The prolific novelist and biographer, and well-known apostate from the Church of England, here records in fiction a similar loss of faith. More so than his previous novels (Daughters of Albion, etc.), this is very much of our times, and incorporates language and themes unusual for this once veddy proper Englishman. Francis Kreer, a middle-aged vicar in a small London suburb, seems the perfect clergyman: his theology is mainstream C of E, his family life is suitably dull, and he even brushes up his classics with a few friendly parishioners. But Francis's world comes tumbling down when his mother dies unexpectedly, having added a disturbing codicil to her will: She leaves a significant part of her sizable estate to a former lover. Suddenly, Francis indulges his worst thoughts and emotions. His twitty, girlish wife disgusts him, causing her to have panic attacks; he begins to neglect his beloved daughter; and, worst of all, career-wise, he no longer believes in God. The moment Francis begins to ``go funny,'' the parish begins to disintegrate. The obnoxious Low Church couple, the Spittles, raise their troublemaking to a new level when Mrs. Spittle publicly (and absurdly) accuses Francis of sexually accosting her. Francis's best friend from seminary is no help either—an effeminate Anglo-Catholic, he's already been sanctioned by the Archbishop for some public restroom exploits. Just as Francis's mania increases, a band of hippie wanderers set up camp nearby, and among the scruffy bunch Francis spots his salvation: a beautiful young violinist who dropped out of conservatory to bum around with her junky boyfriend. While Francis neglects parish duties and pursues the girl, his own daughter becomes a religious fanatic, hoping Jesus will restore her family. But things get only worse. By the end, Francis has gone completely bonkers. Certainly the darkest of Wilson's novels: a superb web of secrets and misunderstandings that ends with an affirmation—all the more powerful for being hard-earned.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-393-03610-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1993
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
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
Genetically engineered dinosaurs run amok in Crichton's new, vastly entertaining science thriller. From the introduction alone—a classically Crichton-clear discussion of the implications of biotechnological research—it's evident that the Harvard M.D. has bounced back from the science-fantasy silliness of Sphere (1987) for another taut reworking of the Frankenstein theme, as in The Andromeda Strain and The Terminal Man. Here, Dr. Frankenstein is aging billionaire John Hammond, whose monster is a manmade ecosystem based on a Costa Rican island. Designed as the world's ultimate theme park, the ecosystem boasts climate and flora of the Jurassic Age and—most spectacularly—15 varieties of dinosaurs, created by elaborate genetic engineering that Crichton explains in fascinating detail, rich with dino-lore and complete with graphics. Into the park, for a safety check before its opening, comes the novel's band of characters—who, though well drawn, double as symbolic types in this unsubtle morality play. Among them are hero Alan Grant, noble paleontologist; Hammond, venal and obsessed; amoral dino-designer Henry Wu; Hammond's two innocent grandchildren; and mathematician Ian Malcolm, who in long diatribes serves as Crichton's mouthpiece to lament the folly of science. Upon arrival, the visitors tour the park; meanwhile, an industrial spy steals some dino embryos by shutting down the island's power—and its security grid, allowing the beasts to run loose. The bulk of the remaining narrative consists of dinos—ferocious T. Rex's, voracious velociraptors, venom-spitting dilophosaurs—stalking, ripping, and eating the cast in fast, furious, and suspenseful set-pieces as the ecosystem spins apart. And can Grant prevent the dinos from escaping to the mainland to create unchecked havoc? Though intrusive, the moralizing rarely slows this tornado-paced tale, a slick package of info-thrills that's Crichton's most clever since Congo (1980)—and easily the most exciting dinosaur novel ever written. A sure-fire best-seller.
Pub Date: Nov. 7, 1990
ISBN: 0394588169
Page Count: 424
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1990
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
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.
