Rating: 
Summary: Good Start, Horrid Middle
Review: Prague comes in the form of four main chapters. The first one is passable: it's a reasonably clever, amusuing introduction to five characters not nearly as quirky or likeable as they could be, but they seem to be fairly good company. And of course, the promise of Prague looms throughout. The five drink and make merry and alterately scoff at and support each other in the backdrop of 1990, which Pillips reminds us ad nauseam as being a particuarly oppressive time. The second chapter, however, digresses (and, yes, it's far too early for a digression in a story that hasn't even established what it's about yet) about a family-run publishing company that spans 100 years of Budapest. I know it's an allegroy/metaphor/etc., but it's a god-awful dreary one, and it undermines any appeal that the characters built up in the first place. It falters at that point and never recovers.
Rating:
Summary: awash in adverbs
Review: I want to read this book, I even want to like it. After two chapters I am so drowning in a multitude of adverbs and awkward phrasing ("a young man who recently asserted quarter seriously that he...", p. 8) that I don't know if I can or will finish it. Still trying, giving 2 stars for ambition, taking away 3 for the obvious lack of a good editor. Hope to scan the whole thing if I can. Dropping the adverbs alone might cut the book length by a hundred pages... and sell more copies.
Rating:
Summary: B as in Boring...
Review: What a profound disappointment this book turned out to be! After waiting months for this book to finally be available at the library, I find myself endeavoring to pore through a narrative of dreary tedium....sad to say, this is one I will not finish....or should I say, can not finish because of its soporific effects.
Rating:
Summary: Subtitle: the power of slick marketing
Review: I confess I did not finish this book. I read to about page 80 or so and was so bored with it I put it down. I tried to figure out why I bought it in the first place, and have concluded the novel's 'buzz' is more an attribute the authors marketing skills then any literary merit. I was always curious if a generation of anglo american writers would emerge out of the expatriot communities in prague and budhepest (which is where this novel takes place, in spite of its title), and so far the answer is no. Some would say it's not fair to enter a review having partially read it. Fair enough, I can't judge it past page 80, but in my opinion if you can't grab a reader's interest in 80 pages, you're not a good writer. Maybe Books are like 'friends' some people make friends with some people others find dull. Perhaps this is the case with this book. If you are looking for something in the same genre, catlin macy's rules of play wasn't bad.
Rating:
Summary: Flat, two-dimensional characters=flat, two-dimensional novel
Review: A good friend of mine recommended Prague and, given that recommendation and the many excellent reviews, I very much looked forwarded to reading this book. I was very much disappointed. While the book began promising enough, in the end, I found it difficult to muster enough enthusiasm to finish this novel. I wasn't interested enough in any of the characters to find out what was to become of them. While the author clearly intends many of the characters to be extremely well-developed, three-dimensional personalities, they are all, including the protagonist, flat, two-dimensional characters whose actions make little to no sense. I don't care that the characters are "mean" (hell, Seinfeld is one of my favorite) shows; I do, however, care that I don't understand why the characters are mean.
Rating: 
Summary: Prague? Does this guy know where he's at?
Review: This book was an utter waste of time. For once I regretted my mother's upbringing of finishing what I started. I bought this book because of it's stellar reviews and because of it's cover, thinking I'd get a good read about my beloved Prague. I was shocked to find that despite chapter headings to the contrary the entire book takes place in Budapest with characters one couldn't care less about, who are into drinking, sex and sordid art.
Budapest being as beautiful as it is and being called the Venice of the East one should think the author could have found more beautiful and interesting things to write about.
I thought about selling this book used so it wouldn't waste valuable space on our bookshelves, but I can't do that to my poor fellow human beings... Even 1* is too much - it should have been a total 0!
Rating:
Summary: Worse than a bad Mexican soap opera - zero stars
Review: Ever watched one of those really poorly done Mexican soap operas? This was just that painful. I was really looking forward to this book as my family is Hungarian. I know all of the locations in the book and thought it would be enjoyable to visit them again, though in print. It was not. This book was garbage from beginning to end. There was not a single character I cared one bit about. Kept expecting it would get better, but it never did. What a terrible disappointment of a hyped up book. Pity is wasn't available at my library, as I had to spend the money on Phillips'junk. this was my book group book for the month. We all try not to discuss how we are liking a book during the month, and to wait until our meeting. We met last night and the was NOT ONE person who didn't agree this was the worst book ever.
Rating:
Summary: Prague
Review: I thought this book was awful. As many other people said, it starts out well- I thought I was going to enjoy it. But about 3/4 of the way through (after forcing myself to keep reading in the hopes that it would improve) I realized that none of the characters were likeable or even sympathetic. I'm sure there are people like this but I really don't want to waste my time reading about them. Also, it seems like the author wants to show off all of these writing techniques and ideas that he has- it's not necessary to cram all of this into one book. One other thought- I thought the descriptions of the artwork of one of the characters was ridiculous. Just because you're a writer doesn't mean you have good ideas about painting or photography, buddy. All the characters are so in awe of this artwork and it's so cheesy! I think Phillips overestimates the shock value of sex in general. It's ironic because he tries so hard to be modern and he is such a throw-back. Obviously Phillips is bright and has a lot to say- I guess I just find him trite and overly impressed with himself.
Rating:
Summary: Prague by Arthur Phillips
Review: Although the old world "flavor" of this book is wonderfully executed, I have to be honest. I find that after nearly two weeks of trying to work my way through it (and work it is!) I still could care less about the characters, and even find that as I work through each page I have a difficult time even remembering who they are and how they relate to each other. Although their names are common, they slip away within moments of putting the book down after another terribly trying and boring chapter. I find that I just don't care what is going to happen to any of them enough to even remember that basic character fact. As far as I'm concerned, this one is a no-brainer. Don't Bother, and I'd check out any future novels by Arthur Phillips from the library first to see if he improves any before buying.
Rating:
Summary: What were they thinking?
Review: My book club picked this book over 2 months ago to read. It has taken me the entire 2 months to wade through it! We picked this on the 'stunning' reviews, and I am still having a hard time figuring out what the point of the book was. We start off with a group of characters, and it dwindles down to a few that are so strange I can't, and don't want to, keep up with them.
None of us liked the book, and I doubt I would read any other's by this author.
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