Character well defined
347002
An excellent book  by  a knowledgeable writer.
1139265
Well written, good story line, with a plot even. The hero is human with faults and a clear sence of purpose.
3714284
An excellent character study from a number of age-based perspectives.  The plot serves to highlight the issues faced by the characters in ways that resonate with those who have traversed the majority of their lives.
1148603
characters are fully defined with their own unique personality traits. Each  character is integral to the story line and there are no unnecessary passages. It goes along at a good clip and the story evolves as it should. Not too complicated to follow and the story has a beginning, middle and ending that all makes sense. And of course there is the dog. Gotta love a book with a dog named Bernie. I did love this book and will become a follower of M.Z. Kelly.
3159237
The main character exhibits good moral choices, providing an example of making hard choices, good parenting, commitment to marriage, good work ethic, willingness to communicate even when it is uncomfortable. Humorous political content, with almost equal left-right perspectives.
612276
One sign of a well-crafted character is that the reader comes to care about that character with more than the detachment typical of fiction.  Martha Grimes is one of a few talented authors who can create such characters seemingly at will, not only the repeating theme characters such as Richard Jury and Melrose Plant, but those whose appearance is abbreviated to the confines of a single volume.
This Grimes does in the person of a young lady named Carrie Fleet.  She, and the events surrounding her mysterious origin, constitute the central structure of the Deer Leap.  Among other things, Carrie loves animals, and detests a local laboratory that engages in animal testing of consumer products.  It is the graphic nature of Grimes' description of this that has put some readers off; however, it should be emphasized that Grimes has not jumped onto a PETA soapbox here.  These scenes are tightly and economically written, and are necessary to the plot and especially to its harrowing denouement.  Without giving too much away, it is in the resolution of these circumstances that we discover to our surprise that we care about certain characters perhaps more than we thought we did, and it is this resolution that makes The Deer Leap perhaps the most poignant of the Richard Jury series.  The reader may curse Grimes for having gotten to him or to her, and that is one sign of a superb performance in authorship.
This is a necessary continuation of the Jury series in other ways as well, for example, along the way we get to discover why Melrose Plant now carries a cosh instead of the more stylish sword-cane he used to carry.  And that is really all this reviewer can squeeze in without giving away the surprises.  Once a reader has finished The Deer Leap he or she will not be able to read any of the Richard Jury series quite the same way again.
4231552
The characters are well developed into people you want to know. They are able to deal with difficulty in life without giving up.
1269563
The book provides a good insight on the character of Francis. His thought fullness, kindness and compassion.  You will enjoy reading this book.
4367339
Beatrix Rose is a very interesting character. Her history is both epochal and tragic. She recognizes that and takes life as it is. However, she also has not forgotten how she got where she is and she focuses on correcting, actually eliminating, the cause of her tragedy.
4745316
I found A Man Called Ove to be fantastic character novel. The story is told alternately between present day and flashbacks. As the title implies, the story revolves around Ove - a cranky old man very set in his ways who is dealing with an unhappiness. Initially, a reader may dislike Ove - he is disagreeable and inflexible. As the story fills in - both past and present, a fuller picture of Ove emerges, and I found myself wholeheartedly rooting for Ove. The chapters are short, but powerful, and the character of Ove is one worth meeting.
3106393
Includes all the essential elements to keep one absorbed - sex, violence, drugs, love, death, ALL 7 deadly sins, shock value, paradoxes...a clear page-turner. But the real enjoyment of reading this book is identifying with the characters. Not with their actions and particular circumstances, but their emotions and the humanness of their feelings. They encounter fear, love, hate, lust, sadness, anger, all of it. At times you'll loathe them and other times feel sorry for them when they have to face their own demons and tragedies due to their actions or inactions.

The author sums it up early in the book: "The world does keep spinning...and life does go on, just not human life. It's about emotion; it's about feelings. This is the root cause of all that is in our world. Emotion, feelings, sentiment, personalities...these are the things that drive economies, these are things that fuel war machines, these are the things that move mountains. It all comes down to feelings...emotions to be more precise."

Every character acted out of either fear or love. When they acted out of fear, their fundamental flaws shined through every time. Proves the old adage that people don't change. Put any of them in a similar circumstance and they will react similarly because they can't seem to conquer their fundamental fears. It was interesting to see them mature and attempt to overcome those fears.

The narrator's actions were always motivated by selfishness. Even when he helped people, it seemed more to glorify and appease himself. It's hard to like him, even toward the end when he was maturing. Becoming a radio DJ was fitting for him.

But there were many more characters to pick from and LOTS of character development - you get so caught up!
3770911
As Aristotle once wrote, "In respect of Character, ...First, and most important, it must be good. Now any speech or action that manifests moral purpose of any kind will be expressive of character: the character will be good if the purpose is good. This rule is relative to each class. Even a woman may be good, and also a slave; though the woman may be said to be an inferior being, and the slave quite worthless. The second thing to aim at is propriety. There is a type of manly valor; but valor in a woman, or unscrupulous cleverness is inappropriate." Fortunately Theo Pratt is here to protect us from characterizations of women and (((slaves))) (?) that break the incontrovertible literary rules requiring them to be inferior and worthless and stupid.

In conclusion, as Aristotle also once wrote, "Shame on a brother when he dealin' the same block where my 98 be wheelin'. And everybody know another kilo from a corner from a brother to keep another below. Stop illin' and killin', stop grillin'."

Pictured: Aristotle
4896853
Well crafted character and a surprising plot.
2745414
I enjoyed the character development.  The underlying theme  that doing evil for all the right reasons does not change the consequences is a truth often ignored.  I am looking forward to book two.
269419
The reader can identify and like the main character and feel much of his emptions. The story line develops without foretelling the ending. Only problem is wanting to read the entire story once started.
1291235
Excellent insight into people who have demonstrated character in their lives. David Brooks describes good character and finds it lacking in todays activities. He tracks chronologically the lost of emphasis on worthiness and the increased attention to achievements in the US. He makes a strong argument for trying to achieve a balance in life, particularly a return to unconditional love for our children. Brooks lists a series of steps for a balanced life and the resulting joy from achieving it. The book is well written and worthy of  bringing to a deserted island for repetitive readings; it has a layer quality that supports deeper reading.
2938996
This book was written to resonate with each reader individually. With the omission of descriptions of the characters, it makes it easy for us to fill in each character with a person from our own experience. Im sure that I am not the only person who has a hypocritical material driven person in our lives. Also quite interesting is that this character is a big time investor, yet he chooses to live by his fathers creed of never lending anything to anybody. His entire career is based off of breaking his code. Muftah has done a good job of writing a book that can be filled in with our own relatable details.