I loved this book. It's totally different from John Dollar (which I also loved); reminded me somewhat of a Nick Hornby read. Funny, sad, and passionate. Wiggins' prose is exquisite.

See my review under the paperback edition. Though for the price differential, the harcover edition is a bargain

This is the best book I have read this year. Stylistically brilliant, scintillant, it searches into the nature of love and the obsessions of of eros -- not in daily life, but in life on the edge, life where politics, catastrophe, and the twentieth century converge. Wiggins' protagonist is a journalist -- male -- who covers international events of major magnitude; set alternately in Africa, at the (falling)Berlin wall, and in 'liberated' Eastern Europe, the book is a serious inquiry intot he relations between eros and ethos. The characters are riveting, the settings full of the excitement and confusion of the late twentieth centurty -- and the prose, the prose is a continual joy. Only a slight falling off at the end -- the book gets into so much that it is tough for Wiggins to extract herself and the reader from the fullness -- mars what is otherwise a wondrous book for our times.

I've been looking for this book for years now! I picked it up in a thrift store when I was about 16, and LOVED the stories and insights. It was an old copy which I passed on to a friend and couldn't find since. Desperate to get my hands on another copy! :-)

I found this book very funny in parts, but also thought-provoking and sad in other parts. Anyone who has grown up in a family of women will recognize the stories in this book. I highly recommend if you're seeking an intelligent read.

i did not enjoy the first half of this book. i did not like how the story jumped from topic to topic. it didn't seem like it was being developed enough. the story picked up a lot once i reached the climax. from that point on i could not put the book down. the ending was twisted. i would recommecd this book.

"John Dollar" is basically "The Lord of the Flies" with girls instead of boys. If you found "The Lord of the Flies" to be horrifying, disgusting and/or disturbing ... you will certainly find "John Dollar" to be more of the same. It is not likely that I ever would have picked this book to read for entertainment - I had to read it for college and because I had to analyze the book it made it interesting to me. Otherwise, on a non-academic level I find it very disturbing!

I didn't like this book so much that I felt compelled to review it. Rather, I'm adding my two cents because I wanted to alert people that most of the other reviewers--typically those who didn't like the book--have chosen to ruin it for others by mentioning important plot twists that wouldn't otherwise be readily guessed.

My opinion on the book though... I think Wiggins is a skilled writer and storyteller. I enjoyed the book enough that I couldn't put it down the night I finished it, despite knowing that it would give me nightmares. The comparisons to Lord of the Flies are inevitable, but it is it's own work. Some complain of being bored or confused by the first half. I felt the first half established her writing prowess. Overall, I consider this book to be creepy, moralistic fun.

A veteran of the worst atrocities of World War I including poison gas, Ray "Fos" Foster travels the American countryside carrying the scientific marvel, X-ray equipment. Fos claims to be an expert "Phenomenologist". Visiting the Carolina's Outer Banks for a meteor show, Fos meets and falls in love with Opal.

The duo marries as they share more than attraction. Both love everything scientific. Opal accompanies Fos on his circuit where he displays his X-ray machine at county fairs. He demonstrates the capabilities of x-rays to penetrate the skin by irradiating Opal's foot. Fos' scientific knowledge reputation grows until the Feds hire him to work for the Tennessee Valley Authority and ultimately during World War II at Site X in Oak Ridge. However, his idyllic life hits a major detour when Opal falls mysteriously ill. Science fails to help Fos, as he and the doctors know not why or what she suffers from.

The lead couple and a lad that they adopt are strong characters but the link to science seems farfetched, even with the character names loosely connected to science. The story line vividly describes the years between the great wars especially achievements that come across as homage to scientific accomplishment yet also carries a warning of beware what you create. It is this dual sword inside a deep look back at twentieth century that makes this epic worth reading.

Harriet Klausner

This glossy fine art photography book is a rare treasure. Waplington explores old buildings, vacant lands, and mysterious places. While he is actually in every single image, this work transcends traditional portrature. Instead, Waplinton's own body becomes representative of an archetypal, universal man. His unique use of color blends both richness and bleakness to create images of oblique elusiveness. My only problem with the book itself is that the images get divided right down the middle of the binding. At times this becomes a major distraction for the viewer. On the whole, Waplinton's thought-provoking work is a great example of contemporary photography at it's best.

This was our February book club selection. The consensus was that this was the worst book that we had ever read. Some members couldn't even finish it. Reading it resulted in a 10 minute discussion on how we've never hated a book worse. Horrible plot, story, and characters. The main character Holden is dispicable and abusive. The book concludes at the climax, with absolutely no resolution.

The language is beautiful and the story engrossing, but it doesn't have a conclusion. It was like seeing only acts 1+2 of a three act play. I don't want to spoil the book, so I'll only say that there's an impending doom in the story, at the heart of the story really. The book ends when the doom strikes rather than coninue and show the ramifications of the doom and other actions in the book.
Another analogy would be a disaster movie that ended as soon as the disaster hit. That's not a satisfying story because we want to see how people deal with the disaster and, in this book, we don't get to.

I thoroughly enjoyed the language Marianne Wiggins used throughout her book, especially the scenes when Holden is explaining what he saw and how he reacted in Bosnia. As an ex-patriot American who just returned from "home," I thought he captured those feelings right on. Europeans never quite understand the American weather in the summer and could learn a lot with Wiggins' descriptions of the way American heat skies can get. I became somewhat bogged down in the implausibility of the trek West, despite the lush sex scenes, but was WOWED by the ending! Personally, how well a writer pulls off an ending is one of my gauges for success. Wiggins sure caught me there. One of the reviews in my book jacket tells of re-reading the book almost immediately. I can understand that.

The short stories in Bet They'll Miss Us When We're Gone carry a variety of international themes, from Greek to American, with characters written in differing accents and viewpoints. This may be attributed to the authors residence in London, a city filled with immigrants and migrants from places around the world. The characters unique positions offer the reader trips through their worlds, once in the mind of a greek grandmother, then in the mind of a middle aged middle-Eastern gambler. If nothing else, each story is certainly a change from the one before it.

There are thirteen short stories in the book, most written in a free-flowing hand, lacking a lot of punctuation. I found Wiggins' style easy to follow, and high-energy, though I often missed the traditional sense of beginning and ending in the plots. Though I was entertained while reading this book, I wondered where the author expected the reader to land at the end of each story.

I would recommend this book to Wiggins' fans, and to those seeking a bit of flare.