Ruth Stone writes poems about the real, never striking a pose, but simply recording the world with integrity and a keen eye. Her poems "in their desire, praise emptiness, spirit." Whether her poems consider sitting in a McDonald's listening to the conversations of those around her, living through the passions of motherhood or expressing the deepest human losses, the reader begins to feel part of the experience. There are always two forces pulling against each other in this work. In relation to this book, I will quote two lines from her first poem: "'Here,' says the Devil, / 'Eat. It's Paradise.'"

I heard Ruth Stone read from this book back in 1988, an event sponsored by the International Poetry Forum in Pittsburgh, PA. I screwed together all my teenaged courage at the reception afterwards to approach her and say, "I just wanted to let you know, I loved your poems when I read them, and you look exactly as I'd thought you'd look, and your voice sounds exactly as I'd thought it would sound." And she stood up and gave me a hug.

The 'new' poems in this collection are not many, but they're really excellent; and the selections from her previous books (Cheap, Topography, and In an Iridescent Time) are the best poems of those collections. These are tremendously lucid and humble - not to say ordinary or spare - poems about aging and loss, but also about tenacity and determined hopefulness. Nothing I write here can do them justice! This is one of my very favorite books, and if you can find a copy I highly recommend you seize hold of it with both hands and not let go.

I've read this book twice,and it has the rare quality of being even scarier the second time around. It is an absolutely brilliant tour de force. Rendell begins in a flat, factual, true-crime style. She tells you immediately Whodunnit, and Why They Did. Then, at a seemingly leisurely pace, she recounts how it happened, and the result is absolutely chilling. All the characters are well-done, but the two teen-agers who are step-siblings are especially vivid, enough so to break your heart. Ruth Rendell is, to me, the best suspense writer in the business, and this book doesn't even make my top five favorites among her novels--but it's still awesome. She's the best.

I read in reviews that many consider this to be Ms. Rendell's best work. Not having read all of her books, I can't agree or disagree, but I don't see how she could get much better than this. From the first page, you know what happened, but seeing each piece of the puzzle fall into place is chilling and inevitable. There is no real mystery, a "just the facts" kind of tone to the story, but you realize that it can end no other way. This book is frightening, believable, and perfect. It will stay with you for a long time. Ruth Rendell is truly a master!

Kathleen

This is one of Ruth Rendell's earlier works and, perhaps, one of her best. More of a novella, rather than a full fledged novel, by virtue of its brevity, it is absolutely brilliant, well-written, and gripping from the get go. Ms. Rendell captures the reader with her first sentence, "Eunice Parchman killed the Coverdale family because she could not read or write."

This is a descriptive and insightful literary stunner about how an illiterate, middle aged women gets to the point that she wipes out a family one fateful evening. The book takes the reader, step by step, through the events that lead up to this crossroad. It explores the mind of Eunice Parchman, a woman so limited in her world view and so robotic in her actions that she is almost repellent. The reader marvels at her very existence and is sure to find her fascinating character study.

Ms. Parchman's interactions with the well educated Coverdale family, who employs her as a housekeeper, are intriguing and always interesting, as she struggles to keep her illiteracy a secret. How Ms. Parchman circumvents its discovery for as long as does, the lengths to which she goes to maintain a facade of literacy, and her socially inappropriate responses to every day situations, paint an intriguing psychological portrait for the reader. The eventual discovery of her illiteracy results in a ghastly outcome, which makes for some gripping and chilling reading.

Ms. Rendell is masterful in her storytelling, infusing mundane situations with an understated horror that is all the more chilling because of the common denominator that strikes a chord with the reader. Written is well-nuanced, taut, spare style, this book is a literary gem that will keep the reader riveted to its pages. Bravo!

Stone Wall Secrets starts in the present but with each turn of the beautifully illustrated pages, the reader is drawn back in time, all the way to the origin of the North American continent.

In this way, the ubiquitious stone wall fences of New England are given special significance and readers are drawn to rethink the value of these historic relics on today's landscape.

Though it is written for children, those between 6 and 10 really will need the assistance of an older reader and this is the book's only failing.

It is enough that Stone Wall Secrets encourages in children (and adults) an appreciation of our geological and sociological history. But it goes further, prompting a second look and a deeper appreciation for the seemingly ordinary in the natural world.

It felt more like a story than a truth. Very little focus on MPD a lot more focus on a needy self. I enjoyed the entertainment factor of this story, but the educational factor wasn't all there

Empathetic. Enlightening. A must-read for anyone seriously (and, ahem, ITELLIGENTLY) interested in the topic of MPD.