A protracted, argument-starting debate between the Devil and an advocate for humanity.
A dramatized dialogue on the nature of good and evil, conducted between a young man and the devil himself.
In A.’s (The Power of Listening, 2015) latest work, Harvard graduate Malcolm Murray is a tourist in Florence when he encounters a charismatic stranger—an Italian priest with an oddly commanding demeanor. The narrative refers to this stranger simply as “the Enchanter,” and Malcolm immediately accepts his friendly offer to show him the sights of the city, starting with the famous Duomo. Malcolm studied law and is an open-minded, progress-oriented man on a quest to understand the meaning of life. The Enchanter seems to have many intriguing opinions on the subject, but it quickly becomes apparent that there’s much more to him than meets the eye. He is in fact the devil, as he soon admits to Malcolm, and he confesses that he covets the young man’s soul. He won’t simply take what he wants, however; his goal is to convince Malcolm to surrender his soul voluntarily—perhaps in exchange for untold wealth, fame, and power. The bulk of the book is devoted to the devil’s taking Malcolm on a virtual tour of the iniquities of mankind, including—fittingly enough for the Florentine setting—an exposition of evil as found in great works of art and poetry. The devil maintains that humans are made in his image, not God’s, and that evil is their true nature; Malcolm steadfastly, intelligently argues otherwise. The author sets up this modern-day Faustian scenario in quick, economical strokes. The intriguing debate ranges from the dawn of time to the dawn of the Taliban and encompasses everything from the sins of entire nations to, disarmingly, the sins of Malcolm’s own mother. However, in a move that many readers may find off-puttingly controversial, the debate frequently devolves into an assessment of U.S. foreign policy; however, this discussion is the most energetic thread running throughout Malcolm’s defense of the mortal world. Fans of G.I. Gurdjieff’s Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson (1950) or C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters (1942) will find this story to be a fascinating contemporary update.
A protracted, argument-starting debate between the Devil and an advocate for humanity.Pub Date: May 6, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-62287-850-5
Page Count: 178
Publisher: First Edition Design Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 31, 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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