The Carmelo Diaries: A California Saga

Rating:
Summary: Editing needed and more
Review: I have spent many happy years in the area of California between
San Francisco and Santa Barbara, so I bought this on the name
alone. The first thing that strikes a readeer is that a spell
check was done, but not a grammar check. There are two or three
awkward constructions on each page. Even basic spelling errors
that would not have been picked up by spellcheck were not
corrected by the author or copy editor e.g "an ninth generation".
It is obvious that the author does not understand Spanish- the
culture or the language. I spent 8 years studying it and several
years speaking it in a Latin-American country, so these errors
struck me particularly hard.
But above these small criticism is structure of the book
and basing it on a young Spanish girl's diary. In that era in
the Monterey-Carmel area girls of that age in upper-class
families would not have kept such diaries, or if they did would have written about social events etc. not politics.
The author does appear to be well-read in the history of that
area, and these tidbits almost save the book, but not quite.
It is apparent why a vanity press published it and why it has
an unbelievable sales rating by amazon.com, over two million!

Rating:
Summary: Better than I thought it would be
Review: I just finished reading the book and enjoyed it beyond my initial expectations. I must admit that I received the book as a gift from my parents who know the author. Since I myself do not know the author nor have I met her, I feel it is fair to write a review.

While I prefer non-fiction to fiction I thought I would give this historical fiction a reading. I honestly liked it. It's not a great book, but it was entertaining and it has wet my appetite to learn more about California history. It made me think about a time in history of people that I have not thought much about before. Perhaps the structure of the book is not unique but it was a refreshing change to straight non-fiction.

In my opinion the previous review was unfair. I read that review when I was about one quarter of the way through my reading. I was conscious to what the reviewer said during my reading and in the end I disagree. After rereading the review it is apparent the reviewer bought the book by the title alone and perhaps read some excerpts. Unfullfiled expectations rarely satisfy.

I don't speak Spanish so I can't comment on the cultural aspects but from a grammatical and editorial perspective, this book is no worse than most other books I have read. If you read any amount you will come across grammatical and spelling errors. In this age of text processing we are still nowhere close to being perfect.

Perhaps a young girl of the time may not have written the way the `dairies' read, but if they were written in the way the previous reviewer expected I probably would not have finished the book. There is enough mystery, character development, and history weaved to be entertaining and thought provoking.

If you read a lot of fiction this book would be a light read in comparison, but if you are like most people who do not read a lot this book is very accessible and entertaining. I have no choice but to give it 5 starts to counter the previous review.

Rating:
Summary: Better than I thought it would be
Review: I just finished reading the book and enjoyed it beyond my initial expectations. I must admit that I received the book as a gift from my parents who know the author. Since I myself do not know the author nor have I met her, I feel it is fair to write a review.

While I prefer non-fiction to fiction I thought I would give this historical fiction a reading. I honestly liked it. It's not a great book, but it was entertaining and it has wet my appetite to learn more about California history. It made me think about a time in history of people that I have not thought much about before. Perhaps the structure of the book is not unique but it was a refreshing change to straight non-fiction.

In my opinion the previous review was unfair. I read that review when I was about one quarter of the way through my reading. I was conscious to what the reviewer said during my reading and in the end I disagree. After rereading the review it is apparent the reviewer bought the book by the title alone and perhaps read some excerpts. Unfullfiled expectations rarely satisfy.

I don't speak Spanish so I can't comment on the cultural aspects but from a grammatical and editorial perspective, this book is no worse than most other books I have read. If you read any amount you will come across grammatical and spelling errors. In this age of text processing we are still nowhere close to being perfect.

Perhaps a young girl of the time may not have written the way the 'dairies' read, but if they were written in the way the previous reviewer expected I probably would not have finished the book. There is enough mystery, character development, and history weaved to be entertaining and thought provoking.

If you read a lot of fiction this book would be a light read in comparison, but if you are like most people who do not read a lot this book is very accessible and entertaining. I have no choice but to give it 5 starts to counter the previous review.