Customer Reviews:
Gilbert Morris is my all-time *favorite* series/saga writer!.......2001-03-26
The House of Winslow series is one of the best series I've ever read. They chronicle the life of the Winslows, a fictional family with major historical implications. Gilbert Morris is a wonderful, detailed writer, easily mixing real and fictional people. Mostly, the books pertain to the Methodist faith, though not always.
This set of books covers ground from 1620-1776.
'The Honorable Impostor' is the first book. It begins with Gilbert Winslow, a wayward pastor with ties to the Church of England. He is asked to infiltrate a group of Puritans and help "bring them to justice under the King's law". Through a series of events, he ends up coming, quite unwillingly, to the New World with the group, thereby establishing the House of Winslow in America.
'The Captive Bride' covers two generations of Winslows. Matthew, Gilbert's son, breaks his parents' hearts and is sent off to England to find his roots. Instead, he finds a wife and a heap of trouble. He loses his mind in prison and leaves a heartbroken, pregnant wife to go back to his father. Rachel Winslow grows up without a father in Salem amidst the crazed witch trials. When an unexpected piece of the past confronts her, she has nowhere to turn but God.
'The Indentured Heart' chronicles the life of Adam Winslow, Rachel's nephew. Cruelly abused by a stepmother who's jealous of him, Adam is sent to live with his older brother. He goes into business with his half-brother, Charles, and cousin, Saul. On a fact-finding mission back to England, he finds another abused soul and brings her back as an indentured servant. Charles and Saul try every trick they know to make off with the dark Winslow's part of the business, but end up helping him more than they could ever know.
'The Gentle Rebel' begins right before the American Revolution. It concerns two cousins--Nathan, the son of Adam, and Paul, son of Charles--who are on different sides of the war. When Nathan's younger brother becomes an early casualty of the war, Nathan vows to fight in his place. He has a new "little brother", Laddie, who has a secret of his own.
'The Saintly Buccaneer' finishes out Paul Winslow's story. Paul is Impressed into the British Navy after a hard night of drinking. He wakes up on a ship with a soft-hearted captian and his beautiful daughter with no memory of himself or his horrible past. When the British ship clashes with an American ship on the high seas, he meets someone who sparks a memory--as well as shame.
The Winslow Books are the best!.......2000-05-28
I think that the Winslow series is the best that I have read so far. They leave you in suspense until the end and surprise you sometimes. I would suggest if yoiu like romance and suspense to definetly read this series. I love the Winslow series!
It was interesting but repeated it self........1999-06-03
I liked these books they taught you quite a lot about history and I liked the way the story went through the generations .The story line is pretty predictable when it comes to their love life. I definitely think #1 was the best.You should read them but if you don't like book one then you probably won't like the rest.
Book Description
Her pilgrim family had nurtured her in an atmosphere of religious and political freedom now enemies of that freedom threatened her very life!
The Captive Bride takes the Winslow family beyond the Pilgrim settlement at Plymouth to assist in building the great new nation. For a time the Winslow dream seemed to have gone down with a sinking ship, but Rachel revives the spark of hope. As free-thinking and spirited as her mother and her grandfather Gilbert, Rachel faces capture by those she wishes to help, pressures to conform and, ultimately, a test of forgiveness beyond human accomplishment.
Is marriage the only possibility for her? Is her faith her own? Can she face unjust imprisonment even death without retreat?
The religious freedom and fervor which had marked the young colony might be its undoing.
Customer Reviews:
A Great Book, though too short.......2006-03-21
I LOVED this book so much more than the first that was all anger and hostility between Gilbert and Humilty. I agree with another customer that Morris was in a hurry when he wrote this. Morris gives the reader a "crash course" on the Salem Witch Trials, which I found diappointing. The Salem Witch Trials are an interesting though tragic part of American history. Also there are some historical discrepancies such as Edward Winslow's presence in the year 1659 when he had in fact died in 1655 and the governor of the colony being Oliver Bradford instead of Josiah Winslow, Edward's son!
In spite of that, though, I learned quite a lot from this book about people like John Bunyan who wrote Pilgrim's Progress and about people and events I had never heard of before like John Sassamon, King Philip and King Philip's War. It made me want to learn more about it. Also, it was interesting seeing Gilbert confronting himself as it were in his son Matthew. It seemed like a bit of poetic justice. And I loved Rachel. She is beautiful, spirited and interesting, not at all whiny like Humility in The Honorable Imposter. A very good and essential read!
Rather frustrating.......2005-05-31
I had a hard time reading this book. I got tired of reading a sermon on every other page. This book also skipped too much time. I felt that Gilbert Morris was in too big of a hurry to write about the Revolutionary War that he left out several stories that could have been told. I continued with this series for about 12 books then gave up. The third through fifth books were my favorite. Adam and his nephew Paul are two of my favorite heros in the series. Morris does a good job making them multi-dimensional. I was disappointed in the later books, I felt that he ran out of stories after he ran out of wars. (Though it doesn't look like he's made it to WWII, yet. Maybe I'll come back then.)
This series is great for people who like historical fiction, just don't believe all that you read in it. The witch trials in this book especially. Morris has taken extreme literary license to make his characters fit into history. In fact, many of the events he portrays as real are completely made up. I got frustrated because I happened to be studing Salem in school at the time and what he was writing didn't really match what happened.
A great read for Morris fans, but everyone else should be a little wary.
A bit confusing, although important to the series.......2001-11-19
I did not read this book until long after I had purchased #15 of the "House of Winslow" series from a mail-order book club, unaware that it was part of a series. In fact, due to the local libary's limited copies, it was even later before I read Book #1, "The Honorable Imposter". Although the description on the book cover leads one to believe that it's a story about a young woman named Rachel Winslow accused of witchcraft, Rachel doesn't even exist until halfway through the book! The title, "The Captive Bride," is completely misleading, as no bride is captured or kidnapped anywhere in the story. The real plot is how Matthew Winslow deserts his wife Lydia before their first child is born, returning years later when his daughter Rachel is now a young woman of about 15, and his family presumes he has died after so many years. Eventually all of the Winslows are accused of witchcraft and jailed, and eventually are released, although the effect on Gilbert Winslow's health is very bad. Rachel's younger brother Miles, born after Matthew's return, is instrumental in introducing Rachel to her future husband, but it's a minor part of the story.
First book was great, second book definitely lacking.......2000-09-04
I was thrilled with the first book in this series. It was so well done. It would make a great movie. But the second book, Captive Bride, was very disappointing. The plot jumps a quite a few years every few chapters. None of the characters were fully developed, not even the heroine. The author was trying to fit two separate stories into one book and didn't succeed.
Witch or not?.......2000-08-10
Rachel doesn't know if she can ever forgive her father for leaving her and her mother, Lydia, and when she finally does, she may lose him and the rest of her family forever. You are taken to Salem, Massachusetts to see how everyone was suspicious of being a witch. Even if you were a good Christian woman/man! Rachel and her family are taken up against the people of the town who are out to say "they are of the devil." Will their strong Christian faith keep them alive or drive them to their doom? Which ever it is, they are willing to do it because they love the Lord so much. However, they struggle with hunger, and sickness while awaiting a trial. Can someone here on Earth be of any help, to anyone? I enjoyed this book emensely and it helped to further my knowledge on this particular historiacal event. Just like the other House of Winslow books did. They not only were educational, but enjoyable and a good Christian romance! I recomend them to all men and women as well as young adults and teens!
Book Description
"The Reluctant Bridegroom" begins with Sky Winslow, the son of Chris and Dove Winslow, agreeing to return East and bring a wagon train of brides to the men of Oregon City. As experienced as he is on the trail, the past hurts of an unfaithful wife and the care for a twelve-year-old son who truly needs a mother's love make Sky an unlikely candidate for such an assignment. On the long trip from New York to Oregon, two of the women who join the wagon train will make their impact on Sky Winslow. Rebekah Jackson, in hope of finding a new start, is leaving a broken past. Rita Duvall is a dance hall girl who knows the way to break down a man's defenses. Book 7 in the House of Winslow.
Customer Reviews:
Very good.......2005-11-18
I enjoy all of Gilbert Morris's books, but this is one of my favorites. I love books about the Oragon Trail and this one dids not dissapoint me.
add to previous review.......2002-10-23
I neglected to mention this in my other review - I did find one historical error in the book. This story takes place in 1840. When Rebekah and her friend are reading Sky's newspaper ad, it states that Asa Mercer took a group of women to Seattle by ship "last year".
In real life, Asa Mercer made 2 such trips, in 1864 and 1865, and I understand he was 25 years old in 1865, so that part of the story is incorrect. In "The Starts for a Light," #1 in the "Cheney Duvall, M.D." series, Mr. Mercer is a major character, and based on another book I own, about the history of Seattle, that book is accurate. Most of the time Mr. Morris's historical characters are presented accurately, I also enjoy books by Janette Oke, and whenever they've written about the same topics, their information is usually consistent.
Great story, with a few frustrating parts.......2002-03-15
If you've followed the adventures of Sky Winslow's descendants, on whom most of the later books are based, this is the book that started it all, where Sky and Rebekah meet on a wagon train of women seeking husbands in Oregon. I've never understood why Rebekah had no last name on the geneology chart at the start of every book (P.S. The chart in Book 27 finally DOES show her last name), but anyway, the story begins with Rebekah Jackson enjoying a social life for the first time when she visits her cousin Nora. At the end of the visit, Rebekah elopes with a charming man who eventually leaves her alone and pregnant. Eventually she shares a home with Mary, a single mother who introduces her to God. Before Mary dies in an epidemic, she asks Rebekah to keep her baby, and urges her to answer an ad place by Sky Winslow for women to become brides in the west. While sometimes I wanted to throttle one or both of them for their stubbornness, everything works out in the end.
The House of Winslow family continues to grow!.......2000-08-10
In this exciting story of the House of Winslows, Rebekah Jackson learns the true meaning of disappiontment and loss. She finds herself married to a man she barely knows and who is quickly lossing intrest in her. Even when they fall into poverty she remains loyal and faithful, only to be stabbed in the back by him. Now lost, lonely, afraid, and pregnant, she finds her way to a womans small shanty and makes a home there. She also finds the Lord there. When her new friend and confidant becomes sick and dies, Rebekah is left to care for her child as well as her own. She decides to make a new life and travel west with her children. Sky Winslow is still bittered toward his wife for all the pain she caused him as well as by her death. He leads the small band of people on their way to Oregon. On the way he finds the Lord, himself, and... Rebekah. But will the dangerous that persist tear them apart, or draw them together. Happy Reading!
Five Stars!.......2000-05-28
I think that this was not my favorite book in the Winslow series but it was definetly a good book. I like the way that you get so into the book that you actually feel like you are the main charcter. The book is about Sky Winslow who's wife betrays him and is now dead and Sky says that as long as he lives he will never marry again. WRONGO! But then he meets a girl named Rebekah and another girl named Rita. Who will win?
Customer Reviews:
THE FLY IN THE OINTMENT..........2004-09-26
This is an entertaining novel of romantic suspense by a best selling author who specializes in this genre. The author weaves an intriguing tale of a love triangle in which birds of a feather flock together but then look for someone else to feather their nest.
Here, Antonia Meekin and Richard Curwen, two attractive and charming, impoverished ne'er-do-wells, meet and fall in love. Antonia, the more practical of the two, realizes that, while they may be soul mates, their love would quickly die on the vine when the reality of their impoverished circumstances were to set in. She then goes about getting herself a rich husband and introduces Richard to her wealthy though frail first cousin, Eloise Everard, who looks amazingly like Antonia, a fact that will come in handy down the road.
Eloise, unsurprisingly, falls madly in love with Richard, and they marry. Richard and Antonia, however, carry on a clandestine affair that lasts for years. When Antonia's rich husband dies, she and Richard carry on under Eloise's very nose. Long time family retainer and Eloise's former nanny, Emma Plume, has long had suspicions about the handsome Mr. Curwen and the charming Antonia. Then, one moment of carelessness confirms Ms. Plume's suspicions, throwing a monkey wrench into the lovers' situation.
This causes Eloise to go into an emotional tailspin that not even Diana, hers and Richard's young daughter, can stop. Richard is now heartily sick of his clinging, emotional wife and will stop at nothing to be with his beloved Antonia. So, he moves Eloise and Diana to an isolated estate called Moat House and decides to do something that will bring him his heart's desire. When the devoted Ms. Plume finds herself dismissed from Ms. Eloise's service without so much as a by-your-leave, she grows suspicious of the circumstances of her dismissal.
This is a well-written tale of romantic suspense that fans of Ms. Lofts, as well as those who love the books of Victoria Holt, will enjoy. It is a well-crafted tale told from the perspectives of Emma Plume, Richard Curwen, and Antonia Meekin with an unexpected twist in the tale that is sure to surprise even the most discerning of readers.
Customer Reviews:
Light reading.......2003-03-15
Cassie Bradley Wright had been adopted. She knew about the Bradley's family legend that said each female Bradley was to wear a certain nightgown on their twenty-fifth birthday and she would dream of her life long love. Being adopted, she never expected it to work for her. It had worked for her sister though.
Ryan Lawford was a big time business man. When he brother and sister-in-law died, he was given custody of his two-year-old niece, Sasha. He found out that caring for a toddler was a nightmare! Then Cassie entered the door! She had a natural way with kids. Ryan immediately hired her as Sasha's nanny! The two adults were perfect for each other, though neither admitted it. Yet Sasha would unknowingly show the two what love really was!
This one is just a sweet romance. No life threatening times. No danger. No heartbreak. Just a slow blooming romance story. A nice story for lazy evenings in front of the fireplace.
Dream nanny.......2002-10-31
Back Cover description: Cassie Bradley Wright knew the fantasy of being swept off her feet by her ultrasophisticated boss was just that--a fantasy. After all, Ryan Lawford was way out of her league. So the temporary nanny concentrated on bridging the distance between Ryan and his precious orphaned niece. But living under the same roof with this irresistible man wasn't exactly easy...Business and balance sheets had once been Ryan's whole world. But those things seemed less important now that his adorable ward and her enticing caretaker had become an integral part of his life. Sweet Cassie was quickly turning into the woman of his fantasies, but was this determined bachelor prepared to take on the role of her dream groom?
This book was fine. Nothing too spectacular, just a nice easy story. I could have done without the baby talk though. The only other thing that annoyed me was that Ryan is the head of his own company--he couldn't get any of his staff to help out? Well, I guess if he did, there would be no story.
Sweet.......2001-03-20
Cassie Bradley Wright had been adopted. She knew about the Bradley's family legend that said each female Bradley was to wear a certain nightgown on their twenty-fifth birthday and she would dream of her life long love. Being adopted, she never expected it to work for her. It had worked for her sister though.
Ryan Lawford was a big time business man. When he brother and sister-in-law died, he was given custody of his two-year-old niece, Sasha. He found out that caring for a toddler was a nightmare! Then Cassie entered the door! She had a natural way with kids. Ryan immediately hired her as Sasha's nanny! The two adults were perfect for each other, though neither admitted it. Yet Sasha would unknowingly show the two what love really was!
*** This one is just a sweet romance. No life threatening times. No danger. No heartbreak. Just a slow blooming romance story. A nice story for lazy evenings in front of the fireplace. ***
Average customer rating:
- The Bride's House by Dawn Powell
- Lecture on Dawn Powell at NYU
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The Bride's House
Dawn Powell
Manufacturer: Steerforth Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Literary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Powell, Dawn
| ( P )
| Authors, A-Z
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
20th Century
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Contemporary
| Romance
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1883642787 |
Customer Reviews:
The Bride's House by Dawn Powell.......2000-01-11
There is a touch of the melodramatic to Powell's first important work and least well-received, a novel set in turn-of-the-century rural Ohio - but the darkness is sparked with Powell's unmistakeable genius. True, some passages are florid and the prose rather purple, but there is absolutely no other way to tell so perfectly a tale of deception, betrayal, and fates shortcircuited and lives barely endured. The Truelove family is almost gothic in Powell's portrayal, what with their supressed desires and outward conformity to time and place, and inward turmoils worthy of any grand opera. Powell's strength lies in her many detailed characterizations, the main ones of which are an elderly woman at the end of her days, a middle aged housewife suffering with a secret threatening to destroy her, Vera, a precocious young girl with a wisdom beyond her years, Sophie, the young bride of the title who battles her loves for two men, and Anna, Sophie's antithesis, who upheaves the well-guarded secrets that eventually destroy the family. The twists and turns of the plot kept me reading late into the night, and Powell's descriptions of time and place are provocative and weave a lasting spell. This book would be a tremendous introduction to Powell's ouvre, and is likely the truest to life of her many works, written, as it was, while the married Powell was involved with playwright John Howard Lawson.
Lecture on Dawn Powell at NYU.......1999-04-15
The Fales Library and the Department of English at New York University cordially invite you to attend the annual Fales Lecture in English Literature. Tim Page, author of Dawn Powell: A Biography will present "Dawn Powell: Bringing Back an American Writer" on Tuesday, April 20, 1999 at 6:30 PM in the Fales Library, 70 Washington Square South, 3rd Floor, New York City.
Average customer rating:
- Dream of a man and he will appear
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Dream Bride (Brides of Bradley House) (Silhouette Special Edition, No. 1231) (That Special Woman!)
Susan Mallery
Manufacturer: Silhouette
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Romance
| Subjects
| Books
Silhouette Special Edition
| Series
| Romance
| Subjects
| Books
Mallery, Susan
| ( M )
| Authors, A-Z
| Romance
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Contemporary
| Romance
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
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Dream Groom (Brides Of Bradley House) (Silhouette Special Edition, 1244)
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Girl of His Dreams (Triple Trouble) (Silhouette Special Edition, No 1118) (Harlequin Special Edition, No 1118)
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The Secret Wife (That Special Woman/Triple Trouble) (Silhouette Special Edition, No 1123) (Silhouette Special Edition, No 1123)
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ASIN: 037324231X |
Customer Reviews:
Dream of a man and he will appear.......1999-06-22
Brides have been putting on a special nightgown on their twenty-fifth birthday and dreaming of the man that they will marry. A lot of fun and who knows?
Product Description
Paperback sized gold colored hardback.
Average customer rating:
- Lovely stories full of humor, tragedy, cynicism, romanticism, wisdom, folly ...
- quirky, poetic, elegant... fascination of empire
- reads well in multiple sittings, drags a bit, strong voice
- Slow read
- ANGELICA GORODISCHER IS JUST WONDERFUL
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Kalpa Imperial: The Greatest Empire That Never Was
Angelica Gorodischer
Manufacturer: Small Beer Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
LeGuin, Ursula K. | ( L ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1931520054 |
Book Description
"An impressive introduction."-
The Review of Contemporary Fiction
"Should appeal to [Le Guin's] fans."-
Library Journal (starred review)
"Borges and Cortázar are alive and well."-
Bridge Magazine
Multiple storytellers tell of a fabled nameless empire that has risen and fallen innumerable times. Beggars become emperors, democracies become dictatorships, and history becomes legends and stories. On
The New York Times Summer Reading List.
Customer Reviews:
Lovely stories full of humor, tragedy, cynicism, romanticism, wisdom, folly ..........2006-08-06
Kalpa Imperial is a fantasy about "The Greatest Empire That Never Was", as the subtitle has it. The book is a compendium of several separate stories, mostly told by a professional storyteller (who also has an important additional role in one story), concerning the history of said empire. Most of the stories tell of Emperors and Empresses, some good, some bad, some mad -- how they came to power, how they fell from power, how they ruled. The stories are often romantic, but the romanticism is tinged by a sort of earthiness, and a realism that does not quite become cynical. The stories are nicely imagined, sometimes funny, sometimes brutal. The whole is billed as a novel, but the stories work fine separately, and are really linked only by geography and the voice of the storyteller, so it's more a linked collection of short fiction than a novel.
There are eleven stories, or chapters, arranged in two books. The opening piece, "Portrait of the Emperor", tells us that a good man now sits on the throne of the Empire, and then goes on to tell of the founding of the empire, by a weakling boy who learned a different kind of strength. "The Two Hands" is a fable-like story of a usurper who ended up spending twenty years confined in his bedroom. "The End of a Dynasty, or The Natural History of Ferrets" tells of a young Crown Prince, son of a cruel Empress and a deposed Emperor, who grows up torn between the evil influence of his mother and the countervailing touch of a couple of kindly workmen. "Siege, Battle, and Victory of Selimmagud" is an ironic tale of a thief and deserter and his encounter with the General besieging the title city. "Concerning the Unchecked Growth of Cities" is a lovely long description of the varying history of a Northern city, sometimes the capitol, sometimes ignored, sometimes something quite else.
Book two opens with "Portrait of the Empress", in which the storyteller who has been narrating these tales is recruited by the Great Empress to tell her of her Empire's history. She in turn tells him of the woman who rose from poverty to become the Great Empress. "And the Streets Empty" is a dark story of the vengeful destruction of a city by a jealous Empress. "The Pool" concerns a mysterious physician, and his encounters with those plotting to overturn the current dynasty. "Basic Weapons" is a colorful and macabre piece about a dealer in people, and a rich man, and obsession. "'Down There in the South'" is a long story of an aristocrat with a dark secret who is forced to flee from the ruling North to the rural South, and who is fated to change history when the North comes to invade. And "The Old Incense Road" tells of a mysterious orphan, a mysterious merchant, a caravan, and some "stories within the story", all eventually concerning another change of rulers.
The stories are full of humor and tragedy, of cynicism and romanticism, of secret identities, of wisdom and folly, of blood, of nobility. The fantastical elements are slim: this is perhaps what is sometimes called "Ruritanian" fantasy -- set in a different world that much resembles ours. At the same time the landscapes and characters and events are heightened in color, so that if there may not be overt magic, the ordinary seems magic enough.
quirky, poetic, elegant... fascination of empire.......2005-07-24
I found this book in the SciFi section of my local store but it's not really SciFi. But it could be (think Dune or Star Wars and the ups and downs of their Empires).
The book is a series of stories, told as if spoken live by a storyteller, about different characters, emperors, empresses, soldiers, cities at different times in the history of an unspecified great Empire.
It appeals to me because it is quirky. It reads eloquently but non-colloquially (it is translated). Yet the language is quite elegant and poetic. The tone and feel of the language appeal to me as much as the stories.
The storyteller, also unnamed, is a bit of a character, admonishing his (or her) listeners (us) to pay attention, or otherwise chastising them. But it all works. There's something timeless and fascinating about our interest in great Empires. The stories cover millenia of years and rulers, during which time the Empire rises and falls many times. The storyteller is a bit of a cynic and makes side comments during the narratives.
It is fascinating and engaging and I am glad I found it. The author is Latin American, which surprised me because the stories felt old European or Slavic at times, or Oriental or maybe Roman. The very essence of Empire comes through.
reads well in multiple sittings, drags a bit, strong voice.......2005-04-08
If Italo Calvino,Ursula Leguin (the translator), and Fritz Leiber collaborated on a collection, you might get something like Kalpa Imperial, a set of eleven stories dipping in and out of the grand and lengthy history of the Empire. This is not a narrative fantasy--the stories, though some may refer to others, mostly stand on their own, and they can skip entire ages of the Empire's life. Nor is it "fantasy" as often meant in today's publishing world. There is little actual magic, few quests, no single epic story, and the world building is more quietly delightful than immensely detailed.
The stories are all told by a storyteller (also an important character in one of the later stories) who often interjects his own comments on the tale, on tale-telling, on history, or even on the thick-headedness of those listening. The storyteller's voice and the oral history feel of the book are two of the better aspects of the work.
Style is another. The language is simply delightful, poetic in places, simple in others, spare in others. It's always hard to tell with a translation, of course, but one has the feel that Le Guin and Gorodischer could have been separated at birth since there is an ease and naturalness to the language that often is lacking in translated works.
The stories themselves, as mentioned, work independently while also conveying the cyclical rise and fall of the Empire and its wide variety of emperors and empresses. The stories cover all sorts--good and bad and a mixture of both (and even better, bad who did good and good who did bad), old and young, male and female, lusty and prudish, wise and foolish. They're all here, sitting on their throne deservedly or not.
Many of the tales deal with power, acquisition of, use and sometimes abuse of, loss of. Some work nicely as fables or moral tales, some as allegory, some as political/social commentary.
It's hard to fault any particular story, but read in a single sitting, they do tend to blur a bit toward the end, feel a bit too similar. And the book starts to lose its sense of delight. My guess is that this is as much a factor of reading style as writing style, and that if one read the book over a longer period of time, dipping in to taste a few stories then putting it down, it would go down much better.
It's an unusual work, not as strange as Calvino, but it has a nice echo of Invisible Cities to it. It's not as magical as Le Guin's better known work, but it has a similar style and voice to her quieter, more anthropological works, such as Orsinian Tales. And if the Empire isn't stalked by demons and sorcerers as in Leiber, it has the same feel of heavy history to it. And the writing, as mentioned, is first rate. Recommended, but with the advise not to rush through it. Maybe read it concurrently with something else so the stories have time to linger then fade just a little.
Slow read.......2004-03-19
I got all the way through this book because I figured that Ursula LeGuin saw something in it and I can see how she did, but it's mostly lacking the interest I find in her work. The habit of having a storyteller for every tale makes the characters distant so that you don't end up caring about them, and the scenery less vivid. This technique is supposed to give them the universal wisdom of fables but what the stories and characters tend to achieve is either common sense or a sort of vague mysticism that doesn't really accomplish the amount of depth it would need to have this style work. Well written and seemlessly translated, but overall a plodding read.
ANGELICA GORODISCHER IS JUST WONDERFUL.......2004-03-16
I am so proud of meeting her almost everyday, since she lives where I do. Her books are so deep, she is such a terrific person!!!!!!!! I love her work. I love this book, too.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Review of Contemporary Fiction, published by Review of Contemporary Fiction on March 22, 2004. The length of the article is 2589 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: Angelica Gorodischer. Kalpa Imperial: the Greatest Empire that Never Was.(Book Review)
Author: John W. Fail
Publication:
The Review of Contemporary Fiction (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 2004
Publisher: Review of Contemporary Fiction
Volume: 24
Issue: 1
Page: 147(1)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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- The Two Minute Rule
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