Customer Comments

Lorraine has commented on (5) products.

Aloft by Chang Rae Lee

Lorraine, January 3, 2013

Chang-Rae Lee has become one of my favorite authors. His characters are so well developed and real. "Aloft" departs from Lee's earlier books in that the protagonist, Jerry Battle, is an Italian-American in very-much-contemporary East Coast USA. The picture of Jerry's family unfolds amidst impressive descriptions of many aspects of contemporary American culture, including the choices (or lack thereof) of our aging population; the sometime-fragility of the uber-rich lifestyle; issues of pregancy and health and mental health. There's also lots of humor woven amongst these threads of serious issues. This is one of those rare books that I know I will read again.

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Trespass by Rose Tremain

Lorraine, January 19, 2012

This is the 7th book by Rose Tremain that I have read, and it did not disappoint. As always, Tremain develops great characters and a fascinating story line. In this case, two characters in their mid-sixties, a French woman and British man, are in conflict over some property in France.

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Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

Lorraine, January 1, 2011

Colum McCann creates a cast of wonderful characters whose paths intersect on August 7, 1974, the day Philippe Petit walked on a highwire between the two World Trade Center towers in New York City.

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Convictions: A Prosecutor's Battles Against Mafia Killers, Drug Kingpins, and Enron Thieves by John Kroger

Lorraine, December 23, 2009

John Kroger’s very “readable” book, “Convictions”, reveals the fascinating work of an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA). Lovers of TV courtroom dramas will enjoy Kroger’s detailed descriptions of prosecutions of American Mafia members, drug dealers, and Enron’s corporate criminals. There is much to be learned in this book. For example, Kroger describes how the Mafia was, in essence, “the government’s creation” through the failure of the FBI and other law enforcement to prosecute these criminals for almost half of the 20th century. The book discusses unintended consequences of laws like “Triggerlock” and the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984. Kroger's experience raises serious questions about the current strategies being pursued in the "war on drugs". Finally, the reader will also learn about the tedious and difficult process of building a case for corporate fraud. What really makes this book so satisfying, however, is the author’s honest self-reflection and his quest for the answer to ethical questions, such as “What is justice, the right result or a fair process?” (p. 99) Kroger is aware of, and open about his mistakes and human imperfections. But he never stops asking: “What makes an action ‘good’?” Kroger is a very intelligent but never pompous man. His story of his journey from a boyhood in Texas to his current position of Oregon Attorney general is well worth reading.

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Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned: Stories by Wells Tower

Lorraine, May 7, 2009

These nine, superbly written stories pack a wallop, a mix of human struggle with sprinklings of humor that capture the human experience. The voices are varied, attesting to Tower's talent. In this amazing collection, the reader encounters Bob as he struggles with his ruined life in the story "The Brown Coast", which could have been entitled "Man as Sea Cucumber". Next is sibling rivalry gone to extremes in "Retreat". Then there's the elderly Albert watching his interesting neighbor's house in "Door in Your Eye", and the gawky teenager Jacey whiling away a summer day, in "Wild America". The title story is a unique Viking tale. Sometimes I find contemporary short stories less than satisfying, but this collection restores my faith in the genre.

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(5 of 8 readers found this comment helpful)

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