Susie Salmon, (like the fish), is fourteen years old in 1973. She has “mousy brown hair”, a family she loves, (including a great dog), and a junior high school she goes to. She is also dead, and this story is Susie telling the reader about her life, her death, and what happened after that.

This is a sad, heartbreaking, kind of story. Susie watches from heaven as her family deals with her absence, aching to be with them, but mostly unable to be. So much is lost! Susie was just at that age where she was starting to have crushes on boys, and then, just when she starts dating someone wonderful, she dies before it gets a chance to go anywhere. She never gets to grow up. She never even gets to attend high school. Her sister and baby brother are shocked and stunted for years and years, and her parents fall apart in completely different ways from each other. What once was a happy family is soon one in pieces, and the reader watches along with Susie as those pieces fall and shatter.

Innocence is lost for everyone. Susie is raped and murdered by a man from her neighborhood. (The reader learns this on the second page of the story, so, I don’t feel I am giving anything away here). It was her first sexual experience. The town she lived in was previously considered to be “safe”. After Susie dies, every person in town has to stop feeling safe, and start considering the implications of what happened, that it happened in their town, and that Susie’s killer is still out there somewhere.

Sebold captures perfectly what it feels like to be fourteen years old. That mix of feeling both too old and too young at the same time, the awkwardness, the insecurity, the passionate emotions and the bright and shiny hope of what the future will bring in the years ahead. It is all there. Susie stays this way as her family on earth ages and grows up. It intensifies the entire story. Sebold also has painted an accurate picture of grief and loss, and the different ways people deal with it. She makes it real.

I also liked the way Sebold described heaven. It doesn’t match up to the way any particular religion defines it, but its definitely a “heaven”. Its comfortable and magical and timeless. I found it quite interesting.

This is a beautiful story, and very well written, but, for me, its just to sad. I decided to read this book because its one of those books that so many people tell me I should read, and a book that people rave about. I am glad I did read it, and I did like it. Its just too sad for me to want to read again anytime soon.

Everyone at one time or another in their lives has had a boss that they despise. In many cases, the feeling is pretty mutual between the poor, disgruntled, employee, and the much higher paid, vindictive, boss. Some of you out there reading this might be thinking that right now, your boss is actually Satan himself. Whatever is going on at your office, it can’t be worse than what happens in this book.

This fiction book tells the story of Andrea, who recently got out of college, and wanted nothing more than to write for The New Yorker Magazine. Instead, she takes a job at a fashion magazine called Runway, and it takes over her life. She becomes a “second assistant” to a very high powered, very scary woman named Miranda Priestly, who just might actually be insane.
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Here we have a book that is filled with interesting contradictions and relationships! It is a work of Historical Fiction, which, at least to me, makes the story that much more compelling.

The main story takes place between around 1884 and 1917 in a small village in France. Marie and her family, (her parents, foster sister, and younger brother) move into this small village due to some misfortune, and are not greeted very warmly at all. Marie is sixteen years old at the time. Soon, a friend of her mother’s comes to live with the family. Berenger Sauniere is good looking and charismatic, and catches the attention and affection of young Marie. Unfortunately for both of them, the reason he has moved to the village is because he was assigned there. He is the new priest. These two people really did exist, and while Hassinger has used some known facts about the two people and how they lived, she also has imagined a great story to fill in the gaps, creating a wonderful tale of Historical Fiction.
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This is the Science-Fiction book I have been waiting for! It’s a bestseller in Germany, the country the author lives in. In Germany, the book is called Der Schwarm! I couldn’t pass this one up when I saw it!

I couldn’t put this book down! Its filled with so much good stuff. The basic story idea is simple. There are aliens living in the oceans, who have been here much longer than humans, are smarter than us, and are really, really, tired of us now. The book is incredibly action packed. One scene describes a coordinated whale attack, that is better than anything in “Jaws”. A scene towards the end where a gigantic boat is sinking is as exciting as some of “Titanic”. There is lots of explosions, some gunfire, and even a Tsunami! In between all of the action is a mystery the characters are trying to solve, as they try to connect the dots between the many catastrophies and plagues that are happening around the world, and the source of it all. Each character is extremely well developed, with his or her own history and problems. Its wonderful! Many are scientists, from different countries and branches of science. It would take too long to detail them all here, so I will leave the reader to meet them as you go through the book.

If all that is not enough to make you want to dive into this book, there’s more! The book is filled with lots and lots of science! For those of you who find biology and genetics as fascinating as I do, and can’t seem to read enough about it, this book will give you your fix. There is detailed talk about many of the ocean’s creatures, habitats, and how they all go together. Some of the characters in the book are scientists, and their work includes genetics, which they talk about with each other. Lots of talk about how cells function, what they do, what they can’t do, and how different chemicals affect that. If you don’t really dig biology that much, there is still something for you. Schatzing includes many computers, underwater robots, and even details about how different boats work. The SETI program also plays a part in this book, and uses mathematics! There are even aliens. The best part is that you don’t know about a particular technical thing mentioned in the book, Shatzing will give you a refresher course. He has placed at least one character in the mix in each part who isn’t familiar with the concept, and the other characters masterfully educate him and the readers at the same time.

If you are a nature buff, this book is also for you. Beautiful descriptions about the ocean, schools of fish, whales, sharks, and pods of dolphins. Much of this book can be viewed from an environmental standpoint. Of course, much of the planet in this book is under attack, so the book makes for a good Armageddon/end of the world story as well. I always seem to enjoy those!

Also interesting, is that the book isn’t centered only on what happens to America, and Americans. Few characters are Americans. Most of the ones that are Americans are not exactly shown in our best light. There is a lot of political backstabbing going on, spying, and lying. The President sounds an awful lot like our George. He relies on advisers to make key decisions, and keeps phrasing things in ways only Christians would choose to do. (In parts, he wants to kill the aliens because he thinks humans, especially Americans, are “formed in God’s Image” and therefore, supposed to “win”). One of the advisors is a woman named Judith Li, who is a General. She’s manipulative, and power hungry, and might even be actually crazy. (One thing I didn’t like was Shatzing often refers to her as the General Li. Makes me think of the car of a similar name from a popular TV show).

There is so much in this book! Its definately worth the time it took to read through the over 800 pages. I got this book as an Advanced Reader Copy, because I work in a bookstore. It should be out in June 2006. Science Fiction fans will enjoy reading this over their summer vacations.