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Rating: 
Summary: A Gem of a Book
Review: In the 1950's, Murray Murdoch decides to take his family to the island of Elba for a vacation financed by his relatives. The family - Murray, Claire, their four sons and a cat - spend the next fifteen months on the island searching for gems, but finding suspicion and death instead. The author uses an unusual device in Tourmaline. The story is told from the point of view of several major characters, including the father, Francis Cape, and the boys themselves. The most unique is the voice of the mother critiquing the words written by Oliver, the person trying to capture this story. She is the only such voice we have and it lends a feeling of authenticity to the book. Unfortunately, since all the voices are filtered through the main narrator, the characters all tend to sound alike. This is a minor issue, and does not distract from the story or from the reader wanting to find out the truth about what happened on Elba. Even without the essential questions resolved, the reader is left with a feeling of satisfaction at the end of the novel. We have as much of the truth as Oliver uncovered, both fact and imagination, and that is what makes the novel work.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretentious and overwritten
Review: The kind of book that frequently uses Italian or French phrases and never translates them for you. Also, the author apparently assumes you have an intimate knowledge of the geography of Elba before reading the book.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good
Review: This book is pretty good. I know that sounds wishy washy, but that sums it up well. I found, as another reviewer said, the foreign languages that weren't translated to be annoying. Sorry, we don't ALL speak Italian. This strikes me as a good summer read. I don't know that I'd recommend this book to anyone, but I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading it either. I am sitting on the fence! (I'd have given it 2.5 stars out of 5, but that's not an option...)
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