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Fiction

Fiction is what makes that hour-long BART ride to work bearable. Fiction is like a glorious movie that plays inside your brain. Welcome to RateItAll's fiction review page.

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20 hours ago

Ross Thomas had several interesting careers that he mined for background in his writing. He served in the Philippines in the Second World War and worked as public relations specialist, reporter, union spokesman, and political strategist before becoming a writer. His work often deals with the machinations of political intrigue, and frequently in a sardonic, and even surreal manner.

This book isn't among his strongest works, but its a decent read. The narrative is told from the viewpoint of a researcher for a muck-raking columnist, assigned to dig up background on the resignation of an apparently corrupt U.S. Senator. An intriguing, although occasionally contrived story, and told with Thomas' tongue wedged firmly in his cheek.
votes 3 Helpful / 0 Funny / 0 Agree / 1 Disagree

2 days ago

Burke moves the scene from the familiar Louisiana parish of New Iberia to western Montana for this novel. Dave Robicheaux, his deeply troubled and fatally flawed protagonist and Clete Purcel, his human train wreck of a companion, become embroiled in complex web of deceit as ancient ghosts come back to visit.

Like many of Burke's Robicheaux novels, it explores the themes of corrupted wealth, and moral vacuity. Unlike many of the novels in the series, it tells a significant part of the tale from other viewpoints than that of Robicheaux, which gives it an unusual feeling for those familiar with the series. Burke is a very good writer, and isn't afraid to step outside of formula, either that of the genre he writes, nor his own. While this is not the strongest of his novels, its damn good and well worth the read. I would not, however, recommend it as place to strart reading Burke.
votes 1 Helpful / 0 Funny / 0 Agree / 0 Disagree

4 days ago

*Don't worry, no spoilers here

I finished reading this book yesterday but wanted to give it time to sink in. It is undeniably Auster, his use of language is second to none as he weaves a tale about Adam Walker and an event and person that haunt him throughout his days. The characters are wonderfully described and their interactions are told exquisitely, just as one would expect from Auster. The reason I couldn't give it five stars was because I didn't feel it was as good as "The New York Trilogy", which remains to this day one of the best pieces of literature I have ever read. It is still a great novel (especially compared to the drivel that is released these days) and worth the read, and I will undoubtedly reread it in the coming months and look forward to the next Auster novel.
votes 3 Helpful / 0 Funny / 0 Agree / 0 Disagree

5 days ago

Terry Brooks couldn't write a shopping list. But he can steal a narrative like a hot damn. Tolkein's corpse is still wondering where its wallet went.
votes 2 Helpful / 1 Funny / 1 Agree / 0 Disagree

5 days ago

votes 2 Helpful / 2 Funny / 1 Agree / 0 Disagree

5 days ago

A complex, apocalypytic tale of despair that blends the best of hardboiled crime writing with science fiction. A truly excellent work from a guy who is arguably the best writer in the history of the genre, and one of the top twenty (at least) American writers of the 20th century.
votes 6 Helpful / 0 Funny / 0 Agree / 0 Disagree

5 days ago

Only for serious Tolkein junkies. Written in a style that rivals the minutes of the Second Lateran Council for turgid prose, it does a remarkably dull job of telling the back story to The Lord of the Rings.
votes 2 Helpful / 0 Funny / 1 Agree / 0 Disagree

5 days ago

A reasonably interesting novel that largely manages to overcome its faintly ridiculous premise, and doesn't get too far down the anthopomorphising trail.

Its worth reading, but Adams has written far better books. (Plague Dogs or Shardik for example)
votes 5 Helpful / 0 Funny / 0 Agree / 0 Disagree

6 days ago

I'm glad to see that RIA has categorized this egregious nonsense as Fiction, which it clearly is, although I dispute the categorization as Literature.

Sitchin, who is a galaxy class nutbar, believes every word of this balderdash, and has managed to convince others of his lunacy, some of whom can be found reviewing this item with purple prose. Essentially, this is more of that Planet X/Nibiru hogwash which has blended with the Mayan Calendar fanatics, dragged in some Atlantean theory, added a dash of Edgar Cayce and the Book of Revelations and come up with a real hell-bender of a fairy tale. Good for a laugh, providing you lubricate your synapses with sufficient alcohol.
votes 2 Helpful / 0 Funny / 0 Agree / 0 Disagree

7 days ago

Thanks for the information - the 'Beat Generation' were in my thoughts back in Uni days. Kerouac was inspirational to me, in that, after reading his story I decided to find an education, stop the booze and live a life away from the road. regards Dape
votes 0 Helpful / 0 Funny / 0 Agree / 0 Disagree

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