by Alison Lurie ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1994
With her usual dry wit, Lurie (The Truth About Lorin Jones, 1988, etc.) makes the supernatural seem at first possible, and then inevitable, as this collection's gimmick loses its freshness. These are all satisfying tales individually, but none stand out from the crowd, and they suffer from collective overkill as the unearthly phenomena begin to seem like an easy way out of all narrative entanglements rather than an integral part of the plots. For example, the narrator of ``Ilse's House'' was about to marry a successful academic when she began having visions of a woman's legs sticking out from the space next to the refrigerator, a spot where her fiancÇ once found his first wife sitting in the dark after he stayed late at a party. The excuse of the ghost rescues the narrator from clarifying exactly why she ended the relationship. Lurie has a knack for letting the punishment fit the crime, but often the ghosts seem unimaginative. ``The Pool People'' start appearing in the pool of a rather unpleasant woman who has not allowed the men working on her house to cool off there, especially because she feared that one might have AIDS. While the ghosts' initial appearance is poetic justice, they fail to do much. Finally, a dose of detachment hampers the shivers. ``In the Shadow'' follows Celia, an employee at the American embassy in London, whose rejected suitor dies in a car accident. Even a transfer to a remote country does not stop her from seeing the dead man whenever she gets close to a lover and hearing his rude comments on her partners. But the story's effect is diminished because she was never in love with the suitor in the first place. Crisp prose throughout, but the spook show gets in the way of character development. (Author tour)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-385-47392-3
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1994
Share your opinion of this book
More by Alison Lurie
BOOK REVIEW
by Alison Lurie
BOOK REVIEW
by Alison Lurie illustrated by Karen Sung
BOOK REVIEW
by Alison Lurie
by Natasha Pulley ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 18, 2020
Although this sequel doesn’t break new ground, it will appeal strongly to fans of the first book.
More steampunk adventures of a samurai prognosticator, his clockwork octopus, and his human lovers.
Five years after her charming debut novel, The Watchmaker of Filigree Street (2015), Pulley brings back the main characters for another scramble through the dangers and consequences of clairvoyance. Readers of the first book already know the big reveal: that Keita Mori—the eponymous London watchmaker—has an unusual memory that works both backward and forward. (Readers new to the series should put this book down and start with Watchmaker.) This time Pulley sets the action principally in Japan, where Mori; Thaniel Steepleton, a British translator and diplomat; Grace Carrow Matsumoto, a physicist; and Takiko Pepperharrow, a Kabuki actress and baroness, are working together to foil a samurai’s power grab and turn away a Russian invasion. At least, that’s what Mori’s doing; the others are rushing blindly down paths he’s laid out for them, which may or may not get them where he wants them to go. But if Mori knows what’s coming and what steps they can take to change the future, why doesn’t he just tell them what to do? The answer is half satisfying (because, as in any complicated relationship, communication isn’t always easy; because the characters have wills of their own and might not obey) and half irritating (because if he did, there wouldn’t be much of a story). Pulley’s witty writing and enthusiastically deployed steampunk motifs—clockwork, owls, a mechanical pet, Tesla-inspired electrical drama—enliven a plot that drags in the middle before rushing toward its explosive end. Perhaps more interesting than the plot are the relationships. The characters revolve through a complex pattern of marriages of passion and convenience, sometimes across and sometimes within genders and cultures, punctuated by jealousy and interesting questions about trust.
Although this sequel doesn’t break new ground, it will appeal strongly to fans of the first book.Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-63557-330-5
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
Share your opinion of this book
More by Natasha Pulley
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
by Grady Hendrix ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 7, 2020
Fans of smart horror will sink their teeth into this one.
Awards & Accolades
Our Verdict
GET IT
New York Times Bestseller
IndieBound Bestseller
Things are about to get bloody for a group of Charleston housewives.
In 1988, the scariest thing in former nurse Patricia Campbell’s life is showing up to book club, since she hasn’t read the book. It’s hard to get any reading done between raising two kids, Blue and Korey, picking up after her husband, Carter, a psychiatrist, and taking care of her live-in mother-in-law, Miss Mary, who seems to have dementia. It doesn’t help that the books chosen by the Literary Guild of Mt. Pleasant are just plain boring. But when fellow book-club member Kitty gives Patricia a gloriously trashy true-crime novel, Patricia is instantly hooked, and soon she’s attending a very different kind of book club with Kitty and her friends Grace, Slick, and Maryellen. She has a full plate at home, but Patricia values her new friendships and still longs for a bit of excitement. When James Harris moves in down the street, the women are intrigued. Who is this handsome night owl, and why does Miss Mary insist that she knows him? A series of horrific events stretches Patricia’s nerves and her Southern civility to the breaking point. (A skin-crawling scene involving a horde of rats is a standout.) She just knows James is up to no good, but getting anyone to believe her is a Sisyphean feat. After all, she’s just a housewife. Hendrix juxtaposes the hypnotic mundanity of suburbia (which has a few dark underpinnings of its own) against an insidious evil that has taken root in Patricia’s insular neighborhood. It’s gratifying to see her grow from someone who apologizes for apologizing to a fiercely brave woman determined to do the right thing—hopefully with the help of her friends. Hendrix (We Sold Our Souls, 2018, etc.) cleverly sprinkles in nods to well-established vampire lore, and the fact that he’s a master at conjuring heady 1990s nostalgia is just the icing on what is his best book yet.
Fans of smart horror will sink their teeth into this one.Pub Date: April 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68369-143-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
Share your opinion of this book
More by Grady Hendrix
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
More About This Book
BOOK TO SCREEN
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.