MO

Despite a rather clunky translation by Goldblatt (a profusion of 10th-grade similes and things happening "all of a sudden") and arguable melodrama by the author (there are 119 instances of characters bursting into tears, by my count), this book delivers. The small dramas of the Gao and Yang families, set against a slightly larger but nonetheless miniscule backdrop of rural corruption (the tale wouldn't even merit a paragraph in the NY Times' regional roundup), gets steadily deeper as it progresses, illuminating the paradoxes of modern China and the unchanging demands of love, family, and duty. It's a tragic story which depicts both a very specific time and place and sheds light onto basic human truths.
Background details are handled effortlessly (for example, the great numbers of handicapped children born, presumably, to parents exposed to noxious agricultural chemicals sold by the uncaring rural cooperatives), but the real miracle is Mo Yan's pacing. He cuts rapidly between locations and times, but never too rapidly, striking a perfect balance between forwarding the plot and drawing back to offer perspective on the goings on. The full picture of alternating hopelessness and rebellion emerges slowly and tragically, and the disparate elements (an arranged marriage, a botched directive from central agricultural planners, a drunk driver with government connections) weave together into an elegant and moving whole.

The scent of garlic permeates this book, to such an extent that it becomes quite visceral and at times -- amazing for such a bulbhead as myself -- even nauseating. Both time and space are fragmented by the writer as he weaves back and forth among his stories of garlic farmers pitted against local corruption and their own at times cruel family traditions.

The central event in the book is an invasion and trashing by an angry mob of the local governmental offices. We do not see this event occur until the end of the book, yet it colors every moment in the lives of the Fang and Gao families of Paradise County. It is understandable that the Beijing government would suppress a novel that shows most of its local officials to be bloated satraps and its policement to be little better than thugs, applying cattle prods to their prisoners and beating them mercilessly.

Equally villainous, however, are the Fang family, who force their daughter to marry an old man in a three-in-one arranged marriage that guarantees that their crippled eldest son also gets a bride. In a grisly scene, the marriage deal finally goes through after both the daughter and her fiance commit suicide: Their bodies are dug up, their remains are mixed together, and they are re-interred in a single coffin.

This is not a pleasant book to read: It takes a strong stomach, especially in the prison episodes. At the same time, it is, I feel, an important book that is beautifully written.

I discovered Mo Yan and this title years ago through Amazon, when it was recommended as an "undiscovered" work. Sadly, it is still the case that very few people have read either The Garlic Ballads or Red Sorghum, Mo's other masterpiece, let alone heard of the author. This is tragic, given that he is immensely talented, one of the true literary masters writing today. The Garlic Ballads tells the tale of a group of Chinese peasants whose lives are dependent upon selling their garlic crop; when harvests exceed governmental estimates, officials curb the amount of garlic that can be brought to market, setting off a violent chain of events. Against this backdrop, Mo weaves presents three stories: that of two lovers, which dominates the novel, as well as a familial conflict and the relationship between two friends. It is no exaggeration to say that this is the Chinese equivalent of The Sound and the Fury or 100 Years of Solitude; Mo's voice is inventive, poetic and urgent, yet he never loses sight of the plot, making this book difficult to put down. Goldblatt also deserves a great deal of credit for his translation. I do not read Chinese, but I often have the sense in reading English translations, even of great works, that a great deal has been lost, that there is something missing from the original work. Goldblatt's translation is so good as to make the reader mistake this for an English novel; the prose is nearly flawless. Any reader interested in literature would be wise to pick up this novel, if just for the ending, which is unsettling yet poetically rendered, and will stick with the reader for years. Years from now, probably when Mo wins a Nobel, I am sure he will have a wide following, but for now, The Garlic Ballads is a novel that cries to be read.

On page 17, the two formulas for creatinine clearance are wrong. Has anyone else noticed this? Also, on page 18, the reticulocyte index formula isn't accurate because it doesn't factor in the maturation factor. Other than that, this is a very useful book.

This book was a lifesaver for me on many occasions and now as a PGY2 I recommend it to all new incoming PGY1 and even sub-i's. The book covers all of the major "fires" you will encounter and need to "put out" (usually on your own). With this book I found that even though I could call for backup, I rarely needed to because all I needed was right there in the book. The most important advice I can give, though, is to read the book from beginning to end the week just before you start Internship. That is the key! Then just carry it with you as a refresher.

I highly recommend this book to interns. it covers most of the topics that you may encounter on your internship oncall. it cover the subjects stepwise and you will know what to do next. it is very helpfull if you are alone and nobody around to tell you what to ask or what to order or how to handle the case. it is very easy to use and not time consuming to find a topic fast when you are oncall and time is short.

I don't know if it was a problem with a particular print run of this book, but the copy I bought from a local bookstore was very badly bound, and several pages came adrift while I was reading it. This struck me as highly unusual, since most S&S books are excellently bound. However, the book itself is beautfully designed, and has a wealth of information about the film making process. However, it is a little on the small side, and could have been more like John Eaves's "Next Generation Sketchbook". A good book in general, it loses stars because of the poor binding and small size.

The ninth Star Trek feature film didn't exactly help to ensure the longevity of the franchise. Insurrection, like Star Trek V before it, was a low point in the cannon. But at least the earlier film tried hard to be good...Insurrection took tired old aspects from Trek's past and made them even more stale.

As someone who has always had an interest in how films are made, even the not so good ones, I still wanted to read this book. Author Terry J Erdmann offers a colorful and comprehensive look at the making of Insurection. There's little doubt that director Jonathan Frakes set out to make a bad film--no director ever does--but writer Michael Piller and producer Rick Berman should have known better that the story needed work. Erdmann takes readers through the story concepts all the way through post production. This is a breezy account of the filmming process. Things are stated in a clear way but the book doesn't dumb down readers either. The full color photos and design sketches are well chosen. The book has 188 pages.

Even if you didn't care for the film all that much--you should still find yourself enjoying the book anyway

Insurrection is one of the absolute best star trek films there is. Data is the funniest ever in the film. I loved Picard, Worf and Data's musical number. It was really funny

The printing in the Amereon Edition of this book is poor. The pages look like faded xerox copies. This book contains no color plates, no dust jacket and is small in size. The book claims to be a limited edition. Well for a limited edition the four or so illustration plates are out of order and nowhere near the stories they belong to. If you want to buy this book, buy a better hardcover version. This book was copyrighted in 1903. It contains the roots of several ideas that really take off in Baum's OZ books. There are stories of changing heads, a large mechanical man and a little evil wizard guy who lives underground in a ruby mine ( a la the Gnome King). However none of the stories comes close to the OZ tales. The one story in this book that keeps me from giving a rating of one star is "The Land Of Civilized Monkeys". Has the Baum family sued that French guy who wrote Planet Of The Apes? If not they should. How about a story where a young man lands from the sky into a civilization run by apes. He is roped and caged as a wild animal. He is put on display and examined by ape scientists as the possible "missing link" from which the apes descended. Sound familiar?? Baum wrote it in 1903 or so.

Dover edition does have color plates, in fact "all 15 of the full-page color plates and all of the more than 100 line drawings prepared by Frank Ver Beck for the first two editions [1900 and 1903]." This is a collection of 14 "surprises." But Mo, the land where these stories all take place, is like Oz in many ways. It is a land of enchantment where marvelous tings hapen, where people do not die, and where animals can talk. The landscape of Mo abounds in things children love to ear, and everything anyone wants grows from its trees. It was published (as A New Wonderland) the same year as the original Wizard of Oz.

This was one of my favorite books as a child and having recently reread it, I must say it works on an adult level as well. It's very imaginative and funny and shows what Baum could do when he let his imagination run away with him. I think it's better than any of the Oz books.

i felt as though reading a painting. the contents are so narrative and graphic it will make you think all over again after you read one scene. though some contents are quite morbid nevertheless it is a good book for booklovers all over the world. you will feel the pain of each character and become attached to them. one of the many good books in chinese literature translated.

I have never read such a brutal, graphic novel. It is truly rare for an author to capture the horror of evil so clearly or powerfully. Reading this book is like being beaten up.

At the same time, it is about life. Within the tragedy is a story about people facing and overcoming evil. Because it does not look away from the horror, the hope it implies is authentic. Thus this book distinguishes itself.

I recommend this book for a mature reader because of its powerful content. It will not leave you unchanged. You will shiver, and think.

It is an allegory for the communist takeover of China, and the film that this book inspired won the "Golden Bear" award. An old, leprous landlord represents the corruption of the Guomingdan period. But his murder enables a young woman to take over, and clean up the winery, representing China. The book shows peasants glorified, a new role for women, the breaking down of class barriers, and a brave struggle against Japanese invaders. All of this must have made it dear to Chinese communists!

Perhaps a few Western readers will imagine that all this makes it a less compelling book, however. I don't think so, and I suggest reading it yourself. At least see the movie, which follows the book fairly well.

Mo Yan's prose explodes with a lushness lacking in most Chinese literature. The story is well-written and compelling, but it was the prose that made me pick it up again and again. The content is graphic and sometimes hard to read because he manages to thrust you into the situation. This was a book I had to read for class and didn't finish in time because I found myself not merely reading, but savoring the passages. The constraints of school didn't let me continue reading it that semester, but as soon as the last final was handed in 2 months later, I immediately picked it up to finish.

The art work may be nice, but how come everyone is white, good and Christian?

This book deserves to be out of print and should stay that way.

This was the most treasured book of my childhood. My copy was lost in a fire in the 1950s. I also want to see it reprinted, with a green cover, etc. Please!

PS - To the reviewer who complained that this book contains no one of color: It is an historical collection of northern European fairy tales, not a modern, politically correct manifesto. Although its setting in the northern forests it is timeless and placeless in its magic.

I grew up on this book, and I can't imagine a child growing up without it. I am lucky in that my mother has a copy of it, because since as early as I can remember, I've heard the stories and loved the pictures. Kay Nielsen was a brilliant artist, and the stories are beautiful in and of themselves - this book definitely needs to be back in print. None of that paperback nonsense, either...I'm talking the original way, hardback (green cloth cover with gold embossment), and the dust jacket in green as well, with one of Nielsen's brilliant watercolors on the front (I forget which it is).

This is by far one of the most beautiful books I have ever had the privilege to see.

Like everyone else, I loved the story of this family, men and dogs, and how they came to build their business. It was a true American entrepreneurial tale, and I'm glad they've had success. The descriptions of the dogs were also compelling.

I have to admit, though, that I've tied several of the recipes, and my dog never cared much for the results. The ginger snaps in particular seemed inedible to him. I've made many other dog biscuits for him using recipes from other places and out of the newspaper that sent him over the moon.

If you don't plan to use the recipes, I highly recommend this book. It is a wonderful story and well written.

I really liked this book and have read it twice. Some parts of it were humorous. In short, I recommend this book to all dog lovers and owners!

This is one of the most intersting books I have ever read. It is funny, entertaining, and educational. It provides wonderful insight into the world of starting a business that you love. It discusses all of the hard work, and all of the rewards that accompany it. Additionally, this book was absolutely hilarious. I loved the stories about the three dogs. I have not tried the recipes yet, but they look great.

I know HBO did the video of this book, but they don't have it listed among their videos/dvds to sell. Was it ever put to that format?

To the person who said there was too much adult humor to use for high school speech cuttings, I disagree. My coach had my partner and me do a cutting from Anette and Gina and it worked a lot better for us than our first cutting did-but it was humorous and not dramatic. There were a few things we cut out, but overall, i think a lot of the book could be used! Makes me laugh every time I read it.

This play, while taking the time to celebrate the joys of feminism, never takes itself too seriously. It points out that, yes, even feminists have their quirks and flaws. But to classify it only as a feminist work is limiting -- yet that's what many try to do.

This book is a collection of hilarious skits that make fun of life while celebrating it at the same time. The stand-outs: Syvvie and Maddie, a section about two older Jewish women who decide to fill their extra time by taking some "women's studies" classes at the local University -- only they believe women's studies to be things such as how to sew or making a delicious casserole; Kris and Jeff, a date between an insecure frat boy and a ditzy blonde; and Period Piece, a selection that -- well, you'll just have to read it for yourself.

Even if you're not a feminist, this play will still make you laugh. I cannot give it a high enough recommendation. If you liked Saturday Night Live in the good old days, then you'll love this play!

After a recent trip to my family's cabin in Cardiff Spur, I caught the history bug. Back in the dusty shelves I found a old book about the ghost towns of Idaho. A small book, probably out of publication by now, that had details about North Central Idaho that the schools don't teach - the drama. When I decided to make the trek back to the cabin, I decided I would be better informed of the area and what it offered in the way of hiking and historical sites. In that manner, I came across "Snowbound."
Ladd Hamilton did a wonderful job of recreating an incident that has been told in many different versions. I knew the fate of George Colegate before I started reading the book, but the rich detail helped make the story vivid and more human.
It was a bit slow paced at times, and the heartbreaking part is that no one will ever know exactly what happened to George Colegate. Regardless, an awesome history of the area surrounding the Lolo Trail for those who are interested.

I just finished this book (February 2003) and I must say that it was a very riveting book. Since I have been to some of the places that are spoken of in this book and am a resident of the Lewiston,ID and Clarkston,WA valley, it was all the more fascinating.
The positives of this book are too many to list, but let me begin by saying that it gives a vivid picture of the beauty but also the brutality of nature. The Bitterroot mountains, the Lochsa River, etc. are described so well, you feel like you're there. The Carlin hunting party that ventured into these parts in October of 1893 did not expect such harsh conditions - it was an unusually snowy and wet Fall. Very few people in the world have faced the hardships they faced, and their heart-wrenching decision to leave a sick man behind can only be understood by those who appreciate the harsh conditions they were in, both in terms of weather, but also in terms of their own physical and mental weakness at the time.
Ladd Hamilton does a good job at remaining objective on his assessment of their decision. But I, for one, do not fault them for it. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one. Far from being an act of inhumanity, as one reviewer calls it, I see in the Carlin party an example of real courage and ingenuity. They did not arrive at their decision in a flippant manner - they really struggled with it, and they chose to act on logic, rather than on sentiment. What a breath of fresh air that is in our feelings-oriented society!!
One member of the party, Keeley (who was hired by Carlin to aid them in their exit), ends up twisting the story against his comrades - but this was clearly because of his greed and his bitterness for not having received more $$$ for his services.
Read it for yourself, and enjoy!

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This is a "True Crime." In 1893, two spoiled rich boy-men and a brother-in-law - all from New York, and 2 local men (a guide and a cook) went off into the Bitterroot Mountains for a hunting foray. Not all came out. The Great White Hunters were exposed to be neither Great nor much good as hunters. The aftermath of their foibles and folly is an interesting juxtaposition of Eastern American v. Western, and the idle idyll rich v. working folk of the time.

The hunting "expedition" and its wending out of the wilderness are slow going. Unfortunately for the reader, so also is author Ladd Hamilton's pacing and writing style. In the beginning, I had to create a chart of the participants - then, reading further, they each become more easily identifyable.

Two portions in the book are among the most sad and gruesome testimentaries of man's inhumanity to man and animal of any this reader has ever read - I will not spoil it for you by revealing further. And speaking of spoilage, one is cautioned to employ "Owen's Rule" and not look at the included photos before reading - as they disclose those who came out alive.

Edwards advances the idea that in every snapshot of human life, we make decisions in accordance with our nature and disposition. Free will is compatabilist in that we have no autonomy other than to follow our greatest desire in any given instance. Not only does this exposition rule out the chance for true virtue--some good thing we do which we might not have done--but Edwards also has a hard time explaining how God is not the author of evil, given that human decisions are consistently determined according to a divine decree.

Jonathan Edwards is one of the greatest thinkers in American history, and while "Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God" has become his most famous work, "The Freedom of the Will" is his best. Two and a half centuries after Edwards wrote it, this book is still the premiere and most thorough argument for the complete sovereignty of God.

"The Freedom of the Will" is a challenging read and might be too hard for people new to the debate between Calvinists and Arminians. It would take too long to outline the entire argument Edwards makes or recap every point he touches on, but what follows are some examples of the ideas and questions raised by Edwards in this book.

1) It is alleged by Arminian belief that a person or action cannot be morally good (or bad) if the agent performing the action is incapable of doing otherwise. But can God be evil? The Bible teaches that He is not only holy, just, and perfect, but that He knows everything that has happened and everything that is to come. So can He do or be evil, or is His will and nature necessarily determined to be perfectly good? If God is capable of doing evil, and not necessarily good, then how can He assure us that He will be perfect for all eternity (if one day, He might choose not to be)? And if He is necessarily determined to be perfectly good forever and cannot be otherwise, does this make God any less holy, perfect, and morally virtuous? As a corollary to this, if He is no less praise-worthy by being necessarily holy, are we, as fallen human beings born into sinfulness, any less blame-worthy if we are necessarily inclined to evil, incapable of willing what is truly good?

2) Another area Edwards focuses on is discussing the Arminian contention that the will actually is free. Edwards takes this idea on by challenging what exactly is meant by the will, and therefore our actions, being "free". His reasoning would lead to questions along these lines: If a starving man is placed at a table with an appetizing pizza on his right, and an utterly foul concoction (insert your own horror) on his left, is he really free in what he wills to eat? What could possibly make this man choose to eat what was on his left rather than the pizza, other than some overriding, external threat? The only way this man might choose what was on the left, barring the overriding threat, would be his will being utterly indifferent to the two choices, and in this case, what kind of man would this be? (Imagine him eating the concoction with no care in the world, much as human beings so often can be seen going about sinning.)

Now, say humans were deceived and fell into a state where what appeared to be appetizing to us was really what made us sick whereas what was truly holy and good, appeared as unappetizing to us as the horrible concoction. (This deceptive state is what we fell into with the Fall of our original parents through their sin.) What would ever make us will to eat that disgustingly wretched concoction on the left? Even after we've tried it and seen how wonderful it is despite how it may appear to our sinful natures, we still go back to the poisonous pizza of sin over and over again. (And whereas the pizza and the concoction of this analogy are so clearly different, sin and God's holiness are infinitely more opposite to each other.) Why do we continue returning to what makes us sick? Why do we continue to see these things as beautiful and appetizing while the holiness of what God has commanded appears so unattractive? Someone says, "Just eat the nasty thing... you know it is good for you, ignore its appearances," and I cry out, "But I just can't!" (Or, as the Apostle Paul put it, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" - Romans 7:24)) Not only can't I eat what is so repulsive to me, but in actuality I don't want or will to, whereas I will to eat the "pizza" because I delight in my sins. It is only by some supernatural changing of my heart and mind that I will ever choose what is truly holy and good. But, oh, how wonderful to know that there is someone who makes this change for us, contrary to our corrupted will.

These questions touch on just a few of the topics concerning the human will and God's sovereignty that Jonathan Edwards discusses in "The Freedom of the Will". I've heard it explained that the Calvinist doctrine on these matters is like a candy with a hard exterior but a soft, delicious center, and I believe that's an accurate way to put it. With this book, Jonathan Edwards comes as close to helping Christians break through that hard exterior as any man ever has.

This is truly one of the greatest works written. Daniel Webster wrote: "The Freedom of the Will" by Mr. Edwards is the greatest achievement of the human intellect." The London Quarterly Review wrote about this work: "His gigantic specimen of theological argument is as near to perfection as we may expect any human composition to approach. He unites the sharpness of the scimetar [sic] and the strength of the battle-axe." A former President of Princeton said that Edwards was "The greatest thinker that America has produced."