who is not at all a maiden in a tutu with wispy wings, but whose power comes from her power over dreams. So many little pieces in the story that make me smile.Īn easy flowing story of a young girl being drawn into witchcraft as she struggles against the Queen of the Fairies. and Granny turns up, too, to show Tiffany how to find her own strength. The pictsies race after her to help her defeat the apparently unkillable hiver that tries to invade her. An ancient disembodied force follows her, seeking the power of her personality and mind. Tiffany travels to a distant witch to start her apprenticeship. The prose is a bit clunky (possibly Murakami, possibly Gabriel), but the narrative transcends those problems, much as his characters, willing and not, transcend physics. The writing seems less assured than in the masterful Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which might be blamed on the translator: Philip Gabriel replacing Jay Rubin. With Kafka on the Shore, Japanese novelist and fabulist Haruki Murakami continues his metaphysical exploration of the odd underside of human and not-so human experience, getting at the raw truth that lies obscured by everyday reality. Among other (sometimes heart-breaking) oddities. Talking cats, raining fish, death, trapped souls, parallel universes, a confused fifteen-year-old, and of course a good smattering of sex. 'The Pirates! In an Adventure with Communists' And he's definitely not a bigot.ĭefoe, Gideon. In that, he's made a flawed but admirable attempt. It seems to be designed more to inform a certain class of Americans that religion isn't really all the great. On the other hand, perhaps, given that I know quite a bit about the subject, I shouldn't have been reading the book. But there's just too much tittle-tattle, and when he moves away from biology into philosophy or cultural commentary, he's not so impressive. In the bits of the book where he's doing that, it really comes to life. The purpose of Richard Dawkins is that I don't have enough spare time to spend my whole life studying evolutionary biology, so I want him to tell me about it. Overall 0/10 and I resented wasting my time.Īgree with Hugh's assessment, basically. Page turner? I really wanted to put this one down but I promised the person who lent it to me and liked it that I would finish it. and was looking forward to this but Oh What an unutterable load of tosh. of chases or violence 10% planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives 35% Feelings, relationships, character bio/development 30% Descript. Click on a plot link to find similar books! Plot & Themes Composition of Book Descript.

A hatful of sky