Emily Dickinson Is Dead

Rating:
Summary: I DID NOT like it and wouldn't recommend it either.
Review: "Emily Dickinson is Dead" is one book that I didn't enjoy out of the 4 on my summer reading list...what a slow beginning. The title made it seem like it was a book about Emily Dickinson, but instead it was about a conference to celebrate the 100th anniversary of her death.... that didn't include women and a fat girl who tried to kill a pretty one (who disappeared anyways) by burning down a building and who ended up being killed...what about Emily Dickinson HERSELF??? THAT'S who I thought the book was going to be about...not a bunch of confused people. I didn't expect it to be a biography or anything, just not what it was.

Rating:
Summary: Emily Dickinson Lives!
Review: I chose the book because a friend is an Emily Dickinson fan, I'm a mystery fan, I was charmed by the author's sketches, and delighted by the snippets of Dickinson's poetry. What a fine discovery! The characters are complex, subtle, and interesting. The college town setting is vivid. The plot had unexpected twists and turns that kept me guessing. I learned something about the workings of dams and reservoirs, and I learned something about Emily Dickinson and her poetry, enough so I followed up "Emily Dickinson is Dead" by reading her biography. This was my first Jane Langton book. She has managed to do what a lot of writers only aspire to -- her writing is so transparent I forget the story and setting were coming to me through print on a page.

Rating:
Summary: Marvelous Characters tangled in a Whimisical plot
Review: I have to totally disagree with the previous review. I found this Homer Kelly mystery refreshing and fully of marvelous characters full of human foibles. The descriptions were subtle but often verged on the hilarious. This is the book that hooked me on Jane Langton. It's too bad that the previous reader did not read the dust jacket before purchasing this book. It very clearly identifies itself as a mystery and not an study in Emily Dickinson. It's not surprising that she did not enjoy the book since it mocks stuffy Emily Dickinson scholars. But I found this book to be a skillfully written romp in weakness of human nature.