I read on one of the reviews that Beuna Dia by Juan Valdez was better than this so I tried BD and it's not
587474
I read a lot of reviews on this product before I bought it.  I read on one of the reviews that Beuna Dia by Juan Valdez was better than this so I tried BD and it's not, it is bitter. However, Mount Hagen is very smooth and not bitter.  I do  not have to use milk or sugar with it. I also cough a lot after I drink coffee, especially brewed.  Someone said that this one would not do that because of the natural way it is processed.  They were right! I can have a nice cup of coffee without my allergies bothering me! I will stick with this one. I did not give it a 5 star because it is not surprizingly excellent, but it is suprizingly good.
891720
I'll admit that I don't know what "magical realism" is.  I like the fantasy genre, and I like stories with fantastic and supernatural elements.  Reading the summary, it seemed like something I would enjoy: something about a family through the years and their fortunes and misfortunes.  That summary reminds me of Cao Xueqin's Story of the Stone, a piece of literature I greatly enjoyed.  Maybe it wasn't what I expected and I'm not high-brow enough to understand a Nobel prize winning book.  But, boy, did I dislike this book!

Maybe I just don't get it but none of the characters come off as interesting or likable.  I'm not much of a writer, but I do remember in high school English, being taught by the teachers to "show, not tell".  Yet this books constantly tells us about the characters.  Amaranta is sad.  Why is she sad and how does she show it?  Don't know.  She's just sad.  Why does Aureliano Buendia make all those little gold fishes?  It didn't seem like he enjoyed making them and it wasn't for profit since he would make them, melt them down, then make them all over again in some sort of repetitive cycle.  Amaranta ended up rejecting a suitor that we were told she loves.  Why?  No idea.  Most of the men in the Buendia family are attracted to one Pilar Ternera.  Why?  I guess because she's willing to put out?  I don't really know.  Some of the descendents become fascinated with trying to decipher a scroll, so much so that one of them ended up locking himself in the house for a large chunk of his life.  Why?  Everyone likes a good puzzle but it seems irrational to lock oneself up for years.

And it just went on and on for all the characters in the books.  It's fine when the fantastical and supernatural elements are just taken as a matter of fact, like when various ghosts would show up and none of the characters are fazed.  But when the author can't even explain his characters' motivations, I find that incredibly dull.  Like one review on Amazon said, it felt like reading a history book where the author just gives a listing of events that went on in Macondo but no insight into the characters that are supposed to be so colorful.  The readers are just told that the characters are colorful.  But no reasons or examples are given for why they are what they are or why they did what they did.

It took me about a month to read this book and it wasn't because the words were too big or hard to understand.  If anything, 400-ish pages are short compared to some of the books I've plowed through and each sentence is perfectly understandable.  But the characters were just so uninteresting that my mind would wander after two or three paragraphs because I just didn't care what happened to them.  And those paragraphs are long, too, sometimes covering two whole pages!  It's probably some sort of literary device I'm not familiar with, but gosh, those long paragraphs get boring fast when there's nothing to break it up and it just rambles on.  I didn't take that much issue with many of the characters having similar names since the handy family tree in the beginning of the book helps.  The problem is that none of the characters are interesting so, asides from having similar names, they also have similar boring personalities.

I won't deny that some of the author's writing paint very vivid pictures of what was going on.  One thing that stands out in my mind is his descriptions of the town after three consecutive years of rain.  The mold and vegetation that were growing, the water that was constantly flooding the houses.  But painting a nice scenery doesn't make for compelling story telling.  So, that, in the end, is probably my beef with the book.  It seems like the reader is being shown a lot of pretty pictures but there's no real substance linking those pictures up.
2298746
Although I like Spanish folk type music,  I did not fully care for the collection of songs on this CD.  I did not get any feeling that there was any excitement and no beat that would make you want to dance!!!!  Sorry to say that I do not recommend it too much....
962258
I am a big fan of Dan Clowes and Adrian Tomine, and I loved Epileptic by David B. -- but I just found The Push Man and Other Stories to be kind of pointless, with uninteresting artwork. The stories seem to aim to shock, but completely failed (in my case) to do so. I would absolutely not recommend. Get&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Like-a-Velvet-Glove-Cast-in-Iron/dp/1560971169/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Ice-Haven/dp/037542332X/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Ice Haven</a>&nbsp;(by Clowes) or&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Epileptic/dp/0375714685/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Epileptic</a>&nbsp;instead.
3616338
I am writing this for my brother and giving you his feedback. I tried to warn him about Iron Butterfly had few memorable songs but he wanted it anyway. I am sure I told him that the Inagoddavida track was the short version but to no avail. He said he listened to it about five times and was totally underwhelmed with this album. He said this is a one or two star at most.
1208439
I didn't think it was as good as everyone bragged it up to be.  I bought The Stranger I Married because it was supposed to be like the 50 Shades series.  Definitely not like 50 Shades at all.  Didn't keep my attention.
1682313
While the version of "Redemption Song" is okay I don't see much here. Listen to a sample of the slam poet on track 11, "Kealoha Bebop" for an idea of how awful it can be; the (false) emotional tone of rap doesn't match the music in the slightest.
3715242
I bought this book because of the number of 4-5 star reviews that it got. I started reading it and was excited to know that part of the story is a woman who have Native American roots and beliefs and actually applies it to her life. As I turn page after page, my interest in this book started to wane. Even though it's a surprise for me to finally find an ebook in which I do not have to worry about spelling and sentence structures as it was nicely written with prose that flows like water, I realized this novel is not my cup of tea. I will fairly blame it on my preference. I did not find Sage Bristo appealing and Deanne Demore is actually annoying with her projections just so she could say no to the supposedly confident Sage. I couldn't find myself being drawn to Sage's story. And I would say the summary in which it says "For the first time Sage Bristo fears the power of another woman" was a very misleading statement because Deanne Demore is a very insecure woman who only wants to live her life on the safe side.
3125102
As a student in the master's program at ASU, I purchased this and a few other Neruda texts for academic reasons but was horribly disappointed by this abomination.  Ben Belitt appears to be a poor poet who wants to make  himself great by editing the work of master poet Neruda.  His translations  are sloppy, his wording is confusing, and he seems to write just to hear  himself talk.  Does he speak either English or Spanish?  His style would  indicate that he simply searched through a thesaurus for the longest  synonym he could find.  Did he get paid by the word, or is this some cruel  joke to intentionally butcher great works?  Neruda's work is  straightforward and rich, and from that comes the magic of his voice.  Belitt steals the sound, tone, and quality of Neruda and replaces it with  his own convoluted and idiotic style. Somehow, Belitt managed to ruin  Neruda's brilliant anaphoras, surely the easiest part of a poem to  translate.  Even a foreigner to Spanish can feel Neruda's rhythm in his  text.  Was Belitt trying to ruin it?  I find the only way to read this  text is to ignore the English side entirely and rely on Neruda's Spanish  text alone and hope I can pick up enough of the Latinate words to fully  understand Neruda's genius.  I want my money back.
3363031
I know a lot of BDB fans were not excited for this book. JR Ward alienated so many people (myself included) with the ending of The Shadows, and frankly, a lot of people hate Layla. I hated Layla for a long time, so I get that. But I actually was looking forward to this book because I love a tortured hero and Im all about forbidden romance. Ive kinda been burning for this pairing for years.

There were things I liked in this story, but a great deal that I didnt. Im going to talk about the plot some, so if you haven't read the book and you want to stay entirely spoiler free, consider yourself warned. My main problem with this book was that Ward set up the conflict with the utter annihilation of Qhuinns character. Im not saying Qhuinn makes bad choices. Im saying, I hated Qhuinn. I wanted to set Qhuinn on fire. Qhuinn was unrecognizable from the character weve known in all the books leading up to this one. That is not ok. Hes not just an ass. He is cruel, violent, and vindictive. He is beyond horrible to Layla, and frankly, speaks to Blay in a way that is completely at odds with the devoted mate he has always been up until now. Ward turned this character into something else to force the story where she wanted it to go and I am not down with that.

Im also disappointed that Xcor and Layla start the book already in love. Yes, weve had a ton of building in previous books but I wanted the money scene where they finally reveal their feelings, and (especially for Xcor) its earth shattering and we get that big FINALLY moment. Their love was a given and I felt cheated. Dont get me wrong, they are lovely together. I felt their desperation over their stolen moments and their abiding love, which is something Ward gets right. I just wish we wouldve had a big moment when they put their feelings out there for the first time.

As you know, these days Ward is all about the subplots, none of which I cared for. I especially Hated Trezs story with a Selena lookalike. Hated with a capital H. I hated Tohrs backslide. And I was completely unmoved by Vs emotional disconnect from Doc Jane. I had to fight the urge to skim often in the side scenes, when I wasn't contemplating throwing my ereader in frustration.

I am interested in anything to do with the Band of Bastards. And the flashback scenes with Xcor broke my heart. Poor Xcor. He reminds of Zsadist. (Who I miss, BTW.) Such a gentle soul who has endured so much misery. I love how Layla changes him. He is so good to her! So heartbreakingly devoted and utterly in love with her. It's so lovely how she sees him... as a good man and a warrior. And I enjoyed her finding her own identity.

I also thought the big climax scene was pretty awesome.

But the resolution was super-rushed and way too easy. Especially when it came to Qhuinn. As much as Ward turned his character on a dime at the beginning, she did it just as quickly at the end. It felt shallow and unsatisfying.

Overall, I found the book very uneven. It had some really satisfying moments. But just as many disappointments.
2877251
The majority of the movie is in Spanish so you end up feeling like you're reading a book while trying to watch the movie.  It has very few positive moments and he ends up settling for mediocrity in the end.  Save your money and your time & skip this one.
1190819
I was attracted to this book because of it's novel approach of combining a classic children's story with Latin American themes.  Two of my granddaughters have Hispanic heritage and I thought that they would enjoy a story like this.  I was wrong.

First the good:  The artwork was well done and oviously computer-colored but still nice to look at.  However the images of the Chupacabra were over the top, in my opinion, and did not look anything like what the fabled creature is supposed to appear.  The author uses some simple Spanish words and names in the story, such as: gracias; senor; fiesta; Reynaldo; and Augustin along with a glossary and a pronunciation guide.

Now for what I didn't like: the story starts charmingly enough with three "cabritos" (young goats) who live on a ranch near the Rio Grande.  They are all musicians and decide to go to Mexico to play at a fiesta.  Their mother warns them about the evil Chupacabra who lives under the bridge.  As each goat confronts the monster they outwit him by telling him that their other brothers would make a better meal, play a song for him and then run off to Mexico, leaving their brothers to fend for themselves.  The final brother to cross the bridge kills the creature and treads on his remains.  Really?  I know that this is a retelling of an old fable and although I don't believe that every children's book has to be PC, this story has very little to redeem itself by.  I suggest that you pass on it despite it's apparent charm.
566094
I picked up this book because most of the reviews on here seemed to be positive. I am the daughter of Mexican immigrant parents that moved here some 24 years ago and therefore have a certain affinity for books written about the immigrant struggle. I was born and raised in Los Angeles and am a 22 year old, college educated (University of Miami alum) woman with a degree in English Literature so I have read my share of books.

This novel seemed interesting because I had yet to read a book about the immigrant struggle with the interjected perspective of upper-class, white people. I thought this book would be humorous, tragic and uplifting all at the same time --- boy was I wrong! It started off interestingly enough and was able to capture my attention. As I kept reading, however I found that the white couple were increasingly annoying and the Mexican couple were completely hopeless. The only reason I kept reading was to find out what kind of happy ending the Mexican couple would have but it never came! I didn't expect them to end up living in a 3-bedroom mansion in Beverly Hills, but my lord!! They couldn't catch a break! I know there are a lot of people out there that have tragic lives once they move to the U.S. but this was overdone and the series of events were truly unbelievable. Just when you thought something good was coming for them, something terrible happened. Towards the end it became extremely predictable and dull. Still, I kept reading with the hope that the last few pages would contain some light and of course, I was dead wrong again! Now, I don't read books to become severely depressed about things but I understand that sometimes it is necessary to show the gravity of the situation. However, the sad (VERY VERY sad) events that take place in the Mexican couple's life, teaches nothing. There is no point to it. It makes the anti-immigrant statement that maybe Mexicans should just stay in Mexico because it is inevitably impossible for them to make anything of themselves in the U.S. It makes Mexicans seem stupid for moving to "el Norte" and portrays this poor couple as a nuisance.

I could write a much longer review of this book but I have come to the point where if I kept writing I would want to include specifics and I don't want to spoil the reading experience for anybody who has yet to read this novel. Although I implore you not to do so. It is a waste of time. But if you REALLY want to read a novel that has heart and portrays the immigrant struggle in a way that few novelists have ever been able to acheive, pick up Victor Villasenor's "Rain of Gold". It is THE most touching novel in this genre that I have ever read. Truly beautiful.

This was the first T.C. Boyle book I have read and will probably be the last.
1454655
I started this book a few years ago and put it down because I just wasn't in the mood for YA contemporary at the time. Fast forward a few years later when an audiobook has since been released, I gave it another shot since my preference is for audiobooks of any genre.

I think what made me pick the book up in the first place was because it was advertised as a "different" kind of immigration story, and I do agree with that assessment of it, I just didn't connect to it as well as I thought I would have. I've been reading really good books centering on young girls and immigration that I think I just had high hopes for this one.

The Secret Side of Empty follows Monserrat(I love the pronunciation of this name) or M.T. as she likes to be called, and her struggles with being undocumented "Argentina". I think what initially drew me to this one was that most immigration stories are centered on "brown" latinos. Mexican or other Central Americans; never from the voice of a white latina. Because M.T. was white, I think it confused her that she didn't have the luxury of all of her rich, equally white friends. This wasn't supposed to be happening to her. She believed should've been privileged in a way her friends were but she wasn't and for this I really struggled with her narrative.

The book features a lot of heavy topics that I wasn't expecting. The abuse was a lot for me to handle considering I come from a history of domestic violence towards women. The ending was just not the one that I hoped for but I do think this story is really important. I've just read ones I enjoyed more.
431402
I was sent a copy of Yanni: Voices from the One2One Network to review and I'm sorry to say I just didn't like it.  I can't say that I ever was a Yanni fan.  Honestly, I've never listened to Yanni before now and if it all sounds like this, I guess I know why.

Some of the tracks were so repetitive musically and rhythmically that I had to just skip to the next.  Others reminded me of really terrible soap opera background themes or ridiculous romantic movie soundtracks.

I'm not saying that the singing was bad.  There are talented voices on this album.  It's just overproduced and too cheesy for me to seriously enjoy it.
3067157
I listened to both CDs and only three songs stood out--Single Ladies, If I Were a Boy, and Diva.  RADIO has a good beat, but it just sounds pure crazy.

The main reason why the CDs didn't impress me is not Beyonce', even though she is wayyyyyyy over exposed, but the fact that all the songs sound alike, except for the songs written by someone else.  I really wish she would stop song writing and just sing.

Update (12/22) I found another banging song off the CD - Sweet Dreams.  Okay, it would seem that the dance CD is banging; it's the lyrical CD that is causing folks the issues.  BEE stop all the attempts to sing meaningful songs and just make dance hits.
1473806
The only reason Im giving it 2 stars is because I do enjoy Dot Hutchinsons writing style. The butterfly garden genuinely caught my interest, but I was so heavily disappointed in the Roses of May. To my disappointment, I had such a hard time picking the book up to continue. As a hispanic, the Spanish context drove me crazy because to me, it was not realistic. The relationships also felt very fairy tale and unprofessional to me. The once upon a time there was a girl who was scared of was NOT interesting to me whatsoever. I thought the plot was interesting, but it was so dragged out and just way too unrealistic. I would have been satisfied without the series and just stopping after the butterfly garden.