Monkey Hunting

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Could have been so much better

Garcia, Explore a Saga for this

Monkey Hunting Deceives by Fabricating History

Chinese in Cuba

Mixed feelings but overall a very good read...

Monkey Hunting
Cristina Garcia
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Aguero Sisters (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

Dreaming in Cuban

A Handbook to Luck

Cubanisimo: The Vintage Book of Contemporary Cuban Literature

Eccentric Neighborhoods

ASIN: B000AXRTQ0

Book Description

The new novel—her first in six years—from the acclaimed author of Dreaming in Cuban and The Agüero Sisters follows one family from China to Cuba to America in an emotionally resonant tale of immigration, assimilation, and the powerful integrity of self.

In 1857, when Chen Pan signs a contract that will take him from China “beyond the edge of the world to Cuba,” he has no idea that he will be enslaved on a sugarcane plantation . . . or that he will eventually, miraculously, escape his bonds and embark on a prosperous life in Havana’s Chinatown . . . or that he will buy a mulatto woman out of slavery and take her into his home and heart . . . or that he will end his long days in Havana, surrounded by children and grandchildren, as Cuban as he is Chinese.

In a vivid tapestry of incident and feeling, Chen Pan’s life story is interwoven with those of two of his descendants: his granddaughter, Chen Fang, born in China and raised as a boy so she could be educated, her life coming to its end in one of Mao’s hellish prisons, and Domingo, Chen Pan’s great-great-grandson, who, with his father, becomes an American citizen after Castro’s revolution, only to lose his parent to the false promises of the American dream, and himself, finally, to the madness of wartime Vietnam.

Deeply stirring, wonderfully evocative of time and place, rendered in the lyrical prose that is Cristina García’s hallmark, Monkey Hunting brilliantly illuminates a generations-long struggle toward a sense of true belonging.

Customer Reviews:

Could have been so much better.......2007-02-09

This book had so many great elements - an engaging beginning, with Chen Pan being duped into selling himself into slavery; an obviously educated author, with bits of African, Spanish, and Chinese sprinkled throughout; and a timeline that jumped from ancestor to ancestor and covered a 100 year span. The problems, however, were also many. The topics seemed to always come back to crudeness, and I learned many new words in different languages for genitalia than I cared to know. I really didn't need to have described in detail the scene in which young Lucretia was incestually raped. I had many many questions about the migration patterns of the Chen family: how did the Chen son get to New York from Castro's Cuba? What was the deal with the father of the Chen granddaughter in China, and did she ever leave China? There just were too many characters who were left undeveloped. And somewhere in the midst of the story of a Chinese immigrant to Cuba came the protesting of communism by different levels of the family at different times. It was all very confusing. I was sorry, too, because I really liked Chen Pan and I wanted to know more about his family.

Garcia, Explore a Saga for this .......2007-02-08

I love Christina Garcia and looked so forward to reading this book which may be why I am so let down. Typically I am able to get the entire picture from a novel, even if it is not plot driven - which this one had absolutely no plot, no character growth and no reason to continue reading. The concept is excellent, finding the descendents from one country (China) and tracing them through three eras and three countries (China, Cuba, and America)! Definitely a concept worth exploring maybe more in a saga type novel, not a 251 page novel where you have no time to explore the characters and their connections to one another. Not to take anything away from Garcia - Dreaming in Cuban was set up similar to this, but you had more time with each character and came to love and show concern for what happened to them. Here, you just didn't care because you didn't really know the characters. The linear patterns for all three characters went like this, born, shifted location, something big happens, death or in Chen Pan's case immortality. The something big that happened was also so slight that you barely knew something happened overall. There were no problems, just daily life adjusting the characters, again no reason to read. This is just my opinion and I may be missing the big picture on this one, but I typically don't.

Monkey Hunting Deceives by Fabricating History.......2006-10-31

This is a very deceptive book. It's written as a novel (fiction -- which it certainly is) but includes enough historical references that the reader tends to believe that its pages contain a lot of truths about Cuba and Cuban history. They are led to believe that because the author is described as a Cuban who came to the US when she was young, grew up in New York, and now lives in California. These blurbs don't tell you that the author was only 2 years old when she came to the US, so really knows only what she's read or has been told about Cuba. It leaves out the period of time she lived and worked in Miami, so the reader who is leery of the "Keep Elian here" crowd (and other antics, some extremely violent, by the more rabid anti-Castro Miami bunch)is lulled into thinking that this is a liberal Cuban-American with no real "issues" about Cuba and Castro. Nothing could be farther from the truth, as the more Cuba-savvy readers discover. The book is replete with historical lies, by omission or commission. In the War of Independence against Spain, for instance, we learn about all of the horrors except one: the role the US played. The US isn't even mentioned. In the period that follows, likewise: we learn about the racist nature of the regime that followed Spanish rule -- but not that it was one imposed by the US and reflected the harsh racism of the Southern US States that had always hoped to annex Cuba as a slave state. In the revolutionary periods of Cuba and China, we read only of the horrors committed by "communism" -- but nothing about the positive changes these brought about for the poorest of their citizens. And in the case of Cuba, outrageous lies, such as the story of a man from Guantanamo City being turned over to "communist" police for blackmarketing condensed milk, and being subjected to years of torture in a mental institution that was depicted to look like the pre-revolutionary "insane asylums" that the revolutionaries actually did away with. In true Garcia style, the only pro-revolutionary characters are one dimensional cardboard stereotypes of gung-ho fidelistas --like the wife who turns in and testifies against her poor husband for his blackmarketing, then as a militiawoman goes on to shoot an escaping invader in the back during the Bay of Pigs invasion! No need to bother with reality, such as that a wife can't testify against her husband in Cuban courts, or that no one at all was sent from Guantanamo to the Bay of Pigs because the distance was too great, transportation too poor, and the time too short for anyone to have gotten from Guantanamo to the Zapata Peninsula where the invasion took place. No need, because this is a novel, and if anyone points out the many historical untruths, the author can always demure, "Oh, but I never said any of these things really happened -- this is just fiction." Leaving the innocent readers with the impression, however, that these things really did happen. A very dishonest book.

Chinese in Cuba.......2006-08-08

Being a Chinese myself, I found sympathy in the Chinese and African (mostly slaves) during the Cuban colonial period as depicted by Miss Garcia. I love history, Latino and Oriental things, among many others, thus, it was the main reason I have selected this novel, due to its Latino and Chinese flavors.

Initially, I found this novel was somewhat boring. It started slow, and many of the Chinese names were wrong and mixed-up. Most of the current overseas Chinese were originally from Southern part of China, with its original Chinese provinces of Kwangtung (Guangdong) and Hokkien (Fujian). These people mainly communicate in their local dialects, not the Chinese Mandarin language. Thus, Miss Garcia has mixed up some of these and also usage of Chinese pinyin (characters written in Latin.)

However, after reading more pages, I found that regardless of some inferior namings, the writer did not falter in depicting Chen Pan and his ancestors. The plot was intertwined with stories between centuries and periods. Chen Pan lived during the late 1800s to early 1900s. Whereas his final ancestor in this story, Domingo, during the Vietnam war era in the US and Vietnam.

Chen Pan was a slaved, who ran away from his plantations and freed up an African slave, who later became his beloved wife.

If you like romance and history, this is one novel not to miss. I give it a five-star, since I liked it so much!

Mixed feelings but overall a very good read..........2005-06-16

Garcia's prose does not disappoint; it is beautiful and engaging. The narrative was less gripping than others by Garcia but I would still eagerly recommend this title.

Kinship with Monkeys: The Guajá Foragers of Eastern Amazonia (Historical Ecology Series)

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Kinship with Monkeys: The Guajá Foragers of Eastern Amazonia (Historical Ecology Series)
Loretta A. Cormier
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0231125259

Book Description

Intrigued by a slide showing a woman breast-feeding a monkey, anthropologist Loretta A. Cormier spent fifteen months living among the Guajá, a foraging people in a remote area of Brazil. The result is this ethnographic study of the extraordinary relationship between the Guajá Indians and monkeys. While monkeys are a key food source for the Guajá, certain pet monkeys have a quasi-human status. Some infant monkeys are adopted and nurtured as human children while others are consumed in accordance with the "symbolic cannibalism" of their belief system.

The apparent contradiction of this predator/protector relationship became the central theme of Cormier's research: How can monkeys be both eaten as food and nurtured as children? Her research reveals that monkeys play a vital role in Guajá society, ecology, economy, and religion. In Guajá animistic beliefs, all forms of plant and animal life -- especially monkeys -- have souls and are woven into a comprehensive kinship system. Therefore, all consumption can be considered a form of cannibalism.

Cormier sets the stage for this enlightening study by examining the history of the Guajá and the ecological relationships between human and nonhuman primates in Amazonia. She also addresses the importance of monkeys in Guajá ecological adaptation as well as their role in the Guajá kinship system. Cormier then looks at animism and life classification among the Guajá and the role of pets, which provide a context for understanding "symbolic cannibalism" and how the Guajá relate to various forms of life in their natural and supernatural world. The book concludes with a discussion of the implications of ethnoprimatology beyond Amazonia, including Western perceptions of primates.

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Steak, sex and society
Weak Hypothesis From Berkely Graduate
Great little book
A Weak Little Book
Well-written overview with intriguing hypothesis

The Hunting Apes
Craig B. Stanford
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0691011605

Amazon.com

Most evolutionary biologists agree that what makes humans unique among animals is our brainpower. But why--and how--did we evolve our oversized brains? Craig Stanford dusts off the old "Man the Hunter" theory, roundly criticized as replete with bad (and sexist) assumptions, and finds a thick, juicy, postmodern steak at the heart of it. He argues, "The origins of human intelligence are linked to the acquisition of meat, especially through the cognitive capacities necessary for the strategic sharing of meat with fellow group members."

Stanford studied the great apes, especially chimpanzees, and came to the conclusion that among primates, meat is a valuable commodity both nutritionally and socially. Although many other foods are nutritionally desirable, meat is unique in its social desirability, and for males, it represents power:

Underlying the nutritional aspect of getting meat, part of the social fabric of the community is revealed in the dominance displays, the tolerated theft, and the bartered meat for sexual access. The end of the hunt is often only the beginning of a whole other arena of social interaction.

In Stanford's view, females play a crucial role in keeping groups together and cementing individual relationships. Meat plays an important role in the way males fit in to a society, and the ability of males to get meat readily may very well explain their societal dominance. These conclusions are not liable to be nearly so controversial as the way Stanford gathered his data--he drew broad parallels between chimps and modern hunter-gatherer societies. Stanford also admits that a lack of fossil evidence supporting his meat/brain link is problematic. The Hunting Apes is an interesting look at what is likely the worthwhile center of a discredited evolutionary theory. --Therese Littleton

Book Description

What makes humans unique? What makes us the most successful animal species inhabiting the Earth today? Most scientists agree that the key to our success is the unusually large size of our brains. Our large brains gave us our exceptional thinking capacity and led to humans' other distinctive characteristics, including advanced communication, tool use, and walking on two legs. Or was it the other way around? Did the challenges faced by early humans push the species toward communication, tool use, and walking and, in doing so, drive the evolutionary engine toward a large brain? In this provocative new book, Craig Stanford presents an intriguing alternative to this puzzling question--an alternative grounded in recent, groundbreaking scientific observation. According to Stanford, what made humans unique was meat. Or, rather, the desire for meat, the eating of meat, the hunting of meat, and the sharing of meat.

Based on new insights into the behavior of chimps and other great apes, our now extinct human ancestors, and existing hunting and gathering societies, Stanford shows the remarkable role that meat has played in these societies. Perhaps because it provides a highly concentrated source of protein--essential for the development and health of the brain--meat is craved by many primates, including humans. This craving has given meat genuine power--the power to cause males to form hunting parties and organize entire cultures around hunting. And it has given men the power to manipulate and control women in these cultures. Stanford argues that the skills developed and required for successful hunting and especially the sharing of meat spurred the explosion of human brain size over the past 200,000 years. He then turns his attention to the ways meat is shared within primate and human societies to argue that this all-important activity has had profound effects on basic social structures that are still felt today.

Sure to spark a lively debate, Stanford's argument takes the form of an extended essay on human origins. The book's small format, helpful illustrations, and moderate tone will appeal to all readers interested in those fundamental questions about what makes us human.

Customer Reviews:

Steak, sex and society.......2001-08-26

With a wealth of primate research supporting his thesis, Stanford argues that meat is an essential element in human evolution. Although not the older and simpler "Killer Ape" hypothesis of some years ago, Stanford sees meat hunting and consumption as the foundation of human society. Meat also acted as a basis in developing the resource voracious human brain and associated communication skills we developed. Among those primates who consume meat, its acquisition remains a male-dominated activity. However, instead of resulting in inexorably male-dominating societies, meat distribution and consumption results in complex negotiation patterns in which females play significant, if not equal roles. This concept suggests humans must seriously reassess their role in Nature. Urging that humanity's lineage is far from linear, he presents a good overview of recent studies. Although the number of definitive fossils is meager, they still demonstrate that our primate roots are not in doubt. The struggle by researchers to properly place humans within the larger animal community has been stoutly resisted by many, both scholars and the lay public alike. Feminist anthropologists, in particular, have striven to displace the male dominated academic group with excessive roles of females in various primate cultures. Some have stretched the idea to the point of seeing females as the true source of language, nutritional foods and even tool making. Stanford addresses these suggestions as mostly unrealistic. Instead, he notes how meat plays a major role in mating scenarios, granting females an active role in selection. Acquiring meat may be accomplished through various strategies, from opportunistic scavenging to actively seeking prey. The true hunter, he contends, must develop a sophisticated array of skills in pursuing meat - prey location, stealth, communication, and the tools able to kill and process. Once obtained, the distribution of the kill becomes an essential element in societal arrangement. He reviews many forms social structures have taken, from selfish monopolization of the kill to the hunter himself receiving but limited return for his effort. What the hunter does gain in all societies is respect and recognition of the group. For Stanford, this is but one indication of the diversity encountered in all primate societies, human and otherwise. The only universal is the hierarchical structure resulting from the hunting role. While hierarchy is the norm, dominance doesn't necessarily follow. In this study, Stanford examines the many social structures primates have developed. These range from nearly solitary, such as the orang-utan, to both male-male and male-female bonding strategies. These elements are essential to understanding the roots of human societal structures. As an example, in primate societies, in contrast to many other animals, it is the female who migrates from the natal group. Stanford doesn't follow this to suggest that dowries and bride-bargaining derive from this behavior, but the inference is clear. Indeed, part of the value of this book is his restriction to biological patterns. One need only accept that humans are included in the primate community. Stanford's book may raise some hackles, but it's far too important an idea to dismiss lightly. He's a skilled enough writer not to get bogged down in a pedantic rendition of the evidence or his conclusions. With the large number of works on the vagaries of human evolution appearing in recent years, finding worthwhile books can be a daunting task. Rest assured that The Hunting Apes is worth your attention and investment. Future research may modify it slightly, but is unlikely to supplant it.

Weak Hypothesis From Berkely Graduate.......2000-11-02

This book by Craig Stanford started to show some real information toward a hypothesis than lost all track. It lead to be a dull and redundant essay. It lacks logical sense in scientfic theory and has a biased theme. I would suggest another book most likely a book by Jane Goodall.

Great little book.......2000-02-15

I found Hunting Apes to be a superbly written summary of current debates in human evolution. Stanford makes a case for meat-sharing's supremacy that may or may not be true, but even if his theory were someday disproved, this book would stand as an excellent piece of readable science.

A Weak Little Book.......2000-01-16

This is not a work of fiction, so the reader's response should not be "Did I like it?" but "What did I learn?" The answer is, little. (I should qualify that by saying I have read quite a bit on this topic.) Stanford presents little that cannot be found elsewhere, more incisively. Every time you think he is going to say something, he shies off. In fact, I think there is only one sentence in the whole book: "While women may collect most hunter-gatherer protein, we should not ignore the fact that men are able to use meat for their own selfish and manipulative political ends." (p212) This is new?

I was taken aback by Stanford's approach. "This has yet to be shown. But the notion that a high-quality diet frees the metabolism of an evolving hominid to develop a larger and larger brain is extremely appealing because it would explain both the trend toward greater encephalization and toward more meat in the diet of the evolution of the human lineage (p50-51)." Appealing? (Also, I never knew that evolution had a diet.) "Surely bonobos and gorillas ought to make use of such a valuable resource whenever possible." (p95) Come on, you guys, get with it, what's the matter with you, why don't you eat hamburgers, like God intended us to? I wish Stanford would just come out and say, "Eating meat is good for you, because I was raised on an American diet with plenty of meat, and I know what I want to hear and what you want to hear. Therefore, I am going to prove that eating meat is good for you, and what's more, it's good for all of us. Dumb gorillas, don't know a valuable resource when they see one!" Stanford's method reminds me of the half joking advice to young scholars: "Put forth your hypothesis, examine all the evidence, and throw away everything that does not agree with your hypothesis." I was also aware that academics prefer not to give credit to Ardrey's African Genesis, which effectively kicked off evolutionary psychology. Nonetheless, I was surprised to read on page 182 that "In their search for evidence that modern people operate on a cognitive plane shaped by a long history of natural selection, evolutionary psychologists have erred in their level of analysis. There is no reason to consider the cognitive domains by which we respond to our social environment to be uniquely human." I thought that was the whole point of evolutionary psychology, that our congnitive domains are NOT uniquely human.

In short, if you wish to learn something, I suggest you read The Wisdom of the Bones by Walker and Shipman, Moral Animal by Wright, Lemur's Legacy by Russell, or any one of a large number of books that are more tightly reasoned than this one.

Well-written overview with intriguing hypothesis.......1999-12-22

I found this book very well written, easy to read and full of substantial information. This was a new topic for me, and I particularly found the contrasting information about hunting vs. scavenging was interesting. While the book is certainly about "hunting," it really isn't -- it's more about the politics behind meat, and about the move from being scavengers. Actually, the information about scavenging was most valuable.

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Monkey Hunting
Cristina Gardia
Manufacturer: Books On Tape
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 0736693963

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Monkey Hunting {Unabridged Audio}

Manufacturer: Books on Tape, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
ASIN: 0736693955

Product Description

Cristina Garcia traces the treacherous path of immigration and assimilation that faced the Chinese who were enslaved and brought to Cuba in the 19th century. Chen Pan is one such Chinese man, who escapes from slavery and makes a prosperous career in Havana as a free man running a well-regarded second-hand store. The fates of his children and grandchildren are more problematic. Chen Fang, his granddaughter, is raised in China as a boy, so that her father, who returned to Cuba before she was born, will send money for her schooling; she dies in Mao Zedong's prisons. Domingo Chen, his great-grandson, applies for American citizenship when Castro comes to power, only to be caught up in Vietnam. This is a thrilling and unusual family saga.

Author Cristina Garcia goes Monkey Hunting.(Entrevista): An article from: Semana

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Author Cristina Garcia goes Monkey Hunting.(Entrevista): An article from: Semana

Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Semana, published by Thomson Gale on June 15, 2003. The length of the article is 710 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Author Cristina Garcia goes Monkey Hunting.(Entrevista)
Publication: Semana (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 15, 2003
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 9 Issue: 537 Page: S2(1)

Article Type: Entrevista

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How to save a monkey: in the tropical forests of Colombia, a new breed of "conservation entrepreneurs" are using education and economics to protect an ... An article from: OnEarth

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How to save a monkey: in the tropical forests of Colombia, a new breed of "conservation entrepreneurs" are using education and economics to protect an ... An article from: OnEarth
Wendee Holtcamp
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B000WQ6A60
Release Date: 2007-10-03

Book Description

This digital document is an article from OnEarth, published by Thomson Gale on September 22, 2007. The length of the article is 866 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: How to save a monkey: in the tropical forests of Colombia, a new breed of "conservation entrepreneurs" are using education and economics to protect an endangered primate.(Frontlines)
Author: Wendee Holtcamp
Publication: OnEarth (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 22, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 29 Issue: 3 Page: 11(2)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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Monkey Hunting
Cristina Garcia
Manufacturer: Alfred A Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000H8GSZ6

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Monkey Hunting
Cristina Garcia
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MC2QGM

Monkey Hunting (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

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Monkey Hunting (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
Cristina Garcia
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OW3TNE

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An obvious first novel

Wise and powerful

An enthralling story written by a very promising Author

Good debut, but it's single volume nature is both its strength and weakness

Excellent book
Elantris
Brandon Sanderson
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Well of Ascension (Mistborn, Book 2)

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Melusine

ASIN: 0765311771
Release Date: 2005-04-21

Book Description

The exciting debut of a fresh new voice in fantasy A s fantasy surpassed SF in popularity, much of it becamepredictable. Elantris is a welcome exception, a rare epicfantasy that doesn't recycle the classics.

Customer Reviews:

An obvious first novel.......2007-09-29

I picked up this book because of the orson scott card remark on the cover only to remember later that these things tend to be favors, bought and even part of publishers contracts.
It took me a while to get over the obvious, Elantris/Atlantis name. Sanderson's naming scheme in this book was problematic. A lot of his made up words and character names sounded the same or read similarly. Even though i know it was intention to have the names reflect the culture it made it difficult.
The various plot "twists" were weak and often forced. I got the impression that Sanderson wanted to write a novel of intriguing and political savvy. It's obvious that he just doesn't have the mind to think like that. His character's were a little shallow.
Lastly, and this might just be me but reading between the lines I saw Sanderson trying to hard to counter act his Mormon frame of mind especially when it came to talking about the various religions in the book.
Yet, beside all that I wanted to finish reading the book, wanted to know what happened. It wasn't poorly written, slow or boring. I did though get a little disheartened when at the end the subplots and characters felt mashed together to finish the story as quickly as possible.

Wise and powerful.......2007-07-28

Elantris is Brandon Sanderson's debut novel and it is a much needed shot in the arm to the fantasy genre.

Elantris is a once great city which was the magical, intellectual, and artistic center of not only the nation of Arelon, but for the whole world. It's inhabitants were godlike creatures, tranformed by a mysterious tranformation known as the "shaod." Once this occured, the person was able to manipulate magic by drawing symbols known as "Aods" in the air, which could accomplish nearly anything, delicate surgery, great works of art, transportation over large distances. The Shaod, came about overnight, and was limited to the inhabitants of the nation of Arelon. At the setting of this novel it has been 10 years since a cataclysmic event took place which turned elantris into a city of decay and its inhabitants into leprous type creatures, unable to die, and for whom the smallest injury can amount to unending and unendurable pain. Those that succumb to the Shaod are now treated as dead and thrown into Elantris' city gates and forgotten about. Elantris has become a savage and despairing hell, where its citizens are brutalized and mad from the pain.
Thus when King Iadon's son Raoden is taken one night by the shaod, he is quietly exiled to the prison of Elantris and treated as dead. Raoden was to be wed to the princess of Teod, Sarene. She was traveling to meet Raoden for the wedding, having only met him through letters and a sort of magical communication. SHe is unaware of what has happened to Raod, and arrives to find that he is dead, but her engagement contract has bound her to the union. The contract was meant to ally the last two countries that stand against the powerful and tyrannical Fjorden, an imperial religion that threatens all the world with dominion. She is a stranger in a strange land, married for life to a dead man she has never met.

Thus the story follows the Raod in his quest to reclaim his humanity and dignity, as well as to decipher the mysterious Shaod and the shattered Rune magic that once offered great power and majesty, and Sarene who is strong willed and politically savvy as she seeks to save her new land from the powerful fjorden empire. Sarene is confronted by one of Fjorden's High priest, Gyorn Hrathen. He has been sent to convert Arelon to Shu-Derethi, the militaristic religion that underlies Fjorden's power. Hrathen seeks to bring down Arelon by wit or political savvy -- both qualities Sarene shares -- but he is not averse to taking the country in blood and fire.

What is so refreshing about this novel is Sanderson's understanding of the redeeming value of self determination and sacrifice. Sanderson's wisdom of the true nature of humanity permeates the novel. Evil is exposed for what it often truly is, not a devil with horns, but those who crush the wills of others by taking their choices from them in the name of peace and ultimate obedience to the wisdom of their governance. People may not always know the bad guys are by the outside, but with a true moral compass it is pretty clear who they are. On a micro level, Raoden delivers hope and a sense of self worth to the Elantrians by giving them a purpose. Rather than lying in their filth and waiting for someone to save them, they rebuild their lives. Sarene on the outside rallies her support not through the demands of nobility, but through the promise of self determination. Sanderson deftly handles religion neither elevating it to the omnipotent power of some fantasy novels, nor demeaning it as could have been done. He treats it with reverance, offering true insight into the crisis of faith that many have and the ultimate tranformative power of goodness in faith.

There are some flaws in this book. Sarene can be just a bit too plucky at times, and there are just a few too many pep talks. The payoff for Raoden's plight seems to take and interminably long time. But the story resolves itself nicely and is filled with enough real tension and suspense as to make itself a page turner. While there is enough left for another story (and that is a good thing) we are left with a satisfying conclusion, which in this age of 10 book fantasy series has became a rarity.

Elantris is a rarity in the fantasy world and a promising debut from a very promising author. I look forward to more!

An enthralling story written by a very promising Author.......2007-06-12

This is narrative as it should be written: sharp, clear, engaging style, original and, one would say, apt to the bigotry-ravaged current times, setting, interesting and convincing characters, tight plot. And this rare thing of a single-novel self-concluding story! This novel has real magic-the magic of the true writer! Don't miss it!

Good debut, but it's single volume nature is both its strength and weakness.......2007-05-30

I purchased this book because I always love checking out new authors, especially in the fantasy genre because it's always cluttered with 10 book series and the like.

I just finished Elantris last night and can say it is fair to say it is a decent book and a good debut from a new author. Many praise this book because it is a single volume in a genre filled with trilogies. While it is refreshing for an approach like this, I feel that it actually the root of some of the novel's shortcomings. Here are the problems I had with the book.

1. Average dialog. Because fantasy themes are very similar, I always look to the characters to bring something interesting to the table. Unfortunately, the characters in this book were fairly stereotypical in nature and didn't have realistic flaws for the most part. The dialog also seemed a bit too modern in many ways for my taste. It was almost an anachronism in many cases and felt a little unnatural. You had the good natured/popular/charismatic leading man (Raoden), you had the villain who at the end learned the errs of his ways and finally turned to good (Hrathen). I do commend the author on his approach with Sarene and not writing her like a basic princess, although I felt she had large amounts of masculinity, she didn't feel like a woman to me by the way she thought, spoke, or her actions.

2. Rushed third act. Now I know that the final acts should always have a faster pace than others, but this one was extremely quick. I felt like I was drudging through all the history and world-building in the first act, then the story concluded in a matter of moments at the end. I feel that is this book was another hundred pages, the pace may have been more consistent with earlier acts; either that or shorten acts 1-2.

Now the good things:

1. Good world-building. Sanderson has creating a unique system of magic and the nature of things in this book. While at times it felt like more of a D&D setting than a realistic world, I admire his unique approach. I really liked the story behind the city of Elantris, and how he linked the basic nature of the world/universe to the magic and explained how it worked.

2. Chapter construction. I really do like the fact that Sanderson rotates whats going on with each character in the chapters. You're never stuck on one character for very long which keeps the reading fresh.

I really did enjoy this book, I just felt it was necessary to be a little more descriptive of what was wrong with it because there are so many 5 star ratings when I don't believe it deserves that. It is a nice first novel and I look forward to seeing Sanderson hone his skill in future books.

Excellent book.......2007-04-27

I loved the way magic was used in here. I hope Brandon comes back to this storyline and writes more about it. I will now have to grab is new series and see if it is just as good.

Average customer rating:

Not bad, but not great

The Hope of Elantris
Brandon Sanderson
Manufacturer: Amazon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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ASIN: B000OV16X0
Release Date: 2007-03-13

Book Description

“The Hope of Elantris” is an attempt to fill in one of the holes in the sequence of events in ELANTRIS. When New Elantris is attacked near the end of the book, all of the primary viewpoint characters are absent, and the reader can only hear of the assault via third-hand references. This short story shows what actually happened from the view of one who was there. It's meant to be read along with the book, a “bonus scene,” if you will, and will make a nice addition to the novel for anyone who wants to read a little bit more from the world of Opelon.

Customer Reviews:

Not bad, but not great.......2007-08-08

Granted, at less than half a dollar it's hard to complain, and to see a short little jag scribbled by the author of one of my favorite books is very interesting, but this short still falls a little flat.

For fifty cents, I'm not expecting professional editing, but there are unforgivable typos and grammatical mistakes in this piece that could have been rooted out with a little proofreading.

The chance to "peek" at Sanderson's "notebook" is very enticing and the short tale makes a neat supplement to Elantris. I'm even tempted to go back and reread the original work in order to refresh my memory on some of the plot points touched on by this short. This piece feels consistent with Elantris, making me suspect that it was written at the same time, but discarded since none of the PoV characters was present.

3 stars because it's half decent and you can't beat the price. At a higher price point I'd have been disappointed. Still, would a second or third read-through by the author to fix heinous errors have been too much to ask?

A side note: Amazon's online reader seems to underline text that should be italicized. I'm not faulting the author for this apparent technical problem, but I haven't read any other shorts here yet so I don't know whether maybe I should.

Average customer rating:

ELANTRIS

Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HNFJNS

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