Well written and compelling, but could have gone deeper
934981
This book is compelling and well written, but I sometimes found myself doubting the author's honesty. Benjamin Anastas portrays his wife as a total psychopath with no redeeming qualities aside from physical beauty. Her decision to abandon him hardly seems related to his premarital betrayal, and nothing in the book shows that their relationship was ever anything but superficial. Unless the mother of this man's son really is insane, I think the book would be better if it presented a fuller description of her, and maybe a clue about her side of the story. For me it was also hard to muster too much sympathy for someone with this guy's Wikipedia entry, especially since he has so far managed to maintain a good standard of living despite suffering the abject humiliation of borrowing from significant others and scrounging for loose change to contribute to the grocery budget and Coinstar's profits. Maybe I'm sentimental, but he moved me most with his last chapter--a letter to his young son who can't yet read.

As someone else pointed out, the Kindle edition is kind of a mess. Someone seems to have screwed up the e-book with a global search-and-replace that removed the second f in all instances of "off". Instead of immediately undoing this operation, the editor apparently then attempted an automated fix that only botched things further.

Mr. Anastas, your Coinstar days may be over, because I think I will be buying your novels. I wish you a speedy return to a charmed life, albeit not the one you expected.
216787
Be forewarned.  This book is less a history of the May 1977 incident as it is the story of the authors efforts to uncover the details about it, presented as a series of interviews interspersed with the authors efforts to find and talk to her sources.  It is meta-history.  It is well-written and compelling, to be sure:  the authors passion and sympathy for Angola, and her knowledge of that countrys history, is evident on almost every page.  But the political and historical context of May 1977, who made what key decisions, when, and why, is not to be found here.  I liked the book well enough, but the real story of May 1977 has yet to be told, at least in English.
1246820
I enjoyed this book, but I found myself confused at times. I liked that it had so many different layers, yet I finished the novel feeling incomplete. I won't give away any spoilers, but the ending did not provide me with the answers I was looking for. Still, this was an intriguing and well-written novel that is worth reading. I gave it four stars, but I still feel like I need to know more about the main characters. Audiobook review at JacksonBaer.com
1539057
This book has all of the tools it needs, yet somehow it doesn't quite get there in the end.  The Mulvaneys are a lovely family that descends into madness when the only Mulvaney daughter is raped.  The narrative and explanation about this descent is compelling and gripping, and the characters invoke sympathy and affection.  Through this narrative, Ms. Oates effectively weaves themes of evolution and religion as reflective of humanity's moral failures and successes.  After thoroughly explaining the family's descent with an excruciating attention detail and development of characters though 350 pages,Ms. Oates takes the family from complete destruction to total reconicilliation in the remaining 20 pages of the book. The theme, the direction and the author's message are lost in this simplistic conclusion, so that the reader is left with nothing to show for 400 pages worth of reading.  I was sad to put the book down because I felt like the characters I had fallen in love with didn't get the closure they deserved.
3946431
This is a respectable history of the blues, designed especially for people who already know something (or a lot) about the genre. Davis is an excellent writer, and many of his descriptions are riveting and insightful. Still, he seems overly impressed by his linguistic skills, and his discussion can be vague, impressionistic, and overly personal. He sometimes avoids presenting "hard" factual evidence (which you expect in a "history"), and gives his personal reactions to artists instead. Great journalism, but not always solid historical writing.

On occasion, his methods of scholarship are questionable and he has gaps in his knowledge. For instance, I don't understand why he relies on a work of fiction to give the definition of an African griot (he tries to explain it, but it doesn't really make sense). And he apparently doesn't know  Alan P. Merriam (p. 112), probably the most famous ethnomusicologist of the second half of the twentieth-century, next to Alan Lomax. I'm sure there are other examples one could find

I don't want to be too negative. This book is largely well-written and filled with the insights of somebody with lots of perspective on the subject.
2872380
The story drew me in, as it probably does to many. In the end, the unanswered questions are what kept me from giving this book a better rating. I understand that there are a lot of conjectures about McCandless, and that they can't be answered because he is dead, but that doesn't make me any less disappointed.

I think that Krakauer did a decent job of telling McCandless's story, and I agree with many of the conclusions he came to. The only real issue I had with this book was that it seemed to have a lot of "filler pages". Krakauer would spend pages and pages talking about one theory, only to turn around and refute it with what he actually believed happened. To me, when he did this it felt as if he was just trying to make the book longer and not actually presenting any worthwhile information.
4357415
Some absolutely brilliant writing, particularly in the first and last third of the novel - the middle was perhaps not so eloquent and beautiful, likely due more to the lead character's circumstances.  Frustrating at times in the amount of time spent on certain aspects of the story, but compelling and thoughtful stuff nonetheless.
3753688
Very insightful.  Perhaps a bit redundant in parts, but otherwise very well written
341710
The story is well told and very deep without being too philosophical. Fun to read, I felt that the main character could have actually existed.

It did seem to drag on in some segments but after thinking about it, perhaps that was the point.
2244991
I deeply enjoy Clark Strand's writing on haiku, and the teachings I've heard him give on the same.  He's an excellent writer, clear, interesting, and puts matters into context (sometimes into the context of his own past life) well.  However, while this book is well written and can be interesting, I think its target audience and best fit is with people who already connect in some way with the Bible or Christianity and desire a way to believe as mature, intelligent adults that retains a connection to both.  For others (like me) who have never found any connection or identification with the Bible or Christianity (despite growing up in a Christian-identifying home, attending private religious high school, trying to attend a church for a while), it's an interesting exercise but one that ultimately felt as remote and not really relevant to me as a book about belief in the context of Hinduism, Sikhism or Islam would.  Those are fine things - for their believers and community - but they hold no resonance to me.  Ultimately this book did not either, but that will be very different with other readers.
2733382
This is a deep book.  Be ready to read about one man's spiritual and human lifetime in letter format to his young son.  He includes many
metaphysical questions and dilemmas to ponder if you are so inclined.  The writing is admirable, and has won the author the Pulitzer Prize.
I admit that I didn't love his being the only voice we got to hear.  I would have liked the characters to be more developed and have their own voices
other than when he is quoting them.  We will have a very interesting discussion in my book club meeting soon!
1146957
I found this book, as others have stated, compelling reading. What struck me however, was the stuff that was "missing". If you are not wildly familiar with Freud's ouvre, then the lack of illustrations of portraits under discussion (most notably Parker-Bowles's) is frustrating. In addition, touched upon by other reviewers, is lack of depth of Freud as a person.

I'm not sure though that the author claims this to be a definitive biography so perhaps by leaving his audience wanting more he is opening the way for another book. I found myself wanting more detail about his relationships with his brothers as one example.

At any rate, I'd recommend loaning this book from your local library rather than buying it - it's well written and easy to read, but lacks depth from both a biographical and critical point of view.
1461395
This is a very well written book, good character development. That being said, when I finished the book I felt like something was missing! Part of that was due to the fact that Australian government, voting regulations, and election of officials is not like it is in the US, which is not the author's fault. She did a good job explaining it, but it was too much for me to grasp all of it. Consequently, there were some parts of the book I did not understand. I felt that the book left some unanswered questions and seemed to end rather abruptly. However, overall I did enjoy the book. It is not an easy read, but it is interesting and well written and edited.
2565337
I've just finished reading A Criminal Defense, and must agree with many of the five-star reviewer comments.  It is a compelling read, especially for those who enjoy legal/police procedurals, and well worth reading. I give it 3 stars for one reason ( without giving away the storyline): the line between moral and ethical behavior in all walks of life is one that shifts with the facts.  The legal line between innocence and guilt is much less flexible, though facts are subject to interpretation by a courtroom jury. And that line is what determines whether or not we live in a just and fair society. This narrative conflates these ideas, which makes the book interesting.  Nevertheless, I was unsatisfied with the outcome of the story -- the only price paid for criminal behavior was lifelong personal guilt, and that, I believe, does not bring justice to the victim, regardless of her enmity. How does one survive such guilt? Does the outcome justify the means of winning it?
4974577
This is a really interesting book and a strong cautionary tale of a society, our society, that forgot what was important in the pursuit of its own pleasure. The writing in this book is not amazing, but it fine, and the message is important. The book essentially details two failed attempts of American society trying to rid itself of the burden of child rearing. The story is very compelling, although at times it feels jumpy. My main complaint is that the chronology of the book just doesn't seem to work very well because it is not set far enough in the future, the time things take is not long enough, and the technology is at times science fictionish and at times early 2000's. Those are just small complaints though in an otherwise excellent book.
4397180
Although this book approaches greatness, it never quite reaches it.  The Mann Gulch Fire, which resulted in the deaths of 12 smokejumpers (firefighters who parachute from planes)and a park ranger, is a compelling story and Norman MaCLean seems particularly qualified to tell it, having fought fires as a young man himself in the deep woods of the west.  As he looks back over several decades, he does not merely seek to understand the causes of the deadly blaze, but also to integrate it into his own conceptions of life and death.  In his search for meaning in the fire, MaCLean contrasts his own long life with the young lives that were lost. This adds a spiritual depth to the book.  As MaCLean stands on the mountain near the memorial crosses, we can also consider our own lives and  brief stint with mortality.

As MaCLean works his way through his material and interviews various participants and experts he exposes the culture of the deep woods and the life of some of the people who live there.  We learn something about a specific region of America and its past.

MaCLean is engaging and humorous and I thought how wonderful it must have been to have been his student--he taught for many years at the Univeristy of Chicago-- his neighbor or friend and have had the opportunity to sit with him and chat.  His goodwill and charm reveal themselves to us throughout the narrative.

But the book is uneven.  Perhaps this is because it was published posthumously and, at least to some degree, is not the finished product MaCLean intended.  There are two sections of the book in which the story gets caught up in long detailed explainations of distances between inviduals at the fire, rates of movement per hour, the angle of the terrain, and scientific analysis. These are certainly vital aspects of the story, but they're drawn out and although MaClean competently breaks this information down for the reader it disrupts the book's flow and becomes at times --to me at least--quite boring.

MaCLean is also not successful in fully reconciling the death of his wife with those of the firefighters.  He tries to draw meaning between the two, but because he hasn't really established his wife as an important element of the story the result seems hurried and rushed.  Again, this may well be because MaCLean did not oversee the final form of the book.

MaCLean was obviously a talented writer and regardless of the book's flaws, I appreciate the efforts he made in trying to tell the story.  It made me want to visit Mann Gulch and spend a day there wondering about the fire, the men who died there, and of Norman MaCLean himself.
659027
Wonderful writing, with characters who elicit tender feeling for Europeans living on both sides during WWII. Settings are beautifully rendered, especially through the blind girl's perspective. It is far too beautiful and compelling a novel to reduce to "only" four stars, but if it were possible to rate only 4 1/2 stars, I would, because of the structure. Doerr takes us back and forth in time more than seems necessary or effective. It isn't hard to follow, but it is somewhat irritating. I was distracted by trying to figure out the meaning of the constant time switches. Maybe there was a reason I couldn't discern?