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15 Reviews

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

Average Customer Review

3.5 out of 5 stars (15 customer reviews)

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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars DARK AND DRAMATIC- BOTH THE STORY AND THE READING, September 20, 2004

By

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE) (COMMUNITY FORUM 04) (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Carnivore's Inquiry: A Novel (Hardcover)

Dramatic, dark, disturbing - all describe this tale by Pen/Faulkner Award winner Sabina Murray. Stage, television, and film actress Wendy Hoopes gives articulate voice to 23-year-old narrator Katherine Shea.

Apparently lacking any form of moral compunction Katherine first befriends and then cohabits with Boris, an older Russian novelist. She hasn't wasted a great deal of time as she has only recently arrived in New York City from Italy. We already know that this gal is not one for settling down, what we have not yet discovered is that her taste for new adventure may border on the psychotic.

Her time with Boris is brief. She's soon seeking the company of other men and other places as she crosses the country and winds up in Mexico. She leaves in her wake a trail of dead bodies. Katherine's interests become increasingly macabre as she begins to research cannibalism wherever she may find it - in art, literature, research.

Why is this young woman so transfixed by behavior that repulses most? Listen as her story races to an astounding conclusion.

- Gail Cooke

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfectly dark and consuming, August 22, 2007

By

D. Enochson "Just a person" (Dallas Tx) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Carnivore's Inquiry: A Novel (Hardcover)

I love this book. I've read it three times and I just bought another copy for a gift. It has everything I love in a novel. It's fantastically engrossing and the main character is so charming and bizarre. So many novels give away all the answers too early. These characters are as unpredictable as real people. The historical references are intriguing and cringe inducing. Every character has depth and motivation. You are equally fascinated and repulsed on every page. Each time I read it I am just as impressed by the writing and tantalized by the plot. I can't wait to read other books by this author.

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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but could have been better, August 15, 2004

By

Seth_Saoirse (Jacksonville,FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Carnivore's Inquiry: A Novel (Hardcover)

I thought I would like this book more than I did, and I was disappointed. While Katherine Shea is a strong narrator with a penchant for describing the macabre. It's interesting but becomes too convoluted,despite this I liked her character and her often cutting insight into those around her..it was the plot that left a great deal to be desired.

We already know that something is "not quite right" with Katherine but any reader could see what was coming from a mile away, and it was the thought, that this was going to end differently or unexpectedly attracted me to the story. A Carnivore's Inquiry is a good book but I hope to see better in the future from such a talented author.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars No quality meat
An interesting idea with some good thing in it but....a novel like this, told in the first person, relies on the reader's interest in the narrator's charm or complexity or wit or... Read more

Published on April 26, 2008 by Readers Reader

4.0 out of 5 stars Difficult to start, difficult to put down
I had this book on my shelf for a while before I cracked it open, knowing nothing about it except the synopsis on the back and that it came recomended from another book. Read more

Published on October 5, 2006 by Ani

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing
The cover blurb made this book sound amazing; if only it were as complex and fulfilling as it sounded. Read more

Published on September 29, 2006 by Anonymous

2.0 out of 5 stars Excellent craft does not a novel make
Some thoughts on "A Carnivore's Inquiry:"

A narrator can be both sympathetic and unsympathetic provided that they are interesting to read about. Read more

Published on February 17, 2005 by Jack Cade

1.0 out of 5 stars Waste of time, read something else
The author and publisher of this travesty need to spend a little more time in the real world, perhaps in the helping professions and less time in literati land where obviously... Read more

Published on January 31, 2005 by Terrie Haggey

5.0 out of 5 stars Thinking Mans Horror
If you are looking for a gross-out gore book - look elsewhere. That isn't where this book is coming from. Read more

Published on January 12, 2005 by jd

1.0 out of 5 stars Weak, Pretentious, and Unresolved
This novel employs weak and/or untenable character motivation to carry a ridiculous plot that presents itself as a "novel of ideas" but is in reality a pastiche of solipsistic... Read more

Published on September 1, 2004 by C. B Reardon

5.0 out of 5 stars a brilliant tale with a huge payoff
what has been created by sabina murray here is not a typical cannibal horror novel; rather, by constructing a story of carefully constructed words, literate imagery, and a paced... Read more

Published on August 27, 2004 by Russell Marshalek

5.0 out of 5 stars An absolutely dark, obsessive & stunning novel
Reviewed by Felicia C. Sullivan, Small Spiral Notebook

Conspicuous consumption, obsessive meditations of cannibalism and its intricate ties to history, literature and... Read more

Published on July 28, 2004 by Felicia Sullivan

5.0 out of 5 stars "Unlikable Heroine" equals brilliant novel
I don't understand why someone believes that an "unlikable" heroine equals an unlikable book. Read more

Published on July 14, 2004 by C.M. Wiggins

› See all 15 customer reviews...

Inside This Book (learn more)
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Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Detective Yancy, New York, Officer Brown, Bob Bob, Bad Billy, Barry Buster, New Mexico, Alfred Packer, New World, Aunt Marion, Alexander Pearce, William Selwyn, Autumn Cannibalism, The Little Vagrant, Richard Parker, Rand Randley, Diego Rivera, Miss Shea, Hidalgo Ranch, Mexico City, Northwest Passage, The Raft of the Medusa, John Nelson, United States, Bobby Whitefoot

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