Beyond that, little, really, is delved into, although the war, suffering and deprivation are vivid.
Only the second full-length novel from Bass (The Hermit’s Story, 2002), this takes an episode from Texas history that provides grit and suffering aplenty—while matters psychological remain generally unstirred.
In the 1830s, Texas has become an independent nation under the presidency of Sam Houston, but there’s still plenty of bad blood between the Mexicans and those new foreigners to the north. And so it is that after “a band of infidels, Mexican nationals,” cross the Rio Grande, attack San Antonio and flee, retaliation is called for. And when two military men, Captain Fisher and Captain Green, come through the town of LaGrange on the lookout for militiamen, even our 16-year-old narrator, surname of Alexander, and his friend James Shepherd join up. A band of 500 sets out, ostensibly to patrol the Rio Grande but in actuality—though known only to the commanders—to find revenge, an aim that leads to acts of wanton pillage, rapine and atrocity in Laredo and, such behavior being not yet sufficient, to the crossing of the river and invasion of Mexico as a harassing force. From there on, all goes downhill, as Jim Shepherd loses an arm, then his comradely goodness of character, then his life, and as the entire militia, defeated in battle in Ciudad Mier, is taken prisoner by the Mexicans. Near-starvation, exhaustion, attempts at escape (one of them through the mountains: a disaster)—all cut away at the number of survivors. Punishment at one point is the diezmo—the shooting of one in ten, decided by lot. Our narrator, though, somehow survives everything, including long and truly merciless imprisonment in the ungodly carved-from-a-mountain prison in Perote. After release, and after return home, “only a handful” remain of the 308 who crossed into Mexico. Now, at age 66 and telling the tale, the narrator wonders, “Why was I one of the tiny handful who survived the entire journey?”
Beyond that, little, really, is delved into, although the war, suffering and deprivation are vivid.Pub Date: May 13, 2005
ISBN: 0-395-92617-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2005
Too beholden to sentimentality and cliché, this novel fails to establish a uniquely realized perspective.
Hunter’s debut novel tracks the experiences of her family members during the Holocaust.
Sol and Nechuma Kurc, wealthy, cultured Jews in Radom, Poland, are successful shop owners; they and their grown children live a comfortable lifestyle. But that lifestyle is no protection against the onslaught of the Holocaust, which eventually scatters the members of the Kurc family among several continents. Genek, the oldest son, is exiled with his wife to a Siberian gulag. Halina, youngest of all the children, works to protect her family alongside her resistance-fighter husband. Addy, middle child, a composer and engineer before the war breaks out, leaves Europe on one of the last passenger ships, ending up thousands of miles away. Then, too, there are Mila and Felicia, Jakob and Bella, each with their own share of struggles—pain endured, horrors witnessed. Hunter conducted extensive research after learning that her grandfather (Addy in the book) survived the Holocaust. The research shows: her novel is thorough and precise in its details. It’s less precise in its language, however, which frequently relies on cliché. “You’ll get only one shot at this,” Halina thinks, enacting a plan to save her husband. “Don’t botch it.” Later, Genek, confronting a routine bit of paperwork, must decide whether or not to hide his Jewishness. “That form is a deal breaker,” he tells himself. “It’s life and death.” And: “They are low, it seems, on good fortune. And something tells him they’ll need it.” Worse than these stale phrases, though, are the moments when Hunter’s writing is entirely inadequate for the subject matter at hand. Genek, describing the gulag, calls the nearest town “a total shitscape.” This is a low point for Hunter’s writing; elsewhere in the novel, it’s stronger. Still, the characters remain flat and unknowable, while the novel itself is predictable. At this point, more than half a century’s worth of fiction and film has been inspired by the Holocaust—a weighty and imposing tradition. Hunter, it seems, hasn’t been able to break free from her dependence on it.
Too beholden to sentimentality and cliché, this novel fails to establish a uniquely realized perspective.Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-56308-9
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
BOOK TO SCREEN
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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