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
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her...
Another middle-aged mom in a muddle.
After years of false starts and big hopes, Elizabeth’s ruggedly handsome husband Jack, a former football star, just landed a spot as a sportscaster on national news. He still loves her, even though much younger women are giving him come-hither looks. Heck, he doesn’t want to betray the love of his life after she helped him kick drugs and stuck by him even when he was a struggling has-been. And won’t it seem hypocritical if he fools around with his sexy assistant while he does in-depth reporting on a rape case involving a famous basketball center? Well, he fools around anyway. Elizabeth, nicknamed Birdie, knows nothing of this, but she withdraws from Jack when her hard-drinking, salt-of-the-earth father has a stroke and dies. Now no one will call her “sugar beet” ever again. Time to return home to Tennessee and contend with Anita, the sort-of-evil stepmother so trashy she wears pink puffy slippers all day long. Naturally, it turns out that Anita actually has a heart of gold and knows a few things about Birdie’s dead mother that were hushed up for years. Mom was an artist, just like Birdie, and an old scandal comes to light as Anita unrolls a vibrant canvas that portrays her secret lover. Perhaps, Birdie muses, her mother died of heartbreak, never having followed her true love or developed her talent. Has she, too, compromised everything she holds dear? Hoping to find out, Birdie joins a support group that promises to reconnect confused women with their passion. She and Jack separate, prompting a how-dare-you fit from their grown daughters. Will Birdie fly her empty nest? Will she go back to college for a degree in art? Will her brooding watercolors ever sell?
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her previous tales (Summer Island, 2001, etc.).Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-345-45071-X
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2002
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