If you like quirky, mysterious, unconventional, disturbing books with undertones of magical realism you will like this book. RBLS is a book for book lovers and thinkers. It is not a book for readers who like linear plots and conventional characters. If you like books with wrapped-up conclusions and all the questions answered you will not like this book.Where do writers get ideas for their stories? Are fairytales really horror stories? Could you "spill" all the deepest, darkest, most intimate details of your life to virtual strangers, strangers who do not have your best interests at hear? There is no sense of place in this book, even though you know it was written in Finnish and translated. The "heroine", Ella seems like a vehicle to transport the reader into this bizarre world of books and authors rather than a fully developed character. Did I like this book? It kept me reading through to the end to find answers to the questions of why did the books mysteriously change plot, and where did Laura White go, and who wrote the notebook. But It left me unsatisfied as to the answers, or non-answers, but thinking about the life lessons it contained.

This book, about a family in distress, is a quick read and could use a bit of editing. It seems to be redundant and repetitive, so that I found myself rolling my eyes at some parts. The three main characters, Maddy, the mother, Ben, the father and Emma, the 14 year old daughter are the narrators of the story from each perspective - a device which I found in so many recent novels to be creative at first, but then tiring after it is used so often. The characters are well drawn, but rather one- sided: Ben angry to the point of abuse, then so contrite and rather unbelievable in the change - Maddy long suffering, doing all for family and then so stubborn in not forgiving Ben - Emma typical teenage picking up pieces of family and complaining all the time. The other children, Gracie the constant lovable angel, and Caleb the whining questioner got to be monotonous.The medical and clinical section of the book seems to have come straight from a textbook, but was interesting and seemingly well researched., I just wondered where all friends and neighbors were when Maddy was in the hospital and recouping. All the work fell on Emma and the parents and in-laws. In situations like this, usually friends are there to help.All in all, a chick lit type of book, which has a basic linear story, easy to read and interesting to see the family dynamics develop.

I very much enjoyed reading this book. It was tightly written, with movie-star characters, fascinating historical setting and direct, plot driven narrative. The book has several themes cleverly intertwined. The rivalry between Turkey and Venice in the fifteenth century creates the background of the story, and the terrible plague which ravaged the area drives the plot. Feyra, the heroine, is a model for feminist activism as she stows away on her fathers ship from Constantinople, , gets to Venice, uses her wiles and knowledge of medieval medicines, and helps to stem the plague. Annibale, the handsome "plague doctor" wearing the cloak and mask of his profession, presents the perfect hero -dashing, dedicated, aloof, and finally succumbs to the beauty and intellegence of the heroine. Fine romance in a historical fiction novel.

The device the author employs to define the chapters and the story - The Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse - is deftly used in conjunction with the events of the plot. Here again, historical information is interesting and cleverly written.

The only fault I found with the book is the rosy ending. It comes about so abruptly, cleanly and wrapped up, it seemed the author was tired of writing the book and decided to finish it off. I like happy endings, but after the devastating and dramatic force of the novel, the fairy tale ending sounded rather contrived.

I would recommend The Venetian Bargain to my book club. They enjoy reading historical fiction, and there is much to learn and discuss here. It was refreshing to read a book with romance, but without the prurient graphic paragraphs of so many of the recent novels

Coming of age stories have been done so often and so well, this one leaves much to be desired. The characters did not speak to me and I felt were not well developed. The story jumped from one to another, and I felt no connection or sympathy toward any of them. I resented the political intrusions into the story and the Hate Bush theme was distasteful. If I wanted a leftist tirade I could watch Rachael Madow. I also got tired of the gratuitous language throughout. I suppose the author thinks F fills in for words when others fail. Do you think 20 somethings use this word so fluently? The saving grace of this book is the colorful descriptions of Oxford. Sorry, this book just did not do it for me. With all the other books out there, I felt I was wasting my time reading about shallow characters who spent most of their times jumping into bed with one another.

This book was definitely a page turner. Once I read the first page I was hooked and could not put it down, despite the disturbing content and pretty graphic descriptions of the kidnapping situation. The Author sometimes writes in the present tense, which serves to keep the story tense and immediate. The dialogue and situations involving the psychological effects of hostage situations and longtime confinement were interesting and seemed to relate well to the characters and plot.

Reeve, the main character, was well drawn and the title, The Edge of Normal, described her well - After being held for 6 years, what is "normal" and will she ever get there? However, it was a little beyond belief that she would not have gone to the authorities when she discovered Tilley's secret, and that she would have solved the case herself, but for the sake of the story's plot it worked.

The two authorities, Jackie Burke and Nick Hudson were too strident and negative to be realistic. It seemed that they would have tried more to help Reeve and follow her leads. Also, Duke was too evil to be believed. He was such a one-sided character, and it got tiresome that he had such a "bead" on everyone. How could Reeve every think that Nick was attractive after he scorned her?

I thought about this book long after I had read it, and couldn't imagine the horrors the girls went through. Seems like the author did her homework in researching the effects of kidnapped captivity.

The Daughters of Mars. Mars the god of war. What a perfect title for a book which lays bare the horrors, the futility, the brutality, and "glories" of war. Sally and Naomi are the daughters, the faithful sister nurses from Australia, who devote three years of their lives to saving and mending the broken bodies and minds of the men who were fed into the flames of the war machine of World War I.

Keneally does not stint on the scenes, smells and feel of the men under fire who suffered shrapnel, bullets, bombings and the ghastly new killing device - mustard gas. The medical procedures, techniques and equipment used in 1916 were precursors of our modern medicine - chloroform, ether, blood transfusions, sepsis control, and morphine. As primitive as the surgical and medical theatres were, it was interesting to read that these methods saved lives and repaired bodies, even then.

The formal writing style of Keneally is rather Dickensian in it archaic structure, constrained tone, and unique turn of phrase. Several sentences and paragraphs required second readings to fully grasp the meaning and content of the words - vocabulary so diverse and complex to require a dictionary. The lack of quotation marks was, at first, a questionable technique, but, in reading further, it seemed to provide a flow and exchange of dialogue without the constant break of marks.

It took a while into the book before the sisters came to life. The constant jumping from one to the other within a chapter was disconcerting and a bit confusing. at first Charlie, Ian, Mitchie, Lady Tarlton and Constable were perfect foils as companions to the sisters. It was interesting to see the change in Naomi as she was introduced to the Quaker community, and Sally as Charlie exposed her to the art masters.

One criteria of a "good book" is its influence on the reader to further research ideas, characters, incidents, places, etc. The Daughters of Mars was a wealth of new information: ANZAC and involvement of Australians in WWI; the timeline and theatres of the war; the medical techniques; the devastation of venereal disease and influenza; the idea of conscription and shirkers were all concepts introduced in the book which required more thought and background research.

Of course, the ending still has me scratching my head. Did Keneally really mean to have two endings and have the reader pick? Was he trying to find the best ending? Am I missing something? After his forthright and non-emotional language throughout the book, the complex and magical realistic duplicity was a shock. Yes, there were little surprises here and there, like the questions as to whether Sally and Naomi did commit a mercy killing, but all in all, the story was rather straightforward until this mysterious ending.

If a book club is willing to read a very long and dense book, and is amenable to reading about lots and lots of bloody wartime injuries, this book has much food for thought and discussion.