About Book Marks
Recent Reviews
Anthony Doerr
Rave The Pittsburg Post-Gazette What level of patience is required and how many pages must we turn before caring about the multi-threaded stories in this new time-shifting, 622-page novel? Not far at all it seems. Cloud Cuckoo Land sings with the beauty of Doerr’s first published stories and rekindles the awe felt by book enthusiasts longing to recapture the feeling of being swept away by the absorbing power of our earliest loved tales ... Near the novel’s end the hefty themes gracefully fuse, while Doerr offers up more than a few surprises. One of the book’s best revelations takes place in the future, adding an element of hope. We ache when we it’s time to part with the courageous, very human characters, remembering how the finest stories cause pain and can change us.
Emily St. John Mandel
Mixed The Pittsburgh-Post Gazette As with many contemporary novels, the narrative follows a nonlinear path. Early characters fade far (too far?) into the background, and the past and present lives of newly introduced characters fill the frame ... The novel’s ever-present metaphors of glass and water allure. Yet a certain coldness spills over onto central characters. The pretense of the their shiny, glass-like lives influences our feelings, and it’s hard not to crave greater warmth and character development. Vincent isn’t unlikable, and we don’t blame her for choosing a different life. Neither is Alkaitis intensely unlikable, but the reader hungers for clues providing insight into the workings of their minds ... The Glass Hotel circles back to revisit...connections, yet it leaves the reader longing for a richer exploration of their import.
Emily St. John Mandel
Mixed Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The novel’s ever-present metaphors of glass and water allure. Yet a certain coldness spills over onto central characters. The pretense of the their shiny, glass-like lives influences our feelings, and it’s hard not to crave greater warmth and character development. Vincent isn’t unlikable, and we don’t blame her for choosing a different life. Neither is Alkaitis intensely unlikable, but the reader hungers for clues providing insight into the workings of their minds.
Gene Weingarten
Rave Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Writing with simplicity, Mr. Weingarten, a two-time Pulitzer winner, elegantly adds just enough detail to create a vivid picture and flesh out each story’s central figures. Only a few of these people have notoriety, making them all the more relatable. The 18 time-stamped stories move briskly through 24 hours of events occurring in widely disparate communities across the United States ... Whether examining singular motivation for a crime or the complexities of a relationship, Mr. Weingarten triggers our curiosity and creates suspense as we journey along with him on psyche-plumbing investigations ... Mr. Weingarten’s humor chops are on full display ... Gene Weingarten’s powerful retellings elevate the ordinary to the extraordinary and yield to an awakened sense of awe.