Amazon.com
Anita Desai has long proved herself one of the most accomplished and admired chroniclers of middle-class India. Her 1999 novel, Fasting, Feasting, is the tale of plain and lumpish Uma and the cherished, late-born Arun, daughter and son of strict and conventional parents. So united are her parents in Uma's mind that she conflates their names. "MamaPapa themselves rarely spoke of a time when they were not one. The few anecdotes they related separately acquired great significance because of their rarity, their singularity." Throughout, Desai perfectly matches form and content: details are few, the focus narrow, emotions and needs given no place. Uma, as daughter and female, expects nothing; Arun, as son and male, is lost under the weight of expectation. Now in her 40s, Uma is at home. Attempts at arranged marriages having ended in humiliation and disaster, and she is at MamaPapa's beck and call, with only her collection of bracelets and old Christmas cards for consolation.
Uma flounces off, her grey hair frazzled, her myopic eyes glaring behind her spectacles, muttering under her breath. The parents, momentarily agitated upon their swing by the sudden invasion of ideas--sweets, parcel, letter, sweets--settle back to their slow, rhythmic swinging. They look out upon the shimmering heat of the afternoon as if the tray with tea, with sweets, with fritters, will materialise and come swimming out of it--to their rescue. With increasing impatience, they swing and swing.
Arun, in college in Massachusetts, is none too happily spending the summer with the Pattons in the suburbs: their refrigerator and freezer is packed with meat that no one eats, and Mrs. Patton is desperate to be a vegetarian, like Arun. But what he most wants is to be ignored, invisible. "Her words make Arun wince. Will she never learn to leave well alone? She does not seem to have his mother's well-developed instincts for survival through evasion. After a bit of pushing about slices of tomatoes and leaves of lettuce--in his time in America he has developed a hearty abhorrence for the raw foods everyone here thinks the natural diet of a vegetarian--he dares to glance at Mr. Patton."
Desai's counterpointing of India and America is a little forced, but her focus on the daily round, whether in the Ganges or in New England, finely delineates the unspoken dramas in both cultures. And her characters, capable of their own small rebellions, give Fasting, Feasting its sharp bite. --Ruth Petrie
Book Description
Anita Desai's new book, hailed as "unsparing, yet tender and funny,"* brilliantly confirms her place among today's foremost Indian writers. FASTING, FEASTING takes on Desai's greatest theme: the intricate, delicate web of family conflict. It tells the moving story of Uma, the plain older daughter of an Indian family, tied to the household of her childhood and tending to her parents' every extravagant demand, and of her younger brother, Arun, across the world in Massachusetts, bewildered by his new life in college and the suburbs, where he lives with the Patton family. Published in Britain to rave reviews, FASTING, FEASTING is "rich in the sensuous atmosphere, elegiac pathos, and bleak comedy at which the author excels" (The Spectator). From the overpowering warmth of Indian culture to the cool center of the American family, it captures the physical -- and emotional -- fasting and feasting that define two distinct cultures. *(Times Literary Supplement)
Customer Reviews:
OMG WORST BOOK EVERRRR.......2007-09-23
this is truly the worst book ive ever read. im soon 2 burn it. we had 2 read it for school, thats the only reason i finished it. it was horribly written, no plot and just outright boring. if your looking for a good read, FIND ANOTHER BOOK!!!!
fast from this and feast on something else.......2006-12-27
Disappointment is an understatement, I can't believe this was a Booker shortlist. Neither the story nor the characters evolve from their pitiful persona and circumstances. The whole effect is suspended in a souless vacumn especially Part 2 Arun. Prose was uninspiring, the conversations remind one of stilted actors interacting in a pseudo-profound play . This may be my first and last Desai book. Perharps I'll check out Clear Light of Day as Desai's redemption. To each his own, I suppose..... For those keen on exploring works of Indian authors , I recommend Rohinton Mistry, Rushdie, Arundhati Roy , Lahiri, all masters of their art.
Slightly Dissapointed.......2006-02-22
I had read Clear Light of Day which was also written by Anita Desai. I loved that book...so I decided to read Fasting, Feasting which I thought would be equally promising.
I was wrong.
The book reads easily overall. It keeps your attention throughout every page however I feel there are some gaping mistakes in this book.
After I read the book, I was surprised. There was really little to not plot. It seemed like Desai relied on the reader to pity Uma and Arun throughout and present that as some sort of heady piece of literature. The two stories are disjointed and while yes, I did sympathize with the two characters, I found myself wanting more. There was no intertwining of the two stories...it could have almost been written about two perfect strangers and still made sense.
Desai also likes to present this really cruel vision of typical Indian parents. As a girl who is Indian and does have typical Indian parents, I found the treatment of their characters quite harsh. In both of the books I read of Desai's, both parents seem cooly detached and fail to understand (or even try to understand) their daughters. The parents in this book seemed overly cruel, treating Uma as nothing but a man-servant--this i found disturbing and a little melodramatic.
Also, what is the obsession with the state of Massachusetts in Indian lit books? I have read several books by indian authors and whenever someone goes abroad to study, it is almost always in Mass. I clearly think that Desai had some research to do as Mass. is not remniscent of Texas (what was with the language and the depictions of family life?). I thought this part of the book was ill-researched and ill-depicted.
However, I have to admit that the language that Desai uses in this book is very vivid and is easy to picture in your mind.
If you're looking for a quick and easy read this is it. However, if you're looking for some deeper insight into the world of Indian life/culture...this is NOT it.
Who Are these People.......2005-07-13
This book is written from two perspectives: Uma's and Arun's. I felt after I read the book I had no better understanding of either Uma or Arun and their struggles. I wasn't quite sure why Arun was so standoffish and simply afraid of people. Poor Uma, but I did not feel that sorry for her.
This book was boring and lacked insight. Don't waste your time.
Delves into the Inner Sanctum of an Orthodox Indian Family.......2003-07-16
from BlueJeanOnline.com
by Dashini Ann Jeyathurai, age 19, Teen Correspondent
In Fasting, Feasting, Anita Desai takes on a task that many Indian and expatriate authors have deemed Herculean in nature, a task that involves delving into the inner sanctum of an orthodox Indian family in India. Many who have attempted this challenge failed and came out looking ignorant and insensitive of certain aspects of the culture. Few have succeeded, and among them is Anita Desai.
The reader is faced with several poignant issues played upon in a middle-class family attempting to deal with modernization, but they ultimately that realize life is meant to be lived in their society. A society with a veritable amount of prejudices weaved into its complex tapestry of customs and beliefs.
The story in itself is told from the perspective of the protagonist, Uma, who starts out as a wide-eyed child at a convent who has an enthusiasm for education and an awe of the enigmatic nuns who seem to glide through the school grounds. Unlike her younger sister Aruna, our protagonist does not have the privilege of having "books marked healthily in green and blue for success and approval." Instead, with the birth of her brother Arun, Uma takes on the role of nanny. Here, one encounters the distinct preference her parents have for the male child - a practice that was not uncommon at the time. The teenage Uma questions this sexism when she points out that an ayah had looked after both Aruna and herself as children. Why wasn't the ayah's care sufficient for a male child?
Desai next explores the conventional belief that tied a woman's worth to her physical appearance. A woman who lacked beauty was often rushed into the first marital offer she received, only to pay a heavy price later on. Desai shows the challenges a single woman faces regardless of how successful she is. By contrast, Uma's cousin is portrayed as the ultimate success because she is able to marry well thanks to her looks. One wonders how happy she truly was, however, when she eventually takes her own life.
Arun, Uma's brother, takes center stage several chapters into the book as he begins his studies in America, where he meets the dysfunctional Patton family. Arun is faced with unlimited freedom and grapples with an alien culture in which his landlord's daughter periodically vomits after meals and Ms. Patton is almost a non-entity in the family.
Ultimately, Anita Desai has established herself as one of India's finest fiction writers. To me, great authors are the ones who can make you keep turning the pages, eager to read the next line although there may be more pressing matters at hand - and Desai fulfills that description....
Book Description
What gave Christopher Columbus the confidence in 1492 to set out across the Atlantic Ocean?
Fish on Friday tells the story of the discovery of America as a product of the long sweep of history: the spread of Christianity and the radical cultural changes it brought to Europe, the interaction of economic necessity with a changing climate, and generations of unknown fishermen who explored the North Atlantic in the centuries before Columbus. A fascinating and multifaceted book, Fish on Friday will intrigue everyone who wonders how the vast forces of climate, culture, and technology conspire to create the history we know.
Amazon.com
Simply put, Honey from a Weed is a jewel of a book. Reading it, one realizes the true artistry of the author, a person whose relationship with the world around her is both intimate and immediate--someone who can transform the fruits of the earth--beans, potatoes, garlic, herbs--into a gustatory masterpiece. The subtitle of Gray's book is Fasting and Feasting in Tuscany, Catalonia, the Cyclades and Apulia, but there's far more feast than famine in this culinary odyssey. Recipes for such Mediterranean favorites as rabbit with garlic sauce or polenta punctuate wonderful reflections on such varied topics as wine, pigs, and edible weeds; chapters on feasts and festivals; and sharp-eyed observations about the lives of those Gray has lived among for so many years.
Literate and lyrical, Honey from a Weed is a feast for both body and soul. Read Gray's wonderful portraits of the places she's lived and the cooks she's learned from, and let your mind wander over the sunbathed hills, through the rustic villages and deep quarries Gray knows so intimately. Though reading Honey from a Weed may not influence you to take up stone-carving or cooking, at least you'll have spent your time in charming company.
Book Description
The author has for the last 20 years shared her life with a sculptor whose appetite for marble and sedimentary rocks has taken them to Tuscany, Catalonia, Naxos and Apulia. She has written a passionate autobiographical cookbook, Mediterranean through and through and as compelling as a first class novel.
Customer Reviews:
Real Food for the Soul.......2007-08-16
Honey From a Weed provides a feel for a life of love and a lust for life. Here we have the essence of the Slow Food Movement, healthy heart, and devotional spiritual life -- love the Earth and be loved by the Earth.
I once asked the great Portland Chef Greg Higgins to identify his favorite cook book . He said he buys Honey from a Weed for his friends so they can forage together in the fields and steams of the Northwest.
This is as good as it gets.
1. Stunning writing as good a food literature ever becomes.
2. Fresh and found ingredients as all food is local and right outside the door - between the rows of corn and the among the vineyard weeds.
3. Slow and steady and simple. This puts a spear right through the heart of the royal and the pompous food world.
4. Peasant food is the food that 90 percent of the world eats and holds up to God at sunrise.
5. Simple tools. Forget the newest and fanciest electronic gadget and go to the thrift store if you want to be a great cook.
6. One or two dish meals. What is better than crusty bread, tomatoes, olives, garlic, local cheese, basil and red wine? Do we really want or need more?
7. Family food for one or two or three or friends or village.
8. What recipes? See, gather, prepare, cook, eat, devote.
9. Spiritual life in the garden and in the field. The hills glow with the peasant energy of Jean Giono.
I read this book every year. It is nourishing in every dimension -- the body, the brain, and the spirit.
Get it and live a better life.
A Fascinating Window on Rural Greek and Italian Life and Eating.......2005-09-23
Traditional cultural habits of eating, involving foraging for foods growing wild in the area, have always fascinated me, but I have found that most books talk about the foods harvested in general terms, and give little of substance to work with. Patience Gray opens the door to the world of wild food foraging, describing and discussing in great detail the species used, with the local names for each, when they are used, and how they are collected for everything from spring salads to autumn seafood, and how wild and cultivated foods are integrated with one another into the day to day cuisine. The best book on European cooking I have ever read. It is so good it has become one of my favorite gifts to give to f riends.
Epitome of Great Culinary Writing. Buy it and Read it Now!.......2004-12-31
`Honey from a Weed' by Patience Gray, by my very informal survey of approximately 400 cookbooks over the last year is probably the single most cited culinary book after Harold McGee's `On Food and Cooking' and Julia Child's `Mastering the Art of French Cooking. And, I have been trying to place this most distinctive work in the world of culinary writing for about the same time. I think I am finally able to identify its niche in a way that will assist potential readers to know what it is they can look forward to.
It is no whim to the publishers, Lyons & Burford, tagging the work as `Cooking/Literature'. The quality of the writing is easily on a par with the greatest food writers in English and this talent is directed to producing an almost unique genre that can be approximated by combining at least three common genres of culinary writing. First, take 40% from culinary diarists such as Amanda Hesser's `The Cook and the Gardener' and Elizabeth Romer's `The Tuscan Year'. Then, leaven with John Thorne's brand of culinary reporting and bake in the oven of Elizabeth David's culinary sophistication and cosmopolitan outlook.
Like Hesser in `The Cook and the Gardener', Ms. Gray is `embedded' within the milieu's on which she reports. But like Hesser of `Cooking for Mr. Latte', Ms. Gray is also participating in these cultures of Tuscany (Beantown central), Catalonia (Spain on the Mediterranean coast just south of France), the Cyclades (Greek islands in the Aegean), and Apulia (the heel of Italy). She is living and working in these worlds in a way very uncommon for a typical journalist or scholar.
The events driving the book's backstory are the travels of Ms. Gray with her partner, never identified more exactly than by the references `the sculptor' and `a stone carver' to various sites around the Mediterranean which are homes to marble quarries for giving up raw materials for statuary. A sample of the poetic imagery in the book describes this fact as `A vein of marble runs through this book. Marble determined where, how, and among whom we lived; always in primitive conditions.' These primitive conditions place Ms. Gray and her companion smack into the heart of environments which well-fed culinary commentators such as Mario Batali have been describing as the wellspring of great cuisine in Italy and other parts of the Mediterranean. Making do with local seasonal ingredients is not an ideological position for Ms. Gray; it is a daily fact of life!
I am generally not impressed with authors' lists of kitchen equipment offered as suggestions for your kitchen in order to pad out an extra ten pages in their books, when whole volumes cannot deal with this subject. Ms. Gray's recitation of her kitchen gear is not to teach, it is to aid us in understanding her kitchen environment in these rocky corners of the world.
The text is divided fairly evenly between chapters that deal with the author's experiences in these places with chapters dealing with a class of recipes typical of the local folk. This means one can pick up the thread of Ms. Gray's dialogue with her environment at just about any page and follow it's thread through the Mediterranean labyrinth of cuisine, as suggested by John Thorne in his Foreword. Just now, I open the book at random to a description of the rural Tuscan method for preserving `lardo', the fat from the pig's rump which is rubbed with salt, sprinkled with some dried thyme and bay, and sealed in an earthenware jar, where it stays as sweet as the day it was stored. The finer fat from around the pig's organs, `lardo strutto', is saved separately and used for yeast cakes and pastry. In a single paragraph there is information which some authors have used to fill whole articles in `Saveur'.
One especially delightful confluence of the book's themes is the chapter on mushrooms found near the marble quarry used by Michelangelo. Having read more than one book on mushrooms by such experts as Antonio Carluccio and Patricia Grigson, I find Ms. Gray's writing on these mycological treasures to be as entertaining and as informative as some of the best known works on the subject by other culinary writers.
While virtually all of the recipes can be done in a modern American kitchen, Ms. Gray typically describes them as they are done `in situ' on the campfires and coal burning ovens available to her. This enhances her work as a study of primitive cookery, leaving it to us to translate the primitive to our electric All-Clad kitchens. The book is also a feast of words. Everything is labeled with its proper Italian, Spanish, or Greek names, with complete translations. This is, after all, a work of scholarship where names in the original language are needed to be certain that references in Italian, Spanish, or Greek books are matched up correctly.
While this is a book of scholarship as much as it is a literary effort, I am delighted that Ms. Gray has included two items that I consider essential to good culinary studies. The first is not one but an entire set of excellent maps identifying the locations that are the subject of her writing. The second is an excellent bibliography arranged by site that cites not just the usual sources such as Elizabeth David and Alan Davidson. It includes both ancient and modern sources in English and Spanish, Italian, and Greek. But, we are not left to our own devices with ancient Latin or Greek, as classical works are cited in good English translations. The author has also been so considerate as to provide a list of Corinna Sargood's line drawings that contribute much to the charm of the book.
I must encourage you to seek this book out if you love reading about food. The author lives and paints the culinary environment most other writers simply report. Very highly recommended.
A rare treasure.......2000-12-06
This is a wonderful book, a true and rare treasure, full of hunger and appetite, joy and toil. Books like this are sometimes called "a labor of love", which is somewhat of a cliche, but this book is brimfull of all the labor and love that goes into gathering, harvesting, preserving and cooking food grown for its own sake. Here, food is not a commodity to be bought and sold but a mainstay of life, a vital ingredient for happiness, a celebration of simple and good - but hard - life. The book would be valuable enough if that was all but there are also so many delightful recipes, so many wonderful anecdotes and descriptions, so much interesting autobiographical material. I've seen someone compare Honey from a Weed to Frances Mayers tedious Tuscanny books but don't let that mislead you; this is a very different book, written with immense sensitivity and hard-earned knowledge of the land the author has cultivated and the people she lived with and learned from.
If Gauguin wrote cookbooks..........1997-08-18
I first read Ms. Gray's book looking for a specific recipe, how was I to know it was not just a 'cookbook', but a charming look at life? Ms. Gray's stories about life among the stonecutters, peasants and artists of Greece and Italy was a delight to read. I'm buying extra copies to pass them around to cooks and non-cooks alike, anyone who needs to see firsthand that living well, often on a shoestring, can be the best revenge. Wonderful illustrations, simple recipes for soul-satisfying food...and one woman's recipe for a simpler life.
If this doesn't make you long to quit the 'day job' and run off to live on grilled sardines and fresh tomatoes in Tuscany or Naxos, call Tech Support, you've got some wires disconnected.
Book Description
What did the Lewis and Clark Expedition live on? Fresh bison on the High Plains, dried salmon in Columbia River country, dog and horse when necessary, vegetables offered by Indian hosts, portable soup, and salt pork carried from Philadelphia.
Leandra Holland's narrative about what the expedition members ate on their journey makes this book a rich treat as well as a solid reference for historians, researchers, and re-enactors.
Extensive illustrations and a sprinkling of authentic recipes help to trace the expedition's daily life, their food preparation, and their preservation and storage methods.
A detailed index, separate recipe and menu index, and item-by-item appendices of food groups further assist food lovers and Lewis and Clark buffs.
Customer Reviews:
Big, beautiful book .......2007-06-14
This is a wonderful book: large format, well-illustrated in both black and white and color, and a veritable feast of information on what the men of the Lewis and Clark expedition ate and how they cooked it.
The book begins with several chapters about 1800 technology for hunting, cooking, preserving food, nutritional illnesses, and L and C's organization of the messes to keep their 32 men fed daily. It then proceeds onward to describe the expedition, always in terms of what the men ate from day to day and how it was cooked. There were the good times when they feasted on buffalo [...] and the bad times when they had little at all. There is much here about Indian foods, recipes (which usually include bear fat -- also useful for repelling mosquitos), salmon fishing, salt, and the infirmities the men of the expedition suffered as a result of their diet, excesses, and shortages of food.
A third section goes into the foods, meals, and menus of the expedition. It lists the animals killed by the members of the expedition, especially by George Drouillard, a half-breed Indian hunter: 1048 deer, 259 buffalo, 193 Indian dogs, and everything else including one lonely fox. They liked beaver tail and buffalo [...]-- and didn't like pronghorn. All together they ate six pounds of meat per day per man. Menus of their feasts with Indian tribes are included: Teton Sioux, September 26, 1804, "Cooked dog -- the Sioux like theirs raw -- Pemmican, ground potato (good)."
The detail in this book is astonishing; a million little facts about food along the way enliven the text -- a brief passage asks whether L and C ate candles in desperation and another describes the "Pawpaw malady" that mysteriously caused illness among their men. If you are interested in Lewis and Clark, food, cooking, Indians, edible plants, hunting or the early West this is a superb book.
Smallchief
the foundation of the expedition.......2007-06-11
I bought this book at the Charlie Russell Museum in Great Falls while on vacation and ended up reading it every night before bed. Even if you dont like history or know nothing of L@C you will find tons of interesting facts on nutrition, health, survival. Truly a must for American history fans. It really completes the L@C story.
Average customer rating:
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Shakespeare's Festive History: Feasting, Festivity, Fasting, and Lent in the Second Henriad
David Ruiter
Manufacturer: Ashgate Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Shakespeare
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| Literature & Fiction
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ASIN: 0754606260 |
Customer Reviews:
Psychological and spiritual maturation.......2002-04-24
This is an excellent presentation of transpersonal psychology from a Catholic and Christian perspective. Integrating the work of such diverse psychologists as Thomas Hora (a sophisticated exponent of existential psychiatry with a New Thought twist), Roberto Assagioli (from Jung to the New Ager Alice Bailey), Victor Frankl and the rationalist William Glasser, this work presents an holistic approach to healing and to facilitating psychological and spiritual maturation. One of the best available presentations of the precise relationship between the spiritual and the psychological spheres in practice and theory.
Average customer rating:
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Fasting and Feasting
Gordon Giles
Manufacturer: BRF (The Bible Reading Fellowship)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1841015695 |
Book Description
From Laura Kinsale comes an extraordinary medieval-set tale of consuming love and fiery passion between a dashing, dangerous assassin and the beautiful princess who stands in the way of all he's ever desired.
Customer Reviews:
Unusual but Sadly Lacking.......2007-06-16
This is my first book by this author, so perhaps this is why I mainly just found this book tedious, confusing, too unrealistic and uninteresting.
I enjoyed the heroine in the beginning of the book, she seemed like a likable girl for a romance novel til she turns into a wacko. I was not against S/M, in fact I thought the sex part of the story saved the whole book. Nevertheless, I felt the author didn't deliver what romance readers want out of reading these books. I didnt see any connection btw the h/h, I didn't see why they fell for each other, not a single tender moment til the end, it was just confusing.
In addition to all that, you do not know what the hero is thinking til way later, by this time you're bored to tears, at least i was. It was just over all too wordy, there was no "romance" to this story. Lots about war, queens, etc... political intrigue, etc.
2 stars from me JUST because the sex scenes were done so well, I usually find these s/m what have you scenes romance authors try to put in bazare, not here though. Truly steamy kinky sex ( heroine wanted to hurt the hero constantly, it was odd at times, wheres the love? ), and this coming from one of those ppl who usually don't get ppl who're into bondage sex.
Worth reading because I've never come across a bondage romance novel, however, it wasn't a great book over all, so borrow and not buy this book.
A Powerful Read!.......2006-10-21
Lady Elena finds herself returning to Monteverde, she is their long lost princess and her destiny is about to be realized. She returns already betrothed to the man that is currently running the kingdom. Before she can safely arrive her ship is captured by pirates led by Allegretto. He cares not at all how he does it but he is driven to resume his rightful place in Monteverde. This assassin/pirate can be ruthless when he sees his goals in sight. Elena though is not a hardship to wed once he realizes her worth. Elena is first captured along with her ship but it is not long before she finds herself wed to the very man who sears her with his tenderness and yet she remembers what his is...or does she. Perhaps the tender side of him is the true Allegretto.
This is the first time I've ever read anything by Ms. Kinsail. Alas this won't be the case for long. This title is a follow up to "My Lady's Heart" Still despite the fact this is a "follow up" type of read...I felt totally involved in the storyline. The first sentence totally captured my attention and held it until the final moving page. Allegretto is a complex hero and one romance fans will surely find themselves falling a little in love with. Elena is a strong match for her hero and Ms. Kinsail managed to express her angst in such a way that the reader could feel her fear, frustration, and love. If you are looking for a strong historical romance that offers something a little new than I highly recommend you add Ms. Kinsail to your must read list. I have! For CK2S Kwips and Kritiques
Wow.......2006-08-09
After reading 'the shadow and the star', I thought I'd never pick up another Kinsale book. But a friend convinced me (read nagged and threatened with bodily harm) that I just *had* to give 'Shadowheart' a try.
I don't regret it.
This book isn't perfect. The hero's point of view is barely explored, the heroine's age doesn't always match her actions, and some character changes are a bit too abrupt and unexplained. Still, all this disappears in face of the one clear strength of this book: the heroine. Elena is kind , principaled and sweet, but, to Mrs. Kinsale's credit, she is flexible, intelligent and strong none the less. She stands up for herself on matters she finds important, but doesn't do it in a childish or ridiculous way; a great (and all too rare) advantage in a romance heroine.
Allegreto is a fascinating and mysterious character, a murderer who thought himself beyond redemption, and suddenly finds himself in a situation which isn't in his control. My one (major) qualm with him is that he's too mysterious. There's very little of his POV, and the reader doesn't really get to know why he falls in love with Elena or why he yields to her the way he does.
That leads me to the dominant/submissive part of their relationship. Unlike some reviewers, I liked it, and, more importantly, I found that it fit very well into the story, and created a balance of power between the young and fairly innocent Elena and the too-powerful Allegreto, which might not have been achieved had their relationship been a 'regular' one.
A last point is the important part that religion took place in this book. I'm not a Christian, and I usually skip or suffer through the 'preachy' parts in books. Here, however, I found that the theme of sin and redemption was very well handled, adding a very deep and touching aspect to the love between the two characters.
worth reading, but not a great book.......2006-07-05
Shadowheart wasn't quite what I expected it to be. After reading the reviews at Amazon and B&N, I thought it would be a lot darker, more erotic in nature. But it looks as though PERHAPS the reviewers were overreacting a little bit to the so-called deviant sex in the book.
I can't say I particularly liked the book, but I also didn't dislike it. It's a nice story - key word there 'story'. It was kind of like a fairytale...not one of those cheesy, sanitized children's versions, but a real one with darkness and evil and a moral. The book was long and tedious at times, with a lot of wasted space on inane events. But overall, it was a fairly interesting storyline. There were just a lot of things I took issue with.
I think one of the critical errors of the books is the way Kinsale handled the POVs. The first 250+ pages (approximately) are told strictly from Elena's POV. You get no sense of Allegretto other than through Elena's eyes, no insight into his character through his POV. Then suddenly halfway through the book she slips into his POV for a short while. After that, the book is still mostly Elena, but once in a while, you get a glimpse of Allegretto's thoughts, just not enough. Allegretto is such a complicated character, who does things that are unexpected and unexplained. The book would have been served more if she had used his POV more, and it certainly would have worked out better if she had not ignored him for the first half of the book. Focusing so much on Elena kept the readers from connecting with Allegretto and understanding his character.
Another issue with the story is that it is supposedly directly connected to another book, in which Allegretto is first introduced. The plot of that book apparently deals with the time in Monteverde when the revolution began. Kinsale does a poor job of relaying the history of the fictional place in the beginning of the book. For readers who did not read this earlier book, you're left a bit out in the wind as to the situation, the events, and other aspects that would have made things clearer. Kinsale fell into the trap many authors do in assuming that if you are reading this book then you read the other and therefore don't need explanations. It just made things confusing for a while.
Issue 3 (and it's 3 sub-issues)...ah, the big S&M issue. The first comment I have to make here is: good grief, if readers got all freaked out about what they read in this book, I'd hate to see what would happen if they saw some truer S&M. Because though at it most elemental, what happens in this book would be considered sadomasochism, it is hardly true S&M. I'd venture to say that anyone in that realm would say it was barely S&M. The extent of it in the book involves some biting and the use of fingernails. That's all. No paddles, no whips, no tools of any kind. Just the biting and use of fingernails. Yes, the sex was violent and used pain liberally, but it wasn't hardcore. It just wasn't the pretty stuff of typical romance novels. If anything, I'd say the book had more of a FemDom (female domination) aspect than an S&M one - though I suppose the two are in reality heavily intertwined.
The issue with the S&M element lies not with its existence, but with how Kinsale presented it. Which leads to sub-issue one: Elena's age. In the beginning of the book, she is 17 years old (this is a historical after all, females are generally young). But she is an innocent young girl with no worldly knowledge. Then suddenly she is a FemDom who inflicts pain. There's no transition, no learning process for her. She's just suddenly a Dominatrix. It doesn't work and leads to an element of disbelief because the reader has a hard time accepting that she would know about any of these issues without some sort of learning process. There should have been a transition, with Elena gradually discovering the elements of pain and control.
Sub-issue 2 in this area relates to the POV issue. Since Kinsale does not use Allegretto's POV very much, and not at all for the first half of the book, the reader gets no insight into his actions. Why does he allow Elena to dominate him? Why does he submit? Why does he enjoy the pain she inflicts? Allegretto is built up as this true Alpha male who likes to be in control, who has no feelings and kills without remorse. Then he lets Elena do what she does to him, and the reader is given only small crumbs as to his inner thoughts and reasoning. Like the issue with Elena's age, this also fosters disbelief. How is the reader supposed to accept his actions without any kernels as to why he allows it? You get a slight impression now and then that he is allowing it as his penance for all the sins he has committed in his lifetime, but you never get a true insight into his character. It was just really hard to accept his submissiveness when you aren't given much insight into his character.
Sub-issue 3...and this one is more just a personal preference, than a real issue probably. But pretty much every single sexual scene in the book relied on the pain/pleasure - S&M aspect. There was hardly ever any gentleness between them. I had no problem with the S&M elements, but I thought there should not have been such a heavy reliance on it. I had a hard time accepting the love between them when their only interactions involved dominating and causing pain. It was like their bond depended solely on pain and domination. I suppose there is nothing wrong with that; it is probably a true element to some real S&M practitioners, but for a main-stream romance novel, it didn't quite work.
The love between them overall was hard to comprehend. It's built upon a typical historical romance premise of kidnapper/abductee...the whole victim falls for her capturer thing. It's a little too typical. Aside from that, you get no understanding of why Allegretto loves her and why Elena accepts who he is (after she complains about it for most of the book). I just did not feel the connection between them. They are just supposed to love each other. But most of the time, they just seemed like 2 characters who liked to have unorthodox sex. Yet Elena said numerous times that she would sacrifice going to Heaven for him. I didn't buy it.
Which leads to the last issue with the book - and again this is a personal preference one - is the very heavy reliance on religion. One of the main themes of the book is sin and redemption. For a true atheist like me, it made me want to roll my eyes half the time. But on a more general religious aspect...both characters claim to be Catholics who believe in sin and heaven and hell, and all that. They want to confess their sins and be redeemed, be 'good' Catholics. Yet both characters engaged in pagan practices and never seemed to have any qualms about it. Every other action they committed was intertwined with their religious beliefs, but their pagan practices were ignored and accepted. That seemed a bit wrong to me.
Okay...well, after all that...Shadowheart was a so-so book. Too many things about it bothered me to make me like it more. I often found myself enjoying the 'plot' of the book (where Monteverde is freed from its violent oppression) more than the characters and the supposed romance. Still, the story was long and tedious. I kept putting it down to take a break to do something fun. I had to work a bit to make it through the book. But it was an interesting story. And while I applaud Kinsale for delving into non-traditional sexual practices, I wish she would done it more realistically and explored the characters psyches more. In the end, the book has its virtues and it's a curious read, but I don't think I'd want to pay $8 for it. Luckily I got it for a buck.
Rating: 2.5 / 5
Down with Elena..........2006-05-13
Let me first make it known that I RE-READ Shadow and the Star, Prince of Midnight, Flowers from the Storm, and most especially For My Ladys Heart on a regular basis. And frankly, who didn't fall in love with that beautiful cold assassin Algretto in FMLH?? Like many, my eagerness for the book to be released was overwhelming for Shadowheart. And then, Elena happened. In her I didn't see the true love the soul mate that we had waited for and that he deserved! Instead we ended up with a selfish whiny 'person' that I can't even call a heroine. Elena ruined the book. It certainly couldn't have been the ever so brilliant Kinsale!? As Melanthe would say "Poor Algretto."
Book Description
James Barclay has rapidly established himself as one of the leading lights of the genre with his two linked trilogies starring fantasy's most popular new heroes in many years: The Raven. The first trilogy was the Chronicles of The Raven and introduced the heroes and the world of Balaia. The second trilogy, The Legends of The Raven, began with Elfsorrow which served as an introduction for new readers. Now, with his fifth book, he tests The Raven to the point of destruction and unleashes a savage war across his world as the magical colleges of Balaia tear the land apart in their struggle for supremacy. Barclay has never been scared of killing off favourite characters, and this has given his books their unique edge. Now he threatens to destroy everything they have known. Can The Raven even survive, let alone triumph?
Customer Reviews:
Other Books.......2007-09-03
If you are really busy killing each other off, someone might notice.
While the magic war between the colleges goes on, those that live elsewhere and don't like such annoying wizardly overlords see a rather large opportunity to help them with the whole killing each other off bit. As usual, the Raven, a levelheaded bunch running out of original members with the death of Ilkar the Elf do what they can to prevent the continent being destroyed.
Magic.......2004-04-01
I found myself nervous about moving into a new authour, as occassionally they are too childish and almost "made for TV". Barclay has not disappointed. All the reviews I have read about the "Legends" and it's predecessor have been spot on and this book certainly doesn't let him down, in fact it gets better.
For anyone who is a fan of George R.R. Martin, Robin Hobb, I can't suggest the entire series too much. The characters are alive and you feel their humour and emotion.
I can't wait for the next one.
Product Description
January, 1995. Part two of four. ISBN: 761941202334.
Average customer rating:
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Star Trek The Next Generation : Shadowheart #1 : The Lion and the Lamb (DC Comics)
Michael Jan Friedman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General | Comic Strips | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
General | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
General | Graphic Novels | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
Antiquarian & Rare Books | Books & Reading | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Batman | Media | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: B000S6B54G |
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Shadowheart
James Barclay
Manufacturer: GOLLANCZ (ORIO)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K71U52 |
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Shadowheart
Manufacturer: GOLLANCZ (ORIO)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GXI7F6 |
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