Customer Reviews

Letters from Cicely: A Northern Exposure Book

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Letters from Cicely is a great way to revisit those wonderfully eccentric Cicelians, especially now that the show has been relegated to the hinterlands of re-run TV. The premise of the book is that the whole town cannot sleep for months. The extra time on everyone's hands produces an out-break of letter writing. At first the strange sleeplessness produces no ill effects--no irritability, no loss of clarity. However, after a couple of months pulling all-nighters, things start to go hay-wire. Highly recommended for all who enjoy a good dose of art, philosophy, and a glimpse of life in a small Alaskan town.

I was so excited to get this book! I thought: at last, new adventures with my favorite characters! What a disappointment. Not only is the premise ridiculous, but the characters are written as caricatures of themselves. Joel is only barely recognizable; do you really think he would close a letter with "Yours in Chutzpah!"??? Would Chris end a note with "Supremely Conscious"??? Please. Don't hit us over the head with it! Another irritant is the fact that whenever Joel, Maurice, or Holling sends a letter to a place of business, the personal address reads "Gentlemen." The Northern Exposure series was always exploring issues of gender with thoughtfulness and insight, but this book simply reiterates the cultural undertones of sexism. If you're a real Northern Exposure fan, don't waste your time on this book.

A must read for any Northern Exposure Fan! I thoroughly enjoyed every page. It is a shame it wasn't a script for a two hour movie.

After reading this book I am really homesick for the televisionseries. In the Netherlands N.E. wasn't popular at all, they didn't even show all of the episodes! So reading a book that gives the exact sensation of watching an episode was a very nice experience for me.

For those of you who are true 'fans' of Northern Exposure, this book is definitely a must have! This book is as quirky as the original series. The reader gets an opportunity to see some of the insights and private thoughts of Cicilians as they write letters to various people outside of Cicily. As you read through the story that is made up of these letters, you can actually hear the characters 'talking'. Also, for those of you who watched Northern Exposure well into the 'Dr. Capra' era,remember a play that is briefly mentioned that Marice wanted to have performed, but something happened to cancel it? The story in this book explains what that reference was about.

After spending many years wallowing in the fact that I was never going to get a new adventure with my friends in Cicely, Alaska, I come across this great book. Set at about the end of season 3, this book can practically be considered another episode. It's was an excellent read.

Sorry, a little inside joke there for fans of the series. Let us start out this review right:

Dear Northern Exposure Fan,

How are you? I am fine. Let us get to the point. Plot - Nobody can sleep. And it seems nobody needs to sleep. Joel, Chris, Maggie, nobody in the town is getting a wink of sleep. Which at first isn't that bad - there seems to be no side effects. Sure, people eat more, send out four times the amount of letters they normally do, but they're working twice as long on everything from work to hobbies, from reading to watching movies.
Now, the story is done in letter form, like some novels out of the 19th Century. Think Dracula. Each character seems to write in-character, which is funny within itself. But soon you notice little issues. Like one of Ed's letters does not seem right. Soon all the characters are slightly off, not totally on track with their mind set. But that's the beauty of the story - you start to notice something is wrong about the same time the characters do just because of the letters!
A great book, set someplace within the third season. I could not pin it down any better than that, sorry.
Funny even if you are not a fan of the series - it is that good!

All my kisses and hugs,

Mike

I *HEART* Northern Exposure, so I knew I needed to read this book- even if some of the reviews were unfavorable.

Most of the letters are cheesey and not really how I imagine the characters would speak to their friends or family in a letter. It did seem like most of the letters were written by the same 3 or 4 people, for example my favorite characters (Ruth-Anne and Ed) have very few letters. It's mostly Maurice, Joel and Maggie and of course they bicker about one another.

There is an actual storyline that ties all the letters together, but I won't tell what it is. I would only recommend this book to real, hardcore NX fans, and even then I'd say don't pay more than $5 for it.

This is a fantastic collection of letters. Any fan of the series will really enjoy this book, and even someone who has never seen the show can get a feel for the characters and situations from reading these "letters."

Very true to the stories but very clever in introducing new events and describing well-known events from a very personal point of view (sometimes from more than one point of view). Highly recommend for a quick read or a more leisurely perusal, one letter at a time.

If you are an NX fan, you have to read this......5 stars, standing ovation, my hands are sore from clapping.....loved it...took me back to my NX characters. It is not expensive, so just buy it. It is a wonderful read......very well done.So true to the tv series. I highly recommend to NX fans.