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Rating: 
Summary: Beautifully told family drama
Review: Although Charles Baxter is best known as a master of the short story (BELIEVERS etc.), this novel is his finest piece of work. It is the story of the complicated relationship between a brother and sister, told backwards, from end to beginning. Each individual chapter has the tight logic of a short story, but as a whole the novel is rich and complex. A magnificent study of the bonds of love and friendship.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully told family drama
Review: Baxter begins this book with a glimpse into the life of a family in a state of static malaise. Rather than take the story forward he begins drifting backward in time, layering in incidents and moments that start to explain how the family got that way. In the hands of many writers this would feel like a gimick, but Baxter has the grace and skill to pull it off beautifully. With each chapter our questions are answered and our understanding grows.
Rating:
Summary: Even better on the second reading
Review: I just reread First Light, and it's even better on the second reading, in part because the reverse chronology takes on a whole new dimension when you have some recollection of what has happened earlier. It's a sensitive story of a brother-sister relationship, with all the resentment, competition and love that such relationships entail, and it's told by a man with an eye for detail and a prose style just about unmatched in contemporary American fiction. Enjoyed A Feast of Love too, but I think First Light is always going to be my favorite Baxter novel.
Rating: 
Summary: I Know These People Well
Review: Years ago, a friend read this book, then immediately gave it to me because, she told me, I'm also an astrophysicist who once lived in Buffalo, NY. Those facts are irrelevant -- I would have loved this book in any event. Charles Baxter created the people in his book so exquisitely that I always feel I am there, traveling along in the story with them whenever I read it. I've never had such a close personal experiences with written characters. He defines and develops his people as they alternately live in their present, and in their receding pasts; his creativity results in characterizations that are very strong. I find myself unexpectedly writing this review after wanting to check if the book is still available; I'm not surprised to find that it is. And happily for me, as my copy is in pieces.
Rating:
Summary: I Know These People Well
Review: Years ago, a friend read this book, then immediately gave it to me because, she told me, I'm also an astrophysicist who once lived in Buffalo, NY. Those facts are irrelevant -- I would have loved this book in any event. Charles Baxter created the people in his book so exquisitely that I always feel I am there, traveling along in the story with them whenever I read it. I've never had such a close personal experiences with written characters. He defines and develops his people as they alternately live in their present, and in their receding pasts; his creativity results in characterizations that are very strong. I find myself unexpectedly writing this review after wanting to check if the book is still available; I'm not surprised to find that it is. And happily for me, as my copy is in pieces.
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