Liberty Falling

Rating:
Summary: Another disappointed fan
Review: I am an Anna Pigeon fan and a very disappointed one. Nevada Barr's last two books have become overly descriptive and tedious. Liberty Falling is the worst to date. I read for entertainment, not to diagram sentences.

Like a previous reviewer, I have wondered what happened to the characters Christina Walters and her daughter, Alison.

I'd like to think that these reader reviews have an impact. I'm still interested in reading books like her earlier works but if Nevada Barr is tired of Anna Pigeon, then put her to rest.

Rating:
Summary: Not her best, but still worth the read
Review: This time Nevada has taken ranger Pigeon out of the wilderness and into the middle of New York City. (Which I guess is just another type of wilderness). This book did not grab me as much as her other but I still enjoyed it, It was better then most of the Trash I read.

I also recomend: "A Tourist in the Yucatan" an excellent mystery/thriller!

Rating:
Summary: What A Surprise!
Review: When I first read the synopsis of Liberty Falling, I thought, New York? Nevada Barr? No way. How in the world can you compare New York City with the deep south, the western deserts, Colorado, and the northern lakes? Although she doesn't have the beautiful landscapes to describe, she makes up for it with a very good plot line and characters that are so life-like, it's hard to believe they don't exist in real life. (I would really like to know someone like James Hatchett Sr.) I liked Anna Pigeon in Track Of The Cat and I like her more with each addition in this wonderful series.

Rating:
Summary: Waiting for Anna's return to the West
Review: I really enjoyed Nevada Barr's Ill Wind, Track of the Cat and Firestorm and recommend them highly for mystery readers. I loved the isolated park experience that created these books setting. In "Liberty Falling" the city setting robs me of the things that I want to love about the Anna Pigeon mysteries. The action heated up toward the end of the book, but I had to fight to stay with it. I am waiting for Anna to return to the Southwest or Yosemite or Glacier National Park. This is one of the features that makes me love these books.

Rating:
Summary: Another Great Nevada Barr Book!
Review: Once again I couldn't put a Nevada Barr book down! Anna's newest adventure had me hooked from the first few pages. The setting may have been in an urban park but the story was as exciting as ever. Having been to Ellis Island shortly after the remodeling was finished I was fascinated that I learned more about it (and the Statue of Liberty) in this book than I did actually visiting them! I always enjoy Nevada Barr's vivid and detailed descriptions of places and people and relationships. I can really identify with Anna and her struggles and I can't wait for the next episode in her story!

Rating:
Summary: Ugh!
Review: I never thought there'd come a time when I'd be embarrassed to recommend a Nevada Barr mystery novel. But, the time is now. This story was unimaginative and strained, the description repetetive and overwrought (if I had to read about the ivy tearing down the works of man one more time . . .), and her "patriotic" descriptions of the Statue of Liberty and of Ellis Island were nauseating. And there was none of the geeky nature information that I usually enjoy in her writing. I've turned on a number of fellow mystery buffs to the Anna Pigeon stories. I may have to suggest that folks read no farther than Blind Descent if her next novel is as poor as Liberty Falling.

Rating:
Summary: Liberty Falling
Review: I can't help but get caught up in a Nevada Barr novel: I enjoy the settings, I am intrigued by Anna Pigeon, and I am caught up in the plot. "Liberty Falling" has all the Nevada Barr attributes of the earlier novels, and I was doubly curious about the Ellis Island National Monument as a backdrop and a lifestyle.

But what was it this time that was boring? I think it was the endless ferry rides...and the bifurcation of the plot between the hospital room dramas (and melodramas) of Anna's personal life and the crumbling ruins of the old hospital on Island II. It was, perhaps, the overly dramatic symbolism of the island vs. the teeming city, the worship of Lady Liberty contrasted with the skinheads and the partyboats who populate the novel, etc., etc. I even began to see symbolism in the bird droppings and Anna's last name, there was so much literary contrivance. And finally, there is the overly inflated and puffed writing style which Barr uses heavily--long sentences loaded with descriptors drag across the pages with increasing frequency.

Mind you, I still enjoy a Nevada Barr novel and I look forward to the next one. But I think in "Liberty Falling" Nevada Barr has not maintained her earlier promise as a good all-around writer and teller of great stories.

Rating:
Summary: Atmospheric and moving
Review: This writer can really evoke a sense of place. Her descriptions of Ellis and Liberty Islands, and the people that populated and cared for them, were done with liveliness and affection. It will be interesting to see how the Molly/Anna/Frederick triangle will develop. A thoroughly exiting "chase" scene at the end was one of the best written of the genre.

Rating:
Summary: Good but...
Review: This book was a more difficult read than the other Anna Pigeon novels in that it was harder to visualize the crumbling ruins of Ellis Island than the sites of the other novels in this series. Although I have never been to any of the sites of the Anna Pigeon novels, the others seemed much easier to imagine (especially Blind Descent and Superior Death). The descriptions of the NY city environs made me, as well as Anna, long to get back to a good read about a less populated park. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the continuing development of the characters of Anna, Molly, and Frederick. Some of the other characters, Dr. Madison in particular, seemed pointlessly, as Frederick would put it, "ishy". I also hope that in future adventures Anna will not get so beaten up...she is obviously bright; perhaps she could use her brains to avoid some of the physical violence in this book and the others.

Rating:
Summary: Barr needs a rest and Anna Pidgeon needs character depth.
Review: It's very difficult to maintain a single protagonist-driven mystery series. And Nevada Barr's "Liberty Falling" shows us just that. Barr gives her usual fantastic "like-you-were-there" background/color. But there is only so much you can say about the site. After all, it is an island and while detail is what Barr's best at,the book quickly gets boring when she can't move her characters very far. As for Anna, she's not moved very far since the death of her husband. Even psychiatrist sister Molly now has a boyfriend. Anna's issues remain the same and they too have become dull. The alcoholic thing, the "no man is an island except Anna" thing, the no-friends thing, the death of her husband thing, no real color outside that of the book's setting. And while I was intrigued with life on Ellis, the previous book, in which Anna is forced into caving, is by far Barr's best to date.