jenknox's Reviews (494)

Capote's prose is fantastic. His images are precise and vivid, and due to this his ability to create an encapsulating scene that truly puts the reader in the moment, in this Kansas city--a quiet, small-town paradise--as it was turned inside out after a quadruple murder. Capote delves deep into the psyche of the killers, while juxtaposing that to the solitary and yet dynamically-portrayed lives of the victims.

I actually listened to this book on CD, and it was so deftly-written and lovely. I recommend it as one to listen to because the woman who read it, Barbara Rosenblat, did a fantastic job.

I don't usually enjoy listening to books as much as short story collections, but this was an exception. A beautiful joining of talents.

A Time to Tell is a great book. The story is multi-faceted: part mystery, part love story, part psychological thriller. I loved the swift touch Savva seemed to have with her scenes, painting them in soft, wide strokes that caused this reader to feel comfortable to lose myself in the scene without being over-burdened by detail or under-burdened by sloppy writing.
The only minor complaint I had was with the perspective shifts. When visiting Cara's past, we're in italics, and thrust as though into a memory, which sometimes add a sense of urgency, but I found it slightly distracting to the telling of this tale. All in all, a great book though, one that makes me want to read more of this writer.

Dazzling prose, and beautiful from page one to the end. But reading it was an odd experience for me.
Here's why:
My grandmother is schizophrenic (she shows up in much of my work) and the dynamic between the mentally ill and the effects of this illness on family is incredibly interesting to me. I was also intrigued by the fact that they came from Ohio, where my family is from and moved to Georgia, where my grandfather went when he left my grandmother (granted it was Athens rather than Savannah, but coincidence nonetheless) and I always wanted to live with him, to move away, but he kind-of had to leave our part of the family to start his new one.
There is a real fear of those who watch a family member suffer, even those who completely lose said member, that the illness will reach them one day. This element made for a powerful and subtly haunting back story.
So all that unnecessary and personal background out of the way, what I'm trying to say is that I could easily identify with these characters on a guttural level, and the beauty of Hoffman's prose kept me laughing and wondering what will happen next throughout. I recommend this book to most anyone.

I read this book online for PIF, and I have to give Jaimey Grant credit: she knows how to keep a reader's attention. The characters were believable and well-drawn. And from the very beginning, the book pulled me in. I did feel that the story got off track in a few places, where details seemed to be there that weren't directly relevant and too much time was spent on secondary characters, but all in all, I enjoyed the read. Romance isn't ordinarily my thing, but Heartless kept my attention (which is especially tough to do on the computer screen--where my email, and various social networking sites summon). I have to give the author her kudos for that.

This is a phenomenal collection. Read it, read it, read it!

This is a well-paced literary novel that explores relationships, loneliness, and the irrationality of longing for a thing one will never have. I loved it. The writing is clean and beautiful, and there is attention to words here like I rarely see in contemporary fiction--Burns has that ability to bring you into his character's world through the richness of details. The story is one that most people will be able to relate to, if in their own way, if ever the reader has take for granted another's role in his/her life. This is also a story about what it means to start over.