Eight German Novellas - Andrew J. Webber

Advantages: length o.k., language good, story excellent
Disadvantages: You finish it in two days...because you cannot put it down!

...Nearly everyone knows Andrew lloyd Webber's musical "The Phantom of the Opera", but only few know the original story written by Gaston Leroux. The book should be given just as much attention as the musical, if not more - it is truly captivating. Leroux drags us into Paris in the last 19th century. We follow Raoul, the main character, on his way through Paris and sit next to him in the Paris opera, listening to the beautiful Christine. Of course he falls in love with her - and is on the way to discover her fate, her terrible destiny: a devlish pact in the cellars of the operahouse. It's a love story, a crime story, a historical book - a bit of everything. Leroux's story is entertaining and exciting. I extremely liked the way he began and ended the chapters, thereby keeping up the tension throughout the book. The identification... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Excellent thought-provoking writing.
Disadvantages: Not entirely satisfying as a novel, characters undeveloped.

...The Lives of Animals by J.M. Coetzee (1999) The first book of J.M. Coetzee's I read was his autobiographical work: "Boyhood", and it left me with an immediate affinity towards him - his childhood thoughts and experiences seemed to echo my own. In this novella he uses fiction to explore the thorny issue of animal rights. Elizabeth Costello, an Australian feminist novelist, is invited to give two lectures at an American University where her son John is an assistant professor of physics and astronomy. She chooses to talk about animals. Elizabeth's vegetarian convictions cause her to see the people around her (good, kind people) as "participants in a crime of stupefying proportions." Is she a lone voice crying out against widespread slaughter, or an irrational woman deluded by her emotions? John's wife Norma, also an academic... Read review

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Advantages: Contains the best of the best by Lloyd Webber
Disadvantages: Misses out the last two deccades of his composing

...Product: The Andrew Lloyd Webber Anthology Setting: Vocal line, piano accompaniment and chords Composer: Andrew Lloyd Webber Lyricist: Various Published by: Hal Leonard Music Publishing Price: RRP £10.49 - 12.40 (different editions, identical contents) Cheapest at amazon.co.uk - marketplace at £2.55 at the time of writing (july 2007) This is a collection of some of the finest songs Andrew Lloyd Webber has written, dating from 1969, when his first musical Joseph and the amazing Technicolor dreamcoat was written, up to 1987, Starlight express being the most recent show in the book. Although Lloyd Webber has written several musicals since then, none of them have been as successful as his early shows. That makes this anthology a very good collection of his fines songs, although it misses the last twenty years of his career. The book... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful