The Raging Quiet

Rating:
Summary: One of the finest books I have ever read.
Review: This book is WONDERFUL. I've read several books about the salem witch trials, and this far surpasses them all. Marnie is a fully believable, warm-hearted and strong character, which is a hard thing to find. In so many books it seems the protagonist is too perfect, too stupid, or too unbelievable, Marnie is none of these. Another character I feel I must mention is father Brannan. In all other which-trial books I have read, the priests have been the villains. In this book, the father is a kind, spirited, and often funny man. Some of the descriptions of him, and his dialogue actually made me laugh aloud. Raven is an extremely one-of-a-kind character. He cant hear, cant talk, doesn't always understand things, and has an awful temper, but one can fully understand Marnie's love for him. The story line is well-planned, and captivating. From tragedy to comedy to romance, this is a book I would recommend to anyone 12+.

Rating:
Summary: An overall good book
Review: The Raging Quiet is an uplifting tale that has strong characterizations and a interesting plot. The book follows the tale of a young teenage girl named Marnie who has been brought to the town of Tocurra against her will through a marriage that she isn't all to happy about either. She is then put through many hardships with only the priest and fellow outcast Raver/Raven. This book is very well written and enjoyable. The characters seem real and have their flaws as well as their strengths. The villan is completly dispicable and the townspeople are simply infuriating.Even though this book is wonderful, it does have it's week points. Sometimes, things just get so bad for Marnie it seems exaggerated. That or she just seems to have incredibally bad luck.
Overall though, this book in incredibly entertaining and a good book to pick up when you are looking for a good read.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Book...
Review: I found this at my school's library and was intrigued by the cover, which I think gives a little peek at what's to come. It's a wonderful story with a little fairy tale flair, with lessons and morals we still value today. I'm 15, and I thought that this was a good book for teens, but I would caution younger readers for the rape and violence that occours in this book. Besides that, this proves to be a fasinating and wonderful read. I plan to read more novels by this very talented and "reading pleasing" author. Please read this book again and again!

Rating:
Summary: Someone Who Loves To Read
Review: This is one of my all time favorite books. I think Sherryal Jordan is a wonderful author. I know you probably hear that a book is good from a lot from people. So, you end up reading the book and find out it's as good as they made it out to be. Just trust me on this one. This is a fantasy book, thought I didn't think it was much of what I thaught a fantasy would be like. If you like stories with women who arn't afread to be diffrent, or you like romances, this is your book. This is NOT a mushey book. I stayed up till three o'clock one night to finish reading this book.

This book is about a sixteen year girl named Marnie who marries a lord so that her family can keep their house. Marnie's husband likes to drink, so on their marriage night, Marnie is hurt. After two days of beeing married, her husband dies. Marnie becomes friends with the village priest, who helps her throught hard times later in the book and gives her cherity. One night she gives the village madman, Raver, a place by her herth during a storm. She descovers that Raver is deaf, not mad. She makes up a language so that they can talk to one another using their hands. Raver, who Marnie now calls Raven, dosen't act mad anymore. What starts out as a strong friendship between them later turns to love, but Marnie is still hurt from her dead husband and is scared and hurt to love Raven back and to show him her love. But the village people are suspicieous. They say Marnie killd her husband by putting a curse on him and that she is using witch craft to controll Raven. Marnie is forced into a witch trial. I can't tell you anything else or I would be telling you the whole book...

Just to let you know, I think that the editoral reviews gave you too much information about the book. Oh well, that's just my opinion.
I hope you enjou reading The Raging Quiet!

Rating:
Summary: All Time Favorite
Review: Most people have not heard of this book, when I tell them it is my favorite. You can probably tell the what the basic plot is by all the above summaries, so I'd just like to say that everytime I read The Raging Quiet, it gets better. It always cheers me up and puts things in perspective. I love the characters and just about everything else too. Marnie, Raven, the priest, and the villagers all have the ring of truth to them.

The story has many different topics: fear, love, challenge, change, witchcraft trials, deafness, and village life. I would highly reccommend it to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: A Response
Review: [...] I haven't changed my mind.

Let me see if I can explain myself a little more clearly. While reading the book, I felt as if I was "supposed" to like Marnie. I was supposed to think she was good, she was brave, she was kind, and different. I felt like I was supposed to empathize with her, feel for her because of her tragic life situation. I even got the sense that she was supposed to be a role model of sorts.

It really didn't work for me. The more the author tried to convince me that Marnie was all these things, the more I found reasons to disagree. I began to feel like I was being "forced" to like her, because the author liked her, and not because she was a outstanding heroine on her own right.

What's the phrase they use for fanfiction writing? Mary-Sue I think. Mary-Sue is a good, lovely, spunky girl that you are supposed to love. But you feel like you are forced to love her because the author so clearly does and not because you yourself do. I've seen this sort of tendency in other books and it annoys me every time. I feel like I'm being manipulated...

The same reasoning goes the Priest. And Raven to a lesser degree.

And the villagers, I felt that we were "supposed" to dislike them. I mean other than that one dude who the Priest calls upon to help him once, was there a decent villager? They all seemed like cardboard characters.

I'm sure you disagree strongly. But that's the nature of reading isn't it? We all have our own strong preferences...

Rating:
Summary: Was Brilliant
Review: I loved this book. The characters were great and the story line was fantastic, I found Nadia Batcha's review very unhelpful. I found the book was the complete opposite of what she said. Marnie was different so the towns people disliked her and Marnie couldn't understand that, she was bold, brave and she stood up for her beliefs, she befriended a boy who was deaf when the townspeople thought he was mad, thats why they disliked her, and they thought she was a witch because of how her husband died so suddenly. Her family didnt take the small house because as the book says there wasn't enough room for the whole family and there wasn't enough land. She didn't go back to her old home because she loved the house she had and it was rightfully hers so why should she give it up? Also the new overseer back at the Isherwood estate would just keep spreading lies and rumours and would just give her the hardest jobs like he used to do. This book made me cry, laugh, feel happy and feel angry and thats what I think a good book should do. I couldn't put this book down and i have read it a number of times and I would read it again and again. I thought the love story between Marnie and Ravan was tantalising, it was so romantic sometimes that it bought tears to my eyes and made me want to be her, and when she had to go through the pain, torture and torment of the witch trial I put myself in her position and i felt angry, upset and it made me cry a lot. When Isake abused her it made me feel angry and want to do something. This book seemed so real to me, that is probably why it was such an excellent read. Once again I will say that I loved it, and I will say that it is one of the best books I have ever read. This is one of my favourite books and I urge others who havn't read it to read it because if you don't you are missing out on a very good read.

Rating:
Summary: Probably one of the best books i have ever read
Review: I disagree strongly with what Nadia Batcha had to say about this book. I think that the book was very well written and had an excellent storyline, it made me cry, laugh and was very addictive, i have probably read it about 10 times already! I cant put it down!
To answer your questions Nadia:
1. She could not return home because there had been rumours about her; and the new overseer would keep on giving her hard jobs and try to blacken her name even more.
2. Marnie's family couldnt take the smaller house because their family was too big and if they did that then Marnie would hav had to stay on the Isherwood Estate and as i have already said:there had been rumours about her; and the new overseer would keep on giving her hard jobs and try to blacken her name even more.
3. She did not turn on any of the 'rules' and 'openly flaunt them' because all she did was help a poor deaf lad who was troubled and confused. This shows she is a strong character for doing what she believes in and not being a sheep because she has to do what the village people find 'acceptable'.
4. The preist did not hate all the people in the village and I see no reason for him to move parish (which would be a very hard thing to do in them days) and he was happy there anyway - it wasnt as though everybody in Tocurra hated him he was happy and he never hated them.
5. You said about how she goes and 'flaunts all the rules' or whatever then you have a go at her for marrying Raven - well IF she is flaunting the rules what is wrong wth her marryin raven? Is there something wrong with him just because he is death? There is nothing wrong with her doing that.

I think that this book is an excellent book and have recommened it to many of my friends who all loved it, i think that anyone who hasnt read this book is missing out and that anyone who thinks this book is trash - i suggest that if they think THIS book is trash then they can like no other book because this is exactly how a book should be - perfect.

Rating:
Summary: Could Have Been Brilliant
Review: This book didn't impress me at all. It started out beautifully with lovely imagery and promising characters. But as I read more, I became annoyed at nearly everything that happened. Its difficult to like a book when every page you read you are rolling your eyes...

I agree with what an earlier reviewer said. Marnie is an idiot. She understands that her society has strict rules which are undoubtedly unfair, sexist, creul, stupid, evil, and...(add other negative words). But instead of trying to get around these rules, she openly flaunts them. Then she gets upset and angry that the townspeople dislike her. What? A truly smart and imginative heroine would have found a way to socialize with the townspeople, and get at least a few on her side. But no, Marnie (and the priest and the author too) does her best to convince us that just about everyone except for Marnie's siblings are evil retarted losers.

Here are more things that annoyed me. Marnie is never wrong. Marnie and the priest spend about half of the book apologizing to each other and then praising each other. Ravein -- like it or not, sometimes he was a dangerous lunatic and Marnie simply should have been more careful. Finally, the priest -- he was supposed to be a noble, religious figure -- his constant insulting of the villagers and praising of Marnie (when some of the things she did clearly went against some of his deepest beliefs) seemed hypocritical.

I also wanted to mention a few questions that were never answered to my satisfaction: Why didn't Marnie's family simply take the smaller house instead of remaining in the large house that the new care-taker desparately wanted? Why doesn't Marnie return to her natal home after her husband dies? Why does the priest stick around year after year in a town in which he so despises all the inhabitants (is he trying to save their soles?) If Marnie is so willing to flaunt all of her society's social customs, then why does she bother marrying Raven in the end?

Overall I'd say this book was a bit silly as well as irritating. I don't understand all of the positive reviews. Were people just so cought up in the romance? What is it? I just don't see it...

Rating:
Summary: Amazing!
Review: Amazing! Emmotional, Inspirational and truly fantastic. I cried, i laughed - i dreamed. So truly romantic and touching, this book had me feeling warm throughout. If you don't read this - you're missing out on a utterly fantastical book!! Suggested for anyone who enjoys a good romance - and all teens.