Wednesday, November 03, 2004

book 99!

cynthia ozick's heir to the glimmering world

to me, this seemed like a pretty big departure from ozick's previous works--mainly b/c her novels tend to annoy me, and i really liked this one. it's the story of a young girl who takes an unspecified job for a professor and his family, who turn out to be financially supported by an extremely wealthy, adult christopher robin type. i realize that doesn't make sense, so i'll clarify, even though it's not important to the summary: the character's father wrote a series of much-loved children's book starring his son, the "bear boy." the mother of the family is perpetually in the midst of a nervous breakdown, the professor is studying the karaites, a weird mystical sect, and when the bear boy comes to visit, all hell breaks loose. ozick's characters--even the most minor--are really vividly drawn and i really liked the wrap-up here. so, two thumbs up. hm, maybe i should get a ratings system. like 4/5 bookshelves, or 4/5 cute bunnies . . .

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ratings systems are fun! I judge a book's page-turning intensity in paper cuts. (MIke)

Alicia K. said...

but i hate papercuts! ratings systems should involve good things, like stars and cups of coffee and little fluffy bunnies.

Anonymous said...

haha! Good point! I would suggest a scale based on little fluffy bunnies drinking coffee watching the stars, but that's SO ubiquitous these days... ;)

Alicia K. said...

hey man, if i could find a good graphic of such a thing, it totally would be my rating system! b/c, ADORABLE!