Average customer rating:
- Hugely disappointing
- Hugely entertaining, intelligent and witty
- As Long As I Don't Have To Read It Again
- ...something is missing
- Utterly Impossible to Like
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As Long As She Needs Me: A Novel
Nicholas Weinstock
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Contemporary
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ASIN: 0060957832
Release Date: 2002-06-04 |
Book Description
For ten long years, Oscar Campbell has done everything from picking up his boss's drycleaning to FedExing her tropical fish. His job as personal assistant to a legendary -- and temperamental -- publisher in New York City has given him more headaches than leg-ups. Yet none of Oscar's experiences has prepared him for his greatest challenge: planning his boss's wedding.
Juggling his unappreciated duties as a publishing assistant with those of a pro bono wedding planner, Oscar labors to pull together the event of the year without falling apart in the process. Help arrives in the form of popular wedding columnist Lauren LaRose, with whom Oscar strikes a bargain: his editorial expertise for her nuptial advice. As the two work together to manufacture the romances of others, they will stumble into one of their own.
Hilarious and wise, literate and charming, As Long As She Needs Me is a sparkling fable of love and luck in Manhattan.
Customer Reviews:
Hugely disappointing.......2003-04-12
I picked this up hoping for a light, fun read -- some sort of Bridget Jones-type novel by a male writer. But I couldn't even finish it. The characters might as well be cardboard and the humor can barely be defined as such but those aren't the worst offenses. Does this author know anything about the type of people his book is about? In New York City, a woman as wealthy and successful as Dawn would hire one of the major party planners to do her wedding -- even if the wedding was on the sly. Even if she wasn't going to spring for the super-famous and expensive Robert Isabell, there have got to be thousands of other wedding and party planners in New York. Why would she leave this in the hands of her half-competent assistant? This author is either totally unfamiliar with the mileau about which he writes -- or he was too lazy to come up with a better plot device and is counting on the reader's ignorance. Coming up with a completely artificial situation in order to create a story just doesn't cut it, even for casual amusement.
Hugely entertaining, intelligent and witty.......2003-03-16
Vastly enjoyed myself reading this book. It's romantic, silly, sweet and at its heart very true to life.
Yes the plot is unlikely - but the author brings in so many realistic touches to single 30-something life that you are willing to suspend disbelief and just have a heck of a good time.
Darned good fun. I highly recommend it.
As Long As I Don't Have To Read It Again.......2002-08-03
I loved the concept of Nicholas Weinstock's debut novel. I even loved Mr. Weinstock's careful depictions of his characters and their surroundings. Within the first few chapters, I felt like I knew Oscar Campbell, as if he were a close friend just talking to me. Most of the dialogue and description in this book were quite memorable, probably some of the best I've read in a long time. For a good while, I was certain this was going to be one of my all-time favorite novels.
Then, enter Lauren LaRose, and the outrageous plotline that Mr. Weinstock uses to bring Lauren and Oscar together. Much of their hit-and-miss relationship was caused by gross miscommunication on Oscar's part, which I found to be terribly unrealistic. Why he didn't tell Lauren, in the first place, whose wedding he was planning, I'll never know. By stringing Lauren (and the readers) along for so long, Mr. Weinstock missed a great opportunity to give more heart, soul and depth to their relationship. If he had done so, the ending would have been much more satisfying and believable.
...something is missing.......2002-07-08
While this book is a light read, I found it to fall very short in being entertaining. First of all, it was unbelievable. Secondly, the author's jokes just aren't funny. He's trying to be clever, but fails. Third, I never truly believed the characters were in love. The characters have no backbone. A very disappointing read and I would not recommend.
Utterly Impossible to Like.......2001-09-27
I had high hopes after hearing "As Long As She Needs Me's" premise: a male assistant in New York, planning his boss's wedding with the help of a jaded wedding journalist, falls for said journalist. I was hoping for a male take on the standard romantic comedy, but thought Nicholas Weinstock's tale lacked both love and humor, not to mention any shred of believability.
I never really liked the main character, Oscar, and his "poor me, put upon" act doesn't really fly. From page two you're thinking: 'This guy is a drip! Why didn't he leave years ago?' You also have zero sympathy for his completely insane boss (and she become a successful publisher--which is all about dealing with people and making insightful decisions--how?) and couldn't care less if she married a giant creep or not.
Oscar's romantic lead, cynical journalist Lauren LaRose, and the stupid Harlequin-romancesque misunderstanding that keeps them apart for much of the book is equally insipid. Why Ms. La Rose never asked Oscar, whom she is supposedly falling in love with, a single straightforward question is never explained, nor is why Oscar feels compelled to lie to her to "protect" his dreadful boss's impending "secret" nuptials. (The book would have ended after the first chapter if he'd just gone, 'Look, don't tell anyone, but I'm really planning my boss's wedding.') And the ending, well, too stupid to be believed. (These people have never even dated and they're ... well, I won't spoil it, but it's very trite--the sort of ending not even suitable for a Lifetime Network movie.)
I didn't loathe "As Long As She Needs Me"--it's not the worst book I've ever read or anything, it's not even the worst book I read this month--but I did find myself rolling my eyes and saying "Oh, please" after almost every exchange of dialogue and plot development.
Amazon.com
Cathleen Schine, the author of The Love Letter, takes on the "sandwich generation" in her tale of three mothers, She Is Me. Regal, cranky Lotte is the matriarch of the trio, mother to Greta and grandmother to Elizabeth (who also has a child of her own). All three points of view are presented in the novel, as each of the women struggles with her personal demons: Lotte has a quickly spreading skin cancer, Greta also has cancer and is beginning to question her heterosexuality, and Elizabeth has uprooted her life to write a doomed screenplay based on Madame Bovary. While the trepidations they face are daunting, Schine keeps the tone light and humorous throughout, capturing the complicated nature of mother/daughter relationships--specifically the peculiar way in which they can loathe and love each other at the exact same moment.
Though the alternating perspectives are ostensibly meant to bring depth to the story, in this case it most often results in confusion. Segments shift from one woman's view to another's all too quickly, forcing readers to spend the first several sentences of each section figuring out whose mind we are in. This choppy style also makes it difficult to care about any one woman in particular. Also distracting from what could otherwise be a compelling story are the external characters, which are either superfluous or underdeveloped. Much like Elizabeth's screenplay, this tale doesn't represent the writer's best work. --Brangien Davis
Book Description
At the point in her life when things should be easy, Greta's house and her hands are full. Greta's grown daughter, Elizabeth, has just arrived in town with her son and her boyfriend to write a screenplay based on Madame Bovary. Greta's mother, Lotte, has progressed far beyond being "a character" since her husband died, taking ever increasing amounts of Greta's time and patience. And, most surprising and unnerving of all, Greta has fallen in love. Not with her sweet and devoted husband. But with someone who appeared unexpectedly through a side door and turned her life upside down. SHE IS ME deftly portrays the wisdom, pain, and huge reservoirs of love that are intertwined through the lives of women. Knowing each other as only mothers and daughters can, these three weave a sweet-hearted comedy out of their mistakes, shortcomings, and attempts at growth. This is the hilarious and heartbreaking book that admirers of The Love Letter and Cathleen Schine's other acclaimed novels have long been waiting for.
Customer Reviews:
THIS might work as a movie!.......2005-03-29
I have not read Flaubert's "Madame Bovary" or seen the movie versions, but something tells me that isn't the reason I couldn't fully appreciate "She is Me." I have read Cathleen Schine before, and reading her again I was reminded that I don't particularly like her writing. It's a bit too bland for me, with characters who are instantly forgettable once I've finished the book. In this case, I had to visualize actors playing the parts (Blythe Danner and Gwyneth Paltrow as Greta and Elizabeth, for instance) to keep the characters vivid. Tellingly, I wasn't able to come up with actors bland enough to play the men.
The plot is a strange mix of interwoven plots -- matriarch Lotte is dying, middle aged Greta is undergoing cancer treatments, and twenty something Elizabeth comes to town to write a screenplay of "Madame Bovary" for a bellicose film producer. All of this takes place in L.A. although you'd never know it, since Schine doesn't do much to evoke setting.
More plot: Elizabeth doesn't wish to marry Brett, the father of her 3 year old son. It's not hard to sympathize, since Brett has no personality. Greta is bored with her husband of 32 years,Tony, and it's not hard to sympathize since Tony has no personality. Lotte loves all men, and it's impossible to sympathize because there aren't any worth loving in this book. She has a curious flirtation with her Japanese caregiver which is a bit of a head scratcher. Plus a brother is thrown in for Elizabeth, for no purpose other than it is his friend who stirs up some trouble for Elizabeth and Brett.
No need to adapt this book; it already is a screenplay!
Part of the problem with this book was a lack of clarity about character motivation. I could better understand Greta's motivation if Daisy had been a fully formed character, but she remained as ill-defined for me as the men. Elizabeth's choices would have made more sense if we had better understood Brett. Telling something strictly from the protagonist's perspective SHOULD work, but in this case I was left unclear on what was driving just about everyone's actions.
I would give "She is Me" 3.5 stars -- C+, if you prefer. There is a lot that doesn't work about it, but a few things that pull it together. Schine isn't a bad writer; just a boring one. If it had been any longer (it's only 263 pages) I probably wouldn't have finished it.
So-So.......2004-04-17
She is Me was a fairly quick read for me. I could picture the story as it went along. The storyline was very familiar, as I've
seen similar details occur personally. I know how the story goes
so it did nothing for me.
Greta is the mother of two grown adults, the wife of a doctor and the daughter of a cancer stricken woman,Lotte. Her responsibility is to care for cancer stricken Lotte. When Greta gets cancer herself, things get rough and others try to offer support. As death draws nearer, a self discovery occurs. The family
tries to go on with everyday life and somehow they mange it.
This was my first book by Cathleen Schine. I'll have to read her others and see if they're any better. Having read the book I ended up giving it a rating of 4.
Schine finally shines again.......2004-01-18
Rameau's Niece, an earlier work of this author, is one of those novels I press upon whoever will listen. I have dutifully worked my way through most of Schine's other books, but she has never hit Niece-like heights again for me, until now. I'm a sucker for the Jewish mother/daughter schtick. I consider myself a gourmand of the genre, consuming great quantities and often disappointed. In She is Me, Schine draws the issues of three generations with a superb comic hand. The grandmother's dialogue is a bit trite, but I suppose it's a rare Jewish grandmother that has anything original left to say. Ninety years of compulsive talking can wear you out.
I particularly liked the the way she handled the middle-aged onset of lesbianism. Those of us feminists who have watched female friend after friend joyfully embrace homosexuality for the past thirty years can't help but feel left behind. Heterosexuality starts feeling like an internal parasite you've picked up and can't shake. When I read the book, I knew only that the author's long term marriage had recently ended, but did not know the circumstances. But Geta and Daisy's suprising romance was so authentically written, that I figured it must have happened to Schine. And apparently it has. She has exploited this crisis with dignity (I don't know if her ex-husband agrees, but I hear he's gone even further with American Sucker). The male characters are thinly-drawn, but like the trite grandmother, art imitates life.
Just OK.......2003-10-15
I bought this book because I really loved "The Love Letter." This one has some great characters, fun relationships, and some really good writing, but the death and dying and monotonous routine of day to day caretaking was a bummer. Been there, done that, don't want to read endless details about it thank you. I kept waiting (I think too long) for more interesting stuff to happen. I was actually ready for another fun read like "The Love Letter," so maybe I'm a little biased. Maybe this is also more of a "woman's" book. I thought the male characters, especially Brett, who I thought was pretty cool, didn't get enough treatment, but maybe that's the point ("She is Me" is the title isn't it?). I knew I took a risk with that title, and it did disappoint a bit.
A comic, soulful tour de force.......2003-10-12
Even with the great review this novel got in the LA Times, I was not prepared for the depth, comic deftness and delightful characters Shine treats us to in SHE IS ME. I really loved this book!! The complexities of family relationships and responsiblities butting up against the sometimes ungovernable passions that overtake these three generations of women were beautifully conveyed. I laughed out loud several times....I also cried. It's so rare to find a novel that deals with real experience, like illness, and desire, and taking care of children and parents, with so much humor and so much heart. One of our finest novelists.
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The Incredible Hulk #412 : Guest Starring She-Hulk in "Bi Me That" (Marvel Comics)
Peter David
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: B000T6M346 |
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She Took My Arm As If She Loved Me: A Novel
Herbert Gold
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
United States
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ASIN: 0312156537 |
Book Description
Tracker of lost memories and lost souls, the veteran San Francisco private eye Dan Kasdan manages, along his way from the 1960s to the 1990s, to find Priscilla, the love of his life, only to lose her. Kasdan, urged on by Priscilla, also finds himself entangled with Karim, the sleek pornographer and drug dealer who insists that only Dan is the right person to handle his transfers of cash and drugs.
All three, Kasdan, Priscilla, and Karim, want more than what ordinary life can afford them. She Took My Arm As If She Loved Me is the story of the risks of love and age, played out against the turbulence of America's great metropolitan village, where freedom is no more easily come by than anywhere else.
Customer Reviews:
Terrible.......2005-05-17
This book was boring. The story line was idiotic and the characters were completely unlikable. I kept reading to hope it would improve but it never did. It was a total waste of time and is going right into the donation pile.
Average customer rating:
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She's All the World to Me
Manufacturer: Street & Smith
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000CEQ0LC |
Product Description
Publication date is approximate. Number 2 in Arrow Library dime novel series of late 19th century.
Product Description
THE MOST IMPORTANT MARVEL COMIC YOU WILL READ ALL YEAR! "ANOTHER ME, ANOTHER U" Ever notice how in some Marvel comics, characters who are SUPPOSED to be dead show up with NO explanation whatsoever? Or in the wrong costume? Or acting in a way they NEVER have before? Well guess what, True Believer, there was a reason. And that reason is going to have She-Hulk and her friends working on some of their STRANGEST cases yet! Don't miss it-- 'cause this is the issue that fixes 90% of Marvel's continuity problems-- from NOW ON!
Book Description
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was a shy Oxford mathematician, reverend, and pioneering photographer. Under the pen name Lewis Carroll he wrote two stunning classics that liberated children's literature from the constraints of Victorian moralism.
But the exact nature of his relationship with Alice Liddell, daughter of the dean of his college, and the young girl who was his muse and subject, remains mysterious. Dodgson met Alice in 1856, when she was almost four years old. Eventually he would capture her in his photographs, and transform the stories he told her into the luminous
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and
Through the Looking-Glass.
Then, suddenly, when Alice was eleven, the Liddell family shut him out, and his relationship with Alice ended abruptly. The pages from Dodgson's diary that may have explained the rift have disappeared.
In imagining what might have happened, one of America’s most provocative young writers, Katie Roiphe, has created a deep, richly textured fictional portrait of Alice and Dodgson: she changing from an unruly child to a bewitching adolescent, and he, a diffident, neurasthenic adult whose increasing obsession with her almost destroys him.
Here, too, is a brilliantly realized cast of characters that surround them: Lorina Liddell, Alice's mother, who loves her daughter even as she envies her youth; Edith Liddell, Alice's resentful little sister; and James Hunt, Dodgson's speech therapist, an island of sanity in Dodgson's increasingly chaotic world.
Beautifully crafted, prodigiously researched,
Still She Haunts Me is an announcement of a deft and original novelist, even as it is a singular work of art.
Download Description
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was a shy Oxford mathematician, reverend, and pioneering photographer. Under the pen name Lewis Carroll he wrote two stunning classics that liberated children's literature from the constraints of Victorian moralism. But the exact nature of his relationship with Alice Liddell, daughter of the dean of his college, and the young girl who was his muse and subject, remains mysterious.
Dodgson met Alice in 1856, when she was almost four years old. Eventually he would capture her in his photographs, and transform the stories he told her into the luminous Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. Then, suddenly, when Alice was eleven, the Liddell family shut him out, and his relationship with Alice ended abruptly. The pages from Dodgson's diary that may have explained the rift have disappeared.
In imagining what might have happened, Katie Roiphe has created a deep, textured portrait of Alice and Dodgson: she changing from an unruly child to a bewitching adolescent, and he, a diffident, neurasthenic adult whose increasing obsession with her almost destroys him. Here, too, is a brilliantly realized cast of characters that surround them: Lorina Liddell, Alice's mother, who loves her daughter even as she envies her youth; Edith Liddell, Alice's resentful little sister; and James Hunt, Dodgson's speech therapist, an island of sanity in Dodgson's increasingly chaotic world.
Customer Reviews:
Still this novel haunts me.......2005-11-04
Writing a fictional account of a very real person's life is a tricky endeavor - it also complicates the reviewing process. I've read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, but all I really knew about Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) was the fact that he was a mathematician. That being the case, I've tried very hard not to let this fictional treatment of the man influence my opinion of him - especially since this is a rather unsettling account of his relationship with young Alice Liddell. We know that, as a young mathematics lecturer at Oxford, he enjoyed a special relationship with young Alice for seven years - then, the Liddells made it clear that they did not want Dodgson spending any more time with them or their eleven-year-old daughter. The reasons for this sudden break are shrouded in a bit of mystery, and those are the facts that I hold to. What Katie Roiphe has done is to take the known facts and construct a fascinating story around them. She may be right on the money - or she may be way off base. The important thing to remember is that Still She Haunts Me is essentially a work of fiction.
Some readers may be disturbed by the story Roiphe tells in these pages. Some will look at Dodgson's passionate, confused feelings for Alice as borderline depravity, while others will see something strangely beautiful about the relationship. Dodgson is an incredibly complicated character in this novel. He meets Alice when he is nearing thirty and she is four years old, and he clearly grows to love her in some remarkable fashion over the ensuing seven years. She is forbidden fruit, something he can cling to yet never really grab hold of. There is nothing conclusively sexual about his feelings at all, though - in my interpretation. To me, Dodgson worships the beauty and simplicity of childhood - the innocence of childhood. He's a lonely man living a sheltered life, and Alice becomes a symbol for the kind of happy, carefree life he would dearly love to live himself. Afflicted with a stuttering problem, Dodgson is withdrawn and incredibly private; what he cannot experience with adults he can live with and through her. His life and his naïve love for Alice are as much symbolic as real.
An accomplished amateur photographer, Dodgson delights in taking picture after picture of Alice, capturing the essence of her in the camera's lens, seeking to preserve her childhood for all time. He sends her an abundance of notes, some of them in secret (yet easily decipherable) code. He tells her poems and stories in order to please her. It is there that Alice's Adventures Under Ground (which would later become Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) was born, as Alice insisted he write the story down for her.
Then the sudden break from the Liddell family takes place. Roiphe makes a compelling case for what might have happened, but I think she takes a little too much liberty with the story here. What has been a disturbing yet naively sweet relationship suddenly takes on a much darker cast. For the first time, Roiphe introduces quotes from Dodgson's letters that are entirely of her own making, and her description of Dodgson's reaction to his dismissal from the Liddell household also seems a little too sensational. This may not bother some readers, but it does me. Here and only here, Dodgson's relationship with Alice grows undeniably disturbing.
The truth of the matter seems to be obscured forever by the mists of time, especially since Dodgson (and/or his heirs) removed the relevant sections of his journals. (Recently, evidence - rather scanty evidence, if you ask me - has surfaced indicating the break with the Liddells had nothing to do with Alice whatsoever.) As a work of fiction, Still She Haunts Me does indeed prove haunting - and extremely compelling. This is a novel that will evoke an emotional response of one type or another from every reader. You just have to remember that this is a novel, not a biographical account of the unique relationship that gave birth to two extraordinary works of children's literature.
Creeped me out!.......2005-08-19
While I agree that the writing style was interesting and that the subject was engaging, this book gave me the creeps. I couldn't get past the feeling that I was reading about a man who was one step away from being a pedophile. He was already a stalker; given more opportunity, I could see him moving past obsession into inappropriate action. Now, before somebody says, "You have a dirty mind," let me say that I am the mother of two daughters, and I would never allow a family acquaintance of the opposite sex to have the access to and familiarity with my daughters that Dodgson/Carroll had with Alice. Whether Roiphe's novel was more history or more novel, I don't know; she certainly seems qualified to handle the subject. However, I felt dirty for having even read the book!
The definition of attraction..........2004-05-10
Katie Roiphe's book raises critical questions which concern not only the relationship between Dodgson and Alice Liddell, but the very idea of attraction between humans.
That he was attracted to Alice, to the point of obsession, is not in question. Was he sexually attracted to her? In truth, we can never know, but in examining the nature of attraction, especially in the light of the 20 year age difference, we are lead into many interesting areas.
Katie Roiphe's projection that he finally made the quantum leap into photographing Alice naked, as he had done with other young girls, is not entirely unreasonable. The reclining nude 'study' of Evelyn Hatch is one of the few surviving examples of his child nude phase. Apparently he took a substantial number of child nude photographs, of which only perhaps four have survived.
Whether the attraction was based on past-life karma, mere aesthetics or something darker is again unknown. His sexual attraction to an eleven year old Alice is not unthinkable as there is an inevitable level of male biological response to the presence of sexually maturing females, based on a simple reproductive urge. While there is no estrus response as such in humans, there will be other factors, other signals, which trigger attraction and the equivalent of a mating ritual.
His attraction of whatever kind to the four year old Alice, is more problematic. Given his ability to think in child-like fantasy terms, as evinced by the books, it may be that at some level, the four year old in Carroll had a simple crush on the young Alice, and that simultaneously he projected her future development into adult form as a possible future soul mate.
There is still debate over whether he actually proposed to the eleven year old Alice, and whether this, rather than the nude photography, may have been the final straw for her family.
Whatever the reality may have been, Roiphe's story is challenging and well developed, and not entirely unsympathetic to his situation, projected or otherwise. Roiphe's view seems to be that even if he was sexually attracted to her, he did at least control himself.
For me, the bottom line in terms of the real world, is that if there is a male hanging around your family 'because he loves children so much', there is a 99% chance he has pedophile tendencies and should not be trusted under any circumstances.
The downside of Carroll/Dodgson is that he was a pompous oaf, who wrote very condescendingly about others, imagining that he could charm his way into the lives of an infinite number of young girls and their often witless parents.
Was he a calculating monster? I think not. Was he in love with Alice? Yes. Were his attentions and the form they took excessive? Yes.
Somewhere in between those who dismiss him as a pedophile and those who would completely whitewash his disturbing obsessions, may well lie the truth.
Just silly.......2004-04-29
It's not 'well-written'. It's not 'based on real historical events', and it most certainly tells us nothing about the real Lewis Carroll.
If you would like to know about the much more interesting reality that this silly cotton-candy book obscures then buy a good biography or go to a good website like Looking for Lewis Carroll (www.lookingforlewiscarroll.com).
But DON'T imagine you can read this and be reading history.
It's intellectual junk food for the terminally dumb.
An addendum.......2004-03-17
There is one other thing I should have noted in my review of Roiphe's ambitious, but unfulfilling book.
In nearly every review people on Amazon gave the book that called it a triumph, they would list "facts" about the period that are in fact the result of Roiphe's meandering prose misleading them. She elides truly important dates and figures so that people imagine that the Alice stories were composed in the 1850's, that Alice was 4 at the time, so on.
But more than that, she suggests in the opium episode, which I have to agree with another reviewer on this that it was silly, that Dodgson would go so far as to attempt suicide or overdose on drugs. This is patent nonsense as even the oldest biographies make plain.
This is not the only case of bizarrely out of character behavior on any of the player's parts.
Again, watch Roiphe and wait for the day when she'll write something that won't require dropping the names of academic luminaries to legitimize. She is extremely talented and we'll all get a chance to really appreciate that talent as soon as she steps outside of the shadow of her studies.
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- A Gripping Science Fiction Story
- the amazing adventure
- The Dark Side of Nowhere
- Everything is too normal or is it?
- Audio tape decent, interesting science fiction and fantasy
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The Dark Side of Nowhere
Neal Shusterman
Manufacturer: Starscape
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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ASIN: 076534243X |
Book Description
Jason is having a bad day. The kind of day when you just don't feel like yourself. Only for Jason, it's not just a feeling. He really isn't himself.Not any more.Who is he? That's the problem. Jason isn't sure. And it's not just him. Everyone in town is acting weird. His friends. His parents. Everyone. Billington is usually such a normal town. As Jason is about to discover, nothing will ever be normal again.
Customer Reviews:
A Gripping Science Fiction Story.......2007-06-23
I first read this book about ten years ago, finding it on a bookstore shelf and buying it for its cover art and interesting back cover blurb. Then I started reading it, and found it absolutely riveting. It held my attention from start to finish, with strong characters, a fascinating plot, and a compelling, complex series of psychological and moral implications of the main character's discoveries.
The premise of this story is one that would be difficult to pull off believably, but Neal Schusterman manages to do it. In fact, one of the reasons I keep rereading this book is to enjoy how stunningly he pulls off the setting, along with everything else.
Over the past ten years, my brother and I have fought over this book so many times that I had to buy him his own copy. (He refused to give me my own book back otherwise!) I've loaned it to friends, all of whom have loved it. I've recommended it to strangers. I've snatched up other books by this auther, whenever I've come across them. And the best part about that last thing? I've never been disappointed. I think The Dark Side of Nowhere is still my favorite book by Neal Schusterman, but all of his other books have been terrific, too. He is one talented writer and terrific storyteller!
the amazing adventure.......2005-11-03
I really liked this book. it was about a town called billington and the people in it, and then it is some what a place about a place called oldtown.the problem was that jason whasnt human and at one point he had to leave earth but he didnt want to because he liked a girl named paula. first his friend ethan dies and everyone was depressed then grant gave jason a glove and then after that his dad explained that they really weren't human. then next they start moving from billington to old town. then jason didnt accept the fact that he wasn't human and started to take the vaccines that kept him human so he can stay on earth with paula. then he turns into his own kind and then says i am human no matter what anyone says...the end
The Dark Side of Nowhere.......2005-10-21
The Dark Side of Nowhere
Although I enjoy a variety of books I have never enjoyed any sci-fi stories until I read The Dark Side of Nowhere. This novel was suspenseful, interesting, and allowed teens to relate easily to its characters. Its plot keeps your attention on end throughout the whole story. The characters are all different and have many of the same problems teenagers today have.
The main character is Jason, and he is a sixteen year old troubled teen. He absolutely hates his life because it is so dull in his hometown Belington. He is often trying to make problems just to start something new. One day, his friend suspiciously dies of an appendix burst and no one even knows why. Jason notices his family is acting exceptionally suspicious when none of them cry at his funeral and they even rush it a bit. He also finds that his school janitor Grant may be more than he seems when he gives him a mysterious bi bi gun that's worn on his wrist. Then, the plot thickens as he and his new girlfriend Paula finds pictures that look exactly like his deceased friend in old town, except they are from a long time ago. Old town is where the Belington was originally located but it had to be evacuated for unknown reasons. Jason soon finds that he is not the only one Grant has stirred up. It comes to be, that all the teens that attend his church are all involved in this strange phenomenon.
Jason was easy to relate to because he goes through many things that all young people go through. He has problems with his family, girls, and just finding out who he really is. He soon finds himself being somewhat of the leader of all of his confused peers and receives a strong hold on all of them. He takes the intuitive and as their leader and demands respect and answers to all of the strange things going on. At one point Jason finally has everything he has ever wanted, but then reality sets in and with one big slit everything is taken away.
The Dark Side of Nowhere was a thrilling novel with excellent characters and a fulfilling plot. The author knew exactly where he was going with his story and who he wanted to reach. He challenges you to look outside the ordinary and let your imagination fly. His work was one of a kind and takes you to a whole new experience. If you should enjoy this book and author I would recommend The Silver Bullet, another one of his suspenseful stories.
Everything is too normal or is it?.......2005-10-16
Jason Miller lives in a normal town called Billington. He feels his life is too normal and boring. When his friend Ethan dies of what the doctor says is an appendix burst, Jason realizes that his life might not be so normal. The janitor of his school approaches him after Ethan's funeral and gives him an unusually heavy glove in a paper bag. When Jason puts in on, he realizes that it can shoot deadly steel bullets. Things start getting very abnormal in Jason's life. Then he figures out that the glove is a training glove and that he is part of a secret army.
It is a very suspenseful book. I like it because each chapter answers many questions but always gives you more questions.
So, you always have perplexing questions that need answering. Since you always have questions, it's hard to stop reading. I wouldn't be surprised if I saw someone walking down the sidewalk reading this book because they couldn't put it down when they left the house.
Audio tape decent, interesting science fiction and fantasy .......2005-07-02
Jason Miller is bored with his life and the nowhere town he lives in. After one of his classmates "dies", he is given a strange gift from the mysterious janitor at his school-a metal glove. What he doesn't know is that this glove is going to open up a world full of bigger mysteries and adventures for him. After this happens, life is definitely not boring anymore.
There are many questions that Jason wants answered, and as he progresses through the story he finds out that the question "Who Am I?" is sometimes a more difficult question to answer than one might believe.
This book is definitely great for a younger reader who is interested in books that cover the spectrum of fantasy and science-fiction. It also seems to fit into the category of the "reluctant" reader because it is a story that captures a good deal of imagination. I actually ended up buying the unabridged audio cassette for this book because I wanted to use this for one of the classes that I teach. The narration of the book on the cassette is done fairly accurately, but it is the same person reading the entire book, meaning all the parts, male or female, and at times the reader does not seem to change his voice to "become" other characters.
Overall, it is a fairly simple story, but it is a quick easy read, and it should interest most teenage readers who might not be interested in the classics. Those who want a little more depth to a story (and a little more believability in a story) might want to pass, however.
Rating: 3 ½ stars
Average customer rating:
- LOVE IT!
- This thriller is so deep and desciptive that I couldn't stop
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The dark side of nowhere
Genevieve Gray
Manufacturer: EMC Corp
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
Children's Books | Subjects | Books | Baby-3 | Ages 4-8 | Ages 9-12 | Animals | Arts & Music | Books on Cassette | Books on CD | Authors & Illustrators, A-Z | Computers | Educational | History & Historical Fiction | Issues | Literature | Obsessions | People & Places | Popular Characters | Reference & Nonfiction | Religions | Science, Nature & How It Works | Series | Sports & Activities
ASIN: 0884363902 |
Customer Reviews:
LOVE IT!.......1999-06-10
The dark side of nowhere My first thoughts on this story is wow! What a great story. The author Neil Sherman leads us into a story which a very powerful ending. The begining is slow in pace, almost not really understanding of what your getting into. But as it leads its way to the climax it gripes you in a way where you don't want to put it down. Not even to eat. The characters like Jason, his dad and mom,Wesley and Paula and the others you feel for them and Giant you don't really know what he is really up to.The town of Billington seems like any ordinary small town you would find in any state. The story ends on a cliff hanging, when he goes to the capital to tell everyone who he is, it could continue as a recommended book. I really think the author should write another one. It really deserves five stars.
This thriller is so deep and desciptive that I couldn't stop.......1999-06-05
The book The Dark Side of Nowhere was my favorite book I have ever read, no really, I mean it! This spacey book makes people think more than twice about the future. Like; could this really happen or did it? I can't wait to reread this great book! I wosh he would make a sequal but usually seqoals aren't as good as the first one. I could really relate to the character, and the writing!
Average customer rating:
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Dark Side of Nowhere
Manufacturer: Tandem Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: 1417679344 |
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