Book Description
"Pure gold....One of the best books by this most versatile of writers."—Penelope Lively
"Troy meant one thing only to the men gathered here, as it did to their commanders. Troy was a dream of wealth; and if the wind continued the dream would crumble." As the harsh wind holds the Greek fleet trapped in the straits at Aulis, frustration and political impotence turn into a desire for the blood of a young and innocent woman—blood that will appease the gods and allow the troops to set sail. And when Iphigeneia, Agamemnon's beloved daughter, is brought to the coast under false pretences, and when a knife is fashioned out of the finest and most precious of materials, it looks as if the ships will soon be on their way. But can a father really go to these lengths to secure political victory, and can a daughter willingly give up her life for the worldly ambitions of her father?
Throwing off the heroic values we expect of them, Barry Unsworth's mythic characters embrace the political ethos of the twenty-first century and speak in words we recognize as our own. The blowhard Odysseus warns the men to not "marginalize" Agamemnon and to "strike while the bronze is hot." High-sounding principles clash with private motives, and dark comedy ensues. Here is a novel that stands the world on its head.
Customer Reviews:
Original approach to a classic.......2007-09-25
Well-written and original account of some of our favorite -but unfamiliar-classical heroes. Contains good shot of humor. This history takes place as the Greek fleet is holed up waiting for favorable winds to take them to Troy. All the influential Greek heroes are there, presented in ways designed to expand your mind. Perhaps somebody will write a book in a few hundred years titled "Songs of the Whitehouse."
Shallow and spurious.......2006-12-23
The scholarship, characterizations, and dialogue, all of which are draped in thickets of pretentiousness and verbosity, give me the impression of a potboiler masquerading as intelligent literature. This book makes me wish it had been the hare torn to bits and devoured by the two eagles.
Modern and Ancient.......2006-04-21
As a long-time fan of Greek Mythology, my initial reaction to "The Songs of the Kings" was "sacrilege!". Odysseus as a villain? The absurdly modern speech? But when I tried the book again, I found that it expressed one of the things we love best about Greek Mythology--something about the mythology resonates with us today, after all these centuries. Unsworth reworks the old tale of the sacrifice of Iphigeneia at Aulis as a startingly modern political tale, and somehow also remains true to the original story. While he portrays many well known characters, such as Menelaus, Odysseus, Ajax, and Achilles in unusual ways, which challenge the heroic versions we are familiar with, this expresses new sides of the characters we may have ignored.
The title refers to the mysterious blind singer in the camp of the Greeks who tells old heroic tales, working history into myth. The kings attempt to influence his tales with bribes and threats--his goals and allegiances are unclear. He is not a major player in the story, but a shadowy figure lurking in the margin of every page. He represents, in a way, the idea of Unsworth's novel itself--how stories can be used, altered, and how they can convery glory and immortality to those they remember.
Yes, this is fun.......2005-04-11
And it should be read with that in mind. Anyone looking for traditionally classical fiction will find something different here. Unsworth isn't trying to convince anyone that he's writing this with historical accuracy, with true dialogue of the times, with a complete honoring of the ancient myth. I'd argue that no writers on classical subjects can ever achieve those things, so best have fun with the material. Unsworth does this like nobody I've read before. It's biting at times about the means of gaining and keeping power, manipulation of the media, explotation of superstitions, etc, etc. All things we should be very aware of today. The author is more writing about our present situations than he is writing about ancient Greeks, but this is appropriate also. We're modern readers, aren't we? The world of the ancients is gone and all that we can do is look back at them and see bits and pieces of ourselves. Don't read this if you lack a sense of humor. Do read it if you like the classical world but want something a little different, satyrical and wry and slightly irreverent.
Ancient myth spiced up.......2004-09-25
What a great concept for a novel, a modern retelling of Greek myth with more detail, "The Song of the Kings" is about King Agamemnon and his sacrifice of Iphigenia at the outset of the Trojan/Greek war. The story is chiefly told through the eyes of three characters - Odysseus cast here as a clever politically ambitious manipulator, Calchas an Asian priest of Apollo and soothsayer to the king, and Sisipyla a slave that Iphigenia received as a present years before. Through the character of the Singer many tales of gods and goddesses are worked into the book.
A group of Greek rulers, among them Achilles and Ajax, and their troops are sailing to war with Troy under the command of Agamemnon, ostensibly to avenge the insult to Menelaus, brother to Agamemnon, whose wife Helen was "abducted" by Paris the Trojan prince. Strong winds are sent pinning the Greek fleet in harbor and an oracle reveals that the only way to appease the angry goddess who sent the winds is for Agamemnon to sacrifice his own daughter Iphigenia. Agamemnon sends for Iphigenia and deceives his wife Clytemnestra by telling her their daughter is going to be married.
Barry Unsworth is able to make this story come alive for the modern reader, even relevant to our times, though this is somewhat overdone. A few of the references made me cringe, like ".....fight a war without collateral damage." or ".....bound to look impressive on a person's CV." Even so, the book was enjoyable and surprisingly suspenseful considering the outcome was already known.
Amazon.com
Inspired by their heroes Xavier Cugat and Desi Arnaz, brothers Cesar and Nestor Castillo come to New York City from Cuba in 1949 with designs on becoming mambo stars. Eventually they do--performing with Arnaz on "I Love Lucy" in 1955 and recording 78s with their own band, the Mambo Kings. In his second novel, Hijuelos traces the lives of the flashy, guitar-strumming Cesar and the timid, lovelorn Nestor as they cruise the East Coast club circuit in a flamingo-pink bus. Enriching the story are the brothers' friends and family members--all driven by their own private dreams.
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love won a Pulitzer Prize in 1990.
Book Description
It's 1949, the era of the mambo, and two young Cuban musicians make their way from Havana to New York. The Castillo brothers, workers by day, become, by night, stars of the dance halls, where their orchestra plays the sensuous, pulsing music that earns them the title of the Mambo Kings. This is a golden time that thirty years later will be remembered with deep affection. In
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, Oscar Hijuelos has created an enthralling novel about passion and loss, memory and desire.
This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.
Customer Reviews:
Pulitzer Prize? Are you kidding me?.......2007-08-21
I found this book pretty boring and too focused on the main character's sexual escapades. Very disappointing with very little depth to it. Perhaps had the book focused more on the other brother's woes, it would have had the potential to be a great read. I'm wondering if the book won so many awards because it is a Cuban story written in English for an English speaking audience.
Not bad..........2007-06-23
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, lyrical in its depiction of Cuban-immigrant life in New York City, is a very interesting read. The main thing that separates this book from others (and that probably won it the Pulitzer Prize) was the fact that the story was so rich and original. No other author, in terms of contemporary literature, that I'm aware of has so successfully depicted the lives of Hispanic-Americans in the United States.
The book delves into many facets of life (Latin American life, and life in general) including love, loss, and age. Granted, the book did have its fair share of flaws. For example, the sex scenes were a bit much, often bordering on obscene, and the length made for a somewhat staggering and repetitive read. However, the book, overall, was entertaining enough and entirely worthy of the Pulitzer Prize. If you have nothing to do and want to read an interesting story, go pick up the Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love. Do not, however, go to the ends of the Earth to find this book because you may get disappointed.
A typical Hijuelos sentence..........2007-02-25
"Like a forlorn bird in a bolero, he felt his wings being singed by the flame of tender love" (pg. 88).
If that sentence leaves you hungering for more, by all means pick up this book.
Love, lust, and exuberant music from two lives cut short by tragedy.......2007-01-01
Sensual, sensuous, sensitive--Hijuelos's elegy to Cuba, its people, and especially its music is charming, wicked, uneven, humorous and ultimately sad, much like the 78 RPM recordings the fictional Mambo Kings made in their heyday.
The novel opens with the apex of the band's career: an ephemeral appearance on "I Love Lucy" with the Caribbean demigod Desi Arnaz. This opening scene and the epilogue, both featuring Arnaz in fictional mode, are told through the eyes of Eugenio, the son of one of the two brothers who led the Mambo Kings. The novel is, above all, an attempt to understand the previous generation, and the bulk of the book is a wistful look at the world of rumba and mambo and booze and women and more booze and more women as recalled through the eyes of Cesar Castillo, who came to New York in 1949 with his brother Nestor and, at the time the narrative takes place, three decades later, is drinking himself into a lethal stupor in a dilapidated hotel.
During their glory days in the 1950s Cesar only rarely looked back to his youth in Cuba, but Nestor was in obsessive mourning over the loss of his first love (more imaginary than real), a deprivation that caused him to write nearly two dozen versions of "Beautiful Maria of My Soul," the song the duo eventually performed with Arnaz before a national television audience. They are sudden celebrities in their Harlem neighborhood, but their joy is short-lived. It's not giving anything away to reveal that the neurotically melancholy Nestor dies tragically and young, destroying the magic of the Mambo Kings and leaving Cesar to pick up the pieces of his once-exuberant life. He seeks relief in the arms of women--many, many women--and his sexual prowess seems to be the only consolation left to him as he flits from job to job, as a building superintendent, as a night-club owner, as a music teacher.
Hijuelos frequently and almost seamlessly alters the tone of the prose. When recounting the brothers' careers, his style almost echoes the narration for a VH1 documentary, replete with discographies and studio lore. This tone contrasts sharply with the eroticism and occasional violence of Cesar's sexual exploits and the nostalgic romanticism that pervades the portraits of the brothers and their families. I wouldn't have thought such a juxtaposition of the journalese and the literary could have worked, but Hijuelos somehow pulls it off, making me wonder just how much of these lives are really fiction.
If the book has a failing--and it does sometimes falter--it's that Hijuelos consistently favors hypnotic repetition and overwritten description when a sparser, more straightforward style would have better served his characters. But such lapses are hardly the rule. Yes, it's depressing and, yes, it's coarse, but "Mambo Kings" ultimately celebrates Nestor and Cesar and their long lost loves and lives.
Interesting Read, with Flaws.......2006-09-19
While I enjoyed the writing and the story, and appreciated the atmosphere invoked both for the 1950s and the present day, there were two major flaws that hindered my total enjoyment of the book. Firstly, while I am far from a prude, I found that the constant, graphic explanations of sex and body parts borderd on the pornographic. The man had many lovers--I get it. I don't need to read gory descriptions for 500 pages. That brings up the other flaw--the book could have been cut by 100 pages. Those last pages told us nothing new, and were basically a rehash of Cesar's musings and rememberances. This made the book very draggy, and really diluted the emotional power for me.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful Novel - Pulitzer Prize Winner.......2007-05-18
I found this book very moving and touching. It is a novel about two Cuban musicians who move to the United States in 1948 and begin a moderately successful music career. The highlight of their career is an appearance on the I Love Lucy show and the experience is mentioned throughout the novel. The lives of the men are lonely and sad. They love many women, marry a few, yet seem detached from those around them. When life is hard, you can always depend on remembering your apperence on the I Love Lucy show. This novel makes the episode even more meaningful.
Product Description
As one of the great Native American warriors, Crazy Horse remains perhaps the most enigmatic. Scorned from childhood from his light colored hair, he spurned the finery and honors charactertic to the Lakota Sioux warriors. Crazy Horse led his people to their greatest victory, at the Greasy Grass - the Battle of the Little Big Horn, where Custer fell. Yet this was not his greatest personal victory, Instead, Crazy Horse's entire life was a triumph of the spirit. In his youth, he was set apart by a powerful vision of Rider, the spiritual expression of his future, and by the passion and grief of his overwhelming love for a woman. Only in battle could his fiery heart find rest. As his nomadic plains world crumbled at the encroachment of the white man's frontier, he replaced his former freedom hunting the buffalo with the gallantry of counting coup on his enemies, and the oblivion of whiskey. Still he managed to find his way with the old wisdom of the Lakota, and beat the U.S. Army on its own terms. He lived and died, his own man. This is the legendary life of Crazy Horse. Read by Heath Kizzier. 16 CD's 17.6 Hrs.
Customer Reviews:
Stone Cold Killer Would Be A Better Title.......2005-12-31
I got this book because of all the five star reviews, but I'm rather disappointed with it overall. It's readable, but written in a somewhat juvenile storytelling tone. Curly (young Crazy Horse) goes through the usual vision-quest of all native-american novels of this genre, supposedly follows his vision and becomes a war chief.
Halfway through the book, it occurred to me that it seems odd that in glorifying and writing about the great Crazy Horse (and chopping up a whole mountain in the Black Hills in his honor), we are paying tribute to a man who today would be considered a serial killer who apparently killed dozens of his own race, not to mention his wisacu (whites) enemies. Sort of how Custer used to be idolized before everyone realized what an evil guy he was.
Anyway, in my judgement, this is not one of Blevins best efforts. There's a lot of details regarding Lakota ceremonies and customs, but being that this is a work of fiction, we don't know how much of it is the result of solid research and how much came from the author's imagination. There's nothing really different from many other similar novels to keep you turning the pages and wishing for more.
Blevins does it again.......2001-06-24
This is the second book by Win Blevins that I have read, the first being Ravenshadow. I liked this one immensely. I found it very difficult to put down once I got into the story. From the beginning, with young Curly, who is determined to have a vision quest, but doesn't share what he has seen with his family, it hooks you. Then it takes you through the various times in his life, never letting you forget the conflict that was going on in the country at that time. Blevins did an interesting job of describing the conflicts between the whites and the Indians. He makes you feel like you were actually there. When he described the ones who hung around the forts, you got the impression that you could actually see them in their blankets, waiting to trade for whiskey. In the course of reading this book, I took the liberty to visit the Crazy Horse Foundation website and read the interviews with some of the people who knew him. I'm thinking that Blevins also read those interviews and that may be how he got some of his material. I'm sure he did extensive research before writing this book and to me, it reflects it. I am giving this book five stars. It will make you think and will bring His Crazy Horse (the literal translation of his name) the man to life.
Portrait of a Human Hero.......2001-02-12
In this superbly crafted fictional biography Blevins portrays Crazy Horse from many angles : insecure adolescent, faithful friend, courageous warrior and non-committed lover guided by the need to fulfil his vision and remain true to his spirit guide.Always a man apart from the others, Crazy Horse makes attempts at escaping from his isolation although ultimately in the knowledge that isolation will be his destiny. The author convincingly describes life among the Lakota,their many warring factions, their social customs and the impact that the broken promises of the "wasicu" have on their very existence.There is of course no way of knowing if Crazy Horse felt as described in this novel (a problem from which all fiction based on a historical person suffers). But the beautiful poetic language crafted by Blevins renders his vision thouroughly believable. A major achievement.
inspired a new path in my life.......2000-07-30
This book was purchased off a bargain book table and began a new era in my life. The characters come richly to life and demand your ferverent attention to thier lives and predicament. I saw Crazy Horse in an incredibly human light and it has inspired me to pursue what I believe will be a lifelong study of Native American issues...current and historical. A definite Must Read for those interested in the Oglala Sioux or Native Americans in general!
Learning to know His Crazy Horse.......2000-03-24
I just finished reading this book and thoroughly enjoyed it. I feel as though I know as well as is possible who His Crazy Horse was. I came to know him and to understand some of the customs of his people. The characters were all very clearly defined and full. The historical aspect of the book put many battles and events I have heard of in sequence. This was a book I felt sorry to finish. It is the second of Mr. Blevins I have read (the first was RavenShadow ) and I truly enjoyed both of them. I will definately read his others.
Average customer rating:
- A Stellar Talent - the Queen beside the King
- Touching
- All about the shoes!
- Blue Suede Shoes
- a wrenching exploration of a mother-daughter relationship
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Another Song About the King: A Novel
Kathryn Stern
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0375502823
Release Date: 2000-03-07 |
Book Description
In this stunning novel, a mother's desperate desire to be somebody, fueled by the memory of a date she once had with Elvis, provokes an intense rivalry with her daughter.
Silvie Page, determined to escape the control and frustrations of her mother, has started her own life--she's moved to New York, gotten a job in publishing, met a wonderful man. Still, her entangled and competitive relationship with her mother, Mimi, continues to haunt her. Moving back and forth in time,
Another Song About the King explores how the fantasies and experiences of one generation have an impact on the lives of another. Frustrated by her life as a housewife in the sixties, Mimi names her daughter Silvie, as a near anagram of Elvis. Caught up in a fantasy world of the King and fame, Mimi sews clothes from her unique designs but remains mired in unfulfilled artistic ambitions and the need to dominate her family. Yet even as Silvie begins to free herself from Mimi's jealousy and expectations, a family crisis draws her back into her mother's web.
Another Song About the King is a rich and moving novel that goes deep into the heart of identity and the complex relationships within a family to reveal the ways in which happiness can be held hostage to the past and a daughter's struggle for freedom can lead to reconciliation, renewal, and love. Written with lyricism, insight, humor, and grace, it introduces a fresh new voice in American fiction, Kathryn Stern.
Customer Reviews:
A Stellar Talent - the Queen beside the King.......2003-06-21
Given that this is a debut novel, the prose is remarkable, the voice unique, the insights into human behaviour and relationship profound. Mother-daughter relationships are always complicated, oft times ridden with confusing expectations, dreams of the future/reminiscences of the past, and always always the burden of aging - whether it be of youth blossoming or the prospect of death. This writer captures the emotional complexity of the relationship with great dexterity and compassion. We only hope that she continues to write yet again and again and again, many novels, many works, of which I'm sure she is entirely capable.
Touching.......2001-10-30
Any woman who has ever had a love-hate relationship with their mother will love this book. It's a beautiful and touching story about how different we see a mother's "good" intentions from when we are children to when we become adults. No matter how painful the journey, in the end we see that we all do the best that we can whether we're the mother or the daughter. It brought tears to my eyes.
All about the shoes!.......2001-08-18
Mimi never tires of telling her daughter, Silvie that she is named for the king, Elvis. She once dated the king. Mimi has big ideas and intentions, but finds herself stuck in the role of mother and housewife. This is not where she wanted to be. She loves the spotlight, dressing up in her high heels and swirling around in dresses.
Silvie is dowdy by Mimi's comparison, comfortable hiding from the spotlight. Mimi is disappointed that Silvie is not more 'out there', not more like her.
Silvie moves town to get out from under Mimi's shoes, but is driven back to her mother's side when she discovers that she has cancer. It is truly heartbreaking for Silvie to see her mother who was larger than life, slowly disintegrating before her eyes.
This is a good book about mother-daughter relationships, but it was really nothing new. It's all about people finding each other before they are separated forever.
Blue Suede Shoes.......2001-06-09
Her mother's blue suede shoes always caused a problem for young Silvie. She wants a traditional, conservative mother, but ended up with Mimi - a headstrong, independant woman whose claim to fame is her dates with Elvis. Silvie believes that she has finally gotten away from her mother's indominable clutches when she moves to New York, but when Mimi is diagnosed with terminal cancer she goes home to help her die.
Through this time together, Silvie embraces her mother. She comes to learn the important elements of her family history. Through this time, Silvie gives and recieves the important elements of her mother's life, and finally comes to accept both her childhood and her future. She learns how to move beyond her mother, yet how to more fully embrace her special qualities.
The book is an excellent read for women. It gives a remarkable portrayal of the mother-daughter bond, with all of its pain and promise. Overall, highly recommended.
a wrenching exploration of a mother-daughter relationship.......2001-02-16
With compassion, insight and elegance, Kathryn Stern's wonderful debut novel, "Another Song about the King," traces the tensions and fissures between a repressed but talented mother and her daughter, whose own life's experiences sadly reflect the disappointments, resentments and fears felt by her mother. Stern paints a vivid picture of Simone, whose mothering skills mirror the venomous pressures and arid emotional wasteland of her own childhood. Simone is so repressive and begruding of her daughter's right to a life that, at times, it appears that she could not be more deliberate in her emotional abuse. Silvie, in turn, at a very early age, deliberately withdraws from her mother and builds such an anguished anger and sense of disappointment with her circumstances that she refuses to call her mother any other name than Mimi.
The central conceit of the novel turns around Simone's teen-age "relationship" with Elvis Presley, a "date" whose scope is never completely determined but whose impact on the dissatisfied Simone grows and distorts her own ability to live as a functional adult. Simone's discontent is the central fact of her life. "For a long time, I liked being married, the routine, the security. But then it was the late sixties...and there I was in the suburbs, just planning a week of dinner and making them." The adult daughter, Silvie (whose own name, incidentally, is a semi-anagram of Elvis), understood "her discontent, the discontent of all women caught between the work of staying home and raising children and the larger work of the world."
Stern's masterful talent of characterization reveals itself fully through Silvie, a sensitive and inquisitive child who bears the brunt of her mother's smoldering fury. How should a child respond to a parent who insists the child develop her talents, but once expressed, elicits a competitive anger from the very adult she yearns to please? Silvie decides to withdraw, to finish in second place, to acquiesce to her mother. This tremendously affecting character pushes her sadness "down into that tight little bead no one could see, filling the space with emptiness, nothingness...I feared I lacked a self."
"Another Song" is not just about the evolving relationship between a mother and her daughter. This deeply reflective novel also treats the issues of insanity, suicide, depression, divorce, existential anguish and terminal illness. Never forgotten is the humanity of the central characters, and that compassion animates Stern's ability to make even a Simone a character about whom we care. This author, with a sure and sensitive hand, understands the quest all children, regardless of age, have to understand and forgive their parents.
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Conan #1 (Song of the Death Pits!, Volume 1)
Larry Hama
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Comic
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ASIN: B000Q7CLLS |
Product Description
Conan Volume 1, issue #1. Song of the Death Pits. First Issue. Beginning a new era of Barbarian action! August 1995.
Product Description
Unboxed Set of DARK TOWER BOOKS (1-7) : 1. The Gunslinger 2. The Drawing of the Three 3. The Waste Lands 4. Wizard and Glass 5. Wolves of the Calla 6. Song of Susannah 7. Dark Tower VII
Book Description
Term paper due tomorrow? Need to cram for a test? Or just looking for the best information about a favorite literary work?
Turn to "Novels for Students" to get your research done in record time. Brought to you by Thomson Gale--the world's leading source of literary criticism and analysis--this e-doc contains: author biography; plot summary; character analysis; an overview of the novel's themes, style, and historical context; a compendium of in-depth critical material; study questions; suggestions for further reading; and much more.
Why choose "Novels for Students"? Because no other source offers so much in such a compact package. Trust the experts: Thomson Gale--and "Novels for Students."
Download Description
Term paper due tomorrow? Need to bone up for a test? Or just looking for the best information about a favorite literary work?
Turn to "Novels for Students" to get your research done in record time. Brought to you by the Gale Group--the world's leading source of literary criticism and analysis--this e-doc contains: author biography; plot summary; character analysis; an overview of the novel's themes, style, and historical context; a compendium of in-depth critical material; study questions; suggestions for further reading; and much more.
Why choose "Novels for Students"? Because no other source offers so much in such a compact package. Trust the experts: The Gale Group--and "Novels for Students."
Product Description
Set of 7 Novels. Dark Tower Series: Volumes 1-7 By Stephen King - The Gunslinger, The Drawing of the Three, The Waste Lands, Wizard and Glass, Wolves of the Calla, Song of Susannah, The Dark Tower.
Average customer rating:
- Other Books
- Who can love Evil?
- Pretty good in the series
- Nature's meandering landscape [no spoilers]
- Lossy and glossy.
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Being a Green Mother (Incarnations of Immortality, Book Five)
Piers Anthony
Manufacturer: Del Rey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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And Eternity (Incarnations of Immortality)
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Bearing An Hourglass (Incarnations of Immortality, Book 2)
ASIN: 0345322231
Release Date: 1988-09-12 |
Book Description
Orb had a rare gift--the magic which manifested whenever she sang or played her harp. No one could resist her music. But she knew that greater magic lay in the Llano, the mystic music that controlled all things. The quest for the Llano occupied Orb's life. Until she met Natasha, handsome and charming, and an even finer musician. But her mother Niobe came as an Aspect of Fire, with the news that Orb had been chosen for the role of Incarnation of Nature--The Green Mother. But she also warned of a prophecy that Orb was to marry Evil. Could she be sure that Natasha was not really Satan, the Master of Illusion, laying a trap for her...?
Customer Reviews:
Other Books.......2007-09-03
Moon daughter rock chick has unfair advantage.
Orb, the daughter of Luna, joins a band. Handy to have the supernatural singing voice for times like these. The two aforementioned characters appear in other book in this series.
As per usual, Satan gets involved with some scheming, and this time it is of the magical music variety. In over her head, she asks for help from Chronos.
Eventually Gaea power turns the head of the Lord of Evil.
Who can love Evil?.......2007-06-19
What if death, time, fate, war, nature, evil and good were not mere concepts but offices held by actual people, like any other occupation?
Orb knew there was something special, something otherworldly, about her musical ability. When singing and playing her harp, she senses a gathering of power she can never quite grasp fully, but dedicates her life in search of the llano, the true song of nature. Her quest leads her around the world, finding and losing love, and ultimately she assumes the role of the Incarnation of Nature. But what about the fortuneteller who, when she was still a little girl, prophesied that Orb would marry Evil?
I remember being blown away at this book's climax the first time I read it in high school. This time around it wasn't quite as impressive, as some aspects of Anthony's writing style have become irritating to the more experienced reader in me. There is no natural progression to any of the relationships, and as a result they are hardly believable. The spoken dialogue is awkward, written in a style that seems far too formal, even accounting for an alternate reality. Despite its flaws, I'm still going to finish re-reading the series.
Pretty good in the series.......2007-04-09
This book wasn't my favorite, but it certainly wan't the worst one in the Incarnations of Immortality line. I enjoyed all of these books and found the overall idea clever and inspired. There is mirth and irony ruinning through all of this authors books that I really enjoy. This was a lovely read and a great continuance of the whole series.
Nature's meandering landscape [no spoilers].......2006-06-19
A magically gifted Orb quests for the Llano, an omnipotent musical score, in "Being A Green Mother", the fifth installment of the "Incarnations of Immortality" series. The bizarre final chapters undervalue the beginning's remarkable character development as the storyline is filled with the standard vocabulary and considerable logical breakdowns throughout the series. An arousing crusade opposing Satan and the powerful energy of Nature could have built a tremendously amazing novel.
Minor Incarnations appear as Gaea's assistants, however as with the other novels the primary character reveals more unusual associations with the other Incarnations and connections with the earlier storylines. Satan's ultimate interest in fulfilling the Orb prophecy is a huge revelation. The last pages present a major cliffhanger, which exceeds any prior ending in the series.
Orb's confusing behavior conflicts between a sweet and innocent young woman to an impulsive and occasionally naughty vixen. Even though the Incarnation of Nature's appearance is unseen until near the end (offering further depth than the earlier novels), she ambiguously assumes the office unlike the other exacting methods as found with Death or Fate. Satan's continuous illusions eventually become very confusing and frustrating as a reader.
I recommend this series to any fan of the fantasy genre. However those of a highly inflexible religious background or intolerant attitude towards religion might want to avoid the selection.
Thank you.
Lossy and glossy........2006-03-30
Being a huge fan overall of the entire Incarnations series, that means that
Being a Green Mother is lumped in there as well. While I do thoroughly appreciate and enjoy the idea that Piers Anthony has put forth with this series, this book just does not do that idea justice, as far as I'm concerned.
It's as though the author was rushed to get to 'the interesting parts', and glossed over some areas that I really would have liked to seen more depth to. I felt like I was being told, "Yadda yadda yadda, I had the lobster."
This book could have been so much more, and while I do enjoy repeat readings of it, each time I go back to it I'm struck more and more with how much -isn't- there, rather than what is.
Average customer rating:
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Being a Green Mother
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000GRNX7Y |
Product Description
The fifth volume in Piers Anthony's "Incarnations of Immortality" series tells the story of Orb, a young Irish woman gifted with music and magic, as she roams the world in search of the Llano, the ultimate music of nature. But she must be on her guard, for it is prophesized that she may one day marry Evil, and the powerful Incarnations have their own plans for her.
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