Less is more--story, sarcasm
931063
I like Nelson DeMille but this book was too long and honestly the main character's continuous smart -- comments really wore thin.
3687135
It must be admitted that taking cheap shots at celebrities who have latched onto the children's book craze is very tempting.

So, I'm going to only to take well-deserved ones.

I tried, really, to approach this book with an open mind. I believe I did. However, I cannot deny that Madonna made a mistake retelling this particular tale from the Kabbalah to re-tell. Not having the original at hand (Madonna informs us that it's "inspired" by a story by "The Bal Shem Tov--"The Master of the Good Name, " born in the early 18th century in the Ukraine), I can't tell exactly how much she changed it, but as a children's book the "moral of the story" is heavy-handed and harsh.

The story concerns baseball coach Mr. Peabody's apparent apple stealing from an open-air fruit market. Tommy Tittlebottom see it first, and, as tradition has it, gossip spreads fast in the town of "Happville" (which wasn't a very big town). When none of the boys show up for next week's game except Tommy Little ("who wasn't a very big boy"). Although Tittlebottom apologizes to his coach, and offers to make things better, Peabody decides to teach the young boy a lesson, a lesson that is intended to ring with Talmudic wisdom.

Following Mr. Peabody's instructions, Tommy to bring a pillow to the baseball field, and cuts it open as requested. As they watch the feathers scatter all over the baseball field, Peabody likens this to the effect of fast-flying rumors. OK, point taken, game and match to the adult. However, that's not enough; Mr. Peabody actually asks Tommy to pick up every feather on the field. The book suggests that Tommy (who seems like a good boy) actually does this. Perhaps this is all symbolic, but basically we have one boy's small, understandable mistake (and if Tommy made a mistake, so did the whole gossiping small town), met by a figure who's cold, unforgiving, and who imparts the force of his authority, not his wisdom. While the pacing is fine, and the storytelling clear, the revisions are not impressive. In this post-WWII tale, Madonna calls the owner of the fruit market, "Mr. Funkadeli" and one of the town boys, "Tommy Tittlebottom." Anachronistic (Funkadeli) and too easy (both names). The story choice (however, is far worse than these small miscues.

Fortunately, Madonna has the clout to get Mr. Loren Long as illustrator. Long (whom Madonna--or her publisher--left off the book's cover draws gooey-looking hometown heroes who looked like they're stuffed with clay. Their silhouettes reveal long baggy legs, gangly limbs. The backgrounds include post-war small town scenes (the village looks like Disneyland's "Main Street") and vast horizons in blues, purples, and grays. The shaded, rounded, and bucolic scenes give indeed give the Norman Rockwell look noted above. Madonna includes the pious (and if I give in to some perhaps unfounded cynicism--profit-making) sentiments that she hopes she has "done his story justice," and dedicates the book "to teachers everywhere." OK, that last sentence may have been a cheap shot. Recommended for the illustrations only.
3007542
The story is mostly told through cumbersome  and unnatural dialogue and first person, present tense...so if you can handle the choppy voice, then certainly it can be amusing to read a fictional character living exactly your life. But then, it isn't exactly your life is it? It really reads like someone's ongoing internal humble-brag. Jules, stressed about homeschooling, but she is soothed when a friend reminds her her son learned to read at 4. Next chapter: oh, poor Jules, her life, her lawn, her personal style.....they don't compare to those of her wealthy in laws....but seriously, we hear her first person monologue of how her roses are gorgeous and her vegetable garden has a crop...and how her  husband "chose" his lower paying career path. It's tiresome and dull to read through Jullienne's train of thought, that mostly consists of her judging/comparing others and then soothing herself with her own poorly masked sense of superiority.  If this book were really going to be helpful and motivating to homeschoolers it would worry less about how jule's life looks in its story book perfection and first world problems and more about showing the realities of day to day and show us how Jules learned to see the best in her life, even when her roses aren't so yellow and gosh, she would like for her husband to make more money. There's no grit here. It's not unlike reading a transcript from a MOPS meeting.
4685625
Written in a deliberately low-level voice, which added to the mood of the story. Cute little story, well told. There is a lack of sophistication in the Voice that's an effective element, effective storytelling as opposed to bad writing.
3779517
I'm a fan of Augusten Burroughs' non-fiction writing.  Both "Dry" and "Running with Scissors" were excellent glimpses into his disturbing childhood and subsequent dive into alcoholism as an adult.  Burroughs is very adept at injecting strong doses of humor and sardonic wit into (potentially) grim material.

However, his writing skills with "Sellevision" fall short.

"Sellevision" is meant to be a satire on home shopping channels (i.e., QVC and the HSN.)  The plot consists of documenting the travails and triumphs of various personalities who work at the "Sellevision" network.  Unfortunately, the humor is sporadic.  I could never quite tell if the book was supposed to be a biting satire on the vanities people develop as TV 'personalities' - or if it was an over the top don't-take-this-too-seriously read.  It often seems to be one or the other - with no middle ground.

My major point of contention was I couldn't empathize with the book's characters - each character was static and never developed.  Additionally, with the exception of Peggy Jean, the other characters seem to blend together.

Peggy Jean's storyline was meant to fall into the vein of 'black comedy' - but often just read as mean-spirited and judgmental.  Burroughs' was attempting a commentary on people who live in a state of forced 'normalcy' - but many of the gags were obvious and pointed.

Leigh and Trish were so unmemorable that I had difficulty telling one from the other until a major plot development late in the book.  Bebe's storyline of 'falling in love' was quaint, but pointless to the flow of the story.

And Max, the former Sellevision host trying to find his way in life, was such a stereotype of the non-aggressive, helpless, passive gay male that I often found him off-putting.  Plus, Burroughs' tendency to remind the reader of how 'good-looking' Max was irritating.  A character is still a passive-aggressive cipher no matter how attractive he may be.

Ultimately, there never seems to be any logic in why the characters are in these particular situations.

There a few moments of hilarity - but these moments are spaced out so unevenly, that they only serve as a reminder to why the book is not a strong read.  At times I felt like I was reading a bad John Waters script.

Burroughs is excellent at melding humor to dark situations when it comes to his personal experiences, but seems to have difficulties in doing this with fictional people.
3280962
It isn't very flowing story-wise because there is a fair amount of jumping around to different conversations.  There is also a lot of loaded sarcasm.  This seems like more of an interactive book where the adult would need to explain a lot of subtext.  If this is a thing you are prepared for and like to do, awesome.  If you are looking for an easy mindless read, this is not the book for you.
1835618
Decent story, but the author couldn't keep the story going at the Same level all the way through, apparently lessened the damage to make life easier
2677207
My initial expectations:
Given the current turmoil in the world economy and the anger against bankers and big business in general I was expecting a book of stories born out of the frustration and rage that has shown itself in the "Occupy Wall Street" protest and all its associated actions and demonstrations across the Western world. Despite the impression given by the picture on the front cover the stories in "Subversion" do not fit into that slot.

"Subversion" is a collection of relatively mild stories, some better than others (as one would expect in a collection), but nothing that is Earth shattering, revolutionary or likely to provoke the gathering of a rabble to demand change.

The foreword states all the stories are united in their dealing with subversion of one sort or another.

A Thousand Wings of Luck by Jessica Reisman
Good world building - The world in this story would do well as part of a novel, but the story in this short piece is too weak for the world built to tell it. The "religion" in the tale could be built upon as part of a bigger work.

And All Its Truths by Camille Alexa
This is a tale of life in a colony where the humans have been pushed into subservience by the machines that were put in place to protect them.  It is a story of hope and survival.  One could interpret it as a story about the Guantanamo detention centre.

Pushaway by Melissa S. Green
This is a tale about religious oppression, suppression of women in the name of religion, and child abuse in isolated communities.  The central government, although aware of the mistreatment, does not take action to enforce child protection measures and human rights until many people are permanently damaged by the lifestyle and feudal control of the religious leaders.

Phantom Overload by Daniel Jos Older
This is an amusing little tale of tyranny in the afterlife.  While it was a good story I was upset by repeated basic grammatical errors (e.g. "There's two..."; "There's hundreds...") and some poor editing that didn't catch sentences like, "In moments like these that I have to work very hard not to use it."

Cold Against the Bone by Kelly Jennings
A tale of slavery and injustice.  A bit too disjointed and convolute to be an enjoyable read.

The Red Dybbuk by Barbara Krasnoff
I found this story had nothing in it to grab my interest.

Pushing Paper in Hartleigh by Natania Barron
Pushing Paper is a lovely tale of frustration with bureaucracy.

Parent Hack by Kay T. Holt
This is a fun story of future foster parenting.

The Hero Industry by Jean Johnson
Armchair theory story on kidnapping.

Flicka by Cat Rambo
Interesting tale of prejudice in small town USA with differences highlighted between right-wing theist community and the more open minded atheists.

Seed by Shanna Germain
Brothel taking business from foreigners and being persecuted by men of their own kind as a result. Well told story about prejudice and xenophobia.

Scrapheap Angel by R.J. Astruc & Deirdre Murphy
This is an amusing tale about the dehumanising effect of call centres.

The Dragon's Bargain by C. A. Young
An interesting tale but some loose editing let some problems through.

A Tiny Grayness in the Dark by Wendy N. Wagner
A tale of the underworld; beautifully told.

Received Without Content by Timothy T. Murphy
Interesting tale about striking back against the privileged elite.

To Sleep With Pachamama by Caleb Jordan Schulz
Eco warriors of the future.  Good story of struggle  against the system.

While the collection contains some interesting pieces it is not a book I will be going back to time and again.
1053494
I'm rating Jennifer Government a 2 star, but it really should be a 2.5 (it is an average book).

Strong points:

Good premise.

The dust jacket artwork is excellent.

This book is quite humorous, and the author must have spent a great deal of time working on a style that is similar to Douglas Adams with a bit of Heller (Catch-22, as mentioned on the dust jacket) tossed in for good measure.

It is a fast read, and the pages are easily consumed.

There is a great deal of humor; however I am not sure that the funny aspects will tickle each reader the same way.  The mature adult reader will no doubt be laughing at the absurdity of the characters and the satirical unrealism of the enjoyable plot.

Weak points:

Paper-thin characterization really takes away from the overall story.  There is virtually no depth to any of them.  Seriously.  Sit-com television characters have more depth.  While that adds to the absurdity of the plot, and overall humor, it just makes this work of fiction feel very, very lightweight, and not what one usually expects for the novel form of media.  It also hurt the satirical message the author is attempting to make. (Is he even seriously making such a pro-socialist argument about capitalism or just fooling around?).  Note that the dust jacket comparison of Jennifer Government to Catch-22 fails completely under this aspect.

In Catch-22, Heller's characters, are very well developed and complex - this is one of the things that make that a classic piece of literature.  Again, one usually expects a lot more depth from a book than is what is served up for television and even full-feature length movies.  Perhaps this is why various reader-reviewers think this will make a better movie than a novel.  I certainly agree with that assertion.
4872909
I wanted to like this and couldn't. In fact, I had to stop reading.

The book should come with the disclaimer that the author's politics runs throughout the narrative. So, if you don't ascribe to his way of thinking, you will find the concept simplistic, if not silly.
1532930
Who was it who advised writers to get rid of as many adjectives as they could in their manuscripts, and then reread the `mani' to get rid of some more? Wrong. Wrong. Wrong...as The Great Gatsby fashionably luxuriates. Had it not been for the gratuitous liberties taken to moderate a colloquial tale of adultery & romance turned tragic, this one would have read as held up and prosaic as Nick & Gatsby.

Normally I don't care for sarcasm, particularly not in these extravagant quantities, but for this one an exception had to be made. To a stuttering mumbling degree the way The Great Gatsby is told is most intriguing and fixating.
100715
I thought it was supposed to be an entertaining view of parenting. It turned out to be more a sarcastic mean account that makes me wonder why the author chose to have kids at all. I have a toddler and a sense of humor, but this crossed the line from sarcasm to just meanness.
3875512
Writing a sarcastic, wise-ass protagonist isn't easy, and Robert Downs doesn't quite pull it off in his novel FALLING IMMORTALITY.  Casey Holden, PI, is a Sam Spade style investigator whose rapid fire repartee and cynical sense of humor are supposed to carry the story.  Unfortunately, the repartee and the humor are both so overdone that the story itself gets lost in the fallout.

Casey Holden is an ex-cop, a surfer, a ladies man, and a guy who just can't help but answer a question with a snide remark.  The story begins when a young woman walks into his office asking him to investigate the two-year-old unsolved murder of her husband, Artis Farren.  Holden takes the case, enlists the help of his cop friend Ian, and begins interviewing people (including the owner of the bar in which Artis was shot, the Medical Examiner, and the police officer in charge of the case).  In between interviews, he has sex with women, a lot of different women.

What slows the plot down are the interminable conversations between Holden and everyone else.  Every single conversation becomes a convoluted comedy sketch in which the PI plays a never-ending series of word games - it takes pages and pages of this stuff to get to anything having to do with the case Holden is investigating.  One guy asks him, "You tryin' to be funny?" and Holden replies, "No, I'm naturally funny."  Unfortunately, he isn't.  Several times people wind up asking Holden, "Just what are you trying to get at?" and each time he says something along the lines of, "I have no idea.  I'm just fishing for information."  It's all very tiring.

Ultimately, the case isn't exactly solved; it simply concludes.  The usual suspects turn out to be the perps, and I was left wondering exactly why Artis Farren's wife hired Holden in the first place.  But the case was never really important in FALLING IMMORTALITY.  This novel is all about Casey Holden.  If you find his banter charming (as he clearly does), you'll enjoy the book - it's clever in places, funny at times, and an easy read.  If, however, you get tired of the repetitive wordplay, the novel will lose steam by the fourth chapter.

Robert Downs is working on the sequel to FALLING IMMORTALITY, called GRACEFUL IMMORTALITY; there's an excerpt included at the end of this novel.  I think there is potential for Casey Holden to be developed as an interesting continuing character, but not without a degree of editing.  Banter can be amusing, but a little goes a long way.  There's a fine line between loving a wise-ass and wanting to strangle him - Downs hasn't quite managed to keep Holden on the right side of that line.

[Please note:  I was provided a copy of this novel for review.  The opinions expressed are my own.]
4721754
I liked it more than I disliked it, but I wish 3.5 stars were one of the choices. One reviewer wrote: "I see that most other reviewers liked the book, they appreciated both the humor and the story. So it probably comes down to taste." YES, it mos def comes down to taste.

Preface to the book points out that it is written from the narrator's point of view, which is reiterated at the end - I didn't really understand metamessage, as this is not such an unusual style for fiction. Additionally, this would be immediately obvious to a reader even without the preface, so I guess that struck me a off-putting and slightly hmmmmmm

Nonetheless I laughed out loud when I got to the line "I hate my job." The book has some funny moments and the main character grows to be likable. I agree with some of the other reviewers though, that the early part of the book is peppered with quite a few overwrought metaphors - this may strike you awesome (!) It's truly a matter of taste.  Personally I liked the latter half of the book better when then story took off and the language toned down.

Who would like this book? It read a little like a video game. If you like multi-media, if you like graphic novels, it's a modern romp through a wacky adventure. Read it like candy. Harmless and enjoyable come to mind as adjectives - if made into a movie, I hope it is animated.

Thanks Rory!
2889576
There are so many reviews of this modern retelling of Jane Austen's novel SENSE AND SENSIBILITY about I feel very late to the party. Here are my impressions.

My Quibbles: The main characters were pretty shallow, self-absorbed and difficult to connect with; slim caricatures of Austen's originals. Two fifty-something unmarried ladies and a seventy-something divorcee talking about themselves and wallowing in misery is not Austenish, at all. What happened to a witty comedy of manners? Maybe that was the author's point. Are we now more materialistic and bitter than nineteenth-century ladies in the same circumstances? Even though Betty (Mrs. Dashwood) was thrown over by her husband of fifty years for a woman half her age, I began to think he had good reason. Making Miranda (Marianne Dashwood) a calculating literary agent gave me the shivers for those honorable agents in the profession, and Annie (Elinor Dashwood) the librarian, who should be stoic and admirable, is supporting her mother and sister, why? She is more an enabler of bad behavior than a help. Ack! The romance was more than a bit thin, and the end Louisa? Don't even get me started. Find out for yourself! Definitely less sense and more sensibility all around!

My Praise: Funny, irreverent and quirky. The transformation of Austen's early-nineteenth century classic to modern-day New York and Westport, Connecticut was a clever notion, mainly because of Schine's understanding of the social context of both cultures. The Jewish humor was so appropriate. They have been persecuted for centuries and do irony and misery better than anyone else. When seventy-five year old impoverished Betty Weissmann rationalizes a shopping spree to Brooks Brothers and Tiffany's in New York before she meets her soon-to-be-ex-husband and his attorney (because she must look stunning) you totally believe her and understand her character's motivation. You do not agree, but you understand. While her daughter Miranda must have a shiny new red kayak to find her soul, you roll your eyes and compare Austen's Marianne Dashwood romanticizing over dead leaves. Schine follows Austen's narrative pretty closely and modernizes it surprisingly. The characters are foibled and fraught with emotion and angst. The secondary characters add humor and conflict.  If you can overlook some of the shallow soul searching, profligate spending and incredible coincidences that fuel the plot, THE THREE WEISSMANNS OF WESTPORT was a fun lark, albeit a bit annoying at times.

Laurel Ann, Austenprose
1024693
Neither more nor less.  Like a Grimm's fairy tale or the like.  Really belongs in an Anthology or a magazine, rather than as a stand alone.
2036463
Kurt Vonnegut begins this book with an autobiographical story, one that he told in more detail in the novel Slaughterhouse 5.  It is the story of his imprisonment as a captured US private in Dresden during the allied firebombing of this formerly untouched city during WWII - an act of retribution and atrocity that he, who had to help clean up the aftermath, found incomprehensible, reprehensible, and that created, in many ways, I think, the mindset that became the voice of his novels.  And the voice of his novels is a cynical one.

Colum McCann, a contemporary writer who has written about such things as the 9/11 bombings, is cited in a recent New York Times Sunday Magazine article (6/2/13) as predicting about the kids and teachers who survived the Sandy Hook shootings that their struggle against cynicism would be a struggle they would carry on for the rest of their lives.

Vonnegut enters into this struggle armed with two things - things that he names in another book, Cat's Cradle, a Grand Falloon and a dupras.  He said something like "To understand the nature of a Grand Falloon (and here I am quoting from 40 something year old memory so please forgive errors) take the skin off a toy balloon."  That is, that all groupings of people - he used the example of Hoosiers in Cat's Cradle though here and elsewhere he is talking about Nazis and Allies - are essentially arbitrary.  We are not different - but alike - including in our being fallible and even evil, especially when we create arbitrary distinctions and act on them to harm others.  The antidote that he proposes, somewhat feebly, is the dupras - a romantic love that is so intense that the two people become fused - the lines between them fall away and they function as one person.

So the novel Mother Night is about a writer - a kind of hack, sappy romantic writer - certainly someone who could be a cynical version of the author - who has American citizenship but is born and raised in Germany, writes some plays, and chooses to stay there durning the war.....

To read the rest of the review google the reluctant psychoanalyst mother night