A sly, supremely stylish entertainment.
A celebrated Spanish author (Sepharad, 2003, etc.) contemplates identity and desire in this smartly amusing novella.
Mario López is not an adventurous man. When he decided to leave the small town of his birth, he moved to the rather poky provincial capital of Jaén, rather than the bustling metropolis of Barcelona. He is a civil servant, not an artist. The only reckless thing he has ever done is fall in love with Blanca. Beautiful, cultured and spirited Blanca is completely out of Mario's league, and the only thing more shocking than his ridiculous proposal of marriage is her acceptance. Their union is far from perfect—Blanca wants many things that Mario has neither the fiscal nor the temperamental resources to give—but Mario remains passionately devoted to his wife until he decides that the woman sharing his home is not Blanca at all but, rather, an impostor. Ultimately incapable of believing that a woman like Blanca could ever be his, Mario convinces himself that she is not, that she has dumped him for another man and left a double in her place. Muñoz Molina's elegantly constructed existential comedy begins with Mario scrutinizing the minuscule mistakes of the false Blanca, and it ends with him surrendering to this woman who may be even more exciting than the original. It is ironic, then, that Blanca is the only character who emerges as real. She's unstable, yes, but authentically and reliably so. The artist-types who populate her romantic history are, on the other hand, spectacular shams, and her friends are outrageously—yet believably—pretentious. Mario, meanwhile, subsumes himself in his effort to keep Blanca happy. He pretends to love sushi and carpaccio. He feigns interest during excruciating conversations with his wife's friends. He uncomplainingly attends such cultural events as a contemporary opera at the “Center for New Theatrical Tendencies.” Ultimately, it is Mario who proves to be the biggest fake of all.
A sly, supremely stylish entertainment.Pub Date: July 10, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-59051-253-1
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Other Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2007
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Agreeably credible lovers and a neat piece of home-restoration compensate some for the hokey hauntings on the bayou. Loyal...
A gumbo seasoned with ghosts, love, and murder on the bayou.
When 30-something Declan Fitzgerald of Boston, a successful lawyer and a member of a large and loving family, breaks off his engagement to very suitable Jessica, he knows he needs to change his life. Lawyering is not fun anymore, so, recalling Manet Hall, an old deserted plantation house he once visited with law school classmate and New Orleans native Remy, he buys the property and moves down south. Declan is also a gifted craftsman, a born decorator, and very, very rich. Soon, he meets beautiful Lena, who’s visiting her grandmother Odette, Declan’s friendly Cajun neighbor. Declan is as certain that Lena is destined to be his wife as he was that Manet Hall would become his home. But, surprise, Lena has a troubled past (like the house) and is determined to resist Declan’s courtship. While he suits Lena and works on the place, Declan experiences troubling dreams. It seems he’s actually reliving the novel’s parallel story, which took place in 1899. In that year, the maid, Abbey Manet (from whom Lena, coincidentally, is descended, and who married wealthy Lucian Manet), was raped and murdered by her brother-in-law Julian as she nursed her baby daughter. Her body was dumped into the bayou by her mother-in-law, who despised her. And grief-stricken husband Lucian, away at the time, being told that Abbey had run off, committed suicide. Now, in an unconvincing twist of gender and reincarnation, it’s Declan who hears a baby crying , experiences childbirth and rape as the reincarnation of Abbey, while Lena is Lucian. The two accept all this with equanimity, and, Manet Hall’s secrets revealed, it becomes the setting for predictable and much foreshadowed resolutions.
Agreeably credible lovers and a neat piece of home-restoration compensate some for the hokey hauntings on the bayou. Loyal fans will enjoy.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-399-14824-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2001
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