Burning [Import] [Hardcover]

Diane JOHNSON (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich; First Edition edition (1971)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0434376914
• ISBN-13: 978-0434376919
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars It's inspiring to see how far she's come since Burning., October 29, 1999

By 

Victoria Pond (Palo Alto, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Burning (Mass Market Paperback)

I loved Le Divorce, which I found absolutely compelling and gracefully written. So, like many others, I went and read some of Johnson's other works; I bought Burning to reward myself for completing my last final exam. What a gyp. The book is clumsy, disorganized, lacking in focus. The characters are poorly drawn and unconvincing (and worse, so forgettable that it's hard to keep track of who's who), and the plot just meanders pointlessly. But you should read it if you want to become a professional writer, because if you compare this to Le Divorce you have no choice but to conclude that even the most unpromising works can give way to later triumphs.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Early Johnson, September 10, 2002

By 

disco75 "disco75" (State College, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Burning (Mass Market Paperback)

This early novel by Diane Johnson uses as its setting the California upper-class housing development; its characters are the eccentric post-hippies and pre-yuppies who migrated there in the 1970's. The story covers the events of one day in broad social comedy that still contains seeds of incisive insights into the dynamics of marital relationships. It examines in a sometimes successfully comic way the Kafka-esque bureaucracy of child welfare services, the madness of some medical practitioners, the alienation of suburbanites, the disaffection of the drug addicted. The book is not as refined, subtle, or enriching as "Le Divorce," but then "Burning" was a product of an author nearly 30 years younger. Probaby best for ardent fans of Johnson.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Burning my drawers off with humor, April 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Burning (Mass Market Paperback)

This is one of the funniest books I can recall reading. The pretentious snobs,bimbos and quacks that personify Bel Air neuroses would make most of us gag. But given Diane Johnson's gift for wit and humor-filled dialogue this makes for one enjoyable book. Can you imagine what Doctor Laura would say?