The Bells: A Novel Review

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(More customer reviews)I happen to love classical music and opera in particular. I am not a musicologist by any stretch, but I have a deep appreciation for how great music makes me FEEL, how it speaks to my heart and reaches the soul. And THAT is what I love most about The Bells: A Novel ~ a splendid visceral novel that gives voice to sound, to vibration, to resonance, to tone... and puts into words how the beauty of pure sound is felt in the heart of the beholder.
Richard Harvell accomplishes this astonishing feat by juxtaposing in three acts the story of Moses Froben ~ the man who was made into an angel, "Lo Svizzero... who could bring an audience to tears with his voice" ~ with the great opera in three acts by Christoph Willibald von Gluck: ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE. ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE is not only one of my favorite operas, and one reason why I am so fond of this novel, but the Greek mythology upon which the opera is based is brilliantly applied to the plotting of The Bells: A Novel.
As always when I review, I'd rather not not give a plot summary away but leave it to the reader's own discovery to fall under the spell of great storytelling. To succumb to this novel's charm occurs easily because the well researched background provides all of the vitality necessary for the story to be taken seriously. Its sounds are real. Its settings are real. Some of its characters are real. The history is real. For this reader, the willing suspension of disbelief was easily come by for total engagement in this very original and most enchanting novel.
The original version of the opera ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE, with libretto in Italian by Raniero da Calzabigi, was premiered in Vienna in 1762. It was conducted by the composer Gluck and the lead role of Orpheus was sung by the castrato Gaetano Guadagni. That much, as represented in The Bells: A Novel, is true, so it is not at all difficult to place the character Moses in that same operatic world of the mid-1700s.
Moses's story from his humble birth in the Swiss Alps to his renowned success on the greatest of stages is so many things: love, beauty, innocence, art, tragedy, drama, dilemma, hatred, loyalty, bravery, fear. His is an epic of emotional truths. Moses is a hero who opens a window into the human spirit. He does it with sound, with his breath, with his voice.
"God is beautiful. He's perfect. And he inspires us to be beautiful and perfect, too. We're not, of course. And that's exactly why we need beauty in our lives: to remind us how good we could be. That's why we chant. That's why Moses sings...For if we know perfect beauty, with our eyes, with our ears, even for a second, we'll come that tiny bit closer to being it ourselves."
The main thrust of the storyline in The Bells: A Novel is parallel to the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. The myth becomes the story of the hero Moses and his heroine Amalia. It is very touching and poignant. Another reviewer thought it too melodramatic and over-the-top but I feel, as one who actually loves the melodrama of opera, that this technique, as it does in opera, enables us to experience the emotion, to really get inside the human experience which is being showcased.
I loved this brilliant tour de force and I devoured it with relish. I really hated to put it down. It's been a long time since I was as hooked on cliff-hangers as I was between chapters in The Bells: A Novel. I adore opera (ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE in particular) and opera and voice play a huge role in the telling of this story. But the reader need not be an opera aficionado or a classical music buff to appreciate this great novel. If you love to read a well-told historical fiction, poetic in language and sensitive in manner, in which unforgettable characters appear in authentic settings, in which the action excites and intrigues, thenThe Bells: A Novel is for you.

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Their Eyes Were Watching God Review

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(More customer reviews)"There Eyes Were Watching God," by Zora Neale Hurston, is widely acknowledged as a beloved classic of American literature. This novel is truly one of those great works that remains both entertaining and deeply moving; it is a book for classrooms, for reading groups of all types, and for individual readers.
In "There Eyes," Hurston tells the life story of Janie, an African-American woman. We accompany Janie as she experiences the very different men in her life. Hurston's great dialogue captures both the ongoing "war of the sexes," as well as the truces, joys, and tender moments of male-female relations. But equally important are Janie's relationships with other Black women. There are powerful themes of female bonding, identity, and empowerment which bring an added dimension to this book.
But what really elevates "Their Eyes" to the level of a great classic is Hurston's use of language. This is truly one of the most poetic novels in the American canon. Hurston blends the engaging vernacular speech of her African-American characters with the lovely "standard" English of her narrator, and in both modes creates lines that are just beautiful.
"Their Eyes" captures the universal experiences of pain and happiness, love and loss. And the whole story is told with both humor and compassion. If you haven't read it yet, read it; if you've already read it, read it again.

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The Brothers Karamazov (Modern Library) Review

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(More customer reviews)In his most comprehensive (and not coincidentally, his final) masterpiece, Dostoyevsky addresses and discusses a number of the most fundamental and universal issues which face man. His multiple perspectives are embodied in seperate characters -- taken together, these characters form the whole of the Karamazov family, and these perspectives constitute the whole of Dostoyevsky's view.
Each of the brothers represents a distinct school of thought or values -- the impulsive Dmitri portrays the instinctive and carnal desires of man; the nihilist, Ivan, displays the cold and unforgiving intellectual, governed by the rules of logic alone; the religious Alyosha, student to the Great Elder Zossima, depicts the humble and devout spiritualist. While the murder of their father, Fyodor Karamazov, is the catalyst to the real action of the book, it is certainly not the central focus -- a fact that might be surmised in light of the fact that the murder is not carried out until more than halfway through the text.
Instead, the work is a discussion and analysis of man's values and beliefs, and an affirmation of Dostoyevsky's fundamental conviction: that the presence of the human spirit cannot be denied without disastrous results, and that despite the assertions of the nihilists, God is a necessary element in the world of man.

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The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky's crowning achievement, is a tale of patricide and family rivalry that embodies the moral and spiritual dissolution of an entire society (Russia in the 1870s). It created a national furor comparable only to the excitement stirred by the publication, in 1866, of Crime and Punishment. To Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov captured the quintessence of Russian character in all its exaltation, compassion, and profligacy. Significantly, the book was on Tolstoy's bedside table when he died. Readers in every language have since accepted Dostoevsky's own evaluation of this work and have gone further by proclaiming it one of the few great novels of all ages and countries. "The Brothers Karamazov stands as the culmination of Dostoevsky's art--his last, longest, richest, and most capacious book," said The Washington Post Book World. "Nothing is outside Dostoevsky's province," observed Virginia Woolf. "Out of Shakespeare there is no more exciting reading."The Modern Library has played a significant role in American cultural life for the better part of a century. The series was founded in 1917 by the publishers Boni and Liveright and eight years later acquired by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer. It provided the foun-dation for their next publishing venture, Random House. The Modern Library has been a staple of the American book trade, providing readers with affordable hard-bound editions of important works of liter-ature and thought. For the Modern Library's seventy-fifth anniversary, Random House redesigned the series, restoring as its emblem the running torchbearer created by Lucian Bernhard in 1925 and refurbishing jackets, bindings, and type, as well as inau-gurating a new program of selecting titles. The Modern Library continues to provide the world's best books, at the best prices.

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The Poet of Loch Ness Review

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(More customer reviews)Brian Jay Corrigan has crafted a novel with characters that I grew to know and love. He has created characters who are real and experience human emotions that make us understand ourselves a little bit better. Scotland has never been more beautiful than in the author's descriptions of the land and landscapes, and if you have never been to Scotland, you will want to go after reading this novel. The Poet of Loch Ness is an incredible story full of mystery, suspense, humor, sadness, and happiness that speaks to the heart and soul of the reader. After you finish the book, the title of the novel poses an interesting question ---- Who is the Poet of Loch Ness? The novel is a must read, and when you start reading, be prepared, you will not be able to put it down! Corrigan leaves us eagerly anticipating his next novel for he has given his readers a gift of characters we will never forget.

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Cranford (AD Classic Library Edition) Review

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(More customer reviews)This paperback version is the one that the recent tv series fan will want, because unlike some of the other paperback versions, it includes the three Gaskell novellas that were the basis for the Judi Dench-Eileen Atkins miniseries. The three books were
"Cranford", "My Lady Ludlow" and "Mr Harrison's Confessions."
Mrs Gaskell stories are considered comedies, and this comes clear in the original texts. Some sadness of course in events, but mostly there is a clear comic, even sardonic voice in which we can fall in love with the characters and still laugh at their foibles, fashions, and foolishness which seem still so apropos today.
Highly recommended.

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Cranford is a witty portrait of small town life in early-Victorian England. The story unfolds through the eyes of Mary Smith, a young woman who observes the comedic struggles of two middle aged sisters in their efforts to maintain a level of refined dignity amid poverty. The story reveals "touches of love and kindness, of simple self-sacrifice and of true womanly tenderness... naturally and truthfully just as they are found in the current of real life." Cranford is based on the experiences of Elizabeth Gaskell's childhood upbringing in Cheshire, UK. Twelve years after publishing Cranford, Gaskell has kind words for her most prolific work. "It is the only one of my books that I can read again; but whenever I am ailing or ill, I take Cranford and - I was going to say, enjoy it! (but that would not be pretty!) laugh over it afresh!" This edition includes artwork by George Du Maurier, commissioned by Smith, Elder & Co. in 1864, and artwork by Hugh Thomson for Macmillan and Co. in 1891.

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Louisa May Alcott: Little Women, Little Men, Jo's Boys (Library of America) Review

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(More customer reviews)Louisa May Alcott is best known for her classic novel "Little Women," an enchanting look at growing up. But the story of Jo March didn't stop when she went to Plumfields. This collection includes not just "Little Women," but also its two sequels.

"Little Women" introduces us to the four March sisters: pretty Meg, shy Beth, aspiring artist Amy, and tomboyish Jo. In the middle of the Civil War, the girls mature and explore the world, with the help of their mischievous male neighbor Laurie. But with their new freedoms and loves come sacrifices and heartbreak as well...

At the end of the first book, "Mother Bhaer" adopted a small army of preteen boys in addition to her own sons. "Little Men" chronicles the growing pains of her boys -- some of them have been neglected, some are wild, some are nieces and "nevvies" of Jo's, and some just need the delightful chaos of a loving home.

"Jo's Boys" wraps up the trilogy in a bittersweet manner. Jo's boys (and girls) have grown up and are starting to stretch their wings away from home, and are even starting to fall in love. Some of the boys have run-ins with the law, some have trouble pursuing the girls of their dreams, and one will risk his very soul -- and his love -- for something he believes in.

With a much-beloved classic like "Little Women," it's pretty much a given that the sequels won't stack up. But "Little Men" and "Jo's Boys" are still a good mixture of humor, poignancy and "lovering." And of course, the original "Little Women" is one of the best coming-of-age novels of all time, as well as the best book that Alcott ever wrote.

Alcott had a talent for writing realistic family stories and sweet romances, without letting them get dull. And she manages to create a colorful cast, from the mischievous Laurie and rambunctious Jo, to the gentle Marmee and the meek-to-mad cast of "Jo's boys." No matter how many characters Alcott wrote, she managed to give each one a personality.

Louisa May Alcott created the lovable March family, and in the three-pack of "Little Women," "Little Men" and "Jo's Boys," we get to see three generations in action. Funny, poignant and sweet.

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Lord of the Flies (50th Anniversary Edition) Review

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(More customer reviews)"Lord of the Flies" is singularly the most important novel for required reading, whether assigned in school or self-imposed. It regularly appears as number one on my own list of best books.
Let's play "What if." What if a plane carrying a full load of school boys crashes on a deserted island with no adult survivors? What would happen to those boys? What would you expect to happen?
William Golding works with this premise: an idyllic setting, innocent schoolboys. One boy, an older boy just short of teenage years, a boy with fair hair, assumes leadership to stir the others into some semblance of organization and survival mode, much like adults would do if adults were present. He also saw a need to defuse the web of fear of the younger ones. Where are we? How long will we need to wait before someone comes for us? All questions with no answers at this time.
Ah, yes, Golding tells us, everything goes well for a while. But remember the "scar" made by the crashing plane? Something ugly is on this island (but it's not the scar). It's in the bushes, in the dark, in the depths, in the depths of hearts, and it grows like the malignancy it is.
A blatant revelation of what is about to come occurs when Roger silently and stealthily watches a young'un, unbeknownst to the little child. All the young'un is doing is running a stick through the sand, disturbing a crab in a tiny pool of water. Even he imposes control and fear on a helpless creature as Roger boldly picks up a couple of rocks and tosses them the youngster's way. He deliberately misses but comes closer with each throw. Next time he will probably hit the young boy, but not yet. This taboo--deliberately and unnecessarily causing pain to one smaller than you--has not been broken--yet.
Although the dance of the spears, the primeval chants, the attack and killing of the pig, then feasting on its flesh, their kill, are shocking acts of savagery, this event is foreshadowed by the seemingly innocent lob of the stones. From a casual incident, but one with eventual intentionality, the ritualistic slaughter is not so far-fetched or surprising. Golding prepares his readers. This is how the chaos of society starts. It begins with one simple disconnect from the rules. It begins in the minds and hearts. Will I do what society expects? Will I follow the rules to keep things running and working? Do I break a rule or two for my own enhancement. Will I feel a power surge if my rock hits that young `un?
Ralph would probably speak of the terror of knowing that rules WILL be broken. He would speak of the utter horror that any rule can be and will be broken and he won't live to tell about it. Just ask Piggy.
This novel is the only one I taught over and over during the twelve years I worked with high school seniors. My other choices I would switch around those years, drop some, add some. This one I kept. It is that important. I think of "Lord of the Flies" as a necessary manual for societal behavior and an effort to keep the chaos of evil at bay.
Is it even necessary to ask how many times that rock has been thrown since this novel was published in the 1950's? Or how much chaos has imploded so many lives?
Like the way of manuals, some remain in circulation and are deeply read; others fall by the wayside out of disinterest. Some are thrown in the trash. "Lord of the Flies"--what is its current status? And society--how is it doing? Reader, are you a little bit fearful?


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