Average customer rating:
- One of the few written adventures about this amazing race
- "Do the Dream!"
- An flawed writer but an excellent read
- The good, bad and ugly
- Resoundingly bad book
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Against Gravity
Edward McCabe
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Contemporary
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| Literature & Fiction
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Air Sports & Recreation
| Miscellaneous
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General
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ASIN: 0446392391 |
Customer Reviews:
One of the few written adventures about this amazing race.......2005-03-13
This book covers the adventure of Ed McCabe and all of his preparation to get to the race. Most of the book is about how much it took to get there and the last 100 pages talk about the torture that he went through in the race. This is a must read for anybody that loves this race because it gives a detailed view of everything that is required to run this race.
"Do the Dream!".......2002-11-16
As an owner of a 1986 280 GE Mercedes-Benz Gelandewagen, I had heard of this book by Ed McCabe. The pitfalls and the struggle just to run a race are tremendous----much less a race across two continents! The author spends quite a lot of the book telling you of his preparation and the red tape just to enter the race. The final third of the book details the actual race from the start in Paris to the finish in the deserts of Africa. To anyone who knows the capabilities of this vehicle, the book is an interesting account of the ruggedness and durability of the machine. The human wear and tear was also a good read! This vehicle is not nearly as refined as some of the others in the race, and yet the brute strength saw it through. An enjoyable book for the Mercedes-Benz enthusiast.
An flawed writer but an excellent read.......2001-06-12
I am a huge fan of the P-D race and there is little written on it in the English language. Therefore this book is most welcome. The author/racer is not a fine human being but he is honest. I highly recommend this book to any motorsports or adventure fan.
The good, bad and ugly.......2000-12-09
The good part is Ed McCabe gives a fascinating view into what has to be the most masochistic race on earth. While the author spends too much time describing his preparation, he also does a masterful job of detailing the amount of work required to even attempt this endeavor. The bad part is McCabe's personality - angry, arrogant, obsessive, perfectionistic. The ugly is the writing - there are some glaring errors and it looks like McCabe decided he could be his own editor. Wrong! A good editor could have made this a much better read - nonetheless it's still a fascinating first-hand description of a race only a maniac would enter. Most pathetic -- after a nearly a year of preparation and a penchant for obsession over details, McCabe blew it by running out of gas. Since his car eventually made it to Dakar it seems he could actually have run the course if only he'd topped off that morning.
Resoundingly bad book.......1999-12-30
It would be impossible to list everything that is bad about this book in 1,000 words, so I will stick to a few main points. First, 220 out of 280 pages in this book are not about the Paris/Dakar Rally, they are about getting ready for the race. Why? Because the author only gets a third of the way through the race before running out of gas, a point which is not mentioned anywhere until the book is almost over. I can only assume that this act of non-disclosure bordering on fraud was made in an effort to sell more books, thereby permitting the author to recoup some of the heavy investment he made to enter the race, which the reader learns about ad nauseum. Far worse than bad content, however, is the profoundly arrogant tone in which the author writes. e.g., I'm worth millions of dollars, I was in the advertising hall of fame at age 35, I only date beautiful women, and lots of them. With few exceptions, every decision the author makes is a good one, including dropping out of high school, while everyone around him is a bumbling lot of fools. Among the fools is his navigator and fiancee, who gets criticized for everything beyond breathing, and brought me my only happiness in the book when I learned in the epilogue that she broke up with him after the race. Not being an auto-racing expert, if you ask me, I would say that the biggest idiot would have to be the one who RAN OUT OF GAS. If that isn't enough reasons to hate the book, add in a complete lack of knowledge of the cultures and villages through which the author drives. e.g., the author writes that all the men in Mauritania hold hands, causing him to wonder what the AIDS rate is there. Does it ever occur to the guy that maybe Mauritanian culture permits men to hold hands without necessarily meaning that they are a couple? Obviously not, even though that is the case. I finished this book four days ago and am still mad that I wasted my time with it.
Book Description
Set in Houston in the mid-1980s, Against Gravity is a harrowing story of three lives colliding— Madison Kirby, an angry, dying intellectual; Ric Cardinal, a social worker dedicated to helping others but tormented by the son he cannot save; and Roya, a struggling Iranian immigrant who has traveled for years through the war-torn Middle East to arrive in Texas to eke out the most tenuous life for herself and her daughter. They each tell of their own lives, yet as their stories intertwine a portrait of shared struggle and loss emerges. A devastating and beautiful novel.
“AGAINST GRAVITY is an intense novel, ambitious in its reach, intriguing in its structural complexity and the sophistication of its narration. It is the highly satisfying work of a mature writer that will leave the reader wanting more. I enjoyed it.”
—Nuruddin Farah, author of Links, and the Blood in the Sun Trilogy
Download Description
Set in Houston in the mid-1980s, Against Gravity is a harrowing story of three lives colliding- Madison Kirby, an angry, dying intellectual; Ric Cardinal, a social worker dedicated to helping others but tormented by the son he cannot save; and Roya, a struggling Iranian immigrant who has traveled for years through the war-torn Middle East to arrive in Texas to eke out the most tenuous life for herself and her daughter. They each tell of their own lives, yet as their stories intertwine a portrait of shared struggle and loss emerges. A devastating and beautiful novel.
Customer Reviews:
Gloom, gloomy, gloomier, gloomily..........2007-04-10
These must be the author's favorite words. At one stretch in part 3, the author used these words 5 times or more in a span of 10 pages. That stretch, in my opinion, contains some of the worst written passages in the book. I got the impression that the author tried to dump her experience into Ric's biography, rather hastily and un-selectively. The story just rambles on without much purpose. Even the author at one point wrote "To cut the story short..."
Beside that stretch of indiscriminate, and rather sloppy writing, the rest of the book is quite interesting. Two things I thought can be done better though: While the author tries to depict Roya's daughter as a troubled child, every time you turned around, she is behaving like a sweet child: making ballet moves, concerning over things in a way that is beyond her age. The other troubled child in the story: Sammy - it was never explained to my satisfaction how he would have turned out this way. His father Ric seems to be a caring father and knows how to deal with troubled kids professionally. While the irony of this came through, it was not too convincing for me. Also unexplained is the fact that Madison had the chance of shooting Roya and Ric at close range, why would he choose to wait and shoot from the opposite apartment after they got home?
I don't want to be overly picky. Overall, it was a satisfying read.
A Confluence of Historical Fallout Creates a Fatal Blowback in Houston.......2006-08-11
AGAINST GRAVITY is a quiet gem of a book, an unpretentious and heartfelt tale of three individuals brought together by fate and the winds of history into a swirling storm of loneliness, desperation, and insecurity. Theirs is the struggle of all human beings against gravity, against the pull of family, emotional commitment, the larger forces of history, and of course, death.
Born and Teheran and educated both in Iran and the U.S., author Farnoosh Moshiri has published three novels. She sets AGAINST GRAVITY in Houston, the suffocatingly humid oil industry heart of Enron/George Bush country, and brings together three main characters: Madison Kirby (a former opium addict now dying from AIDS), Roya Saraabi (a torture victim and political refugee granted asylum in America), and Ric Cardinal (a human rights activist and social services counselor who has spent his best years in El Salvador). Each narrates one-third of the book, providing his or her own story as well as his or her perspective on the events that brought them together and then tore them apart. Kirby provides the opening narrative, in which he first meets the immigrant Roya and strives to make her his final love and caretaker before death, willing even to pay her to marry him. Kirby grows increasingly alienated from his AIDS counselor Ric Cardinal, his doctor Marlina Haas (herself dying of Hepatitis C that she contracted while researching the disease), and finally from Roya. His one gesture of kindness to Roya, giving her Ric's name as a source of possible assistance, backfires and sets the stage for what Kirby perceives as a necessary act of revenge.
The second narrative comes from Roya Saraabi, whose name means "sweet dream coming from a mirage." We learn more about Roya's incipient gymnastics career, cut short when she is tortured in Iran. She escapes Iran with her daughter Tala and finally emigrates to the United States via first Afghanistan, then India. She arrives penniless, educated but without prospects, resorting to waitressing to make ends barely meet. In the last section, we learn from Ric Cardinal about his loss of one eye to a policeman's whip during a campus riot and his activist escapades (and subsequent disillusionment) in El Salvador. Ric, too, is captured and tortured, suffers through several bad relationships and the troubles of raising a schizophrenic son, and ultimately withdraws from his emotional life. Until he meets Roya. A fourth major character, Bobby Polomo, intersects with the three narrators; helpful and considerate, suicidal, and possibly gay, Bobby provides a sort of glue that holds Kirby's and Roya's worlds together.
Several themes run through AGAINST GRAVITY. The obvious one is, of course, death. Kirby faces imminent death from AIDS, as does Marlina. Roya has faced down death on several occasions, Ric claims to have seen the shadow of death twice (once just before his mortician grandfather died), and suicidal Bobby tricks young Tala into a game of Russian roulette that almost works. There is also the recurrent appearance of D.H. Lawrence's poem, THE SHIP OF DEATH, which Marlina takes as inspiration for a painting that portrays herself on the ship and Kirby floating with many others in the water.
Less directly evident is the theme of fatherhood, or more properly, the lack or failure thereof. Kirby's father dies in a traffic accident when Kirby was 25, but the circumstances bring eternal shame and disillusionment to the son. Roya's parents died together in a traffic accident when she was 18, Ric's father left the family when Ric was born, and Bobby Palomo was abandoned by his father during Bobby's youth. Tala is fatherless as well; Roya's husband died less in a Persian Gulf conflict less than a year after they were married. Ric considers himself a failed father as well, having been unable to set his son Sammy on the right path. Curiously, it is Ric who alone is able to help Kirby (before the latter sees Ric and Roya together) and put Roya on the path to completing her education and writing her memoir. In the valley of the blind (lost souls, in this case), it is one-eyed Ric who is king. Still, even Ric cannot save Bobby and Tala from their respective fates and the greater forces that consume them in the climactic scene and thereafter.
In SHIP OF DEATH, Lawrence wrote: "Build then the ship of death, for you must take the longest journey, to oblivion. And die the death, the long and painful death that lies between the old self and the new. Already our bodies are fallen, bruised, badly bruised, already our souls are oozing through the exit of the cruel bruise." Thus Farnoosh Moshiri depicts the struggles and strivings of several lives seemingly without hope. And yet, as Lawrence writes, "Ah wait, wait, for there's the dawn, the cruel dawn of coming back to life out of oblivion...A flush of rose, and the whole thing starts again." And thus it is for some, until a later time when the ship of death finally arrives to carry them to oblivion.
AGAINST GRAVITY is an elegy to loss and suffering and premature death, but it is also a novel of courage and hope. Beautifully written and movingly told, filled with memorable characters, this is a book that will leave you thinking. It will likely also encourage you (as it has me) to explore more of Ms. Moshiri's writings.
A Multi-level Success.......2006-07-04
Against Gravity powerfully portrays an Iranian exile living in Houston and her struggle to overcome a host of obstacles to living and loving authentically. Like virtually all great literature, Against Gravity is deeply affecting on a character-plot level while at the same time operating on political and philosophical levels and intermeshing each with the other. The love interests it portrays are triangular, as is the structure of the novel. It succeeds politically in exposing the horrors of religious fundamentalism without falling prey to the false allure of Pentagon-imposed democracy or Hollywood culture. It's a profoundly sad book, but only because it expresses so concretely the perversity of the current world order. At bottom, it offers hope that a secular society where our potential to live and love will not be stunted can be attained.
A Look into Three Different Worlds.......2006-06-13
Reading Farnoosh Moshiri's novel is like getting to know the three main characters: Madison Kirby, Roya Saarabi, and Ric Cardinal in the best of circumstances--with the advantage of having someone tell your life with literary skill and grace. Because Moshiri's clear prose is punctuated with unexpected moments of lyricisim, the heaviest and most unlikable aspects of the characters' lives become easier to deal with (such as Madison's madness and anger) and ultimately, make the characters more complex and true to life. Moshiri didn't need to manipulate language in order to make the voices of the three characters unique. She instead explored each character's psychology and idiosyncracies expertly. Moshiri's gift is bringing to life the inner world of her characters no matter who they are--men, women, Iranian, or American.
I've also read The Bathhouse and was pleased that this novel absorbed me as much as the previous book had. Moshiri's brand of realism is so convincing because of its psychological acuity and depth.
Finding Yourself in Texas.......2006-05-10
Farnoosh Moshiri's latest novel is a new take on one immigrant's life in a strange new land and she ultimately gives a vivid portrayal of Everyman's journey. Using the backdrop of Texas, it is touching and beautifully written novel. Told in simple, but effecting prose, she weaves an intricate tale of three seemingly disparate people, but whose lives are connected by the tragedy that has touched each of them. She has chosen to craft the book in three sections, with each main character telling their own story. Madison is a bitter, dying man. Roya is a struggling immigrant writer and mother. Ric is a social worker, who befriends both of them and falls in love with Roya. The complication this presents for Madison's character is the main thrust of the plot, as he too desires Roya, but with Ms. Moshiri's strong voice, this feels organic to the novel and not a mere plot device.
In truth, it is each character's own story that is gripping and draws you in. You are at once pulled into the pathetic world of the dying Madison, who even if unlikable, holds your interest. The reader is then drawn into the engaging story of Roya who is forced to flee her country with her young daughter. Her story is also, in a sense, a coming-of-age story as she attempts to find herself and must do so in a foreign land. Finally, Ric has his own interesting background and demons to deal with. Thematically, his story is one of death; and that is what truly meshes their stories together, but ultimately it is a story of hope and transcending tragedy.
Average customer rating:
- Perfect introduction at the structural problem
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Building: The Fight Against Gravity
Mario Salvadori
Manufacturer: Atheneum Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Transportation
| Science, Nature & How It Works
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Engineering
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ASIN: 0689501447 |
Customer Reviews:
Perfect introduction at the structural problem.......2000-07-19
In this book the structural problems are discussed in a simple and fun mode. It is perfect for the ungraduate student of architecture. I think it could be put again in print.
Book Description
In the late twenty-first century, you will find a very different world. Little is as it used to be, and many are not what they seem. Kendrick Gallmon, survivor of an infamous research facility called the Maze, is trying to pick up the pieces of his life, even though he knows the Labrat augments are slowly killing him. Then one day his heart stops beating, forever, and a ghost urges him to return to the source of all his nightmares, a long-abandoned military complex filled with entirely real voices of the dead.Welcome new British talent in the expanding genre of large-scale space epics pioneered by Peter F. Hamilton. Complex concepts and characters open up satisfying new dimensions of imagination.
Average customer rating:
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Against gravity
Sally Morrison
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
British
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
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| 18th Century
| 19th Century
| 20th Century
| Classics
| Contemporary
| General
| Historical
| Humor
| Letters & Correspondence
| Middle
| Old
| Poetry
| Renaissance
| Shakespeare
| Short Stories
ASIN: 0091836581 |
Average customer rating:
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Against Gravity: A Novel
Lucy Ferriss
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Contemporary
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ASIN: 0684800918 |
Customer Reviews:
Scandal in a small town.......2000-04-27
A very distinct book marked with the author's distinct writing style. Marveously put together; the words seem to flow so readily off the page and into your mind. This is a book that will leave you thinking. It takes you through the portion of a girl's life, ages 14 to 22, who lives in a small hamlet. Her life becomes extremely intricate and filled with complicated, deep secrets. Foreshadowing is used a lot, and some events merely mentioned on the first page aren't entirely explained until much later in the story. This girl's story, named Stick, takes you from the small quiet hamlet that is much more scandolous than it originally seems, to the streets of New York, and then back again. People become friends, become enemies ,and become lovers.I would highly reccomend this book.
Average customer rating:
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Against Gravity: Poems 1982-1985
Donald Everett Axinn
Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
20th Century
| Poetry
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
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General
| Poetry
| United States
| World Literature
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ASIN: 0394621980 |
Average customer rating:
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The Fight Against Gravity (Cartoon Book)
Roland Fiddy
Manufacturer: Helen Exley Giftbooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Cartooning
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General
| Comic Strips
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General
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ASIN: 1850159386 |
Average customer rating:
- D. B. Cooper: The Real McCoy
- McCoy: A Hero
- So much to share
- Stranger than fiction
- Was sooo wrong before.
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D.B. Cooper: The Real McCoy
Bernie Rhodes
Manufacturer: Univ of Utah Pr (T)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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D.B. Cooper: What Really Happened
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D.B. Cooper: Dead or Alive?
ASIN: 0874803772 |
Customer Reviews:
D. B. Cooper: The Real McCoy.......2007-06-26
This book tells you what really happened to D. B. Cooper. He's dead, shot by the FBI. The physical items he left in the plane, positively ID'd by both his wife and mother, clinches the case. Don't believe any other junk you hear about Cooper on TV. In '85 I dated Dorothy Holland, who had been McCoy's sister-in-law as she was married to his brother. She's mentioned in the book. At the time she knew McCoy had been killed by the FBI, but she didn't know McCoy and Cooper were the same. She liked McCoy, who, unfortunately, was a sap who should have told his wife to get lost. He paid the price.
McCoy: A Hero.......2005-12-21
Richard McCoy was the victim of a fundamental contradiction in a society that gave him medals for violence in Vietnam, and life in prison for violence back home. I'd like to see a "McCoy Act" passed that mandates downward departures for vets like McCoy. He was a loving father, with a bitch for a wife, who'll burn in hell. Too bad he was excommunicated by his LDS faith. As devoted as he was to it, I think it would be a caring gesture if they reinstated his membership (just as they did for John D. Lee). slr383838 at yahoo.
So much to share.......2005-03-10
I read this book and wish I could have been available to help support and add to its contents. I spent a great deal of time with the McCoy family and especially... Denise. I MISS them all especially Richard. He baptised me into the Mormon faith. So, Karen, Denise, Chante, and "dinky duck" (remember?) I am sad and wish you all Gods speed. I wish you had kept in touch with me. I still miss you Denise... Mike
Stranger than fiction.......2003-05-22
Absolutely fascinating, thoroughly researched book. This story is amazing but tragic--I came close to shedding a few tears for poor McCoy at the end of the book.
The author does a great job of backing up his claims with research, and honestly expresses his regrets about the things he wishes he would have asked McCoy.
Excellent read.
Was sooo wrong before........2002-03-13
I wrote a review before, but I was very wrong. I went to the library and checked out this book. It was so great, I learned small details that I didn't know before. This book goes into so much detail, it's amazing. When before I didn't know much about Richard Floyd McCoy Jr., now I know so much more. It seems that people can relate to him for being just an ordinary guy. The Cooper-McCoy similarities are too many to be coincidental. For a Cooper-McCoy fan it is very interesting. Although, if someone is into true crime, it is also great. I am sorry for my review earlier.
Customer Reviews:
Elijah McCoy's Awesome Story!!!!!!!!!!.......2006-03-10
I think that this story really tells the story about Elijah McCoy. It gives very good details and gives interesting facts. I think that kids who want to learn ANYTHING about Elijah McCoy should read this book.
Ask for the Real McCoy.......2000-04-17
I love informational picture books, and this one is the real McCoy! All about Elijah McCoy, the son of fugitive slaves, his many inventions and how he came up with some of his ideas. His best known invention was an automatic oil cup for trains, a cup often poorly duplicated by others, so buyers would ask for "the real McCoy". The vivid illustraions beautifully detail the story. I work in an elementary school library and I've sent this book home with kids whose parents have thanked me for introducing this inventive man and his achievements to their families.
Average customer rating:
- More style that substance
- The Unreal McCoy
- Style over substance but an engaging story
- What a find!
- Wow
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The Real McCoy
Darin Strauss
Manufacturer: Plume
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Chang and Eng
ASIN: 0452284414
Release Date: 2003-05-27 |
Amazon.com
Deadpan comic and grandly imaginative, The Real McCoy, Darin Strauss's recounting of the life of a legendary grifter, is a sparkling, memorable novel. Strauss (author of the highly acclaimed Chang and Eng) tells the story of Virgil Selby, or "Kid" McCoy, turn-of-the-century flimflammer, welterweight champion, and the speculative origin of the famous titular catch phrase. After witnessing the death of a small-time boxer named McCoy, young Selby adopts his name and reputation and leaves his Indiana home to achieve renown. Taking up residence in Louisville, McCoy befriends brilliant Chinese con man Jonnie Gold, who teaches McCoy the twist fist fighting style and the art of the flimflam. The naive and monomaniacal McCoy soon departs for New York City, where he uses his newfound trickery to conquer the boxing world, marry a Broadway starlet, and become a minor celebrity and the origin of a national phenomenon. However, McCoy's perpetual mythmaking catches up with him, revealing the cost of his attempts to turn a life of fiction into immortality.
Strauss has created a resounding personal narrative and cultural allegory with The Real McCoy. The hopeful, starstruck McCoy embodies the obsessive American tendency toward self-improvement and reinvention, and demonstrates the consequences of these ideals. Like its hero's successful though obvious scams, The Real McCoy is wonderfully entertaining fiction that reveals no small amount of truth. --Ross Doll
Book Description
From Darin Strauss, the bestselling author of Chang and Eng (A Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year), comes the unforgettable story of "Kid" McCoy: boxer, jewel thief, scam artist, and the most married man in America. The Real McCoy is a fascinating mirror of the tumultuous backdrop of America at the turn of the century.
Customer Reviews:
More style that substance.......2003-08-29
I have to agree with some of the other reviewers here who opine that while Strauss definitely has a way with words, this novel left me wanting a little more. The book presents a fictionalized account of the fighter "Kid McCoy", a bare-knuckles brawler and scam artist from the beginning of the 20th century. I thought the novel would paint a real vivid picture of turn-of-the-century big city life, but ultimately the novel lost steam amid crazy twists and turns of the plot, until its wacky ending.
The scenes of young Virgil starting out his career and assuming his identity (as "McCOy") on a fateful train trip were the highlight for me, as well as his curious first marriage to a poor midwestern girl who never had a clue what made her husband tick. In that respect she was kind of like the reader, since we were similarly in the dark surrounding most of McCoy's motivations. Once McCoy made it to the big time (with his bizarre Oriental side-kick Johnny Gold), I rapidly lost interest.
Had the novel given a better glimpse of New York City at the turn of the century, rather than an occasional reference to Madison Square Garden or a famous hotel, I might have enjoyed it more just for the setting. Instead, while often impressed at Strauss' writing style, I found the book to be a pretty forgettable tale written by a talented author yet to fully hit his stride.
The Unreal McCoy.......2003-08-14
Darrin Strauss's second foray into historical fiction is much like his first, (CHANG AND ENG) taking the bare bones of a true story and then totally changing it to comment on other aspects of human nature. Virgil Selby starts out as a young man in search of something more than life is offering him. By taking on the identity of a fighter named Kid McCoy and following the advice of a Chinese flim-flam artist named Johnnie Gold; he sets out to make himself into a great man. The real problem is that Virgil's new life is based on a lie and of course it falls apart. Sort of a rags to riches to rags tale that could have been so much better if Strauss had stayed closer to McCoy's actual life; which fans of boxing history know had more than a few twists and turns to it, or at least skipped the ridiculous character of Johnnie Gold, who is so over the top in his Machiavellian plans that he is seen as blatantly unbelievable. Strauss is most successful at portraying McCoy's love for Susan Fields, an actress, who McCoy is constantly winning back after pushing her from his life with his lies. Strauss does a nice job recreating the rural and urban America of the early twentieth century, but Johnnie Gold and the finish with McCoy's plan for one last score are just so far-fetched they distract from the other pleasures of the novel. An interesting read, but like CHANG AND ENG, the idea for the novel is better than the execution.
Style over substance but an engaging story.......2003-08-01
The Real McCoy is a fictionalized account of a turn-of-the century boxing champ and flim flam man who is possibly the source of the phrase, he's the real McCoy.
Author Darin Strauss writes with a unique style that will not appeal to all readers. Indeed sometimes I felt that style was winning over substance and I wished for a more straightforward narrative. In the end I wasn't quite sure all the wonderful parts of the book equally a fully realized whole. I definitely would have liked the book to have taken a different turn at the end.
All that said, this is a delightful story that serves as a wonderful allegory both for what Strauss calls '"artificiality" and on following one's destiny as opposed to shaping it.
The early 1900's is a rich area for fiction, with so much we think of as modern (cars, telephones, movies) just developing and so much of the old world still ubiquitous (carriages still drawn by horses, bare knuckle boxing). Strauss takes advantage of these opportunities and the characters that then abounded. He tells the story of young Virgil Selby who leaves small town Indiana, assuming another's identify to both box and swindle. He meets and marries many women, one of whom is actually the love of his life.
I had a few problems with the story but it's impossible to not like a book that has sentences like this: "Ryan went down like an old wino paid a dollar to perform Hamlet's death scene." Great stuff, that!
What a find!.......2003-07-07
This is a great book. Ignore the reviewer from Alabama who found it "Difficult to read" It's understood that anything more than 1 syllable is challenging there.
Wow.......2003-06-03
I just read this book in paperback, and, man, is it wonderful. I heard of the author's book "Chang and Eng," but I haven't read that one. I will now. The Real McCoy is full of great writing, and fun drama. One of the funniest, yet ultimately most moving books, I've read in a long time.
Customer Reviews:
The Female McCoy.......2007-03-19
Jailed for the murder of her lover James who happened to be in witness protection, defense attorney Kat Buckingham discovers that her entire life has been a lie, and that she's the long lost daughter of the McCoy family, given up for adoption after the death of family matriarch Kathryn McCoy. Harry is the US Marshall who is assigned to watch over James/Darren, and has fallen for Kat, wondering how a woman as intuitive and beautiful as Kat would fall prey to a man like Darren.
Kat is at first devoted to James' memory, but is soon finding herself attracted to the Marshall with a relationship with her newly found family, which includes three overprotective brothers. When Kat becomes a target (perhaps by the person responsible for James' death), Harry is devoted to protecting her, even at the irritation of his superiors.
The husband and wife team that make of Tori Carrington have once again penned a fast-paced romantic suspense. Though Kat managed to forget about her fiance a little too quickly does not detract from the frenetic pacing of the story. They do an incredible job of combining romance and suspense to tell an intriguing and always entertaining story.
debsbooks52.......2005-04-29
Tori has done it again. From the first page to the last page, you will not be able to put this book down. Everyone LOVES The McCoy Men..pant, pant (too bad there weren't more of them.) But now you meet the lost sister that none of them knew existed. ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT !!!!!
Kat is a real McCoy.......2005-04-12
In the DC area, junior criminal defense attorney Kat Buckingham finds her fiancé James Smith dead on the kitchen floor. Detective Leary immediately arrests Kat for murder. US Marshal Harry Kincaid has been undercover watching James who is actually the sleaze Darin Ichatious, protected under the Witness Protection Program. He keeps quiet though he realizes his stakeout substantiates no one else entered or left as he would have seen them.
Sean McCoy visits Kat in jail and confesses that he is her biological father. He also tells his second wife and his five married law enforcement sons that their biological pregnant mother gave birth as she died; he gave the infant away in his grief.
Harry whisks Kat from the cell to allegedly protect her from James' killer. Harry, her overly protective five older brothers, and her dad refuse to allow her to be killer bait; then again they want her to play touch football at family gatherings, but Kat prefers tackle. She is ready to prove that she is A REAL MCCOY.
Fans of the Magnificent McCoy Men miniseries (see FOR HER EYES ONLY, LICENSE TO THRILL, YOU ONLY LOVE ONCE, NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN and THE PI WHO LOVED HER) will appreciate this addition that brings back the brood. Though the audience might believe a female could never be A REAL MCCOY (don't tell the wives that), readers will accept Kat as the sixth sibling. The who-done-it is cleverly handled so that all that testosterone cannot protect the newcomer yet giving the audience a chance to see friends while the romance between the lead couple adds to the feel that Kat is a legitimate McCoy.
Harriet Klausner
Another Winning McCoy story!!!.......2005-04-08
Kathryn "Kat" Buckingham has the perfect life - a job she enjoys and engaged to a man she loves, It's all shattered one night when her fiancé is murdered in her home and Kat is arrested for his murder. She also learns a startling secret - she's adopted and not only has a father, but five brothers. While she struggles with all that's happened to her, it soon becomes apparent that her life is in danger. And the man to protect her is none other than U.S. Marshal Harry Kincaid.
Harry Kincaid has been investigating Kat's fiancé for a while. The man was a criminal and didn't deserve the devotion of the beautiful Kat. The night of the murder, Harry quickly moves to protect Kat and will stay with her 24/7 until the real killer is apprehended. But will Harry be able to keep his hands off Kat, despite the smoldering attraction between them? Meanwhile, Harry introduces Kat to her newfound family - those magnificent McCoy men. Will the peril Kat is in draw them closer and heal the wounds of the past?
A REAL MCCOY is a return to the McCoy family series made popular by Tori Carrington several years ago. The McCoy men breathe and live testosterone despite all five brothers now being married. They never knew they had a sister until their dad, Sean McCoy, breaks the news to them. Once they get over the shock, they band together to protect their little sister. Of course, despite the camaraderie amongst them, there's still tension. Why did Sean not tell them his little secret? Will the crime be solved and Kat cleared? How long will Kat and Harry last before they succumb to the hot passion between them?
Tori Carrington has notched another fantastic McCoy tale with A REAL MCCOY. It's fast paced and filled with a gripping whodunit that will keep readers guessing as who the killer is. Kat is immediately likeable and fits in well with the other McCoys. Harry's intensity and feelings for Kat were apparent from the first moment we meet him. If I didn't know better, I swear he's a McCoy himself!
Kick off your shoes and grab A REAL MCCOY to read. It's a winner right from the first page and will keep you glued to the end. Kat is sassy, smart and definitely A REAL MCCOY.
sizzling, sexy, suspense.......2005-04-06
The Tori Carrington team, husband and wife Tony and Lori Karayiana, swept the Reviewers International Organization's Award of Excellence this year, and small wonder! Where You Least Expect It and Wicked tied for Favorite Short Contemporary Romance, and Total Exposure took second place. They also took a tie with Best Story from an Anthology with License to Thrill from Marry Me...Maybe? and a third place with Sleeping with Secrets from Private Scandals. The Awards only echo what fans already knew, they are the hottest writers to come out of the Harlequin line. Be sure to check out their dazzling Sophie Metropolis (June 2005, Forge Books) a change of pace for the dynamic duo!
In the middle of all their series they have running, they have their long running McCoys. I love "family series", in the tradition of Nora Roberts' Macgregor series. I come from a big family, Clan to the core, so these novels of a meddling family and a tight bond that keeps them together really hit home to me.
`Tori' has run through the McCoy brothers, all solid alpha males, strong in family traditions and that tradition extends to all of them being in law enforcement in one form or another. Now we look to the McCoy sister. The sister is surprised by her full grown family. Kate Buckingham is a defence attorney, showing the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. She learns her biological father is alive, that she was adopted, and now has five hunks for brothers. Very protective brothers! As if that isn't enough upheaval in her life, she suddenly finds herself arrested for the murder of her fiancé. Kate has been an independent woman, and thinks she can handle any situation, but being charged with murder rattles this belief. Worse, she's nearly overwhelmed by her new protective brothers and father.
But her brother isn't the only one flustering Kate. There is gorgeous U.S. Marshal Harry Kinkaid. Kat is startled to learn her fiancé was under the witness protection program, and she must set herself up as bait with Harry's help to catch the killer, despite all the McCoys protests.
I REALLY appreciate these new Signature Select editions from Harlequin. Instead of 75,000 word `quickies' the SS editions really give talented writers like the Carringtons the chance to
have a stronger plot line with over 100 pages more to tell their stories and deal more with the personalities of their characters.
It's pure Tori bliss from start to finish!!! Here's to hoping they discover more `Real McCoys' in the woodpile!
Book Description
English is incredibly rich in colourful phrases and expressions. But, why do we say 'mad as a hatter', 'know your onions', and 'put on the Ritz'? This entertaining book elucidates the question of why we say the things we say. Indeed, many of the expressions we use in daily conversation have interesting and unexpected origins. Well into the 19th century 'hatters' -- people employed making hats -- were literally sent mad by the mercury used in the production process, hence the Mad Hatter in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and hence the phrase we still use today. From 'black sheep' to 'chancing your arm', The Real McCoy gives the fascinating stories behind hundreds of the most interesting idioms in English. Each phrase has been thoroughly researched to uncover its origins and the way it has been used in the past. The book is written in a friendly and approachable style, and includes additional information in ten double-page panels focusing on idioms linked by a common theme, such as phrases coined by Shakespeare, nautical phrases, or phrases with a Biblical origin. The book contains specially commissioned cartoons to illustrate the idioms, and, coupled with the fresh, contemporary design, they make this book a delight to browse. The Real McCoy is the perfect gift for everyone interested in the quirky side of the English language.
Customer Reviews:
enlightening.......2006-11-05
Loved the book. Full of interesting info about your favorite phrases. A fun read.
Average customer rating:
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The Real McCoy
R C Donovan
Manufacturer: On the Outskirts, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Religious | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 159800882X |
Book Description
Searching for The Real McCoy
At the turn of the twentieth century, the sport of boxing- along with the city of New York- was struggling to civilize itself. Based on a true story, The Real McCoy is an Irish-American story set at a time where actors were boxers and commonly boxers were actors, in and outside the ring.
Customer Reviews:
An enjoyable fun read.......2006-12-18
This is a concise fast paced novel that flows back and forth between a historical boxing story seen through the eyes of a modern day observer. The modern day man goes on a philosophical internal journey over the course of a short period of time throughout the book, as the historical characters simultaneously engage in inter-personal physical challenges themselves. Donovan's stream of consciousness writing flows quickly and reads well. He does all of this while unabashedly delving deeply into his Irish pride and heritage, as well as turning a good tale and generously drawing on historical references and literary allusions to emphasize or solidify a point. In a quite succinct volume, the author manages to span the philosophical, the moral, historical and more. A fun entertaining read that I definitely recommend to anyone who likes kicking back and having some great food for thought in the midst of an enjoyable read.
Product Description
Over 900 Photos of the cars and people that make up the history of Western Auto Racing
Customer Reviews:
A treasure of racing lore and history........2007-08-24
What a great collection of racing stories, entertaining and full of enjoyment and chuckles. A must have for anyone who is interested in American motor sports. The collections of photos in this book and the record they provide is a remarkable achievement in its own right. This book is an unusual accomplishment. Good work, Authors!
Racing's Real McCoy IS the Real McCoy!.......2006-03-21
This is an amazing piece of Stock Car Racing History, and a MUST-have for all Stock Car racing enthusiasts, especially those of us who grew up around the racetracks of the West Coast. Thanks Jack, for your dedication to making this historically vital project happen!
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