Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The Gypsy Man by Robert Bausch ISBN: 0-15-602873-5 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 15 November, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.43 (7 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: Annoying
Comment: I wanted and expected to like this book since I very much did his last one," A Hole In The Earth." It was only for reason of the previous work that I got deep enough into this book, always expecting it to improve, to not just throw it down in disappointment. Gone was the sense of timing, the depth of characterization, the ambience so much in evidence in the earlier work. I found no reason to care for his characters- they were wooden and their dialogue attenuated beyond the limits of patience- and the plot implausible. Bausch spent hundreds of pages with insignificant conversation, filler that only seemed to give the book heft, avoiding the story until quite near the end where revelation of the slightest detail gave the ending away.
The story revolves about "mountain people" of deep Pennsylvania in the late 1950's, a time when World War II was a recent memory and racism rampant. Despite the social ethos of the place we are asked to believe that one of the main characters has been sent to prison for twenty years for the entirely accidental death of a black teenager. The characters whose lives intersect his form the bulk of this story, their successes and failures (usually alcohol fueled) endlessly documented.I might have cared had the events of their lives been at all like my own or even believeable, I might have overlooked the leaden pacing of this book. Regretably, they were not and I do not.
Rating: 5
Summary: Engrossing page turner
Comment: This book is a must read! It is extremely well written. It's just takes a hold of you and you can't put it down. The characters are so relatable. The author has a art of descibing the scene, it's just so visual. As a Virginian, you have done us proud! Keep up the excellent work but maybe mention Lexington in your next work of art.
Rating: 5
Summary: A very worthwhile read!
Comment: A strange novel set in Virginia in the mid 1950's to early '60's. The rural class structure is in place, while the incipient apartheid society is being challenged with the civil rights movement. The novel deftly contrasts racism and classicism that was (and probably still is) existent in rural Virginia.
The heroine, Penny Bone, is alone - - her husband having been sent to prison for manslaughter that was the result of his throwing a full beer bottle out of a car and hitting a Negro teenage girl who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. John Bone ends up in jail primarily because he is poverty stricken and uneducated. The town where the Bones lived is haunted by the long-ago disappearance of the first Negro child to integrate the town's school. This disappearance is attributed to the 'Gypsy Man', a local legend who supposedly kidnaps and kills children. Penny fears that the Gypsy Man will take Tory, the only thing she has from her brief marriage to John before he went to jail.
The book turns on the contrast of classism and racism and whether or not the Gypsy Man does or does not exist. It is a slow moving book that turns out to be totally absorbing. The questions about class and race and balance of power and what people will do to maintain the balance will remain with you for quite a while. This book would never make a best seller list, but it would be wonderful if many people read it. Worth your time and interest.
 |
Title: A Hole in the Earth by Robert Bausch ISBN: 0156011840 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 17 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
 |
Title: Hello to the Cannibals : A Novel by Richard Bausch ISBN: 0060930802 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 02 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
 |
Title: The Spinning Man by George Harrar ISBN: 0425193748 Publisher: Blue Hen Pub. Date: 03 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
 |
Title: The Little Friend by Donna Tartt ISBN: 1400031699 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 28 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
 |
Title: Welcome to Heavenly Heights: A Novel by Risa Miller ISBN: 0312301804 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 16 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
