Heidi is ranked up there with, "Where the Red Fern Grows" with it's genuine love and care of the hearts of children and adults. I read this book to my children when they were in 1st and K...several times I had to stop to choke back the tears.. or laugh in exhuberance. It's a heart-warming tale of a little girl who didn't understand the "status quo" and sought to make sense of not only her own world, but those around her. Her innocense, genuine love and acceptance is so moving and so inspiring.

Heidi is very exciting. She is very outgoing and adventurous. She gets sent to the Alm Mts. with her grumpy old grandfather. She shows him how to be nice and friendly. She meets a boy named Peter and they become good friends. He then shows her his family. Heidi meets his grandmother and falls in love with her and everything that she does. She then gets sent to a weird house.She soon came home.
This book is recommended for all ages to be read to or read by you!
Why am I telling you this go read it for your self!!!

A while back when I was in my 30's (never mind how long ago that was!) I was sick with the flu, and I found a copy of HEIDI, so I crawled into a nice warm bed and re-read the book -- as an adult.

What insight into human nature! And as an adult I appreciated the dry, understated humor. I also appreciated the spiritual insights -- that God will give us what we desire, but sometims uses circumstances we don't like to teach us truths that we couldn't learn otherwise.

When I was a girl I was often turned off by what was called "good reading," but for some reason, I enjoyed Heidi and it never seemed sappy or corny.

Very much worth reading!

My Louisiana Sky is a heartwarming story of acceptance and love. With each page I am intrigued by an influential message of family and strength. The author of this book made a superior choice of having a pair of mentally retarded parents intertwined with the rest of this powerful book. Without making the theme obvious, Kimberly Willis Holt, the author, created a book with a strong message for the reader to seek throughout the book.
In my opinion, the theme may be acceptance. Throughout the book, Holt reminds the reader, me, of Tiger, the main character, and her difficult life, living with mentally retarded parents. In Tiger's case, many of the dilemmas she faces involve embarrassment by her parents or the cruel work of supporting their household. Eventually Tiger learns the meaning of acceptance and learns to cope with her parents and their different learning ability.
Through the uneven and blissful times, Tiger is constantly looking for adventure. Through every problem and every consequence she seeks good, which makes the book exhilarating and gratifying. A pro of this book is that there are only three main turning points and a wonderful resolution. One of the three, and my favorite, is when Hurricane Audrey blows through Saitter, the small town in which Tiger Ann lives. At this point in the story, Tiger and her family sense that there will be a dramatic change in the weather. It so happens that they are absolutely right. A hurricane reaches their small town and destroys its surroundings but not its dignity. During the time of recovery, the town discovers a new hero and accepts this new hero and his differences.
Overall, this book is an inspiring tribute to accepting differences. Although this book was a bit under my reading level, it was intriguing and a wonderful read. Each exciting event made me anxious to read on and find the twists to the story. The author paints a wonderful picture of a small town girl living in an unaccepting world, trying to cope with her fears and the challenges that she faces.

Tiger Ann is a typical girl who is bright in school and good at baseball. The unfortunate part about her life is that the girls in her class often tease her about her family. Tiger knows that her family is rather different from many other families. They are mentally slow, and Tiger keeps her embarrassment hidden as long as her grandmother runs the household. Suddenly Granny dies, and Tiger is left to the care of her parents with her aunt. She offers Tiger Ann to come live with her, but Tiger has to make the right choice.

My favorite part in the story was when Jesse Wade, her friend, kisses her when she least expected it. She ran away from him telling him to stay away from her. She didn't think or what want her friendship with Jesse Wade to become like that. She just didn't think of him that way. After she started talking to him again and forgave him for the kiss, she thought that he wasn't that bad and was actually glad that HE was the one that gave her first kiss. So after that, they still stayed as best friends.

I enjoyed this book very much. At the beginning, it was boring and I wanted to put it down, but then , as I got further into the story, I found it much more interesting. My teacher, Mrs. Stepp recommended this book. I think it is a great book for students between the ages of 10-13, or even adults too! It tells how someone should not like them because of their family, but how they should like someone for the way they are. All in all, this is a fascinating book!

Paige Gallia
2nd
11-11-02

My Louisiana Sky

Tiger Ann is a typical girl who is bright in school and good at baseball. The unfortunate part about her life is that the girls in her class often tease her about her family. Tiger knows that her family is rather different from many other families. They are mentally slow, and Tiger keeps her embarrassment hidden as long as her grandmother runs the household. Suddenly Granny dies, and Tiger is left to the care of her parents with her aunt. She offers Tiger Ann to come live with her, but Tiger has to make the right choice.

My favorite part in the story was when Jesse Wade, her friend, kisses her when she least expected it. She ran away from him telling him to stay away from her. She didn't think or what want her friendship with Jesse Wade to become like that. She just didn't think of him that way. After she started talking to him again and forgave him for the kiss, she thought that he wasn't that bad and was actually glad that HE was the one that gave her first kiss. So after that, they still stayed as best friends.

I enjoyed this book very much. At the beginning, it was boring and I wanted to put it down, but then , as I got further into the story, I found it much more interesting. My teacher, Mrs. Stepp recommended this book. I think it is a great book for students between the ages of 10-13, or even adults too! It tells how someone should not like them because of their family, but how they should like someone for the way they are. All in all, this is a fascinating book!

I remember this book being read to me and my class in elementary school (1983-85). It was great fun. I don't believe that it sends any negative messages, like a few reviewers here. The story starts off with the first born son Tikki being all important, while Chang the second son is cast to a side. However, in the end Chang is the hero and both children are important and loved. It is a happy ending. Nowadays, people get too sensitve and caught up with being "PC". This is a children's book meant to entertain and cause a few smiles. It does that and even teaches that everyone is important and makes a difference. Almost 20 years after having this story read to me, it brings a smile to my face and fills me with warm memories of my childhood. This book will be fun for both the child and reader. In the end when the child grows up he/she will remember the basic story but most of all the fun shared while reading the book. I highly recommend Tikki Tikki Tembo.

Despite the fact that I am now 32 years old, I can tell you Tikki Tikki Tembo's full and complete name...I distinctly remember sitting on the floor of my school library on a rainy day in 2nd grade reading this book over and over and over again. I am not sure anyone else had the chance to read it that year, as I checked it out numerous times.

I am excited to read it to my own children now, and I hope that they will love the story as much as I did.

A definite MUST HAVE for a classic children's library!

"Tikki" is over thirty years old, and still going strong. I am a storyteller, and I love to retell the story of the little boy with the outlandishly long name (giving full credit to Arlene Mosel, of course!). Having learned Chinese, and spent some time in China, I do not try to pass it off as an authentic Chinese folktale. Mosel wrote it to have fun, and those of us who read and tell the story must do it in the same vein. Knowing that I am an old man and that my mental faculties may be fading a bit, my granddaughter, upon hearing me tell it for the first time, asked, "Grandpa, how long did it take you to learn to say that name?" I told her several days of practice (not mentioning that a class of first graders could probably do it in two tries!). Three cheers for Arlene Mosel! God willing, the electronic world will not have completely eradicated the printed word, and Tikki Tikki Tembo will be still be around at the turn of the next millenium!

From Nobel Price Herman Hesse, Steppenwoolf is his masterwork. At the time of publishing, it became a cult book. Half a century later, this book remains a masterpiece and the central character is as current as it was then. It is the story of a man consumed by anguish, isolated, reclusive at odds with the world and its people.We do not know too much about him, except that in the chapter called "The treatise of the Steppenwoolf" Hesse presents a psychological description of depression,isolation, anguish and anger that has been unsurpassed by the masters of psychology.As the story unfolds, Harry meets a young woman that is a able to enjoy life. Through the interactions with her, harry learns to "smell the flowers", and through several surrealistic experiences, he recalls his past and evolves into a different person.This book is so simple to read and at the same time so profound and impacting that I recommend it as a must read. Better appreciated if you have some life experience. If you read it at coll

Simply the best book I have ever read. Herman Hesse has described a very complicated life story, in a very poetic, and realistic way. It is a book that talks about the struggle we have with all the different souls that we have inside us. A book that talks about Harry who lost the desire to live, and who believed that he was half wolf, half human. How his wolf nature was taking over, and he already knew how his end would be. It talks about the depression he was going through, and how hard it was for him to look in the mirror and face himself with what was going on, and what he really wanted to do.

How the right person changed all that, she gave him a reason to be young in soul again, she understood him as a wolf and as a human, and explained the concept of the eternal life.

What makes the book much more valuable is how easy it is to relate it to our daily lives, and the challenges we face, and the motivations we have to create and look for.

A must book to read by everyone...

I love this book, and I'm forever grateful to its author.

Hesse has said about Nietzsche that he was a man caught between two ages, suffering in deep aloneness a hundred years ago what thousands go through today. Hesse was such a man, of course. As the book's fictional bourgeois narrator says about Harry Haller:

...He called himself the Steppenwolf, and this too estranged and disturbed me a little. What an expression! However, custom did not only reconcile me to it, but soon I never thought of him by any other name; nor could I today hit on a better description of him. A wolf of the steppes that had lost its way and strayed into the towns and the life of the herd, a more striking image could not be found for his shy loneliness, his savagery, his restlessness, his homesickness, his homelessness....

He also has this to say, and for me this beautifully sums up the novel's impact:

And now we come to these records of Haller's, these partly diseased, partly beautiful, and thoughtful fantasies...I see them as a document of the times, for Haller's sickness of the soul, as I now know, is not the eccentricity of a single individual, but the sickness of the times themselves, the neurosis of that generation to which Haller belongs, a sickness, it seems, that by no means attacks the weak and worthless only but, rather, precisely those who are strongest in spirit and richest in gifts. These records...are an attempt to present the sickness itself in its actual manifestation. They mean, literally, a journey through hell, a sometimes fearful, sometimes courageous journey through the chaos of a world whose souls dwell in darkness, a journey undertaken with the determination to go through hell from one end to the other, to give battle to chaos, and to suffer torture to the full.

--And yet, and yet...Hesse later wrote a beautiful Author's Note in which he emphasized that to descend is not enough; to live in shadows and be eccentric and feel despair...no, that's not the novel's destiny and shouldn't be the reader's either. Here is the last piece of that Note which expresses Hesse's view of regarding the work as only doomful:

These readers, it seems to me, have recognized themselves in the Steppenwolf, identified themselves with him, suffered his griefs, and dreamed his dreams; but they have overlooked the fact that this book knows of and speaks about other things besides Harry Haller and his difficulties, about a second, higher, indestructible world beyond the Steppenwolf and his problematic life. The "Treatise" and all those spots in the book dealing with matters of the spirit, of the arts and the "immortal" men oppose the Steppenwolf's world of suffering with a positive, serene, superpersonal and timeless world of faith. This book, no doubt, tells of griefs and needs; still, it is not a book of a man despairing, but of a man believing.

Of course, I neither can nor intend to tell my readers how they ought to understand my tale. May everyone find in it what strikes a chord in him and is of some use to him! But I would be happy if many of them were to realize that the story of the Steppenwolf pictures a disease and crisis--but not one leading to death and destruction, on the contrary: to healing.

This book starts out innocent enough. Toby and his friend Cal find out that the fattest boy in the world has come to Antler, a slow moving town in the middle of Texas. So, they decide to go see them. And when they see him, Cal becomes obsessed with the boy. So starts out this books. Although many other things happen throughout the story, Toby and Cal's friendship with Zachary remains the main topic.

Toby has a lot happen to him, as this is one of those "Summer Of" books where your supposed to remember it as the greatest summer of your life. Holt did a great job telling the story to this one.

One problem I did have though, was its thing with religion. At a point, I began to think this was a religious book of sorts. It pushes a huge emphasis on baptism at one point, which I did not like.

Whats amazing is that this book is meant for Readers ages 9 to 12. I'm 16, and I seriously doubt the average 11 year old to read this book.

When Zachary Beaver Came To Town is a good book, and well worth reading, but I don't think it's one that deserved an award. And [it] definately should be directed towards an older age.

Life with Zachary Beaver
By: Kimberly Willis Holt

When Zachary Beaver Came to Town is about a fat 15- year old, Zachary Beaver coming to town. People visit him from all over the world. Zachary Beaver lives in a trailer with an assistant to help him.
Toby lived in Antler, which is a town that never has exciting until Zachary Beaver came. Toby?s mom went to Nashville to be in a contest for country music. Toby?s best friend?s brother went of to Vietnam to fight in the war. Until Zachary Beaver came to town Toby has lots of things planed for summer. Zachary was a mad, mean, angry person. He never went anywhere because he was to embarrass to be seen with anyone. Toby helped him by taking him food and going to a movie. Zachary tells Toby and Cal, who is Toby?s best friend, that he visited Florida and other places exciting but really happened is he was just looking at books to think that he did.
I liked this book because again it talked about friendship, love, caring, and responsibility. Toby did that he helped Zachary out and Zachary appreciated that.
I think there are lots and lots of books that talk about friendship and caring. Hope was Here is a book that was an adventure of two sisters developing friendship.
I really enjoyed this book a lot. I recommend it to anyone.

When Zachary Beavercame to Town, by kimderly Willis holt, is a story about one kid that will change the life of two friends forever. it takes place in a small town called Antler,Texas during the Vietnom War. There are a few main characters in the story named Zachary Beaver, Tobais(Toby), Calvin(Cal), and Ferris. Toby and Cal are best friends and have been since they met. Ferris works at the Bowl O Rama and Zachary and his manager,Paulie Rankin, drive into Antler. Zachary is a verry fat kid and is part of a freak show.

Toby and Cal, at first, are mean and make fun of Zachary, like everyone else. But once they got to know him, they learned what was making him act the way he does. He does this because his mother died and is embarresed about being fat. Toby and Cal both experience what it is like for someone you love to die or leave you in some way. This makes them feel terrible about friendship and getting to know someone before you judge them. It is one of those books when a stranger, Zachary in this case, comes into a towm, city, or courntry and makes everlasting memories.

This is my son Tyler's (17 mos) favorite book. He loves the colorful pictures and loves it even more when Mommy tries to make all the animal noises for him! (Ever try to make a yelping peacock or fluting flamingo noise??) No matter how many times I read this book to him, he wants to hear it just one more time...ok, maybe two...or three... I especially love the fact that it is about more unusual animals - peacock, flamingo, walrus, as opposed to your everyday dog, cat, cow -type animals. I highly recommend this book, it's a must have!

My 15-month old son whose favorite book has been Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You see? has found a new favorite in Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You hear? He shrieks with delight as he hears us make the animal sounds and sees the colorful illustration, Mr. Carle is so well known for. My question is, What next? When can we expect the next in series of wonderful tales of animals living in perfect harmony, accompanied by the beautiful illustrations??

Your two and a half year old can read this book by him/herself after you read it with them a few times! It is my daughter's favorite just like the Brown Bear, Brown Bear what do you see? book by the same author. The kids like to peep at the next page and see which animal it next and then read it. They learn a lot of new words from this book such as hissing, braying, bellowing, etc. And the most impressive thing is my daughter has learnt how to pronounce certain hard words from this author's books and she does just fine. At her age, she can actually say "boa constrictor" (one of the animals in the book) very clearly and with such innocence she reads the third last page as follows: "zoo peeker, zoo peeker, what do you hear? instead of zookeeper zookeeper! Thank you Bill Martin Jr and Eric Carle, for creating this book. I have had this book for months and my daughters still love it. It is nothing but the BEST !!!!

You find out you're pregnant, so you need to read. I did too. After reading the reviews on the various books, I ordered this one and can honestly say, the reviews don't lie.

This book is extremely informative and pleasant to read. It has lots of information, without being overwhelming. I read this book at least three times over the course of my pregnancy and was happy to have done so. I was prepared for just about everything that came my way. Most normal side effects of pregnancy are described in various degree of detail, but in a way that does not make you worry or scares you.

The book is broken down by month and within each month into various subchapters that are loosely the same for each month. So it's easy to look up something that's ahead of where you're currently reading.

It also has additional information, like breastfeeding basics and excellent tips to help you through labor contractions.

I found this book very helpful throughout my pregnancy and I look forward to reading it again for future pregnancies. It is well written and nicely illustrated for better understanding.

This book is the ONLY one I needed, although I had others including the terrible "What to Expect" book. This book is a treat to read. Dr. Sears takes a positive approach so there's none of that alarmist tone that tends to find its way into so many books and conversations around the pregnant woman.

By the time it was "D-Day" for me, I truly believed that my delivery would go well and that I was ready for it. As a first time mom, I needed the affirmations found throughout this book that my body would do what it was supposed to do, and that I would be strong enough to go with whatever the day brought. The emphasis is on non-intervention and "natural" childbirth, but all of the possible interventions are discussed as well. Dr. Sears also writes about how interventions happen to the unsuspecting mom, and how to avoid them. I found it very empowering to have some information to bring to my doctor when discussing issues such as epidurals and episiotomy. I felt my positions regarding these personal choices were more respected because I had the information to back up my feelings.

The monthly format of the book is great. It's one of the few books I've found which treats the ninth month as the 8 week "month" it really can be.

I highly recommend this book to others and think it would make a great gift, too, since it's not preachy.

I just happened to stumble upon this book during my search through hundreds of pregnancy books for the ultimate pregnancy reference guide with a personal touch.

Once I discovered that I was pregnant, everyone recommended that I read "What to Expect...," but I really wanted to check out "The Pregnancy Book" too because of all the great reviews I had read, so I read both of them at the same time. It didn't take long before "The Pregnancy Book" became my new favorite reference and "What to Expect..." just became something I read when I'm bored.

Dr. & Mrs. Sears explain just about every possible symptom you could have. (I was so happy to find out that all of my symptoms were actually normal, and I wasn't the med-school case study I thought I was.) The Sears also recognize that every pregnancy is different and explain the many choices you have during pregnancy. Plus, I also noticed that they seem to have faith in the mother's ability to make decisions, unlike many authors who insist that you must follow their instructions exactly or you're a bad mother. They even added a section on what to do if you don't make it to the hospital/birthing center in time and how to deliver your baby yourself if necessary.

If you're looking for information on fertility, specific birthing methods, or taking care of your new child, try taking a look at some of the other, more specific books related to your topic (some are also written by the Sears), but if you're already pregnant or expect to be pregnant, this is a MUST HAVE book (and feel free to skip the "What to Expect..." book because this one really out does it).

I love many things about this book. The short stories at the end presented as the early writings of the Magister Ludi, the beautiful ending, and particularly Hesse's poetry. Since the day I finished the book, I've said that one can't come to a complete understanding of Hesse without reading it.

That being said, however, I have to agree with those who say that Das Glasperlenspiel is ultimately a bloody boring novel. Glorious...yes. Brilliant...yes. Bloated and overlong? Sorry, but yes. One sees fewer high school students reviewing this work (check out the Siddhartha section here), but I suspect many of them would throw this book down after 50 pages...many of their teachers would too, as a matter of fact.

By the time Glasperlenspiel was written, Hesse had become a truly poignant philopsophical/psychological figure...but it seems that some of his skill as a storyteller was lost in the process. In the end, I feel that I know something about Hesse's thinking because of this work...but I love him as an author because of Demian and Narciss und Goldmund.

This book is to Hesse as "The Brothers Karamazov" is to Dostoevsky. Throughout it are the same ideas that have been put forth in earlier works, often with similar characters, but with a fuller and more articulate expression than before. Like Dostoevsky, he finally figured out how to say *everything* he had to say in one volume. So it comes as no surprise that those only concerned with certain aspects (particularly the more spiritual ones) of Hesse's writing would find it disjointed and tedious. If you want to read more of Hesse's stories about tormented and/or confused souls looking for meaning in the world, this isn't your book - go reread Damien and Steppenwolf. This book has that esoteric search, but its main character, Joseph Knecht, pursues this search as a curiousity and not out of some desperate need. I'm sure that's why several people seem to find him lacking compared to other Hesse protagonists - they're expecting a conflict in him that isn't there.

As I read these other reviews I find it fascinating that everyone seems to come away from the book with such different things that they were struck with. In my case, this was the socio-political commentary. Through this book, Hesse comments on our own time and on a fictional opposite to it, thoroughly exposing the flaws in both. I remember most distinctly Knecht's letter of resignation from Magister Ludi, where he tells his colleagues that although they understand the importance of their society's existence, they made the fatal mistake of not educating the people who support them. That they cannot take the existence of what they have for granted, for the day would eventually come when all they built would be dismantled. Perhaps this was because I read this book when I was in an institution that resembled much of what Hesse wrote about, and exactly when Congress cut the NEA.

Reading this book changed my view of the world most in that it changed my expectations of it. More to the point, I abandoned my expectations. I am much more apt to let other people be themselves. To explain how or why would take far too long, suffice it to say that there is more to this book than a pursuit for spiritual meaning or a balance of intellectual and physical need, but also balance on many other levels, and Hesse explores all of them in his classic manner - first by their disparity, then by their eventual unity. A stunning conclusion to the career of one the greatest writers of all time.

First: From a prose point of view, I found the first 50 to 100 pages of this translation to be very difficult going. More astute readers would probably pick up on the subtle humor (Ziolkowski mentions it in his introduction) but I found it dry and tough going. I mention this because I've run into a number of people who say, "I really wanted to like it, but I couldn't even make it past the first 50 pages!" If you find this to be the case, just grin and bear it: Know that after the first 100 pages the book picks up considerably in pace.

I won't comment on the book's philosophical corollaries or references, since others better versed in such things have already done so, better than I could.

Rather, one of the aspects of the book that I found particularly compelling is the Game itself and the ideas behind it.

The Glass Bead Game, as Hesse describes it, is a meditation, seemingly both competitive and collaborative, on different fields of knowledge, where the point is to take concepts from otherwise disparate disciplines and associate them in creative, profound ways -- finding a pattern shared rhythmically by a piece of Baroque music and spatially by ancient Chinese architecture, say.

An observation I've made over time is that of all the people I know, those that I would say are possessed by genius all share a common trait, the ability, to use the cliche, to "Think Outside the Box." To realize new, previously unseen associations between things is a quality of a great mind, and here Hesse acknowledges the value of this talent, elevating it even to an artform (though I suppose the Castalian players in the novel would firmly call it "post-art".)

The analogy I make is to 2D math: Consider a point in space, represented in either Cartesian or polar coordinates. Each representation is as valid as the other, but each representation, makes different analyses easier and others harder.

Another good analogy is the Windows 98/2000/XP explorer window: the window displays a list of files, with a number of columns of various information. You can click a column header to sort the list by that information. A given sort makes certain things easier, and others harder. If I sort by file size, I can easily find the largest file. If I sort by name, I can easily find a file beginning with the letter 'C'.

The idea of the Game is, essentially, to find different "sort columns" -- to find different ways to slice knowledge to compare it and examine it and learn from it.

The fascination of *Glass Bead Game* was that, for me, it began to formalize the idea of meta-knowledge -- that is, how we think about what we know. There's probably tons of psychology literature about this phenomenon, learning theory, or whatnot, but Hesse manages to incorporate it not into a dissertation on the Game, but on a decidedly artistic book that revolves around the Game. What talent, to so eloquently present such a profound idea as merely one aspect of a larger work of art!

It took me about a month to read this entire book, consistently reading twenty or thirty pages a night. When I finished, I found that some nights I'd get so caught up thinking about the book and its implications and possibilities that I'd be unable to fall asleep.

Rarely do I have the opportunity to read something so compelling!

Writing must come naturally to Norman Mailer. While this is his very first book, it suffers from none of the usual rookie mistakes and stands up to the very best works in Mailer's oeuvre. I dare say that very few 20th century novelists would not trade in the sum total of their work to have written this one masterpiece.

"The Naked and the Dead" delves deep into the heart of war as it exists in modern times, sparing us the sentimentalism and glorification that plagues most books of the war genre. I would be belittling this book's significance by even assigning it to a specific genre. True, this is a story of war, of the implications of war, the causes of war, and the impact that war has on various types of individuals, from the generals down to a platoon of privates. But first and foremost this is a story about human nature, and how human beings react when pushed to the very edge of their physical and emotional endurance.

While I could go on indefinately listing this book's many favorable attributes, I will spare you my opinions and let you decide for yourself. But do read this book. Do not be put-off by its length, for anything shorter would have done a great injustice to the subject matter.

Norman Mailer, may you live to be 1,000 years old.

There must have been a glut of war novels published in the wake of World War II, so it's indicative of the high quality of Norman Mailer's "The Naked and the Dead" that its popularity and acclaim have survived when so many others have been forgotten. What makes it so powerful is its uncompromising depiction of brutal front-line combat in scenes so well written that it's easy to forgive the book for its occasionally banal dialogue.

The setting is a fictitious South Pacific island called Anopopei which is held by the Japanese. The U.S. Army has launched a campaign to take command of the island by landing six thousand troops there to confront the defensive line established by the opposing Japanese General Toyaku. Because this is fictional, I assume that the island is supposed to be a desirable strategic position because the purpose of the mission in relation to the real war is never clearly explained. In charge of the invasion is a Machiavellian General named Cummings who thinks soldiers are motivated best by fear. To defeat Toyaku's line, Cummings devises a plan tailored to the island's particular geography and assigns a reconnaissance squad to the dangerous mission, putting his rebellious and idealistic aide, Lieutenant Hearn, in charge. What the men find out is that the island's natural environment is a more formidable enemy than the Japanese could ever be.

The story focuses mainly on the dozen or so men in the reconnaissance squad. Their personal backgrounds vary greatly, although their personalities don't differ so much that it's easy to tell them apart except by name. The two that stand out the most are Roth and Goldstein, two Jewish soldiers who are made to feel like outcasts due to casual anti-semitism in the squad. Short sections entitled "The Time Machine" provide glimpses of each soldier's personal history -- how they came to be what they are. They are, for the most part, normal men with understandable fears of things like being wounded or killed and the possibility of their wives' infidelity while they are gone.

Reading this novel is like descending into a hellish abyss. It is very long and goes into extensive detail about all aspects of wartime life on the island: marching through the jungle in its greenhouse-like heat, hauling heavy equipment through muddy trails and over mountainous terrain, listening to the sporadic bursts of machine gun fire. The squad's treacherous reconnaissance mission is an almost Sisyphean task in which there is no honor or glory to be reaped from their efforts, just tired muscles and broken bodies. And yet they must continue onward, commanded by a cold and distant master plan that is concerned more with the gain of land than the loss of people. This is more than just a suspenseful war story; it is an eye-opening allegory about the apparent purposelessness of mankind's labor and suffering throughout history.

The Naked and the Dead is as long and winding as the half-cut trails of Anopopei. The struggle of each character is monotonous, and Mailer insists that the reader understand this monotony through seemingly endless repetition. However, this repetition was the life he was trying to portray. Yes, the book is long, but it is good. I must admit that there were parts that I was tempted to do without, but the occasional poetic verse kept things alive.

Mailer was indeed a poet. Some of the metaphors and descriptions used seem to drop the reader into the trance-like state that so many soldiers must have felt in the presence of death. The remarkable precision of post-war thought blended with existentialist ideal make this book multi-faceted. A greek tragedy, a philisophical warning, The Naked in the Dead brings the horror of war to the reality of every individual.

Rated a 9 by virtue of its depth and poetic-like verse.
Rated a 9 by the unsettling realism that so many wish was only a story.

David Knape

Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania is an offbeat location for anything...including daily life. But there we are, complete with serial killer! I originally read this book because of its local interest but couldn't put it down because of my interest. The story is fast-paced, absorbing, and chilling. Computer details ring true, as do the descriptions of my small hometown. The main character, Jay, is especially well-drawn as she evolves in her own "serial" pursuits. I've been looking over my shoulder since I finished it

I'd read WATCH ME over a year ago but since I'd just gotten ahold of the sequel CATCH ME last w/e and am ignoring the books bought for me by my family for Xmas in favor of Holt's new novel, I thought that I'd share some of my impressions.

First off, I no more believe that WATCH ME is Holt's first book than I believe Robert James Waller has talent. This is a poised, polished, savvy effort and first novels, not even NATHAN'S RUN, turn out this good. Holt is a bestselling author under his/her real name and I'm sure that I've read this author before.

Secondly, just when people think the serial killer genre has been done to death (pardon the phrase) someone like AJ Holt comes along to breathe new life and brings us a combination of Brian Garfield's DEATH WISH and Thomas Harris's SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. There are several vigilante novels out there, the most execrable being PREDATORS, but Holt's slick, well-paced effort is easily head and shoulders above them.

The characterization was adequate, not nearly as detailed as in Harris's efforts but what the author lacks in character development (I didn't believe his half-hearted explanation as to why Jay turned renegade FBI agent), s/he more than makes up for in plotting and action. The denouement was genuinely thrilling and Holt set up a demand for the sequel, which thankfully had come two years ago.

What'll the next one be called? MATCH ME?

Jaded thriller addict that I am, I picked up Watch Me thinking 'oh spare me, another dated cyber-cops-and-robbers, mouse-turns-vampire thing'. By page 90 I'd not only double-locked the doors, but made sure the dead bolts were set as well. This is a very satisfying and complex tale of pure human evil, carefully set in a wide variety of real and virtual locations, ranging from Vancouver to the dregs of cyberspace. Jay Fletcher, the leading lady, is morally ambiguous but lethally effective as she confronts a web of serial killers frighteningly disguised as normal people in our midst. Is this a disturbing book? Yes, definitely - what are the limits of legal protection? Is vigilantism justifiable, and if so, who decides? Holt's style is taut and spare: an excellent read in a safe place!