British rock critic Hoskyns (Waiting for the Sun, 1996, etc.) dashes off a breezy ``pop romance'' that begins as a portrait of the critic as young hack and turns into a much darker comment on decadent rock culture. In this easy-reading, somewhat predictable little debut novel, a middle-class nebbish from the provinces goes to London, eventually becomes a rock critic, but ends up as an obsessed fan. The object of Kip Wilson's obsession is Mina, an Austrian chanteuse who combines the vocal and visual styles of Dietrich, Piaf, and Marianne Faithful, all of which she ``deconstructs'' with the help of her back-up band. A dropout from the polytechnic, Kip flops in a London squat, trying to overcome his boring middle-class background. He also begins to write short reviews for a London rock mag. His career takes a turn for the better when he happens upon Mina's first British appearance; her confrontational cabaret act dazzles the young critic. He parlays his initial rave into a series of interviews, reviews of her recordings, and a long article about her tour of the US—each piece reflecting his increasing infatuation with the tough-talking German girl, who reveals a previous life as an abused child and prostitute. Dazzled by her depravity, Kip discovers the depths of her problems on the American tour, where she shoots up constantly and eventually seduces him with coke and emasculating sex. Back in England, Kip's last article proves too wacky for even an alternative magazine, and he spends days in bed brooding over Mina, until news of her drug detox and spiritual conversion sends him over the edge. The novel shifts gears as Kip acts out his confusion over Mina's born-again persona. A transparent narrative that defines all its characters by their musical tastes (with appropriate dress) and perfectly reproduces the clichÇs of rock journalism, sometimes as parody, sometimes quite seriously. Still, a quick and enjoyable read.
Pub Date: May 1, 1997
ISBN: 1-85242-387-0
Page Count: 166
Publisher: Serpent’s Tail
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1997
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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