An extended, sometimes labored parable of good and evil on “the need for transparency in human interactions.”
Singh’s debut novel exposes the conflicting interests and corrupting desires of trade unions during the last three decades of 20th-century India.
Chosen to replace the latest in a line of negligent managers at the Amlawar branch of India’s nationalized bank, a noble, accomplished man named Purshottam encounters a disheartening situation in which workers are rewarded for laziness, sloppiness and absenteeism. He soon discovers that top union leaders control not just the bank, but the politics of his country, causing its citizens to live under fear and great hardships. Believing that the bank’s productivity reflects that of the nation, Purshottam socializes with his new employees, empowers them in their day-to-day duties and encourages them to take pride in their work. When the ruthless union activist, Pandey, and his proudly manipulative underling, Neki Lal, realize that the new manager’s integrity threatens their very existence, they attempt to intimidate him. Meanwhile, Chanchal, a young orphan desperate for spirituality, also struggles at the Amlawar branch. His rejection of American-influenced business techniques and his desire for truth and justice make him a target. Unfairly dismissed, he’s visited by an angel who confirms his innate goodness before cult members murder him. With the sheen of a martyr, his fate becomes an inspiration for all bank employees—regardless of caste or union involvement—to follow a “religion” of “transparency and truth.” Singh does an excellent job of introducing readers to the perils of unions and the nationalization of competitive industries. His cast of peons, clerks, officers and the laborers reveals India’s complex and unforgiving class system, but the characters come off as two-dimensional and experience little growth, despite a last-minute transformation by Neki Lal “to do the right” after Chanchal’s death. Stilted dialogue and high-minded editorializing mar the storytelling, as does the meandering pace and absence of intrigue.
An extended, sometimes labored parable of good and evil on “the need for transparency in human interactions.”Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2013
ISBN: 978-1481203876
Page Count: 282
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: April 1, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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