W. John Campbell Ph.D.

I had read about half these books but decided to read the other half for a 2012 goal. It is very heavy on Hemingway and American literature, in general. I like the diagrams that show the characters and how they interact. The summaries are good, but I don't like how the gist of the book at the beginning gives away the plot sometimes! I would suggest reading the summaries AFTER finishing a book or when you get totally stuck.

I question some of the choices, but it is good for someone wanting a basic literature course. I agree with a previous review that there are other books that dive much deeper.… (plus d'informations)

I probably would never have bought this book if I hadn't purchased it at a discount price. If you imagine a stack of SparksNotes bound together, you get an idea of what this book has to offer. It's useful as a general tool, especially for high school or lower-division literature studies. However, some of the information is questionable and I wonder at some of the titles selected/omitted for this book. If you can pick a copy up for a few bucks and you're interested in overviews of some major works, I'd say, 'go for it.' However, more advance literary students might turn their noses up.… (plus d'informations)