Could Even Be Three Stars
353477
I am not a huge McCartney or Wings fan but still was anxious to give this CD a chance.  Until purchasing this release I had the 1978 Wings Greatest LP along with the 1987 CD "All The Best".  On the one hand, "Wingspan" is worthwhile because the two CD's each contain over 75 minutes of music and the mastering seems to be first-rate.  In addition, "Wingspan" renders the inferior-sounding "All The Best" irrelevant.  However, there are a few disturbing things that cannot be overlooked.  First, the booklet in the package is of practically no use.  There is a VERY brief note about the band and then several pages of photos.  The little information available about the songs only pertains to those on Disc 1.  Second, it seems that "Sir Paul" dropped the 1971 single "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" at the last minute even though initial information about "Wingspan" included that song (on Disc 1 between "Goodnight Tonight" and "Junior's Farm").  Third, the end of Disc 2, specifically tracks 15-22, is filler.  One thing about McCartney/Wings is that the put out a lot of material and in compiling "Wingspan" there was a lot to choose from, even though the collection seems to exclude songs after about 1984.  I could also quibble that "Pipes of Peace" and "C Moon" probably belong on Disc 2 (Titled "History") instead of Disc 1 ("Hits").  Also, "Getting Closer", which should have been on Disc 1, was left off entirely.  And there is no material from "Wings Over America".  The live version of "Maybe I'm Amazed" from that collection certainly deserves the nod over the studio version that is included, although I wouldn't have minded having both.  Its funny, even though there is a disclaimer by Paul that gives one the impression that he compiled the collection, I have my doubts as to his involvement.  Maybe he had some input, but I can't believe that he was responsible for everything, particularly the mediocre stuff at the end of Disc 2.
3504144
I know this must be one for the ages because all the pros told me so.  The National Book Club told me, Newsweek told me, The New York Times Book Review told me, of course Oprah told me, and every other profesional critic out there told me.  I was interested therefore to see that out of 305 reviews (clearly a pretty broad sampling of Amazon readers), the average review was only 3 stars.  I guess that the pros must have different standards and criteria than us hoi polloi.  I gave it 3 stars as well, but not perhaps for the same reasons that others were critical.
I had no problems with the disfunctionality of the family.  Nor was I troubled by the unlikability of virtually all of the 5 protagonists or the fact that whatever redeeming virtues they each may have had were overwhelmed by their negative qualities.  I could also live with the fact that the story is almostb relentlessly depressing. The fact is that, notwithstanding all of that, the author has presented us with an absorbing and thought-provoking portrait of a family in chaos and disarray.  Each of the 5 Lambert's was incredibly well carved out, almost as if the author was right inside their heads.
My major complaint however is that the book was just too darn long and, in my view, could have been told just as well in about 350 pages rather than 568 pages.  The result of this surplusage is that there are numerous portions of the book which are simply boring or added little to the story and which could have been excised altogether.  By way of example, I felt that the "At Sea" portion was way too long and almost all of the material on Chip' adventures in Lithuania was just boring.  Clerly, the author feels that he has certain points that he wants to get across and it goes without that he thought that everything in the final draft was worth including.  I simply don't share that view.  I also felt that the substantial unnecessary length of the novel was a fairly serious shortfall.  For that reason, and only that reason, 3 stars.
2283817
I really wanted to like this series. I liked the concepts and find the plot interesting but there are several glaring problems. I have read book 1, 2, and half of 3 and I am done reading. One quick good note for those who do not like profanity, you will not find any here. At least I have not found any yet.

As other reviewers have commented this book is in serious need of an editor. To be honest this does not change as the series continues. What a good editor could do to this book is more than correct a little grammar and misspelling. A good editor would take encourage the author to stop repeating himself, stop explaining everything with far too much detail, and make the conversations believable. Throughout the first 5 chapters at least there is significant repetition as we see events unfold from many different perspectives. This could easily be solved by dividing up a chapter with short segments for each of the characters. An editor would encourage the author to leave much more to the imagination. The description of nanotechnology was far more than a reader should need, for example.  The conversations are always so well thought out by each contributor that they seem unrealistic. When conversing about an important idea with someone, I do not talk in perfect paragraphs of knowledge and do not get perfect paragraph responses.

All this being said this is an interesting book and far more interesting than the next two books that have almost nothing happen in them. This book is 288 pages, although I read on kindle, and could easily have fit into 150. The technology and magic work somewhat well together.
Book 2 could have been edited down to 75 easily. Book 3? I am at 55% and nothing has happened. One chapter of 10 pages could have covered what I have read thus far. I am reminded of some of the difficulty I had in the middle of the Wheel of Time series but with far inferior writing.

As noted above I give this book a 3 star. This visually is misleading as I rate it as neither good nor bad. Being required to give at least one star makes 3 star exactly in the middle of the line.
4757740
I will start by saying I did enjoy this book. That said, I need to qualify my statement with a little more information. The premise was good, combining elements of other TEOTWAWKI books dealing with power infrastructure failures (One Second After, Dark Grid, Lights Out, etc), while keeping the story based on a journey rather than survival at a specific location. Unfortunately, I found that the book really did not live up to its potential for a number of reasons.

The most glaring shortcoming is the atrocious editing. I'm no grammar nazi, but this book is full of extremely obvious and grating spelling and grammar errors that really do interfere with the enjoyment of the book. Misspelled words, multiple words bunched together without spaces, repeating characters, missing or misplaced punctuation, quotes that are not opened or closed properly, and so on. Sometimes I would have to read a section 3-4 times just to figure out what is trying to be said and by whom.

The second disappointment I had in this book was the choice of the author to choose a first person narrative for most of the book, but then change to third person POV for secondary characters or events. At times, the first person narrative would be muddied by the protagonist not only telling the story, but also conducting internal monologue.

Story-wise, my biggest gripe was how easily the good guys seemed to get what they needed for survival. Granted there is an explanation that some of the characters were into preparedness, but even so people making a journey would have much more trouble obtaining, retaining, and transporting supplies such as food, weapons, and so on. There were several passages where a character would pass up opportunities for supplies because they "had everything they needed" or words to that effect. It seemed overly optimistic to me given the scenario presented.

While I really did enjoy the story and the journey, I didn't really care that much about the characters. I liked them ok, but I was never really got to the point that I empathized with their situation or was concerned for their well-being. I think they could have been made to be more personable and likable with a little more effort in that area.

Finally, many terms and acronyms used in the book would not be familiar to many people - even many fans of this genre. The majority of these terms are conspicuously left undefined, unless you reference the glossary at the end of the book. This seems like it was either done to try to establish credibility with survivalists and preppers, or was simply the result of laziness... I'm not sure which.

I'm not trying to beat up on this book too much, I just feel that these issues really detracted from its potential. The premise was good and there was an obvious effort by the author to reference real survival techniques and gear. Most importantly, it was fun to read.

Despite my complaints, I would still happily read a sequel if one is made. It is my hope that the author will learn from the mistakes in this first book and perhaps obtain some professional editing assistance for any future projects.

Pros: Entertaining story. Good premise. Generally exciting. Good first effort for a self published book.

Cons: Poor grammar and composition. Frustrating to read at times. Stretches believably. Characters not especially lovable.
2034591
A very engaging premise with a great deal of promise, but only middling success at delivering the goods.  This book would have been much better had it been tighter and more consistent.  While much of the intrigue is dated by today's standards, it still has the power to grab the reader's attention.  Unfortunately the author's inelegance makes parts of the book tedious and even onerous.  I found myself rolling my eyes at several of the situations the characters found themselves in, and was incredulous at the murders at the "top secret" office in New York, coupled with the totally unbelievable "fingerprint on a glass" bit of evidence planting.  The ending was just plain bad.
Ludlum did several things very well -- the basis for Bourne's existence was well thought out and plausible, as was Cain's mission (raison d'tre).  I appreciated how he handled the character of Marie, making her competent and intelligent (and an economist!) rather than a typical damsel in distress.  I imagine his scenery and setting were accurate, although those details added nothing to the story as far as I was concerned.
I'm tempted to give Ludlum the benefit of the doubt since this book was written more than twenty years ago.  I'm not sure yet if I'll read another book in the series.
804862
Let me start by saying that this could have been an excellent novella; key words: COULD HAVE BEEN :-{

The story begins with college student Colton as a clumsy and really depressed gay guy who has little sense of direction in life. Frankly, at that point, he's not generally very likable (though we might feel a bit sorry for him and for what he appears to be missing in his world).

For some reason however, his straight roommate Randy DOES like him. And Randy's slightly younger brother Troy, after a somewhat awkward introduction, "like likes" him. Both Randy and Troy - especially Troy - are amazing characters and they will slowly help Colton improve his outlook - but, dammit, perhaps not soon enough because Colton seemingly ruins things virtually every time he opens his mouth.

This had almost all of the makings of a 4 star - perhaps even 5 star - read.

Alas, the author - via some of the most unwieldy craftsmanship I've ever  encountered on Kindle - pretty much spoils the experience with his truly inexplicable use of wrong-gendered pronouns throughout the narrative. Randy and Troy, fairly often, are each referred to as "her." (And I don't mean in a funny, gay camp "Get Her!" kind of way). Colton's mother is sometimes referenced as "he." What's up with that? It's almost as if the author had written and published this earlier (under another pen name maybe?) as a hetero romance and then decided to turn it into a gay love story by changing a few names and descriptions here and there. But, if that was the case, replacing the pronouns seems to have been largely ignored. And these wrong-gendered pronouns are like terrible speed  bumps on what would have been an otherwise very nice "romantic journey."

Then there's the fact that cereal and toast are invariably referred to as "cereals" and "toasts" - as in "I had a bowl of cereals and a plate of toasts for breakfast." ESL maybe?

To some small degree I've become inured to the ubiquitous typos one finds in Kindle M4M romances ("there" "their" and "they're" used  interchangeably; "phase" almost always used instead of the contextually correct "faze" [as in - ugh - "his words didn't PHASE me"]) but this author is just demanding much too much of even the most indulgent reader.

And that's a shame. Because the author often does show some considerable talent and imagination. (I was totally in love with MY NEW FRIEND KIRK until the sad and disappointing last couple of chapters - which just didn't seem to "fit" at all and left me feeling really let down - even though I don't INSIST on "HEA" denouements in the books I choose to read).

Please don't give up - but DO consider re-writing YOU WERE RIGHT - and possibly even MY NEW FRIEND KIRK.
149060
This book had potential. And up to the last third, it was going to be a much better book than it turned out to be.

We know from certain obvious marketing tells, that this is a murder mystery. Not the least being that the back cover material tells us so. There is a body. Then the ubiquitous second body also.

There are spoilers in this review because the work warrants it.

Atwell has a few stumbling blocks in the beginning, the least of which is her mother hen attitude of the new person in her life. How she decides the girl has an Irish face? (What is that?) and that she sounds Irish, when we read every piece uttered by the character and any vernacular comes much later.

Moving past that, we get into the murder, the mystery, then the clues coming together. A lot of telling. Not too much showing. That is something to work on.

We get background and see what glassblowing is, and how it relates to the mystery. But then it is all solved.

And only 2/3rds of the book. Not enough red herrings. No wrong paths. Just simple and straightforward, and with the Chief of Police and an FBI agent along for the ride, they couldn't get there.

But really it is the outside character who shows up and has so much of the detail of 'why' things have happened. And then, to make it dramatic, we kidnap one character and without any mystery any longer, just have to gather the ransom and make an exchange. 100 pages to do this, where our minds are not engaged. Where there are no puzzles to solve. It is point A to B to C...

That is what is not forgivable in this work. That is why it is merely average. That is why Atwell, unless I become rich with a great deal of leisure time, won't find me reading any more in this serious.
963048
This is a fairly well-written book.

Given the premise, it could gave been a really outstanding piece of literature.  Unfortunately, it falls short of its potential.

It takes a lot of courage to write good porn.  I'm told that the ratio of bottoms to tops is at least 20 to 1, and perhaps 100 to 1.  When a friend, years ago, demanded that I try to be her dom, she sadly reported that I had failed.  She even gave me points for being inventive, but I just couldn't pull off the act, I could not be cruel to her.  o had all the words right, and all the moves, but there was no song in my heart. I was a plodding poseur, instead of an artiste with  a  song in my heart.

And despite this being a fairly good book, it is no "Story of O" not even a "Sleeping Beauty" trilogy.  And if you think about it, Anne Rice ran out of steam, and the second and third books on the Beauty series were joyless.  And those two examples were obviously written by bottoms, not by tops.  There just ain't many who have the courage and strength needed to be a good slave-owner.

And I include myself.  I've tried, and my friend was right.  There is no joy is my dance, either.

So realizing that we're talking about an impossible vision, where does this book stand?  Well, pretty good.  I'd give it an 84, Mr Clark, it's got a good beat to it.

And I don't remember anyone ever telling Dick Clark that they gave a dong a 100, not even anything in the 90s,  Eighty-four was a pretty good score.

And given the amount of just plain tiresome porn out there, and the amount that  should embarrass a 4th grader, being so unreadable, this boom is worth the price.

;
3400833
The idea behind this novel is a fine one, and the setting has potential: a down-to-earth literalization of the Norse myths, in which the gods -- Freya, Odin, and Loki -- are basically just people, albeit immortals with some magical powers, inhabiting the same terrain as the dwarves and giants and ordinary folk, and the myths are just ill-remembered stories out of their past.  The book, then, gives us a slice of each of these worlds: portions of its story give us Freya, in quest of a dwarf-crafted necklace of unparalleled beauty, and others follow the half-dwarf Dvalin on various journeys, while the human half of the book is given over to Fulla, a young woman fighting her grandfather's plans to marry her off while she (inexplicably) pines for the broody son of her father's killer.

So the setting is nicely enough conceived and the plot seems to offer the opportunity for a distracting, escapist "historical fantasy."  (It's not really even trying to be a historical novel in the usual way, since nothing here seems researched for accuracy and the book is in any case not very concerned with details.)  But the execution is simply terrible, and left me wishing I hadn't promised to slog through the novel in order to review it.  There's almost no convincing psychology, and characters are not drawn distinctly enough that we could sympathize with or understand their motives; often, instead, Tobin resorts to cheap narrative cop-outs like "a feeling suddenly came over her."  So both the "humanized" gods and the actual humans feel caricatured and flat.  Further, the novel does without even the thinnest veneer or pretense of pastness, the slightest concession that people in the year 1000 might have been different from people in the year 2009 -- for instance both Freya (who might, after all, have the excuse of being a goddess) and the mostly-human Fulla act like emancipated, post-'60s women seeking self-realization, not medieval ones.

Worse still for the credibility of the book's mythic aims and escapist promise, both the dialogue and the narrative are written in an ugly modern dialect of Business English with some light archaisms glued on.  When a Norse goddess -- a goddess! -- says "I shall have to sleep upon the matter," or the prophetic Norns lecture the reader on plate tectonics, or several characters say of a volcano's eruption that "it blew," any illusion of mythic grandeur and any suspension of disbelief are punctured for good.  More than good sword-and-sorcery fantasy or quest stories, this book reminds me of the godawful movie version of&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Tristan-and-Isolde/dp/B000EPFCPE/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Tristan and Isolde</a>&nbsp;-- it is a cheap, superficial, poorly executed Hollywoodization of its classic and lovely source material, not at all a thoughtful new take on it.  There are better alternatives out there -- readers seeking clever modernizations of mythic stories might want to look at the fantasy&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Mists-of-Avalon/dp/0002249510/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Mists of Avalon</a>&nbsp;(which is much better than this book, whatever its publisher claims), or the clever&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Grendel/dp/0679723110/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Grendel</a>, or the thoughtful and messy compendium&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Marriage-of-Cadmus-and-Harmony/dp/0679733485/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony</a>, instead.  Or read Angela Carter's&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/stories/dp/0140255281/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">stories</a>, especially her&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/reimagined-fairy-tales/dp/014017821X/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">reimagined fairy tales</a>, which overflow with the wit and good writing that this book so sorely lacks.
277048
I like the potential of this book. The story itself really is interesting ... almost enough to keep me going.
Almost, but not quite.
In the end, I abandoned the book about three-quarters of the way through due to the one-dimensional characters and their overly simplistic thought processes and choices.  It was frustrating to read because I wanted it to be good ... and I wanted to care about the characters ... but I just couldn't.
I agree with the other reviewers who suggested that a strong editor could have made a big difference.
2556534
I like this book because it has the potential to be better. I will not bother to complain about the inaccuracies in grammar/vocabulary etc. There were sections of the novel that showed that the author had talent and made it a worthwhile read. However, too often it seemed that the author did not know her characters and she often put them in situations and was unsure of how they should react. The beginning of the book was good until we got to the first ball. The entire episode here was farcical and unreal. The whole thing was ridiculous, including the hero and heroine and Nicholas's reaction on the balcony was completely overdone. In fact, thereafter, the characters and their reactions were either overdone or just confusing and inappropriate. There were just too many instances where the reader was baffled by the characters and their reactions.

Several times one had to question the characters and author's intent. For example, why would Emma go to the house party of her former betrothed who has information about her secret past? Why would Sebastian, after overhearing such a damning conversation between Emma and Rawlings not question her about it when he is obsessed about having a spotless reputation, especially when Rawlings paid him a late night visit prior to the house party and when Emma was in tears when she left the room? His decision to leave her be and to even take blame for her "aching" is preposterous.

Too many times the author seemed confused. For instance, Emma notices Lady Kensworth hanging tightly to Sebastian's arm, yet in the following sentence she, Emma, introduces them to each other. How is that logical? Emma feels invigorated dancing with her supposed enemy, then the author tries to justify the feeling later as a ruse, a way to convince herself that she is stronger than Rawlings. And when did Sebastian find the time to tell his grandmother of his intention to wed?

More than once the hero comes off as a weak fool and the villiany at the end was overdone because it was not properly built for the end result. I felt the author tried to set up dramatic situations that were never properly developed and that fizzled too quickly.

Yet, even so, the potential for a good novel was easily obvious and I am interested in reading the third book in the series. I don't think that I'll read the first, but the sample for the third book was quite interesting and the character of Rawlings wandering around in the rain is well written. The author shows tremendous writing strength here, not only the descriptions of the scene, but in the introspective situation she has placed Rawlings in. I hope that the author follows through on that potential throughout the book. I am willing to spend $2.99 to find out. For a cost of $0.99, The Seduction of Sebastian St. James is not a bad buy. I am interested in seeing how this writer develops in her future novels.
4146186
I wanted to LOVE this book.  It is written with such intelligence and flair, revealing the myriad lives of a very likeable Ursula who is born to live again, and again, and again.

But to what purpose?  One might be tempted to think that there is NO purpose, and that Atkinson is simply showing off her story-telling skills, demonstrating that within the same basic story dwell infinite posssibilies. This would be fine in its own way, although perhaps a little meaningless.  We all know that but for the grace of a supreme deity ...

The problem is that Ursula begins to have inklings that she has lived her story before, and she starts to change her behaviour at critical junctions, leading us to believe that she can alter her ultimate destiny.  If she can only just change the right bits in the right order, the universe will unfold for her (and those she loves) in the way it was meant to.  Unfortunately, Ursula remembers only some of the time that she has experienced a situation before, and that she must do something concrete to help herself; other times, she has only a vague inkling or simply a feeling of dread.  In the end the story turns out somewhat haphazardly "right" (Ursula's actions lead towards what many would be satisfied to call a positive consequence).  My problem is that I was left feeling unsatisfied and cheated - I felt that Ursula would CONTINUE to be born again and again, and it was entirely possible that the next time her life unfolded, she might get it completely wrong again.  Ultimately, it seemed there was no real end to the story, only an infinite range of possibilities.  If this was what the author intended all along, what was the point in Ursula beginning to sense her past lives and trying to alter her current behaviour and her potential outcome?

The premise was great; the end was just a tad unsatisfying and illogical (yes, I use this word advisedly, despite my willingness to suspend disbelief in a huge way throughout the novel).  Also, sometimes the book stagnated a bit and Ursula's time in Germany seemed a little contrived.

I thought the bits about WW2 were excellent; I'd given little thought before to the deprivations the English (and the French and Germans, by necessary implication) must have suffered.  In some ways this was the strongest part of the book.

Overall, this was well worth reading, and not at all your usual humdrum fare.
2720398
The characters  show possibility for development. Two decent loving police officers, two decent lovable librarians, a loving family and a loving lovers family, for the heroine, and a small town in Ohio. The problem is that the author needed a mystery in which to involve these characters and chose poorly. For no visible reason in the character or situation of the heroine, she is made to appear witless,
Too bad. The book is still readable, there is occasion to fear for her safety, to sympathize with her plight, to root for the Good Guys;  there is just not much occasion to respect her intelligence or  common sense.
If this is going to be a series, I can recommend the book as a lead-in to what might easily become much more appealing. In itself it serves well as an introduction to these characters,  the library setting and the small town feeling. I even find myself rooting for the author and hoping she will find a better mystery theme about which to weave her story.
3097053
This book is all potential but no follow through.  I feel that sounds harsh giving the fact I am still rating this three stars, but it is because of that potential that there are even stars to give.  I wish that there was a way the author could get a re-edit of this book and another chance because the key ingredients were all there.  The storyline was compelling and heartbreaking which is supposed to be based on a true event.  But the problems are so blindingly there that you can not go around it.  The characters were under developed and never despite the story being told in first person point of view, I still felt disconnected from it all.  Also, the story was so short that everything felt rushed and nothing was really explained.  This book is perfect for a debate class or for some discussions but that is all it provides.  The book brings up all these issues but never resolved them or even explained them in a way that makes any sense.  I just felt confused by what the author was trying to get at which makes me mad because the story could be so great.
1254085
I got this book from the library with great anticipation; so many glowing, almost iridescent, reviews can, perhaps, build an unreasonable expectation of a reading experience, and thus, an unfair and yes unreasonable judgement if the reading experience is less than expected. So three stars rather than five, a pleasant reading rather than something more, certainly very worth the time spent, yet leaving me with a feeling that I wanted more from this book than Mr Marra could deliver, but willing to concede that the fault lies more with this reader than with the author.
856989
With better editing, this could have been a very good book. Right now it's too long and too muddled, but it has enough going for it that I opted for four stars instead of three.

In The Terror, Dan Simmons imagines a fantastical and scary fate for a real-life polar expedition that was lost in the mid-19th century. It is clear from the start that Simmons has done his homework  such is the detail he goes to when describing both the arctic conditions and life on the expedition's two ships, Erebus and Terror. No ice formation or daily routine is so mundane that it doesn't merit at least a page of description, preferably three. However, over the considerable length of the book, this starts to become grating to those of us less fascinated by the subject matter.

All but the most devoted arctic expedition enthusiasts would probably have been just as happy if a third of the pages had been cut out by the editor. The lack of editing also shows in small details: had I received a quarter each time one of the characters said something "softly", I would have made back the price of the book a third of the way in and a tidy profit by the end of it.

These are significant flaws, but The Terror does deliver on other fronts. Even without a monstrous creature preying on the ships' crews on the endless ice, the book creates a very vivid sense of place and time. The cold bites, the wind howls, and there is no end to the ice as hope of rescue dwindles in a way unimaginable in today's GPS-mapped world. Simmons has always known how to write a gut-wrenchingly violent scene and that skill is put to good use as crew members meet horrible fates.

The fantastical elements have split opinion but I found myself enjoying the mythology and the final reveals. My final impressions of the book were positive enough to take it from three to four stars  at least when adjusted for the Amazon scale, where anything below four stars might as well be one. Reader beware, but ultimately I enjoyed this book.
3159971
The Lost Wife isn't at all bad but it could have been much better. Our heroine Lenka is artistic, atypically beautiful, passionate and devoted to family.  Her life is apparently entirely idyllic until the scourge of Nazism rears its ugly head and threatens not only herself and family but her new found love, Josef (equally passionate, equally devoted, equally cliched.). Their separation is predictable if not entirely plausible; his personal losses equally painful, and designed apparently to emphasize the horror of that time for Europe's Jewish communities.

The seeming devotedness of our young lovers is belied by Lenka's decision to stay with her family when presented with the opportunity to leave. Josef's devotion is said to be total until you consider he leaves her behind--not to mention he takes papa's place in a lifeboat.  In other words, circumstances seem to be created not for authenticity's sake but rather to drive the plot--i.e., they have to be separated, here's how I am going to accomplish it. Josef has to be wracked with guilt--here's how.  Also, everyone from both families is incredibly one-dimensional--kind, thoughtful, loving etc.  Clans that border upon the Mary Sue. Did these siblings have NO rivalry?  Were there no Jews who were mean, gruff, selfish or ungrateful?  Not in Alyson Richman's novel.

I make this observation because I think a modicum of human frailty would have gone a long way to making this story of selfless sacrifice more believable.  It is not until we get to the camps of Terezin and Auschwitz that human behavior is less than exemplary, but even here there is only the occasional lapse from stoic dignity and decency.  The middle third of the book, centered in Terezin was most interesting to me.  The author's depiction of a community of artist's and creative people's conspiracy to defy the Reich by telling their story through portraiture to the world was wonderfully well rendered.  Their fear of discovery, their small victories over the Nazis seemed monumental to the reader as well as the inmates performing these extraordinary acts of defiance.

Unfortunately, the author didn't leave us with a liberated Lenka making her way, forever changed (but not embittered in any way I could notice) to a new life.  We have to fast forward 60 years to an absolutely absurd series of coincidences, confluences and reunions.  It reduced a powerful testament of the Holocaust to unadulterated schmaltz.  And that is a shame:  The Lost Wife could have and should have been better.