A Hard to Equal Effort
923246
The book was a huge disappointment after her "To Kill a Mockingbird." It was, I'm sure, hard to top the first one published and so enjoyed by so many.
2012194
About half of this book is mesmerizing, both in the originality of its plot and its lyrical language.  It starts somewhat slowly, but once the main character arrives in California, the story really takes off.  Sadly, when the action moves back to Viet Nam, both the pace and plot become plodding and the language -- still enchanting -- can't make up for a story that, in the end, overreaches and never quite delivers on the promise of the first half of the book.  But a wonderful effort.  Well worth the time.
4436841
THE AMBASSADORS demands more effort and concentration from the reader than probably any other novel written by an American.  But the payoff is worth the effort, however we may begrudge James' frustratingly and intentionally  thick prose.  James does indeed describe intense human situations in great  depth and detail:  duty, honor, nostalgia; the contrast between the  starchy-collared stiffness of Brahmin Boston (read: America) contrasted  with the joie de vivre of Paris (read: Europe); how difficult certain of  life's choices can be.  These are just a few themes that make this book  worthwhile.  James' America is young and trying to assert itself (and so  takes itself too seriously); his Europe is old and satisfied (and perhaps  doesn't take itself seriously enough).
Lambert Strether, a fiftysomething  turn-of-the-20th-century bourgeois Bostonian gentleman on an aristocratic  lady's errand--she will not marry him until he convinces her son Chad to  return to Massachusetts.  We see his struggle with his uncomfortable  position when he realizes Chad is no longer a spoiled young prep-schooler,  but a young gentleman of increasing refinement and self-awareness.  And if  Strether is anything, by the way, he is one of the most supremely  self-aware characters in literary history.  Once that Paris air starts to  play its magic with Strether himself, we are off to the races.  Keeping in  mind, of course, that with James' prose we are racing with tortoises. James  invites us to ponder how many chances a person truly gets in this life to  reinvent his or her self?  And if we get the chance, do we always take it?  How much should we weigh the consequences before we decide?  How much are  we willing to accept them after we have chosen?
For similar themes with  clearer, faster-paced, and wittier prose, try Edith Wharton's marvelous  homage to James, THE AGE OF INNOCENCE.
3547843
I forced myself to read this book club book because the people who selected it usually get it right.  I don't think it was that badly written, but only because I appreciate how much effort went into weaving the story into the culture, rather than the other way around.  It could have been a non-fiction book explaining how foreigners in difficult situations in their native countries can emigrate to the United States and better their lives.  But since Ms. Freudenberg wrote this as a novel, I read it with due respect.  I gave it three stars and not four because the principal male character was so hard to fathom.  Also, there was a great deal of description of umpteen family members and their relationships, which made it hard to follow.  The character of Kim was the most compelling, although toward the end of the book Amina's craftiness shows up and adds an interesting dimension to her persona.  I was indeed moved by the plight of the poor in an emerging nation,-- the most admirable dimension of the book from my point of view.
3703113
Book is great....but harder then it looks.  This is an art form that requires practice.
2295165
Characterization, especially at the beginning, is a weak effort by the author.  I had trouble distinguishing who is who; therefore, a tough read.  Things do get better as the novel progresses.  The novel is a great idea by Albom, but, for me, he wasn't sure of his writing, and that stood out for this reader.
663296
Redemption's one of those bands where I have to listen to the album, process it and then listen to it several more times before I get a sense of what the band's trying to do and this album is no exception. Like their previous efforts, the lyrics are intelligent and topical and the song-writing is pretty strong, though a bit more uneven on this effort than their last album. The thing I struggled with the most personally on this album more than their previous albums were the vocals in about half of the songs. I've never found Ray to be an outstanding prog-metal singer, though in past releases he's been mostly serviceable and in some cases has actually done quite nicely. This album made me wonder if perhaps on some of the material they have brought in a different vocalist to sing lead on several of the songs where I thought Ray's voice just didn't cut it alone.

Musically, I felt the album was a bit more uneven than their last couple of albums as well. Some of the songs like "Stronger than Death" were very strong and others just didn't much for me despite the obvious talent of the musicians involved. They did incorporate a few new wrinkles to their sound in this album but by and large it's very similar to  "The Fullness of Time" and "Snowfall on Judgement Day".

With that in mind, if you're a big Redemption fan, then obviously you'll want to pick this up even though I don't consider this to be their strongest effort. If you're a casual fan of them or the prog-metal genre than I'd either start with "Snowfall on Judgement Day" or given the 30 second preview clips several spins each to see if there's enough in there that appeals to you.

Note: I purchased the edition with the cover songs from Toto, Elton John and others and while they do a reasonably competent job covering the material, there's nothing about the covers that I feel warrant spending the extra money if you already have the originals.
1067561
A fairly pedestrian who dun it. It has promise but has a ways to go to be counted among the best
2880283
Nice challenge. Not easy, but not impossible.
4867094
All a bit of a grind really.
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3679742
Let me begin by saying that Baty is not himself known as a novelist. Rather, he is the creator of a month-long, repeat-performance writer's "contest," in which novelists "contract" to write 50,000 words in 30-31 days -- in other words, some 1600+ words (or 7-8 pages of typescript) per day. this is approximately the length that lifts a story from the category of novella to (barely) that of novel. His schtick is to urge the writer to....well, write -- without, at first, paying much attention to the ongoing output. He claims that the process of undertaking such an intensive writing experience will yield writer's gold -- not necessarily in $$ terms, but in the discovery of plot and character. Maybe he's right. Confession: I have neither taken this challenge, nor have I yet finished the book, hence my equivocal review. And as a painstaking writer, I'm somewhat skeptical of Baty's quick-and-dirty approach as a worthwhile starting point for a serious novelist. But I also have found myself making more use of a highlighter as a read along, so on balance, I'd say this book is worth a look, at least.
4094369
I am trying to write this review without mentioning Chris' outstanding group work. But it's so hard.  It's like talking about a Pete Townsend solo effort and pretending he never played with The Who.  I will try.

The songs on this cd are not bad at all (I particularly like the third track, Arms Around Your Love), but they seem disjointed (with each other).  It's as if he had this catalog of songs he was carrying around, and he finally got a chance to record them.

I guess it is very hard for an artist like Chris to bust out on his own and impress each of us.
3737580
This appears to be a first effort from a very young author - and it shows. The premise is good, if overdone (good girl matched up with bad boy in science class); however, the execution is wanting. There are way too many spelling errors for those of us who care. (When are all these e-book authors going to realise that spell-check does not an editor make?) As for the style of writing, it's probably better targeted to people under 13 years or those who wish they still were.

The heroine, Katy, flounces (yes, literally) her way through the novel - she slams down pens, yells out loud in class (sometimes even without any repercussion) and stomps her feet when things don't go her way. Frankly, she's having a bit of a bad time and she's not handling it particularly well.

The hero is not very well represented. He is sort of there, but mostly not. Consequently, it's hard to feel anything too much for him, though he does seem to get the best of the dialogue when he does manage some interaction; having said this, it's nowhere near as clever as some others have suggested. Speaking of which (pardon the pun), the dialogue is, as another reviewer noted, very stilted and quite unrealistic. Again, I believe this is the consequence of a very young writer.

Overall, it's not a shocking effort, but it really could be improved. Hopefully, the author will take time to perfect her craft (by starting with being way more careful with spelling and working on producing realistic dialogue), so that we will see better efforts from her in the future.
4841853
His poetry is difficult but sticking with it pays off. The author is so well read that to keep up with him in his allusions is almost impossible.
But he clearly has a musical ear and launches into a poem to find what is there and then uses it and steps to a different poetic platform
and you often must make a leap to it a it appears to have altered the idea. But it uses the idea, something many poets do not recognize as an arsenal filled with what the first part of the peom wished it had.
1279631
The puzzle was challenging and took about 12 hours spread out over 4 days. However, I ended up being one short of 1000. Also, the cutting of the prices could be a little more precise and have a better fit. Going to attempt to fill in the missing piece and mod podge it into a frame.
2853284
It's a difficult game that really takes some effort. Not sure if it's just not for me, or if the game is just not great, but it's tough!
4422068
When confronted with the avowed task of the author - that is, attempting to meet the challenge of Tacitus and tell the history of the German people from the beginning - and the page count of the book - 400 pages, give or take a few depending on your edition - the question that should immediately present itself to the reader is whether or not such a task is plausibly attempted.  Brevity is a virtue, or so one is told, but there is little excuse for purporting to tell the 2,000-plus year-long history of the German people and treating of vast swaths of it in a mere handful of pages.  Readers looking for detail and depth are advised to look elsewhere.

But Professor Ozment's book has several redeeming qualities which make the book worth the attention of many.  Most notably, the book's avowed emphasis is to dispel the practice of writing about German history in a style which depicts the rise of National Socialism as a historical inevitability.  This is a welcome trait of the book, especially when popular imagination is still won't to unfairly brand Germans with the Nazi label, a label the vast majority of Germans have long since repudiated and continue to repudiate.

There is also an attempt in "A Mighty Fortress" to give us a sense of the German cultural psyche and its development.  Diverse references on this point are made to facts such as that Germany sits at the crossroads of Europe and has been subject to foreign involvement for hundreds of years, such as in the Thirty Years' War; that Germany has long struggled with the issue of regional pride and disunity; that various elements of German culture, such as music deemed culturally German, were derived from foreign (Bohemian) sources, and so the need to discover fundamentally German aspects of culture and music was great; and that Germans, reflecting on their own struggles and those of neighboring nations, have long felt that "Ordnung muss sein," and that such an order, which provides for a sense of security in a dangerous and unstable world, should be sustained, whatever the disadvantages of such an order.  This is accurately reflected in Professor Ozment's discussion of Immanuel Kant's seemingly paradoxical support for a cosmopolitan political system coupled with his condemnation of revolt against what he considered to be lawfully-established government.  Although the book is too short to give a complete treatment of this subject, Professor Ozment succeeds in at least getting some basic ideas about the German mindset across to the reader.  Ideally, one hopes that Professor Ozment's treatment will cause in the reader some curiosity about the matter and incite the reader to pursue the issue more thoroughly elsewhere.

One is introduced, however briefly, to the great personages of German history as well.  We meet great kings and emperors, such as Frederick the Great and Charlemagne, and are introduced to their dynasties, such as the Habsburgs and the Hohenzollerns.  We also briefly meet great writers, philosophers, theologians, artists, and musicians, most prominent among them Luther, Duerer, Goethe, J.S. Bach, Kant, Hegel, and Nietzsche.  Professor Ozment gives us a summary treatment of their views, and we do get some sense of their importance for history - not just German, but human history.  Again, though, the compressed nature of the book does not lend itself to getting a full appreciation of the importance of any subject the book treats of.

Despite its major shortcoming, the book is engagingly written and would serve well a person unfamiliar with German history.  The book is thus recommended for amateur historians and neophytes of the subject seeking something more substantial than a "Cliff's Notes," or for travelers and businesspeople seeking an overview of German history.  Professor Ozment's book, however, is a popular history of Germany, and should be regarded as such.  Readers seeking an in-depth examination of any subject "A Mighty Fortress" treats of will probably find themselves disappointed.