Rating: 
Summary: Smart, Original Thriller
Review:
I LOVED this book! And I'm not even into the "thrill" genre.
But this smart, sassy novel was so much more. Terrorists, on Flight 919 from Casablanca to Melilla. Alice and her sister Edith, who was enroute to get married, got on board, along with some other passengers who tell the reader, in first person, their "Shame Stories". The "Shame Stories" actually come from Alice and Edith but are SO connected in every way.
The actual mystery begins with the terrorists themselves. Were they terrorists or just old fashioned hi-jackers? Was one of them really blind? What were their demands? There was a sense of unreality about it, even as you turn the pages to see if the whole weird trip was a hi-jacking or role playing or a dream or a metaphor. Wonderfully Smart Book. A Pleasure To Read
Rating: 
Summary: It makes one a little giddy at first ...
Review: " 'That's the effect of living backwards,' the [Red] Queen said kindly: 'it always makes one a little giddy at first.' " is from "Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There," so I had to pick up this book.
There was a fear on my part that assigning the names Alice and Edith to the main characters of this novel was a cheap attempt to gain the readership of those of us who love the Liddel sisters and the young mathematician who gave them immortality. There was also a fear that "Living Backwards" would take on the cheap parlor-trick quality that Martin Amis gave it in "Time's Arrow." Both fears were totally unfounded. Not only is this a totally original comment on the themes of Lewis Carrol, but its picture of sibling rivalry is deep, and it's the best book that I've read on terrorism and its tangled roots and motivations (as opposed to reductionist screeds about evildoers and gooddoers).Maybe I'm just a sucker for Dodgsoniana, but I loved this book. I checked "The Mineral Palace" out of the library as soon as I returned this one to make sure that Ms. Julavits has the talent I feel she does after this, my first, exposure to her writing.
Rating: 
Summary: Very much to be missed
Review: Again, this author attempts to use word-play to stand in the place of substance. Shame on her editors. Au courant, maybe, but little more than "The Emperor's New Clothes", New York style.
Rating: 
Summary: drool-worthy writing, keenly powerful brain
Review: Few books in recent memory can rival this novel's breathtaking, acrobatically adept use of language. On the sentence-for-sentence level, TEOLB reminded me a lot of Jonathan Lethem's Fortress of Solitude -- a book that made me want to stop and savor each paragraph as poetic work of art.
I agree with other reviewers here, though, that this book's storyline is ultimately too obtuse. As a result, my interest in the book waned, and I found myself guiltily skimming through certain sections. Those of you who were simultaneously amazed and a little bored by David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest will likely have the same experience here: It's that feeling of marveling at an author's inventiveness and linguistic dexterity, while at the same time wishing they had provided more straightforward story to sink your teeth into.
I'm putting my money on her third book being a masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: a case-study comedy
Review: Heidi Julavits (the author) creates a cast of memorable characters by sharing their "shame stories" as sidebars to the engaging main plot...a post "Big Terrible" hijacking by a plane steward and a blind terrorist...or is it all staged? The rivalrous/devoted relationship of sisters Alice and Edith make the story believable despite its unlikely circumstances. I don't have a sister; this book makes me feel equally cheated and grateful that I don't.
Rating:
Summary: weird, weird, so very weird.
Review: I can definitely understand the 1 or 2 star ratings being given this book by other amazon.com reviewers; I have very mixed feelings about it myself. There were parts I enjoyed: the interplay between the two sisters, the interesting post-Sept.11 theorizing, the fact that the confusing plot did draw me in and didn't want to let go. What I didn't enjoy was that the reader can never distinguish what is real and what is not, who is "good" and who is "bad," whether the whole hijacking was set up as a study on how passengers react to certain aspects of terrorism or whether the whole BOOK was set up to see how readers react to certain aspects of bizarre and overzealous writing. I liked the terrorist attacks on the US being referred to as "The Big Terrible" (which Julavits credits to Thomas Freidman in her acknowledgements) rather than the ubiqutous "9-11," and I also liked the creative hijacking story of a rugby team overpowering their captors and crashing the plane when it wasn't necessary (resulting in stickers posted in all airplanes saying WHEN TO OVERPOWER YOUR HIJACKERS). However, much of the writing about the terrorism school seemed contrived, as though Julavits was trying a little too hard, and the battle between the two factions there didn't make a lot of sense to me. _The Effect of Living Backwards_ certainly held my interest, and in all I'd say that it was a good read. At times the writing was just a little hard to wade through... and I'm still trying to decide if the effort was worth it.
Rating:
Summary: weird, weird, so very weird.
Review: I can definitely understand the 1 or 2 star ratings being given this book by other amazon.com reviewers; I have very mixed feelings about it myself. There were parts I enjoyed: the interplay between the two sisters, the interesting post-Sept.11 theorizing, the fact that the confusing plot did draw me in and didn't want to let go. What I didn't enjoy was that the reader can never distinguish what is real and what is not, who is "good" and who is "bad," whether the whole hijacking was set up as a study on how passengers react to certain aspects of terrorism or whether the whole BOOK was set up to see how readers react to certain aspects of bizarre and overzealous writing. I liked the terrorist attacks on the US being referred to as "The Big Terrible" (which Julavits credits to Thomas Freidman in her acknowledgements) rather than the ubiqutous "9-11," and I also liked the creative hijacking story of a rugby team overpowering their captors and crashing the plane when it wasn't necessary (resulting in stickers posted in all airplanes saying WHEN TO OVERPOWER YOUR HIJACKERS). However, much of the writing about the terrorism school seemed contrived, as though Julavits was trying a little too hard, and the battle between the two factions there didn't make a lot of sense to me. _The Effect of Living Backwards_ certainly held my interest, and in all I'd say that it was a good read. At times the writing was just a little hard to wade through... and I'm still trying to decide if the effort was worth it.
Rating:
Summary: The Title Says It All
Review: I was given this book by a girl in attempt to impress me with her literary choices. As I told her I spend weekeings reading.
I wasn't. Subsequently, I becamed worried about my newspaper's hiring practices as we both work for the local paper.
After reading 40+ pages the only thing I could think of is that The Effects Of Living Backwards must result in writing like this. Which is awful. I read some of the other reviews and didn't realize this book had such polirizing qualities, which is even more ironic than the title; as it attempts to tackle terrorism which could produce an intriguing book, but treats the subject matter in a juvenile manner that reminds me of coversations in the vein of "what if" situations that I had when I was stoned out of my mind in high school.
For instance: A man takes a bong hit.
He says, "Hey man, what if a blind man hijacked a plane."
His friend takes a hit and says, "Yeah, like all terrorists don't see what's really going on, man." Both men congradulate themselves for thinking in such profound terms. I hope Ms. Julavits can straighten out her life and write in a more serious tone. I'm sure her publisher would appreciate it.
Rating:
Summary: wonderful writing, eh story
Review: I was very excited as I began this book-- there's no question that Julavits can turn a phrase in a way that many writers, including myself, will envy! One description of sleeping huddled in a school cot under a blanket that hovered several inches above her "like a benificent mold" really got my attention... sounded like every institutional (camp, school) bed I'd ever been in.
However, after awhile the cleverness overhwhelmed the plot. I liked the narrator, but the hijacking memory goes on so long, and the conditions are so bleak/gross, that it's like being trapped there yourself (a description of some particularly awful food was sort of like cruelty to the reader). Ultimately this kind of quirky, clever plotting became too tiresome and I lost the thread of the meaning and the larger significance.
Should Julavits try something a little more conventional though I'd be there in a heartbeat. Definitely a writer to watch!
Rating:
Summary: Well written, but sometimes hard to follow
Review: The banter between the sisters is great here, but I was disapointed by the story in the end. Great premise, written well, but confusing.
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