The plays in the History's Project's "Character in Time: The US Presidents" series are interesting and informative and, above all, very readable. People unfamiliar with reading plays should not be put off by the format -- after a few minutes time, it seems perfectly natural to read dialogue instead of normal prose. Students, especially, will appreciate the playwright's artful distillation of the subject's ideas and philosophy, as well as the lively presentation of his character -- there's really a lot of information packed into these small volumes.

Our faith in this country's first president as a mythological icon is warmly dispelled through this entertaining account of a man whose daily angst, to the largest extent, so identifiably resembles our own. The read is quick but the remembrances will remain. This play is an excellent vehicle to combat the shallow, pedantic versions of presidential history to which most of us have been previously subjected.

The Washington Cookbook may have been origionally published 18 years ago, but it blends well into any present day kitchen. I found my copy at a book fair and bought it out of curiosity after the cover caught my eye. Recipes in the book were gathered from Washington residents, Statesmen and Foreign Dignitaries. I found it to contain a great variety of recipes from down home American classics like Cheese biscuits and Chicken with Dumplings to exotic foreign recipes such as Baba Ghannouj and Shrimp Madagascar. This cookbook contains a wide variety of catagories from appetizers and salads, meats, seafood, poultry, soups, vegatables, eggs and cheese, breads, beverages and desserts. In addition to the variety of recipes, this cookbook contains delightful sketches of scenes from Washington thourghout the book. Not only is this book full of great recipes but is fun to read as well.

This is a cookbook that was originally compiled and published as a charity/fundraiser for the Washington opera. Many local and international dignitaries/celebreties have contributed recipes, but also just many Washington locals. There are many international recipes, stemming from the different embassies present in DC, but also many all-American standards. I love cookbooks that have been compiled like this, because people have sent in their best, tried and true favorite recipes. And they work. I have owned this book for many years now and have not been disappointed by a single recipe. I have more recently purchased volume II, and it is equally great. Maybe because several of the contributers are used to entertaining at a grander scale, there are many great "crowd-pleaser" recipes in there that will happily feed even the hungriest party. The cookbook is not made up in a glossy way at all, and it has no recipe-related photos, so picture-oriented beginner cooks beware! However, I have found all the recipes so far very well written, edited, and easy to reproduce. In my opinion: no pictures necessary.

This is a definite fun read. If you grew up in Portland in the 50's and 60's, like I did, it's a wonderful stroll down memory lane as well as a good refresher on what's been going on since. Seems very close to the truth, at least on the topics I'm in a position to judge. Only knock is it's a little too Seattle oriented for my blood!

I'm a native Southerner, so reading this book about the Pacific Northwest was a lot of fun. The writers have a unique voice that makes this book much more than a mere compendium of facts. Each piece is written with a lot of humor and insight. Anyone interested in pop culture should own this book!

Winners is a collection of poems from past recipients of the Washington Prize, and the people who labored behind-the-scenes as first-readers and judges. The Washington Prize was founded in 1981 by The Word Works -- a Washington D.C. area non-profit literary organization that publishes contemporary poetry -- awarding $1,000 for a single poem. Currently, the award has been boosted to $1,500 and publication for a book-length poetry manuscript.

The "Winners" collection devotes its first half to the winners themselves, and the poetry featured here is primarily free-style narrative, with some classic forms. Here's a sample from "A Diamond is Hard But Not Tough", by 1997's winner, Ann Rae Jonas:

Tough material bends / to absorb a force. / By the time one breaks, / the pieces forget / their original shape. / The bent nail, the key / jammed in the lock.

Poets out there should note that this book contains a preface by Hilary Tham, one of the editors, with advice on how to put together a "winning manuscript" -- advice that rings true whether you're entering a manuscript in a contest, or submitting it to an editor at a publishing house.

The second half of the book reads like a "who's who" of Washington D.C. area poets, and features works by: Karren LaLonde Alenier, author of four books and president of The Word Works; Patricia Gray, coordinator of the Library of Congress' Poetry at Noon series for the Office of Scholarly Programs; Brandon Johnson, founding member of Modern Urban Griots, a poetry and performance collective; Miles Moore, organizer and host of the IOTA Poetry Reading Series; and Martha Sanchez-Lowery, poetry editor of the literary annual Minimus.

The following is from Brandon Johnson's "Red House":

he's at the door, easin his key into the lock / but things change when you ain't lookin. / a woman's perfume, the color of her hair. / key don't turn, him thinkin Lisa's gone, / him, confused as uncut hair.

Readers will admire the breadth of talent in Winners, as well as the dedication of The Word Works for its effort to publish poetry that is essential, and for giving worthy poets a chance for national exposure.

Winners: A Retrospective Of The Washington Prize is a collection of poems, essays, and anecdotes drawn from The Word Works sponsored "Washington Prize" and features the nineteen winners spanning 1981 to 1999. Enhanced with photos, this anthology presents those contest entries that give a complete picture of the selection process. Winners is both an excellent reference tool for poets eager to win a small press prize that results in publication, as well as wonderfully rewarding reading for anyone with an interest in the best contemporary poetry as judged by the standards applied for awarding the "Washington Prize". And Daddy Rides: Taxi driver, midday sun/Daughter photo on the dashboard lies/Long drive, pair of sympathetic eyes/He tells her story and rides//The bullet wasn't meant for her/The boyfriend jumped up out the way/But she stayed, and now she'll always stay/As he rides//She'll stay a girl of seventeen/And locked up in a darkened room/Her mother keeps her company/Wrapped in a chrysalis of grief/As he rides//One clings to death, one rides the roads/And though he loves his wife, he knows/That with the little girl she goes//"She took it hard." Is all he'll say/And watch them softly drift away/As he rides -- Maureen Murphy

My first Patterson book was 'Cat & Mouse' and I thoroughly enjoyed being scared out of my wits. I heard a lot about the video which is based on 'Kiss the Girls', so I thought I had better read the book before I watch the movie. Patterson does not disappoint! This book is every bit a thrill ride that 'Cat & Mouse' was and I couldn't predict the ending. There were too many twists in the plot to keep up with, which is a good thing, because it keeps you on the seat of your pants.

In this novel, there are two competing serial killers one on the west coast and one on the east coast and it is up to Alex Cross to find both of them before they each take their next victim. Alex is helped by a victim who escaped from Casanova to find the Gentleman Caller. As they come close to catching both, the suspense builds to a fervent climax and an unbelieveable ending. Very good book and I can't wait to see the movie.

As with many books I have read, I wish I had seen the movie after the book. I always seem to feel so let down after seeing a movie based on a book I loved. Kiss the girls does not disappoint between the pages though. Patterson does a teriffic job of pulling the reader through every step of Alex Cross' journey to find his missing niece. I like the first person writing style that Patterson uses to tell the story from the main characters point of view. Even though the story tends to be a bit graphic at times I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone looking for a good mystery-thriller.

When I read the Amazon review for this book, I was very surprised to see that amazon apparently didn't like it. The reviewer called it "an improbable and hopelessly derivative mess of a thriller." Don't let this steer you away from 'Kiss the Girls'. Sure, Patterson's style of short chapter, minimalistic, fast paced writing isn't exactly normal, but it's not bad-it's just whether you personally like it or not. Amazon obviously didn't.
Amazon also says "Patterson doubles neither our pleasure nor our fun." Thank God he didn't, this book was already so intense that doubling it would possibly have made me the world's youngest heart attack victim. Patterson never lets up the tension, not for a second. I literally couldn't read it fast enough, I needed that badly to know what would happen in the next chapter, the next page, the next sentence. This is my first James Patterson book (I picked it up on a whim in the library), but it is far from my last. And as a testament to how great the plot of this book was, and how greatly Patterson weaved the tale, I'll tell you what I did after finishing 'Kiss the Girls'...I read it again. The only time I've ever read the same book twice in a row like that. It's more than worth it though, because after you know who the killer is, going back and rereading is fun just to notice all the little clues and hints that you didn't pick up on the first time (and trust me, you won't figure it out before the killer is revealed).

This is a good book for pretty much anyone. I've been trying to ween my mom off of the Danielle Steele romance ... she reads, and gave this to her to read. She loved it and has read two other Alex Cross books. So read this even if it's not what you normally like to read.

Along Came A Spider is a thriller by James Patterson. I enjoyed this novel because it was unpredictable and held my interest the entire book. Along Came A Spider was well written, with developed, realistic characters. Though lengthy, this novel is a fast and exciting read.
Along Came A Spider is one of many books written by Patterson that centers on a Washington D.C detective, Alex Cross. Cross is a cop living in a dangerous part of town, trying to improve the lives of those around him by catching criminals. He is a widower and a father of two, and under his seemingly tough exterior he has a good heart. Cross's varied qualities make him an interesting and likeable character.
The novel is set mainly in D.C, where Maggie Rose Duane and Michael Goldberg are kidnapped from their prominent private school. They are kidnapped by a teacher, "Mr. Chips," which makes their wealthy, important families even more upset. Alex Cross is put on the case, and though he does not want it because of it's high publicity, he reluctantly takes it. Soon, though, he is in pursuit of a ruthless and psychotic criminal, who may be connected to many unsolved murders in Alex's neighborhood. Throughout the novel, Cross is trying to outsmart the kidnapper and get the children back before they are killed. Along the way, there are many unexpected twists, turns, and surprises. Cross finds that people are not always what they seem, and he can never be sure who to trust. The kidnapper's need to "be somebody" drives his actions, and is a prominent theme found in the novel.
Along Came A Spider was an exciting read, and I would recommend it. If you are looking for a suspense novel that will keep you guessing, this is the book for you.

When he saw the previews for the movie Along Came a Spider, my brother encouraged me to read the book before the movie came out. I was pleased with the results.

The only reason I gave my review 4 stars and not 5 is because when you get to the end, the rest of the book seems rather drab. I found Alex Cross to be a very intense and deep character. Gary Soneji also was a very deep and at times, even confusing character.

Like I said the ending ROCKS! I seriously read the last 150 pages in a blur, I don't think I even took a bathroom break. The begining was a typical forensic/psycopath book, but not nearly as good as books like Silence of the Lambs. I was like, "I thought James Patterson was suposed to be a brilliant author!". Then I hit the end and it just blew me away! Some people say they didn't like the ending, I loved it! It caught me off guard and was as far from cliche as you can get. Thats what I love in a book.

I seriously reccomend this book. It may start slow, but by the end, you'll be trying to catch your breath!

This is the first book by James Patterson that I've read, namely because I wanted to read the book prior to seeing the movie. Let me say that I'm very glad I did. This book, the first in the Alex Cross series of stories, opens with an alternative telling of how the Lindbergh kidnapping might have happened, and then proceeds to detail a brilliant kidnapping from a highly guarded private school attended by the children of national politicians and ambassadors. The criminal mastermind (named Gary Soneji) is very well created, always staying one step ahead of the police while trying to create his legacy as the greatest criminal of all time. His chief rival, psychologist and police detective Alex Cross, is the only one up to the challenge of catching Soneji. In fact, detective Cross's pursuit of Soneji allows the author to draw some very disturbing but insightful pictures into the mind of a madman. This alone would have made the book an excellent story. However, the plot twists that continue to be revealed as the book unfolds make the book even better. I don't know if Mr. Patterson's later books about Alex Cross are as good as this first one, but if they are even half as good, then they'll be a real treat.

Oh, and for those of you who have seen the movie, don't worry. The book is very very different from the movie, and in my opinion much better. I don't know why movie makers think they've got to change the storyline of a bestselling novel to bring it to the screen, but in this case, the result is a very diminished and unfaithful retelling of James Patterson's classic thriller.

So take my advice and read this book. You'll love it, and you'll be hooked on James Patterson and Alex Cross.

It's the last night of the 20th century, and the Digger has instructions to kill at 4:00PM, 8:00PM,and midnight. That is, unless he gets a message from his partner. However, after delivering the ransom note to Washington DC mayor Jerry Kennedy, the Digger's partner is victim of a hit-and-run driver and dies. The FBI knows the Digger will keep killing until he's found and they must race against time to find out where the Digger plans to strike.

Deaver is a good writer. I've enjoyed his "A Maiden's Grave" as well as the Lincoln Rhyme series. He introduces some a new set of characters in this book who are well drawn. The plot moves along well until the end. I won't reveal it, that wouldn't be fair, but it seemed a bit contrived to me. I don't feel Deaver laid enough groundwork for the ending, and I also think he intentionally mis-leads the reader in the beginning of the book in order to make the ending work. This is not fair play for an author. I've seen this in at least one other of his novels and I hope he doesn't make it a habit. This isn't a bad book but I don't think it's as good as "A Maiden's Grave".

A phycopath, who is controlled by a 'superior being', unleashes his reign of terror at a metro station killing dozens on New Year's Eve '99. He threatens to continue the carnage every four hours unless the city pay him $20m. And so begins a race against time with the FBI desperately trying to establish the whereabouts of the Digger with the only bit of evidence being the ransom note.

Interesting facts emerge regarding paper, ink and handwriting analysis, especially those dotted "I's"!

This book has great plots, believable characters, excellent research and surprise endings upon endings. Just when you think the book is drawing to a conclusion, JD throws another plot within a plot your way.

The pace is great, a highly recommended read.

I usually read two or three books at a time...except when an author "grabs me" as Deaver did in The Devil's Teardrop. I ordered the books on 9/1, received it on 9/3, read it on 9/4, and have loaned it to a friend.

While some aspects of the plot were unbelieveable, and some (the "click") incomprehensible, Deaver knows how to keep his readers turning the pages. His characters are always interesting, and reasonably real. Unlike a few other reviewers, I enjoyed Kincaid's loyalty to his children, and the mixed emotions he experienced in dealing with two conflicting desires.

The plot centers around a madman, programmed only to kill (it would have been nice to have Deaver explain how this creature came to exist), and to respond only to the specific instructions--or lack thereof--from the "real" killer. The Digger came across as an automoton, and perhaps could have been a robot, had the book been science fiction. From a human vantage point...he can't exist.

The weakest part of the book is the ending...somewhat predictable, even if left open for a sequel. Overall, Deaver is unique to the genre, and always delivers a compulsive read.

This novel has all the ingredients of an engaging thriller: a larger than life ex-marine hero who anyone in trouble would want on their side, impassioned and embittered ex-commandos who have moved from protecting the country from its enemies to protecting it from its leaders, a cast of vile, arrogant politicians collectively cast as the antagonist, and a complex (though pretty improbable), makes-you-think plot.

Though the novel isn't perfect--as I said, the plot is pretty improbable and some of the characters are little more than straw figures--it's very fast-paced and pulls you so totally into the inner world of DC's power corridors that you won't notice the book's relatively minor flaws until after you've finished it and had a chance to think it over.

Some of the criticisms of Term Limits seem to be written by people who read the book way too literally. Term Limits in no way celebrates commandos that kill off crooked politicians, nor does the book's hero, Michael O'Rourke, think they've done a particularly noble thing. To suggest that it does colors a good book that's just meant to be entertaining with a mean-spiritedness and cynicism that simply isn't there.

Many books being published to-day have the same repetitive theme to them - - - us against the outside world. Vince Flynn reverses this premise and describes the enemy inside, namely crooked politicians whose only pursuits are promoting their own selfish interests, at the expense of the voters who put them in power in the first place. The selected assassination of some of these politicians and the panic and irrational actions that ensues in Washington from the President on down ensures the reader a story line that is gripping in its telling. As the story plays out, the reader will eventually gain a grudging admiration of the assassins and then be in total empathy with them. This book will hit a sensitive spot with most readers in their attitudes to-wards a certain breed of to-day's politicians. If Mr Flynn's next book is half as thought provoking as "Term Limits", he is a real winner.

Thanks, Mr. Flynn, for sharing this gripping, believable story with me. As a conservative with tremendous respect for members of our Special Forces (no, I'm not a radical right-winger), I found myself feeling the same frustration the SEALS were dealing with in Term Limits. Oh, yeah, some of the targets were recognizable--and I loved that--and the methods used for imposing their term limits were pretty "out there," but gosh they were good at what they did! As soon as I finished the book, I insisted my husband read it (he's big into Clancy, etc.) and he loved it as much as I did. Even missed a baseball game to finish it...and our daughter just finished it and raved about it. She's always been into fantasy novels, but has now asked for more books like Term Limits. Shame to say, there aren't many out there as well done as this one. Hope Flynn will write more about Michael O'Rourk and his friends!

My Antonia was a colorful book full of exploration, times of life and laughter, and times of heartbreak and sorrow. My Antonia written by Willa Cather portrays how life was for imigrants trying to make it in the world. Also, how life was for those already living in North America.

The book opens up with Jim Burden, a 10 year old boy who has just lost his mother and father and is traveling with a ranch hand, Jake. They are both going to Nebraska to live with Jim's grandparents. After Jim has gotten settled in and has made himself known to most of his new surroundings, he and his family go to visit their new Bohemian neighbors. There they meet the Shimerdas consisting of: Mr. Shimerada, Mrs. Shimerada, Ambrosch,Yilka, Marek, and Antonia. Once Jim and Antonia meet they become close friends rather fast, by hanging out and teaching Antonia English. This is only the beginning of many years of love, friendship, heartache, and emotion.

The weather represents many events and emotions in My Antonia such as, "As the sun sank there came a sudden coolness and the strong smell of earth...." Another place that Cather uses emotion is Antonia, "looked off at the red streak of dying light," although Antonia knows her father would have liked her to go to school and get a good education she must stay at home and do chores like a man. Her hope that she might do what her father would have liked her to do is that, "of dying light."

Whether you are into the adventure novel or the romantic sappy one; My Antonia is both. I began reading this book and didn't want to put it down. Although certain parts of the book were slow, that happens in the best of novels. I would recommend this book to the avid reader and even to the every once in a while reader.

Ten-year-old Jim Burden arrives in the dark Nebraska vastness, on the same train as a hopeful but impoverished Bohemian family. The newly orphaned boy is welcomed by loving grandparents and kind farm hands, who gently teach him prairie survival skills. Alas, there is no one but a sly cousin from the old country to greet/dupe the hardworking folk who sacrificed their homeland to make a better life in the New World for their children. Still, hroughout the entire book it is Nature--particularly in the form of the undulating, ever metamorphosing prairie--which dispenses both cruelty and blessing on Americans and immigrants alike. How each group copes reveals their moral fibre and hints at future success.

Young Jim is most enchanted by his 14-year-old neighbor, a bronzed, hardworking daughter of the soil, who toils selflessly for her family--Antonia Shimerda. Their strange customs and diverse personalities awe and confuse Jimmy, who immediately feels appreciation and affection for this brave girl from a flawed family. The novel recounts their lives from childhood until young adulthood; how they took divergent paths in their quests for true happiness and contentment in life.

Cather's style is lyric: music is found in both Papa's violin and the waving of golden grain. She vividly portrays the chiaroscuro of shimmering sunsets and dappled leaves by the creek; gracefulness in the lilt of a barefoot walk and the natural aspiration of the heart toward peace and beauty. Does Jim regret the lost days of his boyhood, when life's pleasures were innocent, when hope was young and shy, when dreams were easily shared with a trusting companion and sincere smile? Was it worth all his serious studies and prestigious N.Y. job, when he recalls the tremulous private confessions of their youth? Can a prairie lad completely divest himself of his nurturing environment, or do the dancing grasses still hold secret sway in his adult heart? An American classic of the midwest, MY ANTONIA is meant for readers all over the world because of the unashamed truths it reveals about the heart of man.

In MY ANTONIA Willa Cather does an extraordinary job of showing a true struggle with the weight of the personal nostalgic impulse. Jim Burden is unfulfilled in his life as a New York husband and lawyer, a predicament that his many travels near the Nebraska he grew up in do not alleviate. His most powerful memories center around the Bohemian immigrant girl Antonia. The story is really about their relationship rather than either individual: Cather's depiction of Jim's friendship with Antonia as a child, a young adult, and then a man shows how both Jim and the novel reconcile and transcend the combination of place, time and fortune. Written primarily from Jim's perspective, the story helps him regain a vital measure of the fulfillment he has lost in the over twenty years he spends away from his roots. It's hard to go home again, and often we don't when we should, but Cather reminds us that home is not strictly a matter of geography: the people we carry in our hearts mean more to us than any street address ever can.

Cather's pen paints vivid and detailed pictures of the landscape and complex, well-rounded characters to people it. I could not finish this book when it was assigned for summer reading in high school; it didn't grip me. Reading it twelve years later, with my childhood gone and a dozen years more life experience and memories, I found it not only gripping, but stirring and beautiful.

I read Snow Falling on Cedars for an English class at my high school. We examined the novel's characters, use of symbolism, meaning, and structure for our class, and I think we gained a good understanding of the book. The story is set on a small island off the coast of Washington during the 1950's. It centers on the trial of Kabuo Miyamoto, a Japanese man who is being tried for the first degree murder of a fellow fisherman named Carl Heine. The book is not a courtroom drama, however. The wife of the accused, Hatsue Miyamoto, and the local reporter, Ishmael Chambers, at one time were high school sweethearts who were torn apart by the Japanese internment during World War II. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn about their relationship and how it ended. Ironically, Ishmael discovers evidence that will set Kabuo free, but he is still bitter about his past with Hatsue, and he struggles with his conscience. This is not a simple story, and it becomes confusing at times because of the flashbacks, which sometimes are inside other flashbacks. It is more historical fiction than anything else, and it brings to light a period in America's history that is not usually remembered fondly. Personally, I was kind of bored with the book at times, and the courtroom scenes were a little bit too long for me. The ending seemed to be trying to be a moral lesson, but it barely pulled it off. Altogether, I'd say that while I didn't dislike the book, I probably wouldn't have made it through the first five chapters if I had been reading it outside of school.

SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS is full of sumptuous, vivid descriptive passages that will have you smelling the fishy, sea air and feeling the sand between your toes while you read. Guterson spares no effort in bringing the West Coast to his reader. He also spins a pretty good courtroom yarn, although to me, the plot was almost secondary.

Ishmael Chambers, the town newspaper reporter/publisher, is covering the trial of Kabuo Miyamoto. Miyamoto is on trial for the murder of Carl Heine, once his high school chum, over a piece of ill-gotten land. The novel follows two story lines: the present-day investigation into the real story of how Carl was killed, and the doomed, teenage love affair between Ishmael and Hatsue, now Kabuo's wife.

The stories are both compelling and Guterson convincingly depicts the shameful treatment the U.S. gave its Japanese American citizens during WWII. If I have one complaint, it's that as I got deeper into the mystery, and closer to its resolution, I kept wishing Guterson would cut the descriptiveness and just resolve things! (But, I couldn't skip ahead to the end, his writing is so beautiful!)

This book is well written because it covers many conditions of the human spirit, war, love, race, prejudice, and truth. It was easy, and fun to read because it was placed in the Pacific Northwest making it easy to picture the surroundings and some of the locations mentioned in the book. The truly impressive accomplishment to David Guterson was his ability to discuss a condoned period of hatred in the history of America. As a student, one doesn't often hear of the Japanese-American concentration camps that were set up to keep a paranoid country comfortable during wartime. It was interesting to see how well white Americans got along with their Japanese neighbors. Among farmers, colleagues, and business owners, there were no troubles until a strain was placed upon the fragile relationship. Then, whites became prejudiced and biased against their foreign neighbors. The Japanese were constantly under suspicion and scrutiny for no reason, other than their skin color. The best quote to describe this book comes from the Los Angeles Times. They describe Snow Falling on Cedars as, "Haunting . . . a whodunit complete with courtroom maneuvering and surprising turns of evidence and at the same time a mystery, something altogether richer and deeper." This book gave away no clues as to how it might end. Normally, mystery writers attempt to give the reader a fighting chance to match wits against the protagonist sleuth, but not Guterson. By making the characters deep fragile and constantly prying evidence from everywhere, the climax is kept tightly clouded up until the very end. My favorite scene is when Guterson is describing the forest where Ishmael Chambers and Hatsue met for romantic getaways. Because of the words used to describe the surroundings, my mind vividly pictured the images of the giant fir trees, surrounded by a carpet of pine needles. One can almost hear the birds chirping, the nearby book babbling quietly, and the squirrels chattering to each other in the canopy above. Al! beit, cheesy, this setting makes it very easy for the reader to see how two such different people could fall hopelessly in love. Out of all the characters, I liked Hatsue the best. She is a girl growing up in a confusing world, victimized by chaotic times. Although her existence is already difficult enough, being a Japanese woman living on the West coast during WWII, she falls in love with a white boy, adding yet another worry to an already precarious life. Some have described these two as "star crossed lovers" but that doesn't truly apply. Hatsue never loved Ishmael with as much faith and devotion as Ishmael loved her. She was wrenched from innocence quickly however when she was deported to the hellish world of concentration camps. Hatsue had to become a woman overnight, in order to survive. The only problem I had with the book was that the trial scenes were too drawn out. Although interesting and vital to the story, the court scenes just created a small amount of tediousness that causes the middle and the end to drag a bit. Also I thought the end was a bit cliche. Should Ishmael turn over his evidence and free Hatsue's husband, or should he sit on his info and be reunited with his love? Moral or love? This is a theme which is becoming more common in a lot of books of different genres, but although it is a cliche, it is still well written and does little to take away from the story. These are such minute problems that it is easily overlook by someone who has enjoyed the rest of the book. Overall, Snow Falling on Cedars is a wonderful, powerfully written book, well deserving of the PEN/Faulkner Award.