A fine writer at work
937874
The Orson Scott Card formula is reliable, and it works.  Geopolitics, strong families, brilliant children stressed to the breaking point, devilish strategy, and moral ambiguities.  Here, with the feuding Battle School grads competing for power over Earth, and Peter Wiggin's hope of uniting all under a world government, Card touches on contemporary terrestrial politics.  Would India really unite under a Hindu "goddess"?  Would China accept an emperor?  Would the Muslim world, Sunni and Shiite, live united under a caliph?  Even if all of these rulers were under eighteen?  Card's speculation rings a little less true when it's on Earth rather than among space aliens.  But his psychology is as compelling as ever, and he makes you care for his characters, especially Bean, now dying of gigantism and searching for his stolen children, and Petra, his loyal (but still prickly) wife.
4647865
It's a good book about a good writer.

Not a great book about a great writer.

Kunkel reveals that Mitchell's wonderful profile sketches were mostly fiction. Mitchell usually invented a character who, he claimed, was a "composite" of other characters and then put impossibly long and well-constructed speeches into their mouths.

Who hadn't guessed this from the first?

Mitchell was not a reporter and he was not a "journalist" (whatever the hell that is.) He was a writer. A writer similar to E.B. White or John McPhee, that is, one who crafted excellent sentences and used them to create a captivating narrative. What he left behind him wasn't fiction and it wasn't non-fiction either. It was just good writing.

Kunkel tries to explain away what he sees as an ethical problem -- passing off invention as reality -- that should trouble modern editors. Baloney! Every page of today's newspapers, the NYT especially, is chock-a-block with "news" twisted and processed by that newspaper's editors to lobby on behalf of a chosen cause. Since the emergence of the New Journalism -- aka "the Old Lying" - a generation ago, reporters have made themselves and their editor's political beliefs the story.

So, how does Mitchell differ from these hacks?

Because he wrote well and most of the people who write for today's newspapers could just as well scribble for the "driveway newspapers" that are thrown on our property once or twice a week and mostly contain ads.

From the first page of "McSorley's Wonderful Saloon," and any number of tales that involve the waterfront, I always knew Mitchell peddled fantasy. There just aren't that many wise, eccentric and colorful old codgers in real life. Pains in the neck? Plenty of those. But, all over NYC Mitchell seemingly tripped over personalities so colorful, so bizarre -- while at the same time charming and loaded with wisdom -- that we must not have lived in the same town and the same time. And, we did.

Mitchell was a romantic. He profiled people he wished existed. Then, he draped these semi-imaginary figures in elegiac nostalgia to give them the dignity of the Last of the Mohicans. Mr. Hunter, for instance, was an intelligent elderly black man with a few tales to tell but Mitchell turned him into an Uncle Remus who liked to bake pies when not philosophizing around the kitchen stove.

Well, I enjoyed every word. My son, when he was very young , used to relate long and involved tales of what he, Mickey and Goofy had done that day. I knew that most of what he said wasn't true but I still listened happily to every word.

That's literature!

I don't think there is much mystery over Mitchell's twenty-year dearth of writing at the end of his life. He had simply run out of imagination. He never really "reported" -- he made things up. There was still plenty to write about  if one were a reporter. It just wasn't all that interesting. Mitchell had gone to the well a great many times and his fibs, fables and half-truths had dried it up.

To read Mitchell's writing, all the time asking "Is this true?, would be like happily speeding down a black-diamond trail while constantly querying oneself "Is this natural or manmade snow?"

It is what it is. In both cases. just enjoy the ride.
4158234
Once youve read these stories youll understand why the author is famous. The writing is really good and a lot of variety in the plots. the small thick format is a little hard to hold. I would have preferred the book to have a larger perimeter.
1897203
Written by a long time newspaper reporter/editor, this is a book on writing that not surprisingly is more oriented to the newspaper style of prose than it is say to poetry. And like a good newpaper article he follows a set of established procedures that work. And when they work they produce 'words that work.' They have been developed over many, many years and they are taught because they do work.

Yes, he says, you have to have some talent. Some performers, be it in sports, science or writing are set apart from the rest of us. Einstein for instane, but even Einstein had to do his homework. (He proved his discoveries mathematically using the newly invented tensor calculus.) Then he had to write them down. Three papers in one magazine in 1905. For one he would have received an 'honorable mention' in chemistry. For the second he received the Nobel Prize (this one was on the basic theory of how televisions work). The third was the Theory of Relativity.

That's pretty much the path of good writing. As Mr. Hart says: Idea - Information Gathering - Focus - Organizing - Drafting - Polishing. You have the idea, you put it together, then the words flow.

It makes me wonder just what he would think of this little review should he ever see it.
2548
Interesting technique story telling of an critical moment in time by a great, underappreciated, scribe.
1956018
Enjoying a writer is not a passive process. One has to work at it and here one does. At over 900 pages with many diversions and side stories the story all comes together. The plot is very straightforward and the narrative is easy to follow. I learned a great deal more than I already known about many issues - cryptography, ww2, philippines and much more. There were some real laugh out loud moments. This is a book that will stay in my head. I'd rather have 900 pages of this than 10 books of mediocre nonsense. I was sad to finish it.
4794742
The writing is particularly artful, amazingly so.
2471760
This guy can write.  I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to a friend whether or not they have any interest in sci-fi or fantasy, because to me, the writing transcends the genre.  This may sound like excessive raise, but I really was impressed.  He should be a hell of a lot more well-known than he is.
3863563
This was my first experience reading Gass.  He is, as many critics have noted, a very important writer who has had a wonderful career, including three novels, and this latest work, which I believe is his fourth short story collection.  He has been the recipient of a wide range of literary awards. Most interesting to me is that Gass is 91 years old, and began publishing short stories in 1959, which certainly validates the idea that creativity and literary talent knows no age boundaries.

"Eyes" contains 6 stories and novellas, all of which show great attention to detail and craft.  Gass admits he is not a fast or prolific writer, and there is a denseness to his work that sometimes made the collection difficult for me.  He tends to go inward with his characters - albeit with wonderful description - but sometimes it can feel overwhelming.  Most of the stories also have the tempo and feel of bygone days - which under the circumstance would seem appropriate.

Overall, I was very impressed and challenged by the collection - and was amazed that a man approaching a century on earth could have such a command of the language.
3759062
I have read just about every book that Donald Maass has written about fiction writing and am convinced he is one of the best in the business at that daunting task. He breaks everything down into the component parts of writing fiction so one is not overwhelmed by its wholesale overview. Like Syd Field with screenwriting, Mr. Maass takes it a line at a time. We all may not be able to comprehend writing a 400-page tome, but we all can get a grip on writing a line, then a page, then a chapter. Along the way he throws in the nuances and fine points that separate good writers from the hacks and leaves you with one major plea: If you want to be a successful writer, write good stories.
3700475
Wonderful discriptive writing.  It takes a bit to get use to the author's syntax and punctuation peculiarities, but once you get over that, it is rather fun and refreshing.  This work does have it's own rhythm and I rather like that.  I like the way the author has take very "ordinary" people, and told a story, proving again, that there is merit and a tale in every life.  I suppose many may be a bit put off as the the fact that the characters are not all that different from you and me, but that is one of the strong point of the work, I feel.  I could not find one character in the book, that I have not meet in "real life" and that was kind of nice.  I highly recommend this read and hope we get more of the same.
372783
The Good: The writer has a very good vocabulary and knows how to use it. Descriptions are vivid and paint a visual scene without lingering too long or getting boring. I can see myself there, watching what is happening, smelling the smells, seeing the sights, hearing the sounds. Very immersive work.

The Bad: The writer has a tendency to use a lot of adverbs in his writing, and I think this actually takes away from the beauty of his work. There are often so many adverbs used that it distracts from the flow of the story. (2 lines in particular had 3 adverbs each, and were no more than 2 paragraphs apart.) Run through the story again, edit out many of the adverbs, and I think you'll have a MUCH stronger work over-all.

Interesting: I found the characters very likable. It was easy to make a connection with them, and to me that's important in a story like this. I don't normally read Thriller/Suspense Novels, and so I was pleasantly surprised at how it pulled me in at the beginning. I do find the constant use of adverbs very distracting, and so would want to see some heavy editing before I was willing to spend money on it, but I would be keenly interested in it if the writer did do some editing.
699561
For any who enjoy great writing of any genre there is a new Author that is deserving of your attention and praise. Marshall Browne has made his debut with, "The Wooden Leg Of Inspector Anders". And Happily like Michael Dibdin and his, "Aurelio Zen" series, Mr. Browne has already begun on a second installment of his Italian inspector.
As I read his book Michael Browne reminded me of Michael Dibdin, John Le Carre, and the Author of, "A Small Death In Lisbon", Robert Wilson. Mr. Browne is an elegant and articulate writer. He writes at a contemplative cadence and avoids all manner of clich. The latter is no small achievement as this is a story about the Mafia, and many great writers have tried their hand with this topic.
His writing pays attention to detail of the important sort, the ingredients of a certain native dish, rather than running on for pages with car chases, bomb making, or obligatory James Bond love disinterests. He writes with an authenticity that deserves notation for he lives in Australia, which is not exactly Sicily. And while any Author can visit that which he writes about, very few are able to place on paper their thoughts however worthy they might be.
Mr. Browne laces his work with historical fact that adds credibility and authenticity. He does not use it for a storyline he cannot create himself, or for details he does not know. This man is the genuine article, and if he can continue to write at the level he has set with this debut, he will become a writer of note, and share company with the legends in this genre.
2557989
All good writing challenges the senses of the reader, and Sierra Delis has composed a fine collection that does just that. Each word, line, and stanza is to be savored slowly, and at the end of the poem left to cure in your mind as if it were the most important sustenance of the day. A lot of great writers begin their writing career with poetry, yet unfortunately a lot of it was lost or never published or shared. I am glad that Sierra Delis has taken the time to share and preserve this work for the many readers that will cherish her work in the years to come.
2822962
Mr. Halloran is a good writer (his publisher/editor needs to pay more attention to grammatical errors) and I think headed to be a great writer.  I look forward to more of his tales. Thank you.
2376555
Excellent  book writer is wonderful and keeps things moving.  Hope to see man more from him.
1082745
One of the best American writers working today. Each new novel is an event to savored.