Review of The First $20 Million is Always the Hardest: A Novel (Paperback)

Author and Silicon Valley insider, Po Bronson, writes a very funny novel about four quirky guys with the right stuff who want to create something that matters in the realm of computers.From cutting edge software and hardware development companies to Palo Alto think tanks, the plot follows the creation of a less than $300 computer from a list of low priority projects at the think tank level to the actual modeling of a prototype that gets one rival top dog engineer's undies in a knot.The trials and tribulations that face the group compare to the highs and lows of an EKG with enough back-stabbing, personality manipulation and corporate espionage to keep the reading at a wonderous pace up until the last 20 or so pages. The crafting of the dramatic persona, especially the four progtammer/hardware specialists hinges closely to the usual stereotypical portrayals of techno geeks seen in movies and television shows.However this does not detract from the fun level of the story; indeed one gets the sense that these portrayal closely model reality.What does detract is the rather abrupt ending which winds down what could have been an all out page-turning business adventure with a stop-on-a-dime conclusion that certainly did not satisfy me.

Perhaps having seen the rather burlesque film version of this novel, I naively was expecting more bells and whistles and a more thorough troncing of rival engineer and threat Benoit.It never came, but perhaps that is due to the fact that I know nothing about the world of Silicon Valley where Bronson's could-be spoofs on the computer industry's behind the scenes star would lose their bite.Happily, the novel does not force a romance between Caspar and his housemate as in the movie version; here the attraction is noted and the reader can use his imagination to determine the outcome. Thank you, Po.

All in all, I enjoyed the novel; I just wish it had a longer ending.



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Review of Isn't It Romantic?: An Entertainment (Paperback)

This is the only book I've ever read that reads just like a movie script -- and this is a good thing!Ron Hansen has written an exciting, hilarious story that would fit perfectly on a movie screen without having to chop out any scenes.I loved it; it was entertainment at its finest.

Isn't it Romantic? tells the story of a French couple, Natalie Clairevoux, and her fiance, Pierre Smith, as they journey across America on a bus tour.Natalie, fed up with Pierre's loverboy ways, has decided to take the vacation of her dreams -- alone.But Pierre tracks her down in Omaha, wondering what in the heck?Pierre's cosmopolitian, European self doesn't belong amidst Midwest corn fields, so certainly this vacation of Natalie's must be a joke, right?Some sort of punishment for his waywardness?Then the bus breaks down in Seldom, Nebraska -- population 395 -- and the fun really begins.Stranded in the middle of nowhere, Natalie and Pierre are taken in by the friendly, quirky residents of this sleepy, peaceful town.

I laughed so much at the madcap scenes in this book.I can totally visualize the actions in my head in perfect detail.The citizens of Seldom are one of a kind, especially Owen, who has dreams of marketing his Nebraska wine, and Carlo, the cook at the café, who embarks on a matchmaking mission.Ron Hansen did an incredible job bringing these characters to life, and I will be looking for the movie adaptation in the future (hopefully!).



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Review of Love Medicine (Paperback)

Published in 1984, this stunning collection of interrelated short stories won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction.Focusing on the lives of several Chippewa Indian families, and the white families with whom they interact and/or marry, author Louise Erdrich depicts their traditional culture through some of the early characters, and, through later characters, the way the old ways change or become compromised through education, the introduction of religion by missionaries, and contact with modern society.The stories are set in North Dakota on or near a remote reservation, not far from the Canadian border, similar to the place where Erdrich grew up and where her parents worked as teachers for the Bureau of Indian Affairs

The stories reveal fifty years in the lives of the Kashpaw and Lamartine families from the 1930s to the 1980s, as they interact, intermarry, and ultimately try to figure out who they have become.Through her selection of details and her often lyrical descriptions, Erdrich creates vibrant local settings within which her characters tell their stories in lively, colloquial voices. Emotional, matter-of-fact, tormented, and sometimes angry, the characters are equally well drawn for both men and women.

The separate stories of Marie and Nector Kashpaw, which come together when they marry, occupy much of the very early years covered by the collection, but their stories also involve Lulu Lamartine, with whom Nector has a long affair.In the 1980s, Marie and Nector's grandson, Lipsha Morrissey, tries to create a "love medicine" for his elderly grandparents in an old age home, a story filled with ironies and, ultimately, dark humor. Between these stories time flashes forward and back as other generations, other children and parents from the same families, try to deal with the immediate aftermath of war, the harshness of the prison system, unemployment, and poverty.

As the characters overlap and interact throughout the stories,the author conveys Chippewa culture, the families' resistance to and acceptance of change, the roles of strong women in holding families together, the hostility towards the federal government, and the sometimes overwhelming despair of those who live on the reservation.The characters' sense of pride and endurance elevate even the saddest and most wrenching stories, however, while the bleak humor keeps them from becoming morbid or sentimental.Dramatic, thoughtful, and powerful, Erdrich's collection creates an unforgettable portrait of two families who represent a changing Chippewa nation.Mary Whipple




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Review of Alas, Babylon (Perennial Classics) (Paperback)

This story deals with the Soviet nuclear attack on America that fortunately didn't happen. Where "On the Beach" was written from a British/ Australian perspective, this book is based in the American south, perhaps making Pat Frank the Pat Conroy of post-apocalyptic fiction. In 1960, during the height of the Cold War, Randy Bragg, descendant of an old Florida family, gets a heads-up from his career Air Force brother and prepares his family and his town for when "the button gets pushed". Younger readers who didn't live through the Cold War might find this story a bit campy, but as one of the kids taught by teachers to hide under my desk, I'm in no position to scoff. The book's short length (by today's standards) might make you take it for pulp fiction at first glance, but the fact that it's still in print four decades later is a testament to its quality. Rather than just crank this thing out, certain that no one would notice the picky details, Frank did his homework on this story. Even down to the dog tag on the collar of a wild stray German shepherd in one passage--as a one-time resident of Rochester NY the same as that dog, I can testify to the fact that the phone exchange on his tag really did exist back in those days...

Product Description
The classic apocalyptic novel that stunned the nation with its vivid portrayal of a small town's survival after nuclear holocaust devastates the country.

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Review of Operation Wandering Soul (Paperback)

This is the third book by Mr. Powers I have read recently, the options I have at this point are to either, let my mind heal before starting anotherof his works, or read only a few pages a day. I cannot begin to imaginewhere he harvests these ideas, or by what type of neural net hat trick heuses to store them, so they can be recalled in the sequencing he desires.He must remember everything his five senses have ever identified withoutany detail filtered, none at all.

The menagerie that is his PediatricWard, the holding pen for the "Pedes" makes George Lucas's Cantina at MosEisley look like the local coffee shop. And while there is no music thereis "the Rapparition" who not only rhymes but also when he moves, he,"concocts this elaborate triple-level, supersyncopated, free-fallinggymnastic routine". And that's about as slow and mellow as this book evergets.

This is the most emotional book of his I have read. Previous worksheld the possibility of futures that were none too pleasant, and pasts thatmay have stung, but this time the tale is in real time. The assault isconstant, no quarter given. The Pied Piper of Hamelin fame makes hisappearance, but compared to the hopelessness that Dr. Kraft presides over,the Piper is Opera Buffa, comedic relief. The 13th century tale of terrorfirst becomes a light story, and then a play with the real world's brokenchildren of Angel City playing their fictional counterparts. No methodacting just be your broken self.

Richard Powers portrays a world thatdeserves nothing but condemnation. A world where the Children would bebetter off were they lead away rather than live the lives they have. Adultshave done nothing but inflict damage, including our 5th year resident Dr.Kraft.

He supplies this book with questions for further study at the endof a chapter, and then a literal word-by-word definition of the story ofPeter Pan. And yes you guessed it, a child whose body is ten times its agein appearance while maintaining the age appropriate size. A girl named Joywho never experiences the feeling as she is gradually taken apart.

Thisis as about as up close and personal to a Richard Powers nightmare as thisreader would like to get. I have no claim on a particularly vividimagination, but the Author drills down so vividly he could disturb thevictim of a coma.

A unique Author with a very unique mind.



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