Laudan Tehrani

Such a plain story!!!, April 14 2004

Most books that I've read have grabbed my attention early on and then by the middle you can pretty much determine where the book will take you. It was no different with this book. Good beginning, but what the book seemed about in the beginning changed alot by the middle of it and really changed by the end.
The characters were ok. But the story was dry and predictable.
I was happy to close it when I finished, if you like a important stories, vivid characters, and something you can't put down, then don't read this book.
It was way too dull.

A woman's point of View: David Kepesh; The Dying Animal, Mar 12 2004

I had read some amazing reviews on this book. Very high ratings from different sources. I felt compelled to read this book. Obligated.
I am a woman, and to most people it would seem this book was out of my league. I am a young woman at that, and I was curious to understand the male mind and the powers of love, obsession, and desire.
This is what I got. A sad book with even more disturbing characters. I wondered how this sad excuse of a man managed to get so many female students in bed with him? If it was because of intelligence, I would say he was a walking robot of mostly useless knowledge one attains from many years of boredom, being alone, and not exactly having much of a life… Read more

Italian canvas, Mar 12 2004

This book certainly hooks you in early. I couldn't put it down and I knew nothing of the real Artemisia Gentileschi, so I had no other story to compare to. I found this book fulfilling in some places and disappointing in others. I can see with Susan Vreeland's description all the beauty of seventeenth century Italy; Rome, Florence, Naples, Genoa, she paints a vivid portrait of a struggling and talented woman.
While some places I thought came off the pages and touched me, others left me hanging and a little sad. I don't really think she had a rich life just for her wonderful paintings, what about love? She never did have love. Arranged marriage, a womanizing cheater for a husband,… Read more