Rawson, Andrew:Battle of the Bulge: Rare Photographs from Wartime Archives (Images of War)
- Paperback 2006, ISBN: 9781844151851
Hardcover
Vintage Books. Good. 130 x 197mm. Paperback. 1993. 307 pages. <br>Ondaatje's novel about love and confusion set at t he end of the Second World War follows a small group of shel… More...
Vintage Books. Good. 130 x 197mm. Paperback. 1993. 307 pages. <br>Ondaatje's novel about love and confusion set at t he end of the Second World War follows a small group of shell-sho cked characters. In descriptive prose of spectacular beauty, he i nvents a desert world which is both physical and imaginative. Thi s is one of the few truly great post-war novels' Eileen Battersby , Irish Times 'Magnificent... All the allure of early 20th Centur y desert exploration is contained in Ondaatje's beautiful, spare narrative... A wise and graceful book about history itself, both the events that are its raw material and the human values that sh ape it' Sunday Times 'Profound, beautiful and heart-quickening' T oni Morrison 'Ondaatje has written a popular novel, a war story a nd spy story, tingling with mystery and sexual tension, which is also a grave and true image of life' Peter Craven, The Age, Melbo urne 'A magic carpet of a novel that soars across worlds and time s... as rare and spellbinding a net of dreams as any that has eme rged in recent years' Pico Iyer, Time 'The best piece of fiction in English I've read in several years' Edmund White, Independent on Sunday ., Vintage Books, 1993, 2.5, Random House. Good. 5.94 x 9.13 x 1.22 inches. Paperback. 2006. 422 pages. Text tanned<br>This magnificent novel by one of Americ a's finest writers is the epic of one man's remarkable journey, s et in nineteenth-century America against the background of a vani shing people and a rich way of life. At the age of twelve, under the Wind moon, Will is given a horse, a key, and a map, and sent alone into the Indian Nation to run a trading post as a bound bo y. It is during this time that he grows into a man, learning, as he does, of the raw power it takes to create a life, to find a ho me. In a card game with a white Indian named Featherstone, Will w ins - for a brief moment - a mysterious girl named Claire, and hi s passion and desire for her spans this novel. As Will's destiny intertwines with the fate of the Cherokee Indians - including a C herokee Chief named Bear - he learns how to fight and survive in the face of both nature and men, and eventually, under the Corn T assel Moon, Will begins the fight against Washington City to pres erve the Cherokee's homeland and culture. And he will come to kno w the truth behind his belief that only desire trumps time. Bri lliantly imagined, written with great power and beauty by a maste r of American fiction, Thirteen Moons is a stunning novel about a man's passion for a woman, and how loss, longing and love can sh ape a man's destiny over the many moons of a life. From the Hard cover edition. Editorial Reviews From Bookmarks Magazine Critic s voiced great expectations for Thirteen Moons, coming nearly ten years after Charles Frazier's National Book Award-winning Cold M ountain (1997). Unfortunately, this second novel fails to achieve the same uniform critical acclaim. Certainly, similarities betwe en the two books abound, including a deep appreciation for the So uthern Appalachian landscape, a protagonist embarking on a life-d efining odyssey, an elegiac tone, and swatches of excellent prose . Here, Frazier frames Will's story against America's transition from a frontier society into an industrial nation. Despite some p raise, reviewers generally agree that Thirteen Moons is an airier production (New York Times), with perhaps more clichés, less con vincing characterizations and relationships, and a less wieldy pl ot. What critics do agree on, however, is the excellent period de tail and research that makes Frazier a first-rate chronicler of A merican history. Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of t his title. From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. Once in a grea t while, all of the elements of an audio book come together to cr eate a near-perfect experience for the listener. Frazier's follow -up to his 1997 National Book Award-winner, Cold Mountain, is ano ther saga of enduring love. It's no small gift to work with great material, and Patton transforms the text into a tale that sounds as if it were meant to be read aloud. It's a story to be told by the fire over the course of a long winter, just as the narrator Will Cooper and his adoptive Cherokee father, Bear, swap yarns wh ile they are hunkered down until the end of the snow season. Patt on's voice has an unidentifiable Southern lilt, which nicely fits a novel vaguely set in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Patto n makes the correct choice not to individualize each character's voice as this is so much Cooper's tale. Bluegrass melodies played by Ryan Scott and Christina Courtin enhance the production. The CDs have been thoughtfully designed, with the numbers circling ea ch disc like a moon. This attention to detail makes for a beautif ul production of a love story that listeners will not put down an d will want to replay. Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or una vailable edition of this title. From Booklist In one of the most anticipated novels of the current publishing season, Frazier, au thor of the widely applauded Cold Mountain (1997), remains true t o the historical fiction vein. The author's second outing finds g rounding in a timeless theme: a grand old man remembering his glo ry days. As a teenager during the James Monroe administration, Wi ll Cooper is sent off, in an indentured situation, into the wilde rness of the Indian Nation to run a trading post. From a mixed-ra ce Indian, he wins a girl with whom he will be besotted for the r est of his life, and his passion will extend into personal involv ement in Indian affairs, to the highest level of politics. Thus F razier also remains faithful to the theme of his previous novel: the odyssey, especially one man's path through trials and tribula tions to be by the side of the woman he loves. And he remains fai thful to a method that marked Cold Mountain in readers' memories: a proliferation of detail about customs and costumes, about food and recreation--pretty much what everything looked and smelled l ike. Unfortunately, for the first fourth of the book, there is to o much detail for the plot to easily bear. But, finally, the char acters are able to step out from behind this blanket of particula rs and incidentals and make the story work. Expect considerable d emand, of course. Brad Hooper Copyright © American Library Associ ation. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Review Gorgeous...Thirteen Moons calls Cold Mountain to mind in its wonder at the natural w orld; its pacificist undercurrents; its dismay at the dismantling of what matters, and its convication that one love, no matter ho w tortured and inexplicable, can be life-defining...fascinating.. .vivid and alive. -Newsweek Thirteen Moons brings this vanished world thrillingly to life... One of the great Native American, an d American stories, and a great gift to all of us, from one of ou r very best writers. -Kirkus Reviews, starred review There are t hings so masterful words can't do them justice. Frazier's writing falls in that category...With Thirteen Moons, he's doing importa nt work filling in the gaps, helping restore the roots, of our kn owledge of our own history. -Asheville Citizen-Times Fascinatin g...Reading Thirteen Moons is an intoxicating experience...This i s 21st-century literary fiction at its very best. -BookPage Thi rteen Moons is rare in many ways and occupies a literary plane of such height that reviewing it is not really salient....Thirteen Moons has the power to inspire great performances from succeeding generations of writers....For those who simply value the literar y experience, Thirteen Moons will provide the immense satisfactio n of taking a literary journey of magnitude. Whether on a plane, in an office or curled in a window seat, readers who absorb Will' s story will find their own lives enriched....Thirteen Moons belo ngs to the ages. -Los Angeles Times Magical...the history lesson in Thirteen Moons is fascinating and moving...You will find much to admire and savor in Thirteen Moons. -USA Today Verdict: A po werhouse second act....a brilliant success...Frazier's second act should convince everyone that he's here to stay. It is a powerfu l, dramatic, often surprising and memorable novel. -Atlanta Journ al Constitution Thirteen Moons is a boisterous, confident novel that draws from the epic tradition... Frazier is a natural storyt eller, and throughout his picaresque tale are grand themes and eu logies -Boston Globe Warm hearted...Frazier is a remarkably meti culous and tasteful writer...Thirteen Moons is a worthy successor to the first novel and a highly readable book. -Seattle Times T o Charles Frazier, words are playthings. Like very few other cont emporary American novelists, he puts them together in such a way that they can transform an otherwise mundane moment, scene or con versation into one that is transcendent....No sophomore jinx here . Reading a Frazier novel is like listening to a fine symphony. H e's a maestro whose pen is his baton, beckoning the best that eac h sentence has to offer. And just as you wouldn't rush a conducto r, you should take the time to savor Frazier's work, to take in e ach thought, to relish the turn of phrase or the imagery of a cra ftsman. -Denver Post Two for two...Here is a book brimming with vivid, adventurous incident...Charles Frazier set himself a daunt ing challenge with this book. He set out to write a historical no vel that was retrospective and meditative, yet still vibrant and immediate with life. Thirteen Moons succeeds in classy fashion. - Raleigh News & Observer If current fiction is anything to go by, it's hard for a novelist to make Santayana's puzzle pieces - lyr icism, comedy, tragedy - fit together, as they do in real life an d real history. Frazier has done it...Thirteen Moons makes you fe el that change that happened so long before our own time, and mak es you mourn it. -Newsday Thirteen Moons is a fitting successor to Cold Mountain...fans of Frazier's debut will be cheered to dis cover that the new book is another compulsively readable work of historical fiction. -St. Louis Post-Dispatch If there is any dou bt that Frazier is an incredibly gifted storyteller - and not jus t a lucky name or a one-hit wonder - it will be put to rest with the publication of Thirteen Moons. Within 10 pages, this long-awa ited new novel bears the reader swiftly out of the waking world i nto its own imagined universe like nothing else published this ye ar. -Minneapolis Star Tribune Forget the sophomore jinx. Frazier demonstrates that Cold Mountain was no one-hit wonder with this fully realized historical novel again set in the South....Again, Frazier shows himself a master of landscape and language, both of ten fresh and surprising in his telling. -Seattle Post-Intelligen cer Thirteen Moons contains achingly beautiful passages of snowf alls, fog-wrapped rivers and moonlit forests. There are ribald an d hilarious events, too, including a description of the Cherokee Booger Dance that is a masterpiece of satire. The love affair bet ween Cooper and Claire threads its way through this pseudo-histor ic epic like a brilliant, scarlet ribbon. There is also a melanch oly refrain that celebrates a wondrous time and place that is gon e and will never return. -Smoky Mountain News Fiction of the hig hest order...Another indelible character. Charles Frazier has a k nack for them. -Charlotte Observer What a story!... Frazier's cr eation, Will Cooper, is utterly charismatic....Frazier's genius l ies in his ability to convey emotions that feel pure and genuine. ..It was worth the wait. -Dayton Daily News From the Hardcover e dition. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edit ion of this title. About the Author Charles Frazier grew up in t he mountains of North Carolina. Cold Mountain, his highly acclaim ed first novel, was an international bestseller, and won the Nati onal Book Award in 1997. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From The Washington Post Cha rles Frazier is an intelligent, occasionally witty author who wri tes incredibly long-winded, sentimental, soporific novels. His fi rst, Cold Mountain, published nine years ago, was the most unlike ly bestseller since Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All (19 89), by his fellow North Carolinian Allan Gurganus, and the most improbable National Book Award winner since John O'Hara's Ten Nor th Frederick half a century ago. Now Frazier weighs in with Thirt een Moons, which manages to be even longer and even duller than C old Mountain. No doubt it too will be a huge bestseller. That F razier's success parallels Gurganus's is purely coincidental, but it's just about impossible not to remark upon the oddness of the coincidence. As a rule, the American book-buying public has only a limited appetite for Southern-fried fiction, yet Frazier and G urganus somehow have tapped into it. They deal (Frazier somewhat more skillfully than Gurganus) in what a North Carolina newspaper editor of my long-ago acquaintance used to call shucks-'n'-nubbi ns, which is loosely defined as tiny ears of corn. Frazier's corn is anything but tiny -- more than 400 pages of it in the case of Thirteen Moons -- but it's corn all the same. Reading Frazier is like sitting by the cracker barrel for hour after hour and lis tening to an amiable but impossibly gassy guy who talks real slow , says I reckon a whole lot and never shuts up. His novels have l ittle structure and not much in the way of plot; in Cold Mountain he gave us the wounded Confederate soldier, Inman, limping his w ay back to his gal, Ada, in the North Carolina mountains, and in Thirteen Moons it's the ancient Will Cooper reminiscing about his nine decades and his Cherokee buddies and the gal, Claire, whom he managed to love and lose. He is a far less interesting man tha n Frazier obviously believes him to be, which is a little surpris ing because he's based on a very interesting historical figure. Will Cooper is not William Holland Thomas, Frazier says in an au thor's note, and then coyly adds, though they do share some DNA. Actually, they share a whole lot. William Holland Thomas was born in North Carolina in 1805, was almost immediately orphaned, work ed as a boy in a general store in the mountains, taught himself t he law, worked to secure the right of the Cherokees to remain in their territory as Andrew Jackson sought to drive all Indians wes tward, served in the state senate and organized a company of Cher okee soldiers on behalf of the Confederacy. All of which is exact ly what Will Cooper does in Thirteen Moons; where fact and fictio n part is that Thomas married and had children while Cooper remai ns single, and Thomas's mental condition gradually deteriorated a fter the Civil War while Cooper remains alert, if rather tired, t o the novel's end. In other words, in Thirteen Moons Frazier es sentially has fictionalized history. Nothing wrong with that: hap pens all the time. But the novel provides less imagination and in vention than readers are likely to expect; it reads more like a d utifully researched (check out that author's note) graduate schoo l paper than a work of fiction. It also is chock-a-block with hom espun aphorisms that aren't exactly full of original wisdom: One of the few welcome lessons age teaches is that only desire trumps time, and Grief is a haunting, and Writers can tell any lie that leaps into their heads, and Our worst pain is confined within ou r own skin, and We are not made strong enough to stand up against endle, Random House, 2006, 2.5, Paperback. Very Good., 3<
