"Maggie's choice" takes place in a time when people held church services in barns, and the pators didn't even plan the sermon. Maggie Allerson is different from her friendsl Dancy and Susannah. Dancy has a lot of money and Susanah has a huge house and a lot of servants. Maggie has to do chores and have Latin lessons, and she's embarrassed about that. Maggie is always worried what Susanah will think of a girl like her and she always tries to please Susanah. On Christmas, Susanah gets her own slave girl and mistreats her. Melee (the servant girl) is so used to the warm climate of her old home in the West Indies that she becomes very sick. When Melee gets sick, Maggie realizes that Susanah is not nice and starts to stand up for her own beliefs. I liked this book because Maggie was so real it seeemed like I was sitting in the stagecoach on my way to Massachusetts. If you like books about history, this book is for you!

Jonathan Franzen's STRONG MOTION is one of the most original books I've read in years.
At its most basic level, STRONG MOTION is the love story of Louis Holland and a brilliant seismologist, Renee Seitchek and of strange happenings in Boston.
Ambitious, imaginative and quirky, Franzen successfully weaves moral, social and environmental issues into a complex, wry, intriguing and often humorous story about family and love.
STRONG MOTION along with the excellent reviews Franzen has received for his latest book THE CORRECTIONS (the current Oprah pick), should make Jonathan Franzen recognizable as an original voice for the decade.

I picked up Strong Motion after enjoying Franzen's The Corrections. The story lines in this novel are more complexly layered than those in The Corrections, but also more tightly organized. Most notably, in stark contrast to The Corrections, Franzen does not send us off to the Baltics to experience needless side stories. Every overlapping and interwoven piece of text is important to the rest of the novel.

Brief decriptions of the plot do not do the book justice, because they come off as unbelievable, even gimmicky. While Franzen does take bold risks with this story and his characters, this novel is so well crafted that I did not even pause to consider whether a particular plot twist was plausible. Like all good fiction, the unreal becomes real as the story unfolds.

With rich, conflicted characters and smart, penetrating observations of American society, Franzen's Strong Motion is a master work. It is easy to see why there was such a buzz around the release of The Corrections: Franzen is one of the best contemporary American literary fiction has to offer.

I read The Corrections first and loved it, so I wasn't expecting as much out of Strong Motion, but it was a nice surprise. I had the same problem as another reviewer - inability to put the book down to go to sleep at night. I started out expecting to dislike the characters I ended up liking. I know zero about petrology, science - but it was still interesting, and the characters are well drawn and likably flawed. Franzen throws interesting phrases into the most routine sentence - describing earthquake damage, he said a house was "incontinent of bricks." You don't want to skip anything.

Jonathan Kozol's Death At An Early Age reveals the numerous failings of a poor segregated Boston school in the 1960s. Overcrowding, poor facilities, bigotry, and blatant insensitivity destroyed the learning and emotional environment for the school's young black children. Kozol's account explains the school's troubles, and it's devastating effects, with intelligence and sensitivity. However his wordy writing style and penchant for over-dramatictization dilutes the power of his story. A better writer could have taken Kozol's account and made it into a much more compelling story. I had to read this book in college, and if I used the passive voice as much as Kozol did my GPA would have been much lower.

i've read a lot of kozol over the years - often he strikes me as too popularized, forsaking an unbiast view in order to pull the wool off the eyes of the public. however, kozol hits the nail on the head with this one. his portrayal of inner city schools in boston is heartfelt and nicely supported with information concerning the civil rights movement. if you're planning on reading kozol, read this one or his latest. if you're interested in the roots of the move to fix urban schools, this is the begining of a long list of books about the subject - and it depicts the need for change in a catchy, gut wrenching way.

You may have heard of Kozol's other books, like "Savage Inequalities" and "Amazing Grace." If not, GO READ THEM NOW!! Anyway, this is Kozol's fist big book, the one that launched into fame and the life-long career of Social Justice Avenger. If you want to understand more about racism, Kozol's life, and how he got into the business of saving the world, this is your book. It's also a great read! You don't have to be a teacher to enjoy this, but if you are it should be required reading. Two thumbs up.