Catherine

I'd really like my money back. I usually adore Barbara Kingsolver but I can't make my way through this book. I started this book over 5 times because Ms. Kingsolver insists on over-pronouncing each consanent and separating each word from the next so distinctly that it's ponderous. It's as if she's reading to 4th graders. She also emphasizes words that are unimportant and that is confusing.
Kingsolver usually chooses topics that are important and makes them intensely interesting by drawing you into the characters but somehow this book comes across as if she was personally interested in this historical era and wanted to preach to us about it to us for another agenda. I've given up. Perhaps if a skilled performer had read it, I would have been involved enough to followed it through.

He found the book and I read it. He said he expected to turn the book over and find his picture on the back of it. I read it and expected to see his picture on the back of it, too. It explained a lot of the conflict and explained a lot of how I fed, and feed, into the troubles in our relationship.

The book is written for nice guys but believe me, nice guys aren't all that nice. The hard copy is needed for the written exercises but the audible is great for refreshers. I'm constantly re-reading it and he's got his own copy.

This was my first John Hart book and it won't be my last. His character development is honest without beating you over the head with their character flaws. The length is as required for story development.

Hart is a fair writer. All the information is there for you to reach the final and right conclusion. No Perry Mason ending here.

The twist made me sorry I judged and showed me my own soul.

The narrator I'll leave behind. He uses a sharp and stuttered style and an almost old West pronunciation in a persistently hard and unnatural "e" in "the" and "a" but "been" like the legume. At times I was confused by his voicing of the boys and couldn't distinguish who was speaking.

I did find that it interfered with the enjoyment of the book and prevented from me rating it the full five stars it deserves.

Only a master writer can leave you rocking on a see-saw between grinding your teeth over the moral imbeciles and cheering for the women of courage and backbone in this book. You think you'd hate these guys, but Burke finds and shows you just enough of their humanity that you understand the main characters.

Take your time and enjoy the pictures painted because you're going to be right there, smelling and tasting the Texas days and nights. This author gets under your skin with the characters; he doesn't tell you through trite phrases and meaningless gestures.

No highbrow literature here. Just a fine story, skillfully told. If you haven't read James Lee Burke before jump right in. If you have, you'll feel right at home. The narrator is like a fine barbecue, slow and low so the story is so tender it falls off the bone.