Rating: 
Summary: Wit and wisdom
Review: The Emperor is a wonderful, withering critique of the pieties of contemporary political and inellectual life. I'm no fan of the mystery genre so I won't judge that machinery (except to say that the ending disappointed me), and I don't think he's up with Nabokov in chess fiction. Big however: he addresses serious issues with good humor and withering irony by turns and gets the pettiness of academic politics about right.Other reviews on this site show that The Emperor, like Professor Carter's other work, incites passionate if unfair critique. Read it for yourself.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring....Long.....More Boring
Review: I think Carter spent way too much time developing the plot. The book was so detailed that reading it was a chore. The plot was mundane and Carter bored me the entire time. I wouldn't give this book to my enemy. In addition, the protragonist spends hours whining about being African-American and doing little to improve his situation. I would NOT recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Too much of a good thing
Review: Mr. Carter is a very fine writer. His characters are rich and beautifully described; his narrative is dense and compelling. He has so much to say. My objection is that he's trying to say it all in this one novel. There's actually a mystery going on here -- and with 150 less pages we might get to it. Perhaps because his concentration has been on non-fiction, he can't move along without a sidebar on his soapbox. It's all worth saying, but one wants him to "get on with it" and let the action happen. It's worth the read, if you're patient.
Rating: 
Summary: LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT!!!!!!
Review: I don't care what any body else says, I love this book. I especially love the kinds of words he uses. I find myself underlining them and then going to look them up in the dictionary. The storyline hooks you from the start and keeps going. I also love the fact that there wasn't lot of hankypankying going on in this book. Loved how he explained his characters and what they were thinking...Simply this book is awesome. I would like to read more of his literature...
Rating:
Summary: Please tell me it ain't so!!
Review: I read the Emperor of OP because it's about an ivy league law school and law faculties, and the world of the upper crust of the "darker nation". Carter did a great job here - it's well told, and surely he must have excellent knowledge regarding his subjects, including upper middle class blacks, law school, jurisprudence, marriage, the Vineyard, and chess. Maybe he did some damage to his causes...
A reviewer said it really bothered him that Talcott kept saying he wasn't interested in white women, others have remarked on the hostility and depression that Talcott exudes: perhaps it's simply a fact of life that talented black intellectuals are pissed off that people may think they got where they've got because of affirmative action. And if it's not true for all brilliant black professionals/academics, it must be true for enough of them that this whole book is filled with rage and bitterness. Carter's take on the law school faculties is also bitter - but usually academic "farces" (and this book certainly qualifies) are cynical and bitter. That Carter's view of Jurisprudence is also cynical and bitter starts to get worrisome - hey, he knows more about it than we do.
I am saved from thinking that all is hopeless when Carter gets to marriage and fatherhood. I know enough about those subjects to realize that his view is warped. Talcott's relationship with his 3-year old son borders on insanity - he thinks the child is so cute that we have absolutely no clue what the child is about. He seems like an awful parent. That Talcott doesn't resent his wife for talking on the phone the entire time she bathes her son shows that he has no idea what a good mother should be. And his acceptance of his wife's painful infidelity is mindboggling. This is a seriously flawed view of home life! Carter points out that he himself has a happy home life... Thus, I am rescued from thinking that academia, the black upper crust, and The Law are as unredeemable as Carter paints them - maybe this book is really just Fiction.
But perhaps, if the E of OP is fiction, Carter has painted the world in too despairing colors for the sake of art.
Rating:
Summary: great thriller...but why the Scooby Doo ending?
Review: I am not a fan of thrillers but needed to read this for work reasons and found it a real page turner. A gripping story that hooked me from early on and I had more than one late night, rapidly turning pages as I reached the end. What made this book particularly interesting was the fact that the characters were plucked from an element of society - rich African-American professionals - that is rarely featured in contemporary fiction. It was a fascinating insight on a world I have never experienced. So, a great thriller well written - why only three stars? The answer is simple... ...the ending. Having trawled through hundreds of pages over many night I cannot believe that I was presented with what was effectively a 'you pesky kids' Scooby Doo type ending with the baddie telling us all 'how he did it' while pointing a gun at our protagonist. A major major letdown from am intelligent literary thriller.
Rating:
Summary: Long but rewarding
Review: Great story, but Carter didn't make the editing decisions that might've turned this into a classic. I loved the wonderful, sometimes poetic prose, but the writing occasionally revealed unwelcome glimpses of the author's other career as a law professor. Like many legal writings, this one was too long, affected and at times seemed calculated to impress. That said, though, anyone with the patience and will to trudge through the first half is rewarded by what turns out to be an enthralling work.
I recently finished another recently published first-time effort by a lawyer that provides a wonderful comparision, Dead Hand Control by Tim Stutler. Where Emperor reflects a law professor's sensibilities, Dead Hand's lively, direct prose reveals the distinctive style and world-view of a trial advocate. After reading Emperor, Dead Hand Control was a breath of fresh air. Accessible but occasionally beautifully written, it was a pleasure to read.
Both books offer themes of mortality and ambition and delve into tormented familial relationships. But Dead Hand focuses on the future and the relationship between the main character and his son, while Emperor looks to the protagonist's past and his father's sins.
Both authors share a wry, well-developed wit that I find missing from most modern novels. Both have a keen sense of timing (if developed at different paces). And both books showcase the rich diversity of this society.
Neither book fits neatly into the legal thriller category. If you're looking for an exceptional first-time literary effort by an American author to take along on vacation, I recommend toting both books. But if you have limited luggage space or patience (or a weak back), take Dead Hand Control and save Emperor for the easy chair at home!
Rating: 
Summary: Replacement for Previous Review
Review: After finally finishing this book (I previously wrote a review after finishing about 80% of it), I don't view it as favorably as I did when I wrote the original review. Here's why. What lingers with me is the overly florid writing of Carter. I got sick and tired of his overwright descriptions of how people looked, how rooms looked, etc. I don't need metaphors and similes describing people and things in a manner that adds nothing to the story. Second, I get sick and tired of educated African Americans who have to write in a manner that shows Caucasian America how cultured they are, as if to say, "I'm not like the other ["blacks"]." So what if you know all about Bach and Bethoven? Or the philosphy of Kant or whomever? If it adds nothing to the story to have characters speaking of such things, then why divulge them? The other thing that really irritated me about the book, was Talcott's occasional reference to the fact that he wasn't into "white women." Well, excuse me, Talcott. Since it is quite obvious that you are thoroughly into impressing Caucasians with what you know, then why do you then turn around and tell them how much you aren't into "their women"? It sounds more than a bit hypocritical to be so sensitive about how they see you, then turn around and claim that there is no such thing as ANY Caucasian woman who could interest you. Fourth, again to touch on the interracial criticism. The SOLE loving relationship among the pricinpal characters that ends up working out, is that between Talcott's sister Mariah, and her rich Caucasian husband with whom she has a large family. I wonder why the author Stephen Carter made this choice? Why couldn't Mariah have been married to a successful African American investment banker? Why is it that in the vast majority of books and movies where interracial relationships are portrayed as "working out," it's between a Caucasian man and an African American woman? I don't think this is a coincidence. I think that America PREFERS its interracial relationships that way. And I get fed up with books and movies where African American men are portrayed as having to be with African American women, lest their self-images be questioned, while their Caucasian counterparts can be with whomever they please, no questions asked. For an African American male author to play into this cliche' really irritates me and smacks of a desire to make the book as commercially appealing as possible. Other than these criticisms, the book was a page turner. And I think Carter has a second career as an author of popular fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Great First Novel, with a few flaws
Review: I think Stephen Carter has written a great first novel. That he could find the time to teach law at Yale, write nonfiction books, and write this legal thriller is amazing. The book is a bit overlong, yet it is fascinating in its description of the African American bourgeoisie of Washington D.C., even for those of us quite familiar with them (people like me, having attended college with the same crowd, at Brown, and also being the son of an African American physician). It also gives a great window into the academic legal community that I never knew about. To see how even in elite legal circles politicking goes on, and that even African Americans of the stature and achievement of a Carter must fight condescension, is revealing. And it told me about what I long suspected due to the experiences of my college classmates who went on to prestigious law firms. That it really isn't worth it, working in such circles. The only criticisms I have are that Carter suffers from what so many African American authors seem to suffer from: the need to impress Caucasians with how well-read they are. If his views are anything like his main character, Talcott, he also seems to feel as though African Americans shouldn't be so quick to mimick their Caucasian oppressors. I see such a tendency as totally understandable, at the same time that it repulses me. Thus, I will defend their right to be petty and overly obsessed with status at the same time that I refuse to participate. We need to lighten up on ourselves. All told, again, this is an impressive first novel. I look forward to Carter's next.
Rating:
Summary: a 3.9 on a scale of 1 to 5-Excellent in parts but too long
Review: I like long books. However, I like them when there is a reason for length-War and Peace for example. This book just needed a strong editor to cut out the fat.
However, the bones of this book are excellent. Carter depicts the upper crust of African American society in unsparing, and at times unflattering, detail. He has an intelligent, low key sense of humor that keeps you chuckling throughout the book. I particularly appreciated and relished the descriptions of the hero's wife "Kimmer," a woman who belongs in books on other segments of contemporary upper middle class society such as "The Nanny Diaries," and "The Devil Wears Prada."
I also found the legal mystery aspect of this book entertaining. Grisham structures better and faster paced plots. However, Carter has a more intelligent and thoughtful take on the genre.
I would recommend this book for several different types of readers. If you are interested in immersing yourself in one demographic of today's society-the well educated, affluent African American population with their winter homes in connecticut and summer homes in Martha's Vineyard-you will enjoy this book. If you like legal thrillers, you should like "Emperor," though that depends on your patience level. Once again, be prepared for a lengthy and meandering read-if you want fast paced, Thurow and Grisham are your men. Finally, if you enjoy an intelligent, thoughtful, self-deprecating hero, and you want to see the world from his vantage point, "Emperor" will satisfy you.
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