New England White

A reviewer

In Elm Harbor, New England, Lemaster Carlyle is president of a highly regarded New England university his wife Julia is dean of the college's divinity school. This is a normal Friday night in which they host alumni, the cat vanishes, their youngest child of four kids eight years old Jeannie has a high grade fever and the president of the US calls to shoot the breeze with his former college roommate. However this nasty snowy night turns different when on their drive they see the murdered body of Economics Professor Kellen Zant, Julia's former lover.----------- While the police consider several suspects including the Carlyles, Julia and Lemaster are at each other¿s throat with accusations. Their troubled daughter Vanessa does not handle the war between her parents very well, but neither Lemaster nor Julia can call a halt as anger and fear have control of both of them. The police rule the death caused by a random robbery that turned ugly, but Julia thinks otherwise and keeps digging for the truth, which outrages Lemaster even more as repercussions from anything this power couple do impacts as high as the presidential contest.--------------- Using the same location as the highly regarded The Emperor of Ocean Park and starring tertiary players from that novel, Stephen L. Carter paints a deep NEW ENGLAND WHITE landscape that digs into the racial past of New Hampshire through Julia¿s inquiry. The story line is driven by the power couple who seem so real especially by how they react to the Zant death as minor things that previously would not blip on their personal radar screens set off alarms. Julia¿s investigation is a cleverly designed amateur sleuth story that is so much more as the audience understands the tenuous strength of African Americans in the previous generation and present power structure. Mr. Carter provides a terrific look the past, present, and future through Julia¿s widening investigation.---------- Harriet Klausner

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

GRE words, incongruous plot and characters

I read the book and really wanted it to be better than it actually was. I recommend a re write. The book has alot of potential, but lacks the sort of professional polish that allows the reader to read as a rapt spectator and instead i found myself editing ideas as i went along. In a word-frustrating. JULIA, the major character was simply inconsistent. Character typing was messy for many of the major characters. Characters can be multidimensional and yet be congruent. Please re work and reduce the noise from unnecessary subplots. Please decrease the unnecessary flowery prose that constantly interrupt this otherwise promising novel.

A Tedious read.

This book is an interesting story. The characters were well developed and the wife of the university president, Julia Carlye being portrayed as a sleuth to uncover a murder was a intriguing twists. Overall I thought the book was way too long. At least 100 pages could have been deleted, because about half way through I was about to toss it in the trash can. It was so boring. The story did perk up, but it never really held my interest and wouldn't say the book was a real page turner. It was an average but interesting mystery tale.
I doubt I would recommend it to any of my friends.

very thought provoking

would love to discuss with others - good in depth look at racism in polite society - not being so polite.

Complicated plot

I really did not like this book. It started out fine, I thought it was really going to be a good book. The complicated plot meandered all over and I just became bored and didn't really care how it ended. It was a struggle to finish it.

New England Horrible

This is a horrible, ponderous book. Two hundred pages could have been cut out of it - it wouldn't have made it a better book, I just would have finished reading it a lot sooner. The writing is repetitious - how many times do we have to be reminded that Julia drives an Escalade or that black people are the 'darker nation'? Or that not all black people dwell in the ghetto -some are actually wealthy and in positions of power? Note to the author - not all white people stereotype blacks. Not all white people, as he seems to think, look at blacks suspiciously when they enter a restaurant or place of business. There are some of us who live in the 21st century. Having said all that, the book itself is boring,the plot convoluted and the characters two-dimensional Either I have more or less sophisticated taste that the reviewers who liked this book but my advice - if you want to read a thick tome and be more entertained, grab the phone book

A reviewer

I could not put this book down. Stephen Carter does a wonderful job of providing detail and background about a segment of our population that is often regarded as elitist and exclusive. For those of us who are not familiar with 'darker nation - new england elitism', the New Englad White invites imagination into a world that is unknown by most readers. Issues of class, race, greed, and secrecy are the core problems that play out daily in American history.

Another Tour De Force

I am blown away by Stephen Carter's excellently contructed mystery. His mastery of the English language, descriptions of the 'darker nation', and involvement of economic theory create a novel that is engrossing, edifying, and satisfying. Although it is long book (over 500 pages), I am enjoying each page and will be saddened at its conclusion. Thank you Stephen Carter for filling a large gap in today's best-sellers by providing an intellectually challenging tour-de-force.

A reviewer

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Carter at the National Book Festival in Washington, DC prior to reading the novel. Though I was very unsure about mysteries because this is my first, I thought this was a great story. I thought it told a wonderful tale and was very well paced. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and look forward to beginning The Emperor of Ocean Park.

Absolutely Terrble Book

This is the worst book I've read in many years. I should have known better after being so disappointed in The Emperor of Ocean Park. The author obviously knows little of the black elite and his telling of it rings false. The author may write well for academic journals but has no authentic writing voice for fiction. What a waste of my money and time. I couldn't even finish the book which is a rarity for me.

This Book Will Keep You Awake Nights!!

Having been a fan of 'The Emperor of Ocean Park,' I checked this book out of the library early, read 75 pages, and went out and bought it, knowing I HAD to have it for my own library!! A great story with sensational characters, a plot that grabs you from Page One, and, guarentted to keep you awake nights. I could NOT put this book down!! Superb writing, dialogue, plot--simply, it has it all!! An instant classic in my opinion!! Buy it today!!

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