5 comments about Bringing Home the Birkin: My Life in Hot Pursuit of the World's Most Coveted Handbag.

1. You can almost think the writer is a woman the way he writes passionately about Birkin bags! You come to learn however, there is no emotional connection: purely sales. Michael is a great writer, weaving wonderful stories amongst the Birkin-buying mayhem. The fact that this is a true story was even better. I recommend this book to anyone who loves travel/shopping/laughing. But beware: you'll want to jump on the first plane to Barcelona after you've read it!



2. Been through the first few chapters so far...
   Reads like a breeze...
   
   Very tongue-in-cheek...
   Quite readable....



3. While reading reviews for this book, one thing you rarely see is the mention that it's also a scathing expose of Hermes' business practices. I also don't think their customers, and in particular those that pay ridiculous secondary-market prices, come off all that well. I'm sure that wasn't the primary intent of the author, but it is silly to pursue a status symbol to the point where you're willing to pay many thousands of Dollars over the regular price just to get a handbag.
   
   What do you get for those thousands? The most well-known symbol for women to say "I've arrived" that's at least marketed by a major luxury firm. It has to be universally recognized, right? It reminds me of teens that say how individual they want to be, but they're really dressing like all of their friends. If everyone wants the same bag, and some women have dozens, does it really retain it's "status" or purported rarity? Doesn't the sheer number of bags that some collectors own prove the fact that they're not rare but rather marketed efficiently?
   
   Hermes, of course, isn't alone in marketing this way, but they must be extremely irritated to have their secrets exposed so easily.



4. Great and funny book. What a wonderful well travelled life, Mr. Tonello
   Lived in his quest for the BIRKIN. A must Read for every FASHONISTA



5. I was disturbed by this empty, fatuous book and disturbed by the many fawning, fatuous reviews. We have something serious here, a superficial man leading an empty, distorted, corrupt life, and then writing a congratulatory book about it, without an inkling of self-awareness. There is a good word that describes this man's career, a word that the author doesn't seem to be aware of, and it's called SCALPING. Scalping is when someone who is dishonest and without integrity puts him/herself in the position to get his hands on valuable, hard-to-get objects and then takes advantage of others by re-selling them at a significant mark-up. There is a reason why scalpers lurk in dark corners and are dishonest about what they are doing, and why it is illegal in many places. Even free-market capitalism doesnt condone scalping. This is what this book is about at its core -- dishonesty, not fashion or shopping -- as the author details all of the lies and deceit that he uses to make his over-sized profit (and creating a deceptive euphemism for his chronic lying by calling it his "formula"). Other characters in the book are also dishonest and detestable, particularly Ward -- who sends the naive author all the way to Europe and then abandons him there. It is very telling that the author does not have the insight to label Ward as a bad person. This book is about corruption and lack of integrity, but the author is not aware of it.

5 comments about Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself.

1. I reserve a one star review for books I just can't force myself to finish. And this book is one of those. This is a collection of commencement speaches Mr. Alda has given over his career as well as some stories that give background to them. If you love to sit through commencement speaches, this is the book for you. I have better things to do with my time. Sorry Alan.



2. 
   Alda's down to earth brief sketch of his life and career was very enjoyable reading. After reading it I thought that Alda turned out to be a fascinating person in spite of being raised by a not with it mother and distant father. He gave some good ideas on how to live with his recalling of the graduation speaches he was asked to give along the way.



3. Yes, sure, like everyone else over the age of 30 I, too, subliminally believe that Alan Alda really *is* Hawkeye Pierce. And I love watching him get down on the asphalt to sniff the exhaust from an electric car on Scientific American Frontiers. But, really? He's not much more than a competent writer, and at least in this book, he doesn't really have anything to say.
   
   Just in case you haven't picked it up from the other reviews, the bulk of this book is a lot of commencement speeches that Alda has given over the years, in which he tried to give crowds of 20-somethings the benefit of his insights into happiness and personal responsibility. These speeches may have been appropriate to the time and audience for which they were originally intended, but reproducing them in a book is pretty pretentious, particularly given that his advice isn't anything that we haven't already heard. Are platitudes about working hard, making time for our families, practicing some kind of social activism, and accepting happiness as it comes to us more valuable because they're uttered by Alan Alda?
   
   Here's a quick rule of thumb for those contemplating a memoir: if you don't have something truly unique to say, stick to telling interesting stories about your life. This would have been a much better book if Alda had just told the anecdotes he uses as padding between the speeches, although even those are often self-serving (we were actors! protesting! in the 70s! you should be more like we were!). Sadly, I find that I like Alan Alda a lot less after having read this book.



4. I just need to put this one on my list for a re read, as it really pumped me up and I am about ready for another dose. Very inspiring, reminds readers of what is really important in life.



5. Very smoothly,seamlessly written. Although there are many excerpts from his speeches,the author has also given us a profound,insightful book.
   Alda'a near death experience,and consequent revelations are a pleasure to read.
   In highlighting his rocky road to achieving good mental & emotional health,the author must have had the average man/woman in mind.He writes
   with passion and heart.

No comments about John Lennon: The Life.

2 comments about Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life.

1. I never knew much about Steve Martin's life before besides the standup albums, the SNL, movies, etc... This book tells a lot about his life behind those scenes of comedy and if your a Steve Martin fan, it makes for a humorous yet touching read.



2. With a number of hit movies under his belt, it's almost easy to forget that Steve Martin first earned fame doing stand-up comedy. In the late 1970's he was selling out large arenas, appearing regularly on Saturday Night Live and the Tonight Show, and spinning platinum comedy albums excerpted from his act. He made it look easy and was wildly successful until he walked away in the early 80's. In this book, he takes a look back at the path that led him toward all that fame. While he begins with childhood, he limits himself to events that were formative to his career. The narration is honest and concise. Whether he talks about failures in himself or others, he adopts a matter-of-fact tone that deftly avoids dips into self-pity or bitterness.
   
   As the book continues, we learn all of his major stepping stones from Disneyland to the Bird Cage theater at Knotts Berry Farm, and so on. Martin traveled a winding road to stand-up success and is brutally honest about how much he had to learn for so long early in his career. Yet, with each step, you can see the progress as he figures out how to create his own unique comedy voice and make it work.
   
   There are many things that could be said in favor of "Born Standing Up." From my perspective the most important are these two. First, I felt like I knew Steve Martin better when I finished reading than when I started. That may seem an obvious result of any biography but it can only be said if the author is genuinely candid. The second thing is that I both like and respect him more as a result. Not because he paints a perfect picture of himself, but because he is honest about his shortcomings and how he dealt with them. It was a true pleasure to spend this time in his company and I hope he writes a sequel someday covering the experiences of his movie career.

5 comments about Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72.

1. Another classic from HST, in fact maybe my favorite work of his. The setting for the book is the presidential campaign of 1972 pitting Gorge McGovern against Richard Millhouse Nixon. It begins with Thompson being sent by Rolling Stone to be the Washington D.C. correspondent for the magazine. From there the rollercoaster ride begins. HST chronicles the campaign from first, covering the Democratic primaries and running to the nomination of McGovern at the Democratic National Convention, and finally the Presidential election itself.
   HST pioneered his own unique style of gonzo journalism and this book, along with the classic Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, defined him and his craft. Stark in its style and approach, the prospective provided by HST of what it is like to be out there on the campaign trail is unique to my knowledge. A dramatic inside story of the battles of the campaign trail emerges and fills in significant gaps in other press coverage of the time. HST's quest for truth, politics, and the eternal buzz paint a picture that the straight press never could because of restrictions like `objectivity' and the like. The result is perhaps the best account to date on what is really going on behind the scenes of a campaign for the highest office in the land.
   The only drawback about reading HST is that it always gives me an incredible urge to drink and act in a semi-crazed style. It is says something about the infectious nature of his work and one often finds oneself wishing there were more gonzo journalists writing today.
   This book is essential reading for anyone interested in politics and the machinery behind it. Even if politics aren't your cup up tea, HST brings a new dimension to any subject that he writes about, one that can be appreciated for its raw truth as well as its unconventional delivery. Although HST only provides one way of looking at politics out many possible, readers would be doing a disservice to themselves by passing over this book. Other views are widely espoused by many journalists and pundits, but to my knowledge no one else has tread where HST has dared to go.
   This one gets 5 stars for being original, highly entertaining, and remaining relevant to this day.



2. I read this book as an appetizer for the current US presidential election campaign. And what an appetizer it is - akin to a halopenio shrimp cocktail with mescalin! It would have been an even better starter for the 2004 election, with which the 1972 election (featured here) shared many features: An incumbent hated by all the progressives at home and everybody in the rest of the world, an opponent who stands for nothing but not being that incumbent (defeated in the primaries in 72) and a murderous, immoral and expensive war on the other side of the world, which nevertheless didn't cost the US president his job.
   
   When the great HST covers the 1972 campaign, the verb "cover" takes on a whole new meaning. He immerses himself in the broadcast of a pro football game in order to adopt the same mindset as pro football fanatic Richard Nixon. He almost drowns in the Atlantic ocean in Miami in sight of his friends at a democratic primary-night party. At the republican convention, he joins the young republicans and talks to them about acid (they think he is referring to proton donors, like hydrochloric acid). Not despite, but rather because of this famous "gonzo" style of journalism, HST's book is rich in insight about US politics and politics in general. He goes so much further than the horse-race type coverage commonly fed to the public. Thompson provides an intelligent assessment of the moods and trends in the US population and a really smart analysis of why people vote for whom. He has excellent insight into the dynamics of the individual campaigns and how they are molded by the characters and agendas of the candidates, the interactions with their campaign workers and their relations to the party apparatus. HST doesn't think of elections as some kind of stunt happening every couple of years, but he explains them as deeply interwoven with the social and demographic workings of the USA.
   
   Some of my most favorite political quotes are from this book. Thompson really loves his country, he says "it could have been a testament to some of man's best instincts", but he is in despair over the crocks (Nixon and cronies) who have taken it hostage. This emotional state of his and the worry about the direction the US will take in '72 got him to write an intense and fiery book.
   
   Do yourself a favor - stop following the electoral coverage on the corporate media for a week, use your time to read this book, and then go back to the current campaign and you will view it in a new light.



3. This book's setting is eerily similar to the current state of affairs going on in with the 2008 Presidential Election, with the Democrats picking themselves apart while the Republicans sit back and enjoy the show. Richard Nixon is shown as the abomination that he was and HST's writing is as animated and humorous as I have ever seen it. This book surpassed my expectations and was a surprisingly fast read at 496 pages. I was left begging for more political insight and HST wit. A must read for any HST fan or anyone interested in the inner workings ( mostly the dark side) of politics. A great book that shows that HST was and is probably better than his already sizable legend permits.



4. It is revealing that thirty-five years after this book was first published, it is still in print and going strong. Bear in mind that this was originally a series of magazine articles, written under pressure of deadline for Rolling Stone. I could read it (and will read it) again and again. Just think of Theodore White's "Making of a President" series. Just give Teddy a couple of hits of blotter acid and you have "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72" by Hunter S. Thompson.
   
   This could only be described as journalistic poetry. The passion rage and ultimate disillusionment expressed by Thompson throughout these pages are as moving today as they were when first written in 1972. Covering the doomed campaign between a crooked used car salesman like Dick Nixon and a statesman of George's McGovern's stature must have been a soul wrenching experience. Given the benefit of hindsight, especially what the months following its publication would reveal about the depths of the Nixon Gang's corruption, reading this book is all-the-more bittersweet. But it's also funny - screamingly so.
   
   It really shouldn't surprise anyone familiar with his work that Hunter would eventually be consumed by his own rage. It can't be easy for a person with so clear a grasp of the hypocrisies of the so-called American dream to live amongst us as a functioning, mentally healthy human being. How could it have been easy being Hunter Thompson?
   
   Tom Degan
   Goshen, NY



5. I have read a number of Hunter Thompson's books. Some were very good and some were just too "over the top". There are elements of both in "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1972". This book focusses on the 1972 Democratic campaign for President beginning with the start of the primary campaign. Thompson has his favorites in the race and it is helpful that one of them, George McGorvern, wins the Democratic nomination. Along the way to the nomination, we are treated to Thompson's vile opinions of others in the race such as Edmund Muskie and, especially, Hubert Humphrey.
   
   Thompson's book is essentially a compilation of articles that were written for "The Rolling Stone" throughout the campaign. The articles meld together well. Thompson appears to have been treated nearly the same as other "main stream" reporters although there are times that he seems to be off on his own. The book concludes with a helpful insight to the reasons behind the catastrophic loss suffered by McGovern.
   
   I enjoyed this book for the insight and the recollections that it provided me. I was 20 year's old in 1972 and, thanks to President Nixon, able to vote in my first election. I was an avid supporter of McGovern back then. I understood his reasons for dropping his running mate, Thomas Eagleton, after disclosures of Eagleton's past mental health treatment became public. In the week that followed that revelation, the only news that the press seemed to write about the McGovern campaign was an on-going analysis of Eagleton's suitability for the office. With nothing coming out about McGovern or his issues, it seemed an unfortunate inevibility to have to cast aside Eagleton to be able to refocus on McGovern. Of course, that only made matters worse and McGovern's campaign never recovered from it. Thompson gives a fair amount of insight to that event that helped me to understand it better. There were other insights as well but that leads me to my objection of Hunter Thompson's book. There were enough scenes of the standard drug-crazed observations that made me realize that I couldn't be sure what was fact or what was a sort of morning after effort to recollect the foggy night before. Some things clearly seemed impossible to be true. Some things seemed clearly a representation of factual inside information. However, there were enough questionable accounts that I had to set aside because of Thompson's wasted pages spent building up his persona. Were these events real or imagined like the mescaline deal taking place outside his motel window? Were these quotaions accurrate or just as imagined as the various mind-altering drugs that Thompson was sure some of the various candidates were taking? The problem with Hunter Thompson is that you never know what to believe. He took on a worthy topic and had a lot to share. A lengthy transcript of one of his interviews betrays a fairly normal, intelligent journalist's questions of a candidate. If he had played it straight, this would have been a much more significant contribution to the Presidential Campaign of 1972. As it is, it's an interesting mixture of fact and fiction that a reader can take or leave.

2 comments about We Bought a Zoo: The Amazing True Story of a Young Family, a Broken Down Zoo, and the 200 Wild Animals That Change Their Lives Forever.

1. For the contributor from Publishers Weekly to suggest that there were too many 'unexplained' Britishisms in this book is, I would have thought, a comment on the limited knowledge of the reviewer rather than on the author/publisher. Besides, such colloquialisms are a cinch to look up on line nowadays if you happen to come across the rare one you haven't seen/heard in the various media.



2. Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1JP7QHURGKT20 BENJAMIN MEE, former journalist, father, son and now Zoo Director recounts the poignant, funny, charming, scary transistion from being a guy with a regular family to a gentleman with an very, very extended family.
   
   Shot live at Book Expo America for MovingStories.TV, hosted by Lynn Rosen (Open Book), courtesy of Weinstein Books. MovingStories.TV is made available to the members of Canadian Booksellers Association in collaboration with the CBA.
   
   For More go to lynnrosen.com and movingstories.tv.
   
   (c) BookShorts Moving Stories 2008

5 comments about Vogue Living: Houses, Gardens, People.

1. Photography is extraordinary. The people featured therein, not so much. Still, it's a beautifully done publication and worth the cash but buy it at discount.
   Stylemaven



2. Flash review: The perfect gift book for this season.
   
   This new book, timed for Xmas giving, features a selection of the best homes shown in Vogue in the past several years. It is a large-scale book, filled with wonderful color photography. Although Elle Decor and Architectural Digest have come out with similar books this season, neither can hold a candle to Vogue's tome. If you are familiar with the 1968 publication, "Vogue's Book of Houses, Gardens, People", which now sells for $400 and up if you can find it, you will know what is in store for you.
   
   Maximum emphasis on homes you would love to see in person, owned by people of impeccable style: Janet de Botton in the south of France, Marella Agnelli in Marrakech, David Cholmondeley's stately, etc.; minimal number of celebrity digs done by decorators of questionable taste which you tend to see in Architectural Digest. The style and taste of the featured houses, gardens (and, yes, people) are on an entirely different plane than those shown in the new books by the other two lifestyle magazines.



3. There is no disputing that this is a sumptuous volume. Lavishly produced, its oversized 384 pages are crammed with images of exquisite rooms and lush gardens from 36 unique homes, owned by the rich and/or famous in Europe, America and North Africa and into the likes of which you and I will never set foot. (Which is the reason, thankfully, such books are produced and why we lesser mortals buy them.)
   
   There are rooms modern and rooms classic, arranged with the taste, elegance and restraint of the world's best decorators and captured by the world's greatest photographers. And yet the rooms are not museum pieces, but are demonstrably inhabited by their owners, their well-scrubbed children and their adorable dogs, such as the greyhound on page 317 filching a piece of cheese from the dinner table.
   
   My favourite room which is featured on the front jacket cover is of Janet de Botton's breakfast room in Provence, its French chateau décor a study in white, cream and faded pastel, the background, literally a wall of china - floral motifed white plates and platters displayed on white-painted, floor-to-ceiling wooden plate racks built into the walls. (Already I've been measuring my walls to see how I can incorporate something similar - though less vast - into my old house).
   
   At the opposite end of the décor spectrum is Amanda Brooks NYC loft, all kitsch and brash eye-popping colour like a Barbie Doll house with Brooks herself photographed in a Barbie Doll style gown in a Barbie Doll pose. (It's not to my personal taste but cleverly done & I had to look twice to be sure the figure lying stiffly across the bed wasn't a mannequin).
   
   If you are a fan of décor books you will find plenty more here to inspire, amuse and entertain you and your like-minded friends and family.
   
   So why did I hold back from a five star rating? My quibble is with the empty 14 pages devoted to Madonna which might have been put to better use: Madonna's cow pastures, M. with (admittedly cute) children; a gowned & high-heeled & coiffed M. feeding the chickens (as if!); M. canoodling with husband, a double-page shot of M's sheep -- & only one tiny interior shot, a sitting room that was rearranged by the photographer & does not reflect the actual décor of Madonna's house - which might have been of real interest even to a non-fan like me.
   Thus the book falls just a little short of being, for me, the epitome of the coffee-table décor genre.



4. you have to love decor and fashion to understand this book.it is Vogue after all!!!! the book is full of fabulous properties and fabulous people.I went through it already many times and got inspired by it.
   Buy it f you are a fan of vogue magazine !!!



5. I love this book, it is absolutely beautiful. Everyone with any taste needs to purchase this book!

5 comments about Rome Sweet Home: Our Journey to Catholicism.

1. A single and interesting experience around human being and his need to go through the deep of his soul. A wonderfull withness of the dayly life and a sane relationship between a man and a woman.



2. I read this book for my book club, but found it to answer many questions I was having (as a protestant married to a Catholic) about Catholicism. It is written in a down-to-earth way so that even I could understand it!
   
   It's a good and also fairly quick read. I highly recommend it.



3. I loved this book. I bought it for my girlfriend, who is a protestant thinking of coming to the catholic church. It helped me realize and understand what she is going through with her family.



4. Its a very intresting book to read... I was so taken up by the book, i even put candle at night to read while others were sleeping... As for me I love my Catholic Church. Even though many others think against it, I can see Jesus in every Sacrament, every Priest and I can see the invisible hand of God in everything... If you have to know the depth of Jesus you have to know the depth of Catholic Church... Come and taste it, not just in this book but in real life....



5. Interesting, but rather preachy. I think it's a well written description of a 'coming of age' of a sorts...

4 comments about Riding on the Edge: A Motorcycle Outlaw's Tale.

1. I think this book was as good as the Sonny Barger book, Hell's Angel if not better.
   Very gritty and realistic and man, John Hall is a very good writer as well. He kept me reading and reading on.



2. "Riding on the Edge" is, IMHO, the finest work of 1%er biker literature on the stands today. Written by an Old School biker and original member of the Pagans MC, this is a thoughtful, respectful and captivating story of what it was like to be a 1960s motorcycle outlaw.
   
   Written by John Hall, today a professional journalist and academic, Hall's book eclipses Sonny Barger's very successful effort (Hell's Angel) and, when compared, makes a mockery of Ruben "Doc" Cavazo's recent book about himself (oh, and the Mongols MC, too).
   
   "Riding" is a wonderful read with the best outlaw biker book cover on the stands to date. Well worth the purchase.



3. This is a very GOOD book, well written and well documented.The style is even better than an other all-time icon, Hells Angels by H.Thompson.It is worth every euro I paid for it.As an european biker I get a better look at the history of 1%-America in years. Most of the publications were always about the HAMC and now more books are published about the other clubs:giving a more balanced look at these matters.Truly an outstanding piece of work.



4. In 2006 John Hall's literary agent James Fitzgerald of New York contacted us about the book. At that time Fitzgerald was informed that John Hall in fact did not have authorization to write, print or publish any thing about the Pagan's MC. John Hall has never contacted the club at all to seek authorization. The book is interesting to read for the most part, however it is by no means a acurate and true account of the 1 1/2 years that John Hall was a member of the club. Not only is it an exageration of his own status and position within the club, but also certain alleged events written of in the book are totally fictional and never happened. For the most part he dropped names of men that are dead now, however others are still alive and atest to the false nature of this personal account of John Hall. John Hall was nothing more than a spoke in a wheel. John Hall is not a original member of the club and does not have the respect or honor that position would grant.
   Pagan Ronnie 1%
   Pagan's MC

5 comments about Enrique's Journey.

1. I happened on this book at church on Sunday morning, part of the United Methodist Women's Mission reading. I guess I was meant to pick it up and read it. I have not had much compassion for the plights of immigrants. Coming to the United States illegally. Flooding our society with push 1 for English every where you call. Teaching our children in grade school to speak Spanish if only a small amount. Getting services from welfare systems and even social security benefits........are those meant for United States citizens. Now I have a different view. The living conditions of these individuals is deplorable at best. The prices we have to pay to buy our children and grandchildren Tommy Hilfiger clothes when people in Honduras are sewing these clothes in sweat shops working 10-12 hour days and making $30 a week. And what they endure to even get here with the Mexican authorities treatment on the way.........There has to be a way to allow them the opportunity to apply for Visas and work permits for 6 months out of the year to come and work and make enough to raise their families.....................MY EYES ARE OPEN. An excellent read!!!!!



2. This book was hard to put down as well as hard to read. It evoked the full range of emotions. The inhumanity of some mixes with the incredible generosity of others. It is a story of the best and the worst that humans can be. It puts a human face on the problem of immigration. You will never look at undocumented workers the same way again.
   Sonia Nazario does a tremendous job of describing the immigration problem from many different perspectives. Although she focuses on Enrique's journey to the United States from Honduras, she also gives us a view of all of the people who are touched by immigration. She wisely gives us no answers. In fact, we are left knowing that there are no easy answers.



3. First things first: I need to address that I am reviewing the BOOK, based on my experience of reading it, and nothing else. I am not rating Ms. Nazario, or Enrique, and I am not making a statement about illegal immigration.
   
   Nor am I reviewing this book to provoke outrage or negativity. Think of this review as an invitation: if it speaks to you, the information is probably useful, and will inform your decision to purchase or not purchase this book. If it doesn't speak to you, don't read my review; no one is forcing you to. In either case, you have made the right choice.
   
   I'm reviewing the book. And I really didn't like the book. There's a few reasons for this:
   
   
   1) THE WRITING STYLE IS BORING
   
   No doubt Ms Nazario is a talented journalist, but I do not think that her style of writing is engaging. Unlike the writings of Eric Schlosser or Malcolm Gladwell--two journalists who I felt became successful at the art of writing longer nonfiction--Nazario's prose feels choppy and disjoint, unable to find its own rhythm or build momentum. Due to this lack of momentum, I found that I had to put the book down every few pages.
   
   Perhaps this style was unintentional--it would work well in a short newspaper article, where there is a very small space to write, and one can get away with a repetitive sentence structure and narrative "attack"--but Nazario's much longer (and larger) story suffers from the monotony of her style.
   
   The style reminds me of the camerawork on shows like CSI, where quick, jerky movements of the camera imply a constant sense of urgency, even though two characters are simply discussing the details of an autopsy (which, frankly, they do every day). Climactic situations deserve this urgency; the narration of a character's history does not. Nazario's style indiscriminately applies this sense of urgency in the same way that Fox News indiscriminately seeks to frame any situation in terms of a crisis. In America this style of reporting/camerawork is popular, but to me it is simply tiring.
   
   Some reviews of the book call it "Gripping." Those reviews are accurate. However, I don't need my attention to be constantly gripped. Which brings me to
   
   
   2) THE LACK OF MENTAL/EMOTIONAL DEPTH AND NUANCE
   
   Nazario, politically, does not present a one sided story. However, the book is one-sided in the way it frames Enrique's life in terms of lack, absence, and failure. Undoubtedly, Enrique lacks a lot, most importantly his mother. A better writer would be able to get away with this, but Nazario's prose gets stuck in the formulaic traps of standardized journalistic writing.
   
   This, coupled with the constant sense of urgency in her writing prevented me from seeing Enrique's situation as anything other than... well, urgent... and bad. Her train of thought rarely stops for imagery, metaphor, reflection, or interior monologue. When it does stop, it does not stop for long. The result is that rather than rather than "feeling" and "knowing" Enrique in all his pain, I merely caught a glimpse of him--literally and figuratively, as if I were looking through the window of a fast-moving train.
   
   There is almost no humor whatsoever, something that the aforementioned Schlosser does manage to squeeze in while tackling equally dark subjects. One might say that humor does not fit the storyline, but I disagree: everyone's life is a mixed bag. Life is not uniform, but variegated, a vast ecosystemic swirl of light and dark.
   
   
   
   3) THE STORY MOVES PREDICTABLY
   
   While I've never been to Honduras, I have travelled elsewhere within the Third World. I've also read a lot. Thus, I have a large amount of firsthand and secondhand experience about the difficulties people face in impoverished areas.
   
   Had I not had these experiences, I might like Enrique's Journey. But to me, it offers nothing new. I felt like I "got the point" of the book within the first two pages: "Enrique's life sucks, and he has very few choices, and that's a shame."
   
   Based on my experiences, I'm not arguing that these things aren't true--I'm reviewing the book, not people--but it leaves me wondering: why read the rest of the book if it's not going to teach me anything I don't already know?
   
   I already know how bad the external conditions are in these areas. I wasn't surprised to read about people looking for moldy bread in a landfill; that's reality for these people. It's also nothing new, nothing I can learn from.
   
   For anyone who can't find Honduras on a map, lacks media-literacy, or awareness of the ways in which multinational corporations take advantage of political corruption in the Third World, or of who works in the kitchen of their favorite restaurant... for that person, I can see this book being an "eye-opener." Ditto for American high schoolers, who lack the knowledge of these conditions.
   
   Enrique is unique. He's a person. No one will ever be Enrique. Had Nazario's writing taken me into the mind of Enrique, or at least subtly pointed as to his state of consciousness--a no-no in journalism, but a must in nonfiction--I would have learned a heck of a lot.



4. The book is about illegal immigration. I read it before my college-aged daughter for insight on what she needed to accomplish. It is an OK story, definitely makes you think twice about trying to get into the US illegally!



5. I picked this up, only to put it down after a few pages. The author's rather melodramatic approach made the story seem more like a cheap, badly-written novel than a nonfiction account. I just didn't see any sense that the author had 'connected' with the subject, and so I couldn't connect with it, either.