A fusion of fiction and self-help in which the former well serves the latter.
Kumar offers a comprehensive self-help guide wrapped in the tale of a suffering salesman reconnecting with a long-absent friend.
Smith is a sales manager in New Orleans whose life has become a series of tragic circumstances. At work he feels overlooked and underchallenged; his home life suffers as he and his wife argue constantly, and he carries on a secret affair with a woman at his office. His two children struggle in school with their grades and behavior, he worries over his debts, and dual medical crises loom—a speeding biker who struck his car is in critical condition, and his wife is diagnosed with colon cancer. Overwhelmed, he retreats to Louis Armstrong Park for a walk and is surprised to run into his old friend, Satya, who has recently returned to the country after being in India for three years. Satya is upbeat and bromidic, well read and quick with quotations from various famous figures including Norman Vincent Peale, Dale Carnegie, and Mahatma Gandhi. When implored by Smith to help, he agrees to pull the man out of his three-year-long “downfall” during a course of evening walks together, with the proviso that Smith must swear to keep them secret. The author has a unique prose style—the novel’s narration and dialogue are both presented in a flat affect, rarely wavering even in moments of crisis for the characters. (“He was having trouble with his wife Tina, who suspected him of having an extramarital affair. This was indeed true.”) The dialogue often omits articles and conjunctions, and all of the characters talk with a consistent, stilted manner of phrasing. This awkwardness does not take away from the intrinsically clever conceit of the novel, which is to house a self-help resource within the confines of a prose story. Smith’s numerous troubles (many of which, at their core, are relatable struggles of finance and family), Satya’s advice, and the friendly relationship between them convey numerous lessons without Kumar ever taking the imperious writer-to-reader tone found in many self-improvement texts. An expansive reference section provides further reading for those curious to dive deeper into the story’s influences.
A fusion of fiction and self-help in which the former well serves the latter.Pub Date: Aug. 31, 2023
ISBN: 9798890668677
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Notion Press
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
None
Does glasnost mean the Cold War is over? Le Carre, the ultimate chronicler of Cold War espionage, ponders that issue (and others) in an up-to-date spy fable: his drollest work thus far, his simplest plot by a long shot, and sturdy entertainment throughout—even if not in the same league with the Karla trilogy and other le Carre classics. British Intelligence has gotten hold of a manuscript smuggled out of Russia. Part of it consists of wild sociopolitical ramblings. But the other part provides full details on the USSR's most secret defense weaponry—which is apparently in utter shambles! Can the UK and US trust this data and proceed with grand-scale disarmament? To find out, the Brits recruit the left-wing London publisher Bartholomew "Barley" Scott Blair, who has been chosen—by the manuscript's author, a reclusive Soviet scientist nicknamed "Goethe"—to handle the book's publication in the West. Barley's mission is to rendezvous with Goethe in Russia, ask lots of questions, and evaluate whether he's for real. . .or just part of a KGB disinformation scheme. Barley—a gifted amateur jazz-sax player, a quasi-roue in late middle age—has few doubts about Goethe's sincerity; he shares, with increasing fervor, the scientist's Utopian dreams of nth-degree glasnost. But the mission is soon mired in complications: CIA interrogations (with lie-detector) of Barley; venal opposition from US defense-contractors; and Barley's intense—and dangerous—love for Goethe's friend Katya, the go-between for his USSR visits. Narrated by a Smiley-like consultant at British Intelligence, the story, unwinds in typical le Carre style (leisurely interrogations, oblique angles), but without the usual denseness. The book's more serious threads—debates on disarmament, Barley's embrace of world peace over the "chauvinist drumbeat," the love story—tend toward the obvious and the faintly preachy. Still, Barley is a grand, Dickensian creation, the ugly Americans are a richly diverting crew, and this is witty, shapely tale-spinning from a modern master.
None NonePub Date: June 9, 1989
ISBN: 0141196351
Page Count: 430
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1989
Has heart but lacks craft and efficiency.
In Ferguson’s debut novel based on a true story, a driven businesswoman takes extreme and innovative measures to combat prejudice and propel her career.
Though qualified and proactive as a real estate manager, Rhoda, an African-American, finds herself frequently shut out of high-level positions due to racism even in 21st-century Manhattan. In one instance, she’s hired during a phone interview only to be told once she arrives at the Upper East Side office that the broker position has been filled. Yet when she returns disguised with a blond wig and lightened skin, calling herself GeeGee, she’s hired on the spot. In a similar fashion, Rhoda ignites her struggling hair extension side-business. Following advice from a peer that she will need to have a white “face” of the company, Rhoda calls on GeeGee. Eventually, with the support of the NAACP, she testifies and wins a victory affirming that companies are forbidden to ask for race identification when hiring and they may not look outside of skill and experience to fill a position. The conceit of this novelized “true story” is intriguing, although which parts are based in fact and which in fiction is unclear. The dialogue-heavy prose doesn’t have much fluidity, often due to preceding dialogue tags in which a sentence ending with a comma introduces a paragraphlong quote. There’s a similar problem in the novel’s exposition, particularly due to the use of passive voice, which slows scenes down. Toward the end, Rhoda falls in love with a white man who initially knows her only as GeeGee. Once that episode is resolved, Ferguson describes the wedding night with the sensual expertise of a seasoned erotica pulp writer. For the preceding pages, though, another edit could help shape the spirited tale.
Has heart but lacks craft and efficiency.Pub Date: Nov. 19, 2013
ISBN: 978-1481744447
Page Count: 240
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: Jan. 7, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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