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Brooklyn Dreams
J.M. DeMatteis Manufacturer: DC Comics ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items:
ASIN: 1401200516 |
Customer Reviews:
dreamlike.......2003-09-04
Brooklyn Dreams is Santini's story; he narrates the events of his life as he reflects backwards on his senior year of high school, 1970-1971. Part Stand by Me, part Basketball Diaries, the tale utilizes the physical setting (Brooklyn, of course) and the drug culture of the time period as a backdrop for personal exploration. It is no coincidence that the main character is named Vincent but is called Carl in parts of the story, for this is really about Santini's search for himself, trying to pin down his identity. At the same time, he is trying to find the missing piece to the puzzle, the answers to the big questions in regards to love, family, death and the nature of God.
Brooklyn Dreams was an experiment when it was first released. Back in 1994 DC was just beginning to get its Paradox imprint off the ground. In those early days, Vertigo was still a place where you ran into superheroes on occasion, albeit heroes on the edge, and DC felt they needed to have a place where they could publish works completely outside of their universe, works that were for mature readers. I don't mean mature in the sense of violence and T&A but instead thought-provoking and meaningful. Paradox was that mature place, and Brooklyn Dreams was their flagship book.
Eventually the line failed, just shortly after the release of the now-famous Road to Perdition, but of all the works they released in their short time of publication, Brooklyn Dreams is the stand-out. Similar to Road to Perdition, it emulated manga in its design, being published in digest size and complete black and white. However, unlike that work, Brooklyn Dreams was released in four parts; each part had ninety-six pages and sold for 4.95 a piece. Just collected together in one volume and re-released for the first time back in mid-April, the book will now cost you 12.95, a considerable amount less than it would have almost ten years ago.
The writer of this graphic novel, J.M. DeMatteis, is a bit of a cipher. He is regularly known for writing titles in a vein that is a bit out there. His most recent works include the most recent Spectre series and the Seth Fisher-illustrated one-shot Green Lantern: Willworld, but he has also written some fairly standard superhero fare for Marvel with Spiderman and Captain America. He has written Moonshadow, Seekers into the Mystery and various other Vertigo titles, while at the same time he worked as co-writer with Keith Giffen of the madcap Justice League of the late '80s.
Obviously the versatility of DeMatteis is not in question, but had it been, Brooklyn Dreams would have solidified his reputation as a man capable of holding his own in any genre. Here he casts aside the conventions of fantasy and the superhero to set his story in a place that is at times much more absurd-the real world. The novel is populated with characters so real that you cannot believe they're complete fictions. It has a style that is so real you believe it must be thinly veiled autobiography, even if it's not. And I have no doubt that it isn't, that the author's life was nothing like the main character's. But the skill with which he weaves this tale makes you believe this was his life.
Honestly he at times even makes you believe it was YOUR life, that he's somehow telling your story. The work draws you in so much by fully painting a rounded picture of its setting that you feel as if you lived in Brooklyn circa the early 1970s, even if you're really from a small town in southern Illinois. And the characters react to one another in such a way that their emotional issues seem to reflect your own
Admittedly, the narrative itself is meandering and sometimes elusive. As I mentioned, the main character narrates his own story, and Santini has a tendency to ramble. He will sometimes interrupt his own story to go off on a tangent, even going so far as to tell asides within asides. But this is a story that the narrator admits is comprised of imperfect memories, so digressions seem only natural. Plus these departures allow him to take the long way towards his destination, and much of this book's beauty is in that journey, in the small character bits we might not get in other works that are more focused on a goal.
The book too leaves many questions unanswered, as characters who seemed important in the beginning float into the background and are gone. For example, in the final section of the novel, the Santini family seems to almost completely fade away. But in that way it IS like life, how in our youth the influences on us are constantly changing, how you grow apart from family, from your best friend, from yourself even.
By the end, despite some clunkiness in regards to the plot, Brooklyn Dreams will win you over through the atmosphere of sincerity it creates and the sheer humanity of the characters who populate its world. Be it fiction or fact, this story is one of truth, and of the search for truth we all go through as we grow up.
A masterpiece of humor, spirit & autobiography!.......2003-06-05
But as the narrator reminds us, "This is a story about God."
The voice of an adult Carl Vincent (or Vincent Carl) Santini -- don't worry, that's all explained -- provides the running commentary as we observe & enter into the troubled, searching life of our young protagonist, struggling to express himself, struggling to understand himself & the Universe, searching for Something long before he's consciously aware of it.
DeMatteis' prose is deceptively casual & easy-going, drawing the reader in as a confidante, but it's also insightful & honest. He cares passionately about the story he's sharing with us & that passion comes through. At the same time, his sense of humor prevents his story from ever becoming pretentious.
The powerful artwork of Glenn Barr brings this story to vivid life, changing to suit the tones of the story, ranging from cartoony to photo-realistic, often in the same panel. You'll pause & linger over many a page for the illustrations as much as for the words.
Quite a few writers are mentioned in the course of this story, all the usual suspects on the Road to Self-Discovery & Meaning -- Hesse, Huxley, Dostoyevsky, etc. Add DeMatteis to their company & get a copy of this superb book. I can't recommend it highly enough!
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Brooklyn: A Journey Through the City of Dreams
Judith Stonehill , and Francis Morrone Manufacturer: Universe Publishing ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 0789310686 Release Date: 2004-05-07 |
Book Description
Customer Reviews:
Francis Morrone Does it Again!.......2005-08-24
Buy anything from this author.......2004-09-04
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Flying over Brooklyn
Myron Uhlberg Manufacturer: Peachtree Publishers ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items: ASIN: 1561452947 |
Book Description
A magical story of how a young boy's everyday world is transformed into a snow-covered wonderland through the force of a blizzard and the power of a dream A YOUNG BOY trudges through deep snow in a neighborhood park. Suddenly a strong wind grabs his coat and lifts the child up into the air. Soon the boy is soaring high above his strangely silent, snow-covered neighborhood. As he flies over familiar sites--a bridge over a frozen river, a baseball field, and an amusement park--he gains a new perspective on the world around him. The boy's airborne adventure provides a magical--if temporary--escape from the routine of everyday life. In the end the boy returns to the safety of his home and family, but is left wondering: Was it all just a marvelous dream or did it really happen? Author Myron Uhlberg's story is based in part on his own childhood memories of the Great Blizzard of 1947 which blanketed Brooklyn and the surrounding area under several feet of snow. An author's note at the back of the book provides details about the snowstorm and places this fantasy in its historical context. Illustrator Gerald Fitzgerald's two-page, gently softened illustrations beautifully evoke the story's nostalgia and dreamlike quality.Customer Reviews:
The Perfect "Just One More Story" Before Bed.......2001-08-01
Great book for city kids.......2000-03-13
A Childhood Memory.......2000-02-25
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Last Exit to Brooklyn/Requiem for a Dream/The Room
Manufacturer: QPB ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: B000EVZCVM |
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The Brooklyn Cyclones: Hardball Dreams and the New Coney Island
Ben Osborne Manufacturer: NYU Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 0814762050 Release Date: 2004-04-01 |
Book Description
View the Table of Contents. Read the Prologue.
"Osborne...actually lives in Brooklyn. This lends both weight and depth to his account of the Cyclones' birth, and a reality, rather than nostalgic sentimentalism, to his Brooklyn."
Nine
"Osborne pens a highly readable and detailed account of the inaugural season of the Brooklyn Cyclnes minor league baseball team. There is much to like about this book."VOYA
"Osborne attempts to tell the story of professional baseball's successful return to Brooklyn through the juxtaposing of his personal experience with two main characters."
Park Slope Paper"A nice little book that gives an inside look at the big-time small-time where just about all games are sold out and the capital of the world looms in the background, but the game's still in the bushes."
Blue Ridge Business Journal
"An entertaining tale."
Chicago Sun-Times
"Though the 2001 season for the Cyclones now seems a decade away, under the watchful eye of Osborne, readers grasp it from several angles. The Brooklyn Cyclones is right on the money."
NYU Press
"A happy-ending story to which all fans of minor league baseball or who live in communities that have lost a treasured franchise can relate."
Library Journal
"The account of the season's games is handled deftly, and Osborne effectively captures the zeal of Brooklyn baseball fans."
Publishers Weekly
"Osborne simultaneously captures baseball as a business, as a passion, and as a dream. That's a rare triple play, and it results in a thoroughly satisfying baseball book."
Booklist
"Why should anyone outside New York care about the return of baseball to Brooklyn? Because of the long sad absence that preceded it."
Library Journal
"The Brooklyn Cyclones is right on the money in spelling out baseball's decline among urban youth."
NY Press
"The Dodgers will likely never return to Brooklyn, but The Brooklyn Cyclones makes it possible for the old-time fan to feel passionate again."Jeff Pearlman, Newsday staff writer and author of The Bad Guys Won: A Season with the 1986 Mets
"Here, thanks to a sparkling lineup of characters, vivid writing, and a veteran scout's eye for detail, a single season comes alive with far more than just wins and losses; with the power, politics, and people dead center in a book as much about hopes and dreams as it is about baseball."Armen Keteyian, CBS and HBO Sports
"Love Brooklyn or love baseball or love both, you are sure to love Ben Osborne's tale of the birth of the only team ever named after a roller coaster. The perfect off-season read; in season, the book will make you wonder what you are doing reading when you should be down at Keyspan Park, rooting for those Cyclones."Michael Daly, New York Daily News columnist and author of Under Ground: A Novel
"If there's more fun than attending a Cyclones' game, it's reading Ben Osborne's warm-hearted, historically observant take on Coney Island's new and very old pastime."Rick Telander, author of Heaven Is a Playground
"In this book, Osborne describes how, when the Cyclones returned to Brooklyn, they nestled their new stadium, Keyspan Park, in a section of the city that once served as a playground for the wealthy." Ron Kaplan, Foreword Magazine
When professional baseball returned to Brooklyn in 2001, fans were jubilant and the media swarmed. After losing the Brooklyn Dodgers to California 44 years ago, Brooklyn baseball fans could once again claim a team of their own: the Cyclones, a Class A affiliate of the New York Mets.
The Brooklyn Cyclones: Hardball Dreams and the New Coney Island recounts that first season of the Cyclones. From the construction of the incredible Keyspan Park at Coney Island to their improbable successes on the field, Ben Osborne tells the story of the Cyclones' delicate first year of operation. We see the story up close and personal through the eyes of two very different young men. The first is Anthony Otero, who was raised in a Coney Island housing project and loves baseball, but has never seen a game in person until the Cyclones land in his neighborhood. The second is Brett Kay, a young man from California who has never been to New York, until he becomes the catcher for the Brooklyn Cyclones.
From the plans of politicians like Rudy Giuliani and Howard Golden, to the poverty of Coney Island's citizens, The Brooklyn Cyclones reveals the stories behind the headlines to show that the reality of creating a new sports team often involves broken promises and shattered dreams. Osborne includes chapters on the Cyclones' rivalry with the Staten Island Yankees, the Cyclones' chances of capturing the New York-Penn League title, and an epilogue updating Kay's, Otero's, and the Cyclones' progress through the 2003 season.
Ultimately, Ben Osborne shows how, for these two young men, the Brooklyn Cyclones created dreams the same way the Brooklyn Dodgers allowed the boys of Flatbush to dream about one day playing in the Big Leagues.
Customer Reviews:
Baseball's back...............2004-06-22
In the end, this slice of Americana is truly an enjoyable read. A tale which intertwines many different faces of the American sports fan, from the prospect, to the fierce political leader, to the local kid from the projects. How these individuals affect and are ultimately affected by the team is the true story line. A couple years later, Kay puts it perfectly in the book's final thought, "that season in Brooklyn was something that I'll never experience again."
The Brooklyn Cyclones: Hardball Dreams and the New Coney Isl.......2004-04-23
From the potitical manuevering of Rudy Giuliani to the construction of the incredible Keyspan Park at Coney Island to the season long sellout crowds Ben Osborne crafts a riviting story and fascinating read that encompasses both historical and cultural perspectives while exploring the media circus that followed the Cyclones in their inaugual season. The book is about more then just baseball. It's about the inner city struggle, big city politics, and hardball dreams. An accurate portrayal and intriguing analysis of the realities facing Brooklyn and Coney Island today.
Bleeding Dodger Blue.......2004-04-16
Warning: This book has a tendency to make the reader into a die hard Cyclones fan.
old school bk baseball is back.......2004-04-08
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Bridge of Dreams
Burhan Dogancay , and Burhan Doganay Manufacturer: Hudson Hills Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: 1555951732 |
Book Description
The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the architectural and engineering wonders of the world.Customer Reviews:
Bridge of Dreams.......2001-09-18
Bridge of Dreams.......2001-05-05
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Brooklyn dreams
Cari Jaenke Manufacturer: Heins Publications ProductGroup: Book Binding: Unknown Binding ASIN: B0006FC020 |
Customer Reviews:
Intense and touching poems.......2007-01-26
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BROOKLYN DREAMS Vols 1-4
J. M. DeMatteis Manufacturer: Paradox ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: B000H0WA10 |
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Brooklyn Dreams #2: Criminal Behavior
J.M. DeMatteis Manufacturer: Paradox Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Comic ASIN: B000UL5ZBS |
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Brooklyn Dreams #3: Duality Blues
J.M. DeMatteis Manufacturer: Paradox Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Comic ASIN: B000UL08EC |
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A History of the Synoptic Problem: The Canon, the Text, the Composition, and the Interpretation of the Gospels (The Anchor Bible Reference Library)
David Dungan , and David Laird Dungan Manufacturer: Anchor Bible ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 0385471920 Release Date: 1999-06-15 |
Amazon.com
A History of the Synoptic Problem, by David Laird Dungan, is an accessible, academic study of a question that has needled readers of the New Testament since before the Bible was canonized: How does one reconcile the different accounts of Jesus's life given by the four gospels? Today the most highly publicized answer to this question is the one offered by John Dominic Crossan and the Jesus Seminar, who seek to reconcile the differences among the gospels by designating some events and statements in the gospels historically true and others false. There are lots of other ways to explore the synoptic problem, however, and Dungan provides a clear and lively history of the strategies employed by Origen, Augustine, Erasmus, Spinoza, Locke, and others. Dungan's method is to break the synoptic problem down into its corollary questions: Which gospels should be considered in the debate? Which text of each gospel should be considered? And how should one read the Bible in general and the gospels in particular? Dungan's interest in these questions is not merely literary; he also delves into the political and economic agendas that have influenced biblical interpretation. In this regard, the most interesting and original connection he makes is to explain the relationship between the rise of the modern historical-critical method of reading scripture (asking who wrote the books of the Bible, when, how, and for whom) and the creation and maintenance of political democracy--and furthermore, the ways in which fundamentalist "literal" readings of Scripture serve the same goal. Dungan's own investment in debates on the synoptic problem is shot through with an appealing humility about the stakes of the debate. "At its deepest level, the Synoptic Problem is not a scientific 'problem'," he writes. "[T]he quest for the correct solution to the Synoptic Problem, like the Church's quest for the correct canon of the Gospels, and the correct text of the Gospels, and the correct way to interpret the Gospels, is a vital aspect of the Church's perennial quest for the Word of Life." --Michael Joseph GrossCustomer Reviews:
The lay out of the book continually irritated.......2006-04-22
Synoptic Problem.......2006-02-27
Copious Historical and Biblical Research.......2003-07-07
One fifth of the book (at the back end) are detailed explanatory and resourceful chapter Notes. These Notes contain an abundance of supporting evidence and explanations from antiquity, early church history, Patristic writings, Greek lexicology, and others).
The material of the book is quite dry and the primary audience seems to be biblical scholars. Since I am not a scholar, I had to rely on the back-end Notes a lot to understand the points the author was making in the respective chapters.
Nevertheless, following the three historical approaching to the Synoptic problem presented in the book, I have been fortunate (and blessed as a result) to learn a great deal about the history of the early Church, the development of Bible translations throughout the ages, and current trends in Christianity.
I would recommend this work to anyone seriously interested in Christianity (especially the canon, text, composition, and interpretations of the Gospels).
The best history of the synoptic problem available.......2000-08-18
Excellent work due to a unique approach........1999-10-16
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A history of the synoptic problem: the canon, the text, the composition, and the interpretation of the Gospels.
David Laird Dungan Manufacturer: New York, Doubleday, [ ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: B000Q03WZE |
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