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Rating: 
Summary: Five Stars!
Review: Above the Thunder is supposed to be about a woman learning to connect with humanity. But the connections she makes are all unbelievably shallow. When the author kills off the granddaughter for no compelling reason, it becomes clear that the author herself must be lacking the basic emotional connections that any parent, or human being, has.
Rating:
Summary: Smooth
Review: Every word in this novel is right. Manfredi has constructed a network of associations that will move anyone with a pulse. It took me a while to get into the book, but once I entered into the structure of the novel, I couldn't stop. It is a shame that a work this well crafted can be read in a few days.
Rating: 
Summary: What's Above the Thunder May Be the Dark Side of Tolerance
Review: I agree with one of the reviewers here who states the characters in this novel are shallow, but the depiction of their shallowness is otherwise. The protagonist Anna, her son-in-law, her neighbor, the gay couple Jack and Stuart--each of these people has seemingly reached the perpetual state of "unfazedness." Certainly, there are moments when each is upset, but these moments pass and they soon become people who will tolerate everything that reaches them, as if the other side of the coin, intolerance, is an absolute to be shunned. This feel-good, but sometimes destructive, mindset is manifested most strkingly in everyone's regard for the granddaughter Flynn. She is typically spoken of in terms that are somewhat offbeat, but complimentary. Even Publishers Weekly describes her as "remarkable." For this reader and reviewer, Flynnie was weird, first and foremost, and there is sufficient family history in the novel to caution that real help should have been the order of the day for this young girl. I found Manfredi's character relationships of interest, notwithstanding the faults of the individuals, mostly because they are built, oddly, not on mutual discovery of understanding, but mutually passive tolerance.
Rating:
Summary: "I need to get out of this storm, high up above the thunder"
Review: One of the first things that struck me about Renee Manfredi's first novel is how precise, fully rounded and "real" her characters really are. Above the Thunder is a real treasure of a novel - smart, sophisticated, erudite, full of the richness of life, while also packing a real emotional punch. The novel is also remarkably "modern" in the way it approaches human relationships, and the friendships and connections that individuals develop with each other. For Manfredi, human relationships are never immutable and like the cells of the body, they grow and change, reflecting the constant and almost frenzied fluidity of life and society. The core of Above the Thunder centers on Anna and her search for meaning in life. A newly widowed, Anna is almost disaffected and shut off from society. Wrapped up in her work as a medical technologist and grieving the dysfunctional relationship that she has had with her irresponsible, drug-addicted daughter, she is shocked and horrified when Marvin, her son-in-law comes to stay, bringing with him, Flynn, her imaginative, and emotionally conflicted ten-year-old grand daughter. It is Flynn, inspired and haunted by dreams and stories of reincarnation, which becomes the center of Anna's life, and forces her to re-evaluate her emotional emptiness. This is also the story of two lovers, Jack and Stuart, who are struggling with their own problems. Anna meets Jack at a support group for HIV patents, and what follows is a wonderful account of a friendship formed by two of the most unlikely of people. Manfredi is extremely comfortable with her story; she lets the narrative flow at a nice, relaxed pace, effortlessly weaving the plot into the characters' inner lives. There is no doubt that she is a masterful storyteller, but it is her portrayal of character that is the real strength of the novel. Whether it is Jack - restless in his relationship with Stuart, searching the streets for Hector his hot Latino buddy, his world "empty at the center, his life without edges or direction." Or Stuart, kind, thoughtful and loyal, worried about Jack's cheating, and unsure whether to "confront him, ignore it, and hope it goes away, or leave him altogether." And Anna - disappointed as a mother and embittered but given a second chance when Flynn enters her life. The characters intertwine and interlace, just like the "jaded beads of a broken bracelet falling to the floor" or blood cells "dense and impenetrable as a blizzard." Life is inimitably connected, "everything is a circle." The moon, earth, the universe, and the cells of a body "even the future curved back through memory" - all are organized and interconnected. Above the Thunder is a profound and gorgeously written story, and a remarkably intuitive and symbolic look at the ties inevitably that bind us together. Michael
Rating:
Summary: "I need to get out of this storm, high up above the thunder"
Review: One of the first things that struck me about Renee Manfredi's first novel is how precise, fully rounded and "real" her characters really are. Above the Thunder is a real treasure of a novel - smart, sophisticated, erudite, full of the richness of life, while also packing a real emotional punch. The novel is also remarkably "modern" in the way it approaches human relationships, and the friendships and connections that individuals develop with each other. For Manfredi, human relationships are never immutable and like the cells of the body, they grow and change, reflecting the constant and almost frenzied fluidity of life and society. The core of Above the Thunder centers on Anna and her search for meaning in life. A newly widowed, Anna is almost disaffected and shut off from society. Wrapped up in her work as a medical technologist and grieving the dysfunctional relationship that she has had with her irresponsible, drug-addicted daughter, she is shocked and horrified when Marvin, her son-in-law comes to stay, bringing with him, Flynn, her imaginative, and emotionally conflicted ten-year-old grand daughter. It is Flynn, inspired and haunted by dreams and stories of reincarnation, which becomes the center of Anna's life, and forces her to re-evaluate her emotional emptiness. This is also the story of two lovers, Jack and Stuart, who are struggling with their own problems. Anna meets Jack at a support group for HIV patents, and what follows is a wonderful account of a friendship formed by two of the most unlikely of people. Manfredi is extremely comfortable with her story; she lets the narrative flow at a nice, relaxed pace, effortlessly weaving the plot into the characters' inner lives. There is no doubt that she is a masterful storyteller, but it is her portrayal of character that is the real strength of the novel. Whether it is Jack - restless in his relationship with Stuart, searching the streets for Hector his hot Latino buddy, his world "empty at the center, his life without edges or direction." Or Stuart, kind, thoughtful and loyal, worried about Jack's cheating, and unsure whether to "confront him, ignore it, and hope it goes away, or leave him altogether." And Anna - disappointed as a mother and embittered but given a second chance when Flynn enters her life. The characters intertwine and interlace, just like the "jaded beads of a broken bracelet falling to the floor" or blood cells "dense and impenetrable as a blizzard." Life is inimitably connected, "everything is a circle." The moon, earth, the universe, and the cells of a body "even the future curved back through memory" - all are organized and interconnected. Above the Thunder is a profound and gorgeously written story, and a remarkably intuitive and symbolic look at the ties inevitably that bind us together. Michael
Rating:
Summary: The infinite faces of love
Review: This unusual novel has a quiet power in the telling and speaks to the nature of loss, as well as creating the loving relationships that sustain us. Love comes into our lives in many disguises, not all of them predictable. The trick is not to overlook those precious opportunities and nurturing connections, in whatever form they appear. Above the Thunder chronicles the friendship of a divergent group of people who meet, form a family and then, inevitably, move on, but permanently alter each other's lives, transcending time and place. Anna Brinkman has created a simple world for herself, centered around work and a few friends since she lost her husband. The couple have a daughter, Poppy, who left home years before and failed to return in time for her father's death. Suddenly, a phone call interrupts the quiet days Anna has fashioned for herself: Poppy wants to come home for a visit with her husband and 12-year-old daughter, Flynn, whom Anna has never met. Once she gets past the shock of hearing Poppy's voice on the answering machine, Anna accepts the inevitable, although Poppy doesn't arrive as promised. But she sends her husband, Marvin, and Anna's granddaughter, Flynn. Like it or not, Anna's life has changed forever. Meanwhile, in another household, Jack and Stuart, two gay men, believe they have at last accomplished the perfect relationship, devoted to each other, except for the handsome Jack's occasional dalliance. Eventually, Jack's careless indiscretions awaken him to the dangers of sexual promiscuity when he is diagnosed as HIV positive. After he informs his partner, Stuart asks him to leave. Jack joins Anna's HIV support group and they have an immediate connection, something neither of them expects. Certainly, Anna is pivotal in Jack's endeavor to redefine his life. Even after he reconnects with Stuart, resolving many of their most troubling issues, Jack's friendship with Anna remains steadfast and primary. Flynn is at the core of this novel, a bright, intuitive little girl with an understanding far beyond her years, living in the midst of these randomly associated adults. Flynn's presence in the lives of those around her is a parable for family and belonging. The ethereal, ill-fated Flynn is an anachronism, a child riddled with dark fears and fierce imaginings, yet precious to all who meet her. Through Flynn, the characters access the deepest places in themselves, where forgiveness and generosity coexist. Anna undergoes profound personal changes, loving Flynn and the others who now comprise her nuclear family. With her loving characters, Manfredi's prose transports her readers through the significant emotions that govern our days: joy, grief, compassion and love. The once self-contained Anna freely opens her heart, facing the consequences of this choice, affirming life over loss. Reminding us of those human connections that sustain us, more importantly, the author skillfully emphasizes the axiom that in life there is change. And where there is change, there is acceptance. Luan Gaines/2003.
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