Rating: 
Summary: Excellent & entertaining
Review: This book kept me entertained from start to finish. True fantasy with CS Lewis stylings. A very hopeful and wonderfully told tale.
Rating: 
Summary: A thoroughly incredible book!
Review: This was a thoroughly incredible book! The story begins quickly with a massive tidal wave washing away much of the earth and civilization as we know it. With symbolism and allegory, the author takes the reader on a mystical adventure through the "new world" with lessons on life that are poignant today.
Rating: 
Summary: Didacticism 101
Review: THOOWBTW is a heavy-handed pastiche culled from (among others) Genesis, the Odyssey, and the Canterbury Tales, with an appearance by Grendel and his mother thrown in. Don't worry about missing these references, though. Klein, a lit teacher, treats his readers like a class of less-than-bright students, carefully pointing out what we're supposed to see. His narrator, also a lit teacher (verisimilitude!), lectures his aw-shucks sidekick on the difference between Allegory and Symbol and later gives us a mini-course in literature from Beowulf to C.S. Lewis. Maybe if he'd done this earlier, we'd have recognized the allusions without his help.I'm not a big fan of science fiction/fantasy but decided to read this because of good reviews. There are hints that a sequel's to come, so I hope Klein first learns to trust his audience and to develop credible plots. More details about the characters and their situation and less specious philosophy would also be useful. An example of the latter: "The question is, how does one determine what is real?" "I'll tell you how . . . If it makes you feel good when you're doing little things--working, cleaning, cooking, or fixing, it's real." Really? Watching "The Flintstones" while I tidy up might make me feel good, but that doesn't make them real. Also, there's surprisingly little tension for a book whose fragile pilgrims are threatened by fantastic monsters at every turn (though never by each other; this is a new, improved Eden where You-Know-Who, sniffed out by a canny Eve, doesn't get a foothold). To those readers who loved this book (judging from the reviews, that's everyone but me) and are eagerly anticipating "History," Vol. II, I recommend Dan Simmons' "Hyperion," an intricately plotted, marvelously-written sci-fi book. You might even run into our old friends Allegory and Symbol, but you'll have to work out the meaning for yourselves.
Rating:
Summary: Didacticism 101
Review: THOOWBTW is a heavy-handed pastiche culled from (among others) Genesis, the Odyssey, and the Canterbury Tales, with an appearance by Grendel and his mother thrown in. Don't worry about missing these references, though. Klein, a lit teacher, treats his readers like a class of less-than-bright students, carefully pointing out what we're supposed to see. His narrator, also a lit teacher (verisimilitude!), lectures his aw-shucks sidekick on the difference between Allegory and Symbol and later gives us a mini-course in literature from Beowulf to C.S. Lewis. Maybe if he'd done this earlier, we'd have recognized the allusions without his help. I'm not a big fan of science fiction/fantasy but decided to read this because of good reviews. There are hints that a sequel's to come, so I hope Klein first learns to trust his audience and to develop credible plots. More details about the characters and their situation and less specious philosophy would also be useful. An example of the latter: "The question is, how does one determine what is real?" "I'll tell you how . . . If it makes you feel good when you're doing little things--working, cleaning, cooking, or fixing, it's real." Really? Watching "The Flintstones" while I tidy up might make me feel good, but that doesn't make them real. Also, there's surprisingly little tension for a book whose fragile pilgrims are threatened by fantastic monsters at every turn (though never by each other; this is a new, improved Eden where You-Know-Who, sniffed out by a canny Eve, doesn't get a foothold). To those readers who loved this book (judging from the reviews, that's everyone but me) and are eagerly anticipating "History," Vol. II, I recommend Dan Simmons' "Hyperion," an intricately plotted, marvelously-written sci-fi book. You might even run into our old friends Allegory and Symbol, but you'll have to work out the meaning for yourselves.
Rating:
Summary: The History of Our World Beyond the Wave
Review: While this is a survivor's comical & allegorical adventure after a tidal wave wipes this world clean, Noah revisited it is not! I didn't much like Paul Sant; felt he kept everything at a distance. As I read my heart clanged like a San Francisco cable car. What a read! Lulled into a cranky, everyday boredom, you grumble along on an ordinary day at the beach in California until, with surprisingly ordinary & immediately evocative words, a wave the size of the sky, inundates all. And so the odyssey begins; through wondrous weather, Wonderland-like creatures and redemptive encounters. A curious, unique tale. Worth the read. Destined to become a classic.
Rating:
Summary: Wow! R.E. Klein's novel surrounds one with a wave of wonder.
Review: Without having had much leisure time for reading in my recent life, I couldn't put this novel down. Klein motivates readers with ongoing adventure, mystery, fantasy, and fun woven cleavery throughout the story. This is definately a "no miss" for the closeure of our century.
|
