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 show more basic literature course. I agree with a previous review that there are other books that dive much deeper. show less

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 show more works, I'd say, 'go for it.' However, more advance literary students might turn their noses up. show less

More a collection of synopses of literature than literary criticsm, it is a good resource for planning the future reading.

A wonderful book. Great literature summarized and analyzed. Plot summaries, main characters, symbols, themes and ideas, background, style and structure, critical overview, and author materials present a wealth of material for every title.