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 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

...while at school. The women wear plain dresses with long sleeves and covered with an apron, they do not cut their hair and do not wear jewellery. Men and boys wear dark coloured suits, one-colour shirts and straw hats. They grow beards after they marry. They believe their clothing encourages humility and sets them apart from the rest of the world. They live a private life, apart from the world but together as a community....

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

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)

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)

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

When The Truth Is Far From Being Plain

Advantages: Captivating insight into the Amish world
Disadvantages: none

...***Background*** Ever since I read My Sister's Keeper, which was brought to my attention when it won the Richard & Judy Best Read of 2005, I've been hooked on her books. Her courtroom dramas are all set in very different scenarios and until the end you are never quite sure what the verdict will be. I have enjoyed them all so much that I have been compelled to write down my thoughts on them and this is just the latest in what is becoming a long line of reviews of her books, that I have felt the need to write about. There is a list of them at the bottom if anyone is interested in more of her work. ***The Story*** Plain Truth is set on a farm in the heart of the Amish community. A dead baby is found in the Fisher's barn one morning and the decision to call the police in is made by the family. They are then shocked and dismayed...

belfin 27.11.2006 · Read review
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Review of Plain Truth - Jodi Picoult