A dark, whimsical adventure that dog-lovers will enjoy.
The life of a young, tormented dog-walker is changed by the people and pets he encounters.
Benny has always felt that he was different than the other residents of his small town of Mayfield, Md.; however, he feels a close connection to the loving, loyal canine members of the community. Becoming a dog-walker was just as much a natural choice for dog-loving Benny as it was a necessity for him as a high-school dropout who has been walked over by the people he has known throughout his young life. Alvarez entices readers to see the town of Mayfield through the eyes of Benny as he creates a kinship with the dogs he walks for his neighbors and takes uncharted paths, twists and turns that give way to new adventures. Through Benny, a lone wolf whose friends and family members cannot compare to his love interest, Laura—the forlorn, anorexic prostitute with the “Husky blue eyes”—Alvarez appealingly flaunts the charm, sincerity and patriotism that exists in the heart of the young man. Although Benny displays a subconscious loyalty to his new crush, there are disturbing problems that arise with courting her. Along with his sharply crafted witticisms and creative analogies, Alvarez creates compelling parallels between the relationships that Benny forges with the people of Mayfield and the ones he forges with the dogs that he walks for them. As Benny explores himself through the challenges he faces in each chapter, he meets new members of his small-town community, and, as he grows, he is increasingly able to lend a helping hand. There's Vanessa, the bold, resourceful owner of recalcitrant Ruckus; Gale, the buxom, beautiful owner of Remy and Shadow and girlfriend of a disrespectful brute; Larry, a war veteran with a wild imagination; and Mrs. McKenzie, the owner of toy poodles, with whom she enjoys drinking beer. And then there's Benny's friend Zach, the sneaky drug dealer, who introduces Benny to Laura. Alvarez expertly uses dark humor to mold Benny into an engaging character who works to save his employers and friends.
A dark, whimsical adventure that dog-lovers will enjoy.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1466319752
Page Count: -
Publisher: Bell Bridge
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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