Rating: 
Summary: Thrilling
Review: I picked this up hoping it would be like CENTENNIAL--which I thoroughly enjoyed. Though JM focuses on the Caribbean he does not stick with a family or families as he has in the past. There are only tenuous threads to connect the chapters. I would say the book gets better as it moves along but I still found it disappointing over all. Many of the chapters were interesting and compelling, but just as it was building up the chapter ended and it was on to new characters on a different island.
Rating: 
Summary: JUST OKAY, MICHENER ON HIS DOWNWARD SLIDE
Review: I picked this up hoping it would be like CENTENNIAL--which I thoroughly enjoyed. Though JM focuses on the Caribbean he does not stick with a family or families as he has in the past. There are only tenuous threads to connect the chapters. I would say the book gets better as it moves along but I still found it disappointing over all. Many of the chapters were interesting and compelling, but just as it was building up the chapter ended and it was on to new characters on a different island.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book, awful first chapters
Review: I'm about 3/4ths of this book, and I highly recommend anyone to read it. But read my lips: skip the first chapters of Arawaks and Mayas. Michener, as a good 'american' thinks that those incredible people use to think as him... his descriptions of the character's thoughts are pitifully... american!Besides some minor incoherences (in one page it's said that Drake always call this sea "The North Sea", and in the next one Drakes speaks about "the Caribbean"... I've been awake until 3 in the morning, reading. Few books had done this with me. BTW, I'll try some other books of Michener, maybe even 'Mexico'. (I'm from there)...
Rating:
Summary: One of Michener's best!
Review: I've read JOURNEY, ALASKA, CHEAPEAK, and HAWAII. CARIBBEAN is close to the top of my list. Though this isn't "heavy" reading (like Homer for instance), it isn't exactly "light" either. It is sometimes hard to follow, because so much material from various regions is covered. I often found myself looking back for details I'd forgotten. However, I find the challenge rewarding. I also appreciate Michener's consideration for the reader - he is never vulgar or explicitly sexual. I find that refreshing in today's society. I learned a great deal from this book, including where "barbeque", "bacon", and "grog" got their meanings. I never really enjoyed history, so I've learned much more from Michener than I would have normally. Perhaps if I were an historian or a literary critic I'd knock it down a star or two, but I am blissfully ingnorant of any faults :-) For reference purposes, from the list above I rated CHESAPEAK at 5+ stars and ALASKA at 4.5
Rating:
Summary: One of Michener's best!
Review: I've read JOURNEY, ALASKA, CHEAPEAK, and HAWAII. CARIBBEAN is close to the top of my list. Though this isn't "heavy" reading (like Homer for instance), it isn't exactly "light" either. It is sometimes hard to follow, because so much material from various regions is covered. I often found myself looking back for details I'd forgotten. However, I find the challenge rewarding. I also appreciate Michener's consideration for the reader - he is never vulgar or explicitly sexual. I find that refreshing in today's society. I learned a great deal from this book, including where "barbeque", "bacon", and "grog" got their meanings. I never really enjoyed history, so I've learned much more from Michener than I would have normally. Perhaps if I were an historian or a literary critic I'd knock it down a star or two, but I am blissfully ingnorant of any faults :-) For reference purposes, from the list above I rated CHESAPEAK at 5+ stars and ALASKA at 4.5
Rating:
Summary: "Caribbean" tells of the past, to enchant the present!
Review: If ever I wondered why the Caribbean keeps drawing me back, it's read in the pages of "Caribbean". This fiction based on fact novel allowed me to understand and appreciate the history of the Caribbean. From the beginnings in Mexico and through the history of the Arawak and Carib nations. After I finished, I again traveled to St.Somewhere with a different propective on the islands and its people. My first Michener book, but not my last. A true lesson in Caribbean history.
Rating:
Summary: "Caribbean" tells of the past, to enchant the present!
Review: If ever I wondered why the Caribbean keeps drawing me back, it's read in the pages of "Caribbean". This fiction based on fact novel allowed me to understand and appreciate the history of the Caribbean. From the beginnings in Mexico and through the history of the Arawak and Carib nations. After I finished, I again traveled to St.Somewhere with a different propective on the islands and its people. My first Michener book, but not my last. A true lesson in Caribbean history.
Rating:
Summary: excellent, in-depth .. top-notch michener
Review: If you have read and like michener, this is a classic (my personal favorite). If you have not, classic michener means that he takes a very in-depth, well researched area and wraps a novel around it. In Carribean, he looks at the evolution from the Mayan times to the modern, covering the cultures, the facts and the myths. What makes it fun is the way he wraps his exhaustive research of the facts into the regions myths and a set of characters. This makes the novels fun and interesting, because even though the people are ficticious, one identifies more with the stories of people than a textbook approach to the facts. The chapters, dealing with different historical periods, focus on various sub-regions as they wane and wax in power and importance. It particularly appealed to my interest in history and frankly may be tiresome to those who do not have the same passion for history (ie, if you don't like historical accounts, you may not like this book!) Oh, yes, there are pirates, human sacrefice, and you learn where the term barbeque comes from...you may not want to know that!
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps Michener's best
Review: It is hard to pick a very favorite Michener book if you like his writing, but "Caribbean" quite possibly takes the cake. It tells the story of this tropical maritime region of the world, from the Taino Indians of Puerto Rico, through the ages of exploration, conquest, conversion and war, up to a group taking a cruise in modern times. As with "The Source" there are tons of characters and settings, but Michener ties them in and makes you care about them. Truly fun and engrossing literature.
Rating:
Summary: Thrilling
Review: Michener at his best. Full of adventure and great characters. My only gripe is that the final chapter is a little dull compared to the rest of it. But overall - excellent. Reading it made me want to visit the Caribbean.
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