Vinge writes with depth and intricacy. As usual, ...
349562
Vinge writes with depth and intricacy. As usual, her plots are deeply woven and imaginative. Her characters are multi-dimensional with failure and nobility getting equal shrift (i.e they are human).
2307801
In his fourth novel, rookie novelist Michael Swiger has once again produced a captivating piece.  Edward Mead, fresh off the loss of his loving wife, is faced with solving the heinous murder of Judge Chesterfield; a widely unpopular megalomaniacal jurist whose death is at the hand of a lawyer trying a messy civil trial in his courtroom.  Michael has woven a tightly twisted who-done-it.  The cast of characters are identifiable and brought to life in a way that keeps the reader interested from page one.  Mr. Swiger has a gift for character dialogue that draws you in and keeps you until the last page.  As always, I look forward to the next novel with great excitement.
4153759
A carefully crafted and far-ranging picaresque of sorts that asks more questions of the reader (and of the author) than it does answers. Eventually it becomes poly-vocal with the voice of the dead brother entering the text as much as the author's, threading the proceedings with tenderness and wonder. It's a valentine to the author's brother, but also an act of tenderness toward the author's own wounded ego. A book with heft both in content and in form.
1218450
Winspear has done it yet again. She continues to make her main character grow and change in a not-put-downable novel set before WWII.
The most interesting part of this mystery is the unveiling of political parallels to our own media shaping.
My suspicion, though is that there is heavy editing in the last quarter of the book, softening the punch-line.
Still an excellent read from a potentially great novelist who keeps getting better and better.
I think she is on the cusp of some really big issues, and with her voice, it's going to be dynamite!
1104246
This is the second Jodi Picoult novel I've had the pleasure to read.  She is a master at characterization -- she can make the most unlikely voices seem real and even sympathetic.  She creates wonderful, wonderful complex and deeply nuanced relationships among her characters.  This book captures things like lasting love and sibling relationships and being thirteen and going crazy and losing a loved one (to death or to something else) as well as anyone I have ever read.  I'll agree that the ending seemed contrived and shocking -- in fact, it's a shared flaw with the other Picoult novel I recently read (Plain Truth).  If I read a third Picoult novel with the same flaw, I will be turned off.  I'm not turned off yet -- her characters are so wonderfully drawn that I can forgive a few inconsistencies (Campbell should NOT have been driving,  The only way he could get a license would be to lie about his seizure disorder.  Since he tried to hide the disorder all his life, he might have done so).
1475023
The principal characters are deep, complex; but the author lets us into their minds and souls.  What the characters must "let go" of is also complex, and we get a number of answers from the trivial to the deeply spiritual.  The narrative, a mixture of letters, e-mails, phone calls and conventional dialog, is fascinating.  It took me a while to get into it, but then I could hardly put it down.
3127325
"Great House" may not be a great book because it lacked the vital quality of depth and a searing prose that cuts into the reader's psyche, but it is an enthralling book connecting the lives of the protaganists in four separate stories, and narrated as a form of confession, whose only common focal object was a writing desk with nineteen drawers, one of which was kept locked with its key misplaced. The first story was a wounded confession of a successful writer with a failed life ("In her work the writer is free of laws. But in her life, Your Honor, she is not free.") The second concerned the daughter of the mysterious Chilean poet and rebel, Daniel Varsky who gave her the writing desk. The third revolved around the anguish of a failed father-son relationship; and the fourth, a widower who felt compelled to investigate the mysterious side of his wife who had died with Alzheimer's disease. Nicole Krauss wrote with such delicate skill in portraying the voices of the male and female protagonists alternately that the reader might be forgiven in forgetting that they were all the voice of Strauss. Although the ultimate revelation and the epiphany of the big picture was mildly anticlimatic, in my view, it was still a story I enjoyed from start to end. Not a very long book - 289 pages - and written in a lucid style and at an unhurried pace.

The theme that is likely to linger in the reader's mind is that of human freedom. How free are we, really, when seemingly disparate events occurring elsewhere and at other times roll inexorably to the intersection where they all meet. We too are caught in our lives by such events. My job interview, for example, might be no different in truth from the act of Daniel Varsky leaving his desk with Nadia. Somewhere else, something might be happening to someone else which were to lead that person inexorably to meeting me and the common factor might have been the person who interviewed me. It is a fascinating idea (free will and determinism) that philosophers had been grasping with for a long time , but which fiction writers have now found to be a fertile and attractive method of telling a story. We might tire after a while - but not yet, and not with Strauss. There may be an underlying reference to "God"  that connects the threads in the novel, but that is an aspect of the novel to be appreciated by those who see God.
1786342
Vinge is a very good writer indeed. This book is good, likeable characters, great plot, and a lot of action, I almost got tired at the end, but it was fun.
1420718
More deep waters from a master writer. Shades of Edward Abbey.
4735439
The three stories in this collection capture the psychological complexity of communities and writers. They illustrate how that which makes us most deeply human is never straightforward. The capacity to love, form relationships and create art as well as people's innermost longings and ambitions (or lack thereof) are central themes in these well written narratives.

The setting in The Stylite is the same as the one in Mothers Teat, but there is a gap of about half a century between these two stories set in New England. In the somewhat eerie Hansom Dove the focus is on the protagonists inner processes more than the environment. There is a dark undertone to all the stories, but some resolution is offered. Death can come with new beginnings, oppression can be met with resistance and despair goes hand in hand with desire.

The depth of the characters is one of the greatest achievements of this work. There are a few malevolent supporting characters, but some of them invite sympathy and understanding of how their circumstances have shaped them. None of the kinder characters are without fault and they sometimes surprise the reader through their choices. The poetic style of writing is another outstanding accomplishment.

The one downside for me was the overwhelming hopelessness of the protagonist of The Stylite. I would have liked to see him fight back or make amends, but in this sense the book is true to real life. Hansom Dove is similarly dark, but in this case the anguish of the protagonist is more obviously symbolic.
3332256
It is always a pleasure to find writing that draws you in smoothly and quickly. Down the Low Road does this superbly well. The author's description of Varanasi--the oldest, holiest city of India-- and the inherent tension of the diverse people there, pulls on the reader instantly. The main character's confrontatational meeting with a photo-journalist, who is clearly not what he says he is, creates a magnetic mystery and intrigue. I look forward to reading the entire novel.
197499
I read Michael Connelly's The Poet while my husband flew to England reading The Narrows. Many years pass between the two novels, and many intertwined characters enjoy lives of their own in other books. But Blood Work and The Poet make a good introduction to The Narrows and the novel lived up to all the high expectations my husband's comments inspired in me.

Michael Connelly again writes his book in two voices, the narrator watching over people's shoulders, and the first-person narration, this time of retired policeman Harry Bosch. Relationships and backgrounds are cleverly sketched with minimal information and ample mood and conviction, so the reader--this reader anyway--doesn't feel any loss at missing the intervening books; just an eagerness to go back and read them some day.

FBI agent Rachel Walling has been hidden in the middle of nowhere to keep her out of trouble. LAPD detective Harry Bosch has retired and is trying to find his way between unexpected family life and a desire to investigate mysteries without the aid of a badge. Suddenly Rachel's name is attached to a new investigation, and the wife of retired FBI agent Terry McCaleb is convinced her husband was murdered. The two mysteries begin to converge with nicely timed discoveries that keep readers one step ahead of the tale while still trailing one step behind the investigation. There are mysteries behind mysteries, secrets behind lies, and a stunning concluding chase where all narrowing options close down to one.

Like all of Connelly's novels, or at least all I've read, The Narrows is finely paced, convincingly plotted, and masterfully designed; not just a mystery; not just an investigation of human nature; not just good vs evil; but something convincingly more than the sum of its parts--a story that stays with the reader long after the telling.
3178639
The nature of short stories has always intrigued me. I appreciate that every word has to be carefully chosen so that a lot of content can be squeezed into a small amount of words. I think this work is masterfully crafted and is complete within itself but it gives the reader a lot to think about.
3069791
As ever, the characterization is superb. The plat a bit thin, and the writing (at least in French) subtle and deep.
4465772
I love his writing, sensitive and appealing to almost everyone. A story with depth which is always satisfying.
Just read it!
3054789
Mr. Modesitt is one of my favorite authors of all time.  His character development, focusing on regular people who *influence* history by reacting to situtations they're forced into gives each and every novel a depth and realism not often found.
In Archform: Beauty, Mr. Modesitt follows one timeline, through the eyes and situtations of 5 distinct people.  Sometimes, the story is advanced through one person, and a time period, be it hours or days, may pass before the next 'chapter' is begun and the next character picks up the story.  Othertimes, you'll be reading a chapter that overlaps with a previous chapter.
Regardless, this book is complex and believable.  Futuristic technology that is just a *streach* beyond what we have and know to be possible.  Politics that are infinitely believeable, with water disputes, terrorism, new diseases springing up, the 'haves and have-nots', and obtuse threats from the 'third-world' equivalent.  And through it all, individuals who are worried about their jobs, families, and finding the money to pay for necessary repairs to their homes.  This is *life*, just a bit in the future.
The most impressive thing about this book is simply that Mr. Modesitt presents extra or extraneous situtations and items that you will try desperately to figure out how they all tie in together, until in the last portion of the book you realize the actual thrust of the book, and that the additional items are all just the depth and coloring of the world.  Amazing work here.
I gave this book 5 stars, although it is not perfect.  Mr. Modesitt often introduces new words to books, and I feel seldom exactly defines them adequately.  I tend to appreciate explanations laid out simply and obviously, and in this book there are several new terms presented which you must figure out their intent throughout the book.
I highly recommend this book; it is among the best developed I've read, and an example of the continuing excellence of my favorite author!
4198952
This novel is another sterling book by one of our best writers.  Sometimes as you read his writing it seems spotty and unclear, but when you finish a passage you are enthralled by how all that you needed was there and you have a perfect sense of time and place and characters.  This is writing.  I still believe, in my humble opinion as they say, that "The Given Day" is a masterful novel, and this one is close to it, but "World Gone By" is simpler and, paradoxically, more complex thematically.  But none of that really matters to most readers.  This is a rich story with a lot of unforgettable characters and it's more than worth the readers' time.  Pick it up.  Be enthralled, entertained, moved to tears.