An elegant and often compelling multigenerational drama.
In this debut novel centered on a Greek American family in 1950s Chicago, a girl tries to protect her brother from danger.
The story opens in 1981, when Sophie is a kindergarten teacher. A student reminds her of a boy she once knew, which causes her to recall distant memories in 1956, when she was 12 and her brother, Niko, was almost 9. Their household is a tense place; their parents are constantly at each other’s throats, and their father drinks too much. When Sophie calls them “damn idiots” for their behavior, her dad slams her against the wall. In this abusive environment, she’s the only one looking out for young Niko. She yearns for the love and comfort that her grandparents offer her, but her dad despises his Greek in-laws; Niko, however, reveres his father and desperately wants to help him work on cars in the garage. The boy proves to have a sharp mind and physical dexterity, so he takes part in his father’s illegal dealings with Taki, a conniving uncle, and Vitto Biducci, “the most feared thug on the East Side.” One night, they assign Niko to steal valuables from locked cars. As his involvement in criminal activities escalates, so does the reader’s sense of dread. The 1956 storyline simmers with tension, but Voss sometimes jumps to other eras to chronicle other characters’ stories, such as that of Elena, Sophie’s great-grandmother, as she travels to America by steamship with five children in tow. Sophie’s parents’ backstories receive attention, as well, but these sections aren’t as engaging as the main plot. Still, the prose is always excellent, as when Voss offers vivid glimpses of the urban landscape: “In the darkening sky, Sophie saw the flaming smokestacks of the steel mills light up the night.” Characters are equally well drawn: “She looks like a cartoon in the funny papers,” Sophie’s cousin George says about his aunt who’s dressed up for a family outing. Overall, the text is entertaining and vibrant, rich with details of Greek American culture, ’50s and ’60s Chicago, and distinctive members of Sophie’s clan and community.
An elegant and often compelling multigenerational drama.Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73472-600-8
Page Count: 310
Publisher: Nature's Light Press
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
Answers are hard to come by in this twisting tale designed to trick and delight.
Three siblings on very different paths learn that their family home may be haunted by secrets.
Eldest daughter Beth is alone with her fading mother as she takes her final breath and says something about Beth’s long-departed brother and sister, who may not have disappeared forever. Beth is still reeling from the loss of her mother when her estranged siblings show up. Michael, the youngest, hasn’t been home since their father’s disappearance seven years ago. In the meantime, he’s outgrown his siblings, trading his share of the family troubles for a high-paying job in San Jose. Nicole, the middle child, has been overpowered by addiction and prioritized tuning out reality over any sense of responsibility, much to Beth’s disgust. Though their mother’s death marks an ending for the family, it’s also a beginning, as the three siblings realize when they find a disturbing videotape among their parents’ belongings. The video, from 1999, sheds suspicion on their father’s disappearance, linking it to a long-unsolved neighborhood mystery. Was it just a series of unfortunate circumstances that broke the family apart, or does something more sinister underlie the sadness they’ve all found in life? In chapters that rotate among the family’s first-person narratives, the siblings take turns digging up stories and secrets in their search for solace.
Answers are hard to come by in this twisting tale designed to trick and delight.Pub Date: April 30, 2024
ISBN: 9798212182843
Page Count: 270
Publisher: Blackstone
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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