Fiction Literature Books

"Darkness at Noon" is one of those books that stays in your mind long after you put it down. I first read it more than 30 years ago when I was a high school student reading "serious" books for the first time. It just knocked me over. It raised questions about personal morality and the ends of politics that made other authors I was reading (such as Ayn Rand) seem incredibly shallow by comparison.

Recently I read the book again to see if it was as good as I remembered. I'm happy to say it's even better. "Darkness at Noon" is the story of an Old Bolshevik who is forced to re-examine his life's work in the communist party when he is caught up in the purge trials of the 1930s. As such, the book is a great analysis of the pathology and twisted logic that corrupted mid-20th century communism. But it is also a broader exploration of ends-justify-means morality, exposing the traps and contradictions we fall into whenever truth and common decency are thrown overboard in the name of social utility. "Darkness at Noon" easily transcends old controversies about communism. Indeed, in an age when the U.S. government has secret torture camps to fight terror, its message has lost none of its power or relevance.

The story is gripping. The writing is superb. The characters are vivid. Dialogues of near-Dostoyevskian intensity alternate with passages of sad introspection and guilty memory. Read it. It may even make you feel 17 again -- and wide open to the impact of great literature. Six stars.

Heck, seven stars....

The brilliant and controversial writer Arthur Koestler's "Darkness at Noon" may be looked upon as an incisive diatribe against Soviet Communism under Stalin, but it was influenced by Koestler's own experience as a prisoner during the Spanish Civil War. That experience gives Rubashov's incarceration the ring of authenticity and we read about his plight with confidence in it's truth. This veracity is what gives the novel it's strength. You also have the feeling that although it is written in 3rd person narrative, it could have been based on a written diary or journal of an actual prominent victim of the Stalinist purges.

Rubashov is a victim, but not an innocent victim. He was an architect of the repressive regime that has turned to devouring it's creators and enablers. His own ruthlessness and duplicity in support of the Communist ideal has destroyed any sympathy we can have for him, but what Koestler is aiming for is understanding, not sympathy. We can empathize with Rubashov without feeling pity. We are not shown monsters, but people whose morals and ethics are weakened by fear and ambition, and who make critical decisions at the intersection of hopeful idealism and grim reality.

After reading this sobering book, you can almost understand why this great mind (Koestler), who observed first hand, the atrocities perpetrated by regimes under Hitler and Stalin, would take a decidedly dark and pessimistic view of society, especially in it's political concerns, and would turn to metaphysics and parapsychology to find a reason for prospective hope in the human condition.

Set during the Stalinist purges and show trials, `Darkness at Noon' presents a fictionalized account of the interrogation and breaking of a (former) communist leader `Rubashov'. Under Stalin, 'former communists' were limited to those persons about to be executed, already executed, or waiting to be uncovered. As an original Bolshevik, a leader of the 1917 revolution, Rubashov's disillusionment was simply inadmissible to Number One (as Stalin is referred to by Koestler).

Koestler explores the journey of Rubashov from the knock at the door through the final denouement. The reader observes Rubashov, who plays the role of narrator, as he undergoes the psychological change from a determination to resist to nearly total capitulation. Rubashov manages to hold to some crumbs of self-respect, but yields to the logic of the revolution as more important than any individual even when the accusations are complete fabrications.

`Darkness at Noon' is precisely imagined with its details of Rubashov pacing the floor of his small isolation cell, the coded tapping between adjacent cells, and the deprivation of physical comforts that make the subsequent small graces, such as limited outdoor exercise, become precious by comparison. This much of the tale was informed by Rubashov's experiences as a prisoner during the Spanish Civil War. Koestler's examination of the psychological destruction of the prisoner is fascinating, although at times it briefly lapses into stultifying disquisitions on the distorted Stalinist political philosophy.

Koestler himself was a German communist through much of the 1930's before immigrating to Britain, leaving the party and becoming an influential ex-communist. George Orwell's excellent essay about Koestler is readily available on the Internet (google `arthur koestler orwell').

Darkness at Noon was the middle book of an unusual trilogy of loosely related subjects: Gladiators and Arrival and Departure (20th Century Classics). Readers may also wish examine Victor's Serge's The Case of Comrade Tulayev (New York Review Books Classics).

Highly recommended for anyone interested in the era of communism in its Stalinist form or more broadly in the perverse ability of humans to place greater meaning in abstract and abstruse ideology than in the actual lives of other humans.

I'm afraid to read anything else by Arthur Koestler.

"Darkness at Noon," his excellent novel about an aging revolutionary awaiting a show-trial and execution in Stalin's Soviet Union, is so thoroughly compelling and readable, alive with ideas and general brilliance, and so widely recognized as Koestler's masterpiece, that I fear his other books will be disappointing by comparison.

This, on the other hand, may well be my favorite book. Ever. Despite the fact that my "to-read" pile is a paper stalagmite that grows faster than I can chip away at it, I ripped through this one twice in under six months, and if I were somehow locked in the bathroom with only this on the toilet tank, and forced to start it a third time--I can't imagine this actually happening, but bear with me here--I can't say I'd be all that disappointed.

This reads like "1984," but it preceded Orwell's book, and presumably greatly influenced it. More importantly, although the real 1984 eventually rolled around to make Orwell's dystopia seem at least somewhat absurd (in execution, if not idea and desire), this still feels incredibly realistic.

And scarily, this is more relevant to today's America. While our level of freedom and political discourse may be completely different than that of Stalin's Soviet Union, the methods they used would not be unfamiliar in Guantanamo or Abu Grahib--or in some police precincts. Not the shrill and scary tactics of "1984," but the soft and simple: psychological games, sleep deprivation, and the like. Sleep deprivation may seem downright kind in the pantheon of torture, and I'm sure it starts off relatively innocuously--"They're terrorists, they're criminals, so why should we coddle them? Why should they get a good night's sleep?"--but any tactic whereby one compels the body to betray the mind is torture. And the sad thing is that torture doesn't work. Forget all the crazy ticking time-bomb scenarios, the fact is simple. Torture. Doesn't. Work. It does not provide reliable information or accurate confessions. And this book shows why. Rubashov, kept up for days on end, becomes willing to say or do anything for a few blessed moments of sleep. He will sell himself out. He will say anything. He will lie.

The strange peculiarity of Soviet Russia is that the victim and the torturers both know these lies are lies. But he says them, and they listen, because they both have their roles to play. The show trial is not really a trial. It is only a show.

But the great thing about "Darkness at Noon" is that it isn't just a polemic about tactics or a lesson about history; it is a powerful meditation on good and evil, and the extent to which we allow the latter in the short term because we believe it will somehow help us get the former in the long term. One reads this and feels sympathy not just for Rubashov, but for his interrogators, because they grapple with a timeless question: can we, and should we, make today difficult and imperfect and unjust for the sake of a better tomorrow?

This is a weighty question, and the book abounds with such meditations: like Dostoyevsky's works--to which it is clearly in debt--it is a philosophical novel with true weight and depth. In "The Grand Inquisitor", one of the most famous chapters in literature, Dostoyevsky concocts a prison scene in which the head of the Spanish Inquisition discourses to Jesus on why the Church felt it necessary to behave in ways contrary to Jesus' teachings. And this book feels like "The Grand Inquisitor" writ large. Though it revolves around ideology instead of religion, the effect is similar--disciples explaining to the master why they needed to stray, why they needed to corrupt and pervert their beliefs in order to save them from external enemies, why they needed to destroy the movement in order to save it.

On this and many other issues, Rubashov ponders but--importantly--does not always come up with clear answers. "How can one change the world if one identifies oneself with everybody?" he muses early on, then asks, "How else can one change it? He who understands and forgives--where would he find a motive to act? Where would he not?" I don't think Koestler wants to give us answers. Like the best artists, he's not so much interested in telling us what to think as he is in making us think. It's not always about finding answers; it's about remembering to ask questions. And that's something we need to remember today.

The phrase Orwellian only deserves to be classified as a derivative of the work of Koestler whose slightly-earlier reflections are a telling reflection on the spirit of Marxism with greater poignancy since they come from one who formerly professed Marxism as a positive doctrine. While some of the narrative aspects of Darkness at Noon are slow-moving, they add to the ponderous nature of the subject at hand as the character of Rubashov questions his adherence to an ideology which has seemingly stripped the skin off humanity without the ability to graft a glorious replacement on the exposed internal organs. The doubts of a noble, high-minded reformer are poignant to any reader who has ever considered the interplay between the individual and the whole of society.

This perennially question of all philosophy, the question of the One and the Many touches the core of our questing for the Truth and easily makes one sympathetic to the trials of the reformer who desires both to enact the noble goals of the revolution but also realizes that so much has been lost on the way that it is quite possible to question the result. In the face of cold, hard, systematic logic which easily leads one to believe with certainty in the questionable fate of the future, Rubashov quavers both against his own questioning as well as against his own self-assured innocence in the face of charges against his devotion to the Party's cause. Such a duality of confidence is naturally found in all of humanity and retains a poignancy for all readers who have considered the noble weight of the Truth against the dangers of liberty-destroying force. The story of a confused Marxist is not that different from the story of any person, even the most devout of Christians who desires for adherence to the Truth of Faith while dually acknowledging the necessity of freedom, an acknowledgement which leads to difficult choices and seemingly-insurmountable contradictions. For this reason, Darkness at Noon is a read of great importance today, even for those who are furthest from the philosophical social materialism of Marxism.

This is the first magic school bus book we got. It is written for 4-5 years and up to 3rd grade. I was expeting it to read easier, but got use to it and enjoyued it. There are lots of bubbles or boxes on each page. They all have very intersting tidbits & information, but is is hard to know what to read first. Good intro to the solar system, although they are drawings and no pictures. Also, note that Pluto is no longer classified as a planet as it says in the book!

This book came out when I was pretty young, and it got me interested in astronomy since the age of five. Now planetary science is my career, and I put that down in part to the influence this book had on me as a kid! :)

the magic school bus get lost in space is a very good book read it all the time you will love it

All the magic school bus books are fantastic. This one is no different.
It is great for learning about the solar system.

My 5yr old son is a huge fan of Magic School Bus series.
Especially, Solat system and human body are his favorite among them.
He memorizes the order of all the plantes in the Solar system. Draw pictures about it and make planets with playdough. Great book!

Yay, I'm being immature with my titles. Anyways. I'm going to be honest and blunt: It's been a while since I read this book, or it least part of the book. Now, I really tried to read it, I swear I did. I tried to stick with it... However, the book wasn't as good as Inkheart.

I really liked Inkheart, it was original, fun, and entertaining to read. I was so excited when I got Inkspell, I could hardly wait to read it...Until I started reading it. I got bored, I've tried to read it a number of times, but I always put it down after the first fifty pages or so. I just can't get enveloped in the story again. I'm not sure why, maybe because my tastes have changed, or maybe because the plot of Inkheart was original, but something that you only hear once and find it exciting before you get bored with it.

I'll update this if I ever manage to plow through the book, but most likely it's going to stay on my book case for a long time.

-De

i was 10 years old when i read this book it was my mom who gave it to me because i had a post highschool score for reading and needed something hard. it easily topped my favorite book list with the adventure mixed with the romance. that were mixed just like they were a delicous soup.
now im 12 and it still tops my best book list. when farid kissed meggie i felt as though i was flying. ms. funke made this the most loveablebook of all

Let me start of by saying, THIS BOOK IS EXTREMELY BORING. Most of the chapters are pointless, and if they were taken out, you could still understand the story. When I was halfway finished, my friend asked if he could borrow this book. He hasn't returned it yet (And it's been almost a year), and I'm not complaining.

PS: I loved Inkheart.

I was expecting a much worse copy of harry potter's books and I was really surprised when I discovered this books are even more interesting and, by far, much better written. I could say they are more adults although still full of imagination.

I very much enjoyed the first in the series and couldn't resist the second. While reading the lengthy tale, from time to time I caught myself wondering why this chapter couldn't have been half as long or what the heck does this paragraph have to do with the characters/place/plot?! But in the end (though in my opinion, the book could've been 440 pages or so) the characters, setting and story are so strong and likable that Inkspell is most definitely a superior read. Better than Thief Lord and 90 percent of everything else out there in the genre. And now, having finished the book months ago, I still find myself thinking of Meg, her father, mother and Fenoglio. Yes I will assuredly read the next.

I homeschool and this is a good book for teaching K and 1st grade kids their "place" in the world. It starts with a girl mapping her room and extends all the way to her place on the globe. It is a really fun easy way to introduce geography/maps.

What a great book. Great pictures. After reading it we sat down and made a map of my 4 year old's room. If only it explained the difference between living out in the country (like on a farm) and living in a different country (like China or Australia). But I can't complain. We love it!

I homeschool and this is an excellent book for teaching elementary school kids their "place" on the map. It starts with a girl mapping her room and extends all the way to her place on the globe and back again. An excellent teaching tool for putting things in perspective! Not enough words to make this a bedtime book, but enough to cause interaction and learning.

I use this book in PS and Elem. settings to set up lesson plans related to maps and how they can be used. This book helps children to relate maps to their own environments.

My daughter is six years old, and it's tough to explain some of the more complex concepts like time and space. This series of books does a great job using colorful illustrations and text that's a lot easier to understand than anything I could come up with myself! Besides, I am a map and globe lover, so this book especially keeps our attention. I also recommend Sweeney's other books, including the one about Time.

This is the one, only, and very likely last text from Sartre that I will ever read, but it is also one of the very few works of fiction that I'd consider worth reading more than once. It is great. The anti-Vonnegut. I can only imagine how much better it is in the original French. Highly recommended. (Albert Camus' review is useful & more critical; see that for a balanced but more heavy handed substantial commentary.)

Sartre's "Nausea" is a gripping, twitchy little novella confirming the ways one person of unpleasant station can make them self sick , nervous, an odious presence by lingering long on the ambivalent shrug .No one else could write a better tale of an intensely self-aware intellectual whose physical discomforts translate into a changed worldview. Not a lot of laughs, but Sartre does insert his descriptions of bad faith of an intellect aware of his stagnation but whose dread saps strength, and will from him, makes him powerless to do even the simplest exchange. There is, of course, transcendence of a sort, but none are comfortable with its results. The peculiar interest here is the lingering on the problem and an inspection of the illness that infects the spirit as a cumulative consequence of an individual denying their potential and getting by with a bare minimum of engagement. Sartre's fiction and his plays are for those who have an avid interest in those who live in just one room of the many in life's vast mansion.

Nausea is absolutely amazing. This is the book that started everything for me. Education and the pursuit of knowledge became priorities in my life after reading this book, thanks to Sartre. Existentialism may be "dead" to some people, but to the high school or early college student who is disenchanted with the world around them, this is the perfect book to get those intellectual juices flowing. The "self-learned man" who sits at the library reading in alphabetical order everything that he can inspired me greatly. Though not as pretty as Albert Camus, Jean as a certain dramatic and intellectual radiance that Albert had yet to perfect. Do not get me wrong Camus is my hero, but Nausea is the beginning of everything for someone on that lonely path to Truth.

Even though I'm intrigued by existentialism, I am still struggling to understand what Sartre is trying to tell us in Nausea. The main character, because he finds other humans boring, petty, phony...., he makes a choice to stand away from the rest of humanity. He is a critical observer, the constant cynic. So much easier to stand at a distance and criticize to feel the Nausea that is humanity. The nausea is only one side of the coin, because not all in life is despicable, crass and disgusting, He has chosen to focus on those parts of humanity that are. In doing so he imagines that he has found a sort of freedom and that he has risen above the fray, the ramble of humanity. The reality is that he has focused so much on the bad, the nausea, that he has built a new prison, an incomplete humanity composed of only the bad and none of the good. He comprehends only half of what we are. There is none of the joy, the spontaneity, the passion, only the ache of the nausea.

You have to be in a certain state of mind to read this- anyone who says it's stupid or not a great work or is put off by how he speaks of himself and the city he's in, needs to not read it, but immerse themselves in it, however if one would do that then chances are he'd lose everything else in life, because he cannot control it.

This is one of the best books i've ever read, it's simply brilliant, but only if you understand the feelings he's having.

The item was exactly as described and sent in a an expeditious manner. Would do business with this source again.

Wonderful play, great translation. Collier really makes ancient Greek understandable and enjoyable. Great edition.

This book is an absolute bargain at this price and the shipping was super fast. This translation is great for younger readers and speaks to them in an easily understandable tongue.

The book was in excellent condition and it was a joy to read! It was a quick and easy read. If you enjoy scandal, murder, and women overpowering men, then this is the book for you!

Honestly reading this story overwhelmed me. Considering how short the play is, at the end I found myself mentally and emotionally exhausted. "Medea" explores many different themes that are still present in life today. Although I found her undying attachment to Jason annoying, I understood after reading the play how love and revenge can overpower ones mind. I felt as if Euripides toyed with the fact that women are both the weakest and the strongest in relationships. Medea's passion was overwhelming as a reader because I felt like it was a cry for attention rather than a true plea of lost love.

Euripides' "Medea" although short, is very intense and filled with many emotions. I was lucky enough to see an amazing performance of this play. If done thoughtfully, it can engage you to the point where you sympathize with Medea and are annoyed by her at the same time.

Genius. Very rich, passionate writing. The other reviewers have said it all about this classic.

Many of his observations hit home today, a forward thinker. Animal Farm, another one to put on your list if you haven't read it yet.Animal Farm

The book itself describes the daily lives of people in two different nations/societies that were impoverished in his era. The way that they struggled to just receive the bare minimum as far as food and shelter are eye opening. To anyone entertaining ideas about accepting libertarianism please read this to understand how we as a society really do need to look out for one another. The parts that he includes showing the social hierarchy in poor groups is entirely necessary and in itself amazingly descriptive. Do read this because you will most definately not be disappointed.

Orwell began as an idealist and remained one until his untimely death at the age of 48 from tuberculosis. In most of the photographs I can find of the great writer, he always has a smoke in his mouth, typing away, while a white haze of thoughts, ideas, nicotine and tar surround him, like a dangerous muse.

Eric Blair or Orwell was of the writing school of thought that in order to write with authenticity, the writer must have experienced the emotion, relationship or event in some way. Many writers at the time were of the same persuasion; Hemmingway is the first that comes to mind...Jack London too, particularly his early work.

In Down and Out in Paris and London, the young writer sets out, a middle class Englishman, to find and work any manual labour job that he could find to eventually land one in Paris as a 'dogs body' -diswasher, cleaner, et al. He is paid very little and (most importantly) fed for his gruelling 14 hour shifts.

Though this was a great opportunity, as a writer, searching out material, this was the place to be...the characters' in the book are priceless.

One of the more memorable descriptions:

"In the kitchen the dirt was worse. It is not a figure of speech, it is a mere statement of fact to say that a French cook will spit in the soup - that is if he is not going to drink it himself."

This not to say this happends now in the twenty-first century, but this is only an observation from the author at the time - some eighty years ago.

This is early work from Orwell - an apprentice, so to speak, learning his trade.

Interestingly, next to Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm: Centennial Edition Down and Out is one of his best endevours.

In this book or as most say, Diary, the reader will recognize Orwell's gift for characterization.

Worth a look at.

Down and Out in Paris and London is yet another book by George Orwell I couldn't put down! I am well into my adult life yet I had some how managed to not read any of his works until a friend convinced me I "Had" to read 1984. I'd heard the term "Big Brother" like we all had but since I read that book, I have made it a mission in life to get my hands on everything he has ever written! Without a doubt I would have to say he is certainly my favorite author! Down and Out like all the works I've read by him thus far, grabbed me instantly.

The descriptions alone allows one the sense of being wherever it is he is describing and the characters he employs all smack of realism as does the subject matter and conversations themselves! As in all the stories I've read by Orwell, he leaves no stone unturned! Humor is addressed, reality is addressed, and one can't help but feel after reading this story that they have been given a birds eye view of living a life of poverty through the eyes one who has in fact endured it and can recant what was witnessed and observed with uncanny accuracy and in vivid detail!

Orwell will take you into the streets, into the pawn shops, into the squalor and one would think below human living conditions and the severe differences/truths about our society and the chasms that exist between those that have and those that have literally nothing. Graphic, in depth in the varying beliefs and also sure to hit even the most emotionless person, in a place where they will no doubt feel sympathy for impoverished.

What Orwell has managed to do in all the stories I have read by him thus far, is take something like homelessness, poverty, refusing to bow to the "Money God" or politics or you name it and put a human face on it.

One that will remain with you long after you have completed the read.

Couldn't recommend this another "Extraordinary Literary Master Piece" with the rating system here so a five and hopefully the weight of what I have shared here will be enough to convince those that haven't read it, that they will be immensely thankful that they did.

Your Chance to Hear The Last Panther Speak

Orwell's first published book established a literary name for him and brought him some moderate success, which must have helped to escape the conditions that the book describes. It is a 'non-fiction' book with a lot of fictional spicing.
Roughly, the book has two parts, as the title indicates: the Paris part is dominated by work as minimum salary helper in restaurant kitchens, then the London part is exclusively given to trampdom, caused by homelessness and joblessness.
The two parts are oddly different in tone. The Paris adventures are, despite misery, darkly comical; the comedy aspect is clearly intended. The descriptions of lodging, eating, resp. not eating, working, partying are interjected with darkly funny tales about the types that populate the urban slums of the Paris of 1930. Some of them are quite disgusting, like the tales of drunken Charlie, who considers raping sex slaves as the ultimate in true love, while pitying them is base emotion. Or friend Boris, the ex captain of the White Russian army who considers Jews so far below a Russian officer, that they are not even worth his spittle. Less obnoxious is the tale of the miser who gets talked into investing some of his matress money into a load of cocain for transportation to England, gets arrested for possession, but freed when the police finds out it is 'face powder', whatever that is. The man dies of a broken heart.
(The Orwell of the Paris half has a contemporary successor in Germany, an investigative journalist named Guenter Wallraff, who has made himself a name as undercover serf in the worst paid jobs in Germany, and is honestly dreaded by German employers.)
The conditions in the two restaurants where Orwell works are so abominable that one would rather not eat in France any more. Of course that was nearly a century ago, and today everything is different. Right?
Orwell then had enough and had hopes for a job in London, so he went back, but found his hopes frustrated. He runs out of cash fast and spends weeks with the homeless crowd, tramping from one asylum to the other and writing 'hotel reviews'. There are few jokes in this part. An intriguing quote from this part: a clergyman and his daughter came and stared silently at us for a while ('us' being a group of tramps waiting for the shelter to open).
Orwell includes some theoretical chapters, like suggestions how to improve the legal situation, a typology of beggars, and a glossary on street language. This part lives mostly from his portraits of fellow tramps. The most impressive character is a pavement painter, who turns out to be a veritable philosopher. (An embittered atheist. He did not disbelieve in God as much as he disliked him.)
The book is highly readable, despite its uneven character. Of course it stood in a broad literary tradition, and Orwell added to it.

although dealing with a feminie perspective, the title story is also a chilling account of medical practices. as a nurse, i found it fascinating. i bought this for airplane reading and it fit the bill.

This is truly incredible work. I can't think of any other to compare it to; the story, the writing -- it is just incredible. It is so haunting, so effective. I recommend it highly to any aspiring writer or just anyone who likes to read a great short story. This one could change your life.

This book is a composite of short stories. The reason that I like it so much is for its progressiveness of the time it was written! There are underlined feminist theory and thought in this book, which is always important to understand and be grateful for!

What a great and terrible story! A very short read but thoroughly entertaining. A glimpse into the past and the struggle women faced.

The Yellow Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gillman is one of the most fascinating short reads ever. I was assigned to read this classic gem in my literature class in College and I couldn't believe how well this short story was written. The book is in first person, it feels like a diary, very personal, intimate, and scary all at the same time. The ending is bone-chilling and brilliant. Gillman is some writer, why haven't I heard about this amazing book before? Wonderful, insightful quick read, a must have for literary fans.

Following are two reviews written collectively by the students of my High School Junior Literature class, Spring 2008. The class gave the novel 3 stars, and this is how they expressed their thoughts:

1. "My name is Asher Lev" allows readers to imagine what life is like being a Hasidic Jew that has a fascination with art. Asher Lev turns out to be a very complex character. He goes against Hasidic tradition, his community, and his own father and does what he decides is best. Other conflicts are very interesting to get into; it's not only the usual conflict with one another, but also with religion, one self, a whole community, and even a mentor. As the novel progresses, you see art the way Asher sees it; something beautiful and amazing. In the end, who will he choose? Will he choose his community, family, and religion? Or will he decide to stick with what he knows best, being a painter?

2. Asher Lev is a book that teaches the beauty of life, love, art, and religion. It's about a boy named Asher Lev who has an incredible artistic gift but cannot express it because of his religion. What lies ahead of him are many challenges that will test himself as a religious person and an artist. The main character Asher Lev is very complex and will continue to develop throughout the story. Even though the book is about a Hasidic Jew trying to be an artist, it's also about finding oneself and others finding themselves through you. In this novel you will learn about how the Hasidic Jews live and what their way of life is like. Although Asher is trying to discover himself, he also has to watch out what he does because something drastic could happen to him or the community. You will find many intriguing experiences in this novel, whether they be good or bad. Watch as the story unfolds and this brave character develops into the person that he is. Once you're done reading this book, it will leave you wanting to know more.

Chaim Potok knows how to portray complex relationships. Asher's artistic gift is seemingly at odd with his Hasidic Jewish faith and definately at odds with his father who does not understand this gift. The sacrifices Asher makes for his gift and the artistic processes are so accurately portrayed that you have an insight into a tortured soul. This is a beautiful novel.

Asher Lev is a Ladover Hasid, a Jewish boy growing up in the mid-twentieth century. He is quiet, intense, and sensitive. And in him there trembles the beginnings of a great and terrible gift - the gift of art, the gift of painting. Asher Lev the Jew becomes Asher Lev the painter. And that transition is the most defining, fulfilling, and emptying experience of his life.

This is a layered story, filled with the rare genius of one who can write simply, yet with vivid beauty. As easy as it is to read, I could spend months poring over these pages, teasing out their symbolism and inferences and truths. The literary beauty is striking. The back cover of the book describes the novel as "a luminous portrait of the artist, by turns heartbreaking and exultant, a modern classic." This is a perfect summary of this deeply meaningful book.

Here is my recommendation. DON'T read this book. No, it's not horrible and I didn't cringe when I read it. But neither did I walk away a changed man. The character of Asher is so cold, static, and most importantly immature. The choice Asher makes in the end is in my own opinion the right one of course (especially since religion was the alternative and i hate religion, another factor that added to the insipidity of this book). Yet after being exposed to Asher's thoughts throughout the book, I'm not convinced his ultimate decision was righteous.

I'm tempted to just say, "read the book so you can see what I mean!!!1" but alas, no. You will make the right decision and you will not read this book. Potok's writing is fluid and borderline enjoyable but this does not save the novel from a 1-star rating. Again, the concept behind the book was alright but the deliver, in terms of plot structure and character development, was very unsatisfying for me.

My Name Is Asher Lev: A big 1 out of 5 stars.

Asher Lev introduces himself in the opening lines of his story. He is an observant Jew, he is the talk of the town following the exhibiting of his painting Brooklyn Crucifixion - not only do observant Jews not paint crucifixions, they do not paint at all - he is viewed as a traitor.

The still very young Asher Lev then begins to recount his life that lead to this predicament. He starts from when he was about four years old, an ordinary Brooklyn lad the only son born to a scholarly Hasidic family. But it is soon evident that he has a remarkable talent fro drawing. The story follows the difficult realisation of the talent which leads him to great critical acclaim, but ostracism from is family and home.

Having truly enjoyed Chaim Potok's The Chosen and its sequel The Promise I immediately sought out more of his writing. I was not disappointed; this is a beautiful story, Asher is a fine boy who loves his family and respects his elders, but he cannot deny what is inside him, his need to create. The characters in the story are sincere and caring, even if they do want different things for Asher Lev. The writing is excellent, Chaim Potok has a very appealing style, and I especially like the manner in which Asher relates his conversations. There is sequel which having enjoyed this so much this I am compelled to read.

Well written and illustrated. Easy for 3-4 year olds to understand.
I like the questions - they give an opportunity for kids to think about who has died.

This book was very matter of fact. As mentioned by others, it can be used by all. If you wish to add religious information to your explanations to your child, then you can emblessish using an example. I found to book to tell of death in a very matter of fact way that young children understand.

Reviewer's book: Overcoming Loss: Activities and Stories for Children Who Have Experienced Grief and Loss

This beautifullly illustrated book has a gentle story about loss and the feelings associated with it for young children.

This book met our needs when Nana died, though it specifically avoids presuming the age or reason of death of your loved one. It is gentle, honest, and brief. I found it perfect for our 6 and 4 year olds. On some pages there are questions that provide nice prompts for discussion (and tears).

Was age appropriate for my 4 yr old. My Father died a week after I ordered this book. It was useful for my daughter.