Such a complex story told so brilliantly through words and images of the highest caliber
925112
Stunning, powerful photography combined with the words of the Cheyenne River Children themselves makes for an extraordinary and rich experience. I'm proud to have this book in my home and to be able to share it with any and all who enter. Such a complex story told so brilliantly through words and images of the highest caliber. Five Stars!
1817117
I received this book from the author in exchange for a fair review.

That said, I do not know if I can write a fair review. I do not think I have enough control over language to give this book justice. It was beautiful. Taona Dumisani Chiveneko uses beautiful language. I met so many interesting characters brought to life through metaphor. Chiveneko does not just describe a character, he creates a stunning visual and produces deep characterization in a few words. It is a rare and wonderful talent that, as a reader, grabs you and transports you into a deeply complex narrative full of vivid and interesting characters. From the moment I read the description of Mr. Gejo I knew I had discovered a wonderful new author. The description is as follows:

"To the Chairman's right was the largest man that Abel Muranda had ever seen. He had the muscular definition of a man who had spent his life restraining elephants in heat. Each of his sleeves looked like a python that had swallowed prey larger than the snake was elastic. The garment was losing the fight. The man's size was not his only striking feature. He also had a massive mustache that looked like a scruffy kitten had nestled above his lips and fallen asleep."

And the descriptions just continue to get better from there. Each character is vividly created to be intertwined in a complex narrative with more links than the flame lily has roots, weaving together subtly over the course of the book.

Beyond that, the story is fascinating. I don't give synopses of books, the description above or the back of the book will do that for me. The story is wonderfully executed, just giving touches of information, the perfect amount to make it hard to put down, and just enough fantasy to make the reader wonder what is true and what is imagination. Okay, so the flame lily is fantasy, but a new hangman was just appointed in Zimbabwe this year.

I will admit, that the story and language can be a bit heavy at times and may not be to everyone's taste. I did have to put the book down at one point to read something else for my book club. Then I picked The Hangman's Replacement again and devoured the second half of the book. Again, I was drawn in by the language and the detailed characters. Now part of that could be that my book for book club was painfully bad and to return to an author with such an amazing talent was refreshing.

I want more of this story. Thankfully, this is only book 1 with an anticipated four to seven books in the series. I plan on owning them.
776308
My anticipation for this book could not have been high enough.  The illustrations are breathtaking.  Through the use of vivid color and often poignant subject matter, the bravery of the artist evokes as strong an emotional understanding as the prose does intellectual.  While it may have the appearance of a children's book, Where Money Grows on Trees is certainly intended for an audience with the maturity to appreciate nuance.  It may not be immediately apparent, but nearly every line is laced with subtle metaphor.  Hours could be spent unraveling the poetry and searching for every intended, and unintended, meaning.  In short:  success, anger, sadness, conflict, pride, dystopia, and utopia in one stunning package.
2237292
i don't even know where to begin.

first, the entire thing is written as if it were the denoument. every page feels like the last. it unfolds at breakneck speed with the feeling of a shocked recollection piecing things together as it progresses. the prose is solid and seamless. the story is engrossing and told with incredible uniqueness. we gloss over it again and again, each chapter is like another layer. instead of telling a linear story, faulker tells the same story from each point of veiw, in each dimension, revealing and completing more and more everytime. just brilliantly wrought. A must read for Sound and The Fury fans, this brings you even deeper into Quentins soul than you may be able to handle.

read this book. if you don't want to buy it, read it.

ps. Thomas Sutpen is the shit
619750
It's a tour de force on how to convert a complex, rich, true story into a crystal clear, three dimensional, beautifully crafted story. Couldn't wait to pick up the book again to continue reading it. It's absorbing and you want to learn more about these characters and their unique lives. This book deserves to be read by all.
3433901
Too many words to describe how Extraordinary this book is.
862694
This story of 3 generations of women connected by their personal tragedies is told ingeniously, interweaving their lives in reverse chronological order.  It's a brilliant character study that profoundly moves the heart, and the suspense was so compelling that I could not put the book down until it was done.  The author's gifted ability at storytelling had me believing that some people just might be irredeemable, then turned around and extracted from me a sense of compassion for them, as well as the complications of those whose lives we judge until we have experienced impossible circumstances ourselves.  Highly recommended!
2917424
This story is so intricately done and yet the reader is a witness to everything.  The revelations are about the characters involved and done beautifully.  A wonderful way to spend a weekend and a really good way to brush up on your very well written English.
1352474
Stunningly written narrative that transcends the complications of mere teen hood and takes the reader into the heart and soul of a troubled life plagued by misfortune (or fortune, depending on your read of the book's conclusion and theme).

I hesitate to offer too much of my opinion because the intimacy shared between the reader and the story line is palpable and one of the work's invaluable undertones it offers to it's audience.

On the surface, the plot is dense with colorful characters and interesting events. However, the real treasure of this lengthy read is its depth of philosophy through smooth and unforced delivery. Unlike other books that force an idea or tenet of humankind, the book unfolds naturally to expose the many layers of the human psyche in relation to the seemingly dichotomous notion of good and evil.

The Goldfinch painting carefully and quietly string the reader throughout the novel. The end surely leaves the reader with an individualized impression, so I will not comment on it.

Beautifully done and one of the best books I have had the pleasure of reading.
4358206
Brian Trenchard-Smith takes a firm grip of the reader at page one and never ease up for the 236 pages of this marvellous story. His brilliant and clever writing gives an impressive clarity to this very complex tale, that vividly brings back times past, as well as give a fascinating perspective about our own times. The adventures of Alice and the rest of the characters in this book is so captivating, I had a hard time getting them out of my mind whenever I had to put the book down to do other things, and as soon as I could I picked up the book to dive right into this magical world again. The Headsmans Daughter is filled with action, suspense, thrills, intelligence and humour that Im sure would make this novella a blast for most readers regardless of age or gender.
1688442
Utterly absorbing and brilliant. The best writing to come out of the Vietnam/Cambodia wars. Made famous by the movie The Killing Fields this memoir is so much more as it tells the story of a young handsome journalist's arrival in a world of exotic scenes smells drugs and women. The actual drama shown in the movie at the French Embassy in Phnom Penh is a small chapter in a long story of love adventure captivity and loss. Emotional and emotive, it must have been desperately hard to write yet comes across as easy to read. Full of history, social commentary and personal memoir, this is a story if beauty and anguish told by a master story teller. If you have any interest in Southeast Asia you must buy this book. It is amazing and unforgettable. How I came across it I don't know but I am glad I did. Top flight story telling.
2645538
Honey Rider is simultaneously frustrating and brilliant, but most importantly, it is a compelling read.  The frustration comes from grappling a style of writing that is altogether new  yet still drips of Midwestern Gothic. It rings like music from a foreign place that takes time to fit into our ear comfortably  but once there it has found a home.

The payoff is worth sorting through all 275 bits of information - the darkly seductive story of a young man on a journey to make things right or  at least  understand them for himself.

The brilliance of Honey Rider is evident in the way the pieces of information are organized and disseminated to the reader. The 275 clues are dangled in front of the readers eyes, suspended by the bindings of honesty, and held in place by the authors empathetic look at the characters that inhabit this complex  yet accessible world.
3553594
Laini Taylor manages to weave a tale of beauty, filled with creatures from high fantasy, or maybe what we may imagine could be found in the bowels of hell (monsters), as well as the angels we may imagine from heaven, until we get to know them a bit better...  It's impossible to take sides in this fight, is either right?  Are both wrong?  Hard to say.
We are kept guessing from the beginning, what, or who, is Karou?  Not only that, but what are the teeth for?  Why does Karou have eye tattoos on her hands?  And oh, so many other questions kept me flying through this one.  This story managed to feel completely unique while still bringing in elements we may be more familiar with in YA of today.  Laini's writing is full of beautiful and vivid descriptions and she weaves a tale of beauty.  Never knowing what could happen next and just waiting for the next twist to happen, this is a story of family, of love, of hate, compassion and confusion.
As with Laini's other works, her words flow like poetry and characters are vividly drawn.  I don't think there's a person alive who could compare with Laini's writing.  It's just a beauty all it's own.

I loved so much in this book it's hard to know where to begin.  Karou is fabulous and I connected with her immediately.  She doesn't know much of anything so as things are revealed to her about things, they are revealed to us.  The things she thinks and does make sense.  Only one time in the book was I screaming 'no' at her and that was something I wanted to find out more as well.  So I was afraid, but curious.  So maybe more of a half hearted no?
The romance in this book is done in a way that I would think I wouldn't care for it if I heard that it would be like that.  But it worked.  And in the end, it really worked.  I mean, there was a reason the two of them were so drawn to each other immediately.  You just have to trust that things are meant to be.
Towards the end of the book we suddenly start seeing some back story and while in third person (like the rest of the book) we are put in a different time.  It's very important to the story but I was anxious to get back to Karou.  I wanted to know all that information, but faster.  But to be honest, the way it was done was probably perfect.  I mean, I couldn't have put the book down at that point if I had to!  And it was like puzzle pieces suddenly snapping into place.  And even though we are thrust into a different time and situation it wasn't really a 'thrust'.  It was done so smoothly that it didn't really confuse me or upset the balance of the book.
The ending... oh crap.  What a freaking ending!  Laini, you bad bad girl!  I will die, surely die, of needing more, like right freaking now!  Quite the cliff hanger folks!  Yes, we get the answers we need from this book, but then a bomb is dropped that opens up to more.  And what a bomb!  Man, it's torture.  Pure torture.
I recommend this book to everyone.  Seriously.  This is going to hold great crossover appeal to adults and while maybe a bit heavy for the younger crowd (middle graders) I wouldn't say there's a lot of inappropriate content (not that I'm remembering anyway...).  I think I loved this one best out of all of Laini's books, though I love her others as well and highly recommend!

Disclosure: I received an advance copy of this book free of charge through amazon vine for review purposes.  All opinions expressed are my own and I was not paid or influenced in any way.
360150
After hearing Maureen Corrigan review Claire Messud's work on NPR two weeks ago, I wanted to be sure to read and finish this book by the anniversary of 9/11.  I did so just an hour ago, and still have my breath taken away by her astonishingly masterful rendition of characters, with complex interior lives, leading up to and shortly following that day.  Marina, Danielle, and Julius are the thirty-year-old friends around whom we are led to believe the book focuses.  However, this is young Frederick "Bootie" Tubb's story through and through, as we gradually learn the roles those three friends, as well as all others in the book, have in shaping his inexorable development as Messud's protagonist.  At times the writing - filled with more interior rather than overt dialogue - can be challenging.  But if one rereads such passages, it's clear they could not have been written otherwise.  There will surely be comparisons to Bonfire of the Vanities, The Corrections, and perhaps Between Two Rivers (deserving of a much wider audience than it's had) - but as a literary memorial to New York and its culture before 9/11, and as a work of breathtaking truth about human relationships, The Emperor's Children is in a class of its own.
2199412
The Armenian child in Gray Wolves and White Doves experiences one catastrophe after another in this fast-paced story based on the author's own experiences growing up in a world where it seems everyone was out to get him. The incredulous story is real and only someone who has gone through these experiences could tell it so vividly and with so much brilliance, it shines. On its own, Gray Wolves and White Doves is an extraordinary tale. However, set in shadow of the attempted annihilation of Armenians by the Turks, the historical background becomes as meaningful as the story itself. The telling is crisp, the language delightful and the prose compelling. You will cringe, smile, laugh, cry and recoil in horror. Ultimately, you will feel a sense of gratification when you finish the last sentence; a satisfaction and completeness that is often lacking in novels today.
1351774
Exquisite detail, compelling characters, soaringly imaginative fiction together with historical veracity. A deeply moving tale of conflict and continuity between generations...tears, joys, social concerns, and artistic passion...What a story! So real, so beautiful, so moving throughout. Plenty of "mystery," but each resolution is logical and coherent with the flow of the book. Painterly, eloquent, and gripping - every page. A "natural" for book clubs, meaningful vacation reading, and for any evening at home.
4361548
There is absolutely no doubt that The Whispering Swarm is technically brilliant. The complex interplay of autobiography, real-life history, invented mythology, and pulp adventure is, really, quite stunning to behold. Never before have I seen so many genres and themes at play within the same text, all of them having a significant role within the overall story. While it's bewildering at times, the literary mastery of Michael Moorcock ensures that it's never too dense or too confusing to hold the reader within the magical, mythical, marvelous walls of the tale.

With all that said, the emphasis here is largely on the autobiographical side of things, and that's where the story stumbles. Written entirely in the first person, here we have a relatively dry, straightforward, matter-of-fact presentation of a young man's life, as remembered (and, often, reinvented) by his older self. It has a rambling, stream-of-consciousness feel to it at times, with certain details explored at length, and others inexplicably glossed over. For instance, while it is interesting to understand how Moorock got his start in the business, and it's even fascinating to get a first-hand look at the process of writing, editing, and printing early fanzines and magazines, there's a point at which you really wish he'd just move on. At the same time, things like finding his true love are glossed over in a matter of pages, with the young woman never getting so much as a line of dialogue.

Now, back to the history/mythology aspect of the book, and the adventure it inspires. Alsatia is a mythological refuge of the White Friars, defenders of history's greatest treasures (both real and imagined). Most people are completely ignorant of their existence, and simply cannot see the massive old gates leading into a secret heart of London. Untouched by fire, famine, plague, or war, the refuge has stood strong against the years, with those inside living a multiverse kind of life that touches on random times and places in the outside world. It is, by far, the best part of the tale, especially when historical figures living in an alternate timeline lay siege to Alsatia, dragging Moorock into a battle across time.

There is so much promise in the premise of Alsatia, but I was truly disappointed to find that Moorock refrained from interweaving the multiverse here with that of the Eternal Champion. I remember getting to the chapter titled The Lost Albino and getting ridiculously excited by the prospect of seeing Moorcock and Elric cross paths, even if it was just to have some albino swordsman pass through Alsatia to inspire the character. Alas, such interplay is not to be found here, and the chapter really glosses over the creation of his greatest character with some cold, bored declarations that he only intended one story, but fans demanded another, then another, then another.

Ultimately, it is an interesting tale, but I fear it's too long, too dry, and too autobiographical for all but Moorcock's most avid fans. The moments of adventure and excitement are simply too few and too far between. At the same time, the narrative style does nothing to help propel the story forward. Moorock has proven in the past that he can do first-person well, but it's as if he played it too safe here, trying to remain true to his own voice. Like I said, The Whispering Swarm is technically brilliant, but it's a hard book to enjoy.