Reviews of "The Cultivation of Weeds" from Amazon.com and
Powellsbsooks.com
A Great Read
By R. Seitter, Nov. 27,
2007
The Cultivation of Weeds comes at the right
time. As we struggle with making monumental political decisions that will impact
the future of our civilians and our troops, the novel offers the reader a chance
to examine some flaws in American government.
The Cultivation of Weeds is, on surface, an "easy read" because the author is so descriptive with settings and characters. You'll find yourself quickly turning the pages to see what happens next as the plot grows more mysterious and intriguing.
The story weaves ideas of government conspiracies and spy warfare with love
stories and family shortcomings. It's not until you put the book down for the
day that you'll find yourself thinking about the issues that Reform Party
leader, Ed Grendil, tries to fix. These are the same issues that we face as a
society today. And these are the issues that make the novel not just an "easy
read" but one that's worth reading before you head out to the voting booth.
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Dark doings in the near future
By B. Urbanic (El Sobrante, Ca), Nov.
14, 2007
Emory Menefee is a first-time
novelist, and he should be congratulated for putting together this clever take
on current events. The Cultivation of Weeds is part-mystery, part-spy novel,
with maybe a touch of sci fi. It is, in any case, a quick read and good fun,
while raising some thought-provoking questions about where our government is
headed. I won't give away any key plot points, but I enjoyed the notion of the
SOS, a new form of national defense that has a creepy and familiar logic behind
it. And the Reform Party will make you wish there was a whole lot more to get
excited about in the current presidential race. It's hard to find a true-blue
hero among the characters, but there's a pretty good villain or two, including a
sinister president with an oddly familiar chuckle. Comment | Permalink |
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Moving Struggles with Isolation
By Dirk van Nouhuys (Berkeley, CA USA),
Jan. 5, 2008
B Urbanic's review above gives a good summary of The Cultivation of Weeds. It is fast and smoothly paced, a political thriller with a touch of science fiction, and as well an expression of frustration at the inability of US democracy to provide consistently intelligent, humane government.
But that is not why it moved me. It has a wistful, haunting quality I find a little hard to pin down. It has to do with isolation. It is a story of people who suffer in isolation, political, intellectual, moral, and deeply personal. Realistically and movingly they sometimes escape their isolation in a meaningful way, sometimes fail, and sometimes are left struggling. In a sense they are the weeds of the title, isolated problems for themselves. They and the author cultivate them; some die, and some in their growth learn how to cultivate themselves better, all in a landscape, like the cover, rather hard, grey, and empty, but never the less living. Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)
A Page
Turner
estelle937, November 17, 2007
A page turner. Story moves along and then rushes to the finish, but this rising fiction writer has a solid voice and enough emotional "pull" to arouse and hold interest. I hope he produces another story and develops it--and his characters--a little further. -Sal