Lily Dale is one of a kind, no doubt about it. This is a town in New York State that caters to and is principally owned by Spiritualists. You will meet an array of characters that you will find only in this book and they are all devoted to be the benefit of others. Whether you believe in spirits or everlasting life is not really the issue. The fact is that many people do and this is a survey/rundown of how they think and their realities. The author was the greatest skeptic of all, yet after many visits in this town, her beliefs did change to a degree and you will find out why at the end of the story. You should enjoy all the information given and find out how "the other half lives."

(***1/2)
Born in rural New York in 1848, Spiritualism is one of the newer world religions. It attracted millions of adherents for awhile, but first Harry Houdini devoted himself to debunking mediums and replicating their "manifestations" on the cheap, and then the surviving founder confessed in her old age that the original raps and tipped tables were simple tricks that she and her sister had concocted to give their mother a little scare. And the Zeitgeist just changed; what had once appealed to leading intellectuals like Emerson and Susan B. Anthony began to feel like lowbrow credulity to younger lights.

So spiritualism survives only spottily. But in one town, Lily Dale, not far from its Empire State birthplace, its whole way of life continues as a kind of living fossil, a tribute to the determination of human beings to go on believing. In this case, to go on believing that countless spirits of the dead hover around us, eager to communicate, even if the message is usually trivial or vapid or vague; eager to wobble the furniture and make banging noises on cue. Christine Wicker, a longtime religion correspondent for the Dallas Morning News, made the trek northeast to try to learn how people come to embrace beliefs that seem not merely absurd but downright out of fashion.

To her considerable credit, Wicker really wants to understand the residents of Lily Dale, rather than to pass judgment on them. She wants to discover what mediumship feels like to the medium; why people find a deep emotional connection to "messages" from departed loved ones that on paper look pointless or suspiciously generic. By the time she's through, Wicker accomplishes those modest goals. She also bumps up repeatedly both against things she can't explain, and things she can explain all too easily. The mystery and the chicanery almost seem to cancel each other out - but they can't cancel out the unique atmosphere of the town: foggy but warm, Victorian but never prissy, and always crackling with expectation.

As a primer of spiritualist doctrine, the book doesn't amount to much. The residents seem to share a common set of practices more than an articulated common set of beliefs, anyway. As a tool for settling the truth value of spiritualism's claims, it amounts to even less. But the author never intended her book to serve those purposes. It does lay out some intriguing historic vignettes. The main focus is on the present day, on the individual mediums the author meets, their personalities, personal histories, the stories they like to tell and the stories they like to tell on each other, and the happy contrivances by which the small society they've built together rattles along. The accent is more on their humanity than on their eccentricity. Before you're through, you get to feel that this is a place and a community you know pretty well. If that's what you come to the book expecting, you will be amply rewarded.

I found Ms. Wicker a little too ready for my taste to accord the benefit of the doubt, but a good balance between open mindedness and skepticism isn't easy to strike. Overall she's hit near the mark. This is in part a story about her own spiritual travels, so it would have been pointless to assume an air of cool objectivity. Besides, she's scrupulous about reporting her own experiences and observations separately from her attempts to interpret them. Clearly, the Dallas Morning News has lucked into a professional, and I'm happy they've shared her talents with the rest of us.

With all the interest in the likes of John Edward and James VanPraagh, it seemed only a matter of time before someone wrote a book about Lily Dale.

I've known about Lily Dale for years, have been there lots of times. Initially I came to find a connection with a dear friend who'd recently passed. While I never experienced the kinds of connections others had with their loved ones, I did come to peace with her passing. Everyone who's ever been there has a story about their Lily Dale experience, I suspect. That's mine, and this book is Ms. Wicker's.

I found nothing in the book that was demeaning of the mediums who live and work there, nor of Spiritualism. As a religion Spiritualism has long been under the microscope of those who don't understand it's pure, free-thinking nature which is rooted in natural law with an unwaivering core belief in a Divine presence. Because it does not subscribe to mainstream religious beliefs, it's legitimacy is called into question. Ms. Wicker tells that story, too. She is honest about her own skepticism, relating her own level of eye-rolling.

Yes, there were some descriptions of the residents that did make me uncomfortable; in some cases I might have prefered a more balanced view. While it was not mentioned in the story, I'll bet the "richest woman in town" probably works anonymously behind the scenes to get things done. If her generosity is truly anonymous, then perhaps no one shared that with Ms. Wicker. Perhaps they don't know, or perhaps they do and don't care. Like small towns everywhere, people are often willing to dish the dirt about those of whom they're envious. It's hard to know. I can only speculate.

Honestly, I found it fascinating that a writer who originally journeyed to write a single story for a major Texas newspaper would become so enthralled with the town that she returned many times over to try to discover what's really going on behind the scenes.

Read between the lines. Like Lily Dale, there's more here than meets the eye. This is a book with heart and soul. Is this THE TRUE story of the town that talks to the dead? Well, no. However, it is A TRUE story, Ms. Wicker's story. It's enchanting, intriguing. Sometimes poignant, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, it chronicles her journey, talks about the people she meets. I suspect it's not the end of her journey but just a stop along the way.

POSTSCRIPT: I found Ms. Wicker's previous book "God Knows My Heart" fascinating, too. A die-hard southern Baptist girl questions her beliefs and comes to a peace with a new way of knowing God.

I enjoyed this first book in the Lily Bard/Shakespeare series. The mystery is not one with too many twists and turns, but the characters, especially the protagonist, are nice to know. I have read each of the next four books and enjoyed each one a little bit more than the first.

Charlaine Harris has created another intriguing character in Lily Bard who debuts in *Shakespeare's Landlord*. This is no cozy, with a librarian stumbling over bodies while studying true crime as her prior series began. Lily is much more scarred, literally and psychologically, and harder and more impenetrable than Aurora Teagarden. It does not take long for the reader to comprehend that there has been a major trauma in Lily's life as a result of which she has cut herself off from society. She is a college graduate who cleans houses and runs errands for people. She has no friends while knowing intimate details of many people's lives. She prowls the streets of Shakespeare at night when she cannot sleep. One night, while prowling, she sees a figure wheel a cart, hers as it happens, into the park across the street and then return, cart now empty. Curious and afraid she will be accused of involvement in some crime, she goes into the park and finds a dead body. She reports it anonymously, but she cannot stay anonymous, nor can her secret remain hiddden. The story is solid, fun to read, with very interesting people, even though I did not really care very much about the identity of the murderer. The dead man was, by all accounts, unliked, a blackmailer, a miser whom we see only through others' eyes. It is hard to have any sympathy for him and concern for "whodunit" would not make me read further. But Lily Bard intrigues the reader as she does several men in the town of Shakespeare. However, now that her secret past is known, at least by these men, will the absence of mystery make the next episode less appealing? It will be interesting to see where Ms. Harris takes Lily Bard in her next adventure

I've enjoyed Ms. Harris's works for years, well before this series began, and when I ran across it, I was thrilled.

My first reading, however, proved disappointing. I was used to the lighter, humorous tone of the Aurora Teagarden series and was a bit unprepared for the darker Lily Bard.

And then, I loosened up and let myself go with it, and I'm all the better for it. I have encountered few characters as well drawn as Lily Bard. She is an incredibly complex character, yet painted so deftly that the reader gets a full sense of her person. While it is much easier to accomplish this feat with the first-person, as is used here, Ms. Harris allows us to learn about Lily primarily through her actions and interactions with others.

The plot itself is not out of the ordinary--someone's dead, Lily is suspected, she must find the real killer before the cops close in on her, but it's the main character that makes this novel stand out. Why, oh why hasn't someone bought the movie rights to this series?!?

I've read every book Jill Jones has written so far, and the synopsis for this book intrigued more than any previous title. Unfortunately, I felt it didn't live up to its promise. The author certainly did her homework on the occult, but I think the story suffered as a result. In short, it read too much like non-fiction. I found myself not caring about the characters, and the ending was anti-climactic.

I enjoyed this book. It was not the best thing I ever read but Jones writes so well and she always has an interesting take. This book is not really a romance novel, not really a suspense novel either. She combines many different types of elements into her works so that I believe she could easily appeal to people who like all different genres. It was quite an engaging read despite not being the "romance" novel I was going for. I was not in the least disappointed and in fact bought other books of hers based on the strength of this one that also were outside of my genre.

Jill Jones has done it again! CIRCLE OF THE LILY is a most unusual blend of mystical, mystery, and the majesty of love. The magnificent cover is only the beginning, and the amazing story within will keep you spellbound. Bravo, Ms. Jones! Warning: This book will rob you of your sleep and invade your dreams!

After reading RAILROAD SCHEMES I was enthalled with Cecelia Holland's heroine, Lily Viner, and couldn't wait to see how her life would unfold in LILY NEVADA. Though not entirely disappointed in the sequel, I didn't find it as satisfying or captivating as the RAILROAD SCHEMES. The winsome young daredevil we met in RS seemed to have become a angry, cold, distant woman in LN. The historical narratives are interesting but I feel that character development & interaction were sacrificed to make room for the history. I hope that Ms. Holland takes us into Lily's world at least one more time and possibly resolves Lily's obvious ties to Brand and her link to her new-found mother.

This was a very good novel continueing the story of Lily Viner, the heroine we met in Railroad Schemes. In this sequel Lily is now 20 years old and has joined up with a theatre. Lily has been searching the news papers for any sign that her mother, who left her and her father when Lily was only a toddler. The only thing that Lily nows about her mother is her name, but she won't give up.

The Railroad Dective, Brand, is now on the trail of a man, who was formerly a part of the theatre. The man, whose name he finds out from Eva Green (Lily's friend and roommate), has supposedly sent a threatenig letter to the governer of California. When Brand finds them (the theatre) he finds out that Lily is traveling with them. This sets Brand on a whole new quest to steal Lily's heart, while still searching for the man that is plotting against the governor.

Ms. Holland has provided a wonderful combination of superb storytelling, colorful characters and real history that jumps off the pages. This is a fascinating picture of San Francisco in the days of its brawling streets and railroad barons. The book seethes with energy. A fine sequel to Railroad Schemes which reaffirms Cecelia Holland's status as a master of the historical novel.

This is a good book for reading aloud and also for eight year olds because the main charter in this book is a first grader and is written in the first person,Lilly. Something that wasen't too appealing to me was that in the story Lilly's old friend Daisy seems to be perfect in all of the books I've read on Lilly Hill. Sometimes in the arguments that she has with her friends you should have Lilly win. In this book she should have won the argument because she has a hard enought time at home because she shears a room with her mom, her father is in jail fo stealing something, she lives in an appartment in the city, and at school in the book everyone thought that Lilly pushed Daisy on the playground.

I would rate this book a four star because this is like for second graders but this aouthor is awsom and her books have good plots.

I thought it sounded great when I picked it up ~~ but just couldn't get into it. It doesn't help when you have a hectic social life, but when I had the time to read, it just doesn't grab my attention till about three-fourths of the way into the book ... then, I really started enjoying it.

Lily Wilk is an artist ~~ but she just couldn't seem to reach for the dream where she can create something specatular ~~ until a rich businesswoman commissioned her to create a portrait of her family. During the painting of the family, Lily walks through memory lane and shares her stories about her own family with the readers. Shea ties up both families' histories with a neat little bow and gives Lily a new perspective on what she really wanted out of life.

It is a great book for a long, lazy day swinging on the hammock ~~ just don't give up early on. I promise that it does get better after awhile. And when you put it down, it'll remain in your heart ~~ and perhaps give you a new appreciation for your family.

Suzanne Stempek Shea is creating a modern definition of Polish American life in her novels. Populated with genuinely interesting and fully-realized characters, Shea's works evoke admiration and understanding, compassion and respect, despair and bittersweet hope. Her most recent novel, Lily of the Valley, is her best yet as the author not only introduces us to a plucky, determined protagonist in Lily Wilk but shares with us her thoughts on some of the most important themes in literature: identity, family and love.

Situated in western Massachusetts (where Shea continues to live), Lily of the Valley unpretentiously examines the life of frustrated artist and newly-divored Lily Wilk. We view Wilk through the prism of her profession and calling, painting, and we see her marriage disintegrate. Shea's considerable abilities reward the reader; one becomes engaged and thoroughly committed to Lily, and we enjoy and suffer with her. Faulkner once stated that all literature most deal with the "verities of the heart;" Lily of the Valley admirably fulfills this admonition.

The writing is engaging; the dialogue delights. However, Ms. Shea's finest writing is definitional. Though not breaking any new philosophic grounds on the themes of love and family, her proposals are breathtakingly well written. The last 15 pages of the novel alone are worth reading as an essay on the notion of family.

Universal in impact and exalting the human spirit, Lily of the Valley deserves a wide readership.

A small-town story about memories, friendship, and the meaning of family. Suzanne Strempek Shea writes with a reporter's eye for the telling detail, and this is a book whose charm is all in the details.

In the third outing featuring Lily Bard, cleaning lady extraordinaire from Shakespeare, AR, agrees to attend her sister's wedding in their home town - a town she left when her life was destroyed by a gang. Soon after arriving in town, the doctor and his nurse are killed. Then her new boyfriend arrives. And the chaos of a wedding continues around her as she investigates the murders. This series started out as an excellent, if very dark, cozy series. Lily was piecing her life back together, had become self-sufficient, and was recovering. Then, for whatever reason, the author seemed to rethink her main character and quickly evolved her into someone less attractive - less strong, less angry, just less. The author continues this trend in this entry, and this reader will not be reading any more Lily Bards. That's a shame because as Lily was originally drawn, she could have found a place in the same niche as Carol O'Connell's Mallory. Now she's just another cleaning lady in another cozy.

This is the third book in the Lily Bard mystery series and it takes the reader out of Shakespeare, Arkansas to Lily's hometown. Lily is less than thrilled about going home for the holidays, especially when her sister's wedding is involved. She loves her family, but things just haven't been the same since she was violently assaulted years ago. To add to her notoriety, Lily manages to nab a purse natcher within a few days of her arrival and then is the first to walk in on a brutal double homicide. Before the buzz even begins to die down, Lily's detective boyfriend Jack Leeds shows up at the wedding rehearsal. Much as Lily would like to think that Jack showed up to offer her his moral support in her time of need, she knows better. Jack is investigating an eight-year-old kidnapping and the trail leads right to Lily's hometown - and her sister's widowed fiance. With only three days before the wedding and corpses piling up all over town, Lily must work fast to clean up the messy case before her sister commits...marriage!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I think Charlaine Harris should be congratulated for her fantastic characterization and plot pacing. Many reviewers critized this book for having Lily be too soft and/or too much of her and too little of the mystery. They seem to have completely missed the point. Lily is softer in this book because she is at home and is different there. Everyone acts slightly differently when they go home, especially when they have been away for a long time, as Lily has been. As far as there being too much Lily and too little mystery, I thought that this book gave the reader a chance to learn a little bit more about Lily and what makes her tick. When you are reading a novel that is from a first person point of view, you should expect to hear a lot about the lead character - that is the whole point of having a lead character. Anyway, enough complaining - I just don't understand why everyone didn't love the book as much as I did! Buy this one while it is in print - it is a keeper!

If you haven't met Lily Bard of Shakespeare, Ak, you are in for a rare treat in the mystery genre. A victim of gang rape, coupled with a vicious knifing, Lily has reinvented herself, left home and become a cleaning lady in a small town. Now, however, she must go home for her sister's wedding and the family from whom she's become almost estranged. On her first morning home, she and her sister discover the bludgeoned bodies of a doctor and his nurse. Also in town on the case of a child abducted years before is the new love of Lily's life, Jack. One of the suspects in the kidnapping is her sister's widowed fiance. A taut, well-told tale of suspense with three dimensional characters. I would suggest that before reading this, one should read "Shakepeare's Landlord" and "Shakespeare's Champion." This different and much darker series by the author of the Aurora Teagarden books should not be missed.

I kept reading this book waiting for it to get better. It didn't. I only continued reading to find out if she found her sisters, only to learn this was a trilogy, (It was not marked on the cover as such) The entire story could have been summed up in two pages if you had taken out all the sex scenes. The major was a jerk and Lily was a bit too wanton. A major disappointment for LLM readers.

When The Major want to convince Lily of anything he has to sleep with her at 1st it was fun but after it was a lot and not romantic in the least and lily loved him and she was with a baby and still no for the marriage even though she agreed in the end after she thought about it and she said ,she can't have her dreams when she is married but she did . i'd advise u not to waste ur time reading this story , there are other stories for Linda which were much better !

This is first book of the orphan train series, it made me want to read the 2 other books so as to know what is the ending. I recently bought Caroline and the raider but I haven't had time to read it yet, I hope that it will be as good as the first book!

Ruth Rothwax is a very complex woman. Born in Australia to Holocaust survivors, she now lives in New York and runs her own successful business. She is a combination of these 3 geographical locales: she has the quiet sublety of an Australian, keeps the pain of the Holocaust close to her heart but out of her life, and has adopted a straightforward approach to interpersonal relationships to survive in New York.
As an only child of Holocaust survivors, she knew their pain and suffering on an internal level. But since they never talked about the past, she was forced to confront it in her own way: by researching and revisiting it she could forge her connection to the past. We are reminded that the Holocaust survivors once set free, faced the daunting task of building lives with only their self reliance as a foundation.
Ruth convinces her father, Edek, an energetic 81 year old living alone in Melbourne to join her in Poland and visit the past. She is compelled to know everything about that terrible time, and there are moments when you wonder why she tortures her father so.
During this journey, Brett adds a twist to Ruth: she carries on internal dialogue with Rudolph Hoess. I've read other reviewers comments regarding this, and my theory is that in her desperation to completely understand how this could ever have happened, she feels she needs to understand those at whose hands so many suffered. While she despises him, she discovers he is more human than she would have thought. She gets angry at being forced to speak to him, but never ends a conversation without some new insight.
During their journey, Ruth and Edek meet some fascinating people, none too likeable, but interesting nonetheless. Ruth finds herself being angry and disagreeable, if not sickened by what she finds. Edek seems much more accepting which leaves Ruth incredulous at times. But you realize it is his ability to accept things as they are that allowed him to not only survive, but to build a new life when the horrors finally stopped. He knows holding onto his hurt, betrayal, and anger will ruin him.
There are some hilarious moments in this book, and some poignant ones as well. The love and pride Edek and Ruth feel for each other are palpable. Their ability to cling to one another against the past brings them both new understanding of each other and Ruth's mother.
This is a great book full of interesting people. We are reminded that life went on after the holocaust, only nothing will ever be the same. The journey unfolds as you keep turning the pages, and before you know it you're at the end. How disappointing, I was really starting to like these people. Don't race through the book trying to find out what's going to happen next, take your time and savor these interesting characters.

Already a worldwide literary phenomenon with her books topping international bestseller charts, this is Lily Brett's first novel to be published in the United States. It is our loss that we've had to wait so long.

"Too Many Men" introduces Ruth Rothwax, the daughter of Holocaust survivors ( as is the author). A successful New York business woman, Ruth is taking Edek, her 80-year-old father, back to Poland to revisit the scenes of his youth and incarceration - to Lodz, Krakow, and Auschwitz. She plans and executes the trip very much as she calendars her life, with optimal organization, note taking, double checking.

She is seeking answers to her parents catastrophic past, trying to understand the unthinkable.

But despite Ruth's care in planning she could not anticipate what was not predictable or expected. She had not anticipated seeing profuse anti-Semitic graffiti or hearing Auschwitz referred to as a "museum."

In this extraordinary journey of the tormented Ruth and her father readers come face to face with the atrocities of which human being are capable and also learn that there is solace even in pain.

This is a book not to be missed, a story that had to be told.

...This book is something quite remarkable: a trip to Poland taken through the eyes and ears and hearts of father and daughter Ruth and Edek Rothwax. Rarely have I encountered two characters so perfectly realized. As the child of Holocaust survivors, Ruth is a symphonic collection of tics, habits, rituals and agonies; she's an emotional land mine, filled with unanswered questions, with answers to questions she didn't know existed, with a somehow genetic knowledge of events that pre-date her existence. Loss and sorrow and a fear of love/attachment are as much a part of Ruth as her vital organs.

Edek, astonishingly, is a man who never walks when he can run; who can eat massive quantities of food and yet always find room for a little something more. Despite his age (eight-one) and the horrors of the first third of his life, he is a man with an enormous capacity for love and kindness, for empathy and, of course, for a bottomless sorrow that cannot suppress his innate optimism and his fundamental decency.

Too Many Men (an unfortunately misleading title--my only, minor, quibble with an otherwise enormously compelling book) has many wonderfully ingenious aspects to it, not the least of which is the lovely idea that a woman could create a successful business based entirely on her ability to write letters for any and every occasion. This is not only a bit of acutely relevant social commentary on a lost art, it is also, for many of us, representative of the ultimate dream career. It is a brilliant invention.

The fact of Auschwitz (scene of the murder of some 22 million people) being turned into something very like a theme park as a result of Spielberg's Schindler's List is enough to make one's blood chill, and this is conveyed powerfully through Ruth's ever more horrified reactions to what she sees and hears as she and her father travel there, revisiting the places (including Birkenau) where her parents were imprisoned during the war.

There are moments of mad humor throughout the book that have the effect not only of lightening the burden of a father and daughter working hard to reconnect to each other, but also of the true horror of the historical facts of the genocide--all of which are stored in the brain of a woman who cannot get enough information about the atrocities, in a neverending effort to comprehend how and why this could have happened.

This is not difficult reading, which is a testament to author Brett's immense talent and humor, but it is enormously important reading--not just for those interested in the lasting effects of the Holocaust, but for anyone who admires a finely crafted book.
My highest recommendation.

The book, "The Singapore Dilemma", written by Malay academic Lily Zubaidah Rahim can be summed up in three sentences:

1)The Malays are marginalised in Singapore society. 2)The marginalisation is not their fault. 3)There is no meritocracy in Singapore.

The Malays are a minority group in Singapore with about 14% of the population. The other groups are Chinese (77%), Indian (7%) and others (2%).

The author is trying to make the case that the Malays are poorer and less educated than the Chinese because of racial discrimination in a Chinese dominated society and not because of the Malay's cultural characteristics (or what she calls the cultural deficit theory). This theory posits that Malays are lacking in ambition and diligence. She also challenges the widely held view that Singapore practices meritocracy in that one's place in society is achieved by merit.

This is not surprising since she believes that their relative poverty is entirely not their fault. If Singapore is a true meritocracy then of course, the Malay's relative poverty must be their own fault.

Besides blaming the Chinese dominated government, she also blames the previous British colonial administration that left nearly half a century ago. For instance, she blamed 19th century British administrators for not providing Malays with education because they thought that the Malays at that time to be disinterested.

She also blamed colonial policies discouraging Malays from growing cash crops. The author reminds me of some African intellectuals blaming European colonial rule for their poverty even though the colonialists left half a century ago.

While she could successfully cite instances of discrimination in government policies, I feel that she has not made a sufficient case that their lower incomes and educational levels are entirely other people's fault.

To do so she must explain the questions raised by even a casual reader of her book. For instance, how could she account for the fact that the other minorities, the Indians and those in the "Others" categories did much better than Malays?

According to her book, the average monthly head-of-household incomes in 1990 for the Chinese, Malays, Indians and Others were $3,213, $2,246, $2,859 and $3,885 respectively.

She was fond of writing the phrase, "the Malays and other minorities", in the book as though all minorities are in the same boat. But the statistics in her own book expose this untruth. The Indians in 1990 were only slightly behind the Chinese and those in the "Others" category were actually ahead!

There was no attempt to explain this anomaly. If Singapore's educational and other policies favour the majority Chinese, how does she explain the relative success of the other minorities?

She also did not give sufficient airing of the views of her fellow Malays who agree with the cultural deficit theory. To her credit, she did mention their names but only very quickly in passing. The author obviously did not want to dwell too long on this topic.

Some of these Malays who agree that it was their own cultural characteristics that held them back have spent their entire adult lives trying to uplift the Malays. Again to her credit, she did mention a notable book written by one such Malay. The book is called, "The Malay Dilemma" (notice the similarity with the name of her book?). It was written by Dr Mahathir Mohammed who is today the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Singapore's closest neighbour.

In fact, the Malays in Malaysia insist on special priveleges because they acknowledge that the cannot compete in a level playing field with the Indians and Chinese. This is an implicit acceptance of the cultural deficit theory. For example, there is a mininum quota for Malays at Malaysian Universities. A Chinese with better grades must make way for Malays with lower grades in order to fill the quota of Malay students.

Malaysia is a mirror image of Singapore. The Chinese there are a minority while the Malays are the majority group. Malays in Malaysia are also poorer and less educated than the Chinese too, even though they enjoy political power. This fact must be explained for the author to prove her case that Malays' lower income and education is everybody else's fault other than their own.

She complained of the promotion of the use of the Chinese language in Singapore. This, she believes puts Malays at a disadvantage and held them back. To the author, this is an example of the race-based policies by the Singapore government elected by a mainly Chinese electorate. Does this strike even a casual reader as odd?

Does the US government (or for that matter the British or Australian governments) need to promote the use of English? Why would a Chinese dominated society need to promote the use of Chinese? What the author (conveniently) forgot to mention is that Singapore is the only country in the world where the majority race, the Chinese, gave up their language for a foreign language, English, in large part to provide a more level playing field for the minorities.

If the staff, customers and suppliers of your company all prefer to communicate in Chinese, it is tough for Malays to get a job. At the time of independence most Chinese in Singapore spoke Chinese in their offices and workplaces. But in part to give minorities a more level playing field and partly for fear of communism, the government quickly made English the main language at great political cost.

Today, the language of commerce and administration in Singapore is English even though many small and medium sized companies still use Chinese. Many Chinese today actually speak English better than Chinese. I am one of them.

This has alienate many older Chinese voters who attended Chinese schools in their youth. Therefore to appease this still significant but diminishing group of voters, the ruling party occassionlly bangs the Chinese drum. But English remains the main language in Singapore.

Of course in Malaysia, the Malays (which comprise 55% of the population as compared to 77% Chinese in Singapore) insist that Malay be the main language.

Other complaints the author made are that Singapore's Armed Forces and immigration policies discriminate against the Malays. Malays are not assigned to sensitive positions in the military and for a long time were not called up to do National Service. She sees this as another instance of discrimination that is the cause of the marginalisation of the Malays.

Singapore's defense and immigration policies must be seen in the context that Singapore is a small rich mainly Chinese city-state surrounded by larger, poorer Malay dominated neighbors. Not so long ago, Chinese people were killed and Chinese women raped during ethnic rioting in neighbouring Indonesia, the largest part of the authour's beloved Nusantara (Malay World). The Indonesian military is also believed to be behind the destruction of East Timor.

Over in Malaysia, the Islamic party, PAS (Malays are wholly Muslims) is gaining ground.They want to create an Islamic state. All these events do not inspire a feeling of security among Singapore's Chinese.

Reading her book, a reader unfamiliar with Singapore may get the impression that Malays in Singapore are getting a sub-standard 3rd world education. She spent a good part of her book criticizing Singapore's educational policies which she believes caters to Chinese interests and has disadvantaged the Malay community. Actually, this is not true.

In internationally conducted Mathematics and Science test of 41 advanced (mostly OECD) countries, Singapore students topped both subjects in 1995 and came in 1st and 2nd in 2000. Malay Singaporean students did well, beating students from many First World countries. They certainly beat their counterparts from Malaysia who participated in 2000.

I could go on. But I will end here. Her book did write some truth but it was not the whole truth. What the author omitted distorted the truth. Why did she write this flawed book? I suspect the answer can be found in the Preface of her book. She wrote that when she was growing up, she found it hard to accept the "prevailing culturalist view that Malays were not sufficiently hardworking, motivated, industrious".

She further wrote, "Accepting this prevailing view also meant that I, as a Malay from a supposedly deficient cultural tradition, would then also have to accept that I possessed these unflattering attributes."

From this, I deduce that the thought of many people {which by her own admission includes some Malays) believing in the cultural deficit theory is very painful for her. Coming to terms with this is the dilemma she is facing. The book should therefore be more aptly named, "Lily Zubaidah Rahim's dilemma."

While some facts/evidence used by the author are outdated or have become irrelevant, the key insights and analyses wihin are plausible.
It is particularly refreshing because of extensive fieldwork done and intelligent alternatives offered for the issue of the Malay minority in Singapore.
This book will stimulate critical discussion for the reader familiar with Singapore politics.

I bought this book several weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised by the concise and accurate manner by which Rahim exposed the Lee Kuan Yew and his political mafia. The present political regime in Singapore is blatantly racist and in too many cases unashamedly so. And despite this, many people unwittingly accept Singapore as a good example of meritoracy at work. This book proves that it is not. The PAP government manipulates and isolates people to help fragment public opinion. By racialising all socio, poltical and especially economic issues, Lee Kuan Yew and his PAP lap dogs isolate public opinion for their own political ends. Rahim should be commended for a much needed expose on a little studied area.