Book Tamers| book reviews

How a century begins

Apparently, the further we go from the 20th century, the more we are tempted to recreate the past into fiction, to imagine it or to go to already common and comfortable representations, that show us that then it was better, in other words, we tend to idealize it. E.L. Doctorow’s novel is dealing with the thought that then it was better, referring to America in the first two decades of the century, using little means and an honest and clear style.
From the point of view of the illusions, it wasn’t better then. The beginning of the 20th century in America, as in Doctorow’s novel, is nothing but racism, it means poverty and misery, it is inequity and discrimination. On the other hand, and maybe this is more important, the ragtime years are a mix of reality and fiction, a world where everything is possible, when one can hope, when one can honestly believe and live impulsively.

That is why considering the main three histories in Ragtime as symbols of an uncertain reality is not far from the truth, although Doctorow’s unsubtle fictionalization was blamed.
In New Rochelle, the family of Father, Mother, Mother’s Younger Brother and the Boy are forming a middle class family, having clear moral principles and progressive views, caught up to a point in habitudes and prejudices. On the other side, Mameh, Tateh and the Little Girl are, according to expectations, the classic immigrants, the victims or the winners of the American Dream. Finally, Sarah and Coalhouse Walker, whose drama is described over the novel’s second half, are characters ideally built in order to point out the situation of the black people at the beginning of the century. Actually, if it weren’t for the dry, ironic tone, Doctorow could be blamed for using cliché images in a demonstrative book.

Ragtime is not all about these three histories, which are however sufficiently extended and detailed, but also it deals with historic characters, like Jung and Freud, Houdini, as one of the most brilliant portraits in the novel, and also, it is about passionate murders, like that of Harry K. Thaw – the millionaire who killed Stanford White, his wife’s lover. One can’t ignore Emma Goldman’s portrait, an anarchist preacher, a wild and strange mix of independence, conformism and defiance.

The encounter between Henry Ford and the wealthiest man in America, J.P Morgan, is relevant for the alert atmosphere, of passing and of change of the decades: it is about the meeting of two very different personalities, and any understanding between them is out of the question, there are two business styles, a pragmatic and an aristocratic one, well, two different ways of seeing the world. This meeting is actually the miniature meeting between two worlds: the old one, sentimental, passionate, and hypocrite and the new one, brave, honest and insensitive.

The American novel

I think that any regular description of an American novel goes for Ragtime also. It is about that novel that is a little known by everybody, it is a novel that lives through some features, it is the novel that sells (thus, it is named commercial), it is the ambitious novel, that wants to swallow the whole world, that doesn’t content itself in dissecting only one aspect of reality, but wants and can do more (thus, it is called a mix without the sense of proportion). Even more interesting is the way of narrative organization: it’s a correct and honest one, it doesn’t shine but through irony, and that is why it is flattering for the characters and the events. Maybe it is the only way of comprising the great number of details and characters, to connect them in fiction logic.

One good example is rendered by Harry Houdini’s portrait, the Jew illusionist able to break through every captivity, to get out of a safe, of a milk can, prison cells, spectacular and restless at the same time. His wish of escape grows with the difficulty of his performances, and it is not slowed down neither by airplane flight, nor by stunning freedom rendered by air escapades. It’s like he can’t make the difference between real life and tricks. The same thing can be said about Mother’s need of escape from her passive role of a wife; about the Younger Brother who bonds with a new system, created ad-hoc by Coalhouse Walker; about the Father who goes with Peary’s expedition at the North Pole and comes back weary and captive. Each character is constrained by himself, by circumstances, by principles, and the greatest idea is that only death and freedom are equal; everything else is nothing but a surrogate.

I recommend Ragtime not just because it is a serious idea that gets behind the narration- thus it appears as threateningly compulsory, but because Doctorow is very generous towards the reader. Sketching portraits, possibilities, masking confessions, he gives the reader the occasion of imagining the text and beyond the text, to continue and to develop the story. I think Ragtime can be a catalyst for one’s own imagination.

Written by Mihaela

A really good fantasy novel needs three things:

1) A captivating story and characters with whom the reader can identify himself.
2) A complex magical/religious system that can affect the plot in many ways.
3) A narrative style that is easy to follow and readable.

They’re not my rules and they are not at all settled, but they are common sense. A writer can’t take them into account if he wants to obtain a certain effect, but there is a limit for fantasy novels.
Elantris is Brandon Sanderson’s first novel and a quite ambitious one. Actually, it is too ambitious in some parts and plans too poorly in others. But, if Sanderson’s next novels will be as good as the last pages in Elantris (and I’m sure they are), I can’t wait to read them.

But let us return to our subject. I said in the beginning that fantasy novels need a captivating story and catchy characters so that the reader can relate to them. I can say a lot about the story in Elantris, but it’s hard to say it’s not captivating.

There was a kind of gods in Arelon. They were called Elantrians and they lived in the city of Elantris. They did powerful magic and anyone could become one of them if taken by Shaod – the transformation. Shaod came at night and transformed a man, no matter his social condition, into an Elantrian. Then, that man went live on Elantris. It may sound utopian, but it is an interesting premise. Things happen and their magic is lost, and Elantrians transform into beggars that wander around their ruined city. But Shaod continues and the people he gets are now cursed, not blessed.

After the fall of Elantris, merchants in neighbour cities plot a revolution and they form a monarchy, where the richest of people declare themselves nobles and the others become servants. Ten years later, Prince Raoden is struck by Shaod and thrown in Elantris, as tradition says. Sarene, the fiancée he never knew, gets to the city a few days later, wishing to form an alliance between her country, Teoden and Arelon. This alliance would have fought against Fjorden, a theocratic empire that wants to conquer all unfaithful peoples. Things get more complicated when Hrathen, the great priest of Fjorden empire, arrives; his mission is to reclaim the kingdom of Arelon to the religion of Shu-Dereth.

From now on the story will follow the three heros. Prince Raoden tries to find out why Elantris has been destroyed, Sarene will struggle to save the arelonian monarchy, and Hrathen will spend his time plotting and doubting his own religion. The latter is by far the most interesting, although there is not so much empathy involved. The story is told in the third person, in cycles of three chapters- one for each character. This way, the reader knows more than each character and there is an emotional bond with every character. I have to add however that characters’ names (Raoden, Sarene Kiin, Iadon, Eondel, Saolin, Kaise, Svrakiss, Dilaf…) are impossible and they break all rules of phonetics.

The magic system is the foundation of the book and Sanderson takes good care in revealing it gradually. The rhythm of the revealing is not all perfect and the end is dangerously close to deus ex machina, but magic in Elantris is well planned and logically explained. The same thing happens with the religious part, represented by the war between the two great doctrines– Shu-Dereth and Shu-Korath. Although Hrathen will explain some of the foundations of his religion, the true differences will be seen in the short theological discussions between characters. As a whole, Sanderson’s interest for magic and his world’s religion is praiseworthy and it should be the same for every fantasy writer.

Once the magic and the story put aside, we get to the ugly part. I would like to observe that two points out of three is not bad at all. I would want to say the same thing about Sanderson’s prose, but I would.

In Elantris, prose is insipid, colourless and inodorous. Even worse, it is simplistic, very direct, non-esthetical, and even naïve and annoying. Sanderson has no interest for the art of writing. He’s no James Joyce, to conquer all narrative barriers, and he’s not Gene Wolfe, to turn words easily and to find new and dangerous uses for them. Sanderson is more interested by his story and the magic, so the prose suffers. The descriptions are very short or long and full of epithets. Two in three verbs are in the present participle form, characters’ thoughts are summarized in short sentences, and dialogues refer to platitudes or things that the characters already knew, but had to share them with us.

The good part is that, once you give up any expectancy for good literature, the story is captivating and you get to really like the characters. And the last part of the books is definitely written later than the others, for Sanderson’s writing leaps. Well, better late than never.

At the end, Elantris is a standard fantasy novel, with princes, princesses and warrior monks and draws attention to itself because of the magic, the religion and the social speech. It was hard to get over the writing part, but once I did, I discovered an interesting story with characters I really enjoyed.

Written by Cristi

Before anything, I have to confess I dislike popular books. I consider them, in a very discriminating manner, as commercial and I have no interest in reading them. The same thing happened with Memoirs of a Geisha. I mean, how important can be what an Occidental man has to say when he talks from the perspective of a Japanese woman?

The novel tells the story of little Chiyo, the youngest daughter of a poor fishermen family, who was sold as a slave. Her beauty helps her in the famous Gion of the thirties and she will be bought by an okiya, a geisha house. Here, against all odds, she is educated to become a geisha. To the individual vision of Gion, we also have the bigger picture, involving Japan before and after the second World.

The positive aspects of the novel remain in the geisha descriptions. The most fascinating pages are those who speak about the transformation procedures, when a simple woman becomes a geisha; also, the education the apprentices received and the rules in their strict life. A special place is taken by geisha’s clothes and Golden is very persistent about it. The detailed description of those many accessories geishas wear and the complex ritual of dressing, together with the full description of kimonos help visualizing the fascinating oriental culture.

The negative aspects are more varied.

First of all, the characters seem to be forgotten by the pen which seems more interested in revealing the details of a kimono. Even the hero of this novel, Sayuri (her name as a geisha) lacks in depth and she is widowed of important character traits. She seems as an oriental Cinderella- the most beautiful, the best and the kindest. Childhood and teenage miseries don’t seem to influence or to model her character.

Then, even though the novel is famous for describing geisha life, it actually leaves a great question mark about these women’s real life. Although the author apparently has done massive research (see attention for dressing and make-up), he doesn’t seem to have truly break into the geishas’ mysteries. The novel seems more of an answer to occidental fantasies about geishas.

More than that, Arthur Golden was sued by famous geisha Mineko Iwasaki, the model for the novel. It seems that Arthur Golden didn’t keep to the information she provided during interviews, nor did he protect her privacy. Mineko Awasaki published herself a novel (Geisha, A Life), in order to reveal in a more authentic manner her experience as a geisha.

However, Memoirs of a Geisha is an interesting novel, even though it is easy and superficial. It is a good reading, but don’t expect too much from it.

Written by Ama

How about if we all have our own attic where we keep letters, diaries or some other memories from our childhood? Or from our teenage years or from our youth?

Of course, for me this is not possible, because of my age and the timing. But for the main character in The Go-Between by L. P. Hartley, Leo Colston, the past becomes present simply by discovering a diary from 1900.

In a very Proustesque kind of way, in a single afternoon, the old Leonard Colston meets young Leo, passionate about the signs of the zodiac and magic. Thus, the reason for introspection becomes remembering the lost time, in that summer of 1900 when he was a child of 12 and was invited by his classmate Marcus Maudsley to Brandham Hall, the summer residence of Marcus’ parents. Everything seems absolutely natural considering the children’s age, and they pass their time playing, walking or drinking tea.

The motley people that go through Brandham Hall is vividly described by the little magician. I have one tiny observation to make: the adults seem to be part of an amorphous mass, preoccupied only by teas and tennis and endless discussions that are pointless to Leo.

In the middle of these people, Leo feels for the first tie the class difference, and the suit he will receive from Miriam, Marcus’s sister, will be seen as a seal that the 12 year old will wear with a lot of pride; this will be the difference between Leo from home and Leo from Brandham Hall.

The old Leonard recognizes his feelings as a young man and the little “betrayals” next to his mother, forgetting to write or not recognizing anymore what he knew before his arrival to Brandham Hall.
Marcus will get down with measles and this will be the unhappy event that will make the boys grow apart. Thus, Leo will find himself alone between people who don’t care about him and who joke on his behalf. But through all of this, he grows fonder and fonder with Miriam, and he will become her postman, delivering love letters for her and Ted Burgess, an farmer from the neighbourhood.

Once Leo discovers the letters’ content, all passion and the secret games will melt. This is because he feels for the first time the buds of love for a girl who showed him interest and kindness. Thanks to this feeling, Leo continues to deliver the letters, even though he faces tough consciousness problems and even if he doesn’t know whether to be friends or reject Ted Burgess.

While the plot is pretty simple, Hartley made it through writing a special novel by concentrating in such a young person all the feelings he’s going through. It is quite interesting seeing Leo’s transformation, and the twisted feelings he’s experimenting.

More than that, The Go-Between manages to reunite a typical British middle-class life from the beginning of the 20th century, and the critical eye is a 12 year old boy from a different class.
What happens next? Will the two lovers be discovered or will Leo betray them? Well, that’s what you’re gonna find out reading The Go-between by L. P. Hartley.

Written by Cristina

A collector’s edition, recommended by Kotler.

I truly mean it when I say that I liked the book very much even before I started reading it. It has an interesting appearance, starting with the elegant hard cover and continuing with the shape, different from the usual rectangular one. I start reading these books hoping I will like them and that I will not be forced to use them as mere decorations in my bookshelf.

Marketing Genius confirms. Is indeed collector’s edition also from the content point of view. The author, Peter Fisk, is a marketing consultant who has worked with companies like Microsoft, Philips, Coca-Cola, Vodafone and, until now, the only consultant who is not specialised in online marketing and dares to begin his book with an analysis of Google. Fisk also talks about Amazon, Apple and other companies with roots in IT and Online about which most of the marketers do not dare to talk about or they do but express oppinions anything but pertinent.

Remember Sun Tzu?

No, not the military strategist but the book, Sun Tzu- Marketing Strategies, written by the Michaelson brothers. Marketing Genius is as marketed but much more consistent and, as a digression, this is how one sees how good is a marketer. It is true that he must know how to sell his own products (I am sure that Sun Tzu- Marketing Strategies was also sold) but marketing doesn’t stop here. You don’t pay someone to buy a product and then you claim you are doing marketing. Next time not only will that someone not buy the product, but will also tell all his friends about the farce.

Two things I didn’t like

First of all, I was a little disturbed by the translation. Keeping in mind that it addresses marketers used to so many English words, I think a few forced translation were really unuseful. For example, “lovemark” should have been kept in English.

The second problem I had were the “applications” between chapters. They are a few diagrams with questions which, I understand, are meant to help the reader solve or at least identify a few real problems that his company has. It didn’t work for me and the questions, although pertinent, were not useful. I liked more the specific examples of problems that big companies have encountered and the intelligent, or genius, like the author says, sollutions they found.

And, speaking of geniuses, Peter Fisk doesn’t contradict himself and talks a lot about the 10 characteristics of the genius and the way they are applied in marketing, all done with examples, analysis, and often going profoundly into what marketing really means, above the notions superficially discussed and overknown, like brand, awareness or target.

I am not interested in marketing. Why should I read it?

Did you know that the famous Coca-Cola produces over 400 different drinks? That 1/3 of Warren Buffet’s fortune is in Coca-Cola stocks? Or that Eddison had over 1093 licences, more than anyone until now, fileing for one every 10 days?

Now you know because I told you. But do you really think that I would be able to systematize all the information that can be read in the book?

Written by Andrei

Max Frisch’s novel didn’t seem to me as written in a cold, impecable, exact manner. Just like the protagonist, Walter Faber, is the victim of his own confidence in reason and science, the author is caught in his own style. His shortcomings- a possible identification with the character, a verse in the narration, a highly improbable painting- mean more, I believe, than what is rigurously and clearly written.

“I am an engineer and I have taught myself to see things the way they are” is Walter Faber’s own description. After a plain crash, an incredible encounter with his bets friend’s brother, a few weeks in Mexico and a late falling in love, Faber realizes that things the way they are do not exist. The repugnant German from the plane is his friend Joachim’s brother; Hanna, his highschool sweetheart, has married Joachim; his minutely planned trip changes its course from day to day; the girl he falls in love with is his daughter, about whom he doesn’t know anything. Connected to the latter there is a relevant fragment which puts homo technicus, Walter Faber, in another light:
“Sabeth once again on the dam, this time standing, and she is singing, our dead daughter, with her hands still in her pockets, she thinks she is alone and she is singing, but she doesn’t hear herself.- The spool is gone.”

The events mentioned above, which seem like taken from an adventure book, show the way Walter Faber is trying to live differently, how his life becomes free of logic, while the sequence of incredible goings-on leave the impression of “it was meant to be”. Complying his character to a strong criticism of reason and writing against the god of technology Max Frisch might fall to the extreme of over-demonstration.

What saves the novel from being a thesis is exactly the imperfection: although Frisch’s character is meant to be a rational cinic who becomes a person with weaknesses, a victim, his cinism is not authentic from the beginning, just like the events he goes through don’t change him radically. Moreover, about a sensitive issue like the incest, the author doesn’t write explicitly or moralising, his tendency is towards criticism of society rather than of the individual and to demonstrate how little does homo faber control the world and himself.

In this context, the creative man is nothing more than a moved irony. Creator of circumstances, of objects more or less useful, creator of context or of worlds, man fails to control all these, is what Max Frisch’s novel demonstrates. The inevitable question is why would man want to be in control.

Written by Mihaela

“Don’t go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trace…” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

That is what entrepreneurs want most of the time, to leave a trace, to change something. And some of them succeed in ignoring obstacles, to accept getting injured by those left aside, to keep their vision and not to forget that, in fact, most of them are nothing more than dealers of hope, as Napoleon used to say.

They deliver hope, they help people to dream, and afterwards they just make their best in keeping their promises. By definitions, entrepreneurs create systems. On the other hand, managers are totally different. First of all, managers are recognized as specialists the moment they end their MBA, while entrepreneurs have a unique credit card: the amount of their achievements. Second of all, managers are leaders of an already existing system, but those systems were created by entrepreneurs.
It is not a management book

Manager, not MBAs is not a management book, but a deep analysis of the educational system that should form managers. Mintzberg harshly criticizes the system and through the whole book, he will systematically suppress this system, offering instead solutions and methods for transforming it into something decent. Why just decent?

It is because managers can’t be trained in classes. Mintzberg says these MBA classes are good (or they could be if they followed the structure he suggested) to improve managers, but these classes can’t transform a person who lacks the slightest experience into a guru.

And many of those who complete this kind of Master for Business Administration get started with a serious dose of unjustified arrogance. I recommend this book, with ironic warmth to these MBA students, totally unprepared for what is next. I met some of these people. They have the impression that taking some classes will transform them into managers which is totally wrong. Why?
Yes! Management is about people

It’s because management is not only about procedures, standards and rules. It is about people. And human relations, empathy and respect for your co-workers can’t be learnt from books and case studies. I find interesting the parallel between “being a manager” and “being an entrepreneur” and I could write, probably, tens of pages about it.

I will not do it now, but Mintzberg says something I agree with, I’m surprised with the clarity of the idea, especially because it comes from a person that can be considered more of a manager than an entrepreneur. He says that entrepreneurs tend to obsessively devote themselves to the companies where they work, to fields and people. This kind of commitment is necessary for creating something powerful.

In Manager, not MBAs, entrepreneurs are presented in antithesis with the MBA graduates that don’t attach themselves to the idea of a company that start from scratch. MBA graduates are those who dream to become multinational managers and are willing to give up that uncertainty thrill, the courageous madness for minor cares and, most probably, for a good night’s sleep.

I end now suggesting that you should skip the first part of this book, where Mintzberg takes us on a journey through management’s history, which can be pretty dull. Also, don’t forget that the whole book has the same structure of a MBA and even though there are little practical information about management, the utility of this kind of program is expressed very clearly.

Written by Andrei

Jeanette Winterson is one of the most important young voices of the contemporary British literature. Having a dazzling success with her first novel (Oranges are not the only fruit), with Written on the Body Winterson adds to postmodern literature some surprising and innovative procedures and gives us one of the most intense and thrilling love stories.

Narrator- no name, no age, no sex!

If during the first pages of the novel, I thought (probably as a victim of some prejudices) that the narrator is a man, later on I discovered that there no actual references to his age or sex. The person that tells her love life and the relationship with the beautiful Louise doesn’t leave a clue concerning his sexuality.

The procedure Winterson uses takes us into an androgyny world, where war between sexes becomes obsolete and lacks in importance. Unaltered is only the power of love and the sensuality of discovering the loved one physically.
The ambiguity of the narrator’s sex brings to the table the problem concerning a woman’s capacity of writing from the perspective of a man (and vice-versa) and also the reader’s ability of visualizing all love scenes without clearly having in mind the nature of the character.
The intense descriptive episodes, with abundant anatomical details, of intense color, become really important when the narrator’s sensorial experiences are not limited by the perspective of its own sexuality.
By this procedure, Winterson has gone into an unexplored and dangerous field. Although she managed to free her love story of the dull determination of a homosexual relationship, she confronted harsh critics from the lesbian community who accused her of failing to write a sincere novel about a love affair between two women.

Cliché free love

Love as a cliché appears obsessively on the whole novel.
Marriage as a cliché “of settling down” , having a satisfied (if not happy) family and leading a quiet and comfortable existence.
“I love you” are words with no originality, empty by repetition.
Beyond all these sentimental and social traps, Written on the Body is the novel of a freed love, of love as an exploration, as a discovery, as knowledge.
Lovers are not bound to do what they are expected to do, but they live their own feelings independently and intensely. A letter of farewell consisting of all the clichés of a traditional love comes as a painful reminder of the uniqueness of this novel.

A joy of the senses

Probably one of the most powerful love stories, Written on the Body is, as the author herself confessed, a discovery of the self through metaphors of lust and disease. It is an adultery seen from the perspective of one lover. It is love seen as Braille written on a body that could be seen only in a certain light, our own secret code; the burden of all lost and consumed loves. It is a novel that wishes to find out why love is measured only by its loss.

Written by Ama

This novel consists of hundreds of letters written by Vincent van Gogh to his brother, Theo. Short, touchy and sometimes painful, these notes are the only ones who can say anything about the painter’s life. Them and Irving Stone’s book, Lust for life, a biographical novel. Lust for life contains letters between van Gogh brothers and Stone added some fiction in order to explain his beliefs concerning what happened to Vincent.

Certainly, each and every one of us has heard about Vincent van Gogh, about his famous sunflowers and the cut of his own ear in order to give it to a prostitute. But that’s not all that can be said about the painter, about his tumultuous life, about the distress he went through in order to find some kind of balance and his place in this world.
The first time I took notice of Vincent was in Vincent and Theo, a movie about his life. And then I read this novel and tasted it page by page, in spite of the fact I don’t usually like biographies. And this is certainly because van Gogh’s life is so full of colour and so painful, in the same time, that you are just drawn into it.
Irving Stone took Vincent’s letters and built upon them the life of the impressionist painter. Thus, I found out that before becoming a painter, Vincent van Gogh was an art dealer and not anywhere, but at the Goupil Art Galleries, famous all around Europe, that his uncle owned. At 21, he falls in love for the first time with an English girl named Ursula, but the fact she doesn’t share his feelings makes him leave England for good.
He goes back to Holland to study theology. He will end up a preacher in Borinage, where miners work from dusk till dawn for a few pounds of charcoal. He is strongly touched by the harsh life and after sad events he will end up living the same miserable life as the mine workers. He will soon discover drawing and will start laying lines that will worth millions years after.
Theo puts an end to this extreme poverty and sends him back to Holland to get well. Vincent is misunderstood by his family but they can’t stop helping him. He falls in love with his cousin, Kay, but she will brutally reject him. For Vincent it is the beginning of a new depression, but he leaves Hague in order to learn from master Mauve (an alliance cousin) the art of painting. In Hague, he draws out of his imagination, and his paintings are always rejected.
He returns to the parochial house of his parents and will start to paint in colour for the first time, the models being peasants and weavers. In Nuenen he will paint his famous “Potato eaters”. He will be loved by a woman named Margot, an older woman but he will never have the same feelings for her. After fights with his family and with almost every peasant in Nuenen, he writes Theo to shelter him in Paris.
In France, Vincent van Gogh makes the acquaintance of impressionist painters like Seurat, Rousseau, Gaugain, Toulouse-Lautrec, Cezanne and others. And the color explosion he will encounter in their painting will decide him to change his palette and get rid of the Dutch influence. In Paris he will have to deal with another kind of life and for the first time he feels that his purpose is to paint. Moreover, exhausted from searching the perfect colour palette, Vincent decides to leave for Arles.
In Arles, thanks to the dazzling sun, Vincent was able to complete his style, painting his famous sunflowers, the starry nights and the self-portraits. He gets sick and he will need to be admitted into an asylum. The epilepsy attacks are rare, but violent. Theo’s decision to get him out of the hospital is done by leaving to Auvers. Here, Vincent will put an end to his life, shooting himself in the heart.
There is so much to say, so much about Vincent van Gogh’s life, and I don’t want to ruin everything for you, because you should find out for yourselves what this painter meant for our world. More than that, I have to tell the truth: only knowing this painter’s life, I could truly understand his painting and the drama he went through.
Reading Irving Stone, I got that this world is too big for understanding one man, I got that an artist is always a misfit. Vincent van Gogh’s life taught me what perseverance truly means and how hard it is to always start from scratch. I understood what being an artist means and that one has to be indifferent when judging the outside world.
I saw loneliness and an extraordinary soul revealing in Vincent van Gogh’s paintings. And I am so happy for reading this biographical novel, in which life is truly lived. It’s not entitled Lust for life for nothing!
Written by Cristina

Marketing in the public sector is a book that could really change a system, and Kotler explains from the very beginning about how solutions used in the private sector of the commercial societies could be applied in the public sector.

Of course, there are differences, of course that governmental organizations are most of the time monopoles while companies can’t afford ignoring competition, of course almost everywhere, when it comes to State shares, people frown and get uncomfortable while they are calmer when it comes to a commercial society, the reason being set loud and clear: gaining profit.

There is a certain fear (sometimes justified) of anything that relates to the State. We have the impression that we offer too much and we get too little, that politicians steal and that for them democracy means anything but taking responsibilities. But what the author is planning to do is not easy at all.

Kotler, the old revolutionary

If in the States or another country with a decent system of public administration, Kotler’s solutions would get some marketing prizes, in a developing country this would probably mean there will be a revolution and winning the elections 3 times in a row.

In all this madness named public administration, Kotler enters with an easiness that I honestly didn’t see in him. He is however a visionary, but one of whom one can’t say he made the transition from a black and white TV set to a color one.

He is the father of marketing as we know it today, but fathers become frequently too conservative and some of this conservatory spirit can be felt in Kotler’s writing. Reaffirming basic marketing ideas and adjusting them so that they could be used for the public sector, Kotler has that ‘80s feeling.
I have to admit an exceptional thing Kotler does: he understands the breaches in the system, the deficiencies in mentality that public clerks in America display and emphasizes the unlucky associations they make when it comes to marketing.

And actually the same level of shallowness is present when it comes when associating culture and marketing. To be more precise, there is a permanent swing between harsh ignorance ad insufficient efforts to judge a matter that we do not yet understand.

Written by Andrei