Eric Bar-Chen

If I was living outside Israel and read this book without any personal knowledge of the situation there, I would get the impression that the Palestinians were normal people being oppressed by an evil occupation force. I gave the book 3 stars as it is engrossing reading and does accurately reflect life in the West Bank, but my problem is that it is written in a way that takes controversial elements and presents them as factual: Israel forcibly removed the Palestinians from their homes, stole their land, made their lives a misery with road blocks, etc. It completely disregards the fact that all the wars between Israel and the Arab nations were started by the Arabs and lost by the Arabs. It doesn't mention terrorism emanating from the West Bank which caused all the checkpoints to be set up and only mentions civil disobedience, which is not an accurate description of blowing up buses, restaurants, etc. I am sure that the way life is described in the book as it affects residents of the area is accurate but it gives a very one sided story. I do recommend reading the book, but with a critical eye, and in addition to doing some historical reading about the conflict to get a more accurate perception of reality.

I read some of the one star reviews of this book and was amazed that anyone could not appreciate this book. Yes, some of the characters were a bit stereotypical, and yes, we knew the guy would get the girl in the end, but the story was woven in such a way that you get tugged into it if you have the initial patience to get through the opening pages. The story develops in surprising twists as it proceeds, which I will not discuss here, to avoid giving any teasers. Then just when you think you've understood the whole tale it twists slightly again. I am impatient with books I don't like and often close them after the 1st 20 pages and then leave them on a park bench or a train for someone else to discover. Something kept me going with this one, and it matured like wine as it went along. I finished it in 2 sessions within 24 hours. Read this book, ignore its small faults, and let it make you think, something most books don't do any more.

The author's style of writing is engrossing although much too long winded. The story lacks any real objective train of events. Characters useful to the story just seem to pop up whenever there is a use for them, with no logical explanation as to how they appear in the narrative. I did read the entire 816 pages in 3 days but can't find it in myself to give a recommendation to other readers to do likewise. The idea behind the book is interesting but not so the content.

If you have got used to Grisham's courthouse novels then you're in for a pleasant surprise here. "A painted house" is set in the early 50's of the 20th century and is told through the eyes of a 7 year old boy growing up in the cotton producing areas of Arkansas. It is a masterpiece of a period novel, and makes the reader feel that he is living the experience himself. Grisham proves yet again how talented a storyteller he is. You won't want to put this book down. Buy it, read it, live the experience. You won't regret it.

Untalented author who churns out rubbish for the masses. No wonder she's written so many books, they probably only take a few days to write. If you are a discerning reader avoid this book. I made it through the 1st 30 pages before giving up. Don't be fooled by the "New York Times bestseller" tag that goes with it.

What a lot of rubbish. Managed to make it through 20 pages before giving up. Not even good enough to read on a plane trip and leave on the seat for someone else. Look elsewhere for literary enjoyment.

I have mixed feelings about this book. Harris echoes my views almost entirely and this ought to have been a book suitable for mass distribution to the uninformed and brainwashed population of religious believers. However, unfortunately, his intellectual, high-brow style of writing precludes this sort of wider reading audience, who undoubtedly will not have the patience to look up obtuse words in a dictionary every few sentences. Indeed, I am not sure that the author did not make wide use of a dictionary himself in order to locate every unknown term in the English language. The fact that half the book is made up of notes, forcing the reader to go back and forth between the text and the explanations doesn't help either. To conclude, this important book misses its mark by a long way in that the average reader will not understand half of what he reads. Instead of being a source of information the book becomes a test as to the readers knowledge of the English language and tests the patience of all but the most persevering, and that is a shame.