PLAIN TALKING

Advantages: Superb look at life from another perspective.
Disadvantages: Perhaps a little weak at the end

..., and the sameness of these simple people who are known as 'Plain' makes sense, given the fact that it is not the individual that counts but the combination of individuals that make the society what it is, gives it its' strengths and perhaps through this story, its weaknesses too. I realise that this is fiction, though it is exceptionally well thought out fiction that would appeal to a wide spectrum of readers. In carrying out the exercises at the end of the book, I felt that my understanding of the differences between Amish 'right' and American 'right' was wide, and it wasn't until you understood the make up of the complex characters that make the story, that you are able to appreciate the complexity of the issues posed. Described on the cover as a drama, I felt that the book deserved a better description, and to me it was more of an awakening than...

thingywhatsit 02.01.2007 (03.01.2007) · Read review
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Review of Plain Truth - Jodi Picoult

Plain Truth

Advantages: Enjoyable read, insight into the Amish life
Disadvantages: None that I found

...way than with many other authors. She tries to make you understand why they do the things they do, but she does this by giving you the information and allowing you to make your own mind up. She gives you glimpses into their past, little hidden nuggets of information for you to piece together their characters. However she also quite often gives you a little twist here and there just when you thought you'd worked it out. I love reading her books, you get so absorbed into them and she leaves you wanting more. Thirdly I liked the drama of the book, there is an anticipation right through to the end, you want to find out more, what happened, why did it happen, who did what? There is a great pace to the book, in contrast to the slow pace of the Amish life which works so well. This is also picked up by Ellie the lawyer who finds everything...

AJ26 18.07.2006 · Read review
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Review of Plain Truth - Jodi Picoult

Plain Good

Advantages: Fascinating subject, great ethical debate, Ellie
Disadvantages: Other characters aren't so great, scrappy in places

...Jodie Picoult has established herself as one of the best writers of contemporary crime/courtroom fiction - and one of my favourite current writers - and this shows in Plain Truth. Whilst it isn't her best novel, it's extremely thought-provoking and a pleasure to read. As with her other fiction, Plain Truth explores the ethics surrounding a situation where a person has been accused of a crime. Unlike any of her other novels (so far, anyway), this is a violent crime where the accused is Amish. For those who don't know, the Amish community lives in Pennsylvania and its people are also known (incorrectly) as the Pennsylvanian Dutch. They live in a largely self-contained farming community, speaking a dialect derived from German and practicing a denomination of Christianity. Religion is central to the Amish community and they live with very...

DoubleFantasy11 29.01.2008 · Read review
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Review of Plain Truth - Jodi Picoult

Plain (C)Rap

Advantages: Some strong prodcution
Disadvantages: Lost creativity

...?Plain Rap? was the return album from The West Coast Hip Hop crew The Pharcyde. Imani, Bootie Brown, Slimkid3 and Fatlip came back with this 2000 album a good five years after their last and eight years after breaking through with an album containing hit alternative Hip hop tunes such as ?Ya Mama?, ?4 Better Or 4 Worse? and ?Passin? Me By?. 1. ?Trust? Getting things going to show how they have progressed their material in the half decade in which many significant changes occurred in the Hip Hop world, and so as you here what sounds to be essentially the same kind of stuff coming through here as before, it does have fans excited, but I didn?t think it did anything all that exciting. **Three Stars** 2. ?Network? With The Roots? Black Thought supporting them you see that here you get one which has them group laying down a tune...

XICripZ 05.08.2009 · Read review
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Review of Plain Rap - Pharcyde (The)

The truth, the plain truth and nothing but...

Advantages: great read
Disadvantages: none

...I have read quite a few of Jodi Picoult's novels before, but having just finished 'Plain Truth' I feel that this was the most moving and compelling by far. In 'Plain Truth' we are taken right into the heart of the Amish (Plain) Community in America, where an eighteen year old girl, katie Fisher, is accused of murdering her new born baby. Katie claims not to remember what happened on July 10th, when in the middle of the night in the family barn she gave birth silently and secretly, only later, after falling asleep, to discover that her newborn has died. Once the baby's body is discovered, there is a police investigation and Katie stands accused of first degree murder. There is a great deal of evidenve to incriminate her, not least is the fact that she concealed her pregnancy from everyone. Meanwhile, the reader has also met Ellie...

kingfisher111 17.08.2007 · Read review
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Review of Plain Truth - Jodi Picoult

Nothing 'plain' about this movie...'

Advantages: Top western, good measure of violence
Disadvantages: None

...them for the coming of Stacey Bridges and his crew? but some of the towns folk start to dislike this stranger and his gruelling and strange methods. There is an air of mystery that surrounds the stranger, played superbly by Clint Eastwood ? he also directed this movie. I guess there always is mystery for such characters played my Eastwood? from around 1965 and for a decade on he starred in several other such westerns (including Fistful of Dollars and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly), where he was known simply as the ?Man with no name.? But this mystery is more so in High Plains Drifter as the plot unfurls and we also see elements of the supernatural, which is also witnessed in his later film, Pale Rider. The movie is wonderfully written by Ernest Tidyman, who also brought us Shaft in the seventies. The dialogue is superb, captivating...

Borg 11.04.2009 · Read review
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Review of High Plains Drifter (DVD)

Just Plain Fun

Advantages: Cool Controls and Fun Games
Disadvantages: Graphics Don't Match Up to the 360 and PS3 and Online is a Little Small.

...their traditional spots, there are a couple versions of this controller including a controller that resembles the SNES controller. The graphical quality of this system is where the Wii falls to the 360 and PS3, and by a wide margin. Many of the games on this console look like last generations games. Metroid Prime is really the only game series that really looked phenomanel on this console, the rest are kind of lackluster. The graphical limitations does ruin a lot of the shooter games on this console but most of the other genres manage to go around it. The Wii's online is good but not perfect. One of the great achievements with Xbox live and Playstation Network is the amount of variety that are in them. The Wii's online isn't terrible, it does offer a little variety with the WiiConnect24, Internet Channel and my personal favorite Virtual...

TheGame2k2 24.07.2009 · Read review
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Review of Nintendo Wii

Jars on a plain

Advantages: great place to visit
Disadvantages: getting around is not so easy

...The 'plain of jars' is one of the must sees in Asia - similar to Stonehenge and the figures on the Easter Island nobody knows the origins of these small to big stone jars. They are located close to Phonsavan in the north-east of Laos close to the vietnamese border. Phonsavan is easily accessible from all major cities. You can go by local bus or by minibus - Local bus from Luang Prabang was 50000kip and the minibus was 85000kip. There are 3 jar-sites whereby Site was is the most easily reachable. You have 3 ways to visit the sites: - by tour: every GH will offer you tours. Expect to pay 80000 for Site 1 and 150000 for all 3 Sites. I found that the tour was overly rushed and you didn't have enough time to see this impressive place. - go with a TukTuk: Find a TukTuk driver to take you. It will be a lot cheaper than with the tour and you...

sun-is-shining 01.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of Plain of Jars (Laos)

I like plain chocolate biscuits

Advantages: Lots of chocolate
Disadvantages: None

...Bahlsen make some gorgeous dark chocolate biscuits Bahlsen Plain Choco Leibniz 125g Tesco sell them for £1.25p for a 125g packet .There are 12 biscuits in a pack The slim outer card pack with a tempting picture of a biscuit on it and the product info encloses a plastic tray with 3 compartments each with 4 biscuits. These biscuits are a crisp golden brown buttery biscuit which has been dipped in plain dark chocolate this dark chocolate covers one side of the biscuits it really looks as if the biscuit is dropped into a chocolate mould and the chocolate then allowed to set round it. The chocolate is so thick in fact there is more chocolate than biscuit. The biscuit and the chocolate case have a frilly pretty edge to it. in the centre of the both the biscuit and the chocolate side the words choco Leibniz is scrolled biscuit...

mumsymary 24.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Bahlsen Plain Choco Leibniz

Plain it is!

Advantages: Well written
Disadvantages: a bit boring, predictable

...One of my best findings late last year was Jodi Picoult. So far I have read four of her novels: "My Sister's Keeper", "The Pact", "Salem Falls" and lastly "Plain Truth". I find all her books extremely well written and well researched. However, "Plain Truth" didn't live up to my expectations, perhaps because once you read many books by one author one begins to know their style, how their heads work and what the plot is going to be like. Therefore, once again I guessed the end of the story and it was a bit dull having to read more than half the book knowing what the ending would be. "Plain Truth" is about an Amish girl that has a baby outside the wedlock. For the Amish, this is not something well accepted. In fact, for the Amish a lot that modern society accepts as common, the Amish strongly deny. They live up to their...

lazuli77 16.03.2006 · Read review
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Review of Plain Truth - Jodi Picoult