Powell's Books - View All of lovingreader's Customer Comments

: lovingreader, July 21, 2008
Think of Mahfouz as the Proust of the Arab world. This book takes you far inside the private lives of Cairenes in the early 1940s. We learn about a family's life, both inside and outside the home, in beautifully detailed accounts of social engagement. This wonderful translation maintains a real Arabic flavor.
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: lovingreader, January 17, 2008
Ann Patchett's novels specialize in good mothers. This novel is a spectacular example of her gift of describing a mother that we all wish we could have, but know we can be.
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: lovingreader, January 2, 2008
A young Jewish woman survived in Poland from 1939 to 1945? Betty Lauer was one of very few who lived to tell her story, and I for one felt very privileged to read it. The narrative style combines a lovely lack of hyperbole with very careful detail to let us picture exactly where she worked, hid, ate, and slept. Her cast of characters is varied and well-described, and she does not sugarcoat the complex family dynamics that accompany mortal danger. I was aware of being in the presence of great and careful truth as I read this book.
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: lovingreader, October 29, 2007
I read this book in one absorbed couch-day. I was engrossed by the perfect evocations of Vermont countryside and speech patterns, thrilled by the grown-up love story, and sometimes irritated by the main character's machismo. As I finished the book, I realized that the last part was one of the strongest parts of this book. I felt like I'd spent the day sharing a house with an independent, idiosyncratic, demanding, perfectionist artist, and I was a better person for the experience.
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: lovingreader, August 24, 2007
This book is about the grumpiest man in the world (he writes a column for the local newspaper pointing out what's wrong with the world) who suddenly is moved to start doing good in his community. This discombobulates his wife (a doctor in a neighborhood clinic) who usually takes all the credit in their marriage for being the nice one.

Nick Hornby is unflinching and hilarious in his examination of what makes a good person. Churches could take a short-cut to salvation by reading aloud a weekly chapter from How To Be Good. I love the thought of an entire congregation laughing uncontrollably.
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(9 of 16 readers found this comment helpful)

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