Emil Markov Markov itibaren Yulsubino, Respublika Tatarstan, Nga, 422669
hmm. it was sort of interesting to read about delilah's life story, especially her relationships with her adopted children, but all that in-group religious pep talk seriously got on my nerves. and i really did not get much insight from this book at all.
Overall, this was a very good book, and did a good job in describing U.S. expansion under Polk. I would have liked more personal detail, but that is a minor quibble. It gave me a renewed appreciation of Polk and made me a big fan of this president.
I have to admit, I put off reading this book because of it's sheer mass. It was about 1200 pages. The beginning worried me a little because it was dry and hard to connect with the characters, but the scene introducing Hank Reardon's family brings the characters to life! I loved the characters and with two exceptions, I loved the story. The two exceptions are 1) Why does EVERY 'good' male character have to be in love with Dagney? and 2) Dagney is so selfish that she doesn't care about the consequences of finding JG?! Very annoying. Those exceptions aside, this was a great book. The most troubling part was that I was occasionally confused about whether something was happening in the book or whether it was something actually happening in our own domestic current events... Also, this isn't the Bible. This is a NOVEL. People who get extremely polarized (love it and want to live it, or hate it and want to burn it) about this book need to read and absorb those two sentences.