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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best novel yet by the best writer in America!,
By
This review is from: With (Hardcover)
I actually had another book in my hands when I spotted this new novel by Donald Harington. My heart literally jumped for joy. A new novel by one of my most favorite writers! Immediately, I put the other book back and picked up this one. Later that same evening, I began to read...And I was not disappointed. Although I have enjoyed all of his recent novels, I could not help but compare them with The Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks, Some Other Place. The Right Place., and my personal favorite, Let Us Build Us A City. To my mind, those recent novels simply did not to the same degree elicit the same response (that wonderful glorious feeling!) in me as did those earlier titles. But now, with WITH...I am beside myself with joy. I cannot bear to relate the plot. There are too many surprises, too many narrative twists, too much...joy (there it is again!); to spoil any part of this with plot recitation is at the very least, a venal sin. Audaciously written in a style and technique befitting the best the postmodern has to offer, WITH is a novel so rewarding, no reader can go wrong both reading it and pushing it into the hands of their friends. Those friends will thank you...over and over again.
9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of those original and finely crafted novels,
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: With (Hardcover)
At the tender age of 8 years, Robin Kerr had to learn how to fend for herself on a remote, inaccessible, mountain-top in the wilds of the Ozark mountain range. Until she was 18, Robin had no human company but she did not lack for animal companionship and the company of the"live ghost" of a young boy who had himself once lived on the mountain. With is a major, 491-page novel that is written by author Donald Harington (a professor and lecturer of art and art history) with a feeling for language enriched with southern idioms and an almost lyrical sense of expression. Very strongly endorsed and recommended, With is one of those original and finely crafted novels that will be discovered with appreciation over and over by generations of future readers.
8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Strange blend of realism and fantasy.,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: With (Hardcover)
This review may contain general spoiler information, as I have mixed feelings about this book and to explain requires some plot disclosure. The book was wonderfully original and well written. I loved Hreapha, and giving a dog a voice to start the book was clever and inventive. The story at the beginning of the book was suspenseful and scary. Sexual abuse is a frightening reality, and the subject can easily make the reader uncomfortable. And I did find it sadly realistic. Predators are out in our society, plotting and fantasizing. Maybe this is where I have the most trouble with this book. There is an odd juxtaposition between the reality of the abduction and the complete whimsy of the anthropomorphizing of all the animals. Putting both together in one book was an odd choice.
The in-habit was an inspiring idea. The survival aspect was very interesting. How do you eat, drink, or stay warm? Nevertheless, I have some smaller problems with the book, also. If a cow could make it up, how could the path be unusable? Why didn't Robin have more of an interest in the outside world once she had met Latha? Please don't misunderstand, I am glad I read this book, because it made me think about life, growing up, and even literature. It made me very curious about this author. This is the first Donald Harington book I have read, and I may read another to see if others show the same bend in his view of sexuality. I don't often read books about old men lusting after children and young girls curious about sex. The author explored Robin's burgeoning sexuality in the same way he handled the whole book - told with a mix of reality and myth. She explored masturbation, and yet thought she was experiencing real sex with an `in-habit'. Throughout the last half of the book the fantastical elements overwhelmed any reality. Does this review bother your sensibilities? If so, don't read the book. If you are intrigued, then by all means pick up a copy. A very elderly woman recommended this book to me by claiming it to be the best book she had ever read. It is interesting, compelling, thought-provoking, and creative. But it is a very odd book, indeed.
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