Rating: 
Summary: A couple of stars for the a couple of good passages
Review: When reading this book, I would oscillate continually between the brink of liking to the pit of distraction when, in the midst of a beautiful passage that had nothing to do with sex, some kind of sex or genitalia was thrown in. Is this necessary? I like sensuousness and sexuality in books as much as the next guy, but only if it's artfully done. In _The Fall of the Sparrow_, many of the sexual descriptions are forced and inappropriate where they show up. For example, in one place, the character Sara comments that touching a waterwheel she's built is "sexual," and then goes on to liken it to touching things that are full of energy...hmm. That said, there were some parts of the book I liked. The relationship between Woody and Turi rang true to me, somehow, though there again, just when I thought they really cared, the author let me know that it was nothing, that they were just experimenting, thereby robbing me of the one thing I was holding on to. This book, overall, comes across, to me, as a little pretentious, a little overblown, and just a little overdone. There is too much detritus, too much flotsam and jetsom, to make the story ring real, true, and make the reader stay with it until the end. Less isn't necessarily more, but if you want to see a big, long book about love and failed marriage, rendered truly, read John Irving's A Widow For One Year.
Rating:
Summary: Strictly from the Male Point of View
Review: This book, on our bookclub list, was a hard read for many of us. Most (all women) had problems trying to relate to or care for any of the characters. No one could understand why there was such an abbreviated story about the wife and her role when it seemed so important to the stated plot. The writer seemed to ignor and not understand any feelings other than that of his hero Woody and he is written as a pretty shallow character even if he is a classics professor.
Rating: 
Summary: My love is carpet...
Review: What an amazing story! And what is not to love? Hellenga touches on issues of guilt and forgiveness, memory and reconciliation, families and individual life with a remarkable sense of humanity. While rife with editing errors (the time zone errors are unforgivable! PLEASE FIX in the next printing!), the ambitious scope of this novel lends itself to overlooking these flaws. Wonderful and humorous scenes of love amongst the wounded that I found very touching. And while many reviewers have commented on the "male fantasy" aspects of this novel, my women's book group found it noteworthy that the female characters were known by their personalities and not their bodies...In fact, just what DOES Gabriella look like? Highly recommended, if for nothing more than the aerial view of the field of carpet. Hellenga's premise, that love can save us, is stunningly simple in this complex world.
Rating:
Summary: An incredible journey - an extraordinary novel
Review: Sixteen Pleasures was interesting enough that when I saw Robert Hellenga's second book I picked it up - but rather casually. But it blew me away! I read it in bits because I didn't want to rush it - rather savouring each of the pages and stages as this man began the process of repairing his psyche after such painful and extraordinary trauma suffered in silence for so many years. Television gurus tell us that we can put the past behind us and get on with our lives and show impatience when vicitms take too long to overcome of the horrors that life delivers. In Sparrow Hellenga paints a realistic and facinating portrait of a man who more than a decade after a terrible tragedy begins to let life in again. I felt it was like watching a dam begin to leak and give way - some of the water flowing along predictable channels and other streams forging in new directions - some with new obstacles and going nowhere. He is careless, he is stupid and he is not perfect but he seemed so real to me - so passive in his first sexual encounter and extreme enough that maybe, just maybe, he might feel something... anything. Hellenga explores loss, forgiveness, anger, fate and love and death with depth, skill and without having all the answers. I described this book to a close friend as a novel that explores really grown up themes - ideas that we almost never talk about - difficult and frightening ideas. Through this book he has given us some vocabulary.
Rating: 
Summary: Well written but disturbing--Unrecognized emotional incest
Review: Were it not for one sickening theme running through the book, I would have liked it due to his great story-telling and interesting plot twists. But he imagined his daughter in sexual ways as if that was normal, and then had an almost Woody -Allenish affair with the daughter of a past lover. YUCK. YUCK. YUCK. And he made all his sexual diversions and affairs blameless by making his wife conveniently out of it. The book did not run true and really disturbed me.
Rating:
Summary: Sixteen More Pleasures
Review: Another great story from Roberyt Hellenga. If you loved The Sixteen Pleasures like I and my wife did, then this is a no-brainer. Give it to someone you love.
Rating: 
Summary: Well written but too much extranious material.
Review: I really enjoyed most of this book, but found that the somewhat gratuitous and constant mentions of sex were unnecessary and detracted from the otherwise wonderful story. The author has a skill for writing and the constant recourse to sex was just distracting and at times absolutely vulgar. I really liked the idea of the book, however, and felt very intimately connected with the main characters. Well done but could have been a bit better.
Rating:
Summary: I was disapointed.
Review: I read this book in August of this year. I read it while I was staying in the Hotel S'Anselmo. I've stayed in this hotel 4 times. There is no elevator in the hotel. For that matter there is no elevator in any of the other two hotels in the group of three hotels that I have stayed in. It would be nice if the author got his facts straght, especially since so many readers are also travelers. I loved "Sixteen Pleasures" but this book, as much as I wanted to savor the Italian parts, since I spend about 1 - 2 months a year in Italy, I could not love. Women are just not that "fogiving" of men's transgressions, no matter what the age of the woman. This guy is simply too self rightious and boring to attracting anyone I know. The protagenist's many relationships (his daughter's one affair, as well, were such total male fantasies that they can not be believed. Is there a spell check? I'm so used to spell checks that I type away, assuming that what I write will be, at least, correct enough to pass muster with my high school English teachers.
Rating:
Summary: Playboy is better
Review: Read it for the articles, and skip this book. You won't miss a thing
Rating:
Summary: I savored this book like a fine wine.
Review: Beyond the author's skillful use of language and the color of Italy, the love Woody feels for his daughters is refreshing. His reawakening to the basicpleasures of his life, namely his music, desires, and cooking, pave the path for his rebirth to a new and fulfilling life. I read this book slowly, taking the time to visualize both the settings and the emotions. One of the best books I read this year.
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