Rating: 
Summary: the worst i've read in a long time...........
Review: Anyone who can sit and read almost 400 pages and say that this book was worth reading will not get my vote......... Alice is a horrible character that makes you hate her and feel sorry for her family because they have to deal with her. she only cares about herself and someone who can actually dislike their child needs therapy.....oprah should offer refunds for the people who have believed in her and have actually had to be tortured by this poor excuse for writing.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring, boring, boring!
Review: This is by far one of the most boring books I have ever read. I couldn't get into it at all--I didn't care for switching viewpoints a hundred and fifty pages into things, and then switching back again a hundred pages after that. The endless descriptions were tedious, and I ended up skipping over most of them just to get to the action. Truth be told, I still haven't finished this book yet and don't plan on it. It's sitting on my coffee table gathering dust, because frankly I have no interest in finding out what happens to these characters.
Rating: 
Summary: Cornbeans and Bread For Breakfast
Review: I truly loved this book and its great style of writing. I felt that this book was very well put together and with each page that I read captivated me and made me want to read more. This book allows the reader to be part of the book with its great showing of creative writing and hometown memories. What a great gift to give to anyone of any age.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant writing style, but dry predictable plot
Review: Ms. Hamilton's amazing ability to turn a phrase and weave eloquent prose is the only thing that saved this novel. The plot is highly predictable and I never developed any real affinity for either of the narrating characters. The Alice character is quite possibly psychotic and I did not feel the sympathy for her that I believe was intented. I was never entirely convinced that she was not guilty of the crime of which she was accused.
Rating: 
Summary: A Map of the World review
Review: Jane Hamilton does a fantastic job in A Map of the World. Thisbook, even though it is feminist literature, is not fit for onlyfemales; males could easily enjoy this also. If you enjoyed The Stranger (a man accused of committing a crime he did not mean to do) or My Cousin Vinny (two young boys blamed for a murder and are taken to court for it when they really didn't do it), you might like this.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as Good as Her First Novel
Review: The book covers just one year in the life of a Wisconsin dairy farm family, but it was a year that turned their life upside down and changed them forever, showing how fragile a human life is. The point of view alternates between husband and wife and is both depressing and a tribute to the human spirit's ability to survive against all odds. The main character compares herself to the biblical Job, a fair comparison.I rate this book only a three because of its main character, Alice. I preferred Hamilton's first novel, Book of Ruth, to A Map of the World, although there are significant similarities. In both, the story is depressing but offers hope the strong human spirit will survive, and both show how an entire life can balance on one decision. It's the differences that make Ruth the better novel. The character Ruth is much easier to like then Map's Alice. In fact, I finished the book without ever developing a liking for Alice. She exhibits such poor judgement you would think the results serve her right if they didn't have such horrible repercussions on other people's lives. Also, her poor judgements frequently stem from being so wrapped up in herself she doesn't know what's going on around her.
Rating:
Summary: An Animal Farm for Y2K
Review: Most reviews Of Jane Hamilton's Map of the World seemed to have completely missed the authors central point: namely, that rapidly increasing technology is making the world smaller than ever and that the most distant peoples and cultures are now, for all intents and purposes, our neighbors. The disappearance and death of the neighbors small child is a blatant warning that the massive globalization of the USA's capitist economy will destroy indigenous peoples and their ancient cultures. Can you picture a bushman surfing the internet? An aborigine using a geographic information system? An inuit using access? These are cold hard issues that face us all and Hamilton, like Orwell did in the 50's with Animal Farm, is making us face the facts. However, Hamilton's insistence on using the sterotypical nuclear family as the core of her story is a serious mistep. One can only guess that the overtired debate on "family values" has left hoping for a kindler, gentle time when things were simple and people were good. By totally ignoring the single mother syndrome - which would have been a much more effective analogy for modern America- Hamilton weakens her central theme and the book begins to sink under the weight of post-modern plot contrivances.
Rating:
Summary: Wow. Tough topics, deep thinking
Review: I am amazed to see the diversity--and the voracity of the reviews for this book. Perhaps it was too dark and introspective (Alice spends a lot of time inside her head in the book!) for some, for others maybe just a difficult subject matter (death, sexual abuse). I found that Alice embodied some of the "scary places" we can all go when something terrifying happens in our lives. I don't mean we are exactly like her...but Alice muses over the taboo topics that nobody wants to talk about in real life. That in itself made the book worth reading. I do have to say, that as a parent, the first 50 pages or so were awful to get through. Nothing strikes home like the death of a child, and I could hardly bear it. But then again, you need to understand Alice's predicament to justify the twisted path her life takes after that life-changing event. I'd say if you like studies of the soul, and watch foreign movies with complex characters with any frequency, you will find value in this book.
Rating:
Summary: A Map Of The World
Review: While the author is a wonderful writer, I had a real hard time getting through this book. I absolutly had no pity for the main character, in fact her self-absorbtion in herself was sickning. I don't have to identify with characters in order to love a book, however I felt so far removed from this woman that I could hardly finish. Definetly not a page turner.
Rating:
Summary: Safety's Peril
Review: I was prepared not to like this book as I hadn't cared for the previous one. But I promised someone I would read it and was rewarded. This book deals with hard but everyday issues and I don't mean idea of middle-class sexual abuse. I mean the crippled friendship that maintains its intent, its good will, if not its life. The perhaps permanently hobbled marriage that struggles forward without being able to see where its going. The uttererly rejected potential of an irreparably damaged, but skillfully manipulative child to conceive and execute evil. The impersonal malice of authoritative bureaucracy and righteous community that can destroy lives, dreams and ideals then pat its systemic self on the back for achieving justice. Of significant resonance was the manner in which Alice could stand both inside and outside an experience, cataloging all the while the most bizarre extremes it could reach, always without imagining the closer, more perilous reality. It was intrinsic to her character to note and ridicule absurdities. She was a born outsider who thought she was thereby isolated from the gods, the powers that be. Alice's experiences in jail were the frighteningly small and real. A place where it is imperative to hold some important piece of yourself aloof and untouchable. A place where you become aware of an otherworldness that coexists and after which you forever know that it is not possible to trust in the eventuality of justice, or even its sporadic existence. I have great admiration for anything written so close to the bone. I will try whatever Hamilton's next book is when published.
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