Miracle at St. Anna

Rating:
Summary: MIRACLE????
Review: I made a rule for myself regarding books--I will read 50 pages before I decide if I will continue or not. I could not go past page 41 in this book. I found it a struggle to keep track of the characters and the paragraphs were too long. Maybe it's me....SORRY I read James McBride's "Color of Water" a wonderful book of memoirs and loved it.

Rating:
Summary: Not Disappointed
Review: I picked up Miracle at St. Anna when I saw the name James Mc Bride as the author. I loved The Color of Water, and wondered how he would do on a fictional book. It was a wonderful story! No disappointment on this end! I have a bit of knowledge about the Buffalo Soldiers, and this book added another page for me regarding that period of history.
I loved the message of love and forgiveness and miracles. Certainly a valuable message for that era, as well as for our current events.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: I picked up this book in one of the bookstores in Honolulu airport not knowing what to expect. It quickly turned out to be one of the best novels I have ever read. The story revolves around a group of American Buffalo Soldiers fighting in Italy during the Second World War. Though the story begins with an incident in the present time, the reader is eventually taken to the past in order to discover the circumstances that led to that "incident".
Emphasis is not only given to the discrimination within the armed forces but also to the development of the characters of the soldiers. The book is so well written that you feel that you are part of that group forming your own alliances and friendships. The struggle that unfolds is not only the fight for individual survival but also the struggle to understand oneself.
A beautiful bond that develops is the bond between a young Italian child and one of the soldiers. No heroics or blown out of proportion myths here. Just a beautiful bond between humans that run into each other in the worst possible condition, the midst of a battle.
Though the miracle takes place at the end, I also feel that it was unfolding throughout the book.
A beautiful book.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: I picked up this book in one of the bookstores in Honolulu airport not knowing what to expect. It quickly turned out to be one of the best novels I have ever read. The story revolves around a group of American Buffalo Soldiers fighting in Italy during the Second World War. Though the story begins with an incident in the present time, the reader is eventually taken to the past in order to discover the circumstances that led to that "incident".
Emphasis is not only given to the discrimination within the armed forces but also to the development of the characters of the soldiers. The book is so well written that you feel that you are part of that group forming your own alliances and friendships. The struggle that unfolds is not only the fight for individual survival but also the struggle to understand oneself.
A beautiful bond that develops is the bond between a young Italian child and one of the soldiers. No heroics or blown out of proportion myths here. Just a beautiful bond between humans that run into each other in the worst possible condition, the midst of a battle.
Though the miracle takes place at the end, I also feel that it was unfolding throughout the book.
A beautiful book.

Rating:
Summary: Well, yes but...
Review: I so, so wanted to like this book. I heard a radio interview with the author and it sounded such a facinating plot, combining the war in Italy, the Buffalo soldiers and kindness to a child - a sort of nativity story for our times. In the end, I was a bit disappointed. I had to read some parts twice to see what the author was getting at. Somehow I found it hard to visualise the situation. And Train is a bit of a cliche.

Rating:
Summary: I guess you had to be there???
Review: I tried very hard but simply could not get into this novel. After reading "The Color of Water", I was excited to learn that McBride had released a novel. Thirty pages into "Miracle At St. Anna", I started to lose interest in the story and characters (the gentle black "giant" character could have been lifted directly from "The Green Mile"). I continued, convinced that there was something good waiting for me in the next chapter or the next. One hundred fifty pages into the book I realized that it was not the story that bored me but the telling of it. The language is dull. Unimaginative metaphor and cliché distracts from the mystical elements that hover at the edge of the story. The magic never quite happened for me. This novel may strike a chord with readers who have some familiarity with the era and region. If you have not read "The Color of Water", I'd suggest you start there. McBride's real life story is much more interesting that the fictional story he tries to tell with this novel.

Rating:
Summary: I guess you had to be there???
Review: I tried very hard but simply could not get into this novel. After reading "The Color of Water", I was excited to learn that McBride had released a novel. Thirty pages into "Miracle At St. Anna", I started to lose interest in the story and characters (the gentle black "giant" character could have been lifted directly from "The Green Mile"). I continued, convinced that there was something good waiting for me in the next chapter or the next. One hundred fifty pages into the book I realized that it was not the story that bored me but the telling of it. The language is dull. Unimaginative metaphor and cliché distracts from the mystical elements that hover at the edge of the story. The magic never quite happened for me. This novel may strike a chord with readers who have some familiarity with the era and region. If you have not read "The Color of Water", I'd suggest you start there. McBride's real life story is much more interesting that the fictional story he tries to tell with this novel.

Rating:
Summary: Miracle at St. Anna
Review: I was so very, very disappointed in this book. McBride's work in The Color of Water was beautiful, but Miracle at St. Anna is a struggle to read. The language is poor, the characters are a jumble of personalities and I had trouble remembering who was who. The subject is an interesting one, and could have been more cleanly developed. I couldn't wait to finish it, so that I could start reading something that interested me.

Rating:
Summary: the power of love
Review: I was thoroughl enraptured with this book and unable to put it down.James McBride's novel of bigotry and hate and the ability of some to conquer these evils to find love and miracles was truly amazing. Man's inhumanity to man was so poignantly portrayed and brought attention to a subject of great distaste to the Army - their treatment of African Americans during WWII- the Buffalo Division managed to distinguish themselves despite the powers that controlled them. The triumph of the human spirit is brillantly captured in this finely written novel. A must read.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I'm familiar with the landscape of the book and found them (both the book and the landscape) haunting. The book was beautifully written - one of the best.