Rating: 
Summary: no, it's not really about Prague
Review: I'm astonished at how many reviewers seem to feel betrayed and outraged that this book is about Budapest rather than Prague. Do you normally buy books based solely on the title? It's IRONY, and the reason for it is obvious from chapter 1. Plus it is practically spelled out on the book jacket.I found the first third of this book extremely enjoyable, the middle intriguing (as in "Where is he going with this?"), and the last third disappointing. But I think the lackluster tone at the end is meant to mirror the characters' disillusionment. I can't say it was satisfying, but it was appropriate. I do wish more had been said about Emily Oliver, though, because as annoying as she was as a person, hers was the only story I found at all interesting by the end -- I'd stopped caring about the rest of them in their perpeptual alcoholic haze. I thought the writing was great. Maybe it's because I'm a bit of a navel-gazer myself, but I loved his knack for identifying the little games of perception and interpretation that we play in our own minds -- as with Mark's quest for the perfect seat at the perfect cafe.
Rating: 
Summary: Pointless Book About Pointless Characters
Review: I wanted to like this book and it seemed to start out well. The characters were introduced and I felt immediately drawn into their world, but then nothing really happened. The antagonism that Scott Price felt for his brother John is never explained nor is why one brother looks like a stereotypical aryan while his brother looks like a stereotypical Jew. Much is made of their dissimilar appearances by other characters, but no explanation is given. Nor is any Eplanation given for what happens to Mark Payton or Emily Oliver. One comment by John Price apparently brands her as a spy and John as a stalker, but I could find no reason why this happened. I also don't agree with the "Publisher's Weekly" comment that the point of "Prague" is because that is where they would rather be. Prague is barely mentioned. I think it is called Prague because the publisher thought that nobody would buy a book called "Budapest" Prague sounds more exotic and accessable. Arthur Phillips writes some nice prose, but doesn't seem to know what to do with his characters.
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Summary: Review of Middlesex: by Rachel Engelman
Review: Middlesex, by Jeffery Eugenides, chronicles the life of Calliope Stephanides and her family through the story of three generations of sacrifice, passion, secrecy, and love. Calliope, later turned Cal, who is neither boy nor girl, but rather something in between, endures the pain of loneliness, heartbreak, abuse, and confusion resulting from a childhood of unanswered questions. Beginning with a forbidden love that blooms between brother and sister in a dying village in Greece, followed by a romance that grows among open windows and romance serenades in downtown Detroit, and ending with a love between two girls that is discovered when the rest of the world is not looking, we are shown that the heart will always prove stronger than our conscience or our doubts. With eloquent sentimentality and a truly human voice, Eugenides teaches us that one's true identity is not reflected in our gender, our past, our face, or even our name, but in our heart, and the direction that it takes us in - it is the only constant that we have in a life of inconsistencies.
Rating: 
Summary: Show Don't Tell
Review: The author lack ability to paint a picture of people, though he does O.K. with inanimate objects. Soooo much "telling" us what the characters were thinking. I prefer books where we come to our own conclusions, rather than get the spoon-fed Gerbers in this book. Pretentious. Self-conscious. No confidence. Unwilling to trust the reader.
Rating:
Summary: THE SUN ALSO RISES, 2002
Review: As I read PRAGUE, I kept hearing whispers of Hemingway's
THE SUN ALSO RISES. The novel is about expatriates living and working in 1990s Budapest, just after the fall of Communism. The protagonist, journalist John Price, is in Budapest to reconcile with his brother Scott, who for some reason cannot stand the sight of him. John is enamored of embassy aide Emily Oliver, who is likewise disenchanted (She could be the Lady Brett of the piece if we continue the SUN ALSO RISES analogy). Charles Gabor, an American venture capitalist, is the villain (unless you count John Price as his own worst enemy) as he's in Budapest to make a name for himself by pillaging newly democratic Hungary of its marketable assets. All of these characters hang out at Café Gerbeaud where they play a game called "Sincerity," especially appropriate since practically no one is this novel is sincere.
We catch another whiff of SUN ALSO RISES when we learn that John Price is a virgin. A co-worker at his newspaper quickly divests him of the burden and before we know it Price is involved in a quirky sexual relationship with Nicky (no last name that I can remember), a photographer/artist and the most interesting character in the book.
The plot revolves around Charles Gabor's efforts to loot Imri Horvath's publishing business with the help of some promotional articles written by John Price. Then there's the three-way relationship between Nicky, Emily, and John, the climax of which is the most entertaining part of the book.
The characters don't measure up to SUN ALSO RISES, although John Price has to be one of the most clueless protagonists I've ever encountered. The depressing tone is similar, however; we get the feeling that Phillips isn't so sure Budapest is better off under capitalism. I was also bothered by Phillips penchant for long sentences with intrusive parenthetical remarks, a stylistic irritant that I know Hemingway would choke on. I was also wondering why in the heck the book was called PRAGUE when the novel is set in Budapest. We don't get to see Prague until Price's train reaches the outskirts of the city at the end of the book. Maybe the choice was similar to the movie FARGO, where BRAINERD just didn't sound right.
Rating:
Summary: The biggest waste of 25 dollars.....
Review: The book starts out interesting enough,but while I am trying to find the essence, or plot, it seems to wind itself into an unpleasant cobweb of unrelating, boring, petty events. It is also a pity and incredible, that the author spending two years in Budapest could not find anything pleasant or nice to say either about this wonderful, beautiful city nor its inhabitants who are known worldwide for their hospitality and friendliness. S.E. Petres
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Summary: Why Oh Why Did I Finish It?
Review: Who are these "literary critics" that seduce us into reading dull books like this one? As I plodded on, one dull page after another, each one well- but thoroughly-overwritten, I looked for some interesting plot development, some fascinating character, some hilarious dialogue, that would justify what those literary critics were saying. No such luck. What I found in all those pages was a group of uninteresting, unlikeable, aimless, hungover expats wasting time in Budapest (some law should have prohibited this book from using the title Prague). As my wife said after my second round complaining, why don't you just put it down? That's my advice to you.
Rating:
Summary: Art imitating life a bit too closely?
Review: A few points that have not received much comment elsewhere here on amazon.com.
Pros: Marvelous scenes: Mark's obsessive study of cafe culture and his determination in an afternoon of "funicularation" [my coinage!] to distill the essential five unforgettable seconds to cherish always from this effort. Nicky's depictions of the "half" verses within the biblical tales portraying characters' doubts and second-guesses, and her catfight with Emily over John. Scott's brush-off when John shows up uninvited at his flat during his "date" with Maria, and his offhandedly cruel reversals of childhood cruelties onto his brother. The whole second section on Imre Horvath and the business course final exam to compress within a few pages the choices faced by Imre. The restaurant meal seen through the omniscient narrator now vs. the memories of the older generation then. Melchior's sudden entry into the tent at another eatery. ESL students' phrasing. Finally, the attempt to resist cliche while living it. Cons: The disappearance or slide off-stage in the last half of the book of key characters. Narrative fatigue evident in the increasingly slack authorial voice as the plot trundles forwared. Harvey's taking a supporting role in the story despite little earlier attention to a seemingly insignificant figure for satire; the inclusion of Imre's two daughters seems to hint at their role in the latter part of the novel but this never develops despite the set-up; a loss of momentum perhaps meant to mirror the growing ennui of other key characters in the novel. While such a state of sloth may better reflect reality as Phillips and his fictional counterparts endured in Budapest, for a novel I'd expect a tighter revision of life into art. John's Don Juanish rake's progress through the ladies of the city became more and more unbelievable given his sad-sack condition, or unless this reflects the less-discriminating standards of newly liberated youth for impecunious Western journalists. Wish-fulfillment? In fairness, the strength of the novel rests in its clash between old and new, Hungarian and American, and although the book could've been a hundred pages less, it does convey the flavor of the physical city and mental condition of (some of) its inhabitants--as of a decade or more ago. With tighter editing, the pace set up in the beginning could've been better sustained. Worthwhile to readers who have been abroad within cultures illusorily like their own; I've recommended this work to American friends who have worked in other countries in the 80s and 90s--you learn some uncomfortable tendencies about yourself as the "ugly American" even as you strive to resist the term--the quandary of the main characters here--and Phillips too?
Rating: 
Summary: Do well, and the reviews plummet
Review: Ever notice how a good book gets sterling reader reviews for the first few months; then--once it's caught on--everyone attacks it as "overhyped"? Arthur Phillips debut novel may not be perfect, but it deserves the attention. A witty, circumspect, and unusually mature novel about a group of American expatriats, the book is literate in its allusions to other expatriat communities (notably Paris in the 20s, London in the 1860s), and dead-on with its satirical elements. Arthur Phillips knows his material well, and the book--while no, not the best ever written--is an enjoyable, contemporary addition to the expatriat genre.
Rating:
Summary: This book deserves a higher rating than it has...
Review: Incredibly well, written, with a wry sense of humor that belies it's deeper emotional yearning, "Prague" is an amazing book, however, to be honest, it's difficult for me to be objective about something so personal to me. I spent a year in Hungary in 1991 and two years from 98-2000. Phillips did an absolutely brilliant job of capturing the essence of finding your way as a foreigner in post-communist Hungary, balancing perfectly the humor and dark pathos of the Hungarian psyche. I laughed outloud many times as he nailed spot on so many nuances about life, friends, and love in Hungary. So I can't read this book outside of my own personal experiences, but I recommend you read this novel for its insight and wonderful prose, then go to Hungary, and you'll get even more out of it.
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