bookshelf

PLEASURE OF BELIEVING

Name: PLEASURE OF BELIEVING
Author: Anastasia Hobbet
ISBN: 1-56947-085-5

by Anastasia Hobbet ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 4, 1997

bookshelf

A first novel, pitting environmentalists against ranchers, that's suspenseful, wonderfully written, and remarkably free of didacticism. The Uncle John Ranch, comprising some of the best grassland in Wyoming, has passed through three generations of the Shea family, landing in the custody of Roberta, now in her late 40s. Disillusioned with ``the war ranchers wage against wildlife,'' she's transformed the ranch into a raptor rehabilitation facility. Though Roberta is sharply at odds with an ethic that values human survival over avian, she's grudgingly tolerated by nearby ranchers, whose connections to the Shea family run deep. Carl Drummond, a longtime neighbor, discovers that two of his sheep have been slaughtered by coyotes, and he recklessly poisons the carcasses to fend off predators and protect his livelihood. But when two poisoned eagles are found, victims of a ``collateral kill,'' an outraged Roberta is determined to find the culprit. The sad outcome is both inevitable and gripping. Meanwhile, an array of auxiliary characters are skillfully developed: Roberta's husband, Glen, a politician who once managed the Uncle John and now rues its alteration; Muirie, Roberta's 23-year-old niece, who arrives from California hoping to take control of her own life; Sherman, the local veterinarian, who shares Roberta's passion but struggles with her over the ethics of animal euthanasia; and Flo, Carl's wife, an amateur painter who unintentionally implicates her husband. Only the outside media, faulted for stereotyping this insular community, are themselves portrayed stereotypically. Even the recuperating birds have personalities and important roles to play. Pointed as they are, the conflicts on the animate side of this ecosystem are nearly eclipsed by the raw power of the inanimate world—the fearsome western weather and the intoxicating geography. Altogether, a debut informed by a palpable love of land and open spaces. (Author tour)

Pub Date: April 4, 1997

ISBN: 1-56947-085-5

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Soho

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1997

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

bookshelf

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

bookshelf

A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.

Pub Date: July 11, 1960

ISBN: 0060935464

Page Count: 323

Publisher: Lippincott

Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE LAND OF SWEET FOREVER
by Harper Lee ; edited by Casey Cep

- BOOK REVIEW
GO SET A WATCHMAN
by Harper Lee

- SEEN & HEARD
The Snowy Day Is NYC Library’s Most Popular Book

- SEEN & HEARD
ALA Releases List of 2020’s Most Challenged Books

- SEEN & HEARD
NYT Readers Voting on Best Book of Past 125 Years

bookshelf

DISTANT SHORES

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2002

Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her...

bookshelf

Another middle-aged mom in a muddle.

After years of false starts and big hopes, Elizabeth’s ruggedly handsome husband Jack, a former football star, just landed a spot as a sportscaster on national news. He still loves her, even though much younger women are giving him come-hither looks. Heck, he doesn’t want to betray the love of his life after she helped him kick drugs and stuck by him even when he was a struggling has-been. And won’t it seem hypocritical if he fools around with his sexy assistant while he does in-depth reporting on a rape case involving a famous basketball center? Well, he fools around anyway. Elizabeth, nicknamed Birdie, knows nothing of this, but she withdraws from Jack when her hard-drinking, salt-of-the-earth father has a stroke and dies. Now no one will call her “sugar beet” ever again. Time to return home to Tennessee and contend with Anita, the sort-of-evil stepmother so trashy she wears pink puffy slippers all day long. Naturally, it turns out that Anita actually has a heart of gold and knows a few things about Birdie’s dead mother that were hushed up for years. Mom was an artist, just like Birdie, and an old scandal comes to light as Anita unrolls a vibrant canvas that portrays her secret lover. Perhaps, Birdie muses, her mother died of heartbreak, never having followed her true love or developed her talent. Has she, too, compromised everything she holds dear? Hoping to find out, Birdie joins a support group that promises to reconnect confused women with their passion. She and Jack separate, prompting a how-dare-you fit from their grown daughters. Will Birdie fly her empty nest? Will she go back to college for a degree in art? Will her brooding watercolors ever sell?

Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her previous tales (Summer Island, 2001, etc.).