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Business Stationary Mart - Palace Council
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List Price: $26.95
Our Price: $12.00
Your Save: $ 14.95 ( 55% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Knopf
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780307266583
ISBN: 0307266583
Label: Knopf
Manufacturer: Knopf
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 528
Publication Date: 2008-07-08
Publisher: Knopf
Release Date: 2008-07-08
Studio: Knopf
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Complex Characters and Weak Plot Line
Comment: My four stars (actually three and some change) break down to five for overall character development and a little more than one for plot. The plot, to the extent it could be logically followed in this long and ranging novel, was all over the place and never lived up to the liner notes. While I appreciate historical fiction as much as anyone (and more than most), Carter's use of real world events throughout the plot are almost Forrest Gump like. There is nary an event from 1952 to 1975 that dosen't involve the plot, if not the main character(s). Some issues related to time and place make no sense as in our hero Eddie Wesley traveling to Siagon to among other things cover the war as a writer, only to confront one of the story's antagonists "hiding out" there. I'm old enought to remember the Vietnam era and I don't remember too many elites traveling there to "hide out."
One positive of the book is its first half which richly describes the literary, poetry and music scene in 1950's Harlem. Carter describes the era in Gatsby-like settings; a pleasurable review of often underwritten period of African American history.
I would describe time spent with this book as a difficult investment that will pay dividends, but perhaps not where you expected.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Palace Council
Comment: Palace Council is my favorite of the three novels by Steven Carter. It was a page turner, full of surprises, history, suspense, mystery and a bit of romance. My wife started reading the novel and we began competing for access to the book. She decided to get the audio tapes to finish the novel. A great read!!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: You'll need to Google while you read
Comment: "Palace Council" encouraged me, as a side assignment, to re-read history -- for instance, Hoover's methods, the Kennedy/Nixon election, Langston Hughes and Adam Clayton Powell's bio, Harlem's pecking order -- which added depth and background to the story. On the other hand, PC, much like "The Emperor of Ocean Park" and "New England White", is, at times, not only an arduous read, but also borderline not credible. Some good editing would both chop the length while making the story more believable. That said, I've enjoyed all three of Carter's books, probably PC the least, though.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Riveting mystery meets history
Comment: Having enjoyed Stephen L. Carter's Emperor of Ocean Park and New England White, I was very excited to read Palace Council. Of the three books mentioned, Palace Council was by far the best.
Carter draws you into a heart wrenching love story of Eddie, a journalist, and Aurelia, a young socialite, who marries an upper class young gentleman who is more "suitable" for a woman of her stature. Then a dead body and later a missing relative are added to the mix.
Carter expertly weaves character development,conspiracy theory, and "history" that left me absolutely riveted to my seat. As Eddie finds a way back to his one true love and attempts to solve one of the biggest mysteries of Harlem's upper echelon, you meet Langston Hughes, Richard Nixon, Herbert Hoover and others. By the end, the subplots have interestingly merged at some points. It is an interesting read without being cheesy and no, it's not all happily ever after.
I'm a reader who likes to feel like I'm there and with each nonfiction book Carter becomes better with when to provide detail and when to hold back. For those of you who have read Emperor or New England, you'll find some familiar characters, but be warned that their stories might have been slightly altered so they could make an appearance in this book's time frame. It's not disconcerting though because this book was in no way meant to be a part three.
Customer Rating:
Summary: I wish I could finish it
Comment: I tried listening to the CD version of this book produced by books on tape and read by Mirron Willis and I gave up before I finished the third CD. The premise of the book is interesting, I like the main characters and I would really like to know what happens. Unfortunately, Mr. Willis's reading sounds more like someone reading copy for a trailer of the latest action-adventure movie rather than a work of fiction. I'd like to finish it, but I just can't get past the narrator.
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Editorial Reviews:
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USA Today called Stephen L. Carter’s last novel “the perfect summer read . . . Carter slips in so many original, thought-provoking observations that the reader is sad the killer has been caught.” Now Carter, the best-selling author of New England White, is back with Palace Council, a gripping political thriller set in the era of Watergate and Vietnam.
Philmont Castle is a man who has it all: wealth, respect, and connections. He’s the last person you’d expect
to fall prey to a murderer, but when his body is found on the grounds of a Harlem mansion, the young writer Eddie Wesley, along with the woman he loves, Aurelia Treene, are pulled into a twenty-year search for the truth. The disappearance of Eddie’s sister June makes their investigation even more troubling. As Eddie and Aurelia uncover layer upon layer of intrigue, their odyssey takes them from the wealthy drawing rooms of New York through the shady corners of radical politics all the way to the Oval Office and President Nixon himself.
Suspenseful, provocative, and witty, Palace Council turns our assumptions inside out and reminds us how the struggles of that era set the stage for America today.
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