The Red Book: Project Complete

By Andrew Barbour

This is the culmination of what began on October 6, 2013, at 8:12 a.m.
It was to be The Blue Book: The Ultimate Project.
In increasing clarity, these books show first the preparation and then the arrival in the first bookwhich, I freely admit, is not easy to read. But any change that I made, made it nearly impossible to continue until I reversed the change that I had made.
It was realised that things had to be effectively translated. This is what led to the creation of The Red Book. So using what I had learned and figured out, I applied the same technique to a digital camera, and the results speak for themselves.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Aug 14, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496988126

Andrew Barbour

no ATA, ebook only, and will only contain images

Book preview

The Red Book:

Project complete

Andrew Barbour

AuthorHouse™ UK Ltd.

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403 USA

www.authorhouse.co.uk

Phone: [phone]

© 2014 Andrew Barbour. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 06/18/2015

ISBN: 978-1-4969-8812-6 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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The Red Book; Project Complete.

Exra Terrestrial communication has been anticipated for decades and regarded by many to bedelivered or expected in a wide variety of ways. Spiritual, by ways of meditation and choices of faith or as a religion in some respects.

Technical, by ways of science, analysis of close proximity contacts, physical and psychological examination. Others have a more personal level of contact, this includes those who have experienced some form of contact but cannot or will not speak for their own reasons. The list goes on.

The Red Book; Project Complete is part 2 of an extra terrestrial project to raise humanities awareness of their co existance on this planet we like to think of as being solely ours. It never has been!

Vastley more technical than it first appears The Red Book; Project Complete as with part 1 requires the use of a higher brain function, intutition. The ability to disregard the concious thought about what you are looking at in this repect specificlly, and allow your intuition and The Red Book to interact.This is the reason there is no descriptions or explanations, just date and time to show sequecnce disclosure. The realisation must

Reviews for The Red Book

[iambookish-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I had attempted to read this before and put it down because it just didn't hold my interest, but I decided to give it another go since its been nominated for a literary prize. It was a struggle to get through and I'm not sure why its been deemed prize worthy.

[bookmarque · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Lately my reading inclinations have shifted a bit from action or plot-driven books to ones that are driven by characters and their interactions. So when Ann from Books on the Nightstand recommended this audio, I checked it out. I thought it would be entirely epistolary in form, but it isn’t. There are some Red Book entries scattered throughout and those form the introductions to the people we meet, but then it turns to a traditional 3rd person perspective. Sometimes those introductions aren’t important and that got annoying. Certain characters with Red Book entries aren’t pivotal to the plot and are only mentioned in passing and it was irritating to hear all about them, waiting for them to figure in the story and never hearing about them again. Overall the narration by a large cast was pretty good, however some of the women’s voices are too similar to immediately distinguish them. Because the rarified world of Harvard, Radcliffe etc., is so unattainable to me and to many others, the book has more than a dash of voyeuristic appeal. Not all of the characters are insufferable jerks, but a few are as would be with any group. The relationships between are interesting and sometimes unexpected. Mostly the author paints them starkly, warts and all, but there is a soft-focus about some of the more negative aspects that renders the story nostalgic more than journalistic. Another reviewer noted that everyone’s marriage or whatever was plagued by infidelity and it’s true. Strange though. Everyone? Even the seemingly best and most honest of the pairings was marred by this. Other fates weren’t handed out so even-handedly so some get rich while others go broke, some have steady careers while some do not, some have responsible kids, some do not. Everything turns out alright in the end though, for pretty much everyone and it’s the friendships that do the saving. In a way I was a little jealous of the safety network that surrounds these people. It stems from their being together at Harvard, but their initial meeting was just random. They play it up though and for the most part are good at letting bygones be bygones. Take Addison and her college sweetheart; now that was over and above the call of duty in terms of letting the past go. There may be baggage and questionable motives, but overall the friendships are mostly believable. It is fiction, but the lack of any enemies other than the twist of fate was a bit off-putting. Again with the soft-focus technique. But sometimes I need that in fiction and this delivered well enough.

[ennie_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A group of friends attend their 20th Harvard reunion. There is hanky-panky, drama, reflection, conversation, and traumatic events (I won't spoil the plot). The titular red book is the alumni anniversary report bound in crimson, eagerly awaited by Harvard graduates every 5 years. I have no personal knowledge, since Radcliffe rejected me in 1969. The characters' red book pages dot the text and by the end of the book, you feel you know these people.

[kristysp · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I thought about putting this down several times because it didn't really hold my interest. Also, the author goes out of her way to drive home her idea that ALL relationships will inevitably involve an infidelity. No matter how safe you think you are, or how well you know your partner, give it up, she seems to imply, human beings are going to cheat on each other.
I found that frustrating.

Overall a mildly entertaining read but on the vapid, gossipy side.

[annie.michelle · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Well, I finally finished "The Red Book" by Deborah Copaken Kogen. I say finally because I had to stop every now and then to put it down and catch my breath. I felt worded out and at times exhausted. There is a lot of "wordage" and not much dialog and many people to keep up with! It has funny, sad moments and at times I even cried…but for me it was a somewhat difficult read.This is a book about what happens to a group of wide eyed & hopeful classmates through the years as they all go about the lives they thought a Harvard education wouldafford them. Every 5 years each graduate is asked to submit a page of "where they are now" and then all are bound together into a red book and sent out to allthe graduates. This is the story of the class of 1989, specifically four women and their 20 year class reunion and how their dreams came true or mostly just changed shape. My favorite parts of the book were the pages the graduates sent in...a book of just those wonderful made up lives would, to me have been much better than thefew people the book actually focused on

[tvordj · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I started off liking this book but got increasingly annoyed with it by the end. It follows the story of four Harvard friends and their various spouses and children through the weekend of their 20th reunion. The Red Book is a Harvard publication where the alumni send in updates on their lives every five years for the book which is published before that class's reunion (every five years) This book starts with the alumni entries of four women, Clover, Addison, Jane and Mia and gives us a bit of an overview of not just their most recent five years but their lives since university. The four women are all leading lives of varying success, enduring job and family loss and marital problems as the story opens. Each section of the book starts with more alumni updates for characters that we may or may not meet in that section but may be referred to. I found that a bit annoying, especially reading through a fairly detailed alumni five year bio when that character is barely mentioned or grouped in with a few that are mentioned not even by name. You only recognize them by their deeds. i.e. one being a blind doctor. I also found that the characters would go off on a tedious philosophical tangent for no apparent reason, ruminating about what they were thinking at the time, what was going on in their head, or there might be a somewhat preachy passage about some political issue. It would go on for pages and not really contribute anything to the story at all. One character eulogized a late friend for pages, detailing the deceased's life and she was not a character that was mentioned prior to that section and had no apparent impact on the storyline at all aside from one small thing. The eulogy section could have been cut to a quarter and still have the same storyline result. I skipped most of it. I found myself doing that increaslingly more nearer the end of the book. That's too bad because aside from all of these asides, the storyline and the main characters and their problems were interesting so it gets three stars for that but lost stars because of the other stuff.

[bookchickdi · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I had never heard of Harvard's Red Book before I recently read Deborah Copaken Kogan's novel, The Red Book. Every five years, Harvard compiles a book filled with short essays written by each graduate, sharing what they have been up to in the past five years.The actual Red Book made headlines recently when infamous graduate Ted Kazcynski, the man known to the world as the Unabomber, returned his questionnaire listing his occupation as 'prisoner' and under the awards section, wrote 'eight life sentences', and his entry was included in the book, angering many people including his victims' families.None of this has anything to do with Kogan's book, but perhaps the timely story will bring some publicity to this wonderful novel. Kogan takes the popular concept of four female protagonists (Little Women, Sex & the City, J. Courtney Sullivan's 2011 novel Maine), and adds a dash of The Big Chill (one of my favorite movies) that brought me to tears by the end of this emotional story.Cleverly using the conceit of the Red Book, she introduces her four main characters with their 20 year entries. Sometimes books with multiple protagonists can lead to confusion keeping everyone straight, and by introducing in this manner, that problem is solved.We are thrust into the lives, their marriages, their children, their careers, what they have been doing since college. Addison has put her career as an artist on hold to raise her three children and support her husband, a writer who doesn't seem to do much writing (or any parenting).Clover was a huge success at Lehman Brothers, until they went under. Now she is unemployed and trying unsuccessfully to have a child with her husband, a Legal Aid attorney.Mia went to LA after college to try and make it as an actress. She met an older man, Jonathan, a successful director and they have four children and a good life, with homes in LA and the Antibes. She and Jonathan are deeply in love, but what she doesn't know is that they took a big financial hit during the recession.Jane is a reporter for the Boston Globe, based in France. Her first husband was killed while reporting in Afghanistan. She has a daughter with him and is now living with her husband's best friend. Her adopted mother recently passed away after a long illness, and Jane is bereft.The four women all meet up again at the 20th reunion, bringing their families with them, except for Clover. Clover runs into an old flame and has a plan that unwittingly involves him . Addison ends up in serious trouble for unpaid parking tickets and her old lover, a wealthy woman, comes to rescue.Jane is trying to decide whether to move back to the United States to write a novel, and has to face infidelities from her partner. Mia wants to return to acting.Being back in Cambridge brings back memories for all of them, and causes some of them to reflect on their regrets, the things they should have done. The story culminates at a memorial service for a classmate, and all of the emotions of the weekend coming crashing down around them.I really liked the relationship between Mia and Jonathan. Their marriage is solid and loving, and the scene where Jonathan comforts an upset Jane is so tender and moving.Two of the families have teenage children, and a romance between them ensues. Kogan writes the scenes with the teens with empathy and insight, and I liked that the kids weren't one-dimensional. Their story was important as well.Some books you love right away, this was one that took me awhile to get into, but by the end, when Kogan takes a character down a road that I was not happy about, I actually said "NO!" when I saw it coming, and almost cursed her. That is how much I was invested in this story, in this particular character. I love getting lost in a good story, and I was enveloped in this engrossing book.My husband loves movies where at the end they tell you what happens to the characters, and this novel ends like it begins: we read the 25th anniversary report and find out how things have turned out.

[coyote99_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I requested this book from Early Readers and didn't get it, but it looked so good that I immediately purchased it as soon as it was released. I loved it. It has very snappy writing and some pretty intriguing moral questions. Lots of northeast liberal angst but the writing makes up for any predictable lesbian/crossdressing/gender reassignment plot lines and some snarky privileged whining. It has some good chuckles and some poignant "loss of a loved one" dialog. The literary device of introducing the characters with their entries in the Harvard Red Book was great idea. It was a great read. Highly recommend!

[jlafleur_12 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received The Red Book as a Library Thing Early Reviewer, and noted that the Harvard alumnus magazine recently reviewed it. (My wife is a grad school alum, so she doesn't get "The Red Book". She does connect over a long weekend every summer with two of her Harvard classmates, so they are still quite connected personally- is this unique to Harvard?- I don't think so. I take some issue with those reviewers who didn't enjoy this novel. Some of the characterizations are a bit stereotypical, but they are generally realistic. As I look back at the lives of my classmates from college and graduate school, I see many familiar themes and personalities. Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. It's difficult maintaining common interests and values with old friends one sees infrequently. People frequently exceed or fail to live up to their "potential". I think this novel captures mid life crises well.

[karenthib_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this novel as part of the Library Thing Early Reviewers program and approached it rather cautiously. Any contemporary novel about alums from an elite university reuniting is immediately compared to The Group and most fall way short. But I have to admit that this one deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as McCarthy's classic.This could have been just another novel about priveleged, college kids with an outsized sense of entitlement who grew up to be priviliged adults with an outsized sense of entitlement, but Kogan added enough dysfunction, regret, struggle and tragedy to temper the characters and make them relatable and likeable. The structure of the book -- opening each section with the bio that each character "wrote" to be included in the class's alumni directory -- was a clever way to introduce characters throughout the novel. (It was also convenient for flipping back to review when I forgot some details about the minor characters.)Overall, I felt this novel was a bit of a guilty like -- like enjoying a candy bar while flipping through an issue of Cosmo -- but there times when it transcended that and offered some moving truths about the choices we make early and how they affect our lives for the long haul. Dealing with parenting and infidelity issues, as well as the death of a parent were also deftly -- and, where appropriate, amusingly -- handled.

[mthelibrarian_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Though I did not know about "The Red Book" (Harvard alumni publication) before picking up this book at the library, I was immediately drawn to it because (1) I graduated from college in 1989, the same year as the alums in this book (at their 20th reunion) and (2) I worked at private schools and wrote and edited class notes for alumnae/alumni publications. I found this to be a fun and enjoyable read, and eventually bought it for my e-reader. (Yes, library books do create book/e-sales.) I think it was Adam Gopnik who said on the jacket copy It's "The Big Chill" for the Facebook generation. I pretty much agree. It had a definite soap-opera feel - A LOT happens to this relatively small cast of characters in very short order. I laughed out loud at the $100,000 fine from parking tickets ignored for 20 years. I was struck by the concept of going to a college reunion - I went to a giant state university and have never considered going to a college reunion, nor would I (though I keep in touch with a few college friends), but I can compare it to my small-town high school in which a large percentage of our 109-member class, not to mention some of our former teachers, are Facebook friends and cheer each other on through the ups and downs of life. There were a couple of instances where modern terms crept in - a "flash mob"? I would never think of friends of that era as a flash mob, even if it were today. Minor quibble though. I appreciated that the author filled in so many of the details of what happened to the characters later in life. Loved the ending paragraph.

[thenovelworld_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

For the sake of the review, I tried my best to get through this book, but I only got as far as chapter 3. I found the characters to be boring and their personalities felt forced. I think I had requested this book based on the description and ignored the author. When the book came in the mail, I realized I had read her other book, Between Here and April. I really did not like that book. Maybe that soured my mood for this one. The premise is very chick-lit (a girl's weekend reunion at college turns into life-altering revelations), and also seemed unrealistic. People don't change overnight and they don't change over 2 nights.

[bookgirljen · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The description for this book made it sound like it would be interesting, but in fact I could hardly finish it. The story never really went anywhere. The characters were annoying and I didn't like any of them. Am I really supposed to believe that each of them could resolve their big "problem" or come to their big "life realization" or experience a big "life moment" over the course of a single weekend? Maybe because I didn't go to an Ivy League college, I just didn't get the whole "reunion weekend" concept. In any event, I didn't enjoy this book and wouldn't recommend it.

[lmikkel · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Although I do not attend my own class reunions I seem to have read many a novel dealing with the topic. So although I was delighted to receive this book as an Early Reviewer copy I was a little apprehensive: would it measure up to the best, or be a well-meaning dud or land somewhere in the middle? To my mind it was right up there with some of the best. As another reviewer said, Gincam did an excellent review summarizing the book and it's strengths so I won't attempt to add to that. I will just say that despite the fact that few reunions (I imagine) encompass all the life changes this particular one did, Deborah Copaken Kogan has written a sympathetic, humorous book that was also thought provoking.

[upstairsgirl · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book could have been really great, I think. There are some very funny moments that, left to their own devices, and joined with more of the same, would have made this into a hilarious but not mean-spirited send-up of middle-aged ennui, college reunions, and the sort of institutional hubris that leads to the creation of The Red Book, a bound, book-length collection of page-long updates about the lives of an entire class of Harvardians every five years in preparation for their reunion.Instead, the book is often self-serious and overwritten, reliant on stereotypes instead of character building, and the early introductions of the four main characters are status-oriented and off-putting. Copaken jumps from head to head to head with dizzying speed, giving us the thoughts of the four main characters, their partners, their kids, and random individuals with whom they interact throughout the weekend of their twentieth reunion. Five pages in I was sure I was going to hate the whole thing, and though there are redeeming moments towards the end that come across as genuine, they're not enough to rescue the book from its flaws (and they're let to go on too long, falling victim to Copaken's inability to extricate herself from a scene and her tendency to give too much of the wrong information). The main characters do turn out to be more complex, and more interesting, than the initial descriptions invite you to believe, and I think it's because of that that the book manages to succeed at all in spite of its weaknesses. The epiphanies, though they require some suspension of disbelief (and a little bit of a buy-in that everybody cheats in marriage and that's okay) don't feel forced, even if the scope of the novel results in them being a bit rushed. This could easily have been four novellas, I think; maybe even four novels.This isn't a terrible book; the plot is complex and engaging, and Copaken is very good at managing the many, many threads she's carrying throughout the book without drawing attention to how she's doing it - not an easy task. But the writing, can't get out of its own way much of the time, and although it's always clear whose head we're in, the constantly shifting point of view - and the multiplicity of points of view - can be a little distracting. Of interest, though, if you've lived through the experience of banging out an entry for a Class Report or awkwarded your way through the four-day festival of recrimination, regret, and free drinks that is a Harvard Reunion.

[loried_5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was apprehensive about reading yet another reunion book, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I received this book from the Early Reviewers program, and I found it a fast and compelling read. Although there were many characters, it was easy to keep track of them. I thought the author did a great job bringing these characters to life. "Gincam" did a great job summarizing the book, so I won't be repetitive. I would recommend this book.

[gincam · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There are three inescapable truths about human beings: the way we see ourselves, the way we are perceived by others, and the way we actually exist. A twenty-year class reunion is the perfect venue to display all three views, as the attendees meet, mix, mingle and migrate through survival of the event. In "The Red Book", Deborah Copaken Kogan serves us a slice of Harvard Pie, as the lives of four roommates from the class of '89 are detailed and given a fortyish mid-life checkup as they reunite after two decades. Harvard, venerable institution that it remains, requests its alumni to update their lives on file every five years, and the results are compiled into a red-covered anniversary report which is sent to every graduate. Kogan's story line begins with the Twentieth Anniversary Report for the class of '89, and its final chapter is the report for the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary. In between these reports, the lives of the four roomies, Addison, Clover, Mia, and Jane, and those around them, are sketched out in sharp lines, vivid hues, and subtle shadings. Since this is a Harvard Pie, the slices are served in grand style, but the ingredients for the recipe are basic. All human beings, regardless of social status and financial state, are made of common elements, just varying in levels of intensity. You may see something of yourself in Kogan's characters, or you may see yourself as an outside observer, but the fascination remains the same. Greener grass still needs to be weeded. Not all of the characters are likeable, but they are quite readable, and that makes "The Red Book" a delicious dish indeed. Review Copy Gratis Library Thing

[tmtrvlr · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I just simply didn't like The Red Book. I did not find the characters or the story very interesting. I received the book for review so I felt I had an obligation to finish reading it, but I never got into the story. It sounded promising when I read the teaser where the book promises an "unforgettable reunion weekend". It didn't deliver. People who love their class reunions may enjoy this book, but I found it quite lacking.