About this title: Two lesser characters from Carter's bestselling first novel, "The Emperor of Ocean Park"--husband and wife Lemaster and Julia Carlyle--take center stage in this compelling, literate page-turner that blends a gripping whodunit with complex discussions of politics and race in contemporary America.
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Description: Very Good. 0375712917 Great condition Soft Cover book, clean pages, mild creases to spine, light edge/corner rubs, this book is GREAT! Shop & Save With US. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780375413629ISBN:0375413626
Description: Good in Good jacket. 13-Z-Add the dust jacket has some wear Good Condition: A copy that has been read, but remains in good condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (including dust cover, if applicable). The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or be an ex-library item. Some pages or dust-jacket may have tiny tears. Books rated "Good" may have some notes, underlining, or highlighting ... read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Purchasing this book supports the King County Library System Foundation. Thriftbooks and KCLSF have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Purchasing this book supports the King County Library System Foundation. Thriftbooks and KCLSF have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Almost in new condition. Book shows only very slight signs of use. Cover and binding are undamaged and pages show minimal use. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Purchasing this DVD supports the North Central Regional Library. Thriftbooks and NCRL have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Library ID found on DVD and case. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Purchasing this item supports Pierce County libraries. Thriftbooks and PCL have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Very good. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Fair. Purchasing this book supports the King County Library System Foundation. Thriftbooks and KCLSF have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Fair. Purchasing this book supports the King County Library System Foundation. Thriftbooks and KCLSF have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Acceptable. Former Library book. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
"This was Carter's 2nd novel and again I loved his skill with language. It's a murder mystery, like Emporer of Ocean Park, but it's more complicated. It's told from Julie's pov; she's the wife of Lemaster Carlyle who is president of a small, private New England college based on Carter's Yale. The only reason I didn't give this book the full 5 stars is that the actual mystery is very complicated, maybe more than it needs to be. But on the other side, and the other reason critics loved this book, is that we get a look into America's "darker nation." (We are the "paler nation.") Even though Carter claims that the Empyreals and Ladybugs don't exist, I'm sure clubs like them do. In that, this reminds me of The Help, a parallel world we don't even suspect."
"I enjoyed reading this very much, although it had some of the same problems that his first novel, Emperor of Ocean Park did. The wife of an Ivy League college president gets caught up with investigating the murder of a faculty member (who also happens to be her former boyfriend) after realizing that her daughter is somehow indirectly involved. I liked the college setting, and as always I remain fascinated by the historically upperclass African American community (which overlaps a tiny bit with the characters from the first novel). The mystery itself is difficult to follow, I have a very hard time believing anyone would be able to either create or solve such a convoluted set of clues. It seems to rely an awful lot on a very vaguely worded hint that causes another character to have a Eureka! moment in which she realizes the true intended meaning with absolute clarity. In our house, we can't say "tuna" without the cat going bonkers, so I will sometimes ask James to pick up some "fish in a can" at the store, and he says "what are you talking about?" and I say "you know, the FISH that comes in a CAN" while holding up my hands to make the international sign for can opener, and then I try spelling it, "T-U-N-A" and James says "oh, you mean tuna" and the cat promptly begins howling as if we were starving him. So with any luck, James and the cat and I will never be involved in any sort of government conspiracy because we would be complete non-starters in the clue-solving department. There's even one clue in the book that the main character gets wrong at first, and then corrects later on, and that seems worse, in a way, as if brilliant Mr. Carter suspected some of his readers might start feeling inadequate so he wanted to throw us a bone.
Grade: B+ Recommended: It's a good read if you are willing to let go of any realistic notions about crime solving. The action is good, the pace is swift, and the characters are deeply interesting. I've personally decided to treat the conspiracy itself like an medieval allegorical poem -- something that isn't supposed to make that much sense in the real world, but you just need to roll with it to get to the ideas behind it. 2008/27"
"While I wanted to like this book, I just didn't. I was never sure what Carter wanted to do writing this book. For what purpose? Did he want to entertain - well, it just wasn't that suspenseful. I had answers for what was happening and then had to wade through 500+ pages to figure it out. I was hoping for something suspenseful - nope. If it was commentary about class or white privilege, the plot got in the way. And to top it off, the protagonist was a female. Carter is not a male who can write a female well. Julia was flat - two dimensional. She was not realistic at all. I finished this book very disappointed. I don't think I'll read anything else by Carter."
"It's really not fair that I have to leave my book-reading to do things like work, eat, or whathaveyou. This book, like Emperor of Ocean Park, has such excellent pacing that you just don't want to put it down for any reason.
Having finally been released from this book's grip, I will say that I did prefer Carter's Emperor of Ocean Park--but I am very picky about my mysteries/thrillers and this one had a touch of gruesome I didn't enjoy and also, I found a few relationships toward the end of the book just enough beyond my suspension of disbelief that I felt my traditional chagrin about mysteries return.
But a very good read, and an enjoyable return to Carter's skills with narrative and characters. Yes, I must now get my mitts on Palace Council!"
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