Rating: 
Summary: Intriguing!
Review: "The Deadwood Beetle" by Mylene Dressler, G. K. Hall & Co., 2001, Large Type Book.At first, this book appears to be about a little Dutch boy who survived the Holocaust, and, years later spies his mother's sewing table in an antiques store. The store owner, Cora Lowenstein, translates the child's inscription, on the bottom of the table, without knowing that it was Tristan Martens, himself, who carved it there years ago. Her version in English is "When the Jews are gone, we will be the next ones", which she interprets as in the same fashion as the famous quote from Pastor Niemoeller, (1892-1984). It seems, however, that was not the meaning of the carved words: Tristan Martens (who now had to be in his late sixties or early seventies) knew it was from his Dutch father, who was a Nazi. Tristan was not a victim of the holocaust; instead, his family was waiting for their turn in power, after the Jews were gone. Angry Dutch citizens had looted his mother's table from their Dutch home when The Netherlands was liberated. He feels guilty for most of his life. This central theme of guilt is always a background plot as Tristan begins to see Cora Lowenstein in a romantic light. The guilt theme is intertwined, somewhat, with entomology, as he deals with his last graduate student, who, in turn, is dealing with a unique form of insect out in Arizona. Tristan Martens tells the student's parents how he happened to be an immigrant (as they were) and some of the story of his life directly after the World War. Except for flashbacks to his life in The Netherlands, the book is set mainly in winter-time New York City, with some trips to a nursing home in nearby Connecticut. I think that the author, Dressler, has done a good job in capturing the flavor of subways and travel in New York. She has written an intriguing book.
Rating:
Summary: deadwood beetle: a well written book...
Review: deadwood beetle: a well written book. i really enjoyed reading the story. even though i know the ending would be realistic, i still guess i have a preconceived idea about how the story should have ended, meaning the story ended differently than i expected, which is a good thing. read the book, its worth it.
Rating:
Summary: deadwood beetle: a well written book...
Review: deadwood beetle: a well written book. i really enjoyed reading the story. even though i know the ending would be realistic, i still guess i have a preconceived idea about how the story should have ended, meaning the story ended differently than i expected, which is a good thing. read the book, its worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Unbelieably compelling, absorbing and inventive story
Review: I am not a reader of mainstream novels, but from the moment I opened this book, I could not put it down. Dressler grabs your heart and mind and weaves her delicate but tense story in such a manner that you will find it difficult to find a place to stop without reading it straight through. Readers of Nicholas Sparks will positively love this story. Poor old Tristan Martens, a retired entomologist [and the metaphors about the beetles are just stunning] discovers in an antique shop in New York his mother's sewing table, but an even more startling discovery for him is the owner of the shop, the elegant beautiful Cora who immediately steals his heart. But how to buy the table, which she tells him is not for sale! So he is torn between being honest and trying to devise a method of buying the table so she will think he is doing her a favor. At the same time, he does not want to say or do anything dishonest, that might destroy his chance at the distant hope of Cora's love.
Buy this book immediately! Every moment you delay, you are cheating yourself of a fantastic experience!
Rating:
Summary: Unbelieably compelling, absorbing and inventive story
Review: I am not a reader of mainstream novels, but from the moment I opened this book, I could not put it down. Dressler grabs your heart and mind and weaves her delicate but tense story in such a manner that you will find it difficult to find a place to stop without reading it straight through. Readers of Nicholas Sparks will positively love this story. Poor old Tristan Martens, a retired entomologist [and the metaphors about the beetles are just stunning] discovers in an antique shop in New York his mother's sewing table, but an even more startling discovery for him is the owner of the shop, the elegant beautiful Cora who immediately steals his heart. But how to buy the table, which she tells him is not for sale! So he is torn between being honest and trying to devise a method of buying the table so she will think he is doing her a favor. At the same time, he does not want to say or do anything dishonest, that might destroy his chance at the distant hope of Cora's love.
Buy this book immediately! Every moment you delay, you are cheating yourself of a fantastic experience!
Rating:
Summary: AN UNEQUIVOCAL RECOMMENDATION!
Review: The Deadwood Beetle is a beautifully written work. There are so many things to love about it, but I was truly impressed with the pacing of the story. The opening story is linear, but Dressler interweaves stories from the past that aren't told chronologically. A less-skilled writer would either not attempt this at all or bungle it badly. Dressler does neither. The stories float, intermingled, above the linear tale but there is no confusion. It works and works wonderfully. I have read The Deadwood Beetle, listened to it on tape with my Books-On-Tape bookclub, and bought it in large print for my father. An unequivocal recommendation!
Rating:
Summary: AN UNEQUIVOCAL RECOMMENDATION!
Review: The Deadwood Beetle is a beautifully written work. There are so many things to love about it, but I was truly impressed with the pacing of the story. The opening story is linear, but Dressler interweaves stories from the past that aren't told chronologically. A less-skilled writer would either not attempt this at all or bungle it badly. Dressler does neither. The stories float, intermingled, above the linear tale but there is no confusion. It works and works wonderfully. I have read The Deadwood Beetle, listened to it on tape with my Books-On-Tape bookclub, and bought it in large print for my father. An unequivocal recommendation!
Rating:
Summary: The Deadwood Beetle
Review: The Deadwood Beetle is a warm, well-written book. I enjoyed the uncomplicated way in which the story was written. The book is worth reading by anyone who likes books free of flowery fillers.
Rating:
Summary: The Deadwood Beetle
Review: The Deadwood Beetle is a warm, well-written book. I enjoyed the uncomplicated way in which the story was written. The book is worth reading by anyone who likes books free of flowery fillers.
Rating:
Summary: Artful Storytelling
Review: This book was recommended to me by a friend -- an author and bookseller -- and I feel it is one of the best gifts he's ever given me. Told with grace, wit and intelligence, the plot of the book -- the skeleton on which the events are hung -- is not as important as the way in which the author tells it. There is a grandeur, a measured unfolding which wraps you in the characters' lives. There is real sympathy for the different human viewpoints which come from our varied experiences, and the reader is gradually allowed to share in the breadth of the characters. It's a lovely, loving and very artfully told journey.
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