join now| sign in| help
Search advanced search
 
Books
Search:

Request Friendship
Send Request Cancel

edlorah

edlorah

I'm a mystery even to myself...
  • Seattle
  • member since October 18 2006

Reviews

  • Sort by:
 
  • The Complete Polysyllabic Spree
    • Rated 0 stars

    “This book caused me to locate and read a copy of Richard Yates' 'Revolutionary Road'. That alone was reason enough to value Hornby's book.”

    edlorah wrote this review Friday, August 17 2007. ( reply | permalink )
  • Back on the Fire: Essays
    • Rated 0 stars

    “i just picked this up while browsing my neighborhood bookstore. Finding a new work by Gary Snyder is like running into an old friend. He may be the sanest, wisest man alive today.”

    edlorah wrote this review Wednesday, July 25 2007. ( reply | permalink )
  • The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason
    • Rated 2 stars

    “Harris' basic theme and the section on mysticism and meditation were pretty sound but his argument is completely undermined, in my estimation, by his over the top generalizations about religion (he's picking on Bill Moyers?!), anti-Islam diatribe, and rationalization and endorsement of torture.

    He's clearly touched a nerve but he's no Great Thinker. In fact, most of the time he sounds like an apologist for the policies of the Bush Administration.”

    edlorah wrote this review Tuesday, April 10 2007. ( reply | permalink )
  • No Country for Old Men
    • Rated 3 stars

    “"No Country for Old Men" aspires to have something to say: tradition and common decency are giving way to, and being overwhelmed by, rampant, lethal lawlessness, amorality, and sociopathic evil.
    But the theme is overwhelmed by the novel's high body count (two characters suffer gruesome death in the first three pages) and cartoonish Terminator-like villain (he uses a pneumatic cattle stungun to dispatch his victims).

    Good, evil, and violence are not new themes for Cormac McCarthy, but he has rendered them far more effectively in other works, notably "Blood Meridian".

    Still, even a lesser Cormac McCarthy novel is worth a look. "No Country for Old Men" is a page-turner, and frequently very suspenseful. Just don't expect "The Road" or Suttree".

    ”

    edlorah wrote this review Sunday, October 22 2006. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Gate (Vintage)
    • Rated 3 stars

    “Bizot, a French buddhist scholar, was taken captive by the Khmer Rouge and held in a forest prison for several months before being released by his jailor, Comrade Duch. (Duch is the subject of Nic Dunlop's book "The Lost Executioner").
    Bizot later became an interpreter for the occupants of the besieged French embassy in Phnom Penh after the Khmer Rouge overran the city in 1975.

    His story is fascinating but his telling of it is somehow flat and unengaging. For a more readable account of the Khmer Rouge revolution I'd recommend Nic Dunlop's book.

    ”

    edlorah wrote this review Thursday, October 19 2006. ( reply | permalink )
  • Vietnam Today: A Guide To A Nation At A Crossroads
    • Rated 3 stars

    “An overview and practical "how to" guide of Vietnamese culture and history, mainly written for those hoping to do business with the Vietnamese. Some useful information but I felt I'd gotten what I could from this book long before I finished it.”

    edlorah wrote this review Thursday, October 19 2006. ( reply | permalink )
  • Voices from S-21 : terror and history in Pol Pot's secret prison
    • Rated 5 stars

    “David Chandler is one of the best historians of Cambodian history. This is a thoughtful, methodical, and scholarly examination of S-21, Tuol Sleng prison, where up to 20,000 Cambodian prisoners were tortured, forced to confess to crimes they had not committed, and executed during the Khmer Rouge revolution 1975-79.

    Obviously not an easy read but very, very well done.”

    edlorah wrote this review Thursday, October 19 2006. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Lost Executioner: A Story of the Khmer Rouge
    • Rated 5 stars

    “Irish-born photojournalist Nic Dunlop delivers a passionate and very readable account of the unfathomable horror of the Khmer Rouge revolution in Cambodia in the 1970's and its aftermath.
    In 1999 Dunlop found and exposed Comrade Duch, the notorious head of Tuol Sleng prison, who had been in hiding on the Thai border for twenty years. Under Duch's direction an estimated 20,000 Cambodians were tortured and executed at Tuol Sleng between 1975 and 1979.
    The Khmer Rouge's genocidal programs resulted in the deaths of two million Cambodians in the 1970's, yet they remained a legitimate political entity until 1998, occupying seats in the Cambodian government and recognized by the United Nations. No Khmer Rouge has ever been held accountable for the carnage of the 1970's. Pol Pot, Ta Mok, and other high ranking Khmer Rouge have died. Duch, presently in prison awaiting trial, is one of the last links to Cambodia's horrific past and Dunlop's book is a plea for justice to finally be served

    ”

    edlorah wrote this review Thursday, October 19 2006. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Road
    • Rated 5 stars

    “I've read nearly everything Cormac McCarthy has written and "The Road" is one of his best: right up there with "Suttree" and "Blood Meridian".

    When I finished "The Road" I just sat quietly with it in my lap for awhile, not wanting to move. It is the best book I've read this year- haunting, and an incredible accomplishment.
    ”

    edlorah wrote this review Thursday, October 19 2006. ( reply | permalink )

Missing a review?



© 2006-2009 Shelfari | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Copyright Policy

Close