Away

I was impressed with book, but it wasn't great. I have read better. It was a little predictable.

This book had a greater impact on me than I expected. By the time I was done reading about the neo-Nazi attacks on tbe black sorority sisters and the racist threats aimed at the black professor who is the main character, I was angry and wondering whether I, like Beth Barnes, have been living a deluded life. It made me sad to think that the safe little world I live in -- where I eat out and spend recreational time with white people, thinking we all see each other as equals -- could possibly be a figment of my imaginiation. I was reminded of how many times I've encountered white colleagues outside of our usual settings only to become invisible to them. Many times it seems they barely speak and often act as if they don't recognize me. I'm reminded of how often at work I'm given a big assignment and then given one or two white folks to help me with it, while white co-workers are given the opportunity to succeed (of fail) totally on their own. Either way, at least they are trusted. Bottom line: The book made me think and reevaluate how I see my world. Any book that makes you do that is a good one. It's just sad to think that after my reevaluation, what I come up with is a picture of a world that hasn't made nearly as much progress in race relations as I thought prior to reading this book.

In Breaking Away by Kristen Lattany, we are shown how one racially motivated incident can affect the lives of many. For Bethesda (Beth) Barnes, a college professor of English, life is good. Although she is one of the few African-American faculty on a college campus, she loves her job. Everything is going fine until four African-American sorority sisters are assaulted by some white male students. The women decide to take action and ask Beth to be their advisor. Even though Beth sees the fight as a losing battle, she agrees to take on the girls' cause. During the tumultuous months that follow, Beth discovers how ugly racism can be and the leaps and bounds you may have to jump to overcome it.

The characterization in this book was excellent. Although minor characters, Beth's family played a major part in helping us figure out what made her tick. The righteous cop sister, the Queen of De-Nial mother and the inquisitive niece help to add dimensions to the story. The same could be said about the students on campus, Beth's man friend, Lloyd and her best friend, Sherri.

This is the second book that I have read that focused on racism this year and it was interesting to see how they differed. This one presented us with a main character who was oblivious to the racial injustice that surrounded her. We were able to see how her naivete was chipped away after each incident. The setting of the college campus also seemed appropriate since they are so many different walks of life in one area.

Breaking Away was a good read and I would recommend it to my friends and family.

Reviewed by Nicole
APOOO BookClub

I had read and enjoyed another book by this author. I was almost embarrassed to be reading this one. The plot premise was interesting but as the story unfolded, it became wildly implausible. The ending left me unsatisfied. I did enjoy the elements of humor in the author's writing.

Why wasn't that woman put in jail for stealing a child? I liked the authors writing style but the plot was ridiculous. A teacher would know better than to act like that woman did. I quit reading it about half way and skipped to the last chapter. I couldn't believe how it ended. No Consequences for that idiot woman?

I can, in cowboy parlance, head off some questions at the pass. Yes, Professor Stafford is Adam's dad. Bethany Logan, our heroine jumps to some very erroneous conclusions based on hearsay. Not to fear, folks, everything gets sorted out and has a nice, cute predictable ending.

To its credit, this book is well written and will hold your interest. The segments about the fugitives' flight to the island and the question of Adam's parentage are well crafted. The descriptions of the Godforsaken island are strong and vivid.

To save you a little time, Adam is NOT the child the islanders think he is. Theirs is a closed knit (not close-kit) community of old fashioned superstitions and only the merest nod to the modern era.

The professor gets Adam back and Bethany gets to keep her job.

Now that you know this story, you decide if you want to read it in full. This is the short version.

I have never disliked a book as much as I did this one. This book was choppy, random, and too much like a movie! It left no room for imagination and I probably could have fallen asleep at many parts. There was nothing about this book that made you excited to pick it up again! Do not waste your time! I would say see the movie, but it wasn't much better!

Okay, lets face facts...
Madonna is a much better musician than an actress, but credit is due for perseverence.
"Swept Away" is another great film by Guy Ritchie...edgy and too the point. Madonna isnt all too bad either.
The first half of the film she is a little over the top with her bold bitchiness...but the later part of the film she softens and her character becomes believable.
The ending was a total surprise and a very un-Hollywood romantic ending.
You may not have seen it at the theatre, but its worth seeing on DVD/video.
Plus Madonna looks great!

I popped this dvd in without expecting it to be good or bad; knowing not to completely believe the critics' reviews on the film. Immediately, I loved Ritchie's dark humor that we have already seen in Snatch and his other films. This film makes fun of "high society", but also pokes humor on itself. The actors I thought did a good job with their performances (there are other actors who get away with less acting abilities!). This movie isn't only about its love story, but brings up many other ideas that we are all currently living with. The movie kept me laughing all the way through to the twist. I really reccomend you to watch the movie and just enjoy it.

Fascinated by constitutional law, I approached Tushnet's book interested in a stand against the notion of judicial review, a central tenet of American jurisprudence. Tushnet's approach, although fleshed out, is not particularly useful to those interested in the theoretical underpinnings of judicial review.

Instead, the book maintains a fairly consistent position that is dubiously supported throughout. Through inconsistent use of caselaw, and little analysis of the legal reasoning of the cases he cites, Tushnet does create an comprehensible position against judicial review, but it is not particularly well argued. Just the fact of being against judicial review does not make for a usable book. The exercise of judicial power does not alone invalidate judicial review as a doctrine. The serious constitutional, historical, logical, and even utilitarian analysis necessary for developing a persuasive opinion is absent from the work.

He typically falls on attempting to undermine the pro-judicial review position as a method of making his case, but it is untenable. Criticizing extreme contemporary positions and labelling them as liberal (read: 'elitist'), does not make the case. By taking quotes out of context, he is moderately successful at creating the image of a sustainable position, but the grand scheme fails. He arduously quotes Madison, after severely paring the quotes to fit his point, but it is not enough. The index does not even cite Alexander Hamilton once; there is no rigorous treatment of the 'Federalist Papers,' the most succint and thorough exploration of US Constitutional theory; there is no sustained theoretical analysis of the powers of government and the utility of republicanism, and the nature of separated and mixed powers.

Essentially, he is making an argument for populism using a populist technique: "the liberals support judicial review because they think you're too dumb to decide for yourself, therefore judicial review is bad." This is hardly sufficient for making a defensible argument with such radical overtones. Tushnet's approach is reminiscent of William Jennings Bryan's majoritarianism, and is certainly bryanesque in its idealistic appeals and its logical inadequacies.

With severely questionable positions on constitutional amendment, which he supports only by criticising the extremes of his opposition as arrogant, he ignores the whole theoretical underpinning of the amendment process of Article V. He then presents some appalingly idealistic support of the populist majority alteration of the Constitution. Any first-year political science student studying state and local politics knows what cumbersome bludgeons state constitutions are. Opinion is still out on popular referenda, and how effective they are at both serving the public good and representing the popular will. I suggest taking a look at the monstrously huge Indian constitution to appreciate the brevity of the American constitution and its demanding amendment process.

Residing somewhere between scholarly and demagoguery is the best address for this effort. The attempt to foster innovative thought is obvious, but the book does little more than that. More troubling is the tendency to quote Madison and Lincoln from context, asserting points that perplex the issue, without ever giving equal time to either voice that might help decide the issue. Deliberation may well benefit from this work but it spends enormous time dealing with unconstitutional remedies for constitutional issues. Certain assumptions advanced by Tushnet, tend to foster an apathy towards seperated tripartite government, if that apathy evoked an investigation of core republican (note the small 'r')principles the point of his book might be visible, lacking that it remains obscure. The book is affably written, and a good read, but an additional quote from Lincoln may have guided this hypothetical offering " Now, and here, let me guard a little against being misunderstood. I do not mean to say we are bound to follow implicitly whatever our fathers did. To do so would be to discard all the lights of current experience-to reject all progress-all improvement. What I do say is, that we should supplant the opinions and policy of our fathers in any case, we should do so upon evidence so conclusive, and argument so clear, that even their great authority, fairly considered and weighed, cannot stand; and most surely not in a case whereof we ourselves declare they understood the question better than we.."

The sole purpose of the Constitution is to provide every individuals with their god given rights. (as our forefathers saw them) The author describes the world as he sees it today; he challenges a world of judicial review and judicial supremacy. The author argues for us to take the rights that we are granted in the constitution and defend them, defining ourselves as "We the People of the United States..." The views are established using past judicial decisions with "judicial legitimacy" being determined by the outcome of the decision. Tushnet argues that we are so used to the Supreme Court being the "protector of the constitution" that we are incapable of defending it ourselves. An example of the Communist Scare was mentioned where opponents of McCarthy did nothing to oppose him, because they believed that the Supreme Court would declare his actions unconstitutional. The author asks us to step up and speak out when something is unconstitutional, taking a proactive role in the defense of the American Constitution.

I have to agree with the reviewer from 1999. I started reading the series as it was published and then somehow lost track of the books during the middle. I found a copy of Malice Domestic recently, re-read it, and decided that I had to get all of the books and read them in order. The series started off splendidly, but by the time I reached this book I was becoming disappointed in the characters and plots. I just finished Come Away, Death, and I have to say that the story and Doran left a "bad taste" behind. The story itself is very transparent as well as being hard to believe, and I do not understand why she had to have an adulterous encounter with the character Bill/Will. (In fact, I don't understand the motivations of several of the characters.) The only reason I can come up with regarding Will/Bill is he so reminds her of the "lost love" that is referred to in "Malice Domestic" and who is finally introduced in "Uneaseful Death." Is she performing some sort of exorcism for herself? One gets the feeling that if this character had been able to get into better circumstances, as Doran planned for him, the road to hell would definitely have been paved with good intentions. The ending is very muddy with no clear cut answers as to the future of Doran's & Rodney's relationship or their familial situation. Whether Ms. Hardwick planned it that way with another book to clear things up, who knows? It does seem unusual that so much time has passed without another one coming out.

Like the previous reviewer, I was disappointed in this latest in a series I have enjoyed in the past. The perpetrator of the robberies and murder is evident early on, which deprives the story of much suspense. The subplot involving an ancient curse dating to the time of Richard III is ludicrously unbelievable, as are the leaps of imagination Doran makes to figure it out. Doran's unfaithfulness to Rodney is unaccompanied by even a twinge of conscience on her part, and her attitude toward her children is oddly detached, even when Kit is the victim of a murderous attack. While Doran has in the past seemed like a refreshing change from the stock tweeds-and-a-twinset vicar's wife of much English mystery fiction, here her character seems self-absorbed, vain and curiously amoral. Frankly, I got sick of the author's incessant fawning over Doran's beauty and repeated descriptions of various male characters falling under its spell. At the end, Rodney's love for her is rekindled, but her attitude toward him is unclear. One can't help but feel that he deserves better. Above all, I find the author's implied endorsement of adultery as a cure for a humdrum marriage irresponsible at best.

I found this book to be a refreshing change. Finally, a heroine who has real emotions and, yes, even weaknesses. This was not the most suspensefull book in the series, nevertheless, I thought it was the most humanizing. I am eagerly awaiting the next volume.

I think one thing that really bugs me about this book is that a lot of hype was given to the "expertise" of Dr. Andrew Pickens. I am a former client of his. After being misdiagnosed, forced into shock treatments, and finally told I could never be helped and sent on my way, I have very little confidence in his "expertise." Even more ironic is that I have now been correctly diagnosed with MPD (something he failed to see while working with me for two years).

That being said, this book is about a woman with a dissociative disorder, but NOT Multiple Personality Disorder. A slow read with not much excitement, I wouldn't recommend this unless you've exhaused all other resources.

It felt more like a story than a truth. Very little focus on MPD a lot more focus on a needy self. I enjoyed the entertainment factor of this story, but the educational factor wasn't all there

Empathetic. Enlightening. A must-read for anyone seriously (and, ahem, ITELLIGENTLY) interested in the topic of MPD.

Wright's aesthetic is one of self-congratulatory linguistic and philosophical laziness. Most of her poems look like they were tossed off in five minutes and never revised, which is why her work is a favorite of the "post-post" club. Except for a handful of good prose poems and certain parts of Deepstep Come Shining (Wright's only even halfway good book, of which too little is included in this collected), these poems are downright pointless and boring.

Wright is a poet brave enough to trust and follow the meanderings of her mind and the results are often amazing for several lines at a time, but rarely for a whole poem. She has a great eye and pulls of some stunning visual description, but to put it politely, there isn't much of an intellect backing up these special effects and too many of the poems come out mushy and sentimental. The work is lazy, but she does have a wry off-handed sense of humor that often rescues the work from banality.

When I first read this book, I was not familiar with Wright's work. The eroticism of her works are sandwiched and juxtaposted by a syntax that pushes language and body out into an open space. The "Girlfriend" poems are particular telling of this mixing and distorting of syntax of English and the syntaxx of the body. Admittedly, this book is not for everyone; but poetry never is. If you enjoy sensual poets like Diane Di Prima or intensely intellectual poets like John Ashberry, Bin Ranke, and Wallace Stevens; Wright's words will surely speak to you. Their is a diversity of culture and of technique, but a unity of vision that any poet can benefit from. I can only wish more poets were like her.

The main problem I found with this book is that the authors, by trying to explain incredibly complicated things in an everymans
language, turns the whole reading experience into a rather confusing muddle. Before the reader can get to the meat and bones of the argument- that theres no scientific explanation why God should not exist- the reader has to trudge through a 100 page primer on how the brain functions. Though theres nothing wrong with this per se, indeed such information might have been useful had the authors not choosen to use alternative wording for the scientific terms of the parts and functions of the brain. In this way the knowledge the reader accumulates on the subject, whilst serving him for the purposes of the book will become inapplicable when used in any other area of the subject. Likewise the diagrams used in the book are crudely printed and unclear. This book will probably satisfy a small contigent of insecure persons looking to validate their faith, but for the rest of us were more likely to find more sense and meaning in say a Mountain Dew commercial than between the covers of this
insipid book.

Not perfect, but a good read. The authors are on to something here and have done their homework. They present a well thought-out body of theories based on scientific evidence and reason, but while they deeply examine how brain structure and function relate to religious belief and experience, they do not use this as an opportunity to *invalidate* religious belief. Carefully done.

In the epilogue to the paperback edition the authors write, "...Reality happens in the brain, and while our imaging studies do not prove the existence of a higher spiritual plane, they do indicate that to the brain, these states are as real as any other" (p.178). Therein lies the crux of this book. If you are interested in an in-depth explaination of the how, what, where etc., in fairly popular language, this is an excellent choice.

The authors argue neither "for" or "against" the actuality of God or a realm of the spiritual, they merely demonstrate how the findings of neurobiology indicate that we are hard-wired for transcendent experiences. Personally, I believe in a Creator behind, above, beneath, before, around, in, through, and energizing all of Creation, who created me and all of us with the very hard wiring that would instill in us a longing and a capacity to experience the transcendent.

My friend Darrell Johnson, professor at Regent College in Canada, puts it this way: "At the center of the universe is a relationship...It is out of that relationship that you and I were created and redeemed. And it is for that relationship that you and I were created and redeemed" (see his book Experiencing The Trinity). I have found this relationship with the transcendent through the grace and truth that have come to me through the love of Christ. I know others who have comparable but different experiences with the transcendent through other avenues.

The fact that throughout human history, long before the Jesus through whom I have found this connection walked the earth, humans have sought to engage with something greater than oursevles is not necessarily evidence that God exists. And, the apparent fact that our brains "create" the capacity to seek and experience the transcendent is not necessarily evidence that God does not exist.

Those of us who choose to take a spiritual path know better than to depend on science to prove that our experiences are real or that the God we believe in exists. Ultimately, faith is assurance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. As the saints and mystics in many traditions have shown us, it is typically in the unknowing and darkness that the spiritual life most deeply unfolds.

This book is poorly written for the immature, those unable to commit or take responsibility for their lives. Rather than work on a relationship or issue, according to Smye, just run away..leave your job, your family and all responsibilities and drop your self into a different place...and when that gets tough, just do it again, and again. When does it stop? When is it time to stop running away from your problems?

Immature, weak in content and message.

DO NOT recommend!!!

I think the author presents an intersting theory about managing midlife career changes.
She asks the reader to think of themselves as a small business and she then maps out her theory of how a person can sucessfully run away to the "circus". She does so by using an organizational approach to managing change. 1)The organization as a whole 2)Groups and 3) the individual. All of these "rings" need to facilitate the change so the transition can set in. Each of these is then divided up into 3 subcategories for a more individual, internal approach to making a change. This is where it gets dense and I do think some of chapters could be pared down.
I don't think the author is encouraging people to "run away" she is asking the reader to confront your environment. Sometimes it is not you, it is your environment. She is encouraging the reader to dream, evaluate, design and find your new "circus" before one is assigned to you.

The people who think Smye is encouraging people to "run away" and ignore problems apparently didn't read much more than the title of the book. It's a metaphor, and in fact to be able to "run away" from something that is affecting you requires being able to recognize what that thing is in the first place. That is Smye's first message in this book. The second is how to accomplish that. Just "toughing it out" in the face of evidence that things aren't right isn't always the best solution. Sometimes leaving things behind is the right choice... and the hardest choice you'll ever make. This is true even if the changes might seem superficial at first glance.

As someone who is currently in the midst of a drastic career change, Syme's book is one of several that I've found helpful. Not all of it is great, and Smye's somewhat brusque and occasionally sarcastic tone might put some people off. But there is enough substance that most folks seriously considering a big change will find food for thought. Don't expect one book to change your life -- that part is still up to you! But Smye might give you some insight into what's eating you, and some ideas and tools to help you figure out how to fix things... even if you don't want to become a clown or a trapeze artist.

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First, read the publisher's projection:

"...Pastor Hopkins' book may well become the number one selling Christian title of 2003!"

Second, note the dismal Amazon ranking for 2003.

Third, draw your conclusion.

If you were expecting a course in Greek and Hebrew you will not find it in "The Cult of Jabez...and the falling away of the Church in America", by Pastor Steve Hopkins.
If were expecting the unexpected; a book that you will not be able to put down, a book that will hold your feet to the fire of a passionate love for Jesus, you will cherish this book.
All of my American Dream type Christian vanities have been challenged.
Wilkinson's Jabez has been successfully exposed as a shameful invention of a church age that has lost contact with the Lord, her God. Am I ready to lay down my life for the One who laid down His life for me? Or am I waiting on some future blessing, or "Jabez appointment" before I act? The fields are white unto the harvest.
I am moved to pour out my heart before God in search of His moment by moment will for my existence. This kind of prayer life cannot be achieved by simply repeating a few words for a few seconds each morning. If you were waiting for an excuse to buy this book, you found it! You will not regret it!

I ordered my first book, The Cult Of Jabez after recieving an email about it. At this time I am placing my 2nd order through amazon.com to give to a friend.

I picked it up to read one morning and never put it down until it was finished. As I read the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart. I broke down in teras and wondered how many preachers including Bruce Wilkerson would stand on the street corner and procliam the gospel of Jesus Christ in rags. Preachers in these times seem to be after the money end of Christianity. How content would they be to give up all they had for the cause of Christ? How content would I be?

Job a just man in the eyes of God was stripped of all earthly possesions and his health also but still loved God with all his heart and never once complained or prayed the prayer of Jabez.

The book, The Cult Of Jabez convicted my heart. Each and every day of our lives we are to spead the gospel without care for the things of this world. I greive for the many years and opportunities that I let slip by me living in sin pursuing the things of the world.

My prayer is that more people would read this blook and understand the calling on their life.