There's a lot of late eighties teenage shenanigans starting off this novel, a charged up kind of punk erudition, the urbane in-your-face stride of an anarchist. The tone and mood fit the era well, and the particular crowd that the reader is thrust into is intransigent, forceful, rough. A sizzling clash of cultures between the hippies and what we now know as Gen-X-ers ensues, as well as between hardcore and "straight-edge" (drug and sex-free) punk, a clash that is eventually sanded smoother as an understanding is reached between both countercultures, and hypocrisies are penetrated.

My only complaint is that it is too lengthy and repetitive at intervals. The hardcore punk rock music venues and the physical violence between some of these musicians got a little tedious. The author could have been pared it down 100 pages or so and still brandished a powerful story.

Definitely recommended to the Gen-X crowd, for its authenticity and story. There's a mocking quality that you have to accept, and lots of drugs. This is an author to watch. A classy debut.

This was advertised as winning the Japanese equivalent to the Nat'l Book Award, so I was expecting something even better than Murakami. Well, this was just juvenile. Nora Roberts, tops. It was written on a 7th grade level, maybe 6th. It had some violence, so it wasn't for young readers, but I kept saying "See Spot run" throughout. The narrative was less than pedestrian--cliches cut and pasted together.

I mostly laughed because it was so preposterous and the characters were as thin and contrived as the pages they were written on. The basic outline to the story had potential, which was why I gave it two stars instead of one, but it was filled in with a ludicrous mess. The melodramatic ending was hilarious, but not meant to be.

Wesley Stace is no newcomer to music. He has composed 15 albums under the name John Wesley Harding, music of sardonic rock mixed with covers of British ballads. In his third novel, he turns to early the 20th century music scene of the pastoral music and the atonal avant-garde world of Schoenberg.

The novel opens with a report of a murder/suicide of a rising young composer: Charles Jessold, and the shooting of his wife. There are parallels to the life of homonymic (in name) Carlo Gesualdo, the Rennaissance composer. The first part of the book is the version of the police. The second part, "Post-Mortem,"gives a wholly different picture of the murder.

The story is told by Leslie Shepherd, a composer and patron who worked with Jessold on his latest opera. The narration is dry and witty, if a bit fusty and precious at times, but true to the period of the story. Very esoteric and scholarly. It helps if the reader is familiar with classical music and opera in order to fully appreciate the nuances of wit and mordancy.

Three generations of one family in Madrid--grandfather, father, and daughter--and a rising-star soccer player from Buenos Aires, are struggling with inner demons as well as external chaos and change. The novel opens when Sylvia's father, Lorenzo, has murdered a man who is responsible for his financial failures. His 71-yr-old father, Leonardo, an unsuccessful pianist, is addicted to a Nigerian prostitute. Sylvia, only 16, meets and has a secret love liaison with Ariel, the charismatic 20 -yr old soccer player. Aurora, Leonardo's wife, is slowly dying.

This erudite and observant story drew me in gradually. It could have kept me on the edge of my seat; however, the author, while not losing focus, does meander and clog up the story occasionally with superfluous detail. But, superb characterizations--this is where the author shines. (And you'll learn a lot of tasty nuggets about some of the great classical composers.) Wry and aware. An unpredictable but satisfying ending. Truthful, laconic, redemptive and thoughtful.

Will Lorenzo get away with murder? Will Sylvia and Ariel go public and survive the odds? What kind of disasters await Leonardo? Read the book to find out.

This is not up to Goodman's standard of The Lake of Dead Languages or The Drowning Tree. It read like a YA novel, with thin and obvious characterizations and vacuous emotions. The plot twists were so convenient and coincidental that it was utterly unbelievable. As an adult novel, I would give it 2-stars. I am being generous and rating it 3-stars where it belongs--for young readers (ages 13-16). Goodman can enthrall with her knowledge of folklore and folktales, and I like that she weaves them into the story, although ultimately it was a strained stitching. When she created and explored these ancient tales, I was immersed and satisfied. But the modern-day story was disingenuous--it felt like bad Lifetime TV.

There was a haunting atmosphere at the start of the novel, and I initially enjoyed the relationship issues between mother and daughter. However, it devolved into shallow contrivance. Moreover, the love interest of the main character was almost featureless (except at the beginning), and the emotions between them rang false. It was arid. Not even up to adult chick-lit standards.

Overall, except for Goodman's keen grasp of folklore and her vivid imagination, she gave it a dry and formulaic narrative and outcome. I won't give up on this author, as I have enjoyed several of her books in the past. I am waiting for her to write another juicy page-turner.

This is very much a psychological exploration of a woman who is both formidable and vulnerable. Eastern Jewel's sense of loss and abandonment is acutely felt. There is much pathos in this Princess of moral ambiguity who is determined to do more than survive. In a world where men reign and woman are second-class citizens, she vows to live a liberated, independent life. The prose is sensuous and lyrical and compelling. A page-turner.

The best thing about this book is the information revealed about the politics and dire social circumstances in Sierra Leone during the civil war (and the post-war deceptions of its leaders). The story had potential, but the characters were one-dimensional, obvious. Also, too much prose was focused on the main protagonist's alcoholism and narcissism, and the tone of the narrative was a bit off. It didn't match the seriousness of the story.

The author is a journalist--it was apparent in the execution of the novel. The author seemed to digress into a journalistic delivery at intervals, especially when he was imparting the socio-political details.

There were some nice metaphors and imagery. It just didn't add up to a juicy tale. The climax was bathetic and too foreshadowed.

Initially I had difficulty engaging in this, an epistolary novel that takes place in the years following WW II. I had difficulty giving it a context. It begins at a place that feels like the middle of things (as if I missed something), but then eventually gathers the far-flung bits of fabric that make up a life and the texture of many lives.

The story is like a tapestry; it starts wit a solitary bit of material and then stitches an epic microcosm of life on the Channel Island of Geurnsey during the second World War. As the tale unfolded, I fell in love with the eccentric, rowdy, and often ribald cast of characters and my heart bled and broke more than a few times, also, over the beautiful comedy that emerged from the tragedy of war.

As I kept reading, the story strengthened and became deeper and enfolded me completely in its tale of hope in a hopeless situation and endurance in an almost unendurable time of German occupation and starvation, a story of courage, dignity and integrity in a time of moral ambiguity..

These rural characters are unsung heroes. I feel like I met each and every one of them personally and that they touched me in all the vital places where love resides. Additionally, it is a history lesson of a place that time will now not forget.

Samantha Hunt's novel is a "what if" historical fiction on the last months of the life of Nikola Tesla, the inventor of alternating current electricity. His life was much obscured by the better known Thomas Edison; however, as this book well illuminates, Edison was more rigid, capitalistic, and less visionary than Tesla.

This book is allegorical and metaphorical. Although we learn about Tesla's Serbian roots, his boyhood, and the inner workings of his great mind, Hunt shines even more light on his heart. She does this with aspects of time travel, with his relationship with pigeons, and a fictional relationship with an astute and intelligent chambermaid at the Hotel New Yorker, where he lives the last years of his life.

There is much inner dialogue from the main characters of the story, which makes it a more character-driven than a plot driven read. There is definitely a plot, and suspense, but the texture of the tale and the beautiful turns of phrase and imagery stay with you long after the story ends. Hunt weaves in concepts of psychology, philosophy, and literature, giving the story many dynamic layers. This novel is a novel of ideas as much as it is a fictional biography on the life of a genius. I wanted to ask the author if she had read "Hopeful Monsters," by Nicholas Mosley, as there are strong parallels about the elusiveness of time and the enigma of the human heart, as well as specific references to Goethe. Additionally, both authors are exceptionally open and generous writers and do not borrow from religion in order to hold high values and ethics. I look forward to Samantha Hunt's next novel.

The story of Nannerl Mozart, Wolfgang's sister, is told in a combination of epistolary and narrative form. It is an historical fiction of a woman with an independent mind and spirit attempting to fit in with the 18th century expectations of womanhood--the story of an anachronistic prodigy that must subvert her musical talent to those of her brother's. The epistolary parts are more lyrical, poetic, and nuanced. They were more immediately felt and fresh sounding than the overwrought narrative, which repeatedly advises us that Nannerl's chauvinistic father was very controlling and that she must sacrifice her musical ambition to promote and help fund Wolfgang's career. The tale is melodramatic, dearly earnest, with many exclamatory sentences and too much emotional repetitiveness. I would have preferred that the author flesh out more of the characters in Nannerl's life and give them more independent vitality than wield them as vehicles of Nannerl's plight. The story lacks emotional tension because emotions are overbaked. When the author does modulate her prose and gives more grace to her narrative (in Nannerl's letters), I feel more fully engaged in the story. Overall, it was moderately enjoyable, but the fervid doggedness feels intermittently stale and devotional.