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- Not one for the skeptics
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Go Tell It on the Mountain
James Baldwin
Manufacturer: Dell
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ASIN: 0440330076
Release Date: 1980-06-15 |
Amazon.com
First published in 1953 when James Baldwin was nearly 30, Go Tell It on the Mountain is a young man's novel, as tightly coiled as a new spring, yet tempered by a maturing man's confidence and empathy. It's not a long book, and its action spans but a single day--yet the author packs in enough emotion, detail, and intimate revelation to make his story feel like a mid-20th-century epic. Using as a frame the spiritual and moral awakening of 14-year-old John Grimes during a Saturday night service in a Harlem storefront church, Baldwin lays bare the secrets of a tormented black family during the depression. John's parents, praying beside him, both wrestle with the ghosts of their sinful pasts--Gabriel, a preacher of towering hypocrisy, fathered an illegitimate child during his first marriage down South and refused to recognize his doomed bastard son; Elizabeth fell in love with a charming, free-spirited young man, followed him to New York, became pregnant with his son, and lost him before she could reveal her condition.
Baldwin lays down the terrible symmetries of these two blighted lives as the ironic context for John's dark night of the soul. When day dawns, John believes himself saved, but his creator makes it clear that this salvation arises as much from blindness as revelation: "He was filled with a joy, a joy unspeakable, whose roots, though he would not trace them on this new day of his life, were nourished by the wellspring of a despair not yet discovered."
Though it was hailed at publication for its groundbreaking use of black idiom, what is most striking about Go Tell It on the Mountain today is its structure and its scope. In peeling back the layers of these damaged lives, Baldwin dramatizes the story of the great black migration from rural South to urban North. "Behind them was the darkness," Baldwin writes of Gabriel and Elizabeth's lost generation, "nothing but the darkness, and all around them destruction, and before them nothing but the fire--a bastard people, far from God, singing and crying in the wilderness!" This is Baldwin's music--a music in which rhapsody is rooted anguish--and there is none finer in American literature. --David Laskin
Book Description
James Baldwin's stunning first novel is now an American classic. With startling realism that brings Harlem and the black experience vividly to life, this is a work that touches the heart with emotion while it stimulates the mind with its narrative style, symbolism, and excoriating vision of racism in America. Moving through time from the rural South to the northern ghetto, starkly contrasting the attitudes of two generations of an embattles family, Go Tell It On The Mountain is an unsurpassed portrayal of human beings caught up in a dramatic struggle and of a society confronting inevitable change.
"The most important novel written about the American Negro," says Commentary. "It is written with poetic intensity and great narrative skill," writes Harper's. Saturday Review praises it as "masterful," and the San Francisco Chronicle declares that this important American novel is "brutal, objective and compassionate."
Customer Reviews:
Not one for the skeptics.......2007-09-17
Go Tell It On The Mountain is a very bold book. In an era when "Ebonics" had not been coined yet, when being black was not every white kids style, James Baldwin stayed so true to the African-American colloquialism. James Baldwin has written with complete truthfulness and self-questioning this parable of finding yourself, finding your belief, finding your God. Are these even different things, or is it one? It is this honesty which keeps you engrossed. Whether you'll end up loving this book or not probably depends on your personal equation with the Supreme Being, but what you will definitely admire and carry forward is his honesty, honesty about the lives of African-Americans, honesty which is also echoed in the language.
Go Tell It On the Mountain is a biblical story of a youth dealing with his personal demons with regards to religion at an age where sin has not manifested itself in any form whatsoever in him. John finds himself in the difficult position of questioning his faith. John's mental turmoil in separating the men of god from god itself and paving a religious path for himself is very touching. This mirroring of thoughts which are timeless in nature, pulls you into the story. You find yourself questioning along with John, praying along with his mother Elizabeth and feeling betrayed by his father Gabriel.
James Baldwin delves into each characters personal quest to achieve a place next to God. He frankly describes the African-American homes, the depth to which they are influenced by Christianity. So much so that at times you find it disconcerting. The two-facedness, the fake righteousness of the sanctified men makes you cringe with discomfort, followed by skepticism. Which is why, when John ends up being saved, I felt deceived. What brings about John's confirmation to the faith? Is it the hope to be freed from suffering that is passed on to him from generations? Is it to assuage the curiously skirted guilt of homosexuality? Could it have to do with the evangelist nature of African-American church services, where the charged up atmosphere, the childhood influences, the trance-like energy which may make one forget all inhibitions, insecurities and embrace that which is core to one and all, an eagerness to believe.
That this is a story of a different era is not to be forgotten. The depth to which James Baldwin writes about the African-American psyche, their hope in being freed from their suffering, their expectant belief in their faith, gives you reason to half-heartedly agree to the biblical end to the story.
This book, makes me curious of the role that guilt, fear and a hope for change, plays in bringing people closer to their god. Yes, signs of a true skeptic, but maybe in one of my trance-like states caused by certain unmentionable substances that might change and make me a believer.
[...].
God Help Us.......2007-06-08
This is a well written story of the lives those working out their salvation amid poverty, hardship and seeking a strong spirituality.
have mercy.......2007-05-08
The power of God, the power of Satan, the power of love (or lack of it) and, almost above all, the power of language. This is a breathtaking thing. Read and remember who wrote it - then remind people about one of the most underrated masters of American life.
I Would Give this 6 Stars If I Could [39][36][T].......2007-03-10
Sometimes, when you finish a book, you look up and take a deep breath and say, "Wow." This is one such novel.
The descriptive and intricate prose is woven so tightly and consciously that Baldwin amazingly delivers prose masterfully without having to use complex language - this book will never send you to the dictionary. Some courtier designers need fine fabric to make quality attire. This designer can take rags and sew them into gowns with only his sewing skills - Baldwin is an artist of words.
Overlapping the life stories of John's mother (Elizabeth) and stepfather (Gabriel), together with Gabriel's alienated sister (Florence) against the backdrop of John's 14th birthday, reveals to us the soul and character of the individuals and how their torments and incredible journeys affect and play upon John's coming-of-age manhood rite - which in this case is an out-of-body experience/revelation to the Lord before the congregation at Gabriel's church.
John's 14th birthday will and should never be forgotten by he or the congregation. And, we readers, who are delivered into the secret realms of the tortured pasts of Elizabeth, Gabriel and Florence, can better appreciate and, in turn, should better remember the moment the young John emerges as a man.
In the end, as a less-than-religious person, I asked myself whether Baldwin's constant references to the Bible (the story of Noah and Ham plays a large part in the end in contrast to the tortured relationship between Gabriel and John) and religious revival experience of John are meant to employ others to follow their lead, or to dispel their self-proclaimed truths because of the contradictions between religion and the religious which we have been permitted to learn about in Gabriel and others. But, I would have to conclude that Baldwin leaves that decision to you - but allows you to make the decision knowingly or after having learned about how what Gabriel preaches is not synonymous with what Gabriel lives.
I would give this 6 stars if I could. Few books have touched me as much as this book has.
Remarkable Baldwin.......2007-02-23
Go Tell It on the Mountain is James Baldwin at his best: fiery, passionate, tender and all-seeing. The novel is written so that three of the main characters get a chance to tell their own stories, which heightens the impact of the story of the boy John. There are many reasons why Baldwin is considered one of the greatest twentieth century American writers, and this is one of them.
Amazon.com
A novelist, essayist, playwright, and public intellectual, James Baldwin's writings on the subject of race in America undeniably made him one of the greatest African American writers of the 20th century. As the civil rights movement gained momentum in the two decades following World War II, Baldwin landed squarely in the public eye, and his prose communicated the hope and frustration of the fight for racial equality. In James Baldwin: Early Novels and Stories, editor Toni Morrison draws heavily on Baldwin's early work, including his first novel Go Tell It on the Mountain, as well as Giovanni's Room, which was praised by the New York Times for its "unusual candor ... and intensity." As pertinent today as it was some 30 years ago, the fiction found in this collection is powerful, eloquent, and a fitting tribute to a consummate writer.
Book Description
With burning passion, the authority of experience, and a sharp, epigrammatic wit, these essays articulate issues of race, democracy, and American identity. This edition--the most comprehensive gathering of Baldwin's nonfiction ever published--presents the complete texts of the landmark collections "Notes of a Native Son" (1955) and "Nobody Knows My Name" (1961); "The Fire Next Time" (1963), a classic analysis of America's racial divide; "No Name in the Street" (1972); and "The Devil Finds Work" (1976); and 36 more essays, including nine never before collected.
Customer Reviews:
A valuable edition of some of the best writings on race........1998-04-14
The Library of America is engaged in publishing definitive texts of the best-known writing in the U.S. Including James Baldwin in this series - and having Toni Morrison edit these volumes - has generated considerable critical review. It is remarkable that James Baldwin can still exercise so much hold over us. Both the fiction and the essays have a kind of raw power: it makes us realize how sensitive the nerve of "race relations" still is. "Go Tell It on the Mountain" - one of the early autobiographical stories - has already become an American classic. Baldwin's homosexuality and his ambiguous feelings towards the white establishment makes this a painful coming-of-age novel. There is no easy access to some one so at-odds with himself and his society - and no greater rewards for anyone interested in the literature of self-discovery. These are fine volumes. They are well worth owning and belong on the shelves of anyone interested in American literature. Not all collections are worth having. The Library of America - and these Baldwin volumes - are worth owning, and they are certainly worth reading.
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Go Tell It on the Mountain (Cliffs Notes)
Sherry Ann McNett
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ASIN: 0764586491 |
Book Description
The original CliffsNotes study guides offer expert commentary on major themes, plots, characters, literary devices, and historical background. The latest generation of titles in this series also feature glossaries and visual elements that complement the classic, familiar format.
CliffsNotes on Go Tell It on the Mountain explores the Great Migration, a time in American history characterized by a mass exodus of African Americans from the rural south to northern cities.
Follow the simple story of a young boy coming of age, a tale that gains complexity as it interweaves with the experiences of his mother, father, and aunt. This concise supplement to James Baldwin book about religion, racism, and familial expectations features summaries and commentaries on each part within the novel. Other features that help you study include
- Background on the author
- Descriptive character map and analyses
- Critical essays on racism, the church, and homosexuality as a subtext
- An interactive quiz, plus suggested essay questions and practice projects
Classic literature or modern modern-day treasure — you'll understand it all with expert information and insight from CliffsNotes study guides.
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This concise supplement to Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain helps students understand the overall structure of the work, actions and motivations of the characters, and the social and cultural perspectives of the author.
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Includes: Go Tell It on The Mountain, The Next time by fire and If Beale Street Could Talk all in one volume
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Go Tell It on the Mountain
Manufacturer: Dell 3007
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000EMAPIG |
Product Description
James Baldwin's stunning first novel is now an American classic. With startling realism that brings Harlem and the black experience vividly to life, this is a work that touches the heart with emotion while it stimulates the mind with its narrative style, symbolism, and excoriating vision of racism in America. Moving through time from the rural South to the northern ghetto, starkly contrasting the attitudes of two generations of an embattles family, Go Tell It On The Mountain is an unsurpassed portrayal of human beings caught up in a dramatic struggle and of a society confronting inevitable change.
Product Description
Vintage paperback novel about a family growing up in Harlem.
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Video Tape. 60 Mins
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Go Tell It On The Mountain
James Baldwin
Manufacturer: Collectors Reprints
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
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ASIN: B000TUBC94 |
Average customer rating:
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Go Tell It On the Mountain
James Baldwin
Manufacturer: [The First Edition Library]
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ASIN: B000LQU91I |
Book Description
When Washington, D.C., chiropractor Yardley Brown goes to his local bank, it isn't only to make deposits into his account. He has long since accrued some interest in Rayne Waters, a bank employee who's too beautiful to be true -- and too beautiful to be single. At least that's what Yardley believes, which is why he has never approached her.
Little does he know that Rayne is anything but taken. Not for want of trying, of course. But after barely surviving a dating disaster with her hairdresser's brother and then falling for a member of her church band, she's on the verge of giving up. That is, until Yardley -- discouraged by his own slew of dead-end romances -- finally works up the courage to give her a try.
The true craziness, however, is just beginning, thanks to a cast of characters who seem bent on botching the young couple's relationship. There's Rayne's erratic mother; Yardley's playboy buddies, always trolling for sex; and, worst of all, past lovers who make a habit of popping up and ruining things as only old flames (or previous mistakes) can. Weaving the carnal and the comical in true Zane fashion, Rayne and Yardley's struggle to find love in a world gone mad is a timeless talk about everything that can go wrong in the dating game -- and a few things that can go right.
Download Description
"In the latest romantic romp from New York Times bestselling author Zane, two hapless lovers get lost in a dating game gone awry. When Washington, D.C., chiropractor Yardley Brown goes to his local bank, it isn't only to make deposits into his account. He has long since accrued some interest in Rayne Waters, a bank employee who's too beautiful to be true -- and too beautiful to be single. At least that's what Yardley believes, which is why he has never approached her. Little does he know that Rayne is anything but taken. Not for want of trying, of course. But after barely surviving a dating disaster with her hairdresser's brother and then falling for a member of her church band who, it turns out, is celibate, she's on the verge of giving up. That is, until Yardley -- discouraged by his own slew of dead-end romances -- finally works up the courage to give her a try. The true craziness, however, is just beginning, thanks to a cast of characters who seem bent on botching the young couple's relationship. There's Rayne's erratic mother, who constantly boasts about being a ""good whore""; Yardley's playboy buddies, always trolling for sex; and, worst of all, past lovers who make a habit of popping up and ruining things as only old flames (or previous mistakes) can. Weaving the carnal and the comical in true Zane fashion, Rayne and Yardley's struggle to find love in a world gone mad is a timeless talk about everything that can go wrong in the dating game -- and a few things that can go right. "
Customer Reviews:
Very good read!.......2007-10-01
This was a very entertaining read from start to finish. Especially with the shocking ending. It allowed me to think profoundly for a time afterward about the books message. So much so that I refered some friends to Zanes work and I ordered more of her books.
it was ok.......2007-09-30
i just finished reading this book, i did enjoy it b.c i'm such a fan anyway. but i wasnt feeling the ending. i was hoping it was a dream and i was going to turn the page and everything would be ok. but i just knew something was going to go wrong i could feel it. but then again things happen and nothing in life is guaranteed but death. we all know that they wouldve lived happily ever after. thats not real life. real life is when something good can be taken away from you in an instant. thats why i dont like to fight. my motto is life is to short and overall when you look back whatever it was probably was not that serious to begin with
Great book...whack ending.......2007-08-13
This book was AWESOME. It was juicy and had TONS of drama. Twists and turns kept me turning the pages. The only thing that could have been better was the ending. When I read It, my jaw hit the floor but the book was so good , that the end almost ruined it. The ending would have been great for another one of her books but this one was good as is. It was almost as if, she wrote the entire book, finished it then went back and added the rest. BUT it is worth the read. I read it in two days.
Must Have.......2007-08-09
This is the first book I ever read from Zane and I must say I am not disappointed at all. This is a book to have. It has drama, sex and love all wrap up in one. This book was glued to my hand for entire day. I laugh and I cried (seriously cried)I could not believe it after all the hell these two when throught, it was so sad how is ended. This book give hope to those who believe in love, soulmate and the one. If you dont believe in those, I still suggest you read it, it will change you. Absolutely love this book and will read it again.
What's Really Going On!.......2007-04-20
It's not a bad book but you don't really get what's going on until the end of the book. I think there's a lot of empty spaces in Rayne's life. The book jumps from the time she lost her virginity at 17/18 to her life as an adult around age 27/28. That's a ten year gap and we all know in ten years a lot can happen. Rayne don't trust relationships, not even with her best friend since 3rd grade, but the author never explores why she doesn't. The reader doesn't have a good understanding of Rayne's life with her mom its assumed. In a nutshell, it's one of those books that don't hold your interest so you put it down often and when you pick it back up you have no idea what's going on so you have to read back a page. Of course you finish the book just because...... Somewhere near the end I understood where the Author was trying to go with the book and appreciated the epilogue.
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- The number is in the phone
- Great book until the end
- love it or hate it -- the writing is superb
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- New York Noir at its Finest
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Afterburn: A Novel
Colin Harrison
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Paperbacks
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Amazon.com
This tour de force by the author of Manhattan Nocturne is a genre-bending literary thriller that deserves all the pre-publishing buzz it's received. From the prologue, set in the closing days of the Vietnam War, to the denouement 25 years later in the meatpacking district of Manhattan, it crackles with electricity and keeps the reader pinned in place; this is a book that's truly impossible to put down.
Harrison's three protagonists are so well drawn that their individual obsessions rather than his complex plot seem to drive the narrative. Former fighter pilot Charlie Ravich is a wealthy telecommunications CEO desperate to perpetuate his name by any means, including a surrogate mother; his only son is dead and his daughter is infertile. Christina Welles is an Ivy League-educated mathematics whiz who went to prison for her role in a Mafia theft ring. And Rick Bocca, Christina's former lover, is hiding from the mob boss who has arranged Christina's early release to regain the millions he believes she stole from him. Harrison's observations are acute: he can describe the most horrific torture as deftly as he can write a tender love scene. But his ability to weave the separate stories of his main characters together without sacrificing a bit of momentum is truly dazzling; all three of them live in the mind long after the novel's harrowing climax. This is the real "afterburn" of the title, although it may get a second definition if the book makes as rapid an ascent to the top of the bestseller lists as it deserves. --Jane Adams
Book Description
Power. Seduction. Greed. If you get too close, you might get burned.A People Page-Turner of the WeekCharlie Ravitch is driven by power. As an international corporate tycoon he's well-skilled in the art of the deal. As a former Vietnam POW he still carries the scars of war. As a husband and father on the hard side of fifty he's on a quest for immortality-- and for a woman who can make every dream come true. No matter what it costs.Christina Welles is driven by greed. As a prison parolee, she's a veteran of dangerous-- and seductive-- relationships, a cunning woman well-schooled in the art of manipulation. Her bid to stay alive on the streets means outrunning her past, and escaping a lie that threatens every life she touches. No matter what it takes.In a moment of chance, two lives are about to intersect. In a nightmarish twist of fate, two obsessions are about to be indulged. And in a world where anything goes, one false move can destroy them both...An Entertainment Weekly Best Book of the Year
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Charlie Ravich is a survivor whose brutal experience as a POW in Vietnam has more than prepared him for the cutthroat world of global commerce. Now a wealthy Upper East Side executive in his late fifties, Charlie has only one problem: his family is dying out. His wife teeters on the edge of Alzheimer's; their son has succumbed to leukemia; and their daughter, Julia, is unable to bear a child. Charlie is being trumped by time. Enter Christina, a beguiling Columbia University dropout -- intelligent, selectively dishonest, tilted with desire. Her affair with Rick Bocca, a member of a big-time truck-theft ring run by mobster Tony V., has landed her in prison. After four years in Bedford Hills, she is suddenly released by the Manhattan D.A's office -- perhaps because she is innocent, perhaps not. Warned by a detective that Christina is being set up by Tony V., Rick begins a desperate, bungled search to warn Christina, who has lied her way into the high-flying world of Charlie Ravich. But her past catches up with her, and Rick's catches up with him, setting off a harrowing chain of betrayals that leaves only one person with any hope of a future.
Customer Reviews:
The number is in the phone.......2005-08-29
Sorry, Mr. Harrison. Although I do think you write well, I think this book was awful. I will never cease to be amazed at the garbage that passes for plot in the publishing industry these days. You read this book (actually we listened to it on CD for a long drive) waiting for something to happen, for the good guys to outsmart the bad guys, for justice to triumph. But . . . obviously I don't want to give away the ending, but this story is full of extraneous information, gratiuitous male sexual fantasies (i.e. five tracks - that's 15 minutes - of a letter describing sexual proclivities by someone who is not even in the story!) and of course, two episodes of the big "A" sex - what every married man in America doesn't get from his wife, supposedly. Also way too much detailed, unrealistic, sadistic torture (generally when the torturee does what you want him to, you don't interfere with it by torturing him further), and, I could go on . . .
The characters often behaved out of character, the depiction of the wife who was supposed to be spiraling into Alzheimer's was completely inconsistent with the actual disorder, while there is such a thing as a spinal nerve, there are many of them, and the author clearly meant the spinal column (but I guess his editor didn't pick that up), and, far worst of all: Cell phones do NOT have dial tones, and THE NUMBER STAYS IN THE PHONE!!! To plot an entire book based upon invented technology (that every 12-year-old is familiar with) is absurd.
The S&S people are crazy. This book needed a ton of editing and a whole new ending. I'm really sorry to have to post this negative review, because I understand that work that Mr. Harrison put into writing the book, but I think his editor let him down.
Great book until the end.......2005-07-13
I loved this book until I got to the end. The ending is so dissapointing that I almost regretted taking the time to read the first 450+ pages. Talk about screwing up what could have been a real winner.
love it or hate it -- the writing is superb.......2005-05-04
Just a quick skim through the reader reviews will tell you that this book polarizes readers -- it's kind of like a Red State, Blue State kind of division.
I first read "Havana Room" and really liked it and then wondered how I had missed Colin Harrison before as I am an avid reader. I then, in the words of Stephen King about Elmore Leonard, went on(line) to buy all the rest of his books. I think "Afterburn" is the best. Amazing. I don't think that I have read a noir in this class except for perhaps Peter Abraham's LIGHTS OUT. The scenes of Olympic class sex and clinical descriptions of horrific torture leave nothing to the imagination. They'll infect your dreams.
Mr. Harrison does have a tendency to digress, but I find this adds texture and depth to the story. Internal dialog is what makes a novel special. If you think otherwise, read a screenplay. Or watch a movie.
Nice Surprise.......2005-04-06
I found this book in a bargain book shop in Auckland, New Zealand and couldn't have enjoyed it any more. The end of the novel does a great job of both pulling together the characters and the plot but also plugging the holes in the story that I initially found unrealistic. The author does an impressive job of building together characters that are indeed multi-dimensional and believable. Few people are truly "good" or universally "bad" and Colin Harrison's main characters are both likable and realistic. The ending was neither dissapointing nor predictable.
New York Noir at its Finest.......2005-01-08
Charlie Ravich is a very successful telecommunicaitons mogul in his late fifties, however he is racked with injuries he got during his time as a POW during the Vietnam war. On a trip to Hong Kong, where he is trying to get a factory built, he witnesses a murder and it winds up making him wealthy, very wealthy. But money won't buy you everything. Or will it. Charlie's son died from leukemia years ago, his wife is slipping away with Alzheimer's and Charlie is obsessed with his pending oblivion. He desperately wants someone to carry on his name. So he advertises for a woman to have his child.
Christina Wells is a pretty young thing just out of the joint, where she spent four years. She's gone to Columbia University, so you know she's smart, but she dropped out to lead the life of a small time grifter. She'd been raped when she was a little girl and it haunts her. Well, maybe she's not so smart, because she spent the fours years behind bars, because she took the rap for her iron-pumping, former boyfriend, Rick Bocca, who somehow found out when she was getting out on a surprise release. It seems that somehow five million went missing from that job she went up for and he wants it back.
This is a well written and well paced story with an ending which doesn't leave you wanting or feeling short-changed. The characters are a little over the top, but Mr. Harrison is such a honeydripper of a writer, who throws people and situations together so well, that we don't care, in fact instead, we revel in his character's excesses. This novel is film noir on the written page and is really, very, very good.
Book Description
Charlie Ravich is an international corporate tycoon, a husband and father on the hard side of fifty, and a restless soul in search of immortality. When Christina Welles, a prison parolee, well-schooled in the art of manipulation, walks into his life, Charlie thinks he just might have found what he's looking for. As she tries to outrun her past, and he to understand his future, two obsessions are about to be indulged.
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Afterburn: A Novel
Colin Harrison , and
Jay Patterson
Manufacturer: Amazon Remainders Account
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
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