Of the many pitfalls lurking for the historical novel, the most dangerous is history itself. The best writers either warp it for selfish purposes (Gore Vidal), dig for the untold, interior history (Toni Morrison), or both (Jeannette Winterson). Allende, four years after Ines of My Soul, returns with another historical novel, one that soaks up so much past life that there is nowhere left to go but where countless have been. Opening in Saint Domingue a few years before the Haitian revolution would tear it apart, the story has at its center Zarité, a mulatto whose extraordinary life takes her from that blood-soaked island to dangerous and freewheeling New Orleans; from rural slave life to urban Creole life and a different kind of cruelty and adventure. Yet even in the new city, Zarité can't quite free herself from the island, and the people alive and dead that have followed her.Zarité's passages are striking. More than merely lyrical, they map around rhythms and spirits, making her as much conduit as storyteller. One wishes there was more of her because, unlike Allende, Zarité is under no mission to show us how much she knows. Every instance, a brush with a faith healer, for example, is an opportunity for Allende to showcase what she has learned about voodoo, medicine, European and Caribbean history, Napoleon, the Jamaican slave Boukman, and the legendary Mackandal, a runaway slave and master of black magic who has appeared in several novels including Alejo Carpentier's Kingdom of This World . The effect of such display of research is a novel that is as inert as a history textbook, much like, oddly enough John Updike's Terrorist, a novel that revealed an author who studied a voluminous amount of facts without learning a single truth.Slavery as a subject in fiction is still a high-wire act, but one expects more from Allende. Too often she forgoes the restraint and empathy essential for such a topic and plunges into a heavy breathing prose reminiscent of the Falconhurst novels of the 1970s, but without the guilty pleasure of sexual taboo. Sex, overwritten and undercooked, is where opulent hips slithered like a knowing snake until she impaled herself upon his rock-hard member with a deep sigh of joy. Even the references to African spirituality seem skin-deep and perfunctory, revealing yet another writer too entranced by the myth of black cultural primitivism to see the brainpower behind it. With Ines of My Soul one had the sense that the author was trying to structure a story around facts, dates, incidents, and real people. Here it is the reverse, resulting in a book one second-guesses at every turn. Of course there will be a forbidden love. Betrayal. Incest. Heartbreak. Insanity. Violence. And in the end the island in the novel's title remains legend. Fittingly so, because to reach the Island Beneath the Sea, one would have had to dive deep. Allende barely skims the surface.Marlon James's recent novel, The Book of Night Women was a finalist for the 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award. Views: 68
The Sequel to Naughty by Nature burns with FIRE!! Hampton's most loveable characters are back, and as usual, "It's about to be some sh** up in here!" Jaylin, Nokea, Shane, Scorpio, and let's not forget about Felicia, are determined to make this a read you'll never forget. While Jaylin fights his battle to stay out of jail for giving Felicia a major beat-down, he also has to do what it takes to maintain his marriage to Nokea. This time, she's skeptical about standing by her man, and when she finds out that Scorpio and Jaylin can't quite keep their feelings under control, throwing in the towel just might be the best thing to do. Till death do us part, Jaylin confirms, as losing his wife is not an option. For everyone, Scorpio's cravings for the one man she'll never be able to conquer must come to an end. Shane continues to show her that he's the only man she needs, but will his efforts be enough? Of course, Felicia stands in the way of everyone's happiness and satisfaction to her could possibly mean death. Views: 68
In a snow-swept Northern town, Union officer Major Abel Jones struggles to solve the riddle of Federal agents tortured to death. Views: 68
Michael, a young boy growing up on the tropical island of Rose Town, has been saving up for his own fishing boat for years. But when a terrible storm wrecks his home, Michael is forced to take a job working for a rich, mysterious newcomer named Spargo.Spargo asks Michael to search for one thing in the deep waters around Rose Town - whales . . . Views: 68
By late March 1945, Second British Army and Ninth US Army were poised to carry out an assault crossing of the Rhine. In the British part of the operations, Montgomery’s best assault divisions were assembled to carry out the British and Canadian part of the attack between Emmerich and Wesel. A commando brigade and two Scottish divisions carried out the initial assault under cover of darkness and a tremendous bombardment on the evening of 23rd March. Despite the best efforts of the German first Parachute Army they had established a bridgehead by dawn. During the following morning 6th British Airborne Division dropped around Hamminkeln, in the immediate rear of the Germans, in an operation codenamed VARSITY. By 27 March, after some heavy combat, the Allies were prepared to launch their final drive to the Baltic. The Rhine crossing, though by no means the final battle, sealed the fate of Nazi Germany.ReviewLavished with photographs, maps and veterans accounts, this is a concise, thorough and eminently readable description of Field Marshal Montgomery's assault crossing of the Rhine on the 23rd March 1945, with two British and two American divisions carrying out what would be the last set-piece battle of the Second World War. Tim Saunders first describes the difficult advance on the Rhine, the preparations undertaken by both sides, and the various phases of the British crossings; beginning with the bloody diversionary attack by the 51st Highland Division around Rees, the capture of Wesel by the 1st Commando Brigade, and the main crossing by the 15th Scottish Division who were to relieve the Airborne troops further inland. The battle to secure the Diersfordterwald and the bridges over the River Issel by the 6th British and 17th US Airborne Divisions is also included, though in less detail as this is a separate subject in its own right, one indeed which is covered by Tim Saunders in another book in the series; Operation Varsity. Mark Hickman - Pegasus Archive Views: 68
Elaine knows that she needs help to run her riding stables after the death of her grandfather. She doesn't expect the help to come in the breathtaking form of Quinn Lockyer, a Victorian remittance man who steps though her antique mirror. Quinn loves horses and enthusiastically sets to work with the animals by day and with Elaine's drawer full of unused sex toys by night. He is only too happy to experiment with them while he helps her combat arson, treachery and festering resentments among those she thought her friends. Views: 68
