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Summary: Five stars is not enough--a most incredible read!!
Review: The most incredible thing about this novel is it's ability to cross the lines of literary fiction and what is considered simply a "damn good read". It's so easy to immerse one's self in the beautiful and imaginative prose that you barely realize it when you find youself aching for more of the tale. How to describe the depth of this work? Anne Rice meets Michael Andaatje? The Last Tempation of Christ crossed with House of the Spirits? I'm not quite sure, but what I do know is that the mind that found a reason as to why a burnt ash of paper will rise to heaven can list me as a loyal follower. She claims that in hell there is a copy of every book ever written. This one too, I imagine. Certainly this book will be banned--it's just that provocative.
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Summary: an odd take on Christianity
Review: This author has such a perculiar mind. The basic premise of this novel is both as original and obvious in some ways as Andrew Niccols The Truman Show. As for xas, the angel, he can join the ranks of Ariel and Aslan as a great mythic character.
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Summary: A mystical book! An angel with earthly needs and wants.
Review: I've read it twice. You have to, if you want to savor every word. The description of the Angel is enough to keep you awake and thinking for nights to come.
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Summary: Reviews for THE VINTNER'S LUCK, by Elizabeth Knox
Review: "In this wily novel, Sobran, a successful Burgundian winemaker whose wayward youth was spent in Napoleon's Grand Army, comes to regard luck as a matter of individual will rather than divine intervention -- a radical thought at the time. But in Knox's ingenious take on the consequences of the Enlightenment, Sobran manages to turn away from the church and adopt empirical techniques in his winemaking only with the help of a clandestine lifelong friend, who is, plausibly enough, an angel." -- THE NEW YORKER, February 15, 1999
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Summary: really great book
Review: one of the most unique books i ever read. great stor
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Summary: Visit a 19th Century vinyard with an angel as tour guide!
Review: What a ridiculous story! It'll never work. As a cynical sceptic I started this book defying it to grab me, but once I met Xas the angel I was hooked and could not put down what became a totally believable experience. Sobran the vintner with all his doubts and passion and all too human failings is a wonderfully depicted character, as are all the others in this rivetting novel. Xas, the angel with wings that smelled of fresh snow, is a magnificent creation, wise, kind, caring and just a bit of a rebel. A deliciously convoluted plot, filling and satisfying, with many inviting philosophical pathways to traverse at your leisure, and a most unexpected but rewarding ending. Beautiful prose. Another great New Zealand novel.
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Summary: A very unusual fantasy...
Review: This is a very unusual fantasy novel involving a man and an angel, set in France about 200 years ago. It has something of the fairy tale aura about it and I read it straight through, tho I found it a little slow in parts without the angel. What a remarkable creation the angel Xas is!!! I highly recommend this book, tho it's not light reading. This story will stay with you a long, long time, the characters are unforgettable. I would love to see a movie of this! I picture Harrison Ford as the vintner and the gorgeous Johnny Depp as the angel. (Knowing Hollywood, they would a) change the angel's sex to female, probably Sharon Stone or Meg Ryan; b) make it into a comedy; c) throw in a few car explosions; d) tack on a funny feel-good ending with the now female angel flying into the sunset with the vintner. YUCK! What sacrilege!)
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Summary: An excellent innovative book, with a real believable angel.
Review: "Vintner's Luck" by Elizabeth Knox, is astonishing. Set in Burgundy, in the first half of the last century, it deals with the major themes of life and love - and what happens when you meet a beautiful (male) angel, one night in your vineyard. The angel and main character make a pact to meet each night once a year. This book is unputdownable! The prose is descriptive and set in a very earthly world. Furthermore the angel is very real. Seldom have I read such detailed observations of how angels move and how they manage their wings! Meanwhile, life continues for the vintner, his marriage, the murders of local girls, and the yearly meetings with the angel who asks "Tell me the news". Well worth buying and reading.
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Summary: A "vintage" read
Review: Sacred and profane, pure and erotic, real and fantastical. I simply could not put it down -- I finished it in one all-too-short sitting. Heaven and Hell were never this much fun in Catholic school...
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Summary: Attention, all Hopeless Romantics:
Review: If nobody gave you this book for Christmas, make it your first mission of the year to buy it. I knew within the first six lines that I was going to love it. There's a kind of poetry throughout this book, an inventive freshness about the imagery Elizabeth uses that creates a lush and romantic texture for the story. And, refreshingly, we meet the angel Xas almost immediately - no fiddling about setting the scene, just straight into the story. Elizabeth treats her characters a little coolly to begin with, which may give the impression that the story is a bit slow to get into, and so it wasn't until I was well into the story that I realised quite how attached to them I had become. Xas and Sobran argue, and I found myself reading faster to find some word of reconciliation - it just seemed wrong that they weren't speaking to each other. And from that point on, I couldn't put the book down, no matter how hard I tried. And I did try, because this is a book worth savouring for as long as possible. It charts the highs and lows of a life-long relationship in a touching (yes, I cried) but not overly sentimental way. And both Sobran and Xas retain a degree of mystery about themselves; like all people we try to know, their thoughts and motivations are not always clear, making them all the more delicious and intriguing. Perhaps I'm a hopeless romantic, but I read this book in three short days a month ago and I still think about it often. It's a convincing and authentic story, beautifully written, and now one of my all-time favourite books.
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