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: In This Mountain by Jan Karon ISBN: 0-670-03104-6 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: 27 May, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.44 (66 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Editor Wanted
Comment: I have read all the series books up to this one. There was just enough plot variation to keep me going in this time. But I must admit the series is wearing thin on me.
But even more wearing is the author's need for an editor. I believe that it's difficult for authors to see their own bad habits. That's why there are editors. And I think Penguin/Viking Books has failed Karon in this area. Karon has a habit of repeatedly using little turns of phrase that were maybe cute once or twice, but after dozens of uses they are just annoying.
In a couple of the previous books, the phrase that really stood out to me was "..., meaning it." For example, on p.373 of this book, "'I'm sorry,' [Father Tim] said, meaning it." Sincerity is a valued characteristic in these books and in life. But there must be various ways of describing it. When that phrase keeps turning up, I am no longer struck by the character's feelings, but by my own annoyance.
In this book the description that came up so often I gritted my teeth every time I saw it was: 'thumped down.' I didn't count, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was used as many fifty times. People 'thumped down' on chairs, benches, sofas etc so many times I was wondering if anyone had a sore butt.
I like Karon's community that she dreamed up. I loved her first book. Series fans will no doubt be offended by my opinion, but I think she needs to take a break for her own creativity's sake.
Rating: 5
Summary: Outstanding!
Comment: Very much like A LIGHT IN THE WINDWOW, I found this book equally as enjoyable. Even if you haven't lived in a small town you'll be able to "get into" this book. There's so much there. It reminds me in many ways of McCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD or even TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD in its writing and well-drawn characters. This is a timely and moving tale, sure to please.
Also recommended: McCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD and I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS
Rating: 2
Summary: Down in the Zero
Comment: Reading any of Karon's "Mitford Series" is somewhat like reading about people who have been raised for their entire lives to date in some dark closet. Her characters are absolutely and purely ignorant of virtually any and all aspects of human culture, human civilization or human achievement. Their conversation reveals no inkling of what year it is, or what state they are in, much less what nation or planet they are on. In the real world these creatures would have spent the last 50 years glued to the front of the boob tube, and essentially their entire conversation would be devoted to soap operas, talk shows and televised sports.
Yet apart from a few vague references to a "remote," or the "five o'clock news," there is little evidence anyone even has a TV... much less reads a (non-local) newspaper or books, fiction or nonfiction. [Hope, who runs the local bookstore, does seem to know who Thirkell and Wodehouse are.]
For quite a few years Karon has been mining the vein of "non-books" diligently, rather than supplying new "adventures" (to use the word very loosely) for Father Tim and his fellow prisoners. This is finally the 6th Mitford novel (despite what the publisher claims), and takes over roughly where A NEW SONG left off. As we join the team, Father Tim and wife are getting ready to spend a year living in a tent in Goatbugger, Tennessee doing something the author never bothers to specify, because it is obvious to both author and reader that Tim ain't gonna get there (what would become of Violet, for example!). Instead Tim, in his customary mindless way, manages to seriously injure himself and another minister, and spends the rest of the novel in a deep, brooding depression. It's not that Tim is communing with his inner thoughts, because like all the other characters, HE HAS NO THOUGHTS! And that makes this novel very rough going, to say the least.
As another reviewer noted on these pages, "pray" is almost the only verb in the book, and it seemingly appears about 5 times per page. Otherwise, nothing happens. There is some nonsense about a lunatic who wants to build a log cabin the size of a cathedral, or maybe a cathedral the size of a log cabin, his raving being unclear on this point; continuing villain Edith Mallory makes her customary pointless appearance; Father Tim gets a computer and goes online so he can read his own e-mail; some ex-cons need the good Father's support; one of Dooley's missing brothers turns out to have, gosh, been right there all along; and that's pretty much the size of it. About the only suspense concerns whether or not incidental characters Hope and Helene will become regular church attendees and I wouldn't dream of spoiling that for you!
Rumors are afoot that in a later novel in the series, Father Tim will encounter for the first time in his life a Muslim, or a Hindu, or a Jew, or a Catholic, or a university professor, or a scientist, or even an uppity knee-grow, and expire from shock and heart-failure. I don't think loyal readers need to worry.
 |
Title: A Common Life: The Wedding Story (Beloved Mitford, No. 6) by Jan Karon ISBN: 0142000345 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 26 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
 |
Title: A New Song by Jan Karon ISBN: 0140270590 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 03 April, 2000 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
 |
Title: Shepherds Abiding by Jan Karon ISBN: 0670031208 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: 20 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
 |
Title: Out to Canaan (The Mitford Years) by Jan Karon ISBN: 0140265686 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: April, 1998 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
 |
Title: The Mitford Years Box Set, Volumes 1-6: At Home in Mitford, A Light in the Window, These High, Green Hills, Out to Canaan, A New Song, and A Common Life by Jan Karon ISBN: 0147717795 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: September, 2002 List Price(USD): $77.75 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
