Death Spins the Platter, Ellery Queen

Title:		Death Spins the Platter
Author:		Ellery Queen
Rating:

Death Spins the Platter is the second Ellery Queen novel in a double that I was loaned by Ed Ting.

In my review of the first book in this double - Dead Man's Tale - I wondered aloud (so to speak) about what I had missed in my upbringing around Ellery Queen, since that book was not a whodunit, nor did it feature Ellery Queen.

Well, this second book is closer to what I thought Ellery Queen books would be; it is a whodunit, at least. However, it still doesn't feature Ellery Queen. Thus, I am still not at all clear on what the Ellery Queen franchise was all about.

In this book, the victim dies, and we follow a hard boiled reporter (if I can mash such terms together) through the process of determining who the killer is. The plot is reasonably believable, I guess, but there are problems here that significantly detract from the story.

The first is that the characters are still really wooden. None of them come alive for me, and I don't buy some of the dialog and interaction between them, since I have no background to go on. In a couple of cases the author attempts to provide some background, but it's given in such a ham fisted way that I never buy into it. In short, there are many character related obstacles to achieving the willing suspension of disbelief.

The other major issue with this volume - in my mind - is that the reporter is doing all the work for the police. I am perfectly willing to admit that such a thing could happen, but in this case it simply wasn't realistic. The single largest example would be a spoiler, and I won't do that, but I can say this: if you were a reporter who learned something interesting and technical about a murder case from one of the suspects, wouldn't you actually verify it before you used it in conversation with someone else? Particularly as an accusation?

How do you know that what you've been told is true? In fact you have good reason not to trust many things the suspects are telling you, and yet you trust this bit of information without checking it out first? No, sorry, I simply just don't buy it. If you learn of an accusation from one suspect about another, you either check it for validity yourself, or hand it over to the police and get them to verify it before you make use of it. So again, the willing suspension of disbelief just doesn't come easily here.

Finally, there was one more thing that bugged me about this, but I suspect that really is my problem, rather than the book's. Death Spins the Platter was originally published in 1962, and there are a few uses of language and servants that I just found difficult to swallow. Perhaps people really did talk that way back then, and perhaps some of the upper crust really still did have black children as servants, but it all feels so wrong now that it's hard for me to ignore. As I say, that is probably my problem, rather than the book's, but it annoyed me enough to reduce my enjoyment of the book.

On the whole, this was a major step up from the last Ellery Queen novel I read, but there are still several more steps to go before I hit something I'm really going to like. One left to try, and we'll see what comes of that.

Dead Man's Tale, Ellery Queen

Title:		Dead Man's Tale
Author:		Ellery Queen
Rating:

Ed Ting and I go back a ways. We were at the U of I together years ago, and ran with many of the same crowd, including our fine leader here, Uncle Doctor Reverend Douglas J. Shaw. It was a good crew, and we had a good time.

As the readers of this forum know, Ed has been reviewing Ellery Queen novels for some time now, and giving most of them rather breathless reviews. One of those reviews resulted in a conversation, which resulted in his loaning me three Ellery Queen novels. Such are the tangible results of ancient friendships.

Dead Man's Tale is the first of those three. It's a double with Death Spins the Platter, and it came first, so I read it first. Of the three, I believe it is Ed's least favorite.

OK, I hear you ask, what do I think of it?

Way back in high school, so many years ago I barely remember it, I took a creative writing course. (Yes, I know, this isn't anything about the book yet. Please be patient!) In that class, we wound up hitting on a common thematic element in the stories we wrote. One student - whose name I honestly cannot remember, but should go down in history - wrote a detective story in which the detective goes through all the motions of solving the crime, and finally announces he has the answer. This announcement comes as he and his sidekick are crossing a street. They are both run down - and killed - by a passing car, and the story ends. That became "the creative comp" ending - kill your characters off before things were done.

And we did that, in spades. Nearly everyone in the class wrote one or more stories in which everyone of any importance dies, generally with the story still unresolved. We'd read these stories out loud in class and laugh. It was, in hind sight, pretty silly.

While Dead Man's Tale doesn't quite follow the creative comp strategy it comes amazingly close. (See, I did get back to reviewing the book!) Most everyone dies. Shot. Generally for the wrong reasons, but just close enough to the right reasons to keep the plot moving forward.

So, to drive the point home, this is a review of things this book is not. And the first thing this book isn't is a "creative comp" book, but only because not quite everyone winds up shot by the end. It's a close thing, but it falls just short there.

It also isn't a mystery. Now I may have an oddball Ellery Queen book here, but there is nothing for me to try to figure out as it goes along. It tells a story, linearly, and we know who is doing what as it happens. New characters are introduced, of course, but only as needed. Then they are generally shot.

Something else the book isn't: it isn't about Ellery Queen. He never makes an appearance. Now please correct me if I am wrong, but I always thought the Ellery Queen books featured a detective named (naturally) Ellery Queen, who solves mysteries. Apparently not this one. What have I missed?

And finally, one last thing this book isn't: well written. I found the prose choppy, and the characters were all pretty wooden. Of course, just how much can you learn about a character in a few paragraphs. And that's all we get, usually, since the next time we see them, they're busy being shot.

I hope the other two Ellery Queen novels I have are better than this. Ed seems to think they are, and I trust his judgment, for now.

Prince of Chaos, Roger Zelazny

Title:		Prince of Chaos
Author:		Roger Zelazny
Rating:

This review is a bit late. I actually finished this book on 2/13/06, but both that night and all of 2/14/06 were wiped out with other tasks, so only now am I getting it together to write the review.

Prince of Chaos is the final Amber book. As my last two reviews have indicated, we've been on a rather wild roller coaster ride heading towards this conclusion. And while the conclusion is good, I have to say that it doesn't quite hold up to the previous two or three novels for pacing and content. It's good, but not as good as I'd hoped.

The issues I noted are:

• The pacing slows a bit. The previous two books moved at breakneck speed towards the end, but this one doesn't keep that pace going. It would have been better to move things along at a faster pace, in my opinion.
• Merlin's final confrontation with some of the other players comes out of nowhere for me. I've bought his actions all along the way to here, mostly, but the last confrontation seems forced.
• One item that Merlin acquires along the way in the second series is briefly explained here, but I didn't find that explanation adequate or believable enough. I suspect Zelazny was running out of pages, time, or both. As a result, at least one thing that should have had a deeper explanation behind it didn't get the attention it deserved. If I am right on his motivating forces, then the next points may directly follow.
• Though many things are resolved, there are still a fair number of plot threads left lying around, waiting for resolution. And a number of characters are left with their fates unresolved as well. I happen to like ambiguity at some level, but this is a bit too much. It causes me to think that...
• Zelazny probably had more to write about Amber. I'll bet his contract ran to five more books by some delivery date, and ended there. That's a shame, really, because the rest of the story would be interesting to learn, and since Zelazny died in 1995, we'll never know how he would have continued it.

Those things said, it's still definitely worth reading this book, and the entire series. The characters are memorable, and the setting is a wonderful work of imagination. Zelazny had a real talent for writing light, quick prose that keeps the reader stuck to his chair far longer than originally planned.

As I consider the two sets of Amber Chronicles separately, I note a couple of interesting things about them:

• The first series (published 1970 - 1978) is of a slightly different style. There is no swearing, and they lack a certain gritty detail that is present in the second series. The main characters even speak in a slightly different way - more formal and courtly sounding. The second series (published 1985 - 1991) is more modern sounding. I didn't find the change particularly distracting, but it is interesting to see a novelist change things like that between series.
• The second series subsumes many of the plot elements of the first series. That is, there are additional movers and shakers behind things that were happening in the first series, but that were never mentioned. You learn about them in the second series. This also doesn't bother me. From the perspective of the characters in the first series, what happens is what happens. The reader and the characters all learn more in the second series, though.

My final, capsule review of these books is: go read them. They are a classic piece of fantasy literature. Don't go in expecting something has well written as the epics by Tolkien or Donaldson. Instead, go in expecting a romp. There are some wonderful concepts here, and Zelazny can really keep you engaged. It's all in fun. Enjoy it!

1. Nine Princes In Amber
2. The Guns of Avalon
3. Sign of the Unicorn
4. The Hand of Oberon
5. The Courts of Chaos
6. Trumps of Doom
7. Blood of Amber
8. Sign of Chaos
9. Knight of Shadows
10. Prince of Chaos

Knight of Shadows, Roger Zelazny

Title:		Knight of Shadows
Author:		Roger Zelazny
Rating:

And still the story rolls on.

Merlin continues to grapple with the hugely complicated plots going on around him, and we try to understand them as well. Is Corwin - his father - still out there somewhere? We even meet him a few times, but it isn't clear. Just exactly what are his friends (and his enemies) doing in response to all the political machinations?

There is one patch in the middle of this book that runs a tad slower than the rest, but even that is fun. Perhaps that slight slowdown from the breakneck pace of these books is a good thing.

Only one book left to go, and if it continues like these last three, it will be a real roller coaster.

1. Nine Princes In Amber
2. The Guns of Avalon
3. Sign of the Unicorn
4. The Hand of Oberon
5. The Courts of Chaos
6. Trumps of Doom
7. Blood of Amber
8. Sign of Chaos
9. Knight of Shadows
10. Prince of Chaos

Sign of Chaos, Roger Zelazny

Title:		Sign of Chaos
Author:		Roger Zelazny
Rating:

The second Amber series continues to gain steam. Each and every character that appears for more than a paragraph or two is here for a reason, and Zelazny isn't afraid to throw in new characters for good measure.

This story opens with a vignette in something like Wonderland of Alice's Looking Glass fame, complete with white rabbit and both a bandersnatch and a jabberwock. And there is an explanation for this - and the explanation makes sense; at least in this universe.

The number of plots and sub-plots is huge, and, as before, which people are Merlin's friends vs. his enemies is not at all clear.

I was trying to read myself to sleep last night, blew right past the end of this book, and wound up well into the next one before I decided that I wouldn't sleep if I didn't put the tome down. Of course, this morning the first thing I did was pick it back up again. Thus I have another review to write as well.

1. Nine Princes In Amber
2. The Guns of Avalon
3. Sign of the Unicorn
4. The Hand of Oberon
5. The Courts of Chaos
6. Trumps of Doom
7. Blood of Amber
8. Sign of Chaos
9. Knight of Shadows
10. Prince of Chaos

Blood of Amber, Roger Zelazny

Title:		Blood of Amber
Author:		Roger Zelazny
Rating:

In my review of the previous book - Trumps of Doom - I said something stupid. Specifically, it was:

As with all Amber books, there is a backdrop of a huge and complex family, full of plots and intrigue, combined with a larger scale set of affairs that the hero is trying to understand. To my mind, Zelazny pulls it off at least as well here as he did in the first series, though perhaps some of the pieces come together sooner this time around.

I was wrong. Having now finished the second volume of the second Amber series - Blood Of Amber - I can tell you that the plot is at least as thick and complex as it was in the first series, and perhaps more so. Merlin has more enemies, and friends that might be enemies, and enemies that might be friends, than I can keep easily track of at this point. If it gets much worse, I may have to start taking notes to keep it all straight. And it's really cool.

This book is just plain fun. It's a romp through that part of a larger story in which the main character is figuring out how little he really knows, and how much effort it is going to take to actually come to grips with it all.

Merlin continues to grow on me. Zelazny has given him a dash of showmanship and a take-it-on-alone attitude that I find really appealing. Yes, he's brash, and yes he does some stupid things at times, but that's the point of the character. It works.

And Zelazny continues to develop his description of magic, how it works, what it takes, who can do it, etc. It's thick and it's real and it makes sense in context.

This is a very good book - the best of the first seven in my opinion.

1. Nine Princes In Amber
2. The Guns of Avalon
3. Sign of the Unicorn
4. The Hand of Oberon
5. The Courts of Chaos
6. Trumps of Doom
7. Blood of Amber
8. Sign of Chaos
9. Knight of Shadows
10. Prince of Chaos

Trumps of Doom, Roger Zelazny

Title:		Trumps of Doom
Author:		Roger Zelazny
Rating:

OK. So my "brief pause" was much shorter than I originally planned. The stone I am carving isn't cooperating as much as I'd like, so I am "forced" to do other things while I determine what it will become. Oh, the hardship.

Anyway, here we go, back into the thick of things that is Amber. In Trumps of Doom we start spending time with Merlin, son of Corwin and XXXXXX. (Name blanked out to keep it from those of you who haven't read the first five books yet. And shame on you!)

As with all Amber books, there is a backdrop of a huge and complex family, full of plots and intrigue, combined with a larger scale set of affairs that the hero is trying to understand. To my mind, Zelazny pulls it off at least as well here as he did in the first series, though perhaps some of the pieces come together sooner this time around. (Of course, I'm only through the first book of the second series, so there is still a lot of time for things to change.)

Our hero - Merlin - is at least as likable as Corwin was, and perhaps more so. He is both flawed and driven to survive, like his father, which I find a believable combination. When we met Corwin he had amnesia. As we get settled in with Merlin, he is still young enough not to have been fully enmeshed in the family politics yet. He is thus perhaps a trifle naive about things. But he's more "human" too, at least as I see it. And that's interesting, since he's not really human at all.

He's also a computer engineer - you learn that early on, so it's not a spoiler - but it attracts me to him in ways that his father didn't. His father's careers on our shadow Earth were a bit vague to me. Merlin and I, though, have work with computers in common. But that's probably all we have in common, though, because...

Merlin is also a sorcerer. There are plenty of hints in the first Amber series that something like our classic definition of magic works in Amber. It's just that it isn't much in the interest (or genetics) of the major characters in those books. Merlin, however, with his unusual lineage, inherits a different outlook on things from his dad, and magic is more a part of his nature. I find Zelazny's use of magic fascinating, and the concepts behind it reasonably well fleshed out, so far. I have no belief in magic myself, but the willing suspension of disbelief in this case is simple for me.

What else can I say? We're following a magician through shadow as we try to understand the depth of the dangers he faces. We learn things as he does, and suffer along with him. Fun!

1. Nine Princes In Amber
2. The Guns of Avalon
3. Sign of the Unicorn
4. The Hand of Oberon
5. The Courts of Chaos
6. Trumps of Doom
7. Blood of Amber
8. Sign of Chaos
9. Knight of Shadows
10. Prince of Chaos

The Courts Of Chaos, Roger Zelazny

Title:		The Courts Of Chaos
Author:		Roger Zelazny
Rating:

We finally come to the end of the first Amber Chronicles with The Courts of Chaos. In it, we learn a fair number of things, and Corwin struggles to do the right thing by his dad. Most of the loose ends are tied up and we have a pause before Corwin's son - Merlin - becomes the hero of the next five books.

The question of he succession is handled well, and that is important since the family has been fighting over it for the entire set of books.

The overall story of these books is really good. There is a lot of complexity here, and the underlying theme is that the characters change over time. Corwin undergoes some significant changes, as do his brothers and sisters. I won't claim this is great literature, but I think it is better than much fantasy and science fiction in that the characters seem more real to me, and that they matter more - both to the story and the reader - than is often the case in those genres.

Of my previous complaint that there were some misogynist comments in an earlier volume, I must say I didn't note any others in these first five books. I hope they were an aberration, but only my review of the next five will confirm that to my satisfaction.

So I guess the summation of the first five books is "go read them!" Just don't buy The Great Book of Amber as it is full of typos. Instead, go to a used bookstore and buy copies of all five original volumes. Then come back and review them here, so we can compare notes.

I'll take a brief pause here, and then go on to the next five books. Cheers!

1. Nine Princes In Amber
2. The Guns of Avalon
3. Sign of the Unicorn
4. The Hand of Oberon
5. The Courts of Chaos
6. Trumps of Doom
7. Blood of Amber
8. Sign of Chaos
9. Knight of Shadows
10. Prince of Chaos

The Hand Of Oberon, Roger Zelazny

Title:		The Hand Of Oberon
Author:		Roger Zelazny
Rating:

In The Hand of Oberon, the fourth volume of the first Amber Chronicles, we see the return of someone we thought was long missing (or dead), and more of the plotting by, between, and against various family members starts to resolve itself. There is still a lot that isn't clear yet, of course, and there is also the chance that a lot of what we've learned to date is partially or totally wrong. But that's the fun of these books. In a manner somewhat like a mystery novel, they reveal facts only as the main character pieces them together, so the reader has no more knowledge than the Corwin, in this case.

Oh, and I just now realized that the title of this book is actually a pun on certain events described in it. I hadn't noted that ever before, and now I find it amusing. I wonder if Zelazny's editors picked that title or if he did? I'd guess he did it, and I doubt they ever noted the pun. Zelazny's sense of humor would easily allow for that from what I can tell.

There is a surprise at the end of this book, but I have to admit that I was expecting it. I actually guessed it perhaps 50 pages before the end, I believe. I honestly don't know if that's because I have some dim memory from my last reading of these all those years ago, or if I just figured it out. I'd like to believe the latter, but I'm not 100% sure.

The next book is the last in the first set of five, and am I looking forward to finishing it and seeing the current set of questions resolved.

I haven't mentioned it in the last couple of reviews, but I am still encountering some typos in the books as published in this omnibus collection. I am starting to think I may have to get the individual volumes for later rereading if I want to avoid that issue. That doesn't make me happy, but what can I do?

On to the book five!

1. Nine Princes In Amber
2. The Guns of Avalon
3. Sign of the Unicorn
4. The Hand of Oberon
5. The Courts of Chaos
6. Trumps of Doom
7. Blood of Amber
8. Sign of Chaos
9. Knight of Shadows
10. Prince of Chaos

The Sign of the Unicorn, Roger Zelazny

Title:		The Sign of the Unicorn
Author:		Roger Zelazny
Rating:

The Sign of the Unicorn is book three of the first Amber series. We've hit the middle of the "novel" now. Our hero and his fellow characters are now coming to grips with the peril they are in, but still somewhat confused by the whole thing.

This book has less Shadow travel and more of the family intrigue than the first two. We're learning more about the various family factions, and more about Corwin's past as well. Some of the reasons he had amnesia at the start of the books are coming out, though we don't get it all yet.

One surprise in this book is some low level misogyny. Nothing nearly as bad as Heinlein (whom I simply cannot read anymore) but enough to catch my attention. The female Amberites are put down as not having the brains, talent, or focus to be scheming to take the throne themselves. And not just once, but several times. Then, however, one particular female is shown to be part of such a scheme, but how involved she is I don't yet know. Writers are a product of their times, but I'd have thought that Zelazny would have been past that, given this book was published in 1975. Then again, perhaps he was past it, and I just haven't seen the whole story yet. I'll keep my mind open on that front.

Still in all, a good story.

Here's that omnipresent Amber review link list again:

1. Nine Princes In Amber
2. The Guns of Avalon
3. Sign of the Unicorn
4. The Hand of Oberon
5. The Courts of Chaos
6. Trumps of Doom
7. Blood of Amber
8. Sign of Chaos
9. Knight of Shadows
10. Prince of Chaos

The Guns Of Avalon, Roger Zelazny

Title:		The Guns Of Avalon
Author:		Roger Zelazny
Rating:

The Guns of Avalon. The plot thickens. Corwin, now in possession of his memories, is plotting to take what he sees as his rightful place in the Amber hierarchy. Family politics is, of course complex, and there is the small matter of some new and powerful enemies of Amber.

Zelazny's characters still ring true for me, and while this book spends a bit more time traveling through Shadow than might be strictly needed, it's still good fun, and we're learning about how bad things really are at this point in Amber's history.

In short, a good read, and another step on the road to my own personal recovery of my memories of Amber.

For reference, the books in the amber series (and links to my review of them) are:

1. Nine Princes In Amber
2. The Guns of Avalon
3. Sign of the Unicorn
4. The Hand of Oberon
5. The Courts of Chaos
6. Trumps of Doom
7. Blood of Amber
8. Sign of Chaos
9. Knight of Shadows
10. Prince of Chaos

I'll update that set of links in each of my Amber reviews as they happen, just to make it easy for someone to navigate through them all.

Nine Princes In Amber, Roger Zelazny

Title:		Nine Princes In Amber
Author:		Roger Zelazny
Rating:

For those who have somehow never heard of them, The Chronicles of Amber are one of the highlights of Roger Zelazny's career. They amount to a ten volume set of books - totaling perhaps 1200 pages - and document a fantasy world in which there is one real center - Amber - and all else is shadows, or reflections of that one true place. Earth is a shadow of Amber, and there is an infinity of shadows out there, waiting to be explored. There is also Chaos, of course, the opposite of Amber's order.

I recently purchased The Great Book of Amber - an omnibus containing all ten original volumes - and am digging into it with relish. It has been many, many years since I read the Amber series, and I missed it.

While the books are short enough that calling them separate volumes might be cheating, they come in two story arcs, and combining them seems too long to me. Regardless of how I count them, though, I am going to read them all, and calling them ten books towards my yearly total seems at least semi-reasonable. I intend to beat out the 26 book total by the end of the year anyway.

The books in the Amber series are:

1. Nine Princes In Amber
2. The Guns of Avalon
3. Sign of the Unicorn
4. The Hand of Oberon
5. The Courts of Chaos
6. Trumps of Doom
7. Blood of Amber
8. Sign of Chaos
9. Knight of Shadows
10. Prince of Chaos

Book one, Nine Princes In Amber is an introduction to Corwin, the hero of the first five books - if my poor memory of the story arcs serves correctly. Corwin awakes on Earth, in the present day, with amnesia after a nasty car accident and has to remember what is going on around him quickly. He's got relatives that want him dead, and there are things going on that he doesn't understand. More than that would be a spoiler, and as I love these books, I don't want to keep people from reading them, so I won't say more of the content.

Zelazny is a wonderful writer. He's no Shakespeare, but he can turn a phrase, and his descriptions work for me. His characters, though superhuman in many ways, are believable within the world he creates. I want to be a part of that world, and I'm willing to fall into these books without reservation.

Of particular interest to me, and someone I hope to track a bit better this time through the books, is a character named Dworkin. He's a magician of sorts, and created some of the most important things in the books. I've had multiple computers named Dworkin, at both home and work. He may be insane, and he's been treated badly, but for some reason he's always been the one I most remember from the books. Given I read them last probably 20 years ago or so, he must have made an impression in some way. If I can figure out what that was, perhaps I will summarize it in the last review of this series.

One thing to say about this specific combined volume: it has some typos in it. I noted two ugly ones in the first book alone. That's bothersome, and I may have to send it off on paperbackswap.com when I am done with it and acquire copies of the individual books. Time and the number of additional typos will tell.

A final - and I hope humorous - personal story before I end this review: Years ago I worked for a company that no longer exists as such. it was called Spectra-Physics, and we made high pressure liquid chromatography instrumentation. I got assigned to a project along with a very good friend of mine - Scott Shoffner - and we started designing a new instrument controlling system. The plans were for dedicated hardware, running an embedded operating system, and a lot of smarts for dealing with all the instruments the company made. As you might imagine, this was a complex system, and the requirements kept shifting around. Every time we'd talk with marketing, the requirements would change. After a while, we gave the project the code name "Amber" because - like Shadow - it was always changing out from under us, and infinitely variable.

The last part of the story I got from Scott. At some point he was at a meeting with some sales and marketing guys. One of the marketing guys asked Scott to tell the sales folks why the project was called Amber. Scott wondered at this, but went ahead and told the story. When he was done the marketing guy said something to the affect of "Huh. I thought it was named after Amber Lynn, the porn star." It seems there really are fundamental differences between engineers and marketeers. (My wife, on hearing that story, says: "Yeah. Engineers have reasons for doing things. Marketing just pulls stuff out of their ass." Gotta love her.)

Anyway, it's great to be back in Amber! If you haven't read these books you really need to try them. Zelazny writes fluff - almost comic book like fantasy - but it really is fun reading. Come join me!

America The Beautiful, Moon Unit Zappa

Title:		America The Beautiful
Author:		Moon Unit Zappa
Rating:

I was attracted to this book for two reasons:

1. I have always been a fan of Frank Zappa, and wanted to know more about him and his family.
2. Another review on Doug's book review site.

I didn't have any huge expectations going into this book, but a quick glance convinced me that it would be a quick read, and thus good for a time just before I start up a new class at the local community college, rather than get wrapped up in something more weighty.

That off-the-cuff assessment was right on target. The story concerns the trials of America Throne, daughter of a famous painter, and unsuccessful at anything she's tried so far. We follow her starting (essentially) when she is dumped by her long time boyfriend and watch her flounder as she tries to regain some sense of herself and control over her life.

I divide the book up into three parts:

1. In which the main character whines a lot.
2. In which the main character doesn't wine so much.
3. In which the main character has her life come back together.

That's no doubt overly simplistic, but it covers the highlights. As you might suspect, while I was engaged enough to finish the book and wonder what would happen to America next as I read, I wasn't that really into it all that much. There were a number of issues here that bothered me:

• I always assumed - based on the content of much of his music and some of the between song commentaries - that Frank Zappa was an avowed atheist. Perhaps I was wrong in that assumption, though I am certain that he had no love of any organized religion. Regardless, Moon Unit seems to have more of a spiritual side to her than I would have expected, and while I didn't find it overbearing, it certainly stuck in my craw from time to time while reading this.
• In addition, she seems to have a fixation on just about every bodily function possible, and a willingness to describe them all as needed. I didn't find they advanced the story much.
• The end (perhaps the last 5th of the book or so) was just too trite. The new love interest was expected, and everything came together too simply for me to be comfortable with it. I am a sucker for a happy ending, but this was too simple given the build up of the previous 4/5ths of the book.
• I kept wondering how much of this book was autobiographical. But my reaction may be backwards from what others would expect: the more of it that is true, the less I think the story should be told, really. If it were entirely true, then (to my mind) it is entirely too personal to share, given it doesn't also (as far as I can see) tell a higher level story or expose some deeper truth.
• Finally - and this may be the root of the problem - I am pretty sure that I am not even remotely the target audience for this book. I suspect I have just read my first bit of "chick lit" - a genre I didn't know existed until perhaps two months ago. The target audience is definitely female, and probably younger than me. After too much whining about her relationship breaking up, I just wanted the main character to shut up. That, I suspect, is not what the author intended.

I am not averse to a good, inner, psychological story, in which the characters go through (and even whine about) horrible things. But if that happens I want to see there is some point to it all in the end; some reason for telling the story. I didn't find that here, alas.

I may have to watch things get blown up in a movie tonight. A dose of testosterone to offset this book seems in order.