Rating: 
Summary: Engrossing but ultimately disappointing
Review: As others have found, I was quickly drawn into this novel, turning pages and staying up past my bedtime to make headway. However, I finished the book wondering, "is that it?"Several key things seem implausible to me. For an admittedly overprotective mom to drag Shane to the Dark Continent not once, but twice, was completely beyond belief. Malik is key to Helen's movement through Congo, yet no money exchanges hands. The Congo is full of generous people, but Malik would hardly abandon his family and his business to help a white woman without significant financial motivation. I was also disappointed that the book ended so abruptly, though I don't want to spoil by commenting on the scene. I feel a bit like I ordered Haagen Daaz and got lowfat fro yo instead-- I expected more. Good premise, though.
Rating:
Summary: Engrossing but ultimately disappointing
Review: As others have found, I was quickly drawn into this novel, turning pages and staying up past my bedtime to make headway. However, I finished the book wondering, "is that it?" Several key things seem implausible to me. For an admittedly overprotective mom to drag Shane to the Dark Continent not once, but twice, was completely beyond belief. Malik is key to Helen's movement through Congo, yet no money exchanges hands. The Congo is full of generous people, but Malik would hardly abandon his family and his business to help a white woman without significant financial motivation. I was also disappointed that the book ended so abruptly, though I don't want to spoil by commenting on the scene. I feel a bit like I ordered Haagen Daaz and got lowfat fro yo instead-- I expected more. Good premise, though.
Rating: 
Summary: An exceptional first novel
Review: Being a novelist, I read a lot of novels and this first time novel by Marcus Stevens is excellent. His vivid descriptions of the jungle, the chaos of the refugees, the personal set against the background of the impersonality of war, and the way he ended the novel - all of it left me feeling very satisfied. He avoided the error of so many first time novelists -of tying everything up into a neat little package at the end. Instead, you are left with the sense that there is more to the journey. Perhaps there will be a sequel?
Rating: 
Summary: Curve of the World a Disappointment
Review: For all the hype surrounding this first novel, I expected it to be a potential Deliverance in Africa. What a disappointment. A weak plot, fleshed out by weak descriptive passages of jungle vegetation and various Third World encounters. It is especially galling to see this author beginning this appalling narrative with a quote from Naipaul. We expect more from someone who has read A Bend in the River, but then, perhaps he only read the first line. The entire thesis of the novel---a businessman crashing in the Congo, escaping from his rescuer/captors into the bush, thence searched for by his nearly estranged wife and their precocious, blind son---is so unbelieveable as to be in the final analysis merely irritating. The only way that a serious reader can finish this sophomoric tripe is to continue expecting something interesting (dialogue; plot; character development) to occur before the end. It doesn't.
Rating: 
Summary: the trip was fun.
Review: I agree with a couple of the other reviews in that the ending was a bit unbelievable but the journey to get to the end was a delight. The first 50 pages WILL grab you and then you're just along for the ride and what a fun literary trip you are taken on.
Rating:
Summary: I loved this book!
Review: I bought and read this book after hearing Marcus Stevens present at a Book/Author Dinner in Richmond, Virginia. Once I started reading, I couldn't put this book down. This book was two stories in one. One was the ultimate quest for survival after Lewis Burke's plane was required to make a forced landing in the remote Congo. His stories of survival, and subsequent befriending and rescue by a young Congolese boy, were fascinating. I felt like I was in the Congo trying to survive with him! This was intermingled with a love story, and ultimately renewed love between Lewis and his wife Helen. Their relationship had greatly suffered after the birth of their blind son Shane. Their relationship deteriorated for seven years while Helen gave her complete attention to raising a blind child, and Lewis withdrew more and more. Lewis' disappearance in the Congo renewed their temporarily lost love and brought them all back together. I greatly enjoyed this first work by Marcus Stevens and look forward to more from him!
Rating:
Summary: Kept my interest...most of the time.
Review: I listened to this book as I drove several hundred miles, and it did help to pass the time. For the most part the voices were well done; however, I felt that the reader's efforts to find Helen's voice were inadequate. We are told that she is a strong woman, independent and outspoken, yet whenever her voice is portrayed it is tentative and softspoken, with a question like tone. It was hard to picture her as anything but very passive, which did not blend with the information the narrator provided. The story seemed to drag a bit in spots, but was enjoyable overall.
Rating:
Summary: Kept my interest...most of the time.
Review: I listened to this book as I drove several hundred miles, and it did help to pass the time. For the most part the voices were well done; however, I felt that the reader's efforts to find Helen's voice were inadequate. We are told that she is a strong woman, independent and outspoken, yet whenever her voice is portrayed it is tentative and softspoken, with a question like tone. It was hard to picture her as anything but very passive, which did not blend with the information the narrator provided. The story seemed to drag a bit in spots, but was enjoyable overall.
Rating:
Summary: Half survival story / half relationship story
Review: I love stories of survival and adventure, which I expected Curve of the World to be. I give this book 4 stars because the quality of the writing is good, and I was drawn to continue reading to find out what happened after the Coke executive became lost in the Congo jungle. He became very ill and was on the brink of death very quickly in his ordeal which seems a likely scenario if this happened to "real" people under such circumstances. His survival has more to do with luck in finding some dirty water to drink and a few roots to eat, and being discovered and helped by a young boy rather than to any wit and cunning or survival skills. What I found disappointing about the book was that it focused half on his survival story, and half on his relationship with his wife, and so it became more of a psychological drama of relationships rather than an adventure. I suppose this is the author's intention, but it wasn't exactly what I was looking for. I guess I'm better off getting back to reading non-fiction stories of real people surviving in real situations of adversity. There are plenty of such books out there.
Rating:
Summary: An adventure!
Review: I think I enjoyed this book so much because the author did an excellent job of placing you in the characters shoes. Imagine being lost in the Congo, a jungle in Africa. I also enjoyed the fact that there was more to the story than just that obstacle, but also other things going on in the man's life. I enjoyed learning about what is going on in Africa. I could picture being there. This book is a ride that keeps the pages turning, the only thing I would change is to make the ending a little longer so the reader can "appreciate" the outcome (without giving too much away). This was a very good first book & a great story about overcoming obstacles.
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