The Writing on the Wall

( 3 )
Hardcover
$23.28
BN.com price
$24.00 List Price (Save 3%)
Marketplace (New and Used)
from
$0.01
$24.00 List Price (Save 100%)
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
All (41)  
Used (33)  
New (8)  
Close
Sort by
Page 1 of 5
Showing 1 – 10 of 41 (5 pages)
$0.01
(Save 100%)
BreakTimeBooks
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(664)

Condition:

New — never opened or used in original packaging.

Like New — packaging may have been opened. A "Like New" item is suitable to give as a gift.

Very Good — may have minor signs of wear on packaging but item works perfectly and has no damage.

Good — item is in good condition but packaging may have signs of shelf wear/aging or torn packaging. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Acceptable — item is in working order but may show signs of wear such as scratches or torn packaging. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Used — An item that has been opened and may show signs of wear. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Refurbished — A used item that has been renewed or updated and verified to be in proper working condition. Not necessarily completed by the original manufacturer.

Good
Good book, great price! We ship daily via USPS. Buy with the best! BN

Ships from: Lakewood, WA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$0.01
(Save 100%)
OwlsBooks-TRM
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(22568)

Condition: Good
Giving great service since 2004: Buy from the Best! 4,000,000 items shipped to delighted customers. We have 1,000,000 unique items ready to ship! Find your Great Buy today!

Ships from: Lakewood, WA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$0.01
(Save 100%)
Better World Books
Seller since 2006

Feedback rating:

(50891)

Condition: Good
Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy!

Ships from: Mishawaka, IN

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$0.01
(Save 100%)
Better World Books
Seller since 2006

Feedback rating:

(50891)

Condition: Very Good
Former Library book. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy!

Ships from: Mishawaka, IN

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$0.99
(Save 96%)
BookHolders MD
Seller since 2005

Feedback rating:

(3582)

Condition: Good
First Good [ No Hassle 30 Day Returns ] Publisher: Counterpoint Pub Date: 5/31/2005 Binding: Hardcover Pages: 304.

Ships from: College Park, MD

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$0.99
(Save 96%)
Alibris NV
Seller since 2005

Feedback rating:

(20386)

Condition: Very Good
2005-06-01 Hardcover Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 297 p.

Ships from: Sparks, NV

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$0.99
(Save 96%)
BookHolders MD
Seller since 2005

Feedback rating:

(3582)

Condition: Good
First Good [ No Hassle 30 Day Returns ] [ Underlining/Highlighting: SOME ] [ Writing: SOME ] Publisher: Counterpoint Pub Date: 5/31/2005 Binding: Hardcover Pages: 304.

Ships from: College Park, MD

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$0.99
(Save 96%)
Mondazzi Jewelry & Book Empori CT
Seller since 2008

Feedback rating:

(916)

Condition: Like New
2005 Hardcover Fine Nearly Perfect, A Never Read Store Copy.

Ships from: Windsor, CT

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$1.25
(Save 95%)
Cathy's Half Price Books PA
Seller since 2005

Feedback rating:

(1335)

Condition: Good
2005 Hardcover Good. Very good, light wear to dj. In very good condition, light wear to cover. Otherwise no marks or labels. Thanks for your business! Your satisfaction is ... guaranteed! Read more Show Less

Ships from: Havertown, PA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$1.29
(Save 95%)
nationalbooks
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(91)

Condition: New
New - excellent clean condition - hard bound, "The Writing on the Wall: A Novel", with dust jacket; Author: Schwartz, Lynne Sharon

Ships from: long island city, NY

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
Page 1 of 5
Showing 1 – 10 of 41 (5 pages)
Close
Sort by

Overview

Thirty-four and decidedly independent, Renata has always kept her involvement with others, particularly men, to a minimum-until she meets Jack. Sexy, solid, and patient, he shakes up her routine. Then, as Renata leaves her apartment one bright September morning and walks across the Brooklyn Bridge to work, the sky bursts open and the landscape transforms without warning.
... See more details below
Sending request ...

More About This Book

Overview

Thirty-four and decidedly independent, Renata has always kept her involvement with others, particularly men, to a minimum-until she meets Jack. Sexy, solid, and patient, he shakes up her routine. Then, as Renata leaves her apartment one bright September morning and walks across the Brooklyn Bridge to work, the sky bursts open and the landscape transforms without warning.

Editorial Reviews

Carolyn See
The Writing on the Wall might best be read by New Yorkers; it's the kind of book that, like certain fine and very delicate wines, might not "travel" well and tastes best drunk in its own locale. But the author has done an admirable job in chronicling a trauma, monumental in its reach, whose echoes still resound.
— The Washington Post
Publishers Weekly
The aftermath of the World Trade Center attack provides a traumatic backdrop to Schwartz's latest novel (after In the Family Way), an intellectually evocative and emotionally trenchant exploration of troubled intimacy and the constitutive effects of language. Renata, a Brooklyn-based 30-something librarian with a gift for recondite tongues, is stymied in her promising affair with fellow Brooklynite Jack by her vows of "emotional celibacy," the result of a long history of family trauma, including the tragic death of her twin sister, Claudia, at age 16. When the Twin Towers are struck, Jack's assistant at his downtown social services agency perishes in the collapse, and he and Renata become the caretakers of her baby, Julio. As Renata develops an obsessive attachment to the baby as well to a mute stray teenager she names after her dead niece, Gianna (born just before Claudia's death), Schwartz artfully reveals the origins of Renata's psychic scars: the twins' overenmeshed relationship, the death of their father and institutionalization of their mother, plus Gianna's mysterious drowning. Renata's emotional wariness links to her suspicions of language in general, which are exacerbated by the president's verbal response to the terrorist attack. With Renata's complex balance of intellectual skepticism, emotional fragility and street smarts, Schwartz continues to show herself a rigorous novelist. (June) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
More Reviews (1) Fewer Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
Schwartz's tenth (after Referred Pain, 2004, etc.) may be her riskiest, as it intertwines her familiar fictional territory with the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Things start on a bright September morning when Renata, a linguist, wakes up in bed with her lover, Jack, a recently divorced social worker. After Jack leaves, Renata decides to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to work, but, partway across, she hears screaming and looks across the river to see "a huge marigold bursting open in the sky." With this opening, Schwartz focuses on how the attack evokes past traumas, leaving Renata unmoored and jeopardizing her relationship with Jack. We learn that Renata and her twin sister, Claudia, were close until age 16, when Claudia had a daughter (fathered, it turns out, by their uncle), gave the baby up for adoption, then drowned in a nearby river days later. Renata's father died in a car wreck within the year, and her mother was institutionalized. When Claudia's daughter, Gianna, was three, the adoptive parents dumped her on Renata, then 19. At seven, Gianna was snatched from a park merry-go-round, leaving Renata bereft and guilty. Now 34, Renata has trouble trusting Jack, or anyone, to stay in her life. Schwartz describes the emotional flavor of the days after 9/11 with great clarity, using quotes from speeches by the president, the makeshift signs put up by those in search of the missing, the memorials, the connections neighbors made in the midst of tragedy and the exhaustion of those who, like Jack, went to the scene to help. But it all bogs down in backstory, and Renata's irrational conviction that a mute teenager she finds wandering the streets is her niece isn't believable. Plus,Schwartz undercuts the emotion in scenes between Renata and Jack with detail about Renata's linguistic interest in a culture that has many terms for loss. A valiant effort, but Schwartz doesn't quite pull it off.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781582432991
  • Publisher: Counterpoint
  • Publication date: 5/30/2005
  • Pages: 304
  • Sales rank: 407,834
  • Product dimensions: 5.82 (w) x 8.34 (h) x 1.00 (d)

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 2.5
( 3 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(0)

4 Star

(1)

3 Star

(1)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(1)

Your Rating:

Review Guidelines
Add Recommendations
Your Name: Create a Pen Name or Leave Anonymously

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

  • - HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
  • - Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
  • - Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
  • - Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
  • - Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
  • - Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
  • - Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

  • - By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
  • - Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
  • - See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.
Search for Products You'd Like to Recommend

Recommend other products that relate to your review. Just search for them below and share!

Create a Pen Name

Your Pen Name is your unique identiy on BN.com. It will appear on the reviews you write and other website activities. Your Pen Name cannot be edited, changed or deleted once submitted.

Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously

We're sorry, but penname is already taken.

Please select one of the following:
Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously

penname is available!

By visiting the BN.com website or marking a purchase on BN.com, a User is deemed to have accepted the Terms of Use.

Continue Anonymously

Welcome, penname

You have successfully created your Pen Name. Start enjoying the benefits of the BN.com Community today.

Sort by: Showing all of 3 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted March 31, 2006

    Dissapointed

    I bought this book because I really liked the description on the front cover, but when I started reading, it really didn't have anything to do with the cover. The sequence of events is totally off compared to the actual story. Making it completely disappointing

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted October 4, 2005

    very good read

    I liked this book alot. The story and characters were interesting and the feelings about 9/11 were amazing. I would strongly recommend it.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted September 6, 2005

    Thoughts about 9/11

    I felt this book could have been great, but the author seemed to want to show off her intelligence a bit. Felt like she was too interested in showing her annoyance of George W. Bush. And that took away from my interest in her characters.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Sort by: Showing all of 3 Customer Reviews
If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble
Why is this product inappropriate?
Comments (optional)
500 character limit