by J. John le Grange ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 17, 2014
A profoundly affective novel brimming with solid writing that delves into the darker corners of being human.
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Simple, beautifully told coming-of-age story in a wrenching account of loyalty, betrayal, heartbreak, and redemption.
At first, the deceptively straightforward style of le Grange’s debut novel makes it almost seem like a fairy tale, but it’s one that rapidly turns dark. A white South African family is at the end of a downward spiral. Facing eviction and running out of options, the family has been subsisting on Martha’s salary from a 7-Eleven while her unemployed husband, Hendrik, has all but given up, teetering at the edge of sanity. They have tried to shelter daughter Magda, who spends most of her time in her room, living vicariously through letters with a friend. As the date of their eviction approaches, each deals with the move in his or her own way. Martha efficiently sells things off and plans the move to Cape Town; Hendrik prays for death and contemplates his military role during apartheid; Magda comes to the realization that her life is going to change. “She was scared. It looked like there were going to be more changes. She had had enough of change. First there was leaving Bothaville when Pa was retrenched because of this BEE thing, then the move to Welkom where her uncle was, then the quick move to Wolseley because Ma knew a friend from there. Why couldn’t they just stay somewhere for good?” The author skillfully plants hints along the way that poverty isn’t the only problem. There are phone calls between Martha and a mysterious man as well as vague references to the real reason the family had to leave the town of Welkom. It all comes to a head when Magda is faced with a devastating choice that calls for immense maturity amid the abject, overwhelming conditions on the Cape Town streets. Le Grange writes beautifully, laying out the story in direct, simple prose while at the same time infusing it with vivid symbolism and deeply evocative images: “She cannot speak anymore and even though she hears her mother talking, she lets go of the phone. The dismembered receiver swings round and round.” Rarely has a difficult subject been so easy to read about.
A profoundly affective novel brimming with solid writing that delves into the darker corners of being human.Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-620-62363-6
Page Count: 172
Publisher: South Africa Writing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006
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
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by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951
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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