Author: Steven Galloway
Published: 2003
Genres: Fiction
Rating: 3.5
Summary
Transylvania in 1919 is a place of poverty and persecution for the Rom people. Tragedy strikes early in Salvo's life when his parents are killed and he is separated from his brother and sister. Thus begins nearly a lifetime of being forced to flee from suspicion and misfortune that takes the reader from Europe to the US to British Columbia’s Fraser Valley and back to Manhattan via the medium of tight-rope walking in the circus.
Review
The author's writing style is very fluid. The characters are intriguing but not particularly sympathetic. Beginning the story with the main character's death--while a common writing element--is an error in this case. It makes the novel feel anti-climactic.
Notes
Somehow I mistakenly believed this story to be loosely based on the life of an actual individual. Don't make that error; it is purely fiction.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Fire in the Bones: William Tyndale-Martyr, Father of the English Bible
Author: S. Michael Wilcox
Published: 2004
Genres: Biography (LDS perspective)
Rating: 3
Summary
The leading personalities of his century would draw upon all their resources to stop him, from the brilliant Sir Thomas Moore to King Henry VIII; from Charles V, ruler of half of Europe, to the Pope. Both church and state hunted him relentlessly--at a time when the church held power over both soul and body and could condemn the heretic to execution by fire. His name was William Tyndale. His crime? Translating the words of the Bible into the "vulgar" English tongue.
Review
The biographical information is interesting. Tyndale was obviously a gifted linguist with a passion for translating the Bible into English. Much of his work was the precursor to today's King James Version of the Bible. However, this biography could have been more concise, better organized, and less repetitious.
Published: 2004
Genres: Biography (LDS perspective)
Rating: 3
Summary
The leading personalities of his century would draw upon all their resources to stop him, from the brilliant Sir Thomas Moore to King Henry VIII; from Charles V, ruler of half of Europe, to the Pope. Both church and state hunted him relentlessly--at a time when the church held power over both soul and body and could condemn the heretic to execution by fire. His name was William Tyndale. His crime? Translating the words of the Bible into the "vulgar" English tongue.
Review
The biographical information is interesting. Tyndale was obviously a gifted linguist with a passion for translating the Bible into English. Much of his work was the precursor to today's King James Version of the Bible. However, this biography could have been more concise, better organized, and less repetitious.
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