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Yawn
I found this movie hard to watch. It just didn't keep my interest and I found myself watching a lot of the movie on fast forward. Contrary to what another reviewer says, there is NO rape scene in this movie. I believe she must have gotten this movie confused with another.

The sex scenes just didn't work. Everyone one of them, except two, where with the same repulsive guy. Ok, I guess he isn't that bad, but something about him freaked with my mind and there he was in every scene. Yuck.

Brutal
I really enjoyed this movie, despite the fact that i said I would never watch another movie filmed backwards after seeing memento. It is slow in the first few minutes, but picks up right in the next scene in the club. While figuring out what is going on, the dialogue is really fun. There is a horrid rape scene in the middle of the film that seems to go on forever. If you cant stand that kind of thing, do not see the movie, period. It isn't something you can fast forward through or shut your eyes during, it is an intergral part of the plot. Happy watching.

Ok story line, revealing sex scenes
This film is in a foreign language and I couldn't figure out which one. But it does have English subtitles.
It is a pretty heavy soft core porn, with a decent story line for that genre of movies.
It is much more revealing then a US soft core porn, and the sex scenes are obviously not faked like the US versions.

Oh my...
This movie was almost too painful emotionally and physically to watch! A young Japanese girl subjects herself to torture of the body and soul in an attempt to help assassinate an evil man. She's young and in a dangerous game, but her passionate, willful spirit is driven to accomplish her goal. Will her heart betray her in the end. Powerful movie!

Chrissy K. McVay - Author

amazing acting; emotional and sexy movie
I wasn't sure what to expect, I've heard about the controversy of this movie, I don't even know if it ever hit the Big Screen. Anyway, I really enjoyed it. It's different from all other movies I've seen (including other Ang Lee movies).

Ang Lee is incredibly skilled at creating sexy/passionate scenes that are full of emotion, but never dirty or tawdry. It applied in this movie as well, even in the one violent sex scene. However, it does contain explicit sex scenes, so it's rated R or above.

The acting was superb, especially by Wong (the female lead). You could see how she was falling in love despite her commitment to the cause she supported. If you have not seen this movie, I highly recommend it.

A great movie to have
Last Novermber I drove more than 90 miles to see this movie in theater. It is a well-made movie.

Hmm
The story and film itself was beautiful. Be aware of some very acrobatic sex scenese that are almost difficult to watch and you'll be fine.

Not enough lust and too much caution
I expected much more out of this film given Ang Lee and an all-star Asian cast led by Tony Leung, but sad to say this film falls short. The story is compelling enough, set during WWII, with plenty of tensions. However, it feels more like a cautionary tale than it does a probing look into the complex set of relationships that underscore this revolutionary group of theatrical students.

It starts out with a group students trying to defy the system only for its protaganist, Wong Chia Chi (played by the lovely Tang Wei), to fall in love with a Japanese collaborator she was supposedly trying to seduce into an ill-fated move. Mr. Yee soon gets the upper hand in the relationship, and Ms. Wong is left pretty much powerless.

It is beautifully filmed, as one would expect from Ang Lee, but the characters never seem to move beyond cardboard creations, and the movie plods to its obvious conclusion, with a few S&M scenes along the way to spice things up.

Lee still hasn't matched his early efforts on film, such as Eat, Drink, Man, Woman, despite the increasingly more serious topics he explores.

Surprised to find this is a page turner
I knew the content would be interesting and was pleasantly surprised to see the well crafted text. The paragraphs flowed from page to page and chapter to chapter. It was hard to put down. Well selected photos accompany the text and add even more understanding.

This is more than a bio of one man, it is a bio of the times. I did not know that Hoover cut his bureaucratic teeth on the Red Scare, so this book rounds out his portrait for me.

Ackerman's engaging prose brings to life the colorful people of the times. He presents Palmer in all his complexity. President Wilson is totally detached not only from the Red Scare but also the upcoming election where he has a son-in-law in contention. The totally obscure Louis Post is a true hero. Many great legal minds, Frankfurter, Darrow, Cardozo, Holmes and others play a role. I had not known of the eccentric millionaire socialist Lloyd before nor the colorful immigration official from California, Caminetti.

The most intriguing story of all, of course, is Hoover's. The reader learns how his character and style were formed. As a young man he got away with a tremendous breach of the US Constitution and he lied to his mentors. He knew how and when to be on and off the stage and who to play up to. He was probably given a pass for his presumed honesty, long hours of work and his youth.

I was struck by narrow the decision making. Only a few people held the reins than made life impossible for many. While the book doesn't spell it out, I would imagine people lost their homes (be they foreclosures or evictions) and children went hungry. None of the perpetrators suffered much. Hoover went on to great "success", Caminetti went on to comfortable obscurity and Wilson is heralded for his international vision. Palmer suffers somewhat but not in proportion to his deeds. The main hero is virtually unknown to history.

J. Edgar Hoover: The Beginning . . .
One line brought home to me how different the times were shortly after the First World War: ". . . a doctor told Edgar he needed to start smoking cigarettes to relax his nerves." But more important to this story of the Red Scare were the attitudes toward freedom of speech and individual legal rights that allowed wholesale abuses as the U.S. Government and the young, energetic J. Edgar attempted to remove every last threat of Communism through massive raids and deportations. As inconceivable as a medical doctor recommending cigarettes is the thought that running roughshod over legal rights on such a scale could happen without raising an immediate uproar in the press; what a difference 24 hour television news makes!

Understanding Hoover is critical to viewing the evolution of law and individual rights in America during the 20th century. For good or bad, he certainly had an impact during his half-century tenure and as Ackerman summarizes "Of all the experiences shaping him . . . none loomed larger that the Red Raids." The author gives us an excellent account of these events, the times, and important players including Felix Frankfurter, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Clarence Darrow.

Great Reminder as to How Fear Can Override Reason and How a Strong & Independent Media is Needed to Resore the Rule of Law & Rea
Post-WW ( period is not well understood in America and our history books hardly mention how fear and loathing of terrorists (anarchists and Bolsheviks) and their (real and potential) activities led to violent over-reaction by government. Suspension of rights and rule of law, warrantless break-ins and arrests, thousands of completely innocent citizens held without charge or access to counsel in sub-standard "holding" facilities, authoritarian override of law enforcement principles and practices without regard to rights (beating of those arrested, denial of access to medical services, denial of access by the press nad watchdog organizations, etc.
A very good book and very well-written!

Required Reading
And we thought Joe McCarthy invented "McCarthyism!" Fascinating and well written. We not only learn that Attorney General Mitchell Palmer wrote the book on creating mass hysteria to assault anything one happens to dislike, but we gain a broader understanding of how easily attitudes can be swayed for egregious purposes in this country. Given that Young J. Edgar earned his stripes by implementing Palmer's plans, it's not hard to understand how he could so easily pick and choose the information he wanted to assail Martin Luther King, Jr. and scores of others he disliked. Ackerman did his homework and presented it very nicely.

History Repeats Itself...History Repeats Itself...
An excellent biography of Hoover's early years--a time that is often eclipsed by the later years when Hoover was a well established bureaucrat. Young J. Edgar looks at the circumstances--surroundings and people--who led to the formation of the man. Ackerman's descriptions of the Palmer Raids of nearly 90 years ago can't help but make the reader think of post 9/11 America and the way "we" treat our own citizens and their "inalienable" civil rights. It really makes you think. America has to find a way to protect ourselves without losing sight of what makes this country great--freedom of speech, thought, religion etc. The freedom to ask questions and be different are two of the qualities that make America great. Pick up a copy of Young J. Edgar, learn about Hoover the man and the post WWI era, and let's try not to keep making the same mistakes over and over again.

A view with appreciation
A good historian does much more than discover and reiterate facts accurately. Granted, that is vital. But a good historian lives with his materials so that over time he gains familiarity with the people and places and events, so that he gains the insights necessary to show them to us with words that make them live. So that after reading, we not only learn history but SEE it and to a limited extent experience it.

In his brief essay, David McCullough does just that. I've heard it said that some of our poorest neighborhoods in the USA live better than kings did in previous centuries. Well, you probably can't prove that. But for sure we have comforts, medical care, nutrition, luxuries far beyond what they had during the Revolutionary War. And those who suffered and died so that we might experience freedom in our miraculous country, suffered to an extent we find hard to understand today.

David McCullough writes about Revolutionary soldiers with admiration and compels us to kindle our appreciation for what they gave.

Word Pictures
David McCullough brings to light a point I for one have never thought about. In many cases we don't know what the very people who won our freedom looked like. It wasn't until the Civil War that we could attach a face to a famous name.

The author in a very adept way seeks to attach a face to the soldiers of the Revolution with word pictures. My minds eye can now visualize John Daby as a "long hump-shouldered fellow," and Thomas Williams with "film" in his left eye, or George Washington with smallpox scars, something his portraits didn't reveal. If you ever wondered like I have why most subjects in the old paintings never smiled, it's most likely due to the fact they had bad teeth or no teeth at all.

"Faces" is an illuminating read for anyone. I recommend it highly.FUG 10

Cool essay
A very nice essay by Mr. McCullough which actually gave me more of an insight into the author than the time. As a fan of history I always had the curious habit (I thought so) of looking first at the pictures in the book of what the people looked like before I started reading and referring often to those pictures during the reading; mostly to help me visualize.
I'm glad to find out I'm not the only one.

FACES BY DAVID MCCULLOUGH
An official Library Weekly book review.

EXCERPT:
How can we know what they looked like? The answers are in what they themselves said in pocket diaries...

RATING:
5 of 5

REVIEW:
When looking back at the founding of our nation, we find ourselves at a lost to what men and women looked
like when they marched into the heat of battle. We have no audio broadcast of what happened, there's no
video that you can download off YouTube. But despite those challenges, historians and writers have been
able to find out who these men were, a true understanding of their inner thoughts through their diaries,
letters, and books. Faces by David McCullough is timeless, an effective reflection of the past, and how
we get to know them.

Thought provoking
This writing focuses on the physical aspects and reality in which the people in history, especially the Revolution, lived. We have very little that guides our minds when trying to associate faces with a person we are reading about, and McCullough brings about some poignant ideas about their lives, demeanors and appearance that we often overlook. This is worth a quick read.

Best Glimpse into Ethiopian Adoption Culture
I'm writing this as the mother of an adopted Ethiopian child- I bought this book after a random search and it has been the most valuable book of our whole adoption journey. It's loaded with helpful background info on the AIDS & Orphan crises in Ethiopia, history of Ethiopia, insight into the cultural perceptions of adoption (especially by affluent, white Westerners!) and the very moving perspectives of the orphans themselves, and their Ethiopian caretakers. The heroine of this story is very real, and her character development was deep and insightful. I laid the book down several times to have a good laugh (or cry!) but could hardly keep from turning the pages. Whether you are adopting yourself, supporting someone who is, or just interested in learning more about Ethiopia and this heroine's story, I know you will come away inspired.

An Uplifting Page-Turner
Author Melissa Fay Greene, who is the adoptive mother of two Ethiopian children, relates the story of Haregewoin Teferra, an Ethiopian mother who becomes the foster mother for a multitude of AIDS orphans during the height of the pandemic. Greene truthfully tells the tale without painting Teferra as a "modern day Mother Teresa," but rather as a very real and human woman who is asked by clerics to take in one abandoned orphan after another. A grieving mother whose adult daughter died from AIDS, Teferra discovers that helping the children provides her with a means of overcoming her grief. The individual stories of these "lost children" who arrive on Teferra's doorstep are riveting, as is Greene's account of the assimilation of her adoptive children into her family. Accompanying photos show children shortly after they arrived in very bad shape at Treferra's compound and then later with adoptive American families.
Greene spares no one as she rails against the pharmaceutical companies that withheld AIDS medications from third-world countries at the height of the pandemic, causing the loss of a whole generation of parents. Despite having no drugs to help the children, hit-or-miss medical care, and scarce food for all, Teferra does her best to feed, clothe, house, and educate the orphans put in her care. Although one might think that this book is a "downer," it is a very uplifting page-turner that relates the indominable spirit of one Ethiopian woman and her many foster children.

Life changing book
Melissa Faye Green is an excellent writer. She is a true artist painting a vivid picture of scenes, and weaving historical, political and social aspects of the deadly HIV/AIDS epidemic. This is an incredibly powerful book. It is not easy to read due to the difficult emotional toll it can take on one, but I felt morally obligated to read it, so that I wasn't just shutting out the devastating misery suffered by so many millions. She portrays the human face of this awful disease with poignancy. It is an inspiring and human story of one woman's efforts to alleviate her own and others suffering. God bless Melissa for opening our eyes.

A truly moving experience
This was a wonderful book! Having myself been to Addis Ababa recently (July 07) with my daughter to pick up her adopted Ethiopian baby boy (4 months old), you can just imagine how this story of one woman's love for so many orphans resonated with me. The book is a quick read -- something interesting in every chapter. The author intertwined Haregewoin's up and down story with bits of Ethiopian history and the unwinding spread and theories of HIV-AIDs plus added her own experience with H. and the adoption her own Ethiopian children -- which made the reader come away with a true cultural experience. H. is truly a "Mother Theresa" figure and an inspiration to all women. Thank you, Melissa, for introducing us to her. I really enjoyed having the photos of many of the children and their adoptive families to relate to. I will be sure that my daughter reads this book and I have suggested it to my book club in Boulder, CO which will read it in the fall. -- Gayle Weiss

There is No Me Without You
I like what the story is about, however the book has so much detail it is hard to get through the first chapters.

I love My Kindle!
What can I say? I love my Kindle! I've always enjoyed gadgets, but this is the ultimate! I have been reading more, and reading new genres I had not tried before. I love being able to download a sample of a book before purchasing! It's easy to hold, easy to read, even in full sunlight! I only turn on the wireless when I need to, and the battery lasts for a looooong time this way! Well worth every penny spent!

Sounds crazy but it's changed my life!
I give it a full five stars because I hadn't finished a book other than parenting books in years before purchasing my Kindle. I now read the LA Times newspaper every morning and keep up on current events. My vocabulary has increased because instead of skipping over the words I didn't know the definitions of I now look them up! It's also help my comprehension.

If you have a teenager or other family member that hasn't discovered that they love to read yet, get it for them! I love being able to save "clippings" from what I am reading.

I wish that I could organize my books easier from the Kindle. I would like to be able to send a specific book to a family member that has approved me for that purpose.

I used velcro to keep my Kindle in place while in the cover. It's a really nice cover and works well with velcro, although it's hard to reach the wireless power switch.
I have purchased the "Mighty Bright" book light and it's great! It clips on the cover and stays really easily. The batteries that come with the light don't last long so I changed them with better quality batteries and expect that it will last longer.

The look of the screen is exactly like paper, it's amazing. I like being able to change font size if I forget my glasses!

It's great to have the keyboard which is easiest when used with your thumbs like when texting. The battery on the kindle will last a lot longer between charges is you turn off the wireless.

I am completely happy, love it so much! Thanks Oprah for letting me know about it! My AMAZING KINDLE!

Love it Love it Love it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As a lifelong reading enthusiast stuck with arthritic hands and a bum neck, this little device is just perfect. I can enjoy tackling ANY book, no matter how lengthy, thanks to the Kindle. I am thrilled with the easy operation, size, general ease of use. All of my friends have had the same reaction to the Kindle -- " WOW!" Advertise more -- more people NEED to be introduced to your Kindle! Thanks, N. Flechtner

Fragile screen
I was so excited to get my Kindle. I loved every part of it. After less than 1 month I reached for it in my purse to show a friend and found the screen damaged. The Kindle was in it's case and the case shows no sign of damage. I have no idea what happened to it. The tech support guy said that he's heard that someone's cat sat on their Kindle and ruined the screen. There is no repair for it, only a replacment for 0.00. I told him that I had just paid 0 to use it for less than a month, why would I want to spend another 0 to get another one that will be damaged. He said that maybe if I spent the 0 on a replacement I would be more careful next time. Wow! Now I'm just stuck with a 0 useless reminder that I wasted my money. I am VERY UNHAPPY.

the kindle
A gift for my book reading wife. I do not know how I will ever top this..
This truly one of those things that are to be compared to "sliced bread"...