Missy: A Novel Review

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(More customer reviews)I enjoyed the book a lot. I guess it was a historical novel, but it was also a study of the world of drug addiction. Here are some of my miscellaneous thoughts about the book:
1. Many books are great along the way and it's not the destination that is so good, but the journey getting there. I would say that the destination in this book, where our main 19 year old opium addicted call girl realizes finally, that her whole existence and actions were seriously tainted by her addiction, was the thing that makes the book work so well. I knew that her actions were tainted by drugs along the way, but the final chapters somehow made the whole book more relevant and topical and good to me as this revelation comes to her.
2. The historical parts were excellent. The descriptions of the reactions to different murders, how the "law" operated, the tolerance for bad behavior, good men seeing call girls, good women being "flashers", and just how ribald the times really were in these mining towns, were insightful and seemed correct. Almost laughable and somehow endearing compared to today.
3. I loved the relationship Dol has with each of the other flashgirls. There is a "Sex in the City" element here that was very enjoyable and sometimes touching.
4. Dol, our narrator, is a hilarious and very intelligent girl with her insights into human behavior and comments about living the sober life away from the all night drug enhanced parties she is part of. Made me wonder if I've been too sober myself.
5. The grittiness of travel with handcarts, covered wagons through mud and muck, up huge mountain ranges in the desert was well done. In a way, it didn't fit in with the light natured life they lived otherwise, but it added to the believability of the book.
6. Dol's relationship with her mother was very interesting and insightful. We want things to be different for both of them, but it was a huge struggle for Dol and obviously for the mother. There was no sugar coating to be found in the book.
I gave the book 3 stars instead of 4 because I felt the plot sometimes moved along too slowly with some of the main themes being repeated over and over again. And yet, as I re-read my own review, I think if you read the book, you will find a lot of great and rewarding stuff.

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The Mercy Seat Review

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(More customer reviews)This is not an attempt at a review, it is comment. Being a native Oklahoman and a kind of shirt-tail historian, I have nibbled forever at the edges of that formative time in the history of Oklahoma and the making of its people, delighting in finding tidbits and hints of how it really was when my world was in the making. Rilla Askew took my hand and led me there. Gave me time to breathe the air and smell the cooking. Let me feel the rough, peeling bark of a windowless cabin's walls, put my hand on the hurt of a beautiful child in the process of being destroyed by the ambitions and defeats of the adults who make up her world.I'm waiting for my memory of it to cool so I can read it again. Visit Mattie, Fate, John. Maybe lay a compassionate hand on their shoulder.Reviews, comparisons, and synopses fail the book. It is not just a good read. It is an experience.

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The Mavericks Review

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(More customer reviews)Setting - Arizona Territory 1888 --- Adopted brothers Zeke and Hawk Maxwell were driving their latest acquisition of broodmares to their newly purchased run-down ranch near Tombstone when they were shot at. They might have expected horse thieves, but what Zeke never expected to find holding the end of the rifle was one of the most beautiful black women he'd ever seen - with an attitude bigger than the state of Texas!
Along with Josie, three other women had been stranded when their wagon had lost a wheel. Suzette, the blonde seemed much more open to accept their help in repairing their wagon, and in gratitude, reluctantly offered to share supper with them. With Zeke being black and Hawk, part Indian, it was difficult to believe that they were brothers. Their explanation of being adopted helped in easing the tension between the men and woman.
Zeke and Hawk thought they'd just be on their way the next day, never to cross paths with the bristly females again, but they realized that to leave the women alone in the desert was not a gentlemanly thing to do. Suzette and Josie protested that they could take care of themselves, though they grudgingly admitted to themselves that the men's escort was comforting. Along the way they discovered that stubborn pride was easier to let go of when sharing the dangers along the trail, especially when love and compassion entered the equation.
*** I truly enjoyed this wildly entertaining and sensitive entry in Leigh Greenwood's `Cowboy' series, but would have entitled it differently - rather than The Mavericks, more appropriately - The Misfits! The lead characters were all so terribly wounded! Each bore childhood betrayals and self-esteem issues that it seemed as though they'd need a miracle, or a bunch of them, to ever get up the gumption to take a chance in accepting one another and the love that blossomed. Greenwood masterfully built relationships and situations that helped to bridge these wonderfully strong characters into would be partners. Additionally, lively dialogs and illuminating descriptions of trudging through the western landscapes pointing out both the beauty and dangers along their journey were great! It is certainly easy to see why Leigh holds his place as a leader in the historical romance genre for his compassionate and sensitive storytelling. I would suggest this as highly recommended reading for all lovers of historical American West romance!
Marilyn, [...]

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Hawk and Zeke have been inseparable ever since boyhood-two loners, outsiders, as free as the wild horses they chase across the Arizona desert. So when they join up with two misplaced dancehall girls on the trail, they react about the same way as unbroken mustangs to the saddle. Kicking and bucking at every step of the way, the bachelors are gentled by soft touches and warm caresses until each finds himself riding the range with a brand-new partner.--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Red Sorghum: A Novel of China Review

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(More customer reviews)The Japanese Invasion of China in 1937 is a dark period in history. The Japanese committed many horrible crimes and atrocities on the Chinese population. Red Sorghum in very graphic graphic detail describes some of these atrocities and their impact on the Chinese civilian population.
But the book is much more than that. WWII does play a major role in the book, but the book is also a look into Chinese culture, family, and is such a moving window on China during this time period.
This is not an easy read. The translation is very good, but the book is very detailed and again at times very graphic. I do not like to bash books like the Good Earth or The Single Pebble as many people do. I agree that neither book was written by a Chinese person and I understand some of the criticism that orginates from that fact. I enjoyed both books and think they are valuable. HOwever, if you are from the school that demands a Chinese author and a Chinese voice to Chinese literature you must read Mo Yan. He is a gifted writer and he brings to life some very difficult times in Chinese History.
This is a very powerful book and parts of it will stay with you long after you have read the book. Again, this is not an easy book to read but well worth the effort.

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The Wild Girl: The Notebooks of Ned Giles, 1932 Review

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(More customer reviews)In 1999, elderly photographer Ned Giles explains one of his photographs to a man attending a New York showing of Giles's photos. The image is of a young Apache girl in a Mexican jail. The girl, Giles says, was called "the wild girl," and was found naked and starving in Mexico's Sierra Madre. The man purchases the photograph, leaving Giles to remember the girl's story, and his own, in detail. The tale, relayed by journal entries, flashbacks, and from the point of view of several characters, is set in 1932 and begins with the girl running desperately through the arroyo below the Sierra Madre while the cougar hunter Billy Flowers chases her.
Seventeen-year-old Ned Giles joins a large expedition as a photojournalist to Mexico to retrieve a kidnapped boy from the Apaches. Ned makes friends with wealthy and outspokenly gay Tolley, cultural anthropologist Margaret, and his own young assistant, Jesus.
Meanwhile, Flowers chases the Apache girl again, as she has escaped. The girl had been with her family, in a raid led by her crazy brother-in-law, Indio Juan, when they kidnapped the rich rancher's little boy. She remembers the kidnapping as she hides in a cave from Flowers. When Flowers finally catches the wild girl, he has no idea what to do with her, and so he takes her to the nearby town jail.
In the tiny village of Bavispe, Sonora, Ned encounters the shocking sight of the Apache girl tied to a post in front of the jail. He arranges to bathe and clothe her. Along with his friends, he hatches a plan that should benefit everyone, including the girl and the kidnapped boy --- trade the girl for the kidnapped boy. A small band consisting of Ned, the girl, an English butler, Tolley, Margaret, Jesus, and two Indian scouts set off to accomplish the mission. The Apaches soon capture them, and Ned finds himself in "...another world, a world with its own sun and moon, and its own separate race of man" --- and in imminent mortal danger.
As a tribute to Jim Fergus's talents as a storyteller, I literally could not put down this novel, staying up until nearly dawn to finish it. The characters are full-blooded and alive; the adventure unfolds at a breathless pace and the descriptions are lyrical. As I watched Ned Giles leave chilly Chicago to set off on his adventure, my mind movie changed from black and white to warm Technicolor. The story felt so real that I actually checked (several times!) to be sure that the word "novel" hadn't somehow changed to "nonfiction" on the jacket flap. This is one of the best books I've read in years, and a story that will remain with me. Very highly recommended.
--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon

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John Newton A Slave Set Free (Trailblazers) Review

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(More customer reviews)We purchased this book to read aloud as a family. We're only about three-fourths of the way through, but I must admit I'd prefer to be reading Out of the Depths, Newton's own autobiography. Granted, the original would probably be too hard for my 9 and 7 year olds to understand, but I'm confident that my 11 and 13 year olds would do fine with it.
A Slave Set Free opens a little awkwardly in the present day. In the first chapter, two boys named Chris and James end up doing some exploration on their computer about the history of slavery. In the second chapter John Newton's story begins. Though we haven't finished the entire book, it doesn't appear that the author returns to the modern-day Chris and James computer scene.
Anyhow, my boys are all enjoying it. The author does a good job depicting slave conditions on the ships. My nine year old was moved to tears listening to one of the passages.
Overall, a good book. I've always been happy with Christian Focus Publications. Author Irene Howat also wrote the "Ten Boys/Girls Who..." series, which my kids have really enjoyed.

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John stood and watched as some of the largest waves he had ever seen threw themselves at the ship. Very little stood between the young slave ship captain and death – and he knew it. His panic and fear made him think only of himself and nothing for the hundreds of men, women and children chained in the hold below. However, God still heard his prayers and the cries of the tortured humanity pleading for mercy and justice. The very man selling them into slavery would soon fight for their freedom. John Newton was one of the worst abusers of the African slave as he travelled the oceans to make money from their misery – but in the end his life was changed and so was theirs.

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