Rating: 
Summary: Top notch imagery and similes; highly recommended!
Review: "A Brief History of the Flood" is a great book, to say the least. If you want to learn in-depth about the storyline, read the editorial review; it's right on. One thing I've always liked are coming of age books and movies. "A Brief History of the Flood" follows a girl from Minnesota, Lillian, through all her trials and triumphs, mostly pertaining to her family, which is made up of very colorful characters that are so different from one another that it would almost make you scratch your head at the fact that they're actually related.I'm a big fan of books that flow real well. I never read the editorial reviews until now. The flow was so great between the chapters that I thought they were just that: chapters. But they're not; they're separate short stories that seem to come together chronologically as one. Another major plus is that the author gives you a clear picture of each of the characters and their surroundings. Even though there are no illustrations, you can SEE what the people look like, what Acorn Lake's surroundings appear to be, etc. Even moreso, you can feel the emotions of Lillian and her family so well that you may begin to think you're actually a part of their family, just from reading this very well-written book by a first time author. Jean Harfenist is not only a master of imagery, but something else that she uses a lot of are similes, which I like a lot and have constantly used in some of my reviews (mostly on other sites). There are so many similes it's like an English book on learning how to use them. Unlike any English book I've ever had to study, however, these are actually interesting to read and experience. I'm certainly no psychic, but I see great things in this author's future. If she keeps at it, all of her works won't be published as quietly as this one seems to have been. Perhaps the next step will be earning a slot on the New York Times best seller list. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Top notch imagery and similes; highly recommended!
Review: "A Brief History of the Flood" is a great book, to say the least. If you want to learn in-depth about the storyline, read the editorial review; it's right on. One thing I've always liked are coming of age books and movies. "A Brief History of the Flood" follows a girl from Minnesota, Lillian, through all her trials and triumphs, mostly pertaining to her family, which is made up of very colorful characters that are so different from one another that it would almost make you scratch your head at the fact that they're actually related. I'm a big fan of books that flow real well. I never read the editorial reviews until now. The flow was so great between the chapters that I thought they were just that: chapters. But they're not; they're separate short stories that seem to come together chronologically as one. Another major plus is that the author gives you a clear picture of each of the characters and their surroundings. Even though there are no illustrations, you can SEE what the people look like, what Acorn Lake's surroundings appear to be, etc. Even moreso, you can feel the emotions of Lillian and her family so well that you may begin to think you're actually a part of their family, just from reading this very well-written book by a first time author. Jean Harfenist is not only a master of imagery, but something else that she uses a lot of are similes, which I like a lot and have constantly used in some of my reviews (mostly on other sites). There are so many similes it's like an English book on learning how to use them. Unlike any English book I've ever had to study, however, these are actually interesting to read and experience. I'm certainly no psychic, but I see great things in this author's future. If she keeps at it, all of her works won't be published as quietly as this one seems to have been. Perhaps the next step will be earning a slot on the New York Times best seller list. Highly recommended!
Rating: 
Summary: No End - No Joy in Mudville
Review: Dateline: Late 60s: Acorn Lake (a fictitious town and eponymous lake sixty miles from Minneapolis) This coming-of-age book of dysfunctional family life via vignettes cruises right along, with grand characterization, when, all of a sudden, it mires in the muck like its Lake Home during Spring septic Thaw/Flood. I liked it, I really, really liked it - right up until our heroine's final cruise in her Camaro to the End Which Was No End - at which nonpoint I felt gyped! What would have been a 5 star book is reduced to a 4. Close but no cigar. Perhaps, as the author says of one of her characters: "Once you reach homecoming queen, there's no place else to go but bad." Reviewed by TundraVision
Rating:
Summary: Great writing, but why short stories?
Review: I concur with the opinions expressed by the other reviewers. I casually picked this book up at the library as part of a stack of summer reading. It's such a joy to start a book with no expectations whatsoever and be so tremendously satisfied. I am a bit puzzled, however, at the author's choice of the short story format. Why write a series of short stories and then package them together chronologically this way, so that the result is an "almost" novel? Because each story is meant to stand alone, there is some repetitiousness in certain descriptions of people and places--yet we are obviously intended to read them as a whole. I'd be interested to know whether the stories were written and/or published individually, and, if so, in what order they appeared. Are you out they Ms. Harfenist? Please enlighten us!
Rating:
Summary: Right up there with Richard Russo
Review: I'm glad to see this book by a first-time author has received so many reviews here. ... I notice that one of my favorite writers, Richard Russo, has written a glowing back-cover blurb: 'Reading Jean Harfenist's stories is like finding a hot slot machine in a casino. One winner after another.' These stories read like a novel because each tale is about members of the same Minnesota family. After finishing it I'd have to say that it ranks right up there with Russo's own recent story collection, 'The Whore's Child.' No small compliment. It has quirkily attractive characters who are complex, inconsistent (like real life) and maddeningly appealing, even though sometimes you want to shout at them. I had to fight to get to read this book. No sooner had it arrived at our house than my wife took it and spent the rest of the day with it, frequently reading passages aloud to me. The next morning I woke to find it at my place at the kitchen table with a Post-It saying 'I liked it a lot. I recommend it. I would buy anything this woman writes. I'm going to put it on our book club's next reading list.' A discerning woman, my wife, and I can't think of a better recommendation. Scott Morrison
Rating:
Summary: Pearl
Review: In this mosaic of stories, Lillian comes of age and matures beyond her years, almost against her will. With an alcoholic father and a fragile, flighty mother, Lillian, with her siblings, struggles with her troubled family, and yet they all fiercely love each other, flaws and all. While this isn't a conscious feeling, it does crackle beneath the surface and colors the actions of everyone. Lillian navigates a lonely path encompassing sexuality and a yearning to be free. With a crisp voice and a vivid portrait of Acorn Lake, Minnesota, "A Brief History of the Flood" waxes almost nostalgic as it nudges the reader through these various tales that deliver a surprising portrait of a family unbalanced.
Rating:
Summary: Fun read
Review: The characters in Jean's book are rich and delightfully entertaining. I found this to be a quick read and reminded me of my youthful days at our cabin in Minnesota. It has a very nostalgic feel to it.
Rating:
Summary: Fun read
Review: The characters in Jean's book are rich and delightfully entertaining. I found this to be a quick read and reminded me of my youthful days at our cabin in Minnesota. It has a very nostalgic feel to it.
Rating:
Summary: Simple, Honest Story Telling
Review: The perfect choice for a book club looking for an undiscovered gem, this is a delightful read that is lean enough to consume in one sitting, or savor over a few days. It's a coming of age story told through the eyes of young Lillian Anderson, a girl growing up in the sixties in a small town in Minnesota. Chapters are short bursts of her life: her Mother's dramatic mood swings, her Father's alcoholism, first sexual experience, first job, first crush.All told with an honest intimacy that at times feels less like a novel, and more like someone's diary entries. Her heroine at times reminded me of Astrid in "White Oleander", and if that was a book you liked you'd probably enjoy this one as well. A well written, comfortable first novel.
Rating:
Summary: Well-crafted glimpse of a quirky loving Minnesota family
Review: These collected short stories, which read like a novel, involved me completely in the trials and tribulations the narrator, Lillian Anderson. We meet her first at the age of eight in 1959 and watch her grow into young womanhood through 1970. In seemingly simple words, the author gets right into the heart and soul of family life with a quirky mother, an alcoholic father, and three siblings - each one so clearly drawn that I felt I knew them all. They live in rural Minnesota, in a world that sharply contrasts with my own life in New York City. Her father and brother hunt for ducks and small animals, bringing them home for the family to butcher. Her entire grade in high school has a total of only 18 boys, unlike the graduating class of more than a thousand here. And she's always in her car, driving sixty or seventy miles to the nearest city. If anyone had paid attention, Lillian's mother would probably be classified as bi-polar in today's psychological jargon. She has wild mood swings and is either elated about her latest project or contemplating suicide. She has a slim trim body and shows it off in great home-sewn clothes, sometimes to the embarrassment of her children who she obviously loves like crazy and teaches to survive. She's feisty and gritty and pathetic and complex. And her presence drives the book. Lillian is the quiet observer but easily led into a shoplifting spree with her best friend. Later, she lives on Dexedrine just to get through the week at her secretarial job. I really related to this because I've been a secretary myself for a lifetime and it brought back all the details of working in an office in the 1960s - the electric typewriters, the carbon paper, the casual way everyone smoked cigarettes at their desk. Each story ended with just enough closure to make me yearn for more. They built on each other and, by the time the book ended, I felt I knew Lillian, her family and what it must be like to live in Minnesota. It was a great read.
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