Just like in Graham Greene's 'The End of the Affair' --and in many of his books-- God plays a crucial role in his 'The Heart of the Matter'. It is because of Him that the novel's protagonist Scobie ends up taking drastic --and tragic-- decisions.

'Heart' is set in a West African state, where a British man called Scobie lives with his wife and some other foreigner, while the War is consuming the world. He is a police officer who is very honest, competent and has no ambitions in his career --to his wife's disappointment. Louise Scobie, the wife, gets shocked when she learns that he was passed over for promotion. She feels that the most important people in local society --i.e. the English ones-- don't like them, and she spends most of time trying to be their close friend. When she's tired of that place she decides to move to South African, leaving her husband alone. But for her travel, he is forced to borrow money from a Syrian criminal, who likes Scobie because he is incorruptible. Or so he thought.

Not long after his wife leaves, Scobie meets the young, beautiful and widower Helen. He falls in love with her, and that's when his downward spiral begins. He is tangled in a web of lies and has to deceive and betray his wife, friends and department. But, what makes matter worse is that he is a very religious man, and to God's eyes he is committing a huge sin, and this is what most consumes Scobie.

At a certain point, discussing with friends the idea of hell, Scobie states that he doesn't believe that hell is a place full of flames, but the sense of loss. And this shows how Scobie is sent to hell --in life! -- when starts losing everything --even his dignity. The devotion to God -- or so believes Scobie-- has a main role in this point of his life, and he is a torn man, fighting against what he wants, because he thinks it is wrong.

Greene is a master storyteller, and is able to create very believable characters and situations. He once stated that he believed Scobie to be a little far fetched, but even if it is true, the character serves well to a specific purpose. The language is very elaborated without being difficult or boring, it only enhances the reading of such a great novel.

In almost a hundred years 'Peter Pan' has become a universal kiddie literature classic. Mostly basing on his personal experiences and people he knew, J.M. Barrie created a work full of subtle undertones that have been subject of deep controversies.

Rather than the story of a boy who refuses to grow up, a new approach on 'Peter Pan' has been developed. One of the most interesting is the one which is based on the analysis of the three primal female characters: Wendy --and Mrs. Darling, as well--, Tinker Bell and Tiger Lily. According to experts, they represent aspect in women that Barrie found intolerable. It is largely known that Barrie had serious problems with his mother, which may have led him to use such bipolarity on motherhood in the book. While on the one hand Mrs. Darling is a loving and concerned mother, on the other, Peter's --and the lost boy's as well-- mother abandoned him -- leading him to an eternal search of a mother figure, however unconscious it is.

The sexual aspect of the novel is so subtle that for many people it may be unnoticed. However, it is clear that the book deals with several taboos, being incest the most recurrent. Peter and Wendy have both a mother/son relationship, and also there is the wish of being 'lovers' --recurring to Oedipal myth. This is one of the most interesting aspect for the books --at least when it comes to an adult approach on 'Peter Pan'. According to Jacqueline Rose's 'The Case of Peter Pan, or, The Impossibility of Children's Fiction', "The sexuality which matters is both more and less explicit than this. It is sexuality in the form of its repeated disavowal, a relentless return to the question of origins and sexual difference which is focused time and again on the child". This is what makes the novel so intriguing: it is possible to read 'Peter Pan' is more than one way --and all of them are more and more interesting.

When it comes to kids themselves, this book is part a fairy tale, part an adventure and a familiar ode. These aspects make 'Peter Pan' appealing to both boys and girls. The characters while archetypical --this is unnoticeable to children-- are very vivid and it is not hard for young readers become their 'friends'. At the same time, all the 'sexual' aspect of the book is so subtle that parents can't be afraid of allowing their children to read the novel.

However, the unabridged 'Peter Pan' is not advisable to very young readers due to its fanciful language. When it was written in the early XX Century, that was the current language, but, nowadays some words like 'ofttimes' and 'diffidently' are not very common in a 10 year-old lexical. The narrative is told in first person, and the narrator used a lot of 'I''s which only bring the children closer to the story making it easy to feel part of the adventure --it was very smart of Barrie, because with that he makes friend with the child, and the story flows as if they were exchaging confidences.

All in all, J.M. Barrie's 'Peter Pan' will always be a children's fave and it deserves its place in the Fantasy Literature canon and will amuse young --and not-so-young-- readers forever.

Had Daniel Mason not grabbed my attention from the beginning, he would have when I reached the second chapter, when the piano tuner's wife Katherine finds out that her husband is leaving to Burma and they have a discussion. The dialogue is so sensitive --without being tacky --that it is impossible to deny that we are with a very unique book.

'The Piano Tuner' is one of the most impressive debuts of the last few years. The writer is able to put together an exotic land and a different tale about power, colonialism friendship and love. Edgar Drake is a British piano tuner who is invited by the British Army Office to go to Burma to tune the Erard, a very expensive and beautiful piano that belongs to an eccentric army surgeon, and that became indispensable to the imperial design.

And off he goes. On arriving there, he finds a mysterious place, populated with beautiful and 'savage' people --but what touches him is the piano itself. A wonderful piece almost lost in the middle of the jungle, but soon he learns how important it was for the colonization of the place.

Little did Drake know how much he would get involved with the surgeon, the place, but above all, with the piano. It almost becomes a love affair. But things change and Edgar ends up in the middle of a situation he would never expected to be.

Using a crafted prose, Mason is able to bring the reader into the story. Although sometimes it is difficult to imagine the exotic place, he describes in details many contents, so that we can have a clear image of how Burma is like. The best character is Anthony Carroll, the surgeon. He is a mystery throughout most of the book, until a surprise near the end. Unfortunately the women and the Burmanese are a little stereotypical, but this is not something that really spoils the reading.

Mason has written about things he knows set in a place where he knows very well too. What is left unknown is if in the future he will be able to write about another things. All in all, 'The Piano Tuner' is an interesting book: very vivid and colorful. It is undeniable that Mason has a gift for storytelling and we will be looking forward to his next book --be it set in a place he has been to or not.

There is no doubt that Henrik Ibsen's 'A Doll's House' is his masterpiece; one of the most famous plays ever. Notwithstanding it is very dated, and today's readers/audience may find it boring and hard to understand, because there is a very long interval since its first performance to the XXI century.

Although women, unfortunately, still have much to fight for when it comes to rights, they are no longer like Nora, the play's protagonist. She is a complete doll, living to his husband's, Torvald, will. Due to his health problems, she has involved with not reliable people, and borrowed money. Years later, when he is safe and sound, she is still paying her debts --however, he doesn't know it. In order to keep her lie, Nora is involved by a snowball effect, where one lie leads to another one, until the moment when it becomes unbearable.

While I much like the feminist thematic of the play, analyzing it as a literature work I think there are some flaws in the text. The most important character, Nora, is not very well developed. We can easily notice how repressed she is; and we do expect her to take charge in her life and do something, but when it happens, in the very end of the play, it seems to be so unrealistic that it is hard to believe she is a human being rather than a character of a play.

Another thing about Nora is that she is extremely selfish. If on the one hand, she does things to help her husband recover, on the other, she's doing it because she's afraid of losing him, and being left helpless alone. Moreover, in the end, she simply quits her life --good for her!--, but she doesn't care about her children. How convenient it is to leave their three small kids, claiming she is not a good person and will harm them. She becomes a free person, and under no shadow of doubt, her children will grow up problematic people.

Above all things, 'A Doll's House' is a play, and it doesn't deny its origins. The dialogues are very theatrical. The monologues pop up in almost every page, compromising the natural flow of the events.

All in all, it is still a good play, and has its cultural and social importance. It portraits the hypocrisy of XIX Century European society, when women had no power at all, and were brought up to satisfy their huband's will. It has lost its freshness and power, but still stands up as one of the first work with a feminist thematic, and for that matter should be read and known.

The world is full of mother and daughter books, such as 'The Joy Luck Club', 'Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood' to name a few, it was high time we had found a good book about fathers and sons. And here it is. Daniel Wallace's 'Big Fish' does not disappoint when it comes to explore this universe.

It is not a novel, but a episodic book, nevertheless, it must be read in the order, because they chronologically tell the story of Edward Bloom, through the eyes of his son, William Bloom. Edward is dying and in order to reconstitute his life, his son starts telling his (Edward's) stories --somehow, he believes that telling this father's adventures is a form of keep him alive. Like his father advises to him once: 'Remembering a man's stories makes him immortal'. Of course, that to William's eyes his father is a hero, more than that sort of a mythological figure-- hence the subtitle of the book 'A Novel of Mythic Proportions'.

From time to time, a chapter called 'My father's death' pops up, and this is the bitter side of this bittersweet book. While most of Edward's stories are sort of expanded jokes, these chapters are much more serious --even being funny when Edward shows up-- and sad, because that's when William has to come to terms with that his father is dying.

When commenting a hard fishing, William states 'Only a fool or a hero would try to catch a fish that size, and my father, well -- I guess he was a little of both'. The love that William has to his father is touching. More a dreamer, like a Don Quixote, it is hard to tell how Edward really was, because his stories a very fantastic --he fights against giants, meets fantastic creatures etc.

As a book of episodes, it is undeniable that they don't share the same level, some are much better and more developed that the others. It seems that Wallace put a lot of effort in some particular chapters --which ended up being very good, by the way -- and working in others segments in a hurry. It is clear that 'The Day He Left Ashland' and 'In Which he Buys the Town, and More' were much more crafted than the rest of the book. It is not a majot flaw, because the writer's style is light and he keeps it most of the book, but when comparing these two particular chapters to the rest of 'Big Fish', one notes the difference and wonders why it happened.

As a whole, the book is fairly good, whit funny and sad moments, that will certainly touch many hearts. Nevertheless I wonder about its gender appeal. I'm not sure women will enjoy 'Big Fish' as much as man. Of course, the girls can like it, but maybe not for the same reasons boys do.

You don't have to go further than two paragraphs in Suzanna Moore's 'In The Cut' to understand that the whole novel is about irony. When you reach the end, you'll understand that she was probably kidding with you. The whole book is to tell 'irony' from 'reality' and 'sarcasm'. But all that is there, in the very first page.

Written in the first person we meet Franny, a NYU English professor, who embarks in a sexual self-discovery journey. She is a free spirited person who doesn't like to be attached to anyone. After a brutal murder her in neighborhood she meets officer Malloy. They end up clicking and having wild sex. While on the one hand, her life seems to be getting exciting, on the other, it is becoming dangerous. More similar crimes happen in the town, she can be a potential victim, and, the worst part, she is suspicious that Malloy is involved in the crimes.

Moore needs only a couple of pages to set the mood for the novel: it is dark --very dark -- and inhibited. It is a sexual thriller with many hot scenes and not so many thrills, but that's not a problem. The first time I read this novel, three years ago, I hated it with all the strength I could. Now, I can't say I loved it, but certainly I had a difference response to the book.

In the second time I wasn't so surprised when the narrative abruptly stopped for Franny and Malloy to have their wild intercourse. Moreover, I wasn't so so so shocked with the disturbing end. I still can't accept such a thing --as that extreme act of violence-- but I could come to terms with that being the end of Franny's narrative. I could even appreciate the last line and all the irony in that.

Moore seems to know what she writes about, and what the reader is expecting from her book. The novel is a self-discovery odyssey of a woman who thought she knew about relationships. Bearing that in mind, we can't expect much from the book. It is a late coming-of-age tale. I couldn't agree more with some reviewers that say that 'In the Cut' has a shallow plot. It is indeed, and if you don't mind much about it, you can draw yourself into the book. It is a quick read, but not for everyone, the graphic images and violence shock a lot.

Strange things are the human beings. Come to think of them. We are never happy with what we have-- we always want more, and we always have a hard time trying to fulfill our egotistical desire. This wish is what moves the characters in Patrick Marber's play 'Closer'.

A group of four characters get together and falls a part. It begins when the stripper Alice meets the journalist Dan. Months later they are married, he has written a book, and he meets the photographer Anna, who's taking his pictures to the book jacket. Dan grows obsessed with Anna. In an Internet chat room, while pretends to be Anna, Dan meets and have 'sex' with the dermatologist Larry. They arrange to meet in the Zoo on the following day. Larry goes there and by coincidence the real Anna is there. They end up getting together and married. This is when these four persons relationships are about to get more complicated.

It is undeniable that what moves Marber's characters is the sexual attraction, rather than love itself. People desire each other, more than love --albeit they can say they are in love. Dan seems to be the kind of man who wants to be with as much women as possible, while Larry appears to be in love, at first. But this feeling total disappears and becomes a feeling of revenge --sexual speaking. He wants to hurt both Anna and Dan. On the other hand, Alice has a blasé behavior at first, which ends up being an obsessive sexual relationship as the time goes. Moreover, Alice develops a sick patter through the years. Anna, while seems to be a strong and independent woman at first, turns out to be fragile until when she is hurt very hard, and has to be strong again.

The dramatist manages to give a sad and honest look in love and desire in our times. His characters and situations are totally believable and well developed. We can go inside people's feelings and understand what moves them. Not a single scene has flaws-- everything and everyone are where they are supposed to be. A great play for our times.

'Bonjour Tristesse' is a typical French coming-of-age story. Written in the 1950s' it was an instantaneous scandal for dealing so clearly with teenagers and their sexuality. The times have change, we see the world in a different way, adolescents are the same, but this novel still holds the interest.

Cécile is a precocious seventeen-year-old girl who travels to the French Riviera in the company of her father and his mistress. She is used to having different women around with her father all the time. But when he decides to marry one of them, Cécile and her lover Cyril decide to do something to stop him. Meanwhile, she is also learning about life, love, sex and pleasures. All these life-changing experiences will make the girl grow up towards to womanhood.

Françoise Sagan writes about something she knew, and it makes the book very interesting to read. Her prose never sounds fake or far-fetched. Although, it is a little dated --some of Cécile's acts that were daring by that day are just 'normal' nowadays-- it has not lost its freshness. The Riviera settings are beautifully described, and we're often asking what the girl will do next.

It is undeniable it is a novel about that time in our lives when we're not a child any more and not yet an adult. With a mind filled with questions, we're trying to define who we are and will be in the future to come. Cécile has to face tragic events to understand what her life is and what it will be like for the next years. While many consider her being a spoilt little brat, this is the time when she is forced to stop being that, and see she won't have her father papering her forever.

'Bonjour Tristesse' opens with a powerful paragraph that reads: 'A strange melancholy pervades me to which I hesitate to give the name of sadness'. At this point, had we any doubts it is a book about teenage angst, they are all dissipated.

Sagan wrote this novel when she failed to pass her examination at Sorbonne. The book became an international best seller and also a movie. While 'Bonjour Tristesse' is a short and quick book, it is a good work of fiction, and probably Sagan's masterpiece.

It is a strange society. Everybody is being watched, every single move, words; they dress code reveals a lot: women with big hats, men with fancy suits and top hats. This is the society they are trapped into. It is very hard to get into it, and easy to be dumped out of. This is the world where Edith Wharton's characters from 'The House of Mirth' inhabit: the early XX Century New York. Actually this is the world where Wharton herself lived in.

Lily Bart is a marriageable orphan who is trying to marry a rich man. Her first victim is Percy Gryce, a very rich and insecure man, guided by his mother. When this attempt fails, her friendship with Laurence Selden almost leads to a match, but rumors of her being friends with married man, only brings her ruin and social exclusion. A series of unfortunate events --among them losing money in gambling-- and a very mean 'friend' called Bertha Dorset lead Lily to the ruin.

More than anything, 'The House of Mirth' is a study of the social condition of the New Yorker wealthy women in the early XX century. Rather than being a heroine, Lily is a human being struggling with her problems. She is neither rich nor strong enough to be independent, so that marriage is the only way of keeping a comfortable life, unlikely man. Early in the novel, Lily and Selden are discussing marriages and she says that 'a girl must, a man may if he chooses'. This states clear the difference of men and women, the lack of freedom, and the way people have to live under the social establishment if they want to succeed.

Writing as an insider --and so she was-- Wharton is able to give a faithful and acid view of that society. Inspired from a verse in the Bible, she titled the novel with a wonderful contradiction; there is neither a 'house', nor 'mirth' in the novel. They both are very abstract ideas that we get from the book.

'[Lily Bart was] so evidently the victim of the civilization which had produced here, that the links of her bracelet seemed line manacles chaining her to her fate'. I believe the writer felt this same way --maybe that's why she moved to Europe and lived there for many years. Personal connections to the book aside, Edith Wharton has written one of the best American books of the XX Century. Her prose is brilliant, and her story engaging.

With her third novel, 'Falling Angels', Tracy Chevalier masters as a gifted storyteller. Chronicling a period of almost ten years the lives of two families who have neighbor graves in a cemetery-- the Colemans and the Watherhouses--, the writer takes us to look inside the Edwardian society in the early XX Century.

Essentially this is the story of their two girls, Maude Coleman and Lavinia Waterhouse. They became friends, and then neighbors. And while the families are not very found of each other, they can tolerate one another. Besides that we also have Kitty Coleman, Maude's mother, who seems to have lost passion for life and is trying to find something exciting that changes her life.

After all the main characters are introduced, the writer is able to unfold a breathtaking story, full of twists and turns, that make you only looking forward to turn the page and see what will happen then.

In my opinion, the novel can be divided in the three different parts: 'Life X Death', 'Kitty's Awakening' and 'Death X Life'. In the first part we learn about the traditions about funerals, and how each character stands on it. In the second, more political, it shows Kitty involvement with the suffragettes. And in the third one, characters have to cope with death, and the entire struggle after that.

There isn't a single narrator in the novel. Each chapter is told by one character --even servants have a chance to tell their point of view of an event. While this may not have been the wisest form of narrative, Chevalier manages to hold the reader's attention, because all the characters are interesting and have something to say, which counts in the main narrative.

Somehow, this novel is quite different from Chevalier's previous books --'Girl with a Pearl Earring' and 'The Virgin Blue'. She seems to be more confident, and is not afraid of touching upon issues like death. Although this sounds like a book about death, one must be really close to this theme to talk about life. Only in a novel like this a reader would find such a sentence: 'What people do with their dead is usually a reflection of themselves rather than of their loved ones'. 'Falling Angels' may not be a sociological study of funeral rites and women's position in the early XX Century in London, but, as far as fiction is concerned, it is the next best thing.