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What was good: Eggers did a great job of capturing Valentino's voice and it remained consistent through the book. Fantastic portrayal of the US through African eyes - honest and hopeful and critical and just pure. Clever touches of humor. What was not good: The story telling became plodding in some areas, to an extent that it was hard to stay engaged. The ending felt rushed. There seemed to be an unfinished chapter. Overall, a great read that tells the story of the conflicts in Sudan with an incredible touch, void of the inconsistency of the media's versions.

Loved this whole series. And the author went to my alma mater (and mentions it from time to time, since she makes the protaganist attend there, which is cool ;-).

Reviewed by Tyler R. Tichelaar for Reader Views (4/09) Ole Carlson is among the many self-help gurus out there vying for our attention to help us improve our lives.The message in his new book “Aspire” is similar to the messages in many self-help books, but that does not inany way make it ineffective. In fact, I think this book would help many people. Even if you’ve read manyself-help books as I have, Carlson has some useful strategies I have not seen presented elsewhere that canguide a person to self-fulfillment.The book’s subtitle refers to “3 Powerful Strategies for Creating More of What You Want, Now.” The fulldescription of these strategies is left until the final section about the “Manifestation Trilogy” but the bookbuilds toward them. Along the way we get numerous quoted pearls of wisdom, a description of the ever morepopular Law of Attraction, and Carlson’s personal story. I found myself writing down many of the quotes toremember. Among my favorites were George Bernard Shaw’s “Life isn’t about finding yourself. It’s aboutcreating yourself,” and Merv Griffin’s “You have to be constantly turning the page, which prevents me [sic:]from getting caught up in any negativity. I just keep moving and enjoying the ride.” I especially likedGriffin’s statement because I’m a fan of books—we must remember the hero always goes through trialsbefore the happy ending approaches. Finally, I liked Carlson’s own response to Thoreau to “Refuse to choosea life of quiet desperation and irreversible regret.”The Law of Attraction has been explained in many places, notably in “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne, asCarlson notes. What I appreciated about Carlson’s discussion, however, was mention of quantum physics andsome more scientific discussion of the Law of Attraction, confirming its reality and viability. The rest of thebook provides discussion of the Law of Attraction and how it can be used to manifest what you want out oflife. Carlson also tells his own story of how adversity destroyed his parents but how he managed to avoid thesame situation and persevere.The Manifestation Trilogy presented is about saying (affirming), seeing (visualizing) and feeling (imagininguntil you can feel, taste touch etc.) what you want so your thoughts will lead you to achieving it. Carlsonexplains his own personal strategy of using note cards to create his goals and explain his intentions andprovide affirmations for himself. Another technique I found useful was his suggestion not to anticipate anevent and set yourself up for disappointment, but always to start with zero expectations so that as positiveaspects appear, you feel yourself moving in a positive direction, rather than starting with high expectationsonly to move backward.While the basis of Carlson’s material is not new, it is tried and tested, and he pays credit to those he borrowsfrom. What matters is that through “Aspire” the reader experience the positive, affirmative message Carlsonprovides, aspire to positive change, and then use the methods here, or whatever methods work for thatindividual, to manifest his or her desires.

This was one of the dumbest books I've ever read. This book alone is the reason I don't read any of her other work. For once it would be really nice if a writer would create black characters that weren't either dim witted or ex-prostitutes.