Coma Books

I loved this book - I got stuck waiting for a meeting...all day. I had brought this book, expecting to wait. I read the whole thing in the course of the day. I loved the use of Louis' voice as the narrator and I found the other characters interesting, real, and compelling. The author gives you peeks at the backstory, enough to tantalize without insulting your intelligence. Very well written!

Reading Louis Drax's story is almost as exhausting as living through must be! The main character's life is one deep, dark, tragic secret after another, and there's barely a break in the misery. Somehow, this book manages to avoid becoming bogged down in all its negativity. You'll get something out of reading it, but you may not quite be sure what it is. Most likely, you'll be grateful that hardships like Louis' only happen in fiction!

First time authors usually don't achieve this kind of suspenseful writing; normally a few books must be written before the proper balance of horror and coherence is achieved. This author competently enters into the mind of a very unusual nine year old boy, who is in a coma after a fall (or a push) from a cliff into a deep ravine. We read his thoughts, and we follow the actions the the doctor into whose care he has been placed. It's a novel of psychologicl suspense, and also a mystery, not to mention the various twists and turns of the plot right up until the end. It's a book that can keep you up very late at night trying to finish, and I highly recommend it.

Louis Drax is a nine year old French boy, definitely a difficult child, and prone to horrible life-threatening accidents, at least once a year. This year his estranged parents take him on a family picnic, but guess what--he has an accident and falls to his death. Or near death--because to everyone's surprise, he starts breathing again (remaining in a deep coma).

Dr. Pascal Dannachet is a somewhat troubled middle-aged man with marital problems who works in a coma clinic. Occasionally his patients recover. His methods, of course, are a bit unorthodox.

Natalie Drax is Louis' overprotective mother--a beautiful, seemingly vulnerable waif who has a strangely powerful effect on men. Often to their downfall.

Well, the plot brings these three and other interesting characters together to reveal some strange discoveries about each other and the mysteries of life. I won't tell you what happens of course. You'll have to read it for itself.

Author Liz Jensen writes beautiful, evocative prose. She creates such a powerful French atmosphere for her story that I had to look and make sure this wasn't a translation. In the beginning I found the little boy, Louis, oddly appealing in his insights--something like a very dysfunctional version of Adrian Mole. However the charm dissipates as the plot grows more absurd and unbelievable. This was not an easy book to finish. The suspension of disbelief simply couldn't be sustained--for me--enough for the story to work. I can recommend it with reservations. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.

Although a relatively small book, and one that will compel you to finish it once you open the cover, this book is not an easy read. Oh you'll fly through the pages easily enough, but the story of young accident-prone Louis Drax is not a happy one.

This dark psychological thriller may be unsettling to some, particularly if you are a protective mother of an only child, and you may find yourself trying on the shoes of Natalie Drax, said shoes being pretty uncomfortable to live in.

Few readers can escape unmoved when being told of a child who has escaped death eight times in eight years, only to fall off a cliff on his ninth birthday, under suspicious circumstances, to his apparent death.

Miraculously, Louis lives to fight another day, but this time he's in a coma, in a special clinic, "talking" to us through an imaginary and gruesome companion. Always a difficult and precocious child, the comatose Louis still manages to stir up trouble for not only his mother, but also his doctor and one-time psychiatrist, and the police find themselves dealing with something quite out of the ordinary.

Certain conclusions can be drawn quite early in the book, but do not detract from the clever story telling. This one grabs your attention and holds it until you reluctantly turn the final page.


Amanda Richards, November 13, 2005

Simon Gray, a high school junior and a computer whiz, has been recruited by three of the senior elite at his high school. All three are concerned about their grades and about getting into good colleges. They need Simon to find a way to get into the school's computer system and get tests in advance. They feel it is the only way they will be able to get to the schools where they want to go. Despite his better judgment, Simon sets up a program to get teachers' passwords and is able to make the idea work.

Now after a very long time of smooth running, something is going wrong. A copy of a test has been found in a school printer, and all of a sudden teachers and the principal are getting suspicious and beginning an investigation of the school computers to find out who could have printed the test. Simon and his friends are worried.

Then one night Simon is out late driving in bad conditions. His car slams head-on at high speed into the Liberty Tree, so named because hundreds of years ago a murderer was hanged from it. After the accident Simon falls into a coma.

While in the coma, Simon has strange encounters, most especially with Jessup Wildemere, the man who was hanged from the tree Simon crashed into. Through conversations with him, Simon comes to realize that the stories told about him are not at all true, but he feels helpless to stop what he knows is going to happen.

Outside, the rest of the world is moving on and the three friends Simon helped cheat on tests are becoming very worried, especially after Simon's home computer is confiscated by the police. They begin to think that perhaps with Simon in a coma and unable to defend himself, they will be able to keep themselves distant and out of trouble. But will Simon wake up and mess up the whole plan?

The Jessup story was really interesting; I liked how it was explored from a historical standpoint and showed that historical events aren't always what they seem. I also liked the idea of the plagues overtaking the town because of an injustice.

I thought, though, that the story of Simon and the story of Jessup should have been more closely connected. Something didn't quite make sense, and it didn't come together in the end. I also thought Devin was an unrealistic character; I found it hard to believe she would make the decision at the end of the book that she made.

The language used in this book has a lot to be desired, especially for a book being read by children. My thirteen year-old son started reading it for school. He realized it was not something he should be reading and alerted me. I then read the book and totally agree!

Also, the outcome of the story teaches kids that it is okay to cheat if you get away with it:
For three years of high school, Simon and his friends cheat by accesssing exams on the school's computer. The authorities suspect Simon until it is found that a teacher is allowing football players access to the school's computers using his password. The football players view pornography on the internet and the teacher gets in trouble for permitting it. Since these students had access to school information through the computers there is no way of finding out who was actually accessing and printing the tests. Simon and his friends get off the hook and are never caught.

Shades of Simon Gray, by Joyce McDonald, is an interesting adventure story set in a modern day, small town. A group of high school kids attempt to cover their tracks as a computer hacking conspiracy at their school is discovered by the authorities. Simon Gray, leader of the group and so-called "perfect kid" falls into a coma which threatens the groups chances to get away with their crime. This book was well-written and cleverly told several stories, all culminating at the same time.

I love this story. I've read it 3 times. It's about choices (good and bad) and the prices we're willing to pay to get what we want. It doesn't offer any easy answers. It asks you to think about the choices made by these characters and the ones you yourself make. The fantasy/horror elements just make the story more enjoyable for me.

The peepers are everywhere, little frogs descending on Bellehaven by the thousands like some early sign of the Apocalypse. As Simon Gray drives home one blisteringly hot night, he squashes millions of them, their blood making the road slick and dangerous. Of course he has an accident --- someone was bound to have one sooner or later. As Simon lies in the hospital in a coma, secrets begin to unfold. Simon was the brain behind a computer hacking operation that enabled Devin, Kyle and Danny to get advance copies of their tests. Before the accident, Simon had done and said things that disturbed his best friend, Liz. Those who didn't know Simon Gray thought he was perfect.

SHADES OF SIMON GRAY is a brilliant combination of mystery, fantasy, history and gritty realism. This is a book that doesn't let up for a minute, pulling the reader in with a fast-paced blend of past and present. Love mysteries? Hate mysteries? It doesn't matter. Simon Gray will intrigue everyone and keep the reader guessing as to what will happen next. There's even an element of the supernatural, with Simon leaving his comatose body to walk through the town, discovering the truth behind a centuries-old murder. Why are the police involved with Simon's accident? What do the strange weather and the sudden appearance of crows have to do with him? None of the pieces add up...or do they?

--- Reviewed by Carlie Kraft

Harry Barnett, the anti-hero in this novel, leads a dismal life as part-time attendant at the Mitre Bridge Service Station in London. One day he gets a telephone call from the National Neurological Hospital informing him that his son David John Venning is lying in a deep coma in room E318. To this day Harry has lived a presumably childless life and this piece of news comes as a great surprise.
Harry decides to go and visit this new son of his, and in room E318 he finds a comatose thirty-four-year old man. Glancing at the clipboard hanging on the bed, he acknowledges the fact that David John Venning was born on May 10th 1961. Could he be the result of Harry's long forgotten fling with Iris Venning in July 1960? Who placed the call at the Mitre Bridge Service Station knowing that Harry is David's father? Iris? Why is David in a deep coma resulting of an overdose of insulin? Did he try to commit suicide?
A twisty and breathtaking adventure is about to start for Harry on his long search for the answers to all these questions.

"Out of the Sun" (1996) is the second in what amounts to a trilogy by British author Robert Goddard, starting with the excellent "Into the Blue" (1990) and ending with "Never Go Back" (2006), all revolving around Harry Barnett, a likeable regular guy, who loves his pints, and has had less than success with work and business ventures.

As one young American poet put it, the shining sun sees most of us every day on this turning globe. Sees us until the day we are out of the sun, gone, and seen no more. A mysterious phone call informs Harry that his thirty-three-year-old son David is as good as dead, being hospitalized in a severe coma and on life support.

Harry never knew he had a son, but thinking back, he well and fondly remembers how it happened. Son David, a brilliant PhD mathematician interested in higher mathematical dimensions, belongs to a group of scientists trying to predict the full spectrum of challenges the world will be facing in 50 years.

The group's employer, called Globescope, has clients who pay highly to identify these future challenges so they can meet them profitably. Globescope sees the group's predictions to be quite dire. Believing that customers should hear only good news, the employer refuses to pass on the results and fires David's group.

When the fired group seeks to publish their work independently, group members keep turning up dead under mysterious circumstances -- or, in Harry's son David's case, comatose.

To protect the rest of the group, Harry is trying to find out who is responsible. He also hopes to find a doctor who can cure David. Harry's dangerous quest takes him from England to Copenhagen, to New York, Chicago, Dallas, Washington D.C., and elsewhere, and has him playing several roles. The perilous telling has considerable charm, humor, romance, and luck, with a surprise ending.

If I may repeat, we in the States are now indeed fortunate to have easy access to Goddard's books.

I first met Goddards character Harry Barnett in the novel Into the Blue. He was a likable character, prone to misfortune and possessing a penchant for lifting a few "pints" at the local pub.

In Out of the Sun Harry discovers he has a 33 year old son, a math genius who has fallen into a insulin overdose induced coma. When it is discovered that all of his son's mathematical notes are missing, and that several other individuals who had been working on a project with him for a company known as Globescope have also been felled by fatal "accidents", Harry embarks on a dangerous campaign to save the son he never knew he had.

The plot of this novel is compelling, with lots continent hopping adventures and enough twists turns to fill a package of fusilli pasta. All of these keep the reader interested, however the mathematical "hyperdimensions" mumbo-jumbo and ultimate explanation for the murders was disappointing. (Perhaps "genius" is not what it's cracked up to be).

This is not the best of Goddards offerings, but his average offering is often a lot better than other writers best.

Harry Barnett, a bit of a down and outer,is shocked on two counts.The first is to discover that he has a son from a brief fling, many years ago and secondly to be told that his son, David, is lying in a diabetic coma. David is a brilliant mathematician, employed by a rather secretive forecasting institute who previously employed several other scientists who died in mysterious circumstances.It's a good, imaginative plot and, given that I'm mathematically challenged, one that I had to force myself to understand. Poor Harry is a bit of a sad sack so things don't magically solve themselves for him as for other literary heros, but it's a story which will hold your attention until the end.

A well written, entertaining and truly original story. I read Goddard's "Into the blue" before, but liked this book much better. Worth reading!!

First Sentence: Out on the Middle Level midnight sees the rising flood nudge open the doors of the Baptist chapel at Black Bank.

Reporter Philip Dryden nearly drowned as a boy and again when his car went into a river, leaving his wife, Laura, in `locked-in syndrome' coma. His aversion to water is understandable when he attends a crime scene where a car, whose trunk contains a mutilated body, is pulled from a frozen river. A second body, the corpse having died 30-years previously, is found on the roof of Ely Cathedral. Dryden is on the trail of the story when it is found the two victims are tied to a crime from 1966. The investigation also ties to the night that changed his, and Laura's, life.

I can understand why this book was short listed for a CWA John Creasey award.. It did take me a bit to realize that while he's telling the present day story, he is also telling the events of the past and bringing the two together in an "oh, wow" ending with all the ends neatly tied up. The characters are great; Dryden is interesting and multi-dimensional and his driver, Humphrey H. Holt, could become a favorite of mine. Kelly's use of the weather is critical to the story. It was refreshing that the original crime isn't a serial killing. It is also nice that the story is not set in London, but in the Cambridgeshire Fens. This is the first book I've read of Kelly's and it definitely won't be the last

This is a smashing debut novel by a writer more associated with the august "Financial Times" newspaper. The protagonist is indeed a newspaperman but this one, Philip Dryden, toils at the other end of his previous London life and now works as a big fish in a tiny pond on the Cambridgeshire Fens. He writes for the local rag, dubiously named "The Crow". With one of the most riveting prologue chapters I've ever read, the book starts us on a frozen journey through a maze of crimes that may or may not be connected. All of the action takes place in an extremely cold week in November, and we know that from the first, so immediately the clock is ticking and Kelly uses that fact to drive the story to increasingly higher levels of tension.

The core of the story revolves around two murders that have taken place more than 30 years apart and are connected to yet another crime that left a young woman horribly disfigured. In pulling at the threads of these stories, Dryden works with the inept and unhappy local detective who has no apparent interest in any of the connections that seem so apparent to Dryden. And, of course, there has to be a romance. This one is tragic. Dryden has his own mystery because he was in a horrible car accident years before and was rescued from drowning in that accident by a mysterious stranger who didn't also rescue Dryden's wife Laura, and she has lain in a coma ever since. So Dryden has his own mystery and his own demons.

This is a small, lonely place on the planet and the cast of available characters is small so you know, almost from the start, that all stories intertwine and that nothing is what it seems. Right up to the end, I was shivering (you get damned cold reading this book) and hoping upon hope that I was wrong about the evil at the core. At the end, it didn't matter. Being wrong didn't keep the book from stirring around in my head for several days more.

I can understand why some people might find this book to be a nice change of pace to the dross that James Patterson and Patricia Cornwell are releasing, but I'm with those who found it rather underwhelming.

For one thing, there is just far too much description. At one point - towards the end - we get a four-page explanation as to why the Fens is going to flood. I found this a little more than was necessary. Also, the severe lack of dialogue made the characters very hard to identify with. How can I get to know these people if they barely even speak? Dryden's cab driver "Humph" was so dull I wondered why he was even included in the plot.

In the end, everything tied up very well. If Kelly can combine his obvious gift for plotting with better character development and a less show-offy writing style, he could find himself up there with Jonathan Kellerman and Michael Connelly.

I'm surprised at the glowing reviews. Maybe it's just me, but the character wasn't particularly appealing and the narrative not really gripping. Read it to see how the mystery was resolved, Probably won't read another one from this author until I check the reviews. And the description of the weather in the Fens made me shudder.....how can anyone live in that awful climate???

I picked this up as a result of the glowing reviews, and was not disappointed. Water Clock is a simple, straight-up mystery and a well-written one at that. It will appeal to readers (like myself) who have less patience with the trend of producing ever more shocking serial killers instead of well-plotted characters. There are some minor uneven points (the pace is a little bit wrong), but they are more than made up for by the positive aspects. Give it a try!

If you are looking for an interesting/inspirational book about the day that Donny woke from a coma with the details and science behind it, this is not the book for you. The majority of the book is spent building the case for why this was a tried and true religious miracle. The book rambles on and on listing parish leaders/people and their involvement in the miracle. Finally, I just skipped to the 5 pages that detail the awakening and called it a day. Not the book I thought it would be.

While this book doesn't have a typical "happy ending" it ends with closure for the family, and is a very interesting and fairly well written book with a lot of backround information about the families and the struggles this couple experienced. Very good!

I could not believe they would let their dog run after their car all the way out to a suburb and I could not read anymore after he apparently got confused and lost the scent.

What kind of end did HE come to ?

The very idea that someone could wake up from a Rip Van Winkle like coma is amazing enough, but that the family could converse with him was astounding. I was left wanting to know a little more about Donny's eventual death and the effect of the waking on his family, but I suppose that story is still waiting to unfold.
Donny's story should make us think about the kind of care we render to minimally conscious and comatose patients.
I preached about this story one Father's Day.

As a firefighter this book hit close to home. Also, the fact that I am a member of a fire department who unfortunately shared a similar case in which a firefighter was comatose for 13 years made this book extremely interesting. If you, or someone you know is a firefighter, buy this book. It it an easy, quick read yet it makes a person realize just how fragile life is. It also brings back memories of fires I have fought where just such an accident could have happened to me or my fellow firefighters. If you happen to be Catholic, the story is even more interesting. I highly recommend it.

This was the most wonderful, soulfull and uplifting book I have read in a long time. Edwards descriptions were so vivid that you knew ,thought and felt all of the different emotions of the the main characters and wherever they were, you were right along side them. The story will make the reader re-think many of the beliefs that he was taught and awaken the ones that he believed deep in the recesses of his heart & soul. A personal confirmation in faith.

I have recommended this book already to many friends and family. I lent my copy away and can't wait to get it back to read it again. The novel was romance, science fiction, and suspense wrapped in one. I hope that this author is inspired to write another novel! Read it and enjoy it!

I am deeply disappointed in this tale that I expected to be more uplifting and spiritual. Instead all I got was page after page of a hot steamy love affair of two teens/young adults. Their attraction was more physical than soulful. It must have been as the author devoted more pages to their sex life than anything else! I am not against a sexual novel. I just want to know that is what I am reading up front instead of being marketed a spiritual novel. Granted I haven't gotten to the very end yet where the plot comes together but that is because I am over 3/4 of the way through and the spiritual side of the plot is very slow to come about in full force! I am having trouble forcing myself to pick it back up and finish it. When and if I do and "the end justifies the means" I will be the first to rewrite a review rescinding this one.

ladyfishjg from NH

"The Silver Cord" is one of the most delightful and engrossing books I have ever read. Chapter after chapter I was absolutely riveted. What drew me to this book initially was the subject matter, since I find the out of body experience to be fascinating. However, it is the writing style in this book that I am most impressed with. Not only is the subject matter facinating, but the marvellous way in which it was written makes this book a very delightful and enjoyable read. I highly recommend "The Silver Cord"!

I've read many, many novels-Thomas Hardy, James Joyce, Henry Miller, Updike, Anita Shreve-but THE SILVER CORD has consumed my soul like no other work of fiction. Johnson Edwards captured me on the first page, and he never let me down, as I soared upon the artfully crafted sense of expectation scene after scene. NO WAY can you put this book down. I even imagined my own body rising into the air with young Bryan Howard as he glided about the Texas countryside in his first out-of-body experience. And the love story, torrid yet tender, roused feelings that make me feel forty years younger! But the dramatic, beyond-the-edge ending turned me inside out with awe and joy! Though I'm a rational agnostic, The Silver Cord has given me reason to hope for a good ending, for a personal and collective triumph over the grave, a hope that we all desperately need. I give THE SILVER CORD six stars, seven, ten, as many as I can paste on its cover. Moreover, this story will make a magnificent movie-magic on the screen, even more so than the Harry Potter movies, because the THE SILVER CORD is not only magnificent, it is PLAUSIBLE!

Philip Dryden, described one of Fleet Street's sharpest reporters for over a decade, is now working as chief reporter for The Crow, a small local paper, so as to allow him the time he needs to be at his wife's bedside. They had been in a terrible car accident which had caused their auto to plunge into 20 feet of water. She has for four years been in a special facility for those suffering from Locked In Syndrome, a condition where the victim "appeared to be in a deep coma but could, at times, be entirely conscious despite their lack of movement." His wife, who had been a British soap opera star, has only lately shown some signs of awareness. Philip suffers from survivor's guilt, having been rescued from the water but forced to leave Laura for what turned out to be three hours while he went for necessary help.

The novel begins with an horrific plane accident in England's Cambridgeshire Fens which occurred 27 years earlier, one which claimed many lives, including all passengers and crew with the exception of a 15-day-old baby, and the family into whose home the plane crashed: a woman, her husband and their infant grandson, Maggie, the baby's mother, having survived purely by chance after she had gone into the basement to retrieve a celebratory bottle of champagne.

The author brings these survivors together when Maggie, whom Philip had known since childhood, and Laura, Philip's wife, are hospital roommates as Maggie lies near death. Desperate to see her daughter before she dies, she extracts a promise from Philip to find her. She has been on holiday and is unaware of Maggie's turn for the worse. The daughter and her male companion, a "friend of the family," arrive at the hospital not a moment too soon. But before that occurs, Maggie has made a shocking deathbed confession which has a profound effect on Philip and the stories he is covering, dealing with porn merchants and illegal immigrant smuggling, not to mention those involved in Maggie's life over the past three decades.

The time jumps are at times a bit confusing, but is perhaps essential to the unfolding of this psychological mystery spun by the author. It is always interesting and unfailingly holds the reader's attention.

First Sentence: East of Ely, above the bone-dry peatfields, a great red dust storm drifts across the moon, throwing an amber shadow on the old cathedral.

It starts with a plane crash resulting in a house fire. One baby dies and another survives.

It progresses to a dying woman, a comatose wife providing occasional clues, includes smuggling of illegal immigrants, pornography, and a WWII bunker.

It all combines into a mystery reporter Philip Dryden feels compelled to solve.

I have rapidly become a fan of Kelly's writing. It takes a touch of work to follow him through the maze of plots and subplots he creates, but it's a very enjoyable journey.

I am thoroughly fascinated with his three main characters; Dryden, the journalist and husband; Laura, his comatose wife; and Humph, Dryden's driver who has a ready supply of airplane-sized liquor bottles and listens to foreign language tapes.

What I most appreciate is the way Kelly takes all the threads of his story and brings you to a dramatic and satisfying place at the end. I am definitely looking forward to continuing with this author.

A interesting coincidence occurred the other day. I picked up two seemingly unrelated books at the library and upon reading them I discovered that they shared a "key" plot feature: in each book the protagonist is trying to find the lock that fits a key that has been given by a (dead or incapacitated) family member!

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. Jim Kelly has a wonderful way with words. The story is somewhat sensational and hard-boiled, but what do you expect from a murder mystery?

The other book was "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close", which I do not recommend.

England's Fen country has always seemed compelling and mysterious to me ... which is why I picked up Jim Kelly's first mystery THE WATER CLOCK. The protagonist, reporter Philip Dryden, was also so compelling that I went right to Kelly's second mystery, THE FIRE BABY. Once again, Kelly weaves a story involving disparate characters acting and reacting badly over decades into a satisfying mystery.

A comatose wife as assistant crime solver? It sounds like the ultimate gimmick, but in British author Kelly's skillful hands Laura Dryden's sporadic struggles to communicate are integral to the genesis and development of this quirky, unusual series.

A former soap opera star, Laura was left in a coma after a car accident on the Cambridgeshire Fens four years earlier. Her husband Philip left his high-powered Fleet Street job to become star reporter for the local weekly and sit by her hospital bed.

This second outing (after "The Water Clock") finds Philip at his wife's bedside on a summer day. "The figure on the bed didn't move. Its immobility was a constant in his life, like the heat of that summer, and equally oppressive." Sharing his wife's room is a local woman, Maggie Beck, who, back in 1977, recovering from the death of her parents and son, had helped Philip's newly widowed mother.

Maggie's parents and baby had been killed by the crash of a US military plane. Ironically, Maggie had rescued an American infant thrown free of the wreckage. Now dying, Maggie needs Philip's help to share a deathbed secret.

Meanwhile, as Philip attempts to track down Maggie's daughter and her American traveling companion, a man is dying of thirst, tethered in a concrete bunker, a glass of water left just beyond his reach. And a young barmaid disappears after being drugged and raped, also in a bunker, according to the pornographic photographs of her making the rounds. And a group of illegal African immigrants suffer the summer's hellish heat in the back of a locked truck container.

While Kelly tracks these story lines from various points of view, it's up to Philip to follow the leads and discover each victim's fate, with a bit of help from friends like a bird-watching police detective and an alcoholic American major, both hanging on for retirement. Then there's Humph, Philip's silent, misanthropic driver, and Laura, tapping out an occasional cryptic message between reams of gibberish.

Kelly seems equally at home with heart-shattering pain and dark, nimble humor. Philip is cynical, kind, heart sore and responsible. Prone to private self-criticisms, his bravest acts are motivated by the fear of being discovered a coward. Kelly's writing is wry and evocative and full of sharp insights and humane sensitivity. Atmospheric and insightful, this is a standout series.

Portsmouth Herald, March 13

Too many characters, too many stories to follow. But it is historically acurate just too many details. Way beyond the point.

Anyone who has enjoyed and appreciated "Beijing Coma" should read "Rabbit in the Moon" by Deborah and Joel Shlian. Both are incredible insights into Chinese culture and so relevant to how China is positioning itself in the world today.

Bejing Coma is a delightfully written book telling one man's story of his childhood and upbringing in Mao's China and the immediate aftermath . What struck me was the amazingly law abiding behaviour of the Chinese and their stoical acceptance of authority .

Ma Jian's Beijing Coma was a really enlightening novel. I learned so much about China- the good and the bad. This novel exposed me for the first time to the horrifying Cultural Revolution and the Tiananmen Square massacre- really important events that no one bothered to teach in high school history. What you find in this book will alternatively inspire and infuriate you, and at no time will Ma Jian leave you feeling apathetic.
The writing in this novel is unique. The narration is delivered with a certain sparsity and emotionless quality, but is occasionally punctuated with incredibly poignant and striking images and revelations that take you aback and force you to pause and reflect. The novel reminds me a bit of the fiction of Sartre and Camus, but with distinguishing elements that are Ma Jian's own.
In any case, the novel is brilliant. Read it. It is an accessible opportunity to experience the richness of another culture's literature.

Ma Jian's Beijing Coma is very well written, albeit with a bit of the stilted sound you get when Chinese is translated to English. (Readers of this book might also want to read Life and Death in Shanghai by Nien Cheng, a fascinating, brutal, nonfiction work describing the author's incarceration during the Cultural Revolution. I learned a lot about the Cultural Revolution from that book.)

Beijing Coma is narrated by the character of Dai Wei, a molecular biology doctoral student in Beijing. Caught up in the pro-democracy student-led protests leading up to the massacre at Tiananmen Square in 1989, Dai Wei is shot in the head and lapses into a coma. Despite his appearance as a "vegetable," he is sentient, his sense of hearing and smell intensified greatly in compensation for his loss of sight and speech.

I was a child during the Cultural Revolution and never knew anything about it; it was amazing to me, upon reading Cheng's book mentioned above, that this could have happened in my lifetime. I was an adult during the protests in Tiananmen Square and followed the news coverage of that time. Despite this, I was astounded, in reading Beijing Coma, at descriptions of life under the Chinese government, at the bravery of the students and others who participated in the protests, and, especially, at the long-term ramifications that participation in the protests had on the students and citizens. For example, no doctor will treat or even examine Dai Wei once they learn he received his wound at Tiananmen Square. Everyone is terrified of the government.

The book alternates between Dai Wei's memories of his life before being shot and his (internal) observations of his life in the coma, where he lives at home and is cared for by his increasingly unstable and resentful mother.

In my opinion the book could have been improved by a little editing; there are long sections of Dai Wei's internal molecular damage that seemed a little excessive. But that's a minor quibble: I found the book a worthwhile read, very informative about China as it has evolved from the Cultural Revolution to a modern society, wrestling with its desire to enter the modern capitalist world and still control its citizens. It's heartbreaking.

I was totally taken back in time! I knew and loved so many of these bands. Many of their quotes could still be used today. These bands were metal cornerstones; Judas Priest, Van Halen, Black Sabbath and if you weren't rockin to Dokken your hair wasn't big enough! Fun read! It made me want ot break out my lepoard skin spandex, pencil my eyes and tease the crap outta my hair! Nice work Mike!

It's just a few lyrics on each page that you can look at to get you through the day. A farside calendar is more therapeutic. Maybe I didn't read the description well enough before I bought it.

This book is amazing! The first time I looked at it I quickly skimmed through. Then I stopped on Anthrax, "Talking to you is like clapping with one hand". That can relate to various people in my life! I immediately started flipping through each and every page as if my day could not continue until I had read each and every affirmation, mantra and meditation. Before reading this book I didn't even know who bands like Warrant and White Lion were. Now I am able to use the quotes in the book to help get me through everyday irritations! And if I still have a problem I can't solve I just go to the book's website and ask a metal god. This is great!

I've been following Mike Daly's career as a writer/producer for several years now...and must commend Mike, his co-authors and publisher on such a great book. Certainly, Time Flies When You're in a Coma is full of humor -- and is bound to bring back all sorts of memories for those who came of age during the 'era of the metal gods.' The book is also full of meaningful and thought provoking 'words of wisdom'. I've got to agree with Mr Daly, when he explains that a song is as legitimate a medium as any other, when it comes to looking for guidance and meaning. (Not ALL songs, of course.) Mike Daly has managed to take a spirited era of music, beloved to many, and find in its words things that will make us laugh (including at ourselves for singing them, at times), things that will make us scratch our heads, and "things that make you go hmm" (sorry, wrong genre). If you want to find gems of wisdom in the most unexpected of places -- and have a great time in the process -- get this book!!

I just read through this book and when it was done flipped back to the front and read it again! Wow -- "the wisdom of the metal gods" could not be a better description for this book, emphasis on WISDOM. I found myself vigorously nodding my head to at least 7 of these quotes (two of my favorites: "Don't dance in darkness, you may stumble and you're sure to fall" -Dio ; "Why behave in public when you're livin' on a playgroud?" -Van Halen). Some of my metal favorites are in here as well as some amazing quotes that I either forgot or never noticed before. I would recommend this 100% to anyone looking for a new perspective on their issues or just looking for an entertaining light read. A+!

This story of a boy trying to figure out what happened to his sister the previous summer started with an interesting idea, but much of the story gets lost among all the repetition (If you took all the "Hal! Where are you!"s out of the book you'd probably cut 10 pages). There are some touching scenes, but many of them were pretty contrived, IMO. I did keep reading to find out what had happened, but by the time we got to it I'd gotten so tired of the melodramatic voices in the wind that I didn't care all that much anymore.

There are few things harder in life than moving on from tragedy. There's the time spent wondering how life can ever be normal again and dwelling on how it once was. But no time is ever wasted; it's all a part of that final goal: healing. But being trapped in those moments --- living in that seemingly hopeless time --- can be a potent and unforgettable experience for all those involved, as demonstrated in WAVES, the remarkable debut novel from Sharon Dogar.



WAVES tells the story of the Dittons, a family in England struggling to come to terms with the events of a tragic accident that took place one summer at their beach house. Sixteen-year-old Charley, the oldest daughter, was left in a coma following what was believed to be a surfing mishap. The book starts with the family preparing to go back to the beach house for the first time since Charley's accident. The narrative shifts from its primary protagonist --- Hal, Charley's 14-year-old brother --- who feigns indifference at Charley's situation when he really, desperately wants his sister back, and Charley, trapped in a body that no longer responds to her commands.



Both teens sojourn back and forth in time, their present day minds touching one another on occasion, leaving Hal convinced that someone witnessed Charley's accident --- someone who could have helped her but didn't. Both Hal and Charley search their memories for answers, but at the same time seem incapable of transcending the unfolding events of the present.



Complicating matters for Hal is Jack, a girl his age whose family also owns a beach house nearby. Hal gets his first taste of romance with Jack, which distracts him from his quest to learn the truth about what happened to Charley. To make matters worse, Jack is the sister of Pete, the "surfing god" Charley was hanging around before the accident --- making him a prime suspect, in Hal's mind. The mystery slowly unfolds, and Hal, with "help" from Charley, moves closer to understanding what happened that fateful night.



Dogar's masterful use of language makes this a truly beautiful book, painfully realistic in its depiction of loss as felt by each member of the Ditton clan and mesmerizing in its suspenseful energy. There is something very real in how Hal teases his unconscious sister, hoping that something familiar will somehow prompt her to awaken. As Hal's and Charley's minds intersect throughout the book, you're drawn into an investigation neither immediately understands is happening. Brother and sister possess a recognizable vulnerability in how they interact, both in flashback when they are together and in the nebulous subconscious level in which they currently communicate. Readers will enjoy the rich characters and the skill with which Dogar allows her mystery to blossom.



WAVES will have you hooked from the first page and keep you guessing until the very last. Every year sees hundreds of debut young adult novelists, but in 2007 few will be able to pull off such a stunning coup as Dogar has done here.



--- Reviewed by Brian Farrey

Every year the whole family goes to Cornwall, to the beach house, for vacation. Mum, Dad, Charley, Hal, Sara -- one big happy family, every year. Until this year. This year Charley won't be there. This year they won't be much of a happy family anymore. And it's all because of Charley. Charley's staying at home, in a hospital bed, in a coma. Caught somewhere between life and death. She's been that way since Hal found her last summer, washed up on the rocks by the water.

Ever since that day, nothing seems right, or even okay anymore. Mum and Dad have been fighting, Mum's unpredictable and distant, Hal is confused and angry, and even Sara asks questions that no one can answer and says things no one can understand.

The one thing Hal knows for sure is that his sister is not in the body that lies in that hospital bed. He can't stand to go there. He can't stand to see his vibrant, lively sister colorless and wasted. He can't stand to hear people talk to her like she's a sick child, like the world is still normal. Vacation seems like an escape to Hal.

At the beach house, Hal finds he's more trapped than ever. Charley is everywhere: in pictures, in memories, in the secret places they used to explore, in the memories of the new friends he's making, even in his head. Hal is starting to think that there's more to the story than any of them realize. The closer he gets to it, the more he can feel and hear his sister. Maybe he can find the answers that they both need. But, time is running short, and things are starting to seem dangerous. Every answer brings more questions, and Hal doesn't know if he's prepared to do what needs to be done. He only knows that he has to find a way, for Charley, for his family, for himself.

While some readers may find it hard to accept the clairvoyant relationship between Hal and Charley, it's not really hard to believe. When you're a kid no one understands you better than your family. Especially a brother or sister that's very close to you in age, and is your best friend. Who else would know you thoughts, and hear you when no one else is listening?

Not just a touching story (yes I cried) but beautiful. Yes, it's heartwarming, and heartbreaking. Sure, it's a coming of age story. It's also mysterious and surprisingly suspenseful. The characters are full, whole people. They surprise you, and make you angry, and make you feel what they feel. And the ending is the kind of ending that's so right that it makes you mad. It may not be what you expected, or what you wanted, but it's right and it's real. Just like this book.

Reviewed by: Carrie Spellman