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SOMETHING BORROWED

Marshall's mature wit and sophisticated style are in evidence once again (as in Tender Offer, 1981, etc.), but a thin plot involving former spouses who fall back in love offers too little support for her philosophical musings. Charlie Burr is marrying the girl next door, so it's not surprising that his mother, Gale, a psychotherapist, gets misty- eyed just looking at the couple on the night before the ceremony- -despite the lurking presence of her own personal reminder of marriage's pitfalls, ex-husband Gary. In reality, though, Gary's arrival at the festivities isn't entirely unwelcome. Charlie loves his father, though irresponsible Gary wasn't around much while Charlie was growing up, and while Gary's been married twice more since divorcing Gale, his touch still sends a surprisingly powerful tingle down her spine. As the three-day festivities proceed, Gale and Gary manage to slip away from his younger wife, Sandra, and Gale's older husband, Bob, to explore the pluses and minuses of their breakup—and to spend a night in a hotel room remembering what they liked best about being a married pair. As Sandra maneuvers to win back her man, dragging Bob along, Gale and Gary's grown daughter agonizes over what her parents's possible reunion will do to her psyche and how she'll deal with her mother's lack of time for her. In the end, Gale admits to herself that too much time has passed for the fantasy of winning back Gary ever to come true, and though Gary is less than convinced, Sandra's determination is sufficient for both of them. The wedding party disperses, and the two couples head for different ends of the country, each a little older and wiser than before. Wry, observant, and often amusing, but in need of more flesh on its bones.

Pub Date: June 1, 1997

ISBN: 0-395-81665-3

Page Count: 223

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1997

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MAGIC HOUR

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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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

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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