A book to be remembered.. Makes an impression ...
935525
A book to be remembered.. Makes an impression . The story stays with you a long time after you finish the  book
1956507
What you are witnessing when you read this book is the aging of a brave an enduring icon. Perhaps Maclaine's clarity has fogged a bit.  It might be that her revelations have lost some of their sharp edges or that the flow of her thoughts are not quite as cohesive, or that her voice lacks the strength it once had.

But this is a function of biology---a reflection of the author's present self and where she is today---in this very moment in her life, as someone who has reached her twilight years. Now 80-something, she is alas, now 80-something.

The reader must bring all of Maclaine's books along on the journey when reading Above The Line, so that the substantive scope of her work becomes a timeline----one that forces us to recognize that we are standing and applauding the aging actress as she bows at the end of the show.  We are therefore more forgiving of the performance, and the standing ovation isn't just for this one achievement, but rather the totality of this star and writer's roles and what she has given us over her lifetime.  I think of an older Judy Garland singing "Over The Rainbow" with cracked voice---the truth of who she was in that moment resounding with such a brutal honesty it was absorbed in the walls of the theater. There is no hiding who we are in creativity and that's what makes it beautiful. Creativity always echoes who we are in that moment, incapable of being hidden by a projected self.

MacLaine is not finished yet. Already working on another movie, she has plenty of wind in her sails. But whether you are watching her on Downton Abbey or reading her book, you are aware that somehow, inexplicably, she has aged while you, of course, have not.  We expect Shirley to walk onto the proverbial stage, unchanged since she was photographed for the cover of "Out On A Limb."  We expect her books to forever come from the point of view of that 40-year old woman who traipsed around the world with a knapsack, peering into time's pockets and collecting beads...the truth seeker who will always be standing on the top of the mountain with a mop of red hair.

You have grown older too, my dear reader, since the first day you found a MacLaine book in the window of a small bookstore in town. You bought the book with cash, you read it on your bed on a Saturday afternoon and by the time you got up to make a cup of tea, you no longer viewed the world with the same eyes. That has always been MacLaine's gift----the ability to transform, to send you on a path, have you saving for your trip to Machu Picchu, or to find you in the corner, cross-legged, trying to meditate.

If you go to the "M" section in your home library, catalogue Maclaine's books from first to last by copyright, and notice the substantive progression of her evolution. Once a vagabond, then a woman at home with her dogs, always a star----but we can see the momentum of a woman who, like every woman, is growing older. This book is written by the octogenarian, and if you can't appreciate a MacLaine who isn't 40 anymore, then walk away now. Odd how our criticisms echo our own fears.

I know the 40-year old Shirley would have taken a blanket and slept near the peak of the mountain on her trip to the Canary Islands. The present Shirley prefers her suite at the hotel, needs help getting to her room and plugging in her phones.  No longer able to take us on outrageous adventures, she tells her story from the safety of her fancy hotel, and yet she still tells the story.

I give 5 stars for a life well lived, for the difficult task of awakening a slumbering world. Do not read this book hoping to find the clear insights of a middle-aged woman. That ship has already sailed. Read this book to find out who MacLaine is right now----to come full circle on the journey you started with her long ago.

Ladies and gentleman....this is Shirley MacLaine at 80.

Now rise up and give her a standing ovation for a long and enduring life.

And one that always sought the truth in the bravest and most compelling of ways.
3066227
The first thing that should be said about this novel is that anyone who reads it from a position of being able to compare it with the work of similar writers from the past thirty years or so will recognize it as a book that will clearly be discussed well into the future - fifty, or possibly even a hundred years - as representing a clear reflection the thoughts and attitudes of our own time. McEwan balances close psychological description with (dare one say it?) post-modern detachment without ever becoming as ponderous as a Murdoch or as gimmicky as a Barth. The main characters - especially Briony Tallis - are fascinating and fully realized human individuals, and the novel's clever and disorienting shifts of tone and perspective are masterful and never gratuitous or self-congratulatory.
That having been said, there's a certain studiedness to it all, and the ending, while very striking and fascinatingly ambiguous, also seems perhaps a little facile in its cleverness, in a way that reminds one of the 'twist' endings of M. Night Shyamalan and David Fincher movies. One worries that this manner of storytelling will come to seem awfully used-up over the next twenty years or so.
Still, in the meantime, this novel is simply not to be missed. I read it obsessively over the course of two days and it was only after much careful reflection that its minor shortcomings became apparent to me. How many contemporary authors write works that are even worth thinking about this much?
3316884
"Mrs. Dalloway" is almost a story without a story. At first sight the plot of this book seems almost banal. After all, who wants to know how Clarissa Dalloway spends her day?. Isn't she merely a shallow woman who leds a boring life?.

Of course, we should remember that first impressions are often misleading... and in this case, they certainly are. "Mrs. Dalloway" is nothing less that a ground-breaking novel in which Virginia Woolf pioneers a style that would later be called "stream of consciousness". Thanks to that style the reader can, literally, read the thoughts of the characters without any kind of censorship. Even though that makes the book somewhat unclear at times, it is nonetheless strangely attractive, and compelling.

"Mrs. Dalloway" is the story of a day in Clarissa's life, but it is at the same time the story of  the people who know her, or that are somehow connected to her, and the story of  her/their dreams and thoughts. Virginia Woolf's goal in this book was ambitious, but she managed to achive it: she allows the reader to look right into the mind of the different characters...

As I previously mentioned, the story of Mrs. Dalloway is at the same time the story of many more, as the story of each of us is also the story of the people we know/love/hate/like/dislike. There are many people who help us to understand Clarissa, thanks to their interactions with her. However, we also see her under a different light thanks to characters that don't know her, or are merely distantly connected to her through one of her many acquaintances. For example, Septimus Warren Smith, an ex-soldier who battles madness, and whose gloomy life provides a stark contrast to the artificial cheerfulness of Clarissa's own life. The two never meet, but it is impossible to try to understand one without the other...

On the whole, I think you will enjoy this book. It is quite original, and gives the reader food for thought. It makes us realize that there is often more to people than what meets the eye. For that, I highly recommend "Mrs. Dalloway" to you.

Belen Alcat
820747
If you've seen the television show, it's almost a "perfeck" testament to this book.
With more detail, the mood and the emotions within these pages  gives an unmistakable signature, that comes from the warmth of the the characters, and the events such characters would create.
750888
I don't review many books, but, this one needs to be recognized. This books is purely stunning. It takes a special breed of person to live through what this author has accomplished.
476995
The story has stuck with me for the past few days since I've finished the book and I'm still thinking about the ending...

Petry is obviously writing with a purpose hereit's a novel about a poor, black, single mother in Harlem and was published in 1946but she also succeeds in crafting a heart-wrenching story that does not suffer at the hands of her message.

Lutie Johnson may be the protagonist here, but the busiest character in the novel is 116th Street, itself. While Lutie and Bub, her son, struggle to make ends meet in the face of racism, sexism, and poverty, the streetmarvelously personified throughout the entire novel, especially in its opening pagesis busy holding Lutie back, thwarting her every attempt to escape from captivity. With the help of a few seedy inhabitants, 116th street assembles an all-star crew intent on breaking Lutie's strong will.

What elevates this novel to more than just a 'good story' is the manner in which Petry unfolds the narrative. The Street is told from a variety of different perspectives, often in a non-linear fashion, allowing for characters to possess conflicting interpretations of identical events, which greatly contributes to the reader's grasp of the growing tension in the novel. Additionally, it gives some insight to how a few relatively insignificant actions can add up to a devastating finale brought on by unnecessary events.

There's a reason this novel still holds its relevance nearly 70 years after its publication. This is not just the story of Lutie and Bub, it is universal and timeless. As Lutie notes on occassion, if she weren't experiencing these conditions on 116th Street, she'd be living the same way on another street if it was similarly poor and black. This may be Lutie's plight, but it is applicable to any single mother as she attempts to raise her son amid sexism and racism.

Unfortunately, while we've come a long way since the 1940s, there's still too much in this novel that is still applicable. I don't know why The Street isn't mentioned as frequently as Native Son, Their Eyes Were Watching God or The Invisible Man...
219703
"There is an earned innocence, I believe, which is as much to be honored as the innocence of children." (p. 30).

So says the Reverend John Ames, whose journal and pseudo-last-will-and-testament we are reading when we are reading Gilead.

I found this to be a profoundly moving story, one in which a patient reader will be greatly rewarded during the last third of the journey.

Rev. Ames, a widower, marries a much younger woman who blesses him with a son in his old age. Now in his seventies and in somewhat failing health, so much of what John would love to communicate to his son must be sort of.... postponed. Post-dated. He therefore embarks on the record of an account of his own personal history, in the hope that his (at the time) seven-year old son will read it when he himself is an adult.

Enter now into the mix the town prodigal, Jack Boughton.

Jack's return to Gilead becomes a sort of Waterloo for Ames. A rapport develops between Jack and John's son, one in which John himself at times feels displaced and nearly irrelevant in comparison. I will not say more.... but there IS more. Much more.

The wonderful thing about this book, John's book, as it were, is that I believe he learns more about himself, in the writing of it, than his son will ever learn, in the reading of it.

John has to come to terms with the presence of Jack, and with what his presence means.

The simplicity with which Robinson develops this character of Jack Boughton... it is simply amazing. He becomes for me, (and for John) the main character in this book.

Is there a real place called Gilead, Iowa?

No.

But Gilead is a town in the Old Testament of the Bible, and in the ancient Hebrew the closest meaning for the word "Gilead" is "stronghold."

Somehow I am sure that Marilynne Robinson is aware of this!

Gilead... the town, represents a certain type of "stronghold" in each of the lives so closely outlined here... the lives of John and Jack. For John, we find that Gilead represents the stronghold of normalcy. Quietness. Not that John has never left town, in fact we learn that he did (briefly). But really, for John, Gilead has represented the idea of obedience and continuity. A sort of sustained innocence.

For Jack, we learn that Gilead represents the stronghold of disruption. Noise. He left Gilead because he had to. And he returned because he needed to. And for him it ends up representing a sort of earned innocence (if at all) and that received from a most unlikely source.

But the beauty of the book is that it bursts with grace.

This book is a quiet diamond amid shelves of zirconia, really it is.
452544
I know I purchased this book and read it, but to be honest it's been long enough that I don't really remember it.  I realize this isn't a good review, but if the book was memorable, I'd remember it.  Sorry.
3462517
This is a deeply personal story, so each reader should set aside others' impressions in coming to it. Having said that, I offer my impressions for you to set aside.

It's a graphic novel (or "comic"), in a plain and graphic style of B&W. The author makes good use of that feature, though: it conveys itself iconically rather than representationally, which gives it a quirky kind of visual potency. Speaking in the first person, the author sketches her life from about ages six to fourteen. She presents her life, as she lived it, through a violent time that many readers will remember.

In many ways, it's a "girl story" - not the kind of recollection that boys would typically have, so I'm not the most qualified of readers. It's not a political story, either, even though political action and activism drive the writer's life and threaten it, equally. It's not about religion, even though the little-girl author is profoundly religious up until a rending moment late in the book, and even though religion, her own or other, enters every facet of her life. But this story is not about what it's not.

It is a personal story, told by a girl about life from grade-school years into the hard years of a girl's teens. That gives it a disingenuous, honest feeling that stands up to any errors in the author's historical facts. It's also about her parents' personal bravery in raising and teaching a strong young woman, in a world where women are required by law to give up their strength. It's about the here-and-now impact of seeing an uncle's torture scars or seeing a girl friend's bracelet in the bombed ruin of her apartment, attached to some fragment that sanity refuses to name. After a while, even horror simply fails where life continues.

I can not draw any conclusion from this work. Nor, I think, can the author, nor does she want me to. There are many pieces here, including echoes of Ann Frank and Will Eisner. Every time I look at the pieces again, they settle into a different shape.

I didn't think I'd come back for the second volume. OK, I was wrong. Maybe later, when the author looks back on these early years, they'll make human and humane sense.

Maybe not. Maybe it doesn't have to.

//wiredweird
1298519
There is something in this book for everyone, and a message to each of us just how important even the smallest moments of personal interaction with others may prove, how profoundly they may impact another's life far disproportionately greater than we personally might anticipate or expect at the time.

It's also somewhat of an essay upon how that, despite omnipresent Internet-connected devices and access to social media to connect us with others in our families and communities, given the nature of social media posts, more like a bulletin board than a letter or conversation, somehow knowing what is happening in other's lives, without that broader direct person-to-person contact which is more and more being displaced by 'likes', Instagrams, and the like, somehow some of us, maybe even ALL of us may find themselves or ourselves more lonely and alone than they have ever been.

So often we read about how lonely, embittered and socially-disconnected individuals experience deeply-affected moments of despair which may lead to nihilistic acts revenge and violence, as much self-directed as outward. It seems such events are increasing in number and frequency exponentially even as it might seem that we have more tools to connect with our communities more omnipresent than has ever been possible in the entirety of human history. And yet, somehow, we may be leaving so many individuals behind with no check against self-perpetuating cycles of negativity, and a deep bitterness at feelings of being very personally excluded from the rest of their families and community.

This book begins in the aftermath of tragic violence born of such personal feelings of exclusion, social antipathy or neglect, social derision, feelings of unjust persecution, and a desire to be rid of it all, perhaps taking a moment to share the ride with a prominent persecutors or two.  It ends with several developing a keen understanding of both their roles in the build-up to the violence, and with their responsibilities to themselves and others to forge deeper interpersonal connections to others in their social networks of the human face-to-face sort, to keep themselves and their communities healthy.

The voices of the characters are very authentic and meaningful, their circumstances familiar enough that one may easily feel their lives linked with moments of our own.  The central theme is an important one for this moment in time, enough so to forgive how forcefully it is pounded into the reader.

This is another book that I want my child to read to help him understand how important the sense of personal connection is, how it is not to be slighted without consequence, and to illustrate how important even the smallest of our individual acts may be in either leading to or toward thwarting tragedy in our communities, families, and personal lives.  I'm recommending the title to all my 'connected' Internet-connected 24x7x365 friends, too.
4681150
It is a reminder of the power of words. They can destroy and can heal. The horror and the humanity can happen also in our time. The way the book is written force the reader to be active
70463
Every now and then one of those special books comes along that simply takes the reader on a journey of human expression and compassion. This book not only filled me with joy and sadness, but it left an indelible mark upon my soul. Not everyone will enjoy this book. If you like books in which women are being stalked, raped, dismembered and murdered, this is not for you. If you like books with edge-of-the-seat suspense, this book is not for you. If you like books that keep you on a roller-coaster ride trying to discover who the villain is, then read something else. But if you are looking for a story that will connect you to the fundamental concepts and feelings all humans experience.... love, mystery, beauty, and loss, then you will enjoy this book.

The story is about Sam, an 80 year old man whose wife has died, and how he adjusts to life without her. Two of his daughters live in houses next to him, two of his sons are preachers, one son works for the government, and one son died at a young age. This story follows, with touching sensibility and poignancy, Sam's slow walk towards death. The White Dog is a stray that Sam eventually coaxes into his home and becomes his constant companion, but none of his family can see the dog at first, and they worry that their father is hallucinating. Eventually, after a long passage of time, they are able to see the dog, but none of them can touch it as it remains wholly devoted to their father.

Perhaps this is not a book for those who are twenty-something. Maybe I enjoyed it so much because I have experienced the passing of a generation, and watched my parents grow old and afflicted and die; one of cancer, one of pneumonia. I have watched aunts and uncles who I remembered going to ball games with when I was a child, or playing poker around the table, or singing along to the old Mitch Miller albums one-by-one succumb to the vagaries of age, illness, and disease until each body was in turn lowered into the ground. So maybe it just takes someone of my generation to truly appreciate the subtleties in this story; the pain that the elderly face not only when they lose a spouse that was an integral part of their lives for decades, but also the realization that they, too, are now facing death, as we all must.

This story was such a wonderful, touching departure from 90% of the books being published these days. There are no murders, no sex, no foul words, no tension, no villians, no bratty kids, no conflicts. The writing is beautiful and the phrasing is lyrical. Here is one passage from the book:

"On mornings when he awoke early he liked to sit and watch the sun rising from the fog cap that billowed nightly over the waters of the swamp. The sun would lift out of the spreading silk of the fog cap, and balance itself, impaled, in the tree tips of black gum and oak. Always there was a moment-a quick slip of time-when the sun broke free of the trees and bled from its yolk, spilling in red-orange rivers over the silk. It was, to him, the most awesome spectacle in the universe."

And another:

"He inhaled slowly, deliberately, letting the perfumes seep into his sense. Other people did not like August because it seemed always hot and still, but August was one of his favorite times. In August, the seams of the earth cracked with a ground cover of growing, like a full, ripe flower spreading itself to the sun's heat, and the fragrance of the earth sweetened the air. He opened his mouth and let the air slide across his tongue, and he could taste its honey."

I encourage anyone who simply wants to settle down and enjoy a wonderful story to read this book. You will not only come to love Sam, but you will also get to know him so well that you will mourn his loss as if it were your own.
4678593
An important feature of your book is the recognition of positive elements, times, people... .

Also, grounding the story in terms of MK 'culture' is vitally important, as it explains much about the context of decisions made. Readers not familiar with this background may overlook, or not fully appreciate, the difficulties faced.

This book does not dwell on gory details. This is also, in my opinion, an important point. Though there are excruciating glimpses into a number physical situations, they are not sensationalized. I believe this helps point the reader to the insidious yet severe nature of emotional abuse.

Finally: "Way to go!!!" I hope many, many people are exposed to this book. It will speak to someone, somewhere, and give him or her the push needed to recognize and change a bad situation.
1358444
This book is biographical although that is not its main purpose. First and foremost, it is a plea to young people primarily, but to anyone, that suicide is not an answer to anyone. With the premature death of his older brother, with whom the author has had an exceptionally close relationship, much of the early part of the book gives an insider look at how this death touches and affects everyone who ever knew him. Bruce had everything to live for to the eye of all beholders, but he failed to let anyone into his inner struggles, whatever they may have been.

Too many who are on the edge of this precipice feel that they cannot burden their families and friends with their existence rather than talking to someone, anyone, no matter how large or small the perceived straw that would break them. They must learn to realize that there will be far more of a burden, and blaming of selves, than could ever crush those same people by sharing their feelings, deeds, or whatever overwhelms them.

The book actually begins with the death of Sam David, Carl's father, which takes us on the journey of memories and hence to the suicide of Bruce as an integral part of the memories. Carl David, through his memories, wounds, and lifelong struggle with "why" and "is it my fault?" demonstrates how much of a burden is placed on those who knew and loved Bruce. Though few families seem to share the closeness and love of the David family, the suicide did happen.  But this is not a sad book, it is meaningful, historical, and brings to mind an age gone by as Carl takes the reader through his memories from the 1950s on. Great memories of days gone by he shared with Bruce, memories of growing up with an amazing bond with his father, a lifetime of good memories.

The sudden death of his father at the age of 58, while on a buying trip in England, once again throws the family in turmoil. This event, as fraught with sorrow and  blame as the death of Bruce, almost puts his mother over the edge, adding to the anxiety. But this also brings a wealth of memories, although always with that sadness that clings. By this time, Carl has been married less than a year. Some people would call it paranormal, others would call it echoes, or a passing thought, but a feeling of the presence of the two departed makes itself known many times, a feeling of connection, and sometimes a warning.

Aside from the fears of mortality and loss, the book is full of the love, and the closeness this family has.  There is a bit of history of how the David David  Gallery, and the gallery is another theme throughout the book. This is where Carl learned the art business, along with his older brother Alan. When their father died so suddenly of a heart attack, the two brothers took over the Gallery.  When Carl's boys were old enough to show interest in the workings of the business, they, too, were eventually running the family business.

Another theme throughout the book is flying. Sam David was an excellent pilot and had his own Aztec plane, teaching the teen-aged Carl how to fly. Carl's memories flow on the hours spent with his Pop in the air. Carl lost his interest in flying when his father died, but after many years of not realizing how much time he spent trying to be like his father to keep his memory alive, he and his wife instead took to boating. This was probably the most major event to change the direction of his dwelling on the past. No longer did he dwell, but enjoyed the memories for what they were.

This book is a testament to handling whatever is thrown at you; not only that, but how to sort out the good from the tragic, incorporate those memories and go on. Carl chose to write the memories as a way for his sons to know their grandfather, who and what he was and the gentle, all-encompassing love and compassion he represented. This is perhaps his greatest gift.

Note: The David David Gallery is still in existence, and some of the works of art that Carl speaks of in his book can be seen on their website.
3511031
As I was reading this book, I had to keep reminding myself that this little, but powerful, book was written over five decades ago.

Though many today might find the references to totalitarian regimes and the general landscape of the geopolitical realities of the time, to which we can simply substitute those with uncomfortably similar references from the issues we wrestle with in this present day.

This is the reality of a claim he repeatedly asserts and implies that humankind, for all its  advances on the human level, still doesn't know its creator, or live by His will, any better than it did when we fell from grace.
It's that notion that makes this work to be republished today so timely, yet timeless. Humans have not changed, and indeed cannot change, or make changes for the better, until they realize the centrality of Christ in all of existence. This has been desire of God from the beginning.

In that time of its original publication, 1962, we, in America, were in the midst of "the Cold War", the Vietnam conflict had not escalated into the "police action" it would become,and the civil rights movement was in its earliest stages.

In American and other western economies, it seemed that traditional Judeo-Christian ideology was beginning to lose its presumed innocence and its sense of stability was being eroded by its own deficiencies.

Charles Malik writes this book, in that social  environment, to remind its readers the importance of recognizing the highest authority of all humanity, which is the incarnate son of the living God, Jesus Christ, whatever the current political-cultural environment may be. This is what is meant by word "crisis" in the title and the book as the author explains in his opening arguments.

This, then sets the tone for the overall thrust of the book which is addressing and dealing with the dissonance that exists between the kingdom of this world and the kingdom of God. In that regard, the sixth chapter, "the burden of the Christian", is pivotal.

The author urges us to grapple with the very tenuous grip we have our understanding of the things of this world and the absolute need for guidance in our lives at a very deep spiritual level.
Especially in these days very the boundaries between religion, spirituality, economic justice, and policy are often severely blurred.

How can a Christian maintain faith and glorify God in a world that seem to prefer that those lines remain blurred, if not blurred even more?

It's also important to acknowledge the authors call for Christian unity in such a way that echoes C.S.Lewis's a similar idea in his work "Mere Christianity" that true unity is found not in blind compromise in "Non-Essentials" but in, rather, the essential principles of a higher authority.
This is ecumenism in is truest and best form.

As I was reading, l was struck by the thought of how I'm reading this book, having grown up in the sixties and seventies, on the "before" side of the timeline of the events that shaped the authors thesis, and those, of a younger generation on the "after" side, after the turbulence and change from those times, How would they read this book?

Perhaps the answer lies partly in how faith and religion is considered today.

In the profound biographical introduction for this new edition, written by his son, Habib Malik, there is an observation from the author's life that should impact all who read this small, but immense book, and that is that Charles Malik, the Statesmen, diplomat, churchman, advisor to heads of state and the United Nations, was never without two things within reach; his Bible and his journal.

It was a practice that kept the purpose of the authors life.

While many of us would keep a journal, have many of us would approach Gods unchanging word as to make part of our daily routine?

If the result would have us see things as Charles Malik did, maybe it should.
3027862
its Disc World... if your Looking at Getting this book you know all about it...
Terry Will be Missed..and Has Left us a Great Literary Legacy..
Funny and well written..
But again,.. if your looking at this book... you know what to expect..