. --Alix Wilber ... Read more

Reviews (698)

Bad... but not too bad
I was particularly displeased while reading that indeed, much of the problems people had with the book DID exist. The worst things you can say about this book were all true. The characters were terribly unlikable and uninteresting, the situations were at-times too ridiculous to believe, and the ending was miserable.

The only character I felt at all interested in was the Colonel and it sure wasn't long until we had Kathy Nicolo shoved back down our throats for more lude behavior, smoking (did she smoke 5 packs of cigarettes per day?). I was disgusted when Dubus would describe her certain state of affairs, and not because bad things were happening to her, but because she was doing bad things to herself. How does that make her likable? She was a miserable excuse for a character.

Oh, and is there anything more annoying than Kathy constantly being referred to as 'K' or 'Kath'?

Then along comes Lester "I have even less character than 'K'" Burdon. By far, the worst idea in the book was 3/4ths into the book, Dubus would decide that Lester would also become a narrator. It was something that didn't work too well between Kathy and Colonel Massoud. But alas... now two of the three protagonists were drab, annoying and disgusting. That doesn't bode well if you're looking to enjoy yourself all the way through the book. Lester is by far the most unbelievable character in the entire book.

Except for Kathy's apparent ability to afford gasoline (for apparent late-night drives every single night), ciggarettes, booz, myriads of trips to movie theatres, and the purchase of motels and storage centers on a 2-day per week cleaning job! And where was Lesters money? He lived much more frugally than Kathy and he was the only one in the entire book with a real job!

Thinking of all of the small nagging issues I had with the book is near impossible as their was way too many. None worse than the ending where apparently Dubus just decided to kill most of the characters and leave the other two to rot in prison (one by choice who then pretends to be a mute... where did that come from you ask? Uh...)

In the end, this book isn't a literary success on any front. But you know what... despite its short-comings, it was still an interesting and quick read. I didn't find myself nearly as bored as I have in other novels. I rated it 3-stars because it really wasn't THAT bad. I do not feel as though I wasted time by reading it and I did enjoy the plot. It's simply too bad it didn't have the necessary execution by Dubus to make it a great book.

Shanghai - Marcus
House of Sand and Fog, by Andre Dubus III, is mostly a story of courage, shown by Mr. Behrani, the main character. In the beginning of the story, he is shown working at a construction site, where he continues to work after searching for countless jobs. This, alone, going from luxury in Iran, to dirt-poor-worker shows his courage, and willingness to work at any job he can get to help his family. Later, when Kathy Nicolo, an alcoholic he stole a house from, attempts to commit suicide, he takes her in, and nurtures her back to good health. I admire Mr. Behrani for all of his courage during troubled times.

Fantastic
This book is utterly fantastic.However, the movie version cut out a lot and I don't feel that it did the book justice. ... Read more

Isbn: 0375727345
Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - General    3. Home ownership    4. Immigrants    5. Iranian Americans    6. Literary    7. San Mateo County (Calif.)    8. Fiction / Literary    9. General    10. Reading Group Guide   

Fall On Your Knees (Oprah #45)
by Touchstone
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (24 January, 2002)
list price: $15.00 -- our price: $10.20
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Editorial Review

A sprawling saga about five generations of a family from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Fall on Your Knees is the impressive first fiction from Canadian playwright and actor Ann-Marie MacDonald. This epic tale of family history, family secrets, and music centers on four sisters and their relationships with each other and with their father.Set in the coal-mining communities of Nova Scotia in the early part of this century, the story also shifts to the battlefields of World War I and the jazz scene of New York City in the 1920s. ... Read more

Reviews (527)

Beautiful, Brutal and Honest
MacDonald's novel is forcefully lyric and (sometimes morbidly) compelling, yet perhaps its chief virtue is the graceful brutality and humanity of her characters. From the haunting and poetic opening paragraph, the novel drew me into the circle of the strangely entrancing Piper family. I've heard the novel compared to a traffic accident, but such a description implies distancing oneself from the novel. I found myself enmeshed far more deeply in the lives of the characters. MacDonald paints unflinchingly honest, yet touching portraits of James, Materia, Kathleen, Mercedes, Francis, Lily and the rest of the population of the novel. Each character is fascinating as an individual and, despite considerable character flaws, sympathetically portrayed. I've rarely encountered a novel in which the characters are so fully rendered that they are at once understood and embraced by the reader. "Fall On Your Knees" cannot fail to remind the reader that there is no human perfection in this world, only the beauty and savagery of the human spirit.

Fall On Your Knees was FIVE books in one. Too much to endure
The overwhelming tragic themes of rape, incest suicide and murder are far too overdone and exhausting at times. On the other hand it is a hard book to put down with so much happening at once. This story was spilling over with so many secrets, unexpected twists and turns that I was always caught by surprise.

Fall on Your Knees deals with 3 generations of family living in the Cape Breton Island and focuses on the trials and tribulations of the very dysfunctional Piper family.
I won't go into the synopsis of the story like I usually do, but will tell you Fall on Your Knees feeds you continuous "graphic" scenes of child molestation, homosexuality, rape, incest, and murder that are startling and in some ways tactless. It was hard at times to believe this family is considered "normal" after enduring a series of such tragic events over and over and over.

Overall, Ann-Marie MacDonald does a wonder job of writing Fall On Your Knees and draws you right behind the closed doors of the Piper family's resident. I will also mention there are some bright points about this dark story, but are overshadowed with horror EVERY character in the book had to endure.

Rolanda,
Nothing BUT Page Turners Book Club

A MUST READ
I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK AS A GIFT AND WAS HESITANT TO START READING IT. KNOWING I WOULD NEVER HAVE PICKED THIS BOOK UP MYSELF. BUT I STARTED AND IT TOOK SOME TIME TO GET INTO IT, A LONG TIME, BUT THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN. IT BECAME AN INSTANT PAGE TURNER AND I FOUND MYSELF FINISHED FINALLY!!EXCELLENT ... Read more

Isbn: 0743237188
Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - General    3. Historical - General    4. Literary    5. Sagas    6. Fiction / General    7. Historical    8. Family    9. Nova Scotia    10. Cape Breton Island (N.S.)    11. Canada    12. Reading Group Guide   

The Bluest Eye
by Plume Books
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (27 April, 2000)
list price: $14.00 -- our price: $10.50
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Editorial Review

Oprah Book Club® Selection, April 2000: Originally published in 1970, The Bluest Eye is Toni Morrison's first novel. In an afterword written more than two decades later, the author expressed her dissatisfaction with the book's language and structure: "It required a sophistication unavailable to me." Perhaps we can chalk up this verdict to modesty, or to the Nobel laureate's impossibly high standards of quality control. In any case, her debut is nothing if not sophisticated, in terms of both narrative ingenuity and rhetorical sweep. It also shows the young author drawing a bead on the subjects that would dominate much of her career: racial hatred, historical memory, and the dazzling or degrading power of language itself.

Set in Lorain, Ohio, in 1941, The Bluest Eye is something of an ensemblepiece.The point of view is passed like a baton from one character to the next, withMorrison'sown voice functioning as a kind of gold standard throughout. The focus, though,is on an 11-year-old black girl named Pecola Breedlove, whose entire family hasbeengiven a cosmetic cross to bear:

You looked at them and wondered why they were so ugly; you looked closely andcouldnot find the source. Then you realized that it came from conviction, theirconviction. Itwas as though some mysterious all-knowing master had given each one a cloak ofugliness to wear, and they had each accepted it without question.... And theytook theugliness in their hands, threw it as a mantle over them, and went about theworld with it.

There are far uglier things in the world than, well, ugliness, and poor Pecolais subjected tomost of them. She's spat upon, ridiculed, and ultimately raped and impregnatedby her own father. No wonder she yearns to be the very opposite of what sheis--yearns, in other words, to be a white child, possessed of the blondest hair andthe bluest eye.

This vein of self-hatred is exactly what keeps Morrison's novel from devolvinginto acut-and-dried scenario of victimization. She may in fact pin too much oftheblame on the beauty myth: "Along with the idea of romantic love, she wasintroduced toanother--physical beauty. Probably the most destructive ideas in the history ofhumanthought. Both originated in envy, thrived in insecurity, and ended indisillusion." Yet thedestructive power of these ideas is essentially colorblind, which gives TheBluestEye the sort of universal reach that Morrison's imitators can only dream of.And that,combined with the novel's modulated pathos and musical, fine-grained language,makesfor not merely a sophisticated debut but a permanent one. --James Marcus ... Read more

Reviews (447)

When Will People Understand?
I am not afraid to look the reality of colorism in the eye and acknowledge that it does exist within the black community. It is my greatest hope and dream that someday the dark skinned black and the light skinned black will be seen as one family in the future. I want so much to love the lightskinned sister and brother as my own reflection and not be divided from them or made to feel that one is treated better than the other, but sadly, that day is not here and this book bravely and powerfully illustrates that point to the fullest.

I am a medium brown colored woman, my mother was very dark skinned and I have witnessed the evils of skin color prejudice all my life. In most situations, it was Black Men who were prejudiced against myself and the women around me beccause of our coloring. These men felt no shame or limit in their racist intra-family prejudice and measured their entire lives by how many light skinned or white women they could attain and how light brite their children could come out. It's everywhere and anyone who denies it is both a fool and a liar.

That is why I highly recommend THE BLACKER THE BERRY by Wallace Thurman. There is no truer portrait of the self-hatred among our people than the one extolled in this book, and what makes it even sadder is that this book was written in the 1920's. So that only shows how deep this kind of evil runs.

Lately, I have become very interested in this subject and I have searched for other books that explore this subject with intelligence, honest, beauty and wisdom and I have found several that I consider to be classics on the subject of Colorism.

(1) MARITA GOLDEN'S book "Don't Play In the Sun" is definitely the most modern up to date book of the bunch. It expertly weaves the story of her life experiences in the 1960's Black Power movement with the current struggles of women like Serena Williams and India Arie to find their way in the world, even in the midst of being shunned and ignored by the black community itself. The book's analysis of the Hollywood casting system and the "Mulatto Follies" of BET and MTV is priceless.

(2) "The Bluest Eye" by TONI MORRISON is by far the most riveting and painful book that I have read on this subject of colorism. I believe that her book, more than any mother, gets to the psychological and historical root cause of the problem and exposes the mode in which we pass the problem on generation to generation. The destruction of an innocent black girl named Pecola Breedlove will leave you heartbroken and shocked as you see the bold naked truth unfold right before your eyes. You can't ignore this book, because the story being told is the one that you are all too familiar with no matter what color you are.

(3) "Flesh and the Devil" by African novelist KOLA BOOF is another deeply powerful book that examines colorism, but not out in the open. This book is unique in that it focuses on a very enchanting love story between a Black Prince and Princess and follows their reincarnations through history as they struggle to find their way back to each other. Through detailed moments in black history, both in Africa and the United States, the provocative author highlights the way that black people originally viewed their beauty and humanity and then juxtuposes it against the way they see themselves now in the modern world. The result is nothing less than devastating. I love this book so much, because the storytelling is so rich and the depth is so sweeping and grand. Anyone who loves good writing and is proud to be descended from the Black race will find themselves literally changed forever by the powerful images depicted in this very poetically moving story.

(4) "The Color Complex"--VARIOUS AUTHORS, is a very simple, straight forward analysis from a sociological point of view. Much research and statistical facts are used to illustrate that our communities are infested with these issues.

(5) "The Darkest Child" by Dolores Philips is another great novel that shows us the poor blacks who live under the poverty line ingesting these complex social hierarchies based on color and how they not only expose their children to them, but force the entire community to live by the "color code". Everybody is used to it from slavery and the system goes on and on unchallenged. In this book, Tangy Mae, the darkest of 10 children by the white-looking mother Rozelle, struggles to find her dignity and confidence in the midst of her evil light skinned mother inflicting one horrid abuse on top of the other. One thing I will say for the evil white-looking mother, Rozelle, is that she treated all of her children hiddeously and with contempt, from the whitest to the blackest. But she killed the child who was born looking

this is just my personal review on the book!
I personally liked this book because Toni Morrison's writing style is just incredibly beautiful. As I read through the book, I felt like reading a collection of poetry whenever new characters came out. This sad story of a poor, young black girl made me meditate what truly is the standard of beauty and how people judge each other only by their outer appearances. I was impressed while I was reading this book because it showed how people can make a person realize how physical appearance can seriously influence one person's life. I thought this was really true because these days, many people judge each other by their physical appearances. Also, it is easy to find people who are dissatisfied with their looks. Thus, the perception of beauty is a massive issue that people change their behaviors to different people, different gender, and different race. I believe that each individual is beautiful in their own way if they have pride in their identity. This is a general statement but I want to mention that inner looks are so much more important than outer looks. This book gave me various lesson by meeting different kinds of characters and mostly I learned valuable lessons from viewing Pecola's life. It was also interesting to read an afterward which was written two decades after the book was first published. Toni Morrison had made many comment on what she has done and what she was trying to make the readers think about this novel. I highly recommend this book and I think it is worth reading.

The Bluest Eye~Toni Morrison
I am a student at Mercy High School and I take AP English.Toni Morrison novels always give readers insight into other ways of life. This painstakingly truthful novel was sad, but it told the many sad facts of everyday life.For example, it dealt with issues like body image, racism and self value.These things were not highly valued by Pecola Breedlove, the main character.Pecola breaks down physically and mentally and by the end of novel, she is still in a million pieces.Although this novel did not have a happy ending, I'm glad that Morrison revealed the hardships of African-American life in the 1960s.Those racial barriers are still being overcome today and this book gave me a new perspective on life.I learned to not take things I have for granted, like my color and my past.These things can't be changed, they should only be cherished.Great novel! ... Read more

Isbn: 0452282195
Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - General    3. Literary   

Ellen Foster
by Vintage
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (05 November, 1997)
list price: $11.00 -- our price: $8.80
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Editorial Review

Oprah Book Club® Selection, October 1997: Kaye Gibbons is a writer who brings a short story sensibility to her novels. Rather than take advantage of the novel's longer form to paint her visions in broad, sweeping strokes, Gibbons prefers to concentrate on just one corner of the canvas and only a few colors to produce her small masterpieces. In Gibbons's case, her canvas is the American South and her colors are all the shades of gray.

In Ellen Foster, the title character is an 11-year-old orphan who refers to herself as "old Ellen," an appellation that is disturbingly apt. Ellen is an old woman in a child's body; her frail, unhappy mother dies, her abusive father alternately neglects her and makes advances on her, and she is shuttled from one uncaring relative's home to another before she finally takes matters into her own hands and finds herself a place to belong. There is something almost Dickensian about Ellen's tribulations; like Oliver Twist, David Copperfield or a host of other literary child heroes, Ellen is at the mercy of predatory adults, with only her own wit and courage--and the occasional kindness of others--to help her through. That she does, in fact, survive her childhood and even rise above it is the book's bittersweet victory. ... Read more

Reviews (253)

Not bad, but not great
This book is written in the perspective of a young girl.The grammar is intentionally incorrect throughout the book, and this is why I had a hard time staying interested.I bought this book because it had the Oprah's Book Club symbol on the cover and I thought it might be a good read.I really didn't care for it.

Too Much in Too Little
"Ellen Foster" is the tale of an eleven-year-old girl who is forced into adulthood all too early.After her mother's death, her abusive father neglects her and she dreams of ways in which to kill him.She eventually goes through a series of foster care situations (hence the last name of Foster), and suffers the abuse as well as the kindness of strangers.

The novel is a brief read and perhaps that is part of its downfall.Kaye Gibbons tries to cram too much into too little.People have commented on old Ellen's actions and what befalls her.Yet some of what occurs in her life is too fantastical to believe, even for a southern novel.She suffers so much at all times, that after a while, the reader is bogged down with no chance of breaking the surface.While Gibbons is able to weave vivid characters (such as Ellen's poor "friend" and her elderly aunt), she doesn't ground them in reality and they remain unbelievable.

a child with charm and character
I really enjoyed this book. The authors style of writing is a bit strange in the way it flows in a thought-like pattern, but the content of the book was wonderful. As I read the book it brought back memories of being a child, both good and bad. I enjoyed the courage and strength of little Ellen and her wisdom about the world. She went through heartache and pain but learned valuable lessons instead of living in fear and remorse. ... Read more

Isbn: 0375703055
Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - General    3. General    4. Fiction / General    5. FICTION-GENERAL    6. Reading Group Guide   

A Lesson Before Dying : A Novel (Vintage Contemporaries (Paperback))
by Vintage
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (28 September, 1997)
list price: $12.95 -- our price: $10.36
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Editorial Review

Oprah Book Club® Selection, September 1997: In a small Cajun community in 1940s Louisiana, a young black man is about to go to the electric chair for murder. A white shopkeeper had died during a robbery gone bad; though the young man on trial had not been armed and had not pulled the trigger, in that time and place, there could be no doubt of the verdict or the penalty.

"I was not there, yet I was there. No, I did not go to the trial, I did not hear the verdict, because I knew all the time what it would be..." So begins Grant Wiggins, the narrator of Ernest J. Gaines's powerful exploration of race, injustice, and resistance, A Lesson Before Dying. If young Jefferson, the accused, is confined by the law to an iron-barred cell, Grant Wiggins is no less a prisoner of social convention. University educated, Grant has returned to the tiny plantation town of his youth, where the only job available to him is teaching in the small plantation church school. More than 75 years after the close of the Civil War, antebellum attitudes still prevail: African Americans go to the kitchen door when visiting whites and the two races are rigidly separated by custom and by law. Grant, trapped in a career he doesn't enjoy, eaten up by resentment at his station in life, and angered by the injustice he sees all around him, dreams of taking his girlfriend Vivian and leaving Louisiana forever. But when Jefferson is convicted and sentenced to die, his grandmother, Miss Emma, begs Grant for one last favor: to teach her grandson to die like a man.

As Grant struggles to impart a sense of pride to Jefferson before he must face his death, he learns an important lesson as well: heroism is not always expressed through action--sometimes the simple act of resisting the inevitable is enough. Populated by strong, unforgettable characters, Ernest J. Gaines's A Lesson Before Dying offers a lesson for a lifetime. ... Read more

Reviews (439)

One of the greatest reading experiences of my life
Simplicity is beautiful.I think that will always be the phrase that comes to my mind when I think of Gaines's masterpiece, A Lesson before Dying.If you take a close look at it, you will find it is remarkably void of detail and description.Yet it works.It substitutes character and emotion in its place.Don't get me wrong, detail and description play a key role in many, many great novels.However, some of the greatest novels I have ever read (Animal Farm, Of Mice and Men, etc.) do not weigh us down with too many details, but are just simple and wonderful, deep and profound, honest and unflinching.A Lesson before Dying deserves to take its place right next to them.It is one of the greatest reading experiences of my lifetime.

The story begins in a courtroom.It is a sad scene.The story takes place, I believe in the early twenties and thirties where racism and segregation were still prevalent.A young black man is on trial for being involved in the murder of a white man at a connivance store.He just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.Two of his acquaintances were gunned down and the white man behind the counter also died.He was the only survivor of the incident.Although completely innocent of any wrong doing he must be punished because he was there.He is sentenced to death.Sadly, his own defense attorney calls him a "hog", an animal that was too stupid to comprehend what he was doing.He uses that defense to try and sway the jury that he is innocent.It doesn't work, and the scar of being labeled a "hog" will stay with this young black man named Jefferson throughout most of the novel.

Next, we are introduced to as educated, prideful, and somewhat mean spirited man named Grant Wiggins.He is a school teacher on a plantation.He hates his job, dislikes his life, and the only joy he has comes from his girlfriend named Vivian.Grant has an aunt, a large and stern woman who is very hard on Grant.I guess you could call it tough love.Grant's aunt is good friends with a woman named Emma. Emma is the caretaker of Jefferson, the black man sentenced to die in the beginning of the novel.Grant's aunt tells him that he must go visit Jefferson in jail and somehow convince him that he is not just some animal.He must convince him to die like a man with dignity.

Grant has a negative attitude from the beginning.He doesn't want to go.His aunt has an effect on him, however, and he reluctantly agrees.The first few visits to Jefferson are a disaster.He says nothing.He stares at the ceiling.Emma cries and cries.Grant is just plain pissed off at everything.
Grant finds much solitude in drinking and his girlfriend.Through the novel he is always telling her he wants to run away from it all.He just wants to escape with her somewhere.This will serve as a symbol between Grant and Jefferson.Neither one of them has any freedom.Jefferson-physically.Grant---mentally.

By and by the visits get a little better, and the relationship between Grant and Jefferson evolves.Grant becomes the teacher, but he learns much about himself through Jefferson.Grant also makes an unlikely friend at the jail.A white guard named Paul.This is important, because I have read by some people that Gaines treats whites unfairly with hostility and bias in his writing.Nothing could be further from the truth.Paul and Grant share the final scene of the book together, and it is one of sublime truth and beauty.

There are other characters, such as a Reverend named Ambrose, who has many debates with Grant over religion.Grant has lost his faith long ago.Some of these religious discussions very honest, deep, and thoughtful.There are, of course, other characters and situations that occur.I do not want to take all the joy from experiencing them however.The ending is inevitable, but Gaines shifts writing prose near the end of his novel which makes the messages that shines through even more grand, even more powerful.You'll know what I am talking about when I get there.

I can honestly say this book moved me to tears.I know that sounds cheesy but I don't care.Only one other book has ever done that, Uncle Tom's Cabin.This is not a sentimental book by any means.Gaines carefully places his words with wisdom and intelligence.In this book we see real characters and how they evolve.The main character, Grant, is not particularly a likeable man.But he is as real as anyone I have ever read about.His struggles are real, his trials are real.The battle that rages on in Grant is one of the most awesome and realistic depictions of the human soul ever put on paper.The same goes with Jefferson. His journal entries near the end of the novel reach a level that most authors could only dream of attaining.They are some of the most moving passages in all of literature.

This is why I love reading, why I love books.It is because there are books out there like this one.It is told with such straightforwardness.It is told with such simplicity. Yet it has such a depth to it that is so hard to find in novels now days.I couldn't believe this was a work of fiction.It seemed too real for that.This will be a book that has a long shelf life ahead of it.There is no way this novel will not become a classic.I used to think that classics weren't written anymore, that they were reserved for another time period long ago.How wrong I was.

Grade:A

A Lesson Before Dying:A moving piece of modern literature
Convicted of a crime he didn't commit, Jeferson is sentenced to death in the electric chair. So begins Grant Wiggins quest to teach him a lesson before dying. This novel takes place on a rural Louisiana town in the 1940's.Though slavery had been outlawed for over 80 years, the effects of its ugly past were still all too prevalent. At his trial he is insulted by his own lawyer called a hog, made out to be subhuman, His Aunt now sets out to try to force him to believe he is a man. He won't ever give them the time of day and refuses to talk to Grant. Grant finally realizes that what he is trying to do is reverse 300 years of racism discrimination and hate in but a few weeks.

Bad
I had to read this book for school, and, first let me say I'm not just some highs chooler who hates to read, my favorite writers are Kafka, Faulkner and Dostoevsky, but this book was all but utter trash.It had a few meaningful moments, but generally it was devoid of characterization, emotion, and plot.I give it two stars for trying, but it just tries too hard to be great.Gaines-Accept average. ... Read more

Isbn: 0375702709
Subjects:  1. African American men    2. Death row inmates    3. Fiction    4. Fiction - General    5. Literary    6. Louisiana    7. Race relations    8. Fiction / General    9. Reading Group Guide   

A Virtuous Woman (Oprah's Book Club)
by Vintage
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (05 November, 1997)
list price: $11.95 -- our price: $9.56
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Editorial Review

Oprah Book Club® Selection, October 1997: Gibbons's novel, A Virtuous Woman, takes place in the same hardscrabble part of the world as Ellen Foster. The virtuous woman is Ruby Pitt Woodrow, a woman who might have ended up like Ellen Foster's mother if fate, in the shape of Jack Stokes, hadn't crossed her path. The daughter of prosperous farmers, Ruby runs off with a migrant worker who treats her badly, then abandons her far from home. When she meets Jack, a man 20 years her senior, she's working as a cleaning woman in another prosperous farmer's house. Jack is a man women don't look at even once, let alone twice; Ruby is a woman who needs someone to take care of her. Out of this unlikely union grows a quiet kind of love that is no less powerful for being unstated.

Ellen Foster and A Virtuous Woman share more than just location and a few characters in common. Though each is a complete novel in and of itself, taken together the two books resonate one another: Ellen Foster and Ruby Pitt Woodrow are both damaged people who find the kind of love they need to heal. These multilayered novels are tough-minded and resolutely unsentimental, just like their protagonists. Yet like Ellen and Ruby, each contains a nut of sweetness at its core that takes the bitter edge off the hard lives and hard stories Kaye Gibbons has to tell. ... Read more

Reviews (90)

Excellent Read
Beautifully written, A Virtuous Women, is the quiet love story of Ruby Pitt Woodrow, daughter of a rich farmer, and Jack Stokes, a tenant farmer. At first they seem an unlikely match, Ruby, although 20 years younger than Jack, is already widowed, Jack, unattractive and unsuccessful, has never been married. But both have had tough lives. Ruby is alienated from her parents due to her brief marriage which was a disaster. She is working as a maid when she meets Jack. Jack has never had much, although his dream is to own a piece of land. Together they find, if not what they were looking for, a sense of completeness.

The book is written in first person narration with both Jack and Ruby narrating alternate chapters (except the last chapter which is written in the third person). This technique helps make both characters seem real. For me, personally, Jack was the character I most cared about, mostly because we know from the very beginning that Ruby dies and we see that Jack is lost without her.

This is one of those simple, quiet kind of books where there is little action or plot, just the story of two people who come to love and care for each other. Yet, it's the kind of story that will stay with you long after you've read it.

The Virtuous Woman
"The Virtuous Woman" written by Kaye Gibbons, is a novel about an unlikely couple. Ruby Pitt Woodrow, the daughter of prosperous farmers and Jack Stokes, an unattractive and unsuccessful tenant farmer. They share the details of their life in alternating chapters. At first the unusual narration appears confusing, but it clarifies what Jack or Ruby is trying to express. In the first chapter Jack is describing his life without Ruby. Knowing that she dies of lung cancer from the beginning of the story weakens the plot. However, it allows you to focus more on the characters and their interaction with each other. The author's reason for revealing Ruby's death becomes more obvious when Ruby starts narrating the second chapter. She begins preparing frozen food for Jack so he can have nourighing meals after she is gone. Her love and concern for his well-being was showing through her selfless acts, therefore strengthening the weak story line. Expecting a religious based book from the title of the novel, the reviewer was hindered by that assumption. It could have been enjoyed more if it was read with an open mind. In the book of Proverbs, chapter thirty-one, verse ten reads, "Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies." To Jack, Ruby is worth far more than any precious stone. Even though this was not the type of religious story the reader was looking for, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The fact that two people can see past their differences to find a love that is pure, unselfish, and stong is powerful. As a romance nvel it stands out above the rest.

Could Have Been Better-I Give ita "C-"
This book just seemed incomplete and not put together too well.

It starts out with Ruby, Jack's late wife dying of lung cancer, and how he is grieving for her. Then it goes into the real story before this happened, Ruby having overprotective parents, and yet she goes off and marries an abusive husband. Jack is lonely and loves Ruby the first time he sets eyes on her. So when Ruby's unfaithful/abusive husband John dies from an accident, the two get together and marry. They share a few happy years together until Ruby comes down with lung cancer, and dies. Jack is so grief-stricken, he cannot move on with his life, and the book continues that way at the end more or less.

I wouldn't waste my time reading this book when there is much better reading material. ... Read more

Isbn: 0375703063
Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - General    3. General    4. Literary    5. Fiction / General    6. FICTION-GENERAL