You are an expert at characterising how a specific human writes online book reviews.

You will be shown 8 examples of reviews written by ONE user, each preceded by the book's metadata. Your job is to write a rubric that captures this user's distinctive style, voice, content focus, and writing patterns -- so that a separate evaluator can use the rubric to judge whether a new candidate review looks like something this user would actually write.

The user's persona:
<|The Start of Persona|>
Demographics: Missing
Interests:
  Unable to determine interests
Values:
  Unable to determine values
Communication:
  Unable to determine communication style
Statistics:
  Unable to determine statistics
<|The End of Persona|>

The user's past reviews:
--- Example 1 ---
Book:
- Category: Books->Children's Books->Growing Up & Facts of Life
- Title: The Three Little Rigs
- Subtitle: Hardcover – Picture Book, May 10, 2005
- Price: None
- Author: David Gordon
- Description: From School Library Journal Grade 1-3–Three little rigs are sent off by their mama to build their own individual garages. The blue one builds his out of wood, the yellow one uses bricks, and the red one makes his out of steel. The evil wrecking ball comes and smashes the first two. The final rig, along with his brothers, enlists the help of the cranes and sends the wrecking ball, the mean magnet, and the cruel cutter to their fiery deaths in the melting pot. This fractured tale is not for the faint of heart ...[truncated]
- Features: From the author/illustrator of Extremely Cute Animals Operating Heavy Machinery ! "Will mesmerize tool-and-vehicle-obsessed little ones" (ALA Booklist ). "Kids who love trucks will enjoy this adaptation" (School Library Journal). When the three little rigs set out to build their own garages, each one thinks that his is going to be the strongest. But then the big bad wrecking ball comes to call and threatens to smash their new homes to smithereens. The brothers learn that it’s only by bravery and teamwork th ...[truncated]

Review by this user:
Clever Adaptation: This is one of the more unique adaptations of The three Little Pigs I have read. A yellow, a blue, and a red rig set out on their own. David Gordon explains what tools and materials are used by each rig to build their own garage. The blue one uses wooden planks which are knocked down by the big, bad wrecking ball. The second uses stone blocks, which are also knocked down by the big, bad wrecking ball. The third rig uses steel beams to build his garage. The wrecking ball is unable to knock it down but returns with the mean magnet and the cruel cutter. In the end, the three villains are thrown into the melting pot.

Children who are interested in building and big machines will love this book. It is engaging, clever, and informative.

The illustrations are clear, bright, and strike a perfect balance between simplicity and detail. Although the main characters are machines, Gordon manages to infuse them with expression. The double-page spreads have the feeling of a movie screen, understandable since Gordon has worked for Pixar and other companies. I think they are digitally drawn. There are number of pages with interesting perspectives and shading is used well to provide mood.

Since the child, hopefully, already knows the story, the tension is reduced. But, Gordon arouses our curiosity as to how the formidable villain will be defeated. I would’ve liked the sentence explaining why the wrecking ball wanted to destroy all the garages. In the original version, we know that the big bad Wolf is hungry.

Well recommended.

For more picture book reviews, go to bferrante.wordpress.com/

--- Example 2 ---
Book:
- Category: Books->Children's Books
- Title: Shape Capers
- Subtitle: Hardcover – September 1, 2007
- Price: 20.3
- Author: Cathryn Falwell
- Description: About the Author Cathryn Falwell's first book, Where's Nicky? , was published in 1991, and since then many books have followed, including the popular Turtle Splash! , which Kirkus Reviews called "a lovely example of multidisciplinary bookmaking showing how science, art, and literature can all connect." She lives in Gorham, Maine.
- Features: Shapes! Circles Squares Triangles Semicircles Rectangles What can you do with them? Anything! Everything! The only limit is your imagination. Come on! Let's go on a shape caper!

Review by this user:
fun while they learn: Mark Collins’ greatest talent lies in his illustrations. The cartoonish exaggeration will make children laugh out loud. It is the first day of holidays, and Ben is going to make the most of it. He rides his bike, hunts for sharks, paints a picture, jumps in puddles, and does far, far more. The little boy’s exuberance and delight with his experiences is clearly apparent on every page. His gentle enthusiasm for life is contagious.

The story is more of an anecdote than a plot. Ben is happy that it is the first day of summer and he isn’t going to waste a minute. He enjoys the day to the fullest and collapses happily into bed when night arrives. The rhyming text, sometimes ABAC and sometimes rhyming couplets, are well matched to the fast, fun filled pace of the child’s adventures.

There is no conflict in the story, no rising tension, no problem to solve. It is a simple romp from dawn till dusk. Not once does Ben resort to any screens for entertainment. Many of his toys and activities could be done by any child. This would be a great book to share with the child on holiday who says, “I’m bored.”

--- Example 3 ---
Book:
- Category: Books->Children's Books->Literature & Fiction
- Title: The Wizard
- Subtitle: Hardcover – Illustrated, June 26, 2007
- Price: 24.49
- Author: Jack Prelutsky
- Description: From Publishers Weekly On a seemingly normal suburban cul-de-sac, one house is definitely out of character—the looming tower that's home to the title character. Dressed in a green robe and peaked hat decorated with stars and moons, He's tall and thin with wrinkled skin, writes Prelutsky, a tangled beard hangs from his chin. (The verse originally appeared in the 1976 collection Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep .) As he ponders in his wicked way/ what evil deed he'll do this day, the wizard decides to ...[truncated]
- Features: The wizard, watchful, waits alone within his tower of cold gray stone and ponders in his wicked way what evil deeds he'll do this day. What do you think the wizard is planning to do? Conjure a magic spell? Turn a frog into a flea? Fill a cauldron with bubbling brew? You may think you know . . . but watch out. Because if the wizard is bored, he may come looking for you!

Review by this user:
Gorgeous illustrations: This book is a wondrous blend of poetry and illustration. The cover draws you in immediately. A wizard, with long white hair and beard, wearing a green robe raises his arms to a magical light above. In one hand is a crooked wand. Caught in the rays is a small green frog. The picture fairly glows with magic.

The illustrations inside are not a disappointment. They are all exquisite two page illustrations. They gleam with magical charm.

The story rhymes but not in that irritating singsong way that many picture books adapt. It feels as though you are reading a book of poetry, much like one of my favorite books by Prelutsky The Dragon’s Are Singing Tonight.

It begins:

“The Wizard, watchful, waits alone

within his tower of cold gray stone

and ponders in his wicked way

what evil deeds he’ll do this day.”

A ragged crow, sitting on a cobwebbed table filled with magical paraphernalia, watches the Wizard as he gazes out his tower window onto the small town. The reader is instinctively intrigued as to what wickedness is about to unfold.

This story is basically a vignette wherein the Wizard transforms a frog into a flea into a pair of mice into a cockatoo into chalk into a silver bell and back into the bullfrog. Children may find it upsetting that at the end he dispenses of the bullfrog in a cloud of smoke. The story ends:

“Should you encounter a toad or lizard, look closely…

it may be the work of the Wizard.”

Although the story is easy to understand, I would recommend it for school-age children and up. Younger children, especially those who believe in magic, may be disturbed by the events.

School-age children who love magic and wizardry will be captivated by this beautiful book.

--- Example 4 ---
Book:
- Category: Books->Children's Books->Growing Up & Facts of Life
- Title: The Truly Terribly Horrible Sweater...That Grandma Knit (Blossom Street Kids Books)
- Subtitle: Hardcover – Picture Book, September 29, 2009
- Price: 16.99
- Author: Debbie Macomber
- Description: From Booklist There’s probably not a knitter alive who hasn’t presented a handmade gift and wondered whether the recipient would use it or throw it in the closet. Cameron’s sweater from Grandma Susan gets the closet treatment—and worse. Although he loves his grandmother, her birthday present, a handmade striped sweater, is a huge disappointment. His goal is to get the sweater out of his life via the dog, a rummage sale, and smears of ketchup and mustard. His plans fail though, and he finds himself wearing t ...[truncated]
- Features: Cameron loves his grandmother. She knows just what makes him tick. That's why he can't figure out why Grandma would send him a sweater—a truly terribly horrible sweater—for his birthday. Cameron pours mustard on his sweater. He puts it on his dog (in the rain). He even tries to send it to the thrift shop. But nothing works. Now Grandma is coming for the holidays, and Cameron has to wear her gift to him. But what's he going to say when she asks what he thinks about the sweater she made? With a sure hand and ...[truncated]

Review by this user:
Genuine and touching: Cameron is very excited to receive a birthday gift from his grandmother. She always gives him the best gifts, but this time he is deeply disappointed. Inside the box is a handknit sweater striped with green, blue, orange, and yellow. Cameron is mortified and vows to never ever wear it, especially in front of his friends. He tries a series of tricks to get rid of the sweater, but doesn’t succeed.

His mother says, “Grandma Susan would have been heartbroken if anything happened to this sweater.” Finally, Cameron begins to think about his grandmother’s feelings, but not enough to wearthe sweater. When grandma comes to visit, Cameron’s mother insists that he put on the sweater.

Grandma explains the significance of each color. Green represents Cameron’s excellent soccer skills, blue represents his success at learning to ride a two wheeled bike, orange represents his favorite fruit, yellow represents how happy his birth made the family, and red represents how he is always in his grandmother’s heart. Cameron’s attitude toward the sweater changes. He vows to wear it for a very long time.

Every child has received a gift that was disappointing. This book will remind them that the thought behind the gift is more important than the present itself. It also stresses the special link between grandmothers and their grandchildren and how different generations show their love in different ways. The story will encourage living life with a sense of gratitude, one of the most important keys to happiness.

Vincent Nguyen uses branch double spread pictures to illustrate the story. That this is a happy, loving family is apparent from the expressions of the characters.

--- Example 5 ---
Book:
- Category: Books->Children's Books->Growing Up & Facts of Life
- Title: My Garden
- Subtitle: Hardcover – Picture Book, February 23, 2010
- Price: 14.39
- Author: Kevin Henkes
- Description: From School Library Journal Starred Review. PreSchool-Grade 2—Imagination grows and spreads from the fertile pages of this book to the minds of young readers. Henkes's familiar illustration style invites children into a most unusual garden. It never needs weeding, the flowers are ever-blooming, and colors change just by thinking of them (even into patterns). "In my garden, rabbits wouldn't eat the lettuce because the rabbits would be chocolate and I would eat them." Jelly beans would grow on bushes. Tomatoe ...[truncated]
- Features: How does your garden grow? A wondrous New York Times bestselling picture book from Caldecott medalist Kevin Henkes. A girl helps out in her mother’s garden, but in the garden of her imagination, there are chocolate rabbits, tomatoes as big as beach balls, flowers that change color, and seashells. “This intimate exploration of a child’s burgeoning imagination hits every note right. Just plain perfect.” — Kirkus (starred review) “With its adroit look at a child’s colorful imagination, My Garden is as fresh an ...[truncated]

Review by this user:
Growing Imagination: The picture book begins in reality with a little girl helping her mother in the garden. From there the child imagines the perfect, magical garden where nothing dies, flowers change color, rabbits are chocolate, and anything you plant including jellybeans and umbrellas will grow. The child discusses flowers and vegetables. At the end, the little girl decides to indulge her fantasy and secretly plants a seashell in the garden.

This simple story would be a wonderful accompaniment to discussion on gardens, what does and does not grow, and what work is necessary to maintain a garden. It encourages imagination. What would grow in your child's fantasy garden?

The illustrations are bright, simple, and charming. Every page is filled with luxurious color. The author/illustrator, Kevin Henkes, was awarded a Caldecott Medal for another book. His boldly outlined pictures are filled with action and expression. This charming picture book would make a lovely spring, Easter, Hanamatsuri, or birthday gift.

Bonnie Ferrante - author of The Amida Tree and other picture books

--- Example 6 ---
Book:
- Category: Books->Teen & Young Adult->Literature & Fiction
- Title: Before I Fall
- Subtitle: Paperback – June 1, 2021
- Price: 9.59
- Author: Lauren Oliver
- Description: Review “Oliver’s debut novel is raw, emotional, and, at times, beautiful....readers will love Samantha best as she hurtles toward an end as brave as it is heartbreaking.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Samantha’s attempts to save her life and right the wrongs she has caused are precisely what will draw readers into this complex story and keep them turning pages until Sam succeeds in living her last day the right way.” — Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) (starred review) “Oliver, in a pitch-perfect teen ...[truncated]
- Features: Like Adam Silvera's They Both Die at the End and Colleen Hoover's It Ends with Us , Before I Fall raises thought-provoking questions about love, death, and how one person's life can affect so many others. With this stunning debut novel, New York Times bestselling author Lauren Oliver emerged as one of today's foremost authors of young adult fiction. For popular high school senior Samantha Kingston, February 12—"Cupid Day"—should be one big party, a day of valentines and roses and the privileges that come wi ...[truncated]

Review by this user:
redemption is possible: I almost gave up on this book after the first chapter. I really disliked the protagonist. However, I'd heard good things about it so I persisted. By the fourth chapter, I was hooked. A fabulous book about growing up, bullying, insecurity, cliques, self-image, and karma. Powerful.

--- Example 7 ---
Book:
- Category: Books->Teen & Young Adult->Literature & Fiction
- Title: Illegal
- Subtitle: Hardcover – March 8, 2011
- Price: 17.99
- Author: Bettina Restrepo
- Description: Review With searing realism, debut author Restrepo describes Nora's anger, desperation and loss of faith... This memorable coming-of-age story will awaken readers to the overlooked struggles of immigrants. --Kirkus - 2-15-2011Thoroughly engaging and thought-provoking... an excellent choice for a book discussion group or a class conversation starter about immigration, prejudice, or gangs --VOYA - 4 in quality and popularity From the Author I used to be an auditor at a chain of ethnic grocery stores, Fiesta M ...[truncated]
- Features: In this timely and gripping novel, author Bettina Restrepo exposes the challenges of one girl’s unique yet universal immigrant experience. This is an eye-opening look into the harrowing journey a family takes to forge a more hopeful future. Nora is on a desperate journey far away from home. When her father leaves their beloved Mexico in search of work, Nora stays behind. She fights to make sense of her loss while living in poverty—in wait of her father’s return and a better day. When the letters and money s ...[truncated]

Review by this user:
A Heartbreaking Reality: A 13 year old girl and her mother enter the U.S. illegally to find her father who went there to work and disappeared. The family is poor because they have no water for their grapefruit grove. It doesn't go into detail about where the water went, but it seems pretty clear anyway. Nora is a sweet girl who loves her father, mother, and grandmother. They are willing to work, to learn, and to obey the law but because of the drought they are forced into living an unlawful life. A deeply moving and dignified story.

Bonnie Ferrante - Writer

--- Example 8 ---
Book:
- Category: Books->Children's Books->Cars, Trains & Things That Go
- Title: Everything Goes: Stop! Go!: A Book of Opposites
- Subtitle: Board book – Picture Book, December 26, 2012
- Price: 7.99
- Author: Brian Biggs
- Description: From School Library Journal PreS-These books take advantage of toddlers' affection for vehicles to introduce simple concepts. The counting book goes from 1 bus to 10 bicycles and ends with "1 BIG traffic jam!" The book about opposites includes familiar terms such as "Up, Down" and "Stop, Go." The large, clear texts stand out against the brightly colored backgrounds. The silly cartoon illustrations are as lively as the texts. People of all races and ages use the vehicles. A gray-haired woman rides a chopper ...[truncated]
- Features: Learn about opposites with cool cars, trucks, trains, and more!

Review by this user:
Clear and uncluttered: This is a cute concept book, clear and uncluttered. Each pair of opposites is presented on a double page spread. The first page says slow and has a man on a bicycle. The second says fast and has a racing car. All the pictures are cartoon and brightly colored. The other concepts are up and down, small and big, many and few, off and on, old and new, loud and quiet, far and near, and of course stop and go. There are bits of humor scattered throughout.

This is a great little board book for introducing a toddler to new vocabulary. Even though the pictures are simple cartoons they have just enough detail to intrigue the child.

The specific book this user is about to review:
<|The Start of Book|>
**User Amazon store: Brian Floca (Author)**: - Category: Books->Children's Books->Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Title: The Frightful Story of Harry Walfish
- Subtitle: Hardcover – January 1, 1997
- Price: 16.95
- Author: Brian Floca
  Brian Floca is the author and illustrator of Locomotive, winner of the Caldecott Medal; Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 (revised and expanded in 2019 for the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing); Lightship; The Racecar Alphabet; and Five Trucks. His most recent book, Keeping the City Going, is a tribute to the essential workers who stayed on the streets and on the job during the Covid-19 pandemic. Brian has illustrated Avi's Poppy Stories series, Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan's Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring, Laura Amy Schlitz's Princess Cora and the Crocodile, Maria Gianferrari's Hawk Rising, and other titles. In addition to the Caldecott, Brian's books have received four Robert F. Sibert Honor awards for distinguished informational books, a silver medal from the Society of Illustrators, and have three times been selected for the annual New York Times Best Illustrated Books list.
- Description: From School Library Journal Grade 2-4?On a visit to the natural history museum, Ms. Leonard-Brakthurst quietly gets her rampaging class's attention with a cautionary tale about Harry Walfish, her mischievous classmate who was once locked in the museum. Harry's initial glee changes to terror when the animals slowly come to life; fleeing wildly through the darkened halls, he ends up in the monkey room, where guards and his teacher find him at midnight, cowering in an exhibit case surrounded by animal specimens pressing on the glass. The creatures that regard Harry unblinkingly in Floca's cartoon illustrations seem more surprised and curious than menacing, and though Ms. Leonard-Brakthurst waves her arms dramatically, she tells the tale in a detached, precise way, inserting an occasional scientific name or fact, finishing with the assurance that, of course, she has only Harry's word that any of this happened. Children aren't likely to be as spooked by the episode as Ms. Leonard-Brakthurst's class is, but most will get the gently delivered point about behavior in public places.?John Peters, New York Public LibraryCopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. About the Author Brian Floca is the author and illustrator of the Caldecott Medal-winning book Locomotive . He also wrote and illustrated Lightship and Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 , both Sibert Honor Books, and illustrated Avi's Poppy Stories series as well as Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan's Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring , also a Sibert Honor Book. Brian grew up in Texas and now lives in Brooklyn, New York. Find him online at www.brianfloca.com.
- Features:
Guiding her class through the Natural History Museum, Ms. Leonard-Brakthurst teaches her students about a special bird's nesting habits through an overlay of the hilarious tale of the rambunctious Harry Walfish.
- Details:
  Publisher: Orchard Books (January 1, 1997)
  Language: English
  Hardcover: 32 pages
  ISBN 10: 0531330087
  ISBN 13: 978-0531330081
  Reading age: 5 - 9 years
  Lexile measure: 900L
  Grade level: Kindergarten - 3
  Item Weight: 1.01 pounds
  Dimensions: 9.25 x 0.25 x 10.5 inches
<|The End of Book|>

First, PREDICT the substantive review THIS user would most likely write about THIS book, using their persona + past reviews + this book's context. Then turn that prediction into a rubric.

Write 8-12 numbered criteria that a judge will use to check whether a CANDIDATE review COVERS THE KEY POINTS this user would actually make about THIS book. Ground every criterion in the user's likely CONTENT, not surface style:
- Their likely OVERALL STANCE / verdict on this book (would they like or dislike it, and why), inferred from their taste and this book's genre/premise/themes.
- The SPECIFIC aspects they would most likely comment on here -- name concrete elements from THIS book (particular plot points, characters, themes, pacing, craft, comparisons) that a reader like this user reacts to.
- Their characteristic OPINIONS / reactions (what they would praise or criticize here) and the direction/strength of sentiment.
- Any content they habitually include (recommendation, audience, warnings, comparisons).

Write the criteria to match HOW the candidate will be graded (coverage of the user's real review minus a penalty for extra content):
- Each criterion should reward COVERING a specific likely key point, checkable in a short review.
- Make them DISCRIMINATING: a candidate that writes a generic or merely on-topic review WITHOUT the user's specific likely take must score LOW; only a candidate that hits the user's actual likely points and stance scores HIGH.
- Include at least one criterion that PENALIZES speculative, hedging, off-target, or padded content not central to what this user would say.
- Do NOT reward surface formatting.

Output ONLY the rubric:
<rubric>
1. <criterion>
...
</rubric>


You are an expert at characterising how a specific human writes online book reviews.

You will be shown 8 examples of reviews written by ONE user, each preceded by the book's metadata. Your job is to write a rubric that captures this user's distinctive style, voice, content focus, and writing patterns -- so that a separate evaluator can use the rubric to judge whether a new candidate review looks like something this user would actually write.

The user's persona:
<|The Start of Persona|>
Demographics:
  age group: approximately 43 years old (was 42 in 2009, last response in 2010)
  occupation: former manager with 'long tenure in management' (ended ~2008), technology professional with IT experience
  other: married (references 'married man' with familiarity), long-term technology user since at least 2002
Interests:
  Technology books and operating systems, particularly Windows versions and Photoshop Elements across multiple releases
  War literature and military narratives, especially Iraq War fiction and non-fiction ('The Last Day,' 'Our Boys')
  Sports narratives and journalism, particularly football stories ('Our Boys' about Kansas high school football)
  Crime fiction and noir literature (reviews of 'Gutshot Straight,' 'Slammer,' 'Spooner')
  Literary fiction with complex narrative structures and multiple perspectives
  Digital photography and image editing techniques and workflows
  Film and cinema, frequently referencing movies like 'Fargo,' 'Frost/Nixon,' 'The Conversation,' 'Taxi Driver'
  Business management practices and organizational behavior (performance review systems)
  Autobiographies and memoirs, particularly those blending humor with serious themes (Craig Ferguson)
  1970s cultural and political history ('Strange Days Indeed')
  Computer hardware and system building ('Building a PC For Dummies')
  Publishing industry practices and book quality standards
Values:
  Accuracy and currency of information: criticizes 'Building a PC' for being 'at least a hardware/software generation behind' with 'No discussions of Pentium 4 class systems'
  Completeness and thoroughness: praises books that are 'comprehensive, informative, and presented with orderly structure and excellent readability'
  Authenticity in storytelling: appreciates when authors 'write it just as he sees it' and criticizes when 'Nobody in this book does anything that surprises us'
  Practical utility over theory: values books that help users 'harness its full power' and provide 'sound advice'
  Intellectual honesty: criticizes works with 'fundamental errors' and appreciates authors who are 'brutally honest'
  Nuance and complexity: frustrated by oversimplification, noting 'things can't always be as nice as they seem' and seeking 'what changed him?'
  Respect for reader intelligence: praises authors who 'treat readers as intelligent (rather than as "dummies")'
  Balance in criticism: consistently notes both strengths and weaknesses, stating 'These are all overlookable shortcomings' while identifying issues
  Empathy for veterans and disabled: though critical of execution, respects books addressing 'combat-wounded veterans and respect for the disabled'
  Quality craftsmanship in writing: values 'gorgeously written' prose and 'skilled blend of humor and darkness'
  Transparency about data collection and privacy: notes Adobe's 'wide scope of data collection' should be disclosed
  Evidence-based decision making: frustrated when conclusions lack 'empirical data (rankings and scoring)'
Communication:
  Long-form, detailed reviews averaging 400-500 words with sophisticated analytical structure
  Frequent use of structured critique format: opening context, detailed analysis, concluding recommendations
  Liberal use of parenthetical asides and em-dashes to add nuance: '(or did they really? hmmmm...we're just not sure when the pages end)'
  Comparative recommendations: 'consider the OReilly "PC Hardware in a Nutshell" book instead' and 'Combine this book and David Pogue's Windows 7'
  Literary and film references to contextualize: 'I was reminded of William Macy as Jerry Lundegaard in "Fargo"'
  Rhetorical questions for emphasis: 'How can I be so hard-hearted to offer just one star to a well-intentioned book'
  Direct quotations from books being reviewed to support analysis: extensively quotes passages as evidence
  Balanced tone that acknowledges both merits and flaws: 'These are small shortcomings that do not detract seriously from the overall worth'
  Use of ellipses for dramatic effect or trailing thoughts: 'Cover-to-cover fun; intelligent, funny and entertaining...'
  Technical precision when discussing technology: 'tactile commander' vs 'tactical commander' correction
  Conversational yet authoritative voice: 'If you're a fan of large doses of literary conceit, go ahead and read it'
  Structured opening hooks: often begins with thematic statements or questions before diving into analysis
Statistics:
  Average response length: approximately 400-500 words, with range from 150 to 600+ words
  Frequent opening phrases: 'In [book title],' 'If you,' 'While,' 'This is,' 'The book'
  Common transitional phrases: 'in the end,' 'less satisfying,' 'more correctly,' 'in order,' 'beyond'
  Consistent use of colon-structured sentences for elaboration and lists
  Heavy use of parenthetical clarifications and asides (averaging 3-5 per review)
  Frequent comparative constructions: 'rather than,' 'instead of,' 'more than,' 'less than'
  Regular use of conditional statements: 'If you want,' 'If this describes you,' 'If you're familiar'
  Typical sentence structure: complex sentences with multiple clauses, averaging 20-30 words per sentence
  Common critical phrases: 'falls short,' 'shortcomings,' 'deficiencies,' 'flawed by,' 'fails to'
  Recommendation patterns: often ends with 'read it for' or 'if you [condition], then [recommendation]' structure
<|The End of Persona|>

The user's past reviews:
--- Example 1 ---
Book:
- Category: Books->Literature & Fiction->Short Stories & Anthologies
- Title: Further Interpretations of Real-life Events
- Subtitle: Hardcover – January 1, 2012
- Price: None
- Author: Kevin Moffett
- Description:
- Features: A dazzling new story collection from brilliant, young, award-winning writer Kevin Moffett, Further Interpretations of Real-Life Events illuminates the intimate experiences of characters caught between aspiration and achievement, uncertainty and illumination, inertia and discovery, the past and the future. Channeling unexpected, eclectic voices in a collection perfectly suited to readers of Daniyal Mueenuddin, Alice Sebold, and Dave Eggers, Moffett delivers a nuanced, powerful, humorous, and moving meditatio ...[truncated]

Review by this user:
Clever, spare and entertaining short stories...: ...that move at a fast pace.

Kevin Moffet's "Further Interpretations of Real-Life Events" is a collection of nine stories that are variously funny and sad, and all clever.

In the hierarchy of contemporary writing, short stories probably occupy the same space as essays and poetry, where they get little mainstream affection, but are followed by those who appreciate the skills applied in a unique writing craft.

Moffett presents us small casts of characters in various states of disrepair, and does so in stories that are rather spare, very fast moving and infused with subtle humor.

The title story --the first one presented in the book-- was by far my favorite. In a writing seminar within a short story, the narrator --a writer himself-- flashes back to the lessons of a fabled fiction writing teacher who influenced his craft.

If you're a fan of short fiction, or are looking for an opportunity to become one, this book is a good choice.

--- Example 2 ---
Book:
- Category: Books->Science Fiction & Fantasy->Fantasy
- Title: Burn for Me (Hidden Legacy, 1)
- Subtitle: Mass Market Paperback – October 28, 2014
- Price: 8.99
- Author: Ilona Andrews
- Description: Review “Ilona Andrews’ books are guaranteed good reads.” — Patricia Briggs, #1 New York Times bestselling author “With heart-pounding romance and non-stop action, this is Ilona Andrews at her best!” — Jeaniene Frost, New York Times bestselling author “Addictive, imaginative, and incredibly sexy.” — Eloisa James, New York Times bestselling author “Andrews serves up a refreshing new magical society, excellent world-building, beguiling characters, and strong storytelling...Romantic sparks and a tangled mystery ...[truncated]
- Features: In this spellbinding first novel in #1 New York Times bestselling author Ilona Andrews’s urban fantasy Hidden Legacy series, private detective Nevada Baylor navigates her way through an alternate world where dynasties, built on inherited wealth and magic, guide the course of humanity. ?Nevada Baylor runs a small-time detective agency in Houston, Texas, busting scammers, exposing cheaters, and dealing with petty criminals. She’s very good at her job—helped by a magical ability to sense when someone tells the ...[truncated]

Review by this user:
Not my usual fare...but  immensly readable...: ...I'm not normally a reader of genre fiction, and confronted the unopened pages of "Burn For Me" with the same level of anticipation I gave to a large serving of spinach as a 6-year old.

The result now, like then, was rather surprising. Eventually I came to appreciate that fresh spinach, cooked (or not) and properly seasoned has charms all its own. This book came was pleasantly refreshing to somebody utterly unschooled in the ways of genre fiction.

In a semi-dystopic current world, some people  are skilled users of various forms of magical powers; those who have harnessed the most skill in use of these powers enjoy influence and privilege that others do not.

Private Investigator Nevada Baylor (her power: she can tell when somebody is lying; great skill for a PI, dontcha think?) and her principal antagonist (and, since this is the lead in a series, future love interest?) Mad Rogan are both in pursuit of the same "Prime" power wielder gone bad, Adam Pierce (whose magic is fire).

I'd like to say hilarity ensues, but there is much more than that in their present (and future) relationship.

This contains graphic novel type violence, and enough discussions of non-magical weapons and technology that most men should be able to read this without cringing (just hide the cover from your most macho friends). On the fringe are enough badasses to fill half a dozen Quentin Tarantino films.

Both the main and supporting characters are interesting enough that you do become invested in their fate. The dialog is crisp and effectively propels the story forward.

For those who aren't normally readers of genre fiction or already familiar with the husband-wife duo that created this story: keep an open mind and keep this nearby for your next downtime reading adventure. It's worth the quick reading time to explore.

--- Example 3 ---
Book:
- Category: Books->Sports & Outdoors
- Title: Stumbling on Wins: Two Economists Expose the Pitfalls on the Road to Victory in Professional Sports
- Subtitle: Hardcover – January 1, 2010
- Price: 33.0
- Author: David J. Berri
- Description: Review As seen on The New York Times' Freakonomics blog, ESPN.com's True Hoop, and Slate.com. "In Stumbling on Wins , sports economists Berri (Southern Utah Univ.) and Schmidt (College of William and Mary) follow up their The Wages of Wins (with Stacey Brook, CH, Jan'07, 44-2764) with more modeling and number-crunching applications. The holy grail remains the same: understanding and improving decision making on the court, field, and ice and in the front offices of North American professional team sports. Su ...[truncated]
- Features: The next quantum leap beyond Moneyball , this book offers powerful new insights into all human decision-making, because if sports teams are getting it wrong this badly, how do you know you're not? Sometimes the decisions that teams make are simply inexplicable. Consider: sports teams have an immense amount of detailed, quantifiable information to draw upon, more than in virtually any other industry. They have powerful incentives for making good decisions. Everyone sees the results of their choices, and the ...[truncated]

Review by this user:
Probably not a good choice for hard core fans...: ..of either sports OR statistics.

Confession: It took me two years to finish my first year of high school algebra...and I wasn't allowed to return for my sophomore year of college until finishing a second year of high school algebra in a summer session.

I avoided statistics in later studies until my curriculum left no choice. While I did far better than any of my algebra teachers might have predicted, I have no illusions about my ability to DO statistics today. I can however appreciate meaningful statistics, and I learned enough to understand when data is being parsed in a worthwhile way.

To the extent that David Berri and Martin Schmidt provide vignettes of selected sports statistics (from the NBA, NHL, MLB and NFL) this book is interesting enough. Yet the complexity of modern professional sports offers so many potential variables for analysis (not to mention those ever-present intangibles, such as weather or officiating or the utter unpredictability of team performance from one game to the next) left me to wonder:
did they pick the right stuff to analyze? I can't answer that question, but I sure keep asking it over and over. Hard core statistics and spreadsheet geeks might find themselves asking the same question. In fairness, the closing pages of this book concede the fundamental flaw in trying to force individual performance metrics (such as a pitcher's win-loss record) into a team context.

Sports fans looking for riveting prose blending sporting achievement with quantitative analysis will find meticulously documented statistical data and processes, but mostly about settled sporting business that the analysis doesn't bring to life in any novel way. If, however you've studied stats or quantitative analysis in the social sciences, you'll find yourself in familiar territory as the authors present tabular data and review their methodology. In doing so, they remove much of the possible joy for those seeking a few minutes of escape from worrisome world might expect in a "sports" book.

--- Example 4 ---
Book:
- Category: Books->Reference->Writing, Research & Publishing Guides
- Title: Presentations in Action: 80 Memorable Presentation Lessons from the Masters
- Subtitle: Hardcover – January 1, 2011
- Price: 5.15
- Author: Jerry Weissman
- Description: From the Back Cover “Jerry Weissman is the Jedi Master of presentations and effective communication. I’ve added this important and to-the-point book to my Jerry Weissman collection. Another fabulous read from the Silicon Valley legend.” Garr Reynolds , author of Presentation Zen and The Naked Presenter “Across all fields there is one common trait of leaders: the ability to persuade groups to follow. This is the field guide to persuasion, thus the field guide to successful leadership.” Scott Cook , Co-Founde ...[truncated]
- Features: World-renowned presentation coach Jerry Weissman has spent 20 years helping top executives succeed in the most important business presentations of their lives, and he’s learned the best way to get his message across is to show his techniques in action. Weissman does just that in Presentations in Action: 80 Memorable Presentation Lessons from the Masters . He teaches how to make spectacularly successful presentations by showing exactly how great presenters have done it. Weissman dives into his library of out ...[truncated]

Review by this user:
Great resource for anybody working in front of a crowd...: ...with or without PowerPoint.

But if you're stuck like many of us with the expectation that your presentation will be supported by the lingua franca that PowerPoint has become, this book offers even more value as a powerful weapons in your audience-taming tool kit.

Jerry Weismann's "Presentations in Action" offers 80 separate vignettes on presentations techniques in five broad categories:
-Content
-Graphics
-Delivery
-Q & A
-Integration

While many of these address specific PowerPoint issues (fonts, color selection, animations, graphics), a greater portion address knowledge transfer based on lessons from artists, writers, athletes, politicians, business people and the media. Most are less than three pages long, and the chunking of this information allows this book to be read in almost any order and absorbed in almost any amount of free time.

Anybody who speaks in front of others --whether a captive audience of students in a classroom, or a skeptical audience of potential customers (or investors!) who are waiting for you to *show* them-- can benefit from these lessons.

Even if you are a regular in front of groups, if you're looking for some tips to freshen up your persona: this book is an excellent resource to help improve your game.

--- Example 5 ---
Book:
- Category: Books->Business & Money->Skills
- Title: Pearson Business Reference and Writer's Handbook (with downloadable ebook access code)
- Subtitle: None
- Price: 19.41
- Author: Roberta Moore
- Description:
- Features: This easy-to-use reference tool helps users quickly access the information they need to solve writing problems and improve their use of Standard English. Offering a two books-in-one approach, it includes principles for producing grammatically correct documents (business reference manual) and concrete examples of how to improve and modify writing to meet specific communications objectives (writing handbook). Its functional organization is underscored by its color-coded design, clearly distinguishing between ...[truncated]

Review by this user:
Even the most confident writers can use a little help...: ..and there's seemingly an endless supply of writing aids in a crowded market promising to help you!

I'm not suggesting this is the only writing reference to keep near your desk; if you work in a large organization, you can expect to balance the advice in this book with what your own organizational style guide prescribes.

Nicely organized into three major content areas:
-Grammar, Mechanics and Usage
-Writing Process and Style
-Document, Content, Format and Design

These are further divided into 11 sections providing the detailed discussions 8-10 major content points for each section.

A final fourth part provides an excellent index and a very user-friendly quick reference index.

The paper copy of this book is spiral bound, allowing it to lay flat when you refer to it. The inside front cover includes and outlined table of contents and the inside rear cover includes an alphabetical topical index. Both of these guides to content contain fullly detailed versions (at the front and rear of the book, respectively).

In addition to the logical four-part organization, each major part is also color coded within the book (with tabs visible on the fore and top edges. Good enough, but the shade of orange selected for the fourth part doesn't have good contrast with the white labels; this may be an issue in poor lighting or some visually-challenged readers).

Overall, the advice is sound in this book. You may have your own preferences or organizational requirements for other approaches to writing, but if you are working alone and need a solid writing reference, this is very good choice.

--- Example 6 ---
Book:
- Category: Books->Biographies & Memoirs->Historical
- Title: Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West
- Subtitle: Paperback – Illustrated, March 1, 1992
- Price: 15.99
- Author: Wallace Stegner
- Description: Review "This book goes far beyond biography, into the nature and soul of the American West. It is Stegner at his best, assaying an entire era of our history, packing his pages with insights as shrewd as his prose." —Ivan Doig About the Author Wallace Stegner (1909–1993) published more than two dozen books throughout his life, including the novels Angle of Repose , which won the Pulitzer Prize; Crossing to Safety ; The Big Rock Candy Mountain ; and The Spectator Bird , which won the National Book Award. An e ...[truncated]
- Features: From the “dean of Western writers” ( The New York Times ) and the Pulitzer Prize winning–author of Angle of Repose and Crossing to Safety , a fascinating look at the old American West and the man who prophetically warned against the dangers of settling it In Beyond the Hundredth Meridian, Wallace Stegner recounts the sucesses and frustrations of John Wesley Powell, the distinguished ethnologist and geologist who explored the Colorado River, the Grand Canyon, and the homeland of Indian tribes of the American ...[truncated]

Review by this user:
Adventure, religion, culture, politics, geography and WATER in the American west...: ...wrapped up in a lyrically written and finely researched history.

I had not read anything by Wallace Stegner for many years, until a recent trip to the Grand Canyon restored my interest in the history of its exploration. Many choices are available to discover the history of the last part of the American west to become marked as something other than "unknown" on government maps. In "Beyond the Hundredth Meridian" Stegner expands the horizon beyond the confines of the dangerous canyon walls that threatened John Wesley Powell's 1869 expedition through the Grand Canyon.

To be sure, Stegner is an excellent chronicler of the that trip down the Colorado. He captures the adventure, the danger, the great unknowns that faced Powell's crew. That voyage is the centerpiece of the first half of the book, and could stand on its own as a a tour de force of American discover.

Stegner gives us much more. He incorporates sophisticated discussions of the cultural climate, and the intersection of antebellum political mores in Washington, the fabric of relationships between the US government, native Americans, the Mormons and western settlers. He illustrates fine points of topography, geology, geography and river hydrology as he focuses on the essential element of any migration to the west: water. He explores the grand topics and the often overlooked (would "Big Canyon" be as good a name as "Grand Canyon" ? It almost got this name!).

As these lessons unfold, the book never comes across as a textbook. The writing is vibrant and often lyrical, without being overblown or self important. If you've spent any time in the parts of the United States where the rain is scarce and the vistas are vast, this book will provide an important education in the many forces that came to bear on its settlement. Even if you haven't, you'll acquire a solid foundation in the complex calculus that provides the initiative for discovery.

This quite simply a great piece of historical writing.

--- Example 7 ---
Book:
- Category: Books->Mystery, Thriller & Suspense->Mystery
- Title: Slammer
- Subtitle: Hardcover – International Edition, November 18, 2009
- Price: 5.97
- Author: Allan Guthrie
- Description: From Publishers Weekly Edgar-finalist Guthrie ( Savage Night ) explores the tenuous division between truth and desperate fiction in the mind of a rookie prison guard in this gritty thriller. In 1992, having recently relocated to Edinburgh, Scotland, with his wife, Lorna, and young daughter, Caitlin, Nick Glass manages to form an uneasy friendship with Mafia, a nearly blind inmate, whose crime was so horrific that no one will talk about it, at a prison for violent offenders nicknamed the Hilton. With abuse c ...[truncated]
- Features: Newly minted prison officer Nicholas Glass has fallen in with the wrong crowd at "The Hilton," a Scottish prison for violent offenders. The problem is, there's no right crowd. Bullied and abused by inmates and colleagues alike, Glass finds that each day is getting longer than the one before. When a group of cons use outside help to threaten his wife and daughter, he agrees to do them a 'favor'. But, as their threats escalate, and one favor leads to another, he grows ever closer to breaking point. And when G ...[truncated]

Review by this user:
Dark and violent with great dialog, but ultimately average...: Nick Glass, the novice guard corrupted at the start of this story (and whose name is a foreshadowing sobriquet) is at the center of a misanthropic crew of inept guards and brutal criminals inside and out of a Scottish prison.

With the single exception of the innocence personified by Nick's young daughter, every person Allan Guthrie offers in this dark tale of a life spiraling downward is motivated by pure self-interest. Nick's wife is an adulterous alcoholic, his peers are corrupt or incompetent, and each prisoner and criminal is more menacing than than the last. Nick makes the wrong choices with every person he meets at each turn of the plot. I was reminded of William Macy as Jerry Lundegaard in "Fargo", who realizes far too late that if you want to play hardball with hard cases, you'd better do so early.

The graphic, personal violence comes early and often in the book, along with nearly non-stop drug use by Glass (which may explain the poor choices he keeps making!). I couldn't help imagining Quentin Tarantino as Guthrie's imaginary audience of one for this book. I like dark fiction, and believe that violence has its place in both genre and mainstream literature. In this book, Guthrie gives us so few respites from the violence that is ceases to alarm; it's just there.

The dialog in "Slammer" is crisp, and excellently illuminates the book's characters, creating a quick, fast-moving read. Less satisfying is the ending, which dissolves into an ambiguous world of alternate offerings of who really did what to whom...and when. As with the violence, there is also a place in fiction for ambiguity. I kept waiting for somebody in this book to surprise me, but everybody stayed true to their original persona; in the end, I cared little about the fate of any of the adults...even those who may have met horrific ends (or did they really? hmmmm...we're just not sure when the pages end). After putting his protagonist --and his readers-- through so much, readers of Slammer deserved more clarity in the conclusion.

--- Example 8 ---
Book:
- Category: Books->Literature & Fiction->Genre Fiction
- Title: Twisted Tree
- Subtitle: Hardcover – January 1, 2009
- Price: 18.0
- Author: Kent Meyers
- Description: From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. In his beautiful and unsettling new novel, Meyers ( The Work of Wolves ) examines the effects of a murder on the residents of a small South Dakota town. In an opening sequence that is so disturbing it's difficult to read, teen Hayley Jo Zimmerman is stalked and abducted by a serial killer. The rest of the novel uses the rippling consequences of Hayley Jo's murder to explore the smaller rural tragedies in Twisted Tree, S.D.: Elise, a forlorn grocery clerk, judges everyo ...[truncated]
- Features: Hayley Jo Zimmerman is gone. Taken. And the people of small-town Twisted Tree must come to terms with this terrible eventtheir loss, their place in it, and the secrets they all carry.In this brilliantly written novel, one girls story unfolds through the stories of those who knew her. Among them, a supermarket clerk recalls an encounter with a disturbingly thin Hayley Jo. An ex-priest remembers baptizing Hayley Jo and seeing her with her best friend, Laura, whose mother the priest once loved. And Laura ber ...[truncated]

Review by this user:
Long on literary devices and descriptive detail...short on coherence: If clever literary devices are all you need to satisfy your fiction reading needs, then go ahead. Although nominally a novel, "Twisted Tree" lacks a clear protagonist, lacks a central story line, and does too much to keep readers guessing.

Some of the devices seem merely stylish, like the absence of traditional quotation punctuation when characters are speaking. The cavalcade of shifting time and narrators grows wearisome, even though each has intriguing narration to offer.

In the end, I wasn't sure if this was a crime drama, a psychological thriller, a western or a whodunit. By the time the end rolled around, I was exhausted from figuring out who was talking (and where, and when).

If you're a fan of large doses of literary conceit, go ahead and read it. If you want characters or a story line that's developed in a meaningful way: this may not be for you.

The specific book this user is about to review:
<|The Start of Book|>
**User Amazon store: Stephen Rodrick (Author)**: - Category: Books->Biographies & Memoirs->Leaders & Notable People
- Title: The Magical Stranger: A Son's Journey into His Father's Life
- Subtitle: Hardcover – Box set, May 14, 2013
- Price: 14.12
- Author: Rodrick, Stephen
  Stephen Rodrick is a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine and also a contributing editor at Men’s Journal. His writing has been anthologized in The Best American Sports Writing, The Best American Crime Reporting, and The Best American Political Writing. He lives in Los Angeles.
- Description: Review “In this penetrating blend of memoir and reportage, Rodrick spends nearly two years with his father’s former squadron, seeking a better understanding of the man he knew all too briefly.” — The New York Times Book Review “Fascinating . . . . An exemplary piece of modern reportage.” — Tom Bissell, Harper's “ The Magical Stranger is one of the realest and best books I’ve read in the past several years.” — Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk “ The Magical Stranger is the true story of a boy chasing a ghost and stumbling into manhood. It is heartbreaking and funny, broken and hopeful, often on the same page.” — Judd Apatow “Stephen Rodrick’s The Magical Stranger illuminates the innate ties between fathers and sons in a fresh and fascinating way. . . . Rodrick’s firsthand knowledge thoroughly transports the reader into the hearts and minds of U.S. servicemen and their families.” — Norman Ollestad, author of Crazy for the Storm “Stephen Rodrick finds words for what I thought was inexpressible: the private language of a military family that experiences the worst kind of loss and finally creates a path forward. There’s no more authentic account of a military family. Required reading for an America that is continually considering the cost of combat.” — Alison Buckholtz, author of Standing By “Stephen Rodrick exhibits courage, Catch-22 comedic flair, and unfailing emotional grasp in telling this powerful and surprising story. Anyone who wants to understand the sacrifices made by military families should read this book.” — Lily Burana, author of I Love a Man in Uniform “Stephen Rodrick’s poignant tale blends memoir, reportage, and clean, crisp, unsentimental prose to produce a book that makes you think, even at times makes you laugh, but in the end tears your heart out. A truly fabulous book.” — Robert Timberg, author of The Nightingale's Song “How does Stephen Rodrick manage to produce writing that is raw, heartbreaking, and beautifully-controlled, all at once, and on that most difficult of all topics: fathers and sons? Find out for yourself―it’s time very well spent!” — Sean Wilsey, author of Oh the Glory of It All “A wrenching, fascinating memoir, The Magical Stranger captures the elusive, sometimes crushing unease that haunts the lives of military families. It is written with the pace of a thriller and the emotional density of first-rate fiction.” — Blake Bailey, author of Cheever “This memoir of a son’s search to know his father is deeply moving, important and beautifully written. Rodrick has reminded us that the casualties of war remain long after the last mission is won.” — Danielle Trussoni, author of Falling Through the Earth “A powerful debut. . . . Candid and affecting.” — Kirkus “An engaging and immersive look at the dynamics of military units and the dual lives servicemen and women lead. . . all viewed through a crisp journalistic lens that helps Rodrick separate myth from reality.” — Publishers Weekly “Stephen Rodrick is possibly the best prose stylist alive.” — Wil S. Hylton, author of Vanished From the Back Cover On November 28, 1979, squadron commander and Navy pilot Peter Rodrick died when his plane crashed in the Indian Ocean. He was just thirty-six and had been the commanding officer of his squadron for 127 days. Eight thousand miles away on Whidbey Island, near Seattle, he left behind a grief-stricken wife, two daughters, and a thirteenyear-old son who would grow up to be a writer—one who was drawn, perhaps inevitably, to write about his father, his family, and the devastating consequences of military service. In The Magical Stranger , Stephen Rodrick explores the life and death of the man who indelibly shaped his life, even as he remained a mystery: brilliant but unknowable, sacred but absent—an apparition gone 200 days of the year for much of his young son's life—a born leader who gave his son little direction. Through adolescence and into adulthood, Rodrick struggled to grasp fully the reality of his father's death and its permanence. Peter's picture and memory haunted the family home, but his name was rarely mentioned. To better understand his father and his own experience growing up without him, Rodrick turned to today's members of his father's former squadron, spending nearly two years with VAQ-135, the "World-Famous Black Ravens." His travels take him around the world, from Okinawa and Hawaii to Bahrain and the Persian Gulf—but always back to Whidbey Island, the setting of his family's own story. As he learns more about his father, he also uncovers the layers of these sailors' lives: their brides and girlfriends, friendships, dreams, disappointments—and the consequences of their choices on those they leave behind. A penetrating, thoughtful blend of memoir and reportage, The Magical Stranger is a moving reflection on the meaning of service and the power of a father's legacy. About the Author Stephen Rodrick is a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine and also a contributing editor at Men’s Journal . His writing has been anthologized in The Best American Sports Writing, The Best American Crime Reporting, and The Best American Political Writing . He lives in Los Angeles. Read more
- Features:
The Magical Stranger is a moving story of love and sacrifice, fathers and sons, heroism and duty, soldiers and the families they leave behind. On November 28, 1979, squadron commander and Navy pilot Peter Rodrick died when his plane crashed in the Indian Ocean, leaving behind a devastated wife, two daughters, and a 13-year-old son.In this powerful, beautifully written book, journalist Stephen Rodrick explores the life and death of the man who indelibly shaped his life, even as he remained a mystery. Through adolescence and into adulthood, Stephen Rodrick struggled to fully grasp the reality of his father’s death and its permanence. To better understand his father, Rodrick turned to members of his father’s former squadron, the "World-Famous Black Ravens." As he learns about his father, he uncovers the layers of these sailors’ lives: their loves, friendships, dreams, disappointments—and the consequences of their choices on those they leave behind. The journey doesn’t end until November 28, 2013, when Rodrick’s first son is born 34 years to the day after his father’s mishap. A penetrating, thoughtful blend of memoir and reportage, The Magical Stranger is a moving reflection on the meaning of military service and the power of a father’s legacy.
- Details:
  Publisher: Harper; 1st edition (May 14, 2013)
  Language: English
  Hardcover: 400 pages
  ISBN 10: 006200476X
  ISBN 13: 978-0062004765
  Item Weight: 1.2 pounds
  Dimensions: 6 x 1.25 x 9 inches
<|The End of Book|>

First, PREDICT the substantive review THIS user would most likely write about THIS book, using their persona + past reviews + this book's context. Then turn that prediction into a rubric.

Write 8-12 numbered criteria that a judge will use to check whether a CANDIDATE review COVERS THE KEY POINTS this user would actually make about THIS book. Ground every criterion in the user's likely CONTENT, not surface style:
- Their likely OVERALL STANCE / verdict on this book (would they like or dislike it, and why), inferred from their taste and this book's genre/premise/themes.
- The SPECIFIC aspects they would most likely comment on here -- name concrete elements from THIS book (particular plot points, characters, themes, pacing, craft, comparisons) that a reader like this user reacts to.
- Their characteristic OPINIONS / reactions (what they would praise or criticize here) and the direction/strength of sentiment.
- Any content they habitually include (recommendation, audience, warnings, comparisons).

Write the criteria to match HOW the candidate will be graded (coverage of the user's real review minus a penalty for extra content):
- Each criterion should reward COVERING a specific likely key point, checkable in a short review.
- Make them DISCRIMINATING: a candidate that writes a generic or merely on-topic review WITHOUT the user's specific likely take must score LOW; only a candidate that hits the user's actual likely points and stance scores HIGH.
- Include at least one criterion that PENALIZES speculative, hedging, off-target, or padded content not central to what this user would say.
- Do NOT reward surface formatting.

Output ONLY the rubric:
<rubric>
1. <criterion>
...
</rubric>


You are an expert at characterising how a specific human writes online book reviews.

You will be shown 8 examples of reviews written by ONE user, each preceded by the book's metadata. Your job is to write a rubric that captures this user's distinctive style, voice, content focus, and writing patterns -- so that a separate evaluator can use the rubric to judge whether a new candidate review looks like something this user would actually write.

The user's persona:
<|The Start of Persona|>
Demographics: Missing
Interests:
  International and translated literature, particularly German authors like Günter Grass ('this is the century of Guenter Grass') and French military history
  Military history and battle narratives, showing detailed knowledge of WWI writers Remarque and Jünger, and Napoleon's campaigns ('meticulously researched, in incredibly vivid detail')
  Geographic and cultural accuracy in literature, criticizing books that misrepresent locations ('And where was the author? Nowhere in sight of the real Niger')
  Literary quality and sophisticated prose, praising 'superb language and meticulous attention to detail' and authors who 'handle the English language beautifully'
  Mystery and thriller genres with innovative plotting, appreciating 'tightly written' narratives and 'excellent writing'
  Historical fiction that balances entertainment with accuracy, particularly works about Central Asia, colonial history, and WWII
  Character development and psychological depth, noting when characters are 'two-dimensional' versus 'sharply drawn'
  Publishing industry practices and literary authenticity, criticizing books 'palmed off on the public' by publishers
  Cross-cultural narratives and immigrant experiences, engaging with stories set in Pakistan, Jamaica, Philippines, and other diverse locations
  Literary awards and critical reception, referencing Prix Goncourt, Nobel Prize, and other prestigious honors
Values:
  Prizes literary merit over commercial appeal, stating 'It must be read by everyone interested in military history' and 'I recommend this book not just as a good mystery, but as a true work of literature'
  Demands historical and factual accuracy, noting 'On page 203 Lorraine Riddock is 19 years old and has red hair. On page 212 she is in her mid-thirties and has black hair. There is absolutely no excuse for such sloppiness'
  Values authentic cultural representation over stereotypes, criticizing authors who 'tries too hard to be everything to everybody'
  Appreciates moral complexity and ambiguity in characters, praising stories where 'Whatever happens, is nobody's fault' and noting 'Doc Hata is a Walter Mitty who dreams'
  Respects intellectual honesty and depth, stating 'The author never insults our intelligence. Quite a reprieve from all those shlock writings'
  Critical of political bias in literature, noting 'Disturbing is the bias shown' when discussing explorers with controversial politics
  Values comprehensive research and attention to detail, praising 'well researched' works and 'perfect description of the town of Geneva'
  Believes in honest criticism over politeness, directly stating books are 'garbage' or to 'Forget it' when warranted
  Appreciates authors who tackle difficult subjects without preaching, noting 'The author describes this fast descent into the abyss beautifully, without getting preachy about it'
  Values originality and innovation in storytelling, praising 'Extremely innovative' plots and 'novel story line'
Communication:
  Uses sophisticated vocabulary and literary terminology naturally, employing terms like 'meticulously researched,' 'scathing indictments,' and 'gung-ho militarist'
  Incorporates foreign language phrases seamlessly, using German terms and demonstrating multilingual literacy
  Employs rhetorical questions for emphasis: 'And where was the author?' 'Is this the NYPD?' 'Who knows?'
  Provides specific textual evidence including page numbers: 'On page 203 Lorraine Riddock is 19 years old'
  Uses vivid, memorable titles for reviews: 'Buffalo chips,' 'Remember the Edsel!,' 'Beware the Snake Charmer,' 'The Poor Shall not Inherit the Earth'
  Balances criticism with praise, often noting 'The author handles the English language beautifully' even when finding plot issues
  Makes literary and historical comparisons to contextualize works, referencing other authors and historical events
  Uses direct, unambiguous language for negative reviews: 'WHOLLY AND ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE,' 'piece of garbage,' 'Forget it'
  Structures reviews with clear opening statements followed by supporting details and concluding judgments
  Employs humor and irony, noting 'His typewriter must have run out of apostrophes by now' and 'Anyone called Daphne knows how to do shepherd's pie'
Statistics:
  Average review length approximately 120-150 words, with range from 80 words (shortest critiques) to 200+ words (detailed historical analyses)
  Most frequent phrases include 'the author,' 'should be,' 'the book,' 'makes no/little sense,' 'wonderful,' 'incredible,' and 'forget it'
  Consistently uses exclamation points for emphasis (2-4 per review) and question marks for rhetorical effect
  Employs em-dashes and semicolons frequently for complex sentence structures
  Uses quotation marks extensively to cite specific text or highlight ironic usage
  Typically structures reviews in 3-5 paragraph format with clear topic sentences
  Frequently includes comparative references to other works or authors (1-3 per review)
  Uses capitalization for emphasis: 'WHOLLY AND ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE,' 'NYPD'
  Incorporates specific numerical details: page numbers, dates, ages, monetary amounts for precision
<|The End of Persona|>

The user's past reviews:
--- Example 1 ---
Book:
- Category: Books->Literature & Fiction->Contemporary
- Title: The Heart of Redness: A Novel
- Subtitle: Hardcover – August 7, 2002
- Price: 15.3
- Author: Zakes Mda
- Description: From Publishers Weekly In Mda's richly suggestive novel, a Westernized African, Camagu, becomes embroiled in a village dispute that has its roots in the 19th century. The war between the amaXhosa and the British in South Africa (known to Westerners as the Zulu Wars) was interrupted by a strange, messianic interlude in which the amaXhosa followed the self-destructive commands of the prophet Nongqawuse and were split between followers of Nongqawuse (Believers) and their opponents (Unbelievers). In the village ...[truncated]
- Features: A startling novel by the leading writer of the new South Africa In The Heart of Redness -- shortlisted for the prestigious Commonwealth Writers Prize -- Zakes Mda sets a story of South African village life against a notorious episode from the country's past. The result is a novel of great scope and deep human feeling, of passion and reconciliation. As the novel opens Camugu, who left for America during apartheid, has returned to Johannesburg. Disillusioned by the problems of the new democracy, he follows hi ...[truncated]

Review by this user:
South African Life among the Natives: The story intermingles two time frames: Both share the same family and Xhosa location on the shores of the Indian Ocean. One part tells the story of the British war against the native tribe in the mid-19th century - the war now known as the Zulu war. The other part deals with the present time.
Camugu comes from Johannesburg and tries to fit into the somewhat primitive village of Oorloha. He lands in the middle of the fight that has been going on for 150 years. In those days, the teenage prophetess Nongqawuse Told the tribe that all cattle had be killed and the harvest destroyed. Thus the tribe was split between Believers and Unbelievers, each group blaming the other for whatever went wrong. And so the verbal fighting goes back and forth.
Xhosa used to be a real tribe, but nowadays only the language survives as part of the Bantu languages. That accounts for the click sounds that are mentioned. The Zulu war did take place, of course, and the prophesy also happened. The story is interwoven with the local history.
The narrative has won prizes and has been called "brilliant' and loaded with genuine mythic power. Unfortunately, I can't see it that way. The story drags on and on without there being much of a concrete action. The two time periods are so intermingled as to confuse the reader who constantly has to check the names to place it correctly. Untranslated local words and expressions can be used to good effect, but here they are overdone. And the story itself is not new, not exciting, and utterly predictable.

--- Example 2 ---
Book:
- Category: Books->Literature & Fiction->United States
- Title: The Gangster We Are All Looking For
- Subtitle: Hardcover – May 6, 2003
- Price: 27.97
- Author: Thi Diem Thúy Lê
- Description: From Publishers Weekly Le's first novel is a bracing, unvarnished, elliptical account of a Vietnamese refugee family, in America but not yet of it, hobbled by an unfamiliar environment and their own troubled relationships. It's narrated by the family's young daughter, newly arrived in San Diego with her father after being sponsored by a well-meaning but condescending American family. Her mother soon joins them, and the family endures an itinerant existence of low-wage jobs and cheap rental apartments. Other ...[truncated]
- Features: A momentous literary debut: the life of a Vietnamese family in America luminously observed through the knowing eyes of a child. In 1978 six refugees—a girl, her father, and four “uncles”—are pulled from the sea to begin a new life in San Diego. In the child’s imagination, the world of itchy dresses and run-down apartments is transmuted into an unearthly realm: she sees everything intensely, hears the distress calls of inanimate objects and waits for her mother to join her. But life loses none of its strange ...[truncated]

Review by this user:
New Life in a Foreign Land: A six-year old girl, born and raised in Viet Nam, escapes together with her father and winds up in San Diego. She tells her story of growing up in a foreign land. But she still remembers her daydreams from the land of her birth. She remembers that she had a little brother who drowned. And grandparents who stayed behind, while her mother could join them a few years later.
There are connections such as their life near the water, both in Viet Nam and in San Diego. There is repetition within the life of the refugees, such as the various fences, first in Viet Nam, then in the detention camp in Saigon, and finally in the housing complex in San Diego. The mother tries very hard to become an "American" without really knowing what that involves. The father works as a handyman and later as a gardener. But the foreign land breaks him in spirit and body. The little girl grows up and leaves to live on the east coast.
Obviously, the book has a large content of biographical remembrances. But it is never written in a maudlin tone, although the family shatters on these foreign shores. And though it is nobodies fault. The dreams of the orderly past among family and friends are just too strong and repetitive.
It is a wonderful story, told with a great heart and without complaints.

--- Example 3 ---
Book:
- Category: Books->Literature & Fiction->Literary
- Title: The Right Hand of Sleep
- Subtitle: Hardcover – April 17, 2001
- Price: 14.9
- Author: John Wray
- Description: From Publishers Weekly The ghost hovering over this assured and astonishingly mature first novel is that of Joseph Roth, the great interwar Austrian novelist. Perhaps this reflects Wray's own double origin, as the son of an Austrian father and an American mother. Oskar Voxlauer, Wray's Austrian protagonist, was a teenage deserter from the Austro-Hungarian army in WWI. As the novel begins, he is returning to his native village, Niessen bei Villach, in 1938, after a 19-year stay in the Ukraine. His Russian lo ...[truncated]
- Features: Oskar Voxlauer is in flight from his past—from his bourgeois Austrian upbringing; from horrific memories of fighting on the Italian front in 1917 as a teenage recruit; and from the twenty years he has spent in the Ukraine watching his socialist ideals crumble and the life of the woman he loved slowly waste away. Alone, he finally decides to return to the Austrian village of his birth, where his mother is waiting to greet a son she hasn’t seen since he was a boy.But the year is 1938, and despite Oskar’s atte ...[truncated]

Review by this user:
A Cloud over Austria: Oskar Voxlauer is born in 1902 in the Austrian province of Carinthia. At age 16, he is drafted and sent to the Isonzo battlefront in the Dolomites. He deserts and wanders east, coming to a stop in the Ukraine. There, he spends the next twenty years on a communist colchose before returning to his small village in Carinthia. Together with Else, he moves to a lonely cottage where he works as a game keeper. It is now 1938.
Germany is under Nazi rule, and the clouds drift towards Austria. The first messenger is Kurt, Else's cousin, who just returned from a two-year stay in Berlin. We now get the first run-ins between the former Bolshevik and the Nazi. More and more events come to a head. Austria becomes part of Germany, and Kurt shows up in the uniform of a SS officer. Else, guarding her own secrets, is placed in the middle between  the two combattans.
Wray wrote a magnificent book, not painting Oskar all good, nor Kurt all bad. It is a most plausible story that shows in clear and absolutely accurate detail what actually happened in those days. It is a textbook of history enveloped in a gripping story. That Wray makes mistakes in the naming of the SS ranks can easily be forgiven.
This is a book for the younger generation to learn from, and for the older generation to rediscover. But I do wonder if there was a purpose to placing the action in Carinthia, probably the only western region nowadays under the government of a dedicated Nazi (Joerg Haider).

--- Example 4 ---
Book:
- Category: Books->Literature & Fiction->Classics
- Title: Embers
- Subtitle: Hardcover – September 25, 2001
- Price: 28.83
- Author: Carol Brown Janeway
- Description: Amazon.com Review In Sándor Márai's Embers , two old men, once the best of friends, meet after a 41-year break in their relationship. They dine together, taking the same places at the table that they had assumed on the last meal they shared, then sit beside each other in front of a dying fire, one of them nearly silent, the other one, his host, slowly and deliberately tracing the course of their dead friendship. This sensitive, long-considered elaboration of one man's lifelong grievance is as gripping as an ...[truncated]
- Features: The rediscovery of a masterpiece of Central European literature originally published in Budapest in 1942 and un-known to modern readers until last year. An extraordinary novel about a triangular relationship, about love, friendship, and fidelity, about betrayal, pride, and true nobility. In a castle at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains, an old aristocrat waits to greet the friend he has not seen for forty-one years. In the course of this one night, from dinner until dawn, the two men will fight a duel of ...[truncated]

Review by this user:
What is the sense of life?: Henrik, the general, and Konrad, the artist, are both 75 years old. On his castle in Hungary, Henrik has waited for 41 years for the only and closest friend of his youth, Konrad, to return. And now Konrad has arrived. The book gives us the dialog between the two men, starting with friendship, truth, loyalty and honesty. Then comes the split: there are truths that are not reality. Reality is that Konrad as a young man, was very poor and had to seek support from Henrik's family. One day, he suddenly leaves and now returns after 41 years to answer his friend's questions. The dialog now changes from friendship to passion, to envy, and finally to hate.
What is the sense of life? The author describes in direct language how this sense can change - depending on truth and reality. He shows the fascinating bridge from friendship to hate. Henrik's truths are turned inside out. Instead of reality he now sees the truth.
I wonder whether the author, who travelled much and committed suicide at age 89, entered autobiographical notes into his narrative.

--- Example 5 ---
Book:
- Category: Books->Literature & Fiction->Contemporary
- Title: Monstruary
- Subtitle: Hardcover – March 6, 2001
- Price: 4.95
- Description:
- Features: Julián Ríos's sensual and stylish Loves That Bind was acclaimed as "a literary tour de force" by the Washington Post Book World . Now, in Monstruary , the author is back to his old tricks, using dazzling wordplay and masterful allusions to give us a sensual exploration of art, literature, and the shadowy realms of the human spirit.Ríos takes us into the eerie existence of the painter Victor Mons, who has created a series of works titled Monstruary , a menagerie of personal demons summoned from the disturbin ...[truncated]

Review by this user:
Dazzling nonsequiturs: An incredible assemblage of characters. A multitude of hints and hidden meanings. It seems to me that the author wants to show off his extensive knowledge of the arts and literature. In that way the book is a quiz about the reader's education, giving him an "aha" moment every time he recognizes one of the characters. And that is just about it - there is no story line to the book. The author is just playing around.

--- Example 6 ---
Book:
- Category: Books->Mystery, Thriller & Suspense->Mystery
- Title: Death in Holy Orders (Adam Dalgliesh Mystery Series #11)
- Subtitle: Hardcover – April 10, 2001
- Price: 13.99
- Author: P. D. James
- Description: Amazon.com Review Despite challenges from Ruth Rendell and (more recently) Minette Walters, P.D. James's position as Britain's Queen of Crime remains largely unassailable. Although a certain reaction has set in to her reputation (and there are those who claim her poetry-loving copper Adam Dalgliesh doesn't correspond to any of his counterparts in the real world), her detractors can scarcely deny her astonishing literary gifts. More than any other writer, she has elevated the detective story into the realms ...[truncated]
- Features: The setting itself is elemental P. D. James: the bleak coast of East Anglia, where atop a sweep of low cliffs stands the small theological college of St. Anselm’s. On the shore not far away, smothered beneath a fall of sand, lies the body of one of the school’s young ordinands. He is the son of Sir Alred Treves, a hugely successful and flamboyant businessman who is accustomed to getting what he wants—and in this case what he wants is Commander Adam Dalgliesh to investigate his son’s death. Although there se ...[truncated]

Review by this user:
Unholy Doings: Baroness James was 81 years old when she wrote this book. Maybe it takes that long in the course of human events to learn about the small and large vicissitudes of life, to notice the world around you, to fathom the human soul. That is what the author presents to us in such superb form. There are lines that are pure poetry and paragraphs that fully explain a human being.
Commander Dalgliesh investigates at St. Anselm, a college affiliated with the Church of England. Donald Treeves, one of the ordinands, is dead on the beach. In quick sequence follow the sister of Father John Betterton and Archdeacon  Crampton. And St. Anselm is about to be closed down. Who will benefit from it? Will the many red herrings lead to a feast of perceived truth?
This is a wonderful novel. But it is not a great mystery. There are many occurrences that are left hanging. And the final denouement does not make that much sense , either.

--- Example 7 ---
Book:
- Category: Books->Literature & Fiction->Contemporary
- Title: Norwegian Wood
- Subtitle: Paperback – Student Calendar, September 12, 2000
- Price: 9.99
- Author: Haruki Murakami
- Description: Amazon.com Review In 1987, when Norwegian Wood was first published in Japan, it promptly sold more than 4 million copies and transformed Haruki Murakami into a pop-culture icon. The horrified author fled his native land for Europe and the United States, returning only in 1995, by which time the celebrity spotlight had found some fresher targets. And now he's finally authorized a translation for the English-speaking audience, turning to the estimable Jay Rubin, who did a fine job with his big-canvas producti ...[truncated]
- Features: From the bestselling author of Kafka on the Shore: A magnificent coming-of-age story steeped in nostalgia, “a masterly novel” ( The New York Times Book Review ) blending the music, the mood, and the ethos that were the sixties with a young man’s hopeless and heroic first love. Toru, a serious young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman, but their mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of their best friend years before. As Naoko retreats further into h ...[truncated]

Review by this user:
Murakami Revisited: Toru is a student who cannot come to grips with his life. He loves Naoko, who is even more unbalanced than Toru. Naoko winds up in some obscure institution. Toru is ready to fall apart, but is rescued at the last moment by a real-life woman.
No doubt the story is written beautifully and, standing on its own, should be recommended. But: If you ever read any of Mr. Murakami's other books, then you know the contents of this book without reading it. After a while, it gets to be monotonous.

--- Example 8 ---
Book:
- Category: Books->Literature & Fiction->United States
- Title: The Dying Animal
- Subtitle: Paperback – July 9, 2002
- Price: 14.7
- Author: Philip Roth
- Description: Review “A disturbing masterpiece.” —The New York Review of Books “Sorrowful, sexy, elegant ... [A] distinguished addition to Roth’s increasingly remarkable literary career.” — San Francisco Chronicle “Roth is a mesmerizing writer, whose very language has the vitality of a living organism.” — The Los Angeles Times “No one can come close to Roth’s comic genius and breadth of moral imperative.” — The Boston Globe From the Inside Flap No matter how much you know, no matter how much you think, no matter how much ...[truncated]
- Features: The unforgettable story of an affair between a star lecturer at a New York college and the beautiful daughter of Cuban exiles—and the quagmire of sexual jealousy and loss that ensues—from the renowned Pulitzer Prize–winning author of American Pastoral . “[A] disturbing masterpiece.” — The New York Review of Books No matter how much you know, no matter how much you think, no matter how much you plot and you connive and you plan, you’re not superior to sex. With these words our most unflaggingly energetic and ...[truncated]

Review by this user:
The Old Man with the4 Breast Fetish: There seems to be just one main theme for Vidal - one he comes back to again and again: SEX.
As the author ages, so does the protagonist professor David Kepesh, age seventy and telling a story of eight years ago. At the center of the story is Consuela Castillo, of Cuban descent and then 24 years old. She has the most perfect female form, magnificent large breasts, an almost translucent white skin and black hair. She is just simply perfect, also in everything she does. This liaison lasts about a good year, stopping abruptly.
Some years later, Kepesh gets a call from Consuela, who needs his help and understanding. She has breast cancer, already lost her hair and will now lose one of her breasts.
Roth mainly writes about the juxtaposition of old age and youth. He finds that youth has its advantages, but they are not guaranteed. Consuela's youth and perfection are being destroyed, while Kepesh lives on. There is a lesson hidden here somewhere, and the lesson has to do with old age surviving. And that beauty is not reliable.

The specific book this user is about to review:
<|The Start of Book|>
**User Amazon store: Anthony Bourdain (Author)**: - Category: Books->Biographies & Memoirs->Professionals & Academics
- Title: Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
- Subtitle: None
- Price: 13.81
- Author: Anthony Bourdain
  Chef, author, and raconteur Anthony Bourdain is best known for traveling the globe on his TV show Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown. Somewhat notoriously, he has established himself as a professional gadfly, bête noir, advocate, social critic, and pork enthusiast, recognized for his caustic sense of humor worldwide. He is as unsparing of those things he hates, as he is evangelical about his passions. Bourdain is the author of the New York Times bestselling Kitchen Confidential and Medium Raw; A Cook’s Tour; the collection The Nasty Bits; the novels Bone in the Throat and Gone Bamboo; the biography Typhoid Mary: An Urban Historical; two graphic novels, Get Jiro! and Get Jiro!: Blood and Sushi and his latest New York Times bestselling cookbook Appetites. He has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Times of London, Bon Appetit, Gourmet, Vanity Fair, Lucky Peach and many other publications. In 2013, Bourdain launched his own publishing line with Ecco, Anthony Bourdain Books, an imprint of HarperCollins. He is the host of the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning docuseries Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown on CNN, and before that hosted Emmy award-winning No Reservations and The Layover on Travel Channel, and The Taste on ABC.
- Description: Amazon.com Review Most diners believe that their sublime sliver of seared foie gras, topped with an ethereal buckwheat blini and a drizzle of piquant huckleberry sauce, was created by a culinary artist of the highest order, a sensitive, highly refined executive chef. The truth is more brutal. More likely, writes Anthony Bourdain in Kitchen Confidential , that elegant three-star concoction is the collaborative effort of a team of "wacked-out moral degenerates, dope fiends, refugees, a thuggish assortment of drunks, sneak thieves, sluts, and psychopaths," in all likelihood pierced or tattooed and incapable of uttering a sentence without an expletive or a foreign phrase. Such is the muscular view of the culinary trenches from one who's been groveling in them, with obvious sadomasochistic pleasure, for more than 20 years. CIA-trained Bourdain, currently the executive chef of the celebrated Les Halles, wrote two culinary mysteries before his first (and infamous) New Yorker essay launched this frank confessional about the lusty and larcenous real lives of cooks and restaurateurs. He is obscenely eloquent, unapologetically opinionated, and a damn fine storyteller--a Jack Kerouac of the kitchen. Those without the stomach for this kind of joyride should note his opening caveat: "There will be horror stories. Heavy drinking, drugs, screwing in the dry-goods area, unappetizing industry-wide practices. Talking about why you probably shouldn't order fish on a Monday, why those who favor well-done get the scrapings from the bottom of the barrel, and why seafood frittata is not a wise brunch selection.... But I'm simply not going to deceive anybody about the life as I've seen it." --Sumi Hahn Review "...the kind of book you read in one sitting, then rush about annoying your coworkers by declaiming whole passages." -- USA Today "Utterly riveting, swaggering with stylish machismo and precise ear for kitchen patois." -- New York Magazine "You'll laugh, you'll cry...you're gonna love it." -- Denver Post A gonzo memoir of whats really going on behind those swinging doors.... Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain is unique. -- Newsweek Hysterical.... Bourdain gleefully rips through the scenery to reveal private backstage horrors. -- New York Times Book Review About the Author Anthony Bourdain is the executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles in New York, and he is the host of the series No Reservations on the Travel Channel. He is the author of A Cook's Tour , Les Halles Cookbook , and the novels Bone in the Throat and Gone Bamboo . Read more
- Features:
When Chef Anthony Bourdain wrote "Don't Eat Before You Read This" in The New Yorker, he spared no one's appetite, revealing what goes on behind the kitchen door. In Kitchen Confidential, he expanded that appetizer into a deliciously funny, delectable shocking banquet that lays out his 25 years of sex, drugs, and haute cuisine. From his first oyster in the Gironde to the kitchen of the Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Center, from the restaurants of Tokyo to the drug dealers of the East Village, from the mobsters to the rats, Bourdain's brilliantly written, wild-but-true tales make the belly ache with laughter.
- Details:
  Publisher: Harper Perennial; 1st Ecco Ed edition (May 1, 2001)
  Language: English
  Paperback: 320 pages
  ISBN 10: 0060934913
  ISBN 13: 978-0060934910
  Item Weight: 9.8 ounces
  Dimensions: 5.31 x 0.72 x 8 inches
<|The End of Book|>

First, PREDICT the substantive review THIS user would most likely write about THIS book, using their persona + past reviews + this book's context. Then turn that prediction into a rubric.

Write 8-12 numbered criteria that a judge will use to check whether a CANDIDATE review COVERS THE KEY POINTS this user would actually make about THIS book. Ground every criterion in the user's likely CONTENT, not surface style:
- Their likely OVERALL STANCE / verdict on this book (would they like or dislike it, and why), inferred from their taste and this book's genre/premise/themes.
- The SPECIFIC aspects they would most likely comment on here -- name concrete elements from THIS book (particular plot points, characters, themes, pacing, craft, comparisons) that a reader like this user reacts to.
- Their characteristic OPINIONS / reactions (what they would praise or criticize here) and the direction/strength of sentiment.
- Any content they habitually include (recommendation, audience, warnings, comparisons).

Write the criteria to match HOW the candidate will be graded (coverage of the user's real review minus a penalty for extra content):
- Each criterion should reward COVERING a specific likely key point, checkable in a short review.
- Make them DISCRIMINATING: a candidate that writes a generic or merely on-topic review WITHOUT the user's specific likely take must score LOW; only a candidate that hits the user's actual likely points and stance scores HIGH.
- Include at least one criterion that PENALIZES speculative, hedging, off-target, or padded content not central to what this user would say.
- Do NOT reward surface formatting.

Output ONLY the rubric:
<rubric>
1. <criterion>
...
</rubric>