A loosely organized but intriguing novel about what it means to be part of a society and how one’s choices shape one’s...
Wilson’s debut novel recounts the strange, elliptical journey of a man on the run from the law and his philosophical musings about love, truth, and travel itself.
No one is better prepared to analyze the faults of society than an outsider, especially if he doesn't have a permanent address, occupation, or even a name. This novel’s tale is told from the first-person perspective of one such man: a narrator who shiftily introduces himself as Barry (“My name is, say, Barry. No, really, that is my name. Barry. Barry, uhhh, Klassen”) and continues to switch names throughout. It’s the chronicle of a fugitive who not only journeys across the North American continent, but across the bounds of human connection itself. At various points, he finds himself in Los Angeles, on a waterless journey up a steep desert road in the blazing sun, and on a city bus in a tourist-heavy part of Mexico. Along the way, he evades bounty hunters, corrupt transportation officials, and the conventions of polite society. In this sense, the narrator is an “island” unto himself; he’s free from humanity, or at least he feels like he’s escaping the “globalized little ubercocoon” that insulates modern man from the primal rigors of the natural world. His philosophical musings about truth act as the novel’s thematic throughline; in one extended section, he discusses the dulling of humanity’s basic senses in favor of a seemingly kinder, gentler world: “Our ancestors had a different word for bear, but they were so afraid of bears that they refused even to say this word and it became taboo.” The narrator’s overt condescension and hints of animalistic rage give the book an engaging tension. It almost manages to make up for the book’s overall lack of narrative structure. Overall, the writing is gripping and the concepts intriguing, if not always politically correct; however, the story itself is weak, serving more as a travelogue than a formalized narrative arc. Regardless, Wilson will hold readers’ attention, as he paints an unusual portrait that bristles with authenticity.
A loosely organized but intriguing novel about what it means to be part of a society and how one’s choices shape one’s perceptions and direction.Pub Date: July 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-0978499266
Page Count: 178
Publisher: Biocentrism Media
Review Posted Online: Feb. 26, 2015
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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