Paradise Lost (MAXNotes Literature Guides) Paperback – June 9, 1995

.The reason I bought this Max Notes is the same for my (probable) frequent mispelling in the text that follows: I'm not a native English speaker. I wanted to know Milton's work, without having to fight my way through a poetry that's difficult even to well educated, native English speakers. I suspected that the difficulties of the style would hinder my appreciation of the work (which I still think would be the case).This is a good summary of Milton's work: engaging, informed and synthetic, at the same time. Each "book" (actualy chapters) of Paradise Lost is presented separately, in five sections: the new characters (who make their debut in that chapter; a good idea), the summary of the chapter/book, an analysis of the chapter, study questions along with their answers, and suggested essay topics.Two things, though, compromise the quality of the book.First, the quality of the "analysis" of each chapter is very, very poor. Most of the time it basicaly re-summarizes the text, in the very same way a laisy student -- who's unwilling to stop and think -- does in an test. This, plus the fact that the study questions and answers are also very superficial and poor, give the impression that the book is specifically geared toward less-than-bright students. Is this the case? We might think so, once this is the general pre-conceivement about "notes" and "summaries" of great classics. But I really guess it didn't have to be this way.The second weakness in this Max Noter is the horrendous, despisable, quality of its illustrations. Once again, we can't help but think that they were "commissioned" to resemble the drawings teenagers usually make in their notebooks. Then again, what's the use of that? Do teenager readers find the book "cooler" because of these cheesy, ridiculous illustrations. I seriously doubt.All in all this is not a complete waste of time and money, but I do get the sensation that there might be a better summary among the many other similar series available.

Easy to read.Easy to understand.Priced right and small enough to carry in a purse, brief case or glove box.