Rating: 
Summary: Feeling lucky to have found this book
Review: I can't say enough about this fine first novel. Deep characters, wonderful plot development, powerful intellectual themes and sensual portrayal of place. The book is very moving: how can we not have compassion for these sorrow-filled creatures and the dark but spiritually dense times they are ruled by?
Rating:
Summary: BEST BOOK I'VE READ THIS YEAR!
Review: I finished reading The Good Men two weeks ago and I can't get it out of my head, so I have to add my praise to the long list of glowing remarks already posted by other admirers of this beautiful book. I won't be surprised if this novel garners lots of awards. Ms. Craig's masterly prose, her eye for detail, and her ability to find emotional nuance in scene after scene, transported me to another place and time, where her characters struggle, each in their own way, with how to live life. Like in all great works of literature, the characters are often flawed, but through Craig's compassionate telling, each takes on a kind of dignity and human grace, right down to the fallen priest, Pierre Clergue, whose final act (which I won't give away) is so right and momentous, that it gives reason and meaning to his life in its very last seconds. My book club loved this book too, and I've been recommending it to everyone.
Rating:
Summary: YOU HAVE GOT TO READ THIS BOOK!!
Review: I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK!!! This is one of the best novels I've read in the last five years, without question. The Time Magazine review called Ms. Craig the real deal, and it wasn't kidding. From the very first page, I was hooked, and I had to put my life on hold for two days to finish the book. This isn't an ordinary historical novel---this is literature, at the level of Flaubert, Hugo, Tolstoy. All the characters are complex and flawed and striving---just like people are in real life, and Craig writes about them with empathy and compassion. But what I loved the most about this novel was the wisdom it offers on life, and how Craig isn't afraid to probe the deeper questions about what it means to be alive and to try to live a moral life while still living in the material world. And the last part of the book had me crying all over the pages. I won't give it away, but the ending was transcendant.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, and yet somehow empty
Review: I loved this book for the extraordinary talent displayed by the author in her capability to span multiple generations and myriad characters, presenting each one with a rounded history and genuine thoughts and emotions. And Craig's forte exists in showing "nativity" in its truest sense - she deeply understands what it means to be a mother and what it means to be a daughter, with strange family histories overshadowing the children generation after generation.That said, however, this book as a whole left me empty. I found several of the characters' changes of heart to be completely unbelievable, because they were left unexplained. Particularly the priest (who might be considered one of the two main characters alongside Fabrisse, his godchild), who vows himself to loathe the sins of the flesh yet pays for whores. Never is his weakness or his inner decision fully expounded. Likewise, Fabrisse makes many bad choices throughout her life that are at odds with her own inner beliefs, and these are never expounded either. The characters seem more like puppets at these moments, haplessly moving wherever the author places them. And those readers expecting to finally be rewarded toward the end with a good, full scene involving the Inquisition will be sorely disappointed; the end is more of a denoument than a crescendo. One can only feel a melancholy sort of ennui from the lessons of the characters, and a disappointment if not annoyance at the author for not connecting a better (and perhaps more exciting) plot together on the whole. The excellent character development sadly is not logically placed into well-thought-out, fully expounded reactions to the events at the time. This does result in a deeply personal vision, but not a cohesive storyline.
Rating:
Summary: A Masterful Epic
Review: I read a review of this in the New York Times and because of its topic, heresy and inquisitors, I bought it. This is a compelling and masterfully written novel. That it is by a first time novelist is astounding. The plot drives forward through its characters' perspectives, sometimes overlapping the same events, and ultimately draws you into each of their worlds. The character of Pierre, the fallen priest, Fabrisse, his bastard niece and Bernard, the inquisitor will haunt you well after the last page. The writing reminded me somewhat of Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose", (Bernard Gui featured in both) and a little bit of Marquez, in Craig's somewhat mystical prose. I cared so much for the characters and I think anyone looking for nuance will find it in this splendid novel. May I add that it was a page turner for me. (Pulitzer Committee take note!)
Rating:
Summary: Scandalously pleasurable -- I was sad to finish it
Review: If you like novels set in the medieval era and are interested in heretics as I am, this is a must. It is a strangely twisted, yet mesmerizing tale of human beings torn between the helplessness of bodily existence and spiritual yearning. Wonderfully atmospheric, The book was scandalously pleasurable -- I was sad to finish it.
Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful, disturbing; at times, beautiful;
Review: Rich in knowledge of the times, so much so that you feel that your are in the 14th century. Rich in character; you love and hate and understand all the major characters of this story. I was torn in my feelings for Clergue, while I wanted to hate him for what he did, (or better yet, what he didn't do), I always ended up feeling sorry for him. Fabrisse was the character I rooted for most of the story; I really wanted her to find some happiness, for I felt that she deserved it more than anyone else, and I thought that she would find it in Grazida, who I loved. Unfortunately she never did. Grazida, (Echo), brought beauty to the story, her sense of goodness in God, the earth, and all things wonderful brought everything into focus. How can you love God, and not love the world he made for you, how can you forego all the gifts provided for you in this world in the name of God? This story asks some tough questions about faith and what I was brought up to believe, there is a fine line between the Good Faith and The Good Men. Read it and Enjoy,
Debbi
Rating: 
Summary: Readable Novel of the Heresy
Review: Tanya Mravik, 32 year-old single female, Los Angeles, CA I was introduced to the Cathars and the heretical Inquisition through Stephen O'Shea's The Perfect Heresy. It was so fascinating to me that my supervisor at work recommended that I read another book about the heresy that was written by a student who had gone through our writing program (at UCLA Extension). That book, a novel, is called The Good Men: A Novel of Heresy and was written by Charmaine Craig. Ms. Craig has done a SUPERB job researching for this novel and her writing style gave life to these characters who are based on real people who lived in the Middle Ages. She has made the human issues as realistic as those that we deal with today. This book was highly entertaining, educational, relevant, and should be read and enjoyed by everybody who is interested in the Inquisition, the Medieval time period, and/or southern France.
Rating:
Summary: An astonishing work of beauty and power
Review: The best historical novels transport us to a world we've never known and teach us something important about the world we live in presently. This beautiful, resonant book does just that. As I read, I felt immersed in the richness of medieval times. The many aspects of life and land are vividly described. Perhaps more importantly, this book enriched my life by furthering my experience. I felt as if I had lived with its characters, and their experiences became mine. The Good Men transcends the genre of historical fiction. It is a classic that I will return to with gratitude and pleasure.
Rating:
Summary: brilliant, passionate
Review: Thes book takes you to a time and place that is difficult to imagine. The book explores not only the larger movements and issues of the time the the daily rigors and intimacies of life in the time of the inquisition. It is a startling read, and I found myself dreaming about it at work, looking forward to getting home to pick it up, and dreaming about it at night as well. A must read for any lover of new literature.
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