MixedBookforum\'This is the story of how Martha Graham became Martha Graham,\' Baldwin proclaims in the opening pages. I was both intrigued and skeptical upon reading these words. Great! But how would such a clarifying mission be accomplished? ... I confess I was puzzled why Baldwin embarked on his account of Graham. His notes and bibliography attest to the considerable labor of searching and sifting through source material ... Perhaps it’s the thrill of the chase for this serial biographer, or perhaps he simply fell under Graham’s spell. The book is peppered with his close readings of her work, many of which tip into breathlessness. I was moved by his ardor more than his analysis ... In a time when we’re worn out by all that we can know and all that we do know, there’s a peace and even a pleasure in accepting that, however much we want to understand, the past must necessarily keep some of its secrets.
John Burdett
RaveThe New York Times Book Review...Mr. Burdett doles his out with a witty, idiosyncratic flair, indulging readers’ taste for the exotic, even as he lets them smile knowingly at others’ less-enlightened tastes ...Bangkok Haunts avoids such nonsense, plunging back into the loopy, superstitious chaos of urban Thailand ...Mr. Burdett saves his best moments for on-the-fly details that do more than supply the requisite colorful detail, hinting at a writer with a generous affection for Thai culture ...does much better with Thais than Westerners, especially Americans, and especially the love-starved, high-strung F.B.I. agent Kimberley Jones, a hopelessly irritating stock character in need of a kill-off if ever there was one ...a book to be gobbled up at top speed, preferably while wearing sunglasses and drinking through a twisty straw. The inhaler is optional.
