Othello is by without a doubt my favorite of the plethora of Shakespeare's tragedies. Although Othello himself is quite an intricate character, it was funny and almost ironic how the character that grabbed my observance the most was the villain Iago. Iago, being perhaps Shakespeare's most consummate villain, directly or indirectly seemed to control the minds and hearts of almost everyone he interacted with. Bravery, loyalty, ambition, honesty, and chivalry are all issues addressed within the play, and when combined with a great deal of power struggles, they can create an intense whirlwind of emotions and confusion running high. Othello, even being a powerful and bold general, is easily deceived by Iago as well as are many of the other characters who soon come to find out what it means to be struck by Iago's wrath. All of these things considered, one can easily find themselves engulfed with all sorts of emotions, and be filled with empathy and rage toward the diverse array of characters, maybe even find a little piece of themselves in each one of them. The play can be compared to many of Shakespeare's plays, both comedy and tragedy, in different ways. If you enjoyed the plot of Much Ado About Nothing, or Romeo and Juliet, then you can not go wrong by reading this play. Also, if you like strong women roles and always find yourself identifying easily with those characters in Shakespeare's plays, one of the female characters in Othello, Emelia will be quite a delight. For me, by the last page and last quote of this play, I was literally holding back the tears, and that impact is no exaggeration. If you have yet to read Othello, don't wait another second. Go right now to the nearest bookshelf, dust it off and I promise the pages will just seem to simply turn themselves. Enjoy!

Despite his Machiavellian and snakelike nature, Iago strangely and inexplicably endears himself as the most likeable villain in all of Shakespeare. It can be argued that Iago was unduly wronged in that the noble & educated, yet untested Cassio achieved the promotion of lieutenant over the common & uneducated, yet more battle-proven Iago. Iago also asserts that his blunt and disrespectful wife Emilia has slept around and made a cuckold of him with Othello. Although there is no proof as to the latter charge, Iago is nothing short of the embodiment of a veritable myriad of rage, fury, jealousy, and a relentless and all-encompassing passion for vengeance on The Moor.

Upon reading Othello the first time, I found myself empathizing with the honorable, yet naive General Othello, and even moreso with the innocent and untainted Desdemona, whom Othello "loved not wisely, but too well." After reading Othello the 3rd time, I've come to a greater appreciation for the convoluted and diablolical genius that is Iago - and how masterfully Shakespeare constructed this great character and the storyline of Othello with so fewer characters than is typical of his other great plays. It is with fewer characters that the ingenuity of Shakespeare is allowed to shine. With the likes of Iago, The Bard is able to achieve as great and superior characterization in Othello as in any of his other masterpieces. While he may be the last guy on the block you might invite to dinner, you would be a knave to deny the incomparable surreptitious cunning and genius of Iago nonetheless. As far as the many Othello movies go, I must state that Kenneth Branagh is absolutely masterful and convincing as the sinister Iago. I wholeheartedly recommend Othello to any and all readers who have a flair for both wisdom and entertainment achieved as one.

As a play, "Othello" encompasses many things but more than anything else it is a study of pure evil. Although Othello is an accomplished professional soldier and a hero of sorts, he is also a minority and an outcast in many ways. As a Black man and a Moor (which means he's a Moslem), Othello has at least two qualities, which make him stand out in the Elizabethan world. He is also married to a Caucasian woman named Desdemona, which creates an undercurrent of hostility as evidenced by the derogatory remark "the ram hath topped the ewe".

Othello's problems begin when he promotes one of his soldiers, Michael Cassio as his lieutenant. This arouses the jealousy and hatred of one of his other soldiers, Iago who hatches a plot to destroy Othello and Michael Cassio. When Cassio injures an opponent in a fight he is rebuked, punished, and subsequently ignored by Othello who must discipline him and teach him a lesson. Iago convinces Desdemona to intervene on Cassio's behalf and then begins to convince Othello that Desdemona is in love with Cassio.

This is actually one of the most difficult Shakespeare plays to watch because the audience sees the plot begin to unfold and is tormented by Othello's gradual decent into Iago's trap. As with other Shakespeare plays, the critical components of this one are revealed by language. When Othello is eventually convinced of Cassio's treachery, he condemns him and promotes Iago in his place. When Othello tells Iago that he has made him his lieutenant, Iago responds with the chilling line, "I am thine forever". To Othello this is a simple affirmation of loyalty, but to the audience, this phrase contains a double meaning. With these words, Iago indicates that the promotion does not provide him with sufficient satisfaction and that he will continue to torment and destroy Othello. It is his murderous intentions, not his loyal service that will be with Othello forever.

Iago's promotion provides him with closer proximity to Othello and provides him with more of his victim's trust. From here Iago is easily able to persuade Othello of Desdemona's purported infidelity. Soon Othello begins to confront Desdemona who naturally protests her innocence. In another revealing statement, Othello demands that Desdemona give him "the ocular proof". Like Iago's earlier statement, this one contains a double meaning that is not apparent to the recipient but that is very clear to the audience who understands the true origin of Othello's jealousy. Othello's jealousy is an invisible enemy and it is also based on events that never took place. How can Desdemona give Othello visual evidence of her innocence if her guilt is predicated on accusations that have no true shape or form? She can't. Othello is asking Desdemona to do the impossible, which means that her subsequent murder is only a matter of course.

I know that to a lot of young people this play must seem dreadfully boring and meaningless. One thing you can keep in mind is that the audience in Shakespeare's time did not have the benefit of cool things such as movies, and videos. The downside of this is that Shakespeare's plays are not visually stimulating to an audience accustomed to today's entertainment media. But the upside is that since Shakespeare had to tell a complex story with simple tools, he relied heavily on an imaginative use of language and symbols. Think of what it meant to an all White audience in a very prejudiced time to have a Black man at the center of a play. That character really stood out-almost like an island. He was vulnerable and exposed to attitudes that he could not perceive directly but which he must have sensed in some way.

Shakespeare set this play in two locations, Italy and Cypress. To an Elizabethan audience, Italy represented an exotic place that was the crossroads of many different civilizations. It was the one place where a Black man could conceivably hold a position of authority. Remember that Othello is a mercenary leader. He doesn't command a standing army and doesn't belong to any country. He is referred to as "the Moor" which means he could be from any part of the Arab world from Southern Spain to Indonesia. He has no institutional or national identity but is almost referred to as a phenomenon. (For all the criticism he has received in this department, Shakespeare was extrordinarlily attuned to racism and in this sense he was well ahead of his time.) Othello's subsequent commission as the Military Governor of Cypress dispatches him to an even more remote and isolated location. The man who stands out like an island is sent to an island. His exposure and vulnerability are doubled just as a jealous and murderous psychopath decides to destroy him.

Iago is probably the only one of Shakespeare's villains who is evil in a clinical sense rather than a human one. In Kind Lear, Edmund the bastard hatches a murderous plot out of jealousy that is similar to Iago's. But unlike Iago, he expresses remorse and attempts some form of restitution at the end of the play. In the Histories, characters like Richard III behave in a murderous fashion, but within the extreme, political environment in which they operate, we can understand their motives even if we don't agree with them. Iago, however, is a different animal. His motives are understandable up to the point in which he destroys Michael Cassio but then they spin off into an inexplicable orbit of their own. Some have suggested that Iago is sexually attracted to Othello, which (if its true) adds another meaning to the phrase "I am thine forever". But even if we buy the argument that Iago is a murderous homosexual, this still doesn't explain why he must destroy Othello. Oscar Wilde once wrote very beautifully of the destructive impact a person can willfully or unwittingly have on a lover ("for each man kills the things he loves") but this is not born out in the play. Instead, Shakespeare introduces us to a new literary character-a person motivated by inexplicable evil that is an entity in itself. One of the great ironies of this play is that Othello is a character of tragically visible proportions while Iago is one with lethally invisible ones.

this, my first novel by henry james, was recommended to me by a trusted friend privy to my affection for the work of austen, the brontes, wharton, bowen and hall. i must admit to having had reservations about a victorian novel with a female protragonist written by a man, but was pleasantly surprised to find that james had depicted the female perspective, in isabel archer, with notable aplomb. i was a little disappointed that, in spite of the book's length, i felt there was a huge leap from the first half of the book, which firmly establishes the young miss archer as a woman intent to never marry and the second half, which finds her rather abruptly married to the third of three men who have made the appeal to her. still, this is a classic work of literature that deserves all the praise it has received. it is far more dense than works by the aforementioned authors and, as such, makes awful subway reading--unless, of course, your train breaks down and there are no crying children or blaring boom boxes in your car.

Henry James is one of my favorite authors and "The Portrait of a Lady" is one of my favorite books. James is the only author who can begin a sentence and still have my complete attention when he finishes it two or even three pages later.

"The Portrait of a Lady" is filled with the long, rambling sentences for which James is so famous, but, as in his other books, these sentences remain interesting from the first word to the last. This is, however, definitely 19th century prose and the book is filled with sentences that begin with, "Dear Reader," or "Our heroine." While this might be very tiresome to some readers, in the hands of a writer as skillful as James, it has never bothered me one bit.

James loved to write about the wealthy people of the world, more specifically, those who needn't bother working for a living. He loved studying the way in which an excess of free time affected the choices they made. The characters created in "The Portrait of a Lady," are excellent examples of people who, perhaps, have too much time on their hands. Isobel Archer, in particular, makes some very questionable choices, then does nothing to correct them. Although likeable, she seems to be a character possessed of an ennui that's virtually unshakeable. Isobel not only refuses to to take action to correct her mistakes, she refuses to take responsibility for them at all. It seems as though the more time (and money) James' characters have, the less they make good use of either one.

If you're a reader who's not discouraged by 19th century literature and all its intricacies and convolutions, I think you'll find both Henry James and "The Portrait of a Lady" fascinating. I know I did.

Henry James is one of my favorite authors and The Portrait of a Lady is one of his greatest works. In it, he creates a unique and unforgettable heroine, Isabel Archer, and then proceeds to let her make all the mistakes the young are capable of making. In fact, Isabel is so sure of herself that, at times, I found it difficult to have much sympathy for her poor choices. But one thing I never felt for Isabel Archer was indifference, all to James' credit.

The Portrait of a Lady is truly 19th Century literature at its finest, but that means it also contains elements that might be distracting for the modern reader. There are lengthy descriptions, the pace is rather slow and James never lets us forget we are reading a book. He makes liberal use of phrases such as "our heroine," and "Dear Reader." While all of this was expected in the 19th Century, some readers today might find it annoying.

Those who don't however, will find themselves entranced by a beautiful story of love and loss, unforgettable characters (there are many more besides Isabel, most notably the enigmatic Madame Merle) and gorgeous description, all rendered in James' flawless prose.

Anyone who loves classics or who wants a truly well-rounded background in literature cannot afford to pass this up.

This book is incredible. I studied with it all spring and took the SAT I on May 1. My scores were 290 points higher than on my PSAT!!!The best part of the book are all the strategies for solving the math problems. Using them, I was able to answer at least 10 or 15 questions that I would have otherwise had to leave out.The practice tests are really good. They are just like the real thing, so doing them is really good practice. If anything, they are slightly harder, so the real one I took in May seemed easier.I would recommend this book to anyone high school student who will be taking the SAT I. My younger brother is in 9th grade and he just started to read it.

If you are going to take the Sat I would only recomend you two books:
1. How to Prepare for the Sat I (Barron's How to Prepare for the Sat I, 21st Ed)
2. 10 Real Sat's from College Board (2nd Edition)

The first book will help you too much with vocabulary even though I think that 3000 words are too much too memorize but you'll be able to study from the most important words selection if you don't have enough time. It also have flashcards to play if you want.

It is a good book to prepare you for the math section (with every topic you'll have to cover), so I don't think you will have problems with that in the exam if you take a carefully review of the explanation and do all the math problems to practice, It's definitely good at this, the best I think.

The problem is the reading part of the test, this book won't help you, thats why you have to study from the 10 real sat's book it will give some important advices and it have more difficult tests in this section.

The second book is good but not enough, the 10 real SAT's will help you very much, but in my opinion it's the only good thing it has besides the reading part explanations.

The first book has 7 test to improve yourself, I recomend to do one every week, it also have an answer sheet that will explain how to solve every problem and will tell you which chapter you have to study harder.

Please don't buy every book you find, you wont cover all of them. These are the only two books you need, I guarantee you a good score.

I think this book is the best solution for building up the vocabulary needed in the Verbal part of the SAT 1. As I have had a strong background in Mathematics, after having studied for 12 years in Timisoara, Romania, I did not quite need the Mathematics prep part of the book. But, I was extremely pleased with the word lists contained in the book. If you give yourself enough time and learn all the words in there, you'll definitely get between 1500-1600! I have not seen many Prep books with such an elaborate and complete word list...This book is a must have & must read!

John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is a moving tale about dreams and friendship. It beautifully depicts two friend's living some time in the thirties. The book begins with two men fleeing from an old job and about to begin a new one. The two characters are contrasting but interestingly compatible. The first man, George, is short, sensible and seems to be the mastermind of their plans. The other, Lennie, is tall, dumb and naïve, but charmingly innocent. It becomes obvious that Lennie is clumsy and unaware of his strength, when George takes Lennie's dead maimed mouse away from him. He is obviously the reason they are constantly fleeing and changing jobs. To cheer Lennie up George tells him of their plans for the future, a story that has obviously been told many times before. He tells of small farm that they would purchase once they have earned enough money, and they could live on there own schedules without having to keep changing jobs. In fact this would be their last.

The book is classic story that one can easily engage in. It includes great descriptions of the countryside, the farms and a friendship never to be forgotten. You get a feel for each character and there individual traits. The reader takes a step into the thirties and can see the lives of these men first hand through Steinbeck's careful and beautiful description. You feel as if you are witnessing the farm's laborers first hand. Aside from being intriguingly descriptive, Of Mice and Men is truly touching. You encounter first hand a relationship between two men that is indescribable. You truly feel George's conflicts with Lennie and can almost grasp Lennie's dreams for a better life.

Some say that Of Mice and Men is too melancholy to be truly enjoyed. Of Mice and Men is a very sad book. The sorrow that the reader feels, although overwhelming, is just an indication of the compassion that Steinbeck makes you feel for the characters.

The book Of Mice and Men is a classic which I would recommend to anyone that knows how to read. In the begining you meet Leni and George. They are two farm hands who roam together. They end up in a new farm to work. At this farm there is many different types of people, Slim is one the main farm hand who knows more about farming than anyone. As the story unfolds you meet Curley who is the bosses son and can get away with anything. He also has a wife who is very...easy, for lack of better words.The story tells how well it is going for the two fellows, George and Leni. They are doing great on the farm. This remains the same untilCurley's wife and Lenie meet alone together in teni is led to think that he has a chance with Curley's wife....This leads Leni into a world of trouble which ends with such a twist that no one could guess the ending.

This book seemed at first to be almost comical, yet the story took a tragic turn. Lennie's character being as it is, made me feel sorry for him. He was like a big dumb animal, and just like Candy's dog ~ was of no help to himself. George befriended Lennie and tried to keep him out of trouble, but in further reading I found that not even George could help Lennie. The ending shocked me, and brought tears to my eyes. I recomend this book to all ages, and to those who have never liked to read. Just trust me on this, you won't be dissapointed.

This book is an excellent in terms of preparing you for the SAT II math. The only thing is that you must know going into taking the practice tests that they are MUCH harder than the real thing. I took most of the practice tests and my scores ranged from 650-740. When I took the real test, however, i found it much easier and got an 800. This book helps because you become so used to the harder tests that the real thing is simple. If you don't realize that going in though, you will be very frustrated.

There are both good points and bad points about the 6th Edition of Barron's math IIc. Although the book itself is comprehensive, and contains all the information you need to know, (sometimes even more than you have to know), there are a few errors in the book. The diagnostic test is as difficult as the first model test. However, as you sit each model test, you will find it harder to increase your score. This is because the model tests become more difficult. e.g) Model Test 3 is harder than 2, and so on.
I received a mark of 800 in the SAT IIc, however in the model tests I usually received a mark of 730-760. (I converted my mark using the real SAT II book by collegeboard) So don't worry if you are getting 750 in the model tests, because in the real one, you will probably get 800. Although answers of every question are explained, due to some minor errors, and the poor layout in the book, I give a rating of 4 out of 5.

This book is an excellent guide to the SAT II Math level IIC. It thoroughly reviews everything that could possibly appear on the actual test. However the practice tests (9!) included do NOT in anyway represent the difficulty of the actual test. They are far harder. Rather than face the frustration of taking them in an hour like I did, I suggest you simply work through them as quickly as possible which should take u approx 1 1/2 hours if you want to finish the real test. I studied this way and although i didnt finish the test (left 7 problems out), got a 770. I'm going to retake the test in June and hope to get an 800. This book will help me and anyone who wants to achieve that goal.

I have many programming books and all of them assume you know all about the subject matter. This book is the first one I have read that assumes very little on the readers part. It walks you through each step thoroughly.

I like the fact that most of the code is covered in multiple areas. Since I tend to jump around a lot when reading a book, it helps me from missing something.

I have seen some other people complain about lack of sophisticated content and do not agree with them. I found information on synchronization, packet-loss, UDP, and other topics. Some of the super difficult stuff is not covered, but what do you expect, it is not for someone who already knows about multiplayer development.

I really like the fact that the author gives you two working game examples to follow. I have already modified the SpacePirates code with many additions.

I recommend this book to anyone who needs help getting started with DirectPlay.

How many books have you bought for DirectX that "forget" to include Direct Play? I have bought many and every single one either A) Doesnt include Direct Play information or B) Includes very little about it (mainly repeating what is in the SDK documentation.)

This book is the first one I have ever read that covers tons of information about Direct Play and making games for the Internet. It's all there: Peer-to-peer, client/server, custom packets, packet queues, synchronization, etc. Even 3D is made amazingly simple to understand.

Before reading this book I didnt much like Direct Play. But after seeing how DirectX 8 uses a completely rewritten DPlay system, I am now an advocate of it. DPlay is amazing! It has almost everything you could ask for in a communication API and much more. On that note, I never would have realized how cool DPlay is if I hadnt read this book. The SDK documentation does not come even close to explaining it like this book does.

Now that I understand the core of Dplay, I am hoping that Advanced Multiplayer Game Programming will be released. One reason I cant wait is that the author answered my email questions very promptly. Other authors could learn from this guy what customer service should be like for all tech books.

I found this book to be amazing. I purchased this book because I wanted to learn more about multiplayer programming, but I soon found out that Barron wanted to assure that his readers had enough knowledge to build a complete game. This book covers the basics behind Direct3d, DirectSound, DirectInput, DirectPlay, as well as windows programming. I got the Direct3D book that many people reccommend, but you have to understand windows programming going in, this book assumes no previous knowledge and teaches you EVERYTHING you need to get started.

Sample code is amazing! It all compiles, and even though it IS often duplicated, it is a very helpful approach to including code samples, because when he dulplicates code, he bolds changes in the code so you can sort of see the code being built as he walks you through it.

Intermediate C++ experience is reccomended. This is an API book, so you gotta know the basics before coming into it. Personally though, I like a book to explain things to me in detail. Even if I KNOW the material, review is always good, and I find myself nodding with familiarity when reading some of it. Barron's tone is very relaxed, and comical at times to help the read go quicker (it's pretty thick). In the end, you'll have created two online games, a peer-to-peer game, and a server-controlled game (for MMO games).

In Short: Easy read, and covers much more than Multiplayer Programming. All good stuff.

I would doubtlessly recommend Ivanhoe to read. History may be often dull but Sir Walter Scott makes history extremely exciting by romanticizing his novel. It directly deals with hatred between the Normans and the Saxons, the discrimination of the Jews, chivalry, and politics--but it is a unforgettable tale of heroism, honor, and love. I felt that the characters were so fascinating and fun to read about. I was enjoying and cheering on the good characters like Ivanhoe, King Richard, and Robin Hood to beat the hated and evil villains. I liked the idea of love added in the story, like how Rowena and Rebecca were both in love with Ivanhoe. I even felt a little sorry for Brian de Bois-Guilbert who would do anything for Rebecca's love but is constantly rejected. I thought how it was appealing how the author questions Ivanhoe and Rebecca's feelings for each other. Suspenseful and action sequences also added entertainment to the story. This book may be a little too detailed for some readers, but I didn't mind. I felt that the details were brilliantly used to decorate the story in an outstanding fashion. The old English wording made me feel like I was actually in the medieval England. I have to admit that it took a great deal of persistence for me to finish this book and it was a challenge for me to read. However, I found Ivanhoe to be a wonderful pleasure. It is no wonder that Ivanhoe is such a well-loved tale!

I enjoyed this adventure yarn on many levels.

I was glad to learn about the Knights of Templer and that they were crusaders. I always wondered how Sam Spade in the Maltese Falcon knew that and it is because of this classic.

I was surprised that it talked so much about Robin of Lockesley. The story of Ivanhoe seemed to be the same only told by Ivanhoe's friends and not Robin's.

I thought that the DeBracyn and the Knight of Templer Brian de Bois Guilbert were pretty evil guys which made the story interesting. They were weasels when they had their backs to the wall but did preform with honor when required like when Richard gets DeBracy.

I guess I did not understand the prejudice of the time because they treated the Jews like dirt and they were so sterotypical. I really thought that the Jewish girl Rebecca was going to end up with Ivanhoe instead of that Saxon Lady Roweana. I guess you have to appreciate the times that they lived in.

It was a different look the Richard/Prince John history.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but this book, by Sir Walter Scott, was the progenitor of what was to become a venerable tradition in English letters (and in other European literatures as well): the historical romance. There have been many after IVANHOE, and frequently with a finer eye to the period in which the tale is set (for IVANHOE contains quite a number of anachronisms -- even Scott acknowledged it), but few have done it quite as well as Scott. He uses an archaic English to give voice to his characters, but one which is readily absorbed because of the speed & quality of the tale. So, though these people certainly wouldn't really have spoken as he has them speaking, they yet sound as though they should have. Peopled by many 'stock' characters and situations, this tale was fresh in its time & still reads well today -- a testament to Scott's skills as a teller of tales and a sketcher of marvelously wrought characters. In this tale of the 'disinherited knight' returning home to find the world he left turned upside down, young Ivanhoe, after a stint with King Richard in the Holy Land, must fight the enemies of his king and kinsmen anew. Yet the hero is oddly sidelined for much of the tale as events swirl around him and the brilliantly evoked villain, Sir Brian de Bois Gilbert, in the pay of Prince John, struggles to win treasure and the beautiful Rebeccah, who yet has eyes only for Ivanhoe, a knight she can never hope to win herself. There's lots of action and coincidences galore here and Robin Hood makes more than a cameo appearance, as does the noble Richard. In sum, this one's great fun, a great tale, and the progenitor of a whole genre. All those which came after owe their form to it. Worth the price and the read.

countless literary fiends have just flinched, i'm sure. something uneasy is crawling around under their skin, and they can't place it. little do they know it's merely me, baby-bashing a much-loved, canonized, idolized classic.

i read. i read a lot. i majored in creative writing and english because i loooove books and criticism. (does this pre-qualify me for faulkner? hardly, i'm just giving myself a few wobbly stilts worth of "reading credentials"). i armed myself. i knew it'd be tough. i'm unafraid to ask for help/use cliff notes, etc., and that's what i did.

it didn't help. oh sure, i understood it, but once unraveled it's just another incestous, suicidial, land obsessed, southern novel. i'm just not into books that take every ounce of my stamina to keep reading, books that make sense to no one but the author, and readers who've used the assistance of a zillion critics, who've spent lifetimes pouring over every single itty-bitty word in order to make some sense of it.

hooray for those who find the genius, hooray for faulkner for opening up doors that lead into hallways filled with self-induldgent experimental drivel, and self-induldgent brilliance.

i still didn't enjoy it. but i have to give it 3 stars because of where it took literature.

just be warned.

"It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing"(Macbeth V.v 25-30) One day I was looking for a new book to read and I decided it was about time I read something by Faulkner. I knew nothing about Faulkner or Yoknapatawpha or The Compsons. All I knew was that he'd been compared to some of my favorite Southern writers: Tennessee Williams, Capote, and Barry Hannah. I am ever grateful that I read "The Sound And The Fury." I haven't been authentically moved in such a long time while reading. Reading each section is like reading a new book. I kept forgetting this was the same book. I've seen from the other reviews on Amazon.com that a lot of people have complained about the difficulty and stream-of-conscieness technique of the book. Well, all I can say is yes it is, I almost stopped reading this book half way through Benjy section but you have to work at it and the end result will be an amazing experience and great insight. I'm very tired of such lazy readers these days, they read ten pages of "Ulysses" and cry because they don't get the plot. If you really pay attention to the various scenes occurring throughout the Bengy sections you'll see reoccurring ones and by the end, you should be able to isolate each scene and understand it somewhat. I personally find the Quentin section the hardest to fathom. Rich in detail and thoughts often drifting one into the other. The ending of his section is perfection! It sums up the absurdities of life that is equal to Beckett and Camus. The Jason section shows the brutal side of The Compsons and the South. Once again showing how amazing Faulkner can shift view points so quickly and perfectly. The final section is told by the author but revolves mostly around the African-American slaves and Jason and Quentin's (Caddy's daughter) feud. I normally despise Cliff Notes but with this novel, they may be essential to most readers. The best part of the Cliff Notes is that they fully break down Bengy's section, scene-by-scene. Oh and make sure you get a copy of "The Sound And The Fury" that has Faulkner's appendix at the end. "The Sound And The Fury" is a story of struggle that touches the human heart and gives the reader fascinating insight into the human condition. Faulkner makes all his characters human, even the most repulsive like Jason Compson. Faulkner once said that he was just a man that tells folk tales and these tales bring us back to the impact of myth and reminds us of the fundamental human need to communicate and affect someone. Faulkner has deeply affected me spiritually and intellectually. I hope everyone will give this novel a chance sometime in their life. I've already started to dive into "As I Lay Dying" and I rarely read an author's work one after another.

I'm just finishing reading the Sound and the Fury for a college course in American Literature. Many people in my class either love this book or hate it, but I must say that it is the best book I have ever read. Faulkner breaks many of the rules we have learned about reading and writing, uses time order much in the way that the movie Pulp Fiction does, and shares the characters' experiences and thoughts through a stream of consciousness form of writing. This book is very unlike any I have read and is well worth the time it takes to understand it. Faulkner says in his introduction that in writing this book he learned how to read and I believe that in reading this book I have learned in a new way how to read.

This is the central question explored by Conrad in Lord Jim. Jim is ultimately a character who inspires our sympathy due to his inability to find reconcilliation for his one tragic moment of weakness. In him we find a person of tremendous potential that remains unrealized as the tragic circumstances of his abandoning his post aboard the Patna continually haunt him and the associated guilt drives him to isolation.
Conrad successfully explores the concepts of bravery, cowardice,guilt and the alternative destinies that an individual may be driven to by these qualities.
The narrative can be a bit confusing at times as Marlowe relates the tale by recalling his encounters with Jim. The book reminded very much of Somerset Maugham's THE RAZOR"S EDGE" in style. However I believe that Maugham did a much better job of incorporating the narrator into the flow of the story. Overall LORD JIM is a wonderful classic novel that I highly recommend.

This is the fifth book I have read by Conrad, and through these readings I have come to deeply appreciate his literary power and the perfection of his stories. Conrad has the skill to border about several similar subjects, without repeating himself. "Lord Jim" is truly a Shakespearean tragedy, mainly because of the Shakespearean nature of the main character. Jim is a young naval officer with high hopes of heroism and moral superiority, but when he faces his first test of courage, he miserably fails. While 800 Muslim pilgrims are asleep aboard the ship "Patna", Jim discovers that the boat is about to sink. There are not sufficient lifeboats for everybody. Should he wake them up or not? He gets paralyzed with fear and then sudenly jumps into a boat being set up by the rest of the officers. He is taken to trial and disposessed of his working licence.

Ashamed and humiliated, Jim dedicates the rest of his life to two things: escape the memory of that fateful night, and redeem himself. This agonizing quest to recover his dignity in front of his own eyes leads him to hide in a very remote point in the Malayan peninsula, where he will become the hero, the strong man, the wise protector of underdeveloped, humble and ignorant people. Jim finds not only the love of his people, but also the love of a woman who admires him and fears the day when he might leave for good. The narrator, Captain Marlow (the same of "Heart of Darkness") talks to Jim for the last time in his remote refuge, and then Jim tells him that he has redeemed himself by becoming the people's protector. Oh, but these things are never easy and Jim will face again the specter of failure.

Conrad has achieved a great thing by transforming the "novel of adventures" into the setting for profound and interesting reflections on the moral stature of Man, on courage, guilt, responsibility, and redemption.

Just as in "Heart of Darkness" the question is what kinds of beings we are stripped of cultural, moral and religious conventions; just as in "Nostromo" the trustworthiness of a supposedly honest man is tested by temptation, in "Lord Jim" the central subject is dignity and redemption after failure.

A great book by one of the best writers.

After reading this book (along with several other of Conrad's books) I am under the impression that Joseph Conrad may very well be my favorite author. Here is another masterpiece, a deeply incisive study of character of the motivation and the ultimate failure of all high-minded ideals. Granted my own personal world view falls directly in line with this realization and therefore prejudices me towards anything the man might write, but, when considering such a lofty title as 'favorite author' one must regard other aspects of the novelist's creation. As with the others, Conrad wins by the power of his stories.

Lord Jim is my least favorite of the the four books I have read by Conrad. The story is rather scattered: a righteous young man does something wrong that he holds himself far too accountable for and the public shame the action brought him exaggerates the reality of his failure and makes him believe the rumors swirling around about his so-called cowardice. He spends the remainder of his life trying to reclaim his self-regard, mostly exaggerating his own importance in matters he hardly understands. His goal is to liberate the primitive people of the jungle paradise he inadvertantly finds himself in (due to an effort to escape every particle of the world he once inhabited) and his once high-minded ideals and regard for himself lead him to allow those people to consider him almost a God.

Jim likes being a God and considers himself a just and fair one. He treats everyone equally and gives to his people the knowledge of modern science and medicine as well as the everyday archetecture and understanding of trade that those primitive folks would otherwise be years from comprehending.

Of course everything ends in failure and misery and of course Jim's restored name will be returned to its demonic status, but the whole point of the novel seems to me that one can not escape their past. Jim, for all his courage in the line of fire has tried to avoid all memory of the once shameful act of his former life and by doing so becomes destined to repeat his mistakes.

Lord Jim is far more expansive than the story it sets out to tell, ultimately giving a warning on the nature of history and general humanity that only a writer of Conrad's statue could hope to help us understand.

If there is a flaw it is not one to be taken literally. Conrad was a master of structural experimentation and with Lord Jim he starts with a standard third person narrative to relate the background and personalities of his characters and then somehow merges this into a second person narrative of a man, years from the events he is relating, telling of the legend of Jim. It is a brilliant innovation that starts off a little awkward and might lead to confusion in spots as the story verges into its most important parts under the uncertain guidence of a narrator who, for all his insight into others, seems unwilling to relate his personal relevence to the story he is relating.

Nevertheless (with a heartfelt refrain), one of the best books I have ever read.

I found Jazz difficult to get into as the rhythm of the story was confusing at first. I wasn't immediately "lured in" like in Sula, the other book of Toni Morrison's that I have read. The style began flowing smoothly once I hit the midway point, when the story seemed to build and to be going somewhere. The second half was page-turning. I found the characters more understandable, drawn to their grief, intrigued by their quirks. It is a story of longing - for love, for proper parenting and for hope. A good, easy read with a lesson in patience - once you get to the end, you're glad you suffered through the slow beginning and learned the meaning of long-term commitment, as Morrison teaches throughout the book.

Morrison has done it again. The story of a twisted love affair gone awry, Jazz takes you through the streets of an up and coming Harlem in the 1920s. It bares the souls and psyches of Violet, a 50-something black woman going through a midlife crisis, and her husband Joe, who falls in love with a teenage girl in an attempt understand his disjointed past.

If you have read any of Toni Morrison's works, this book follows the exact same pattern of her others: no visible pattern at all, but somehow coming together throughout the various narratives in various times and places within history. Although many questions are left unanswered, you still feel as if you have been immersed in a dream, a fantastic journey into the past that you never want to end. Morrison's writing is both beautiful and complex. There literally are no words to describe it. There is no one else out there like Morrison.

I suggest that first-time Toni Morrison readers start off with Sula, which is her shortest and least complex work, but still one of her greatest, and then pick up Jazz after you have read a few others including Beloved, Tar Baby, and Song of Solomon.

"Jazz" (1992) is one of the best works by Toni Morrison, the first African-American woman awarded Nobel Prize for literature.

The best way to read "Jazz" is to read it slowly, savour every line, every sentence, every mental picture it creates. It is a lyrical novel, where the story shifts back and forth in time -- expression of feelings, moods and thoughts has a priority over a plot.

The story of love lost, searched and found on the background of 1920's Harlem creates an appealing, coloful tapestry. Morrison often uses "stream of conscoiusness" method of writing, first applied by Virginia Woolf. Dialogues, although rather scarce, are brisk, full of humanity (good and bad) and even spark with wisdom of common people. The narrator identifies with the characters, portrays them with affection and ultimate understanding. The story is marked with striking sense of detail, various motifs interchange and interweave -- just like in jazz music -- and the result is powerful.

As with jazz music, "Jazz" the book is not a book for everyone. But once you come to appreciate the style, you can read it again and again and every time find something new.

One is bound to agree with a reviewer in Cosmopolitan who related to "Jazz" as if it was "Shakespeare singing the blues."