Glimmering: A Novel

by Elizabeth Hand

Book Overview

It's 1999 and the world is falling apart at the seams. The sky is afire, the oceans are rising--and mankind is to blame. While the spoils of the 20th Century dwindle, Jack Finnegan lives on the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0061012165
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Length: 537 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.0" x 1.5" x 4.5"

Customer Reviews

What a great and strange book!

I see that this book has only a 3 star rating and I wonder why. It's an adventurous style of writing with fascinating characters. This may sound strange, but I compare it to watching a King Crimson concert (one just don't always know what's going to happen next so one is sitting on the edge of one's seat) or listening to the live music of people like Coltrane, Davis, and other such jazzmen. One doesn't know where they are going to go either. Comparing a book with music! What the hell! They are different but connected arts. This is a ten star book!!

A roller coaster ride from today to the end!!

As a librarian, I have thousands of books at my fingertips everyday, but I chose to read Hand's novel. First of all, the millenium will be a hot topic for some time to come and hopefully even after that! I felt like I was in the room with her characters, peeping in on the taping of a movie or something. Her words are so vivid with color and reality. I liked how she hopped from reality to fantasy or was it the other way around? What is reality anyway? I would say it's how you see things. Hand has done a great job showing us how she sees things! Can't wait to read her next book.I would also like to comment on the cover. As a librarian, I've seen people drawn to the book by it's cover only. As for Hand's cover, I give 5 stars to Hasselberger for the design and either Eguchi or Mydlowski for the actual photograph. I would love to know where this gargoyle exists if at all.

Almost perfect.

It seems like Elizabeth Hand's Glimmering was a little to intense for some. Profanity, homosexual intercourse, etc. I disagree. I like the fact that Mrs. Hand took a risk and made her excellent novel stronger by using adult themes. I'm not gay, nor do I use drugs, but Mrs. Hand wrote her characters so well that I could identify with them and their struggles. I implore the science fiction readers out there to put down your Star Trek novelizations and try a real novel, one with characters that ring true and a world that will haunt your dreams.

The end of the old millenium

This is an interesting book about the coming of the new mellenium. My only problems with it are the heavy Christian imagery and the homosexuality. Other than that it was a fascinating read that I couldn't put down.

It's the end of the world as we know it...and I feel fine

The sky is falling--LITERALLY!! The year is 1999.Civilization as we know it is at an end. What to do? Are you of theschool that would partake in all your pleasures until the end comes crashing down on us? Or would you try everything in your power to save civilization? Like Stephen King's classic The Stand, this book examines these themes. It also goes one better to ask--Is science our God?