Book Description
Jo Beth Sidden trains bloodhounds for a living and occasionally takes on a tracking assignment such as hunting down a sweet old lady who has wandered off into the Okefenokee Swamp. Unfortunately, wily prison escapee Jimmy Joe Lane has decided that he and Jo Beth are the perfect match, and his adoring kinfolk support their good ole boy's delusions.
Suddenly Jo Beth has serious man-trouble, on top of a series of bizarre deaths that are further complicating her life. But when Jimmy Joe threatens her favorite hound, Jo Beth really sees red. Before he harms one hair on her canine friend, she swears she'll bring the crazed criminal to justice—along with his whole twisted family if necessary. Or else she'll die trying!
Customer Reviews:
For Love of Animals.......2006-06-28
Ms. Lanier's mysteries, starring her training kennel of bloodhounds, continue to fascinate and delight me. Whether Ms. Lanier actually owns bloodhounds or just loves the breed, she shows in every word and chapter her admiration for these noble animals. Her description of the training and then the tracking with said animals is so detailed that I feel I could almost take part in the training and tracking, but in addition, the story lines are so much fun to follow. I find myself huffing, puffing and sweating right along with the handlers as they search for a lost human, or are tracking a wanted criminal. Great reads! Hope she continues to write more books every year.
Sadly, The Last In This Great Series.......2005-05-28
Jo Beth Sidden lives in Georgia on the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp. She breeds and trains bloodhounds and occasionally contracts with the county to use her dogs for search and rescue. In this outing, Jo Beth tracks a mentally altered 84-year-old woman who has wandered into the swamp. Meantime, Jimmy Joe Lane has escaped from prison again and has convinced himself that he and Jo Beth are meant for each other. His views on courting Jo Beth are bizarre, to put it mildly. This is a very good and comfortable read, as are all of Lanier's stories. I was saddened to hear of Virginia Lanier's passing. I am going to miss her stories. It's a joy to read about the southern lifestyle...the etiquette and traditions. But the true stars of these books are the heroic and loveable bloodhounds. A must read for all dog lovers.
A series to die for!.......2004-04-29
I don't think this book is quite as tough as the others in the series, but it is still an excellent read. It is more of a character development story than the normal action-filled books, not that it doesn't have plenty of action in it. I think Ms Lanier was trying to tie up Jo Beth and Company as much as possible for her faithful readers - like me! - so we leave satisfied with the closure. I am sorry to hear she has died, because I really wanted to meet the author and talk to her since I live in the area the story is set in - she has these people pegged, I can promise you! The way she so lovingly describes the bloodhounds makes me want to go buy one, but Ms Lanier also makes sure to emphasize that these dogs require a lot of work on the owner's part, so people don't just run out and buy them like they do whenever a Dalmation movie comes out... You need to educate yourself about whatever breed you are dealing with is what Jo Beth preaches.
The grand finale to a wonderful series........2004-04-12
I don't understand the dissenters here who didn't enjoy this book. In many ways, it was the best of the series. Jo Beth Sidden finally grows up and becomes a complete, but vulnerable person. The entire series is highly recommended to mystery and bloodhound lovers. It's a shame it has to end. I have eight bloodhounds, and they're ALL to die for!
A Bloodhound to Die For.......2004-01-25
Having read all the previous books in this series, I was anxious to read this final book. I enjoyed it immensely and was glad that many of the loose ends were tied up. This final novel was somewhat different than the earlier five. Perhaps it was because Ms. Lanier was aware of her failing health and finished the series for fear that she wouldn't be around to give us further adventures of these colorful characters. I am heartbroken that we will hear no more from this talented writer. I highly recommend this book and all the others in the Bloodhound series.
Customer Reviews:
Mostly recycled but worth it........2005-08-07
This is mostly recycled adventures from first edition sources. I wish more of an attempt was made to link the adventures together and the experience levels are arranged a bit oddly. The beginning adventures appear later in the book. However, there is a good mix of materials including some classics and one or two hard to find scenarios. Overall, it is a good grab bag to throw at your group.
Average customer rating:
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Plundered Vaults
Manufacturer: GAMES WORKSHOP (ABS)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GSKSO4 |
Book Description
Informative book on Adrenal Fatigue.
Customer Reviews:
Must Have.......2007-09-27
This is a fantastic reference book for people who have or think they may have Adrenal Fatigue. I have also found it a helpful recommendation for many other people that suffer from similar types of health issues (i.e., stress/burnout, anxiety, hormone imbalance, depression, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome). Dr. Wilson gives easy-to-understand information about how to navigate the health system, understand your symptoms, understand how your problem developed, and a wholistic approach to recovery. You will not be disappointed!
A Must Have for Adrenal Sufferers.......2007-09-04
This book is worth its weight in gold for a plan to renew health. James Wilson is known by my own natural health provider as a brilliant gift to adrenal burnout patients. There is much wisdom for healthy living, in general, packed in its pages.
worth reading again.......2007-08-05
I really think this book has a lot of good information. It is worth taking the time to read it. Study it, and really get to know the topic. It has expalined a lot about the stress induced problems affecting people today.
Helpful tips and hints.......2007-07-20
I have not read this book from cover to cover, but it is very helpful figuring out how to handle this situation.
Helped Me Build Myself Up When I Ran Myself Down.......2007-05-26
I purchased this book a few years ago at the recommendation of my pharmacist. It described me to a "T." I'd had several things happen in the recent past (extended sickness and death of family members) and was doing quite well I thought, except that I felt run down all the time, was having trouble with my asthma and couldn't keep weight off. Using the book and its suggestions, I was able to turn around my health significantly. My asthma improved, my weight came down, and I stopped catching every cold and flu bug that came my way.
Book Description
Jonathan Gold has eaten it all.COUNTER INTELLIGENCE collects over 200 of Gold's best restaurant discoveries--from inexpensive lunch counters you won't find on your own to the perfect undiscovered dish at a beaten-path establishment. He reveals the hidden kitchens where Los Angeles' ethnic communities feed their own, including the best of cuisine from: Argentina, Armenia, Brazil, Burma, Canton, Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the Middle East, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Peru, Thailand, Vietnam and more. (set as bulletted list?)Not to mention the perfectly prepared hamburger and Los Angeles' quintessential hot dog.COUNTER INTELLIGENCE is the richest and most complete guide to eating in Los Angeles. The listings include where to find it and how much you'll pay (in many cases, not very much) with appendices that cover food types and feeding by neighborhood.
Customer Reviews:
The Dish on the Deli .......2007-09-01
author of Cooking Jewish: 532 Great Recipes from the Rabinowitz Family
from the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles
October 4, 2002
Jonathan Gold knows his pastrami. He should. As restaurant critic to Gourmet magazine, he has sampled delis from coast to coast (by his count, 20 last week in New York alone). In his book "Counter Intelligence: Where to Eat in the Real Los Angeles" (St. Martin's Press) this James Beard Award-winner writes, "The fact is inescapable: Langer's probably serves the best pastrami sandwich in America."
So what better place to meet than Langer's (over pastrami, of course) to discuss the deli scene as Gold prepares for the panel discussion he will host with Los Angeles' top deli owners in conjunction with the Yiddishkayt festival.
The Jewish Journal: Today the egg roll, taco and pizza are thought of as American food. Do you think deli food is still considered Jewish food?
Jonathan Gold: Sure, it is. At Junior's in Brooklyn you have African American and Caribbean and Asian people, and the place is completely hopping at 1 a.m. I'm not sure there's a Jew in the room, but they're all completely aware of what they're eating, even if they're having a patty melt instead of a pastrami sandwich. People know what deli means.
Sixty years ago in Los Angeles probably the biggest concentration of Jews was in Boyle Heights, but there's still generations and generations of people who grew up having Canter's in the neighborhood, having pastrami in the neighborhood, and they're hungry for it.
There's a fast food stand called Oki Dog on Pico [Boulevard] near La Brea [Avenue] owned by Okinawans where you have people doing Mexican versions of Jewish food with Okinawan-style cabbage and serving the entire thing to African Americans. It's just great.
JJ: How do you think the deli plays in Peoria, Ill.?
JG: I don't think the deli does play in Middle America. One of my favorite delis anywhere is Shapiro's in downtown Indianapolis, which is great, but it's hard to sustain a restaurant when the people who know what the food is really supposed to taste like aren't there.
JJ: How has our health consciousness affected delis in general?
JG: The successful delis have everything on the menu. I think the biggest seller at Junior's is Chinese Chicken Salad. They probably go through a half-ton a week.
JJ: Which dish is the benchmark by which you rate a deli?
JG: Pastrami on rye. If you can't do pastrami on rye, you have no reason to exist. There's something great about how much attention Langer's pays to its pastrami and its bread. There's not any less detail to the food here than somebody like Wolfgang Puck will have to the food at Spago's. When your basic core item is good, it's like a steakhouse having great steak. Everything else is gravy.
They all get pastrami out of the same package and steam it, but these guys steam it a lot longer, so it becomes denser, but also more tender, and there's more shrinkage. Most places don't do that because it's expensive.
If you're going to serve eight pounds instead of 10, there's a huge difference in your bottom line.
And there's something about hand slicing that gives with the shape of the muscle. It's like the difference between eating sushi and eating a chunk of fish.
JJ: Why do deli patrons put up with, even welcome, rudeness from servers they would never tolerate elsewhere?
JG: It's part of our culture, isn't it? We want what we want when we want it, and the deli has the first shot at that. It sounds weird, but I feel more Jewish when I walk into a deli than when I walk into a shul, because it's the smells, it's the people, it's the way they dress, it's the whole L.A. Jewish thing rolled up into one long wait in line at Junior's.
JJ: What do you see as the future of the deli?
JG: I don't know. As long as we're around, there will be delis. The delis tend to follow us Jewish people wherever we move. Brent's deli in Northridge is in an area that wasn't especially Jewish 15 years ago or so, but enough Jews are suddenly brought together by the possibility of some decent chopped liver ... because even if they marry outside of the religion or never go to shul, that's the one thing they can't give up.
JJ: How do you think L.A. delis compare to those in New York?
JG: I think Los Angeles might be the best deli town in the country right now. I have spent my entire life being sneered at by New Yorkers for living some inferior version of Jewish life here, and then I move to New York and find out that, gosh sakes, it's right here in Los Angeles.
Nate `n' Al's is a great place. It has Beverly Hills hard-wired. It knows everything about Beverly Hills. The same people have been coming, sitting at the same counter at the same time in the morning, for 40 years.
Art's has real energy to it. There's a lot of show biz guys, and it's fancy in a way that sometimes feels a little absurd when you realize you're in there for a corned beef sandwich.
The delis here are not theme parks the way they are in New York. In New York you go to the Stage, and if there's one regular patron to every 10 tourists, it would surprise me.
Some of the delis in New York's outer boroughs are really good places, but they don't exist as cultural centers, because there's enough Jewish cultural resonance everywhere you go in New York that you don't necessarily need to have it confirmed by a restaurant. But in Los Angeles, places like Brent's, Junior's, Art's, they're real in a certain way. They're what the owners want them to be. They're what the neighborhood wants them to be. They're indivisible from the people around them, who are -- let's face it -- us. And there's something great about that.
The mundane becomes art.......2007-05-01
Jonathan Gold just won a Pulitzer (4/07) for his food writing, and he deserved it. Read it for the writing, even if you never go out. He makes a Shackburger sound better than it tastes, although no one should go through life without eating at the Shack at least once.
One problem: The book is seven years old, so a few of the places have closed their doors.
Not a guide to LA's best or most famous eateries, but a guide to the best ethnic places in working-class neighborhoods (Sort of. Calling the Shack ethnic stretches the adjective to breaking but most of the restaurants do fit that category.)
Excellent writing but wildly unreliable.......2006-08-15
Be forewarned: Jonathan Gold's culinary prose is compelling reading, but any attempts to use this as an actual guidebook for restaurants in Los Angeles should be heavily researched first. Perhaps I just have extraordinarily bad luck, but each time I've tried to visit one of the restaurants, something's gone wrong. Aladdin Falafel (p. 2) no longer exists, though its sign is still up there on the corner mini-mall placard. India's Tandoori (p. 137) no longer serves Tandoori pizza, so temptingly describe in Rich's essay. Gagnier's Creole Kitchen (p. 109) in Santa Monica disappeared years ago. With that said, I would still recommend the book as a fun read for those who enjoy learning more about the culinary diversity available in Los Angeles.
Still Hungry .......2006-07-31
Some key spots were missing and that's a shame, but overall a good buy
Eat and Learn from Jonathan Gold.......2006-05-07
Jonathan Gold is the "go to" guy to learn more about food! And the cool thing is, he is even kind enough to donate his time and expertise to those interested in supporting a cause and getting the chance to meet with him. EAT WITH JONATHAN GOLD at an L.A. restaurant that he is researching! Bid on it at [...] -- BEFORE May 16, 2006. You'll get a chance to meet this food critic and great writer of culinary explorations AND support a great cause! Enjoy the book and enjoy the chance to meet him!
Book Description
Susan Chernak McElroy, author of the New York Times bestseller Animals As Healers and Teachers, has long believed that animals offer solace as well as lessons in living to anyone willing to listen. In her bestseller Animals As Teachers and Healers, she told others' stories of the healing power of animals. In this book, she tells her own stories.
Described by the author as a kind of prayer, the ten stories here explore concepts of ownership; naming, and unnaming, things; interpreting signs and language; animals as mirrors of the soul; and honoring one's own stories. Typical is the story about rats that explores what it means to be stigmatized, for both humans and animals. Included are suggestions for practices and meditations that will guide readers into deeper connection with their own stories and their own relationships with those creatures with whom they share their lives.
Customer Reviews:
another inspiration.......2006-07-14
Ms McElroy's books are ever a delight to read. I spent a lot of time with tissue close at hand during this one. The stories are enlightening and often reminded me of lessons that I had, or perhaps had not, learned from the animals in my own life.
The stories are not always cheerful, but they are thought-provoking if you see animals as more than property. Her story on the spiders in particular has made me take a different look at the creepy-crawly things that live in my house, which I'm sure they appreciate.
Soul searching and a must-read !.......2005-01-31
This is truly a warm, thoughtful, intelligent book filled with new insight and ideas to creatively enhance minds, souls, and works with animals and nature. Anyone who has a yearning to feel a deeper connection with animals or nature needs to read this book. Susan not only shares gifts of animals, but truly delves deeply into our relations with all of God's creation. It is one of the most important books I have read. I was profoundly moved.
Bonnie Hess
Shifting Our Paradigm of Relationships In Nature.......2005-01-14
Susan Chernak McElroy's fourth book, All My Relations, is an excellent contribution to deepening our understanding of human relationships with animals. Having read her previous books and attended a few of her presentations, I realize that she may be one of the most original and insightful observers and storytellers of human - animal relationships in a generation. Her stories tell of a powerful and mystical oneness that not only she experiences with animals and other creatures, but of a level of understanding and experience that are available to us all if we are willing to embrace a different way of being with Nature. The exercises she offers at the end of each story are simple yet valuable pathways to reach and experience this deeper level. I highly recommend All My Relations not just to those persons with animals, but to all people, and the sooner in life - the better, such as for school english and literature classes. Perhaps it is not too late for the current generations of adults to be empowered to achieve a paradigm shift in the way we view and behave concerning all of our relations in Nature. Susan Chernak McElroy's book can serve as an instrument for achieving this paradigm shift.
kinship.......2005-01-02
I am not a writer, but if I could write about my feelings toward animals this is the book I would write. The book helped me write my own thoughts with guidance at the end of each chapter.
Book Description
-Diverse appeal - hip young consumer crowd into retro clothes and veteran collectors with a passion and an eye for vintage
-Vintage clothing is featured in 64,000 auctions daily on eBay
From 1920s flapper dresses to 1950s beaded cardigans and bell-bottom jeans of the '70s, vintage clothing is helping to define today's fashions. This book covers pricing and history of affordable items sold at general stores including Sears and Montgomery-Ward, as well as expensive couture from leading designers such as Chanel and Dior. In this handy guide, historians, collectors and consumers with an eye for fashion will discover:
-Clothes and accessories from the 1800s-1979 for men, women and children
-1,200 detailed color photos to assist with identification
-History snippets about each era featured
-Prices and identification for more than 2,500 items
Average customer rating:
- Quick gifts and spot samplers
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Two-Hour Country Cross-Stitch: Over 500 Designs
Susie Steadman
Manufacturer: Sterling Pub Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Cross-Stitch
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ASIN: 0806961244 |
Book Description
These adorable works of art can be done in just two hours or less. Garden motifs, seasonal styles, children’s designs, friendly animals, and unique letter forms set the stage for this fantastic source of creative inspiration. Hundreds of full-color, fully charted patterns can be stitched to create a pincushion, a pillowcase, a bedspread, and more.
Customer Reviews:
Quick gifts and spot samplers.......2000-08-09
I have been cross-stitching for years. Although this book contains mostly simple designs (full and half cross-stitch and backstiching only), it is quite handy for making quick gifts. I've used the patterns to make shower gifts of cross-stitched placemats and napkins, Christmas ornaments, and sachets. I've also used it to design spot motif samplers. Finally, I used it to teach cross-stitch to beginners.
Customer Reviews:
Great Seller.......2005-09-21
The book was just as described. The seller was fast in responding and sending the item. Would do business with again.
A Wonderful Resource for Traditional European Cross Stitch.......2005-02-17
The designs in this book are absolutely stunning, beautiful, and versatile. There is also a great variety of designs one could use for many projects and gifts. The designs are special because they are indeed a kind of historical record of the peoples who stitched them. Some of them had even been stitched with human hair! The only thing that disappointed me is there wasn't much history presented about the designs. I would have also liked to know a little bit about the families who had them as family heirlooms. There was a brief introduction about some of the styles, but it wasn't very organized. I found myself spending some time on writing what I could find about the designs next to the plates so I had some kind of reference to where they came from. However, the authors put a lot of research into presenting as many designs as accurately as possible. According to the book, they had to view some of the finished pieces under a magnifying glass to graph them accurately. If you are of European ancestry and love traditional cross stitch/embroidery desings, and if you want something authentic, special, and creative, then you will love this book. The designs are presented in black and white, and the charts are clear,large, and easy to follow. Also there are LOTS of them. If you worked out of this book alone, you could spend years stitching. In my opinion, this book is worth much more than I paid for it.
Average customer rating:
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50 Country Garden Cross-Stitch Designs (Step-By-Step Series)
Linda Burgess
Manufacturer: Smithmark Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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American Country Cross Stitch: Over 40 Delightful Designs Inspired by American Folk Art
Dorothy Wood
Manufacturer: Sterling Pub Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0706376269 |
Product Description
9 designs for christmas themed bread cloths.
Product Description
Instructions for counted cross stitch to create five different country designs suitable for framing or for clothing
Average customer rating:
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Mapping Meanings: The Field of New Learning in Late Qing China (Sinica Leidensia)
Natascha Vittinghoff , and
International Conference Translating We
Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 9004139192 |
Book Description
Mapping Meanings is essentially a broad-ranged introduction to China's intellectual entry into the family of nations. Written by a fine selection of experts, it guides the reader into the terrain of China's (late Qing) encounter with Western knowledge and modern sciences, and at the same time connects convincingly to the broader question of the mobility of knowledge. The late Qing literati's pursue of New Learning was a transnational practice inseparable from the local context. Mapping Meanings therefore attempts to highlight what the encountered global knowledge could have meant to specific social actors in the specific historical situation. Subjects included are the transformation of the examination system, the establishment of academic disciplines, and new social actors and questions of new terminologies.
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Bone Lunch Box (Bone)
Manufacturer: Dark Horse Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Misc. Supplies
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Rose
ASIN: 1569717257 |
Book Description
The fantastical world of Bone finally makes its way onto a lunch box! Dark Horse asked creator Jeff Smith to come up with a special design for this carry-all, and the result is nothing short of magic. Carry your charms, maps, goodies, and your lunch, too, in this full-color, embossed metal lunch box.
Customer Reviews:
A fine lunchbox.......2004-10-13
I've been using this lunch box for the past year, and it's pretty good. It's got a nice picture of all the Bone characters having a picnic lunch on one side, and Bone and Thorn being chased by rat creatures on the other. Also comes with a postcard of the picnic scene.
I find that it doesn't always latch correctly, but have otherwise been very satisfied with it, and it never fails to draw a compliment.
Average customer rating:
- A compelling memoir
- Scattering the Ashes
- scattered and repetitive
- A moving story about reconciliation with the past
- A courageous book -- difficult and rewarding.
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Scattering the Ashes
Maria Del Carmen Boza
Manufacturer: Bilingual Review Press.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0927534754 |
Book Description
Memoir. "The vivid and compassionate story of one woman's- and one family's- struggle to come to terms with the shattering consequences of exile. Highly recommended for the poignancy of its writing and the sensitive portrayal of an often misunderstood community"-Gustavo Perez Firmat. SCATTERING THE ASHES is a book about exile, about Cuba and her offspring, and about the power of history and politics over Cubans' daily lives. Maria del Carmen Boza tells that shared history through the private story of a family living and adapting awkwardly to an alien land, with, according to Howard Norman, "unmitigated integrity, beauty, courage and passion." Boza lives in Maine and teaches in the writing workshop at Bates College.
Customer Reviews:
A compelling memoir.......2006-08-11
I recently returned from Cuba, and it has been quite difficult for me to reconcile the bitterness of Cuban Americans with the beauty of the island. I have been reading a lot of Cuban American memoirs from the 1.5 generation recently, and Maria Del Carmen Boza is the first author who I have seen to set aside her anger over losing her homeland with the Revolution and creating a real portrait of Cuba in the 1950's. A beautiful piece of literature, I highly recommend this book.
Also recommended, Three Trapped Tigers, The Fourteen Sisters of Emilio Montez O'Brien, the Moon Guide to Cuba
Scattering the Ashes.......2000-05-15
Reading about the betrayal by the Kennedy administration of the invasion by Brigade 2506 was one of the first topics that shaped my view of things. It may have been in "None Dare Call It Treason" which I read in 1964. In any event, it made a great impression on me as a twelve-year-old boy. In the same time period, I was reading "Reminiscences" the autobiography of Gen. Douglas MacArthur and "Conscience of a Conservative" by Sen. Barry Morris Goldwater. Reading details of Giron in Maria's book, details which were unavailable in 1964, brought back all of the personal anguish which I felt at the time and somehow it was a reassurance that the frustration and anguish which I have held close to my heart all of these years was a validation; a validation of my own life.
The failure to defeat Castro by actually supporting actions like Brigade 2506 has been the most disastrous blunder in American history. Certainly, I think that it ranks as first place as the damage that Castro has inflicted upon the world as a Soviet client state has had the most direct impact upon my country. The betrayal of Chiang Kai-Shek and the Alger Hiss conspiracy with Joseph Stalin at Yalta would rank second and third. Every time I view something by the CBS news department, it reminds me that I'm in "internal exile" in my own country.
I have a great respect for Maria del Carmen Boza for writing about her family in such a close personal way as it exposes her private life to the public. To bring all of their vastitudes and personal strengths and weaknesses to public view gives me a greater appreciation of myself and the value of life itself. For this gift I can only say "thank you."
scattered and repetitive.......1999-01-09
I am an avid reader of latino fiction and eagerly bought this book hoping that it would be a good addition to my latino literature course. I was thoroughly dissapointed. The text is repetitive and awkward in its prose. Worst of all it presents as a text about Cuban exile, but reads like a tale of a woman who has unresolved issues with her dead father and her disconnected mother. If you are interested in reading about a woman's struggle to understand her identity--this book is a decent read.
A moving story about reconciliation with the past.......1998-07-08
The act of emigration is traumatic for most of us, who retain the freedom to return to our homelands, to visit family and friends, to find the comfort of familiar sights and sounds. In Ms. Boza's memoir, a fragile young girl emigrates to this country as an exile who can never see her extended family or home again. She writes a poignant and thought-provoking story about her struggle to make peace with her past and move on with her life. While this book is not eary to read, it is beautifully written and worth the effort. I'm still thinking about it.
A courageous book -- difficult and rewarding........1998-05-15
Think of Cuban exiles and you will likely come up with a stereotypical figure -- rich, right-wing, insane. In the US this prejudice is largely unexamined. Cuban exiles are easy to dismiss. But I wouldn't dismiss this one.
Boza, a Cuban exile who came to the US when she was eight, has written a courageous book -- her first. Compelled to discover why her father committed suicide -- she explores the effect of the political on the personal within her own family, and within the exile community.
Boza writes compellingly about this life in exile, a life sometimes warped by memories of the old and the realities of the new. Her father was a player in Cuban exile politics, and was consumed with this, becoming more and more bitter after the Bay of Pigs fiasco. Yet he is sympathetic, and Boza is successful in writing honestly of an imperfect man in a way that makes his obsession understandable if not troubling.
But this memoir is not just about her father. It explores how, after coming to Miami, life in exile unravelled, how personal things, and connections with the commonplace - birthdays, clothes, food -, became more and more of an abstraction. And she writes about her own struggles to make her own world concrete again.
It is a difficult book in some ways. Boza moves against the grain. Her narrative skips in time. At times the narrative intrudes on our own sense of privacy making us a little uncomfortable. She often interrupts the narrative, disrupting the political with the personal or vice versa, taking long detours around the subject. Memory intrudes - some pleasant, some ugly. We look at it all. But the writing is strong throughout, and there are numerous long sections that are poetic if not sublime.
Life in exile, in spite of the ease with which we can imagine it, must have been/must be strange and isolating. Much more so for an eight-eighteen year old to watch ones parents slip into a kind of madness. There are no heroes in this book. But it took a lot of courage to write.
Average customer rating:
- Amazing
- Must-read poems--refreshingly insightful and lyrical
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Scattering the Ashes (Carnegie Mellon Poetry)
Jeff Friedman
Manufacturer: Carnegie-Mellon University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
20th Century
| Poetry
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Poetry
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
United States
| Single Authors
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0887482570 |
Customer Reviews:
Amazing.......2002-04-24
The poems were powerful, moving, real.
I enjoyed every one. A must for any reader!
Must-read poems--refreshingly insightful and lyrical.......1999-04-12
Scattering the Ashes is a brilliant and lyrical collection of poems that offers a clear-eyed yet compassionate insight into everyday realities: families, factories, friends. Friedman, too, widens his sharp view to include fresh analogies to Biblical characters and scenes, such as Isaac as a used-car dealer. Readers will identify with his narratives, be touched and moved by his deft language, and be entertained with his welcome infusion of humor into these poems.
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