A Confederacy of Dunces (Evergreen Book)

Amazon.com

"A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head. The green earflaps, full of large ears and uncut hair and the fine bristles that grew in the ears themselves, stuck out on either side like turn signals indicating two directions at once. Full, pursed lips protruded beneath the bushy black moustache and, at their corners, sank into little folds filled with disapproval and potato chip crumbs."

Meet Ignatius J. Reilly, the hero of John Kennedy Toole's tragicomic tale, A Confederacy of Dunces. This 30-year-old medievalist lives at home with his mother in New Orleans, pens his magnum opus on Big Chief writing pads he keeps hidden under his bed, and relays to anyone who will listen the traumatic experience he once had on a Greyhound Scenicruiser bound for Baton Rouge. ("Speeding along in that bus was like hurtling into the abyss.") But Ignatius's quiet life of tyrannizing his mother and writing his endless comparative history screeches to a halt when he is almost arrested by the overeager Patrolman Mancuso--who mistakes him for a vagrant--and then involved in a car accident with his tipsy mother behind the wheel. One thing leads to another, and before he knows it, Ignatius is out pounding the pavement in search of a job.

Over the next several hundred pages, our hero stumbles from one adventure to the next. His stint as a hotdog vendor is less than successful, and he soon turns his employers at the Levy Pants Company on their heads. Ignatius's path through the working world is populated by marvelous secondary characters: the stripper Darlene and her talented cockatoo; the septuagenarian secretary Miss Trixie, whose desperate attempts to retire are constantly, comically thwarted; gay blade Dorian Greene; sinister Miss Lee, proprietor of the Night of Joy nightclub; and Myrna Minkoff, the girl Ignatius loves to hate. The many subplots that weave through A Confederacy of Dunces are as complicated as anything you'll find in a Dickens novel, and just as beautifully tied together in the end. But it is Ignatius--selfish, domineering, and deluded, tragic and comic and larger than life--who carries the story. He is a modern-day Quixote beset by giants of the modern age. His fragility cracks the shell of comic bluster, revealing a deep streak of melancholy beneath the antic humor. John Kennedy Toole committed suicide in 1969 and never saw the publication of his novel. Ignatius Reilly is what he left behind, a fitting memorial to a talented and tormented life. --Alix Wilber

Book Description

The best-selling, Pulitzer Prize-winning classic hailed by The New York Times Book Review as "a masterwork . . . the novel astonishes with its inventiveness . . . it is nothing less than a grand comic fugue." A Confederacy of Dunces is an American comic masterpiece. John Kennedy Toole's hero, one Ignatius J. Reilly, is "huge, obese, fractious, fastidious, a latter-day Gargantua, a Don Quixote of the French Quarter. His story bursts with wholly original characters, denizens of New Orleans' lower depths, incredibly true-to-life dialogue, and the zaniest series of high and low comic adventures" (Henry Kisor, Chicago Sun-Times).

Customer Reviews:

My favorite book.......2007-10-17

Several years ago a co-worker told me the name of this book and added simply, "it is my favorite book". I read it just because of that, knowing nothing else about the book. It is now my favorite book. I re-read it about every other year. Read it!

A Colossal Waste of Time.......2007-10-16

I heard that the book was a comic masterpiece so I gave it a try. After reading the Preface I was prepared to withstand a slow start that was supposed to grow slowly towards a climatic ending (or at least an interesting ending). A friend of mine was given the book and she tried to get through it 2 or 3 times but she kept getting to a point that she couldn't push through. I was able to push through because I expected a payoff later on that never came.

None of the characters are completely likable. They are all idiots at one point or another and they repeatedly act in a way that I have trouble believing a normal person would. If this was a play, television show or a movie I would say that all of the characters were overacting. They would constantly repeat the same stupid sayings over and over and over again throughout the book. The whole time I am thinking how unbelievable this dialog is because normal people don't act this way. This was just stupidity. It might even be bearable if it was only a couple of screwballs characters but instead everyone is inept. There was no one to root for or to identify with and it simply was not entertaining to read.

The only good thing that I can say about the book is that the title is appropriate.

Cajun-Style Don Quixote .......2007-10-15

There are two ways of perceiving Cervantes's "Don Quixote." In the modern interpretation Don Quixote is an idealistic dreamer, a hopeless romantic battling the windmills of a bitter, cynical world. The more traditional (and I'd say correct) interpretation is that Don Quixote is a dangerous madman adhering to an outdated ideology and sowing havoc wherever he goes. Based on which interpretation you believe in, the novel can be seen as charmingly comic or darkly comic.

The same can be said for "A Confederacy of Dunces." Ignatius Reilly is Don Quixote of the bayou, a grossly overweight, strangely dressed believer in Medieval philosophy. He espouses these beliefs in notebooks, to his mother, at the movie theater (to the annoyance of patrons, ushers, and managers), and to any perspective employer. The only one close to understanding him might have been his dead collie, whom he loves in a not-entirely healthy way. The second closest is his former girlfriend--using the term loosely--Myrna Minkoff, an heiress turned political activist from New York.

Reilly's mother caters to his every need--such as supporting him through the better part of a decade of college, though it never leads him to a stable job--until she runs her car into a building while drunk. This leads her to forcing Reilly out into the world. His interactions with employees at a pants factory, a hot dog vendor, a gay man in the French Quarter, and a bar's employees create mayhem for Reilly and those he comes into contact with.

I think the prevailing view is to think of Ignatius Reilly as a madcap fish out of water, the idealistic dreamer interpretation. But it's not hard to also see him as a fat, selfish lout deserving of the scorn and ridicule he receives. Clearly Ignatius Reilly--like Don Quixote--is someone who takes himself and his ridiculously out-of-step views far too seriously, so you're never laughing WITH him so much as laughing AT him. It's up to you to decide just how mean-spirited the laughing at part is.

At any rate, it's unfortunate that John Kennedy Toole did not live long enough to hone his craft a bit more. Had he received some support and guidance he could have been one of the great American authors of his generation with the likes of Vonnegut, Updike, and of course Walker Percy, who at least made sure we could all read this novel. As it is, there are still some kinks in this, like how people are always screaming relatively ordinary lines of dialog or how the gay characters are stereotyped queens and butches.

Still, there's no question this is a good novel, and a funny novel as well, which is why it managed to endure even after the death of its author. NO matter how you should interpret it, you should read it.

On a side note, I think if Ignatius Reilly were around in modern times he would be writing his missives on the Internet instead of in notebooks. Mostly likely he'd be writing reviews on Amazon...

That is all.

imho....overated due to the book's backstory.......2007-10-08

I only got two-thirds of the way through this book because, basically, it just kept spinning its wheels. Also, the title character is 99% unsympathetic. He's such a friggin' ego-centric dolt that I simply stopped caring about anything to do with him. Yes, there are very funny parts...but not that many. I really feel this book has been hyped due to the fact that the book didn't get published until twenty years after the author's death (he committed suicide at least partly due to the novel not being published in his lifetime) and that the persistence of his mother in getting it printed really added to the book's mystique...which, obviously, has NOTHING to do with the actual book itself. I feel that the book would have never even been considered for a Pulitzer (which it won in the early '80s) had it been published in the author's lifetime. I actually would give this book two and a half stars, but that option isn't available.

A Confederacy of Dunces.......2007-10-04

This is a wonderful read. You take a fantastic and funny journey with a cast of characters that jump off the pages into the room where you are reading. I recommend this book as a gift, for a book club, for anytime. It is one you will read again and again.

Average customer rating:

The Lazy Man's Search for Meaning
Richly deserved its National Book Award.
The template.
"It was not anger. It was discovery."
Binx or Jack Enlivens Malaise of New Orleans [60][T]

The Moviegoer
Walker Percy
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0375701966
Release Date: 1998-04-14

Amazon.com

This elegantly written account of a young man's search for signs of purpose in the universe is one of the great existential texts of the postwar era and is really funny besides. Binx Bolling, inveterate cinemaphile, contemplative rake and man of the periphery, tries hedonism and tries doing the right thing, but ultimately finds redemption (or at least the prospect of it) by taking a leap of faith and quite literally embracing what only seems irrational.

Book Description

Winner of the 1961 National Book Award

The dazzling novel that established Walker Percy as one of the major voices in Southern
literature is now available for the first time in Vintage paperback.

The Moviegoer is Binx Bolling, a young New Orleans stockbroker who surveys the world with
the detached gaze of a Bourbon Street dandy even as he yearns for a spiritual redemption he
cannot bring himself to believe in. On the eve of his thirtieth birthday, he occupies
himself dallying with his secretaries and going to movies, which provide him with the
"treasurable moments" absent from his real life. But one fateful Mardi Gras, Binx embarks
on a hare-brained quest that outrages his family, endangers his fragile cousin Kate, and
sends him reeling through the chaos of New Orleans' French Quarter. Wry and wrenching, rich
in irony and romance, The Moviegoer is a genuine American classic.

Customer Reviews:

The Lazy Man's Search for Meaning.......2007-10-10

This is the kind of book I finish reading and have to begin a search of my own. I look for Cliff Notes, Wikkipedia entries, Amazon reviews, anything to help tell me what it is I'm missing, because I put this down after reading the last page and did not see the point.

I have a lot of respect for Binx's "search" because we all go through that at one time or another--a lot of males when they get into their 40s--hoping to find some cure for the ordinariness of daily life. We'd all like to be some adventuring superhero, though I think if we were we'd like nothing more than to settle down with a wife and 2.3 kids in the suburbs--the grass always seems greener on the other side until you get over there.

Still, while the idea of the search is presented, when does Binx really perform this search? Most of the book entails Binx Bolling--stockbroker, skirt-chaser, and silver screen worshiper--talking with his grandma and cousins. The idea presented in the Amazon description that he's rootless seems silly when he has such a close extended family. The problem is more about the conflict between tradition and new thinking. Really the only time when Binx could be said to perform this search is on a trip with his latest secretary to visit his mom and half-brothers/sisters--more extended family for the "rootless" Binx!--and an aborted trip to Chicago with his suicidal cousin Kate, whom he's devoted to if not actually loves.

That demonstrates the problem here in that the novel is too short and too underdeveloped. When you think about it, the search for meaning should really take more than 200-250 pages depending on the size of your font. At that length it's like scaling a gentle hill to find a guru instead of a Himalayan mountain. The most insightful gurus are the ones that are hardest to find because the dangers presented in the search lay the seeker bare so he can truly see inside him/herself.

But I suppose other people have found some meaning in it. Maybe they'll clue me in one of these days.

The Amazon description also called this book funny. It's not really that funny. For something funny set in New Orleans at the same time read "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole, which Walker Percy championed to publication. For more epic soul-searching try "The Adventures of Augie March" by Saul Bellow.

That is all.

Richly deserved its National Book Award........2007-08-01

Walker Percy, The Moviegoer (Vintage, 1960)

By rights, The Moviegoer should be a minor novel. Nothing much happens in it, and the lead character is one of the most thoroughly unlikable people traipsing through modern fiction. And yet Walker Percy manages to make this novel compelling in practically every way it can be through the immense power of his writing. That this slim novel won the 1961 National Book Award was no accident, nor is the fact that it survives today as a modern classic.

Binx Bolling is a New Orleans stockbroker in the late 1950s suffering an existential crisis. He spends his existence having loveless affairs with his string of secretaries and going to the movies, seeing the idealized version of life on screen and comparing it with his own relatively useless existence. He sees his family members through the most jaundiced of eyes, and never passes up an opportunity to belittle them in the internal monologue that comprises the text of this book. Binx is convinced that he can find the meaning his life is supposed to have, and starts off on a classic quest to find it. The problem is that he goes about it in the most wrongheaded of ways; the result is a classic tragedy laced with pointed black humor. The best part of the whole thing is that Binx himself doesn't see the tragedy inherent in his actions; he just tries to approach the quest the same way he approaches everything else, by muddling through.

The book is slow, deliberate, giving us time to get to know Binx and the principal players in his family despite its brevity. Percy's descriptions, through Binx's eyes, are the stuff National Book Award winners are made of. If you've never checked The Moviegoer out, you're missing a great ride. **** ½

The template........2007-05-18

This book is a sort of template for Percy's later work, and should be read by anyone who likes his other books.

For those who haven't read his later novels yet, I'd suggest reading this one first, and also "Lost in the Cosmos."

"It was not anger. It was discovery.".......2007-04-08

Binx Bolling runs a small financial office for his wealthy extended family; he's also the titular moviegoer. The book takes place in late 1950s New Orleans. The country and Binx are flourishing financially after WWII, but a certain ennui is starting to engulf both. Binx comes from a long line of distinguished Southern gentlemen, the kind who populate heroic novels. However, he is not made of the same stuff, as he'll prove throughout this terrific work. Indeed, he spends more time worrying about making money, bedding his secretary, and escaping into movies than he does attempting anything vaguely "heroic." This disconnect leads to his "quest" - a search for meaning.

Fortunately, "The Moviegoer" doesn't rely on this "quest" for much of the plot or ambience. It has plenty of the latter, and just enough of the former to make it all go down nicely. Life's greater questions and dilemmas are touched upon, but Binx is not the type to spend too much effort trying to answer them. Instead, we're left with a fantastically written character study - a piece of life from a fading period about another fading period. "The Moviegoer" is solid Southern literature, with just enough dashes of Mardi Gras and decaying mansions to attract fans of that genre. However, it's also just a damned good novel.

Binx or Jack Enlivens Malaise of New Orleans [60][T].......2007-04-07

John (Jack) (Binx) Bolling narrates this story about the last few days of his 29th year of life. In the end, he is 30 and a very different man.

Jack is not an ordinary New Orleans citizen. He grew up wealthy and amid an educated family: father was a doctor. He attended a private boarding school in New Hampshire (Exeter?) attended Ivy for college and avoided medical school to earn money by the barrel as a stockbroker. And, his family wanting him to meet his goals, kindly and gently keep urging him to leave his self-described life of "malaise" and descend upon a greater life - being a doctor like his father. If you read the biography of the author, he led a similar life - he had been a practicing doctor in the Deep South for decades before this novel's publication occurred in his 40's.

Tennessee Williams probably wrote more about the south than anyone of this generation. But, his characters came from the earth, they were the everyday people who easily trip over ordinary issues - culminating with extraordinary stories. This book deals with extraordinary people who make extraordinary stories from everyday issues.

Leading a life of "malaise" soaked by the humidity and heat of New Orleans, Binx encounters life-making decisions with Kate (a woman too odd to be anything but his beloved), Sharon (another attempted conquest within his one-man office) and assorted friends affected by he and Kate.

If one lives in the south, the character and civility emanating from the lead characters remains true even in this 21st century - publicly polite people can affront others and conspire in private - but in a gentile and fair-minded fashion. And, like any southern authors who preceded him, Percy depicts these strong characters of southern grace to have eloquence. They discuss issues with a great command of the English language which accentuates their already uncommon personalities.

The references to movies are fun and are highlights which permeate this novel - and from which the title arises. Recent novels have shared this concept - "Sideways" being the most obvious with its references of wine names and tastes.

I would recommend this novel to anyone and most especially to those who love southern literature.

Average customer rating:

A Wonderful Sequil
readaholic
LOVE ITT.....2.
Great Follow-up
O.K.

Little Black Girl Lost 2
Keith Lee Johnson
Manufacturer: Urban Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1893196399

Book Description

After his blockbuster success of Little Black Girl Lost, Keith Lee Johnson takes us back to 1950's New Orleans, into the world of betrayal, envy, lust, and murder, where everyone has ulterior motives. Little Girl Lost left you in shock right up to the very end with its revealing truths of the world of Johnnie Wise, a 15-year-old girl, who was being pursued by ruthless crime boss, Napoleon Bentley, who will stop at nothing to have this young beauty.

Little Black Girl Lost II, begins as we find Johnnie in bed, and even though there is a thunderstorm directly over her Ashland Estates home, she is sleeping soundly for the first time since the murder of Richard Goode (her mother's killer), and the subsequent riots. However, during her waking hours, Napoleon Bentley enters her mind more often than she'd care to admit. She wants him to bed her again, but she loves Lucas Matthews, her boyfriend. Or is he?

Customer Reviews:

A Wonderful Sequil.......2007-06-06

Before reading this book, it is important to read Little Black Girl Lost (1). Johhnie Wise has gotten wiser and is making her life hers. Continue the journey with her as Keith Lee Johnson captivates you with the ongoing trials of this young lady. The additional characters are a plus to this book. Caution....don't start without having Little Black Girl Lost 3 at your fingertips.

readaholic .......2007-04-03

Little Black Girl lost 2 was more inspiring and easier to follow after getting to know the characters in the first novel. It was inspiring to know the residents of Ashland Estates, but they too were trapped in a fable.

The novel was very well written and straight to the point. I really enjoyed it. I also like the fact that the author came out of the writing box and just wrote the story. I am not a fan of fluff.

LOVE ITT.....2........2007-03-24

As always i really enjoy this book another job well done i say tell you one thang? MS.Johnnie Wise was a hellva strong young LADY from the N.O.504 what eles can i say.....i'am now reading L.B.G.L3 and again its a good ONE..

Great Follow-up.......2007-03-24

Great follow-up to book 1. This author does not disapoint. Left you anticipating book 3.

O.K........2007-02-02

This one was o.k. I thought the first one was better. Hopefully the next one will be good.

The Vampire Armand : The Vampire Chronicles (Rice, Anne, Vampire Chronicles)

Average customer rating:

Interesting back story, difficult read
Not Free SF Reader
A good read for any Armand fan.
WOW
Intresting.

The Vampire Armand : The Vampire Chronicles (Rice, Anne, Vampire Chronicles)
Anne Rice
Manufacturer: Alfred A. Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0679454470
Release Date: 1998-10-10

Amazon.com

In The Vampire Armand, Anne Rice returns to her indomitable Vampire Chronicles and recaptures the gothic horror and delight she first explored in her classic tale Interview with the Vampire (in which Armand, played by Antonio Banderas in the film version, made his first appearance as director of the Théâtre des Vampires).

The story begins in the aftermath of Memnoch the Devil. Vampires from all over the globe have gathered around Lestat, who lies prostrate on the floor of a cathedral. Dead? In a coma? As Armand reflects on Lestat's condition, he is drawn by David Talbot to tell the story of his own life. The narrative abruptly rushes back to 15th-century Constantinople, and the Armand of the present recounts the fragmented memories of his childhood abduction from Kiev. Eventually, he is sold to a Venetian artist (and vampire), Marius. Rice revels in descriptions of the sensual relationship between the young and still-mortal Armand and his vampiric mentor. But when Armand is finally transformed, the tone of the book dramatically shifts. Raw and sexually explicit scenes are displaced by Armand's introspective quest for a union of his Russian Orthodox childhood, his hedonistic life with Marius, and his newly acquired immortality. These final chapters remind one of the archetypal significance of Rice's vampires; at their best, Armand, Lestat, and Marius offer keen insights into the most human of concerns.

The Vampire Armand is richly intertextual; readers will relish the retelling of critical events from Lestat and Louis's narratives. Nevertheless, the novel is very much Armand's own tragic tale. Rice deftly integrates the necessary back-story for new readers to enter her epic series, and the introduction of a few new voices adds a fresh perspective--and the promise of provocative future installments. --Patrick O'Kelley

Amazon.com Audiobook Review

Die-hard Anne Rice fans will enjoy listening to this unabridged version of her latest installment of The Vampire Chronicles--the tale of the soulful, eternally young, Botticelli-faced Armand. Reader Jonathan Marosz instills a lot of effort as well as time--a mind-blowing 16 hours--as he uses several voices to take us from modern-day New Orleans back through 500 years of history in this bodice ripper without bodices. Marosz deftly handles the anguished conversations, the bloody feedings, and the ripe homosexual erotica that is bound to turn ears red. Familiarity with Rice's earlier Vampire Chronicles works will help; new Vampire Chronicles listeners may find themselves hitting rewind frequently as they try to discern dialogue, character relationships, and history. (Running time: 16 hours, 10 cassettes) --Kimberly Heinrichs

Book Description

In the latest installment of The Vampire Chronicles, Anne Rice summons up dazzling worlds to bring us the story of Armand--eternally young, with the face of a Botticelli angel. Armand, who first appeared in all his dark glory more than twenty years ago in the now-classic Interview with the Vampire, the first of The Vampire Chronicles, the novel that established its author worldwide as a magnificent storyteller and creator of magical realms.

Now, we go with Armand across the centuries to the Kiev Rus of his boyhood--a ruined city under Mongol dominion--and to ancient Constantinople, where Tartar raiders sell him into slavery. And in a magnificent palazzo in the Venice of the Renaissance we see him emotionally and intellectually in thrall to the great vampire Marius, who masquerades among humankind as a mysterious, reclusive painter and who will bestow upon Armand the gift of vampiric blood.

As the novel races to its climax, moving through scenes of luxury and elegance, of ambush, fire, and devil worship to nineteenth-century Paris and today's New Orleans, we see its eternally vulnerable and romantic hero forced to choose between his twilight immortality and the salvation of his immortal soul.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting back story, difficult read.......2007-09-24

I wouldn't say I'm a huge Rice fan (the only Rice books I've read are Interview With the Vampire and this one), so my opinion should be taken with a grain of salt. This book provided me some interesting information about Armand, Lestat, Louis, etc. However, I thought Rice had a tendency to veer off into extraneous details. I also found the descriptions of the gay sex to be a little stomach churning for me, but I can deal with that. I did enjoy reading about Armand's childhood and family. That being said, it was still a difficult read for me. I probably should have gotten the second installment before jumping into this story. Die hard fans will probably enjoy this book.

Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03

Thankfully, the Vampire Armand is somewhat a return to form after the terrible previous book. Armand has been seriously injured by the sun at the end of the previous novel, and is stuck, unable to move while he recovers.

An ideal device to delve into his back story, his discovery by Marius, their love of art.

Armand, while recovering, uses his abilities to get two children to bring him a drug dealer, so he can do the bloodsucking thing to restore some strength. He takes the two kids as proteges, much as Marius did for him, and eventually Marius turns them into vampires, provoking some argument.

A good read for any Armand fan........2007-07-14

For me the "secondary characters" such as Louis, Marius, Armand, Pandora, Santino and even Daniel are the more interesting of Anne's vampires. Lestat bores me. Armand is one of my favorite characters because he's so complex, menacing and yet seemingly innocent. I enjoyed reading about his past very much. The only problem I had with the book was I found the characters Sibyle and Benji very trite and dull.

WOW.......2007-05-19

"The Vampire Armand" By: Anne Rice
First, let me say that I love this book. Anne Rice has excellent word choice in this book. Everything about this book is great. The chapters had excellent endings and made me keep on reading, I actually had to make myself stop reading so I could go to sleep at night. This book also has an awesome lead in the beginning. The genres of this book are romance/adventure/inspirational.
Again, I can't stop complementing on the word choice, with almost every word that was written here's an example; "Strident perfume rose from the gardens right and left, from purple Four O' Clocks as mortals called them here, a rampant flower like unto weed, but defiantly sweet, and the wild irises stabbing upwards like blades out of the black mud, throaty petals monstrously big, battering themselves on old walls and concrete steps." I could easily picture all of these things in my head. It was practically like a movie playing because all of the words flow together. Anne Rice does such an excellent job in this and deserves 10 stars for this book.
If you like romance in you novels, along with a little bit of adventure, you should defiantly get this book and read it! A+ to this book and the author! This book will keep you up for hours. Anne Rice has the main character, Armand write his life story out for people to read it, and she has an excellent set up with the whole thing.

Intresting........2007-05-10

This book really clears up alot of missing info that we needed from Armand.

Average customer rating:

Enjoyable
This book rocks!
Utterly disappointing
Glossy and pat
Nora Jane's cycle of life and love in one book

Nora Jane: A Life in Stories
Ellen Gilchrist
Manufacturer: Back Bay Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0316058386

Book Description

At last-Ellen Gilchrist's beloved Nora Jane stories, gathered together for the first time in a vibrant, hilarious, and deeply moving collection. Gilchrist fans have long enjoyed their glimpses of smart, willful Nora Jane Harwood in six previous collections.Here now are the collected Nora Jane stories-including a new novella-following her from scrappy adolescence in New Orleans through a delightfully eccentric life as wife, mother, and independent spirit in Berkeley, California.

Customer Reviews:

Enjoyable.......2006-06-12

This is the first time I've read anything by Ellen Gilchrist and I was enthralled with her writing style. I enjoyed the stories and liked the characters and given her upbringing, I was not surprised that she would embrace the life of a wife and mother - I think it made sense that she would be happy to finally have a normal life and give her kids a normal childhood. I really like the characters - Freddy with his amazing generousity - his friendship with Neiman. I liked the different personalities of the children, Neiman's overbearing mother. I loved the little story about Father Donny and the hairdresser.

I was expecting Sandy to come up again - thought we were a bit led on with that one - also thought all the happy endings were a little too much.

All in all, however, I really enjoyed this book and the characters - and especially Gilchrist's writing. I will definitely be going back and reading her earlier works.

This book rocks!.......2006-03-22

I must say that the whole reason I ordered this book was because of an English class I am taking. I really enjoyed the book and I also appreciated the expediant delievery. Originally I had ordered the book from a site that my professor recommended. When the book was over a month late I decided to do what I should have done in the first place--order from Amazon. The book ended up being fantastic and I will ALWAYS order from Amazon. As far as the book, the author is very talented. She creates a world for the reader that we as humans may miss on a daily basis. I cannot wait for Ms. Gilchrist to come out with a sequel to it. The book was great plain and simple.

Utterly disappointing.......2005-12-26

Ugh. I had high hopes as I plunged into the first Nora Jane story, "The Blue House", being initially charmed by adolescent NJ and her Good (capital G) grandmother-- but the magic quickly dissipated. The review by Marron of Boston was spot on. The characters are too flat to capture our empathy. The conflicts are contrived and feel stuck on to the story rather than part of any engaging weave. Loose ends irritate. Freddie, the rich and always perfect husband, is less than a caricature to the point where I could care less when he contracted cancer. I sense that the author has skills that were unfortunately not employed here.

Glossy and pat.......2005-11-08

This book made me feel a bit Scrooge-like. I just couldn't get enchanted with Nora Jane: strong, exquisitely gorgeous Nora Jane, who drives men wild with desire; has a fabulously rich and devoted husband and one loyal male friend (but no women friends I can recall), plus two amazingly gifted (of course!) daughters, and a charismatic little son; and enjoys frequent sumptuous dinners at Chez Panisse....

I came away with no sense of her inner life or three dimensionality, or even what made her so appealing to those who are so devoted to her (her husband fell in love with her after she threated to shoot him! Such is the power of her beauty). There was also a whole subplot about Iranian assassins that I found racist, and Nora Jane's embracing the role "housewife and mother" (her words) in 1980's Berkeley, California, seemed frankly a tad retrograde. Not a smidgen of conflict, given her social context?

I wanted to be enchanted. Instead, I felt like I was "supposed" to be enchanted, but it never happened.

Nora Jane's cycle of life and love in one book.......2005-08-24

As a child, Nora Jane Whittington loved her grandmother's Blue House where the youngster learned that she is the product of generations of strong women who are not afraid to take charge as it is a God gift for them to use their strength when needed. At nineteenth she heads west where her mentor Sandy teaches her to rob people using a prop gun. In the San Francisco Bay area, she tries to rob bookstore owner Freddy Harwood, but instead of leaving him in a wasteland, she ends up sharing his hot tub. She loves both her men and soon gives birth to twins. She chooses Freddy and with him raises their daughters in Berkeley. Over the next two decades, Nora Jane continues her belief to gravitate towards those you love; others follow her lofty ambition. All is joyful in Mudville until Freddy has leukemia. Now Nora Jane has her toughest task of all: bringing all her love into nurturing her beloved

The fourteen short stories have appeared in other publications over the years, but the novella Fault Lines is a new entry that adds to Nora Jane's cycle of life and love. The tales are all well written as most fans already know, but for the first time they appear in one book. The poignant effervescent heroine is perhaps at her best in NORA JANE A LIFE IN STORIES because the well written often amusing bit, always with a serious undertone, comes across more as a biographical fiction than anecdotal shorts. The novella enhances Ellen Gilchrist's wonderful collection.

Harriet Klausner

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A good read from an upcoming Southern Author
confused... could not follow.
Stunning Novel Set in Louisiana during 1927 Flood
reflections on life in 1920s Louisiana
"It's always a mistake to believe you can control something wild."

The Unnatural History of Cypress Parish
Elise Blackwell
Manufacturer: Unbridled Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1932961313
Release Date: 2007-03-20

Book Description

Louis Proby is an old man now, sitting in his study in New Orleans awaiting

what they say is a huge storm, Hurricane Katrina.

As he watches the skies darken, he remembers his earlier life, as a watchful, curious

young man filled with hunger and desire in Cypress Parish, the life that was

washed away when the Mississippi River flooded in 1927.

He remembers exactly how the Parish was sacrificed to those watersÂ—because

the city fathers said it was expendable. They said that flooding LouisÂ's home was

necessary to save New Orleans.

He has long known that was never the truth. The Parish could have been spared.

And he has always known the part his father played in that decision. But what

he thinks on now is the dearest cost extracted from him on the day they dynamited

the dikes and let the waters flow. He thinks on his first love, Nanette LanÃ§on.

Customer Reviews:

A good read from an upcoming Southern Author.......2007-10-14

My reading group read is reading this second novel from this up and coming Southern Author, Elise Blackwell. I truly enjoyed the characters and immersion into the culture of 1927 Southern Louisiana. Not being from the south, this novel did not apologize for the culture, but presented it as was and the story came to life through the characters as they each made decisions based on their social position, economic and family interests. It is a truly enjoyable read and a book I would recommend to others who want some insight into a part of American life that is not urban but truly shows that all of us - regardless of where we live in this nation - are more alike than different. What I found most insightful was that the decisions in the communities where we live are made by a few and through compromise and are often not motivated by seeking the greater good, especially for the poor. A haunting novel that does truly speak to parallels between a 1927 flood event and Hurricane Katrina.

confused... could not follow........2007-09-24

I did not finish. I was confused about people, place and time.

Stunning Novel Set in Louisiana during 1927 Flood.......2007-07-04

In this stunning novel, Elise Blackwell beautifully interweaves natural history, human history, and the events surrounding the 1927 Mississippi River flood. Louis Proby is a boy of 17 during that spring, and he learns a great deal about what it means to be a man. His teachers include an artist who loses himself in the natural world and a man of wealth and power who takes Louis into the back rooms of New Orleans where a group of men with a great financial stake in that great city decide to blow up the levees and flood "Cypress" Parish in order to save New Orleans. The human cost of the flood is in here, but above all this is the story of the good and bad in people, and how difficult it can be for a young person to figure out which is which, all of it told with the colors and rhythms of the Mississippi escaping its banks. I would highly recommend this fine novel.

reflections on life in 1920s Louisiana.......2007-04-04

The skies are darkening as the weather service predicts a huge type 4 maybe even 5 hurricane to hammer the gulf coast of Louisiana and Mississippi. The media focuses in on what Katrina might do to New Orleans, but ignores the impact on some of the other locales like Cypress Parish. Nonagenarian Louis Proby waits for the perfect storm to come ashore from his home as he reflects on the storm of the previous century that destroyed Cypress Parish in 1927.

He was seventeen years old, one of four offspring of Cypress Parish's lumber company superintendent, wheeler dealer William Proby. Louis understood that his dad's position meant he ran the Parish also. Louis, at his father's coaxing, planned to become a doctor, but currently was making money chauffeuring lumber company official Charles Segrist to and from New Orleans; he got the job because of his dad, but enjoys the side benefits of partying at the clubs. However, though a teen, it is the plan and execution that his father condoned for a fee that haunts him most eight decades later. The plan included blowing up the Cypress Parish levee to release the floodwaters there that will destroy that backwater in order to keep New Orleans safe, but the teen begins to believe the destruction of his home is unnecessary, but only money matters.

Using Katrina as a hook, THE UNNATURAL HISTORY OF CYPRESS PARISH is a fabulous look back to Bayou politics and history during the Huey Long era through the filter of a senior citizen waiting out the latest storm of the century. The story line is character driven as Louis knows what he lost when the levees were dynamited besides a home; he thinks back to Nanette and what could have been if only the power brokers including his father were not greedy. Readers will appreciate his reflections on life in 1920s Louisiana.

Harriet Klausner

"It's always a mistake to believe you can control something wild.".......2007-03-20

Reflecting the turbulent history of Louisiana and the ungovernable Mississippi River, this novel, written while the protagonist awaits the full force of Katrina, harkens back to another devastating flood in 1927. Like the present day reality of lives in jeopardy, the earlier tragedy was also exacerbated by damaged levees and the sacrifice of one area of a population for another, in this case the destruction of Cypress Parish to save greater New Orleans, a flourishing city in the late 1920s. Now an elderly man reminiscing on his youth, Louis Proby begins his narrative at seventeen, on the cusp of manhood, a dutiful son with a love of learning. Although his father wants him to become a physician, Louis leans towards the natural sciences, describing the natural habitat of Cypress Parish through the eyes of one who would retain those images over the passing years.

William Proby, a logger and company-town superintendent, teaches his son some early lessons about survival in the world at large, taking Louis along as he deals with parish life. But Louis learns as well from the men he meets as a driver for a wealthy businessman, more sophisticated and worldly entrepreneurs, as well as experiencing the rush of first love with a woman he will never see again after the flood. In any case, the careful plans of many families are swept away by the rising tide of the Big Muddy, the levees unable to stave off the ravages of nature's excess and man's intemperate planning. To be sure, powerful men realize the enormity of the danger to the parish, dire warnings of the coming disaster reported months before it occurs, but such is the voracious nature of profit that a few wealthy men make decisions that will destroy the futures of those with no voice to ameliorate such decisions. Thus it happens, Cypress Parish is dynamited, inundated with flood water to save the more important and burgeoning New Orleans, all of Louis' childhood memories submerged in a watery grave.

Retelling his youth, Louis describes a father who is a fair but harsh taskmaster, the differences of white and black existence in 1927 Louisiana, the social construct that rigidly restricts congress between races and the occasional case of leprosy that continues to plague the area. Against the background of the beauty of a natural environment on the banks of the Mississippi, Louis' first brush with intimacy is beautifully framed by his inchoate desire and the pull of family responsibility, painfully torn by the choices he is forced to make. His family quartered with the whites during the flood, Louis doesn't report much of the scandalous treatment of blacks after the disaster, but does capture that particular nostalgia with which the elderly remember the distant days of childhood. For all the attraction of those days, clearly the same harsh societal restrictions continue to mar the image of a simple America. Albeit softened by memory, life is never as beneficent as it seems in one's youth. Luan Gaines/2007.

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What is a Creole?
What is a Creole?
Coming Through Slaughter: Ondaatje's musical novel
Zippity-do-dah-crap
Question

Coming Through Slaughter
Michael Ondaatje
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679767851
Release Date: 1996-03-19

Book Description

Bringing to life the fabulous, colorful panorama of New Orleans in the first flush of the jazz era, this book tells the story of Buddy Bolden, the first of the great trumpet players--some say the originator of jazz--who was, in any case, the genius, the guiding spirit, and the king of that time and place.

In this fictionalized meditation, Bolden, an unrecorded father of Jazz, remains throughout a tantalizingly ungraspable phantom, the central mysteries of his life, his art, and his madness remaining felt but never quite pinned down. Ondaatje's prose is at times startlingly lyrical, and as he chases Bolden through documents and scenes, the novel partakes of the very best sort of modern detective novel--one where the enigma is never resolved, but allowed to manifest in its fullness. Though more 'experimental' in form than either The English Patient or In the Skin of a Lion, it is a fitting addition to the renowned Ondaatje oeuvre.

Customer Reviews:

What is a Creole?.......2005-05-20

In light of the confusion of the use of the term "Creole" in this book, readers must understand that the first usage of the term was by the Portuguese (crioulo) to describe their mixed offspring in Cape Verde and elsewhere. Eventually, it was used to describe any peoples born in the New World. In Louisiana, it was used first to describe all peoples born in Louisiana, and later used to distinguish French Louisianans from Cajuns and Americans. Free people of Color, who were also of French descent, did not begin to use this term until after the Civil War. They used it for the same reasons as their French cousins, to distinguish themselves from the Americans.

What is a Creole?.......2005-01-28

I read the book not because I'm a fan of detective fiction, but because I wanted to learn a bit more of the history of Jazz and New Orleans: Fulmer's book more than fulfilled my expectations. Now I want to read his latest book to see what additional glimpses of Jazz and New Orleans Fulmer describes in it.

A few have criticized Fulmer because he called St. Cyr a Creole. Their argument is that St. Cyr is partially black and Creoles are never even partially black. However, they are wrong. The true origin of the word Creole is Spanish. This was the name given to the descendant of a Spanish-born mother and father when their child was born away from Spain. Later the term Creole was also used by the French to indicate a person born away from France whose parent were both born in France.

The original Creoles were indeed not mixed. However, the term Creole also has for some time been used as Fulmer uses it. It is a name given to the mixed blood descendants of blacks and the original French and Spanish settlers. Check your dictionary.

Coming Through Slaughter: Ondaatje's musical novel.......2004-06-27

I originally read this book as part of a fiction workshop. Unlike some other class-assigned readings, this book became a treasured part of my personal collection. Its form is rather unconventional -- it's rather like reading a novel of poetry. Admittedly, it can be hard to "get into," but I found that the more I read in one sitting, the greater impact Ondaatje's prose had on me. For me, Coming Through Slaughter was one of those rare gems that hovers over you until you've completed it. You find yourself thinking of Ondaatje's characters even when you've put the book away; they linger after the last page in the same way they seem to exist in the realm of the book -- a dream-like haze.

The story is one of Buddy Bolden, a real jazz musician in New Orleans in the early 20th century. None of his music survives, but he is said to be one of the founders of jazz. And so Ondaatje explores the small pieces of Bolden's historical truth, creating a character and an entire book that revolves around his life, his love affair with music, his love affair with a woman, and the audience's love affair with him. Other historical characters emerge from the text, like E.J. Bellocq, a man who photographed prostitutes from the Storyville area of New Orleans.

There are a lot of beautiful descriptions of abstractions, particularly of music (the way it looks, its color, the way it's created) and of emotion. As some other reviewers have suggested, they are descriptions tangible enough for a deaf person. And yet there is an ethereal element in Ondaatje's writing that makes it seem as though something much greater eludes you; it adds to Bolden's presence in the book.

This is the first book I've read by Ondaatje, and I hope to read more.

Zippity-do-dah-crap.......2004-02-06

I've been forced to wade through a lot of boring crap in my life: Thomas Hardy, Jane Urquhart's Changing Heaven, Leviticus, and this book was one of the biggest bores of them all. Nobody seems willing to admit to the fact that everything Ondaatje writes is tedious, self-indulgent and overdone. This guy sits around for 10 years with this thumb up his ass and at the end of it this is all he has to show for it. True, he's not bad looking for an old Sri Lankan guy, but that's no reason to let this guy continue churning this stuff out. My advice to him would still be that it's never too late to go into a new line of work.

Question.......2002-12-10

Hello - This isn't a review, but a solicitation for advice. My girlfriend is an infrequent reader, but she read this book as part of an English class assignment and absolutely loved it. Can anyone out there recommend anything similar in style and/or subject matter (not necessarily about Bolden, but perhaps New Orleans and/or Jazz, etc)? I've made my own suggestions to her but none could pique her interest quite as much as this book has. Any and all serious recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Amazon.com

Sometimes an off-key phrase in a soulful song can wrench at the heart, nay, the soul and send one off into that same far-away place that a great book can take you to. Amanda Eyre Ward's second novel, How to Be Lost, provides for the reader with a finely-tuned ear, a nicely wrought, syncopated, octave-changing story. Featuring a hard-living, almost down-on-her-luck narrator, How to Be Lost isn't lost at all when it comes to telling a literary mystery wrapped in the arms of a strong woman's tale. Ward's story bounces between New Orleans and New York, taking her protagonist, Caroline, into steely encounters with her somewhat-estranged family, especially her older sister and mother, as they continue, many years after the fact, to deal with the wrenching effects of the unresolved disappearance of Ellie, the youngest of the Winters family. Readers may find uncanny similarities between the eerie tone and dark nature of Deborah Schupack's The Boy on the Bus but won't be disappointed at all with the story that unfolds and the clever, darkly humorous nature of Ward's pitch-perfect voice. --E. Brooke Gilbert

Customer Reviews:

Great read!.......2007-09-25

I could not put this book down. Even though the plot is a little predictable, there is something about the book that draws you in and you find yourself rooting for the happiness of the main character, Caroline.

Love Memory Keeper's Daughter? READ THIS BOOK!.......2007-09-21

I was a little wary to read Ward's second novel because I loved her first (Sleep Toward Heaven) so much I didn't want to be let down with a one-hit-wonder. Not to worry! The characters in this book are so real and so well defined you'll feel you know them. Ward's writing is so beautiful, sometimes you just have to re-read to look at the words again! If you're reading the reviews here, you already know the basic plot so no need to rehash here. The sisters left behind in this novel each live with their pain in different ways but you can sympathize with both. Some reviewers have complained about the ending. I do not. Not all books are going to wrap up every detail for you and that's OK with me. Your imagination has to take over. Loved the book; loved the ending; ready for Ward's next novel. If you loved Memory Keepers Daughter, or anything by Anita Shreve, chances are good you will love How To Be Lost... or probably anything by Amanda Eyre Ward.

A Good 1-Sitting Read.......2007-09-18

It's possible I read "Missing Mom" by Joyce Carol Oates too recently to judge "How to Be Lost" on its own merits. Both involve a family tragedy (and in the book's main timeline) that leaves a mother on her own and leaves her daughters (the good daughter and the daughter who is adrift) trying to define their relationship with her and with each other.

The aspect of "How to be Lost" that was most powerful to me was the description of the three girls in their youth - trying to raise themselves and pretend as if they had parents. (They do - but the dad is an abusive alcoholic and the mom only dresses the part). My parents were divorced at an early age and as the oldest, I felt like I was raising my brother and sister sometimes. That responsibility and forced maturity of a child is powerfully described here and brought back some strong memories. This type of family situation creates a whole new bond with one's siblings - which in my case has been a wonderful one. I'm not sure if I would say the same for Caroline's situation.

Beyond that - I felt like the plot followed pretty standard lines - will the family ever truly start to heal, will Caroline be able to move forward in her life, will Ellie be found... and I wasn't surprised by the ending. Still - I enjoyed Ward's prose a great deal - I am not one for flowery descriptions. Also - I was lucky enough to read the book in one sitting - turning the pages faster as I reached the end.

Though I did like the way Ward uses flashbacks, letters and first person narrative to give more depth to the story - I felt like the book was strongest when the reader was hearing Caroline's voice. The letters from Agnes never really rang true for me - I thought parts of them were cheesy and I just didn't buy into the sexy pictures.

All in all - it was a good read. I enjoyed the book and was I ever going on a trip and wanted a good book to take on the plane - I would pick up one of Ward's.

Great Book, Lousy Ending!.......2007-09-16

I adored this book until I was left hanging at the end. I felt so cheated I was angry and tempted to write the author. I never did because she wrote it years ago and figured what did she care about it now. I didn't know how many stars to give it. How about this? Five stars until the last page.

Just Ok.......2007-09-09

After reading "A Sleep Toward Heaven" I was really looking forward to reading this book. Unfortunately I felt let down during the reading and it seemed that the ending was just too abrubt. It was no where as good as "A Sleep Toward Heaven". Hope her next one is better.

Walker Percy Remembered: A Portrait in the Words of Those Who Knew Him

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Walker Percy Remembered
Unique windows into Walker Percy through his friends

Walker Percy Remembered: A Portrait in the Words of Those Who Knew Him
David Horace Harwell
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Authors | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0807830399
Release Date: 2006-08-02

Book Description

Walker Percy (1916-1990), the reclusive southern author most famous for his 1961 novel The Moviegoer, lived most of his adult life in Covington, Louisiana. In the spirit of traditional southern storytelling, this biography of Percy takes its shape from candid interviews with his family, close friends, and acquaintances. Their voices—sometimes in agreement, sometimes not—reveal the ways Percy interacted with the people in his very deliberately chosen environment.

In thirteen interviews, we get to know Percy through his lifelong friend Shelby Foote, his brothers LeRoy and Phin Percy, his former priest, his housekeeper, and former teachers, among others, all in their own words. Over the course of the interviews, readers learn intimate details of Percy's writing process; his interaction with community members of different ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic backgrounds; and his commitment to civil rights issues. Presenting Percy from a variety of vantage points, David Harwell provides new material to help us better understand Percy's existential questionings and offers a more comprehensive treatment of the writer's character than traditional biographies provide. What emerges is a multidimensional portrait of Percy as a man, a friend, and a family member.

Customer Reviews:

Walker Percy Remembered.......2007-08-14

Walker Percy best described by his brothers Phin and Roy, and Shelby Foote. In Walker's books there appears to be no influence by Shelby, and in Shelby's books there is not a hint of Walker, but these friends from childhood were always a part of each other's life. The person who knew Walker Percy the least appears to be the ex-priest, James Boulware and sadly, the person who knew him best, his wife Bunt, is not heard from. A marvelous little book...will make you want to read all of Walker Percy's books!

Unique windows into Walker Percy through his friends.......2007-05-15

Nicely packaged little treat for Walker Percy junkies, it can also serve as a fine introduction to the man. Harwell gives us an intelligent and well researched, but utterly unpretentious and accessible, set of interviews with some of Percy's closest associates. The reader is given insights from brothers of Percy, his priest, Shelby Foote, his teachers, housekeeper, New Orleans bookstore owner Rhoda Faust, and, most interesting of all if illusive, Rev. Will Campbell.

The picture that emerges is beautiful and complex. Percy is the committed Catholic convert, yet forever questioning. He is warm and social, yet private. Civil RIghts activist, but Vietnam War supporter to the end.

Takes its place alongside Ralph Wood as my favorite work on Percy.

Confronting Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire: Essays in Critical Pluralism (Contributions in Drama and Theatre Studies)

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Confronting Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire: Essays in Critical Pluralism (Contributions in Drama and Theatre Studies)

Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0313266816

Book Description

Fifteen distinguished scholars contribute original essays that analyze A Streetcar Named Desire, one of the most significant plays in modern theatre, from various critical or cultural stances, methods, or modalities. Represented as individual points of view or touched upon in the analysis are the theories of Lacan and Foucault and the tenets of Marxism; the approaches of Feminism, Reader Response Criticism, Deconstructionism, Chaos and Anti-Chaos Theory, Translation Theory, Formalism, Mythology, Perception Theory, and Gender Theory; and the perceptions of Popular Culture, Film History and Theory, Southern Letters, and assorted cultural and regional studies. The volume introduction charts the course of Streetcar criticism from its inception to the present. Each essay begins by articulating the theoretical principles and methods behind the critical approach pursued, then applies these to readings from Streetcar, utilizing and documenting relevant major research. Insightful and challenging, the readings, individually and collectively, advance the study of the play and Tennessee Williams's canon and reputation generally. Each essay offers a fresh, provocative view of a play that has long been discussed in simplistic and dichotomized terms: Blanche as victim/Stanley as predator; Streetcar as a play about a failed southern belle meeting a brutish Pole; or Streetcar as a work of Southern literature. Viewing the play through the lenses of cultural and critical pluralism, the contributors open up the script and expand our awareness of the problems and possibilities offered by this great modern classic.

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