Old pro Hotchner, known for the biography Papa Hemingway (1966) and a downbeat account of the Rolling Stones in the 1960s, Blown Away (1991), turns in a breezy historical in time for Independence Day. The shallow tone is established early, during several scenes set in France in 1750 at the court of Louis XV, where the central character, Guy Laroule, plays at being a fop without actually becoming one. He delights in theatrical flirtations with the King's first consort, Madame de Pompadour—among them acting out sexual encounters without engaging in sex, so that she can learn how to please her king. Like the reader, however, the king is unconvinced of Guy's innocence. He banishes Guy to Louisiana, where he assumes ownership of a rundown plantation and, suddenly, is transformed into a hard-working, ingenious capitalist who pays his slaves wages and refuses to take black mistresses. As the plantation begins to prosper, he rescues a woman from an abusive relationship and marries her—a great relief, since romance doesn't appear to be Hotchner's thing. The tale perks up somewhat when Guy quits plantation life to become a fur trader at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers—and is thus in on the founding of St. Louis. Perhaps because St. Louis was Hotchner's hometown, he's more credible here. Guy becomes a powerful businessman and politician, conferring with no less than Thomas Jefferson and James Madison to effect the Louisiana Purchase. Hotchner waxes almost eloquent on the power and dangers of the two great rivers, and he effectively enough dramatizes the violent rivalry among those anxious to control and exploit the new land. Best in this hodgepodge history are scenes dealing with the first St. Louis breweries, and early methods of refrigeration using ice cut from the rivers and caves beneath the city for storage. Hotchner's name will pull in some readers, but this is finally a curious, shoddy, and uneven production even by Hotchner's standards.
Pub Date: July 4, 1996
ISBN: 0-7867-0309-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Britisher Swift's sixth novel (Ever After, 1992 etc.) and fourth to appear here is a slow-to-start but then captivating tale of English working-class families in the four decades following WW II. When Jack Dodds dies suddenly of cancer after years of running a butcher shop in London, he leaves a strange request—namely, that his ashes be scattered off Margate pier into the sea. And who could better be suited to fulfill this wish than his three oldest drinking buddies—insurance man Ray, vegetable seller Lenny, and undertaker Vic, all of whom, like Jack himself, fought also as soldiers or sailors in the long-ago world war. Swift's narrative start, with its potential for the melodramatic, is developed instead with an economy, heart, and eye that release (through the characters' own voices, one after another) the story's humanity and depth instead of its schmaltz. The jokes may be weak and self- conscious when the three old friends meet at their local pub in the company of the urn holding Jack's ashes; but once the group gets on the road, in an expensive car driven by Jack's adoptive son, Vince, the story starts gradually to move forward, cohere, and deepen. The reader learns in time why it is that no wife comes along, why three marriages out of three broke apart, and why Vince always hated his stepfather Jack and still does—or so he thinks. There will be stories of innocent youth, suffering wives, early loves, lost daughters, secret affairs, and old antagonisms—including a fistfight over the dead on an English hilltop, and a strewing of Jack's ashes into roiling seawaves that will draw up feelings perhaps unexpectedly strong. Without affectation, Swift listens closely to the lives that are his subject and creates a songbook of voices part lyric, part epic, part working-class social realism—with, in all, the ring to it of the honest, human, and true.
Pub Date: April 5, 1996
ISBN: 0-679-41224-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1996
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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