Cheryl L. Karp

Advantages: Excellent characterisations, funny moments.
Disadvantages: Weak plot structure.

...In a Columbine-style massacre at her high school, Vancouver teenager Cheryl Anway loses her life. Ten years later, her boyfriend – actually, secret husband – Jason Klaasen still struggles to come to terms with her shooting. Twelve years later, Heather struggles to make sense of her relationship with Jason. And thirteen years later, Reg Klaasen finally speaks of the way his faith has twisted life and the damage he has done, especially to his son. And them's the bare bones of Douglas Coupland's latest novel. Hey Nostramus! is a novel of these four voices in turn. Firstly, we hear from Cheryl, after she has died, in some kind of holding place. Cheryl was a young Christian evangelist and a pretty, unassuming girl, full of adolescent love for her boyfriend Jason, but also for life and the beauty of the world. Her voice is almost Keatsian... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Better than readers digest
Disadvantages: central character has no emotion

...A work colleague gave me this book to read. To be honest l am generally a Maeve Binchy girly - where the drama mostly extends to broken finger nails! So l thought ld give this crime thriller a go. I finished reading it on Saturday and l read it continuously but l would not say that l stayed awake longer than l should have cos l couldnt bear to put the book down. So the plot well theres Dr Kay Scarpatta - cheif medical officer in Richmond (somewhere in US), Marinio - cop, Bill Boltz - chief prosecutting atorney and the victims - 5 women. The story line surrounds the need to catch this serial killer before more women fall prey to his evil and dearranged ways. Im not giving any more than that away - sorry! So what did l think of the book - well l was not on the edge of my chair - it did not scare me (but then l found the final scene... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Beautifully written, engaging characters, thought-provoking
Disadvantages: Makes you think - and some people don't like to be made to think

...involved and the people who know them. Everything else in the narrative is seen in the light of the moment when three students chose, for reasons which remain unclear, to shoot many of their classmates in cold blood in the summer of 1988. The first portion of the book is told from the perspective of one of their victims, Cheryl. Then, eleven years later, her boyfriend Jason takes up the tale, followed five years later by his lover Heather, and finally, after another year's gap, by Jason's father Reg. Each of them remains haunted by the events of 1988, even Heather, the only one of the four not intimately connected - she is forever aware of the effect that the shootings had on Jason. Discussing the plot here would be pointless, not only as I would immediately spoil many of the books surprises (in fact, I haven't even been totally honest... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful