A story with sumptuous description and a gradually intensifying plot that makes for compulsive reading.
An American scholar visits Cuba and becomes embroiled in the politics of everyday life in this poetic novel by Putnam, author of Full Moon at Noontide (2009).
Professor Laura Gallagher is traveling to Havana to read a paper she has written on Ernest Hemingway to fellow American and Cuban scholars. It’s the 1990s, and such opportunities to visit the country had previously been quite rare. Gallagher is excited and a bit afraid, although her motivation to travel goes beyond mere academic interest; she’s also desperate to use the trip as a way to outrun painful memories. Ever since the death of her mother when she was 12, Gallagher has struggled to face her darkest moments, including the loss of a baby following an emergency C-section, an unrewarding love life, and a traumatic hysterectomy. Almost as soon as she arrives in Cuba, she falls ill with a gastrointestinal illness. Her caregiver is the mysterious Maria, who was once a doctor but is now a hotel cleaner. Maria introduces Gallagher to her daughter, Pilar, who, as a child, believed Hemingway was a spirit watching over her. After Gallagher recovers, she feels an immediate bond with this Cuban family. However, she’s soon accosted by a man on the street who tells her to “mind [her] own business” and “stay away.” In an environment where neighbors spy on neighbors, Gallagher must tread very carefully in order to comprehend and fight against the dangers that are facing her newfound friends and rediscover a lost sense of purpose and peace within herself.
As the novel goes on, Putnam skillfully intertwines history and fiction by carefully pondering the impact of political events from the perspective of the Cuban people: “On those dark October days years ago, what was it like from here, with the lighthouse dark and missiles aimed every which way?...No cannons at nine to announce that all is well.” Overall, she offers readers a multifaceted, elegantly described portrait of Cuban life—from the sensual enticement of a famed highball cocktail (“I want the chink of ice cubes, the splash of water, the sweet immersion….Rum, lime, mint, a spritz of seltzer and ice. Mojito”) to the haunting yet enthralling local atmosphere that’s informed by the religion Santeria. However, despite the novel’s breathtakingly evocative descriptive focus on the country and culture, the author never neglects the intricacies of her complex plot. She shows herself to be expert at poetically exploring and pinpointing her protagonist’s psychological state: “I’m an outsider to my own story. I’m still the little girl with the unopened chest buried under her bed.” The novel’s portrayal of Gallagher’s story of altruism and catharsis makes for a satisfying and rewarding read—and one that also confronts a range of relatable anxieties. In addition, there are sufficient Hemingway references here to satisfy fans of that author. Overall, this impressively expansive novel will appeal to academics, Cubanophiles, and general readers alike.
A story with sumptuous description and a gradually intensifying plot that makes for compulsive reading.Pub Date: June 2, 2022
ISBN: 979-8-42647-677-6
Page Count: 347
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Aug. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A quick read that offers a fun, modern update on the lives of a royal family many know and love.
In the 12th installment of the Princess Diaries series, Cabot brings readers back to Genovia in the year 2020 as Princess Mia navigates her hardest, wackiest challenges yet.
It’s March 2020, and for Princess Mia Thermopolis, it’s not all sunshine and pears in the royal palace. Not only has she just been informed by the prime minister that there is a worldwide pandemic, but her own grandmother has just been seen partying on a yacht with several fratty spring breakers from America. Within days, Mia issues a quarantine for the residents of Genovia, closing their small country’s borders…much to the dismay of her bar-owning Cousin Ivan and a family of bakers conveniently named the Paninis. When Mia’s husband, Michael, is exposed to the virus and ordered to self-isolate, Mia resorts to day-drinking and sweatpants-wearing, all in an attempt to remain sane with the entire Thermopolis family under one roof. Over the course of early quarantine, the number of palace inhabitants begins to resemble a small country, including Mia’s best friend, Lilly; ex-frenemy Lana and her Beyoncé-ified kids, Purple Iris and Sir Jason Junior; and her “InFLUENZer” Grandmère’s new American friends, Chad and Derek. While Mia works to maintain a semblance of normalcy within Genovia, conditions begin to escalate for the worse. Ivan sues her for disrupting the sale of booze, her other cousin Prince René stages anti-mask protests outside the castle walls, Michael is creating a vaccine with his high school ex-girlfriend, and Grandmère declares that she and Derek are engaged to be married. Can Mia protect her country from a deadly virus amid family lawsuits, purchases of 5,000 wedding napkins, and one ancient, pool-drinking cat named Fat Louie? Cabot’s beloved princess has grown into a strong, resilient leader, though her pandemic problems are perhaps relatively mild compared to those of real European countries. Regardless, Mia’s quirky and honest diary entries are a welcome take on subject matter readers know all too well.
A quick read that offers a fun, modern update on the lives of a royal family many know and love.Pub Date: March 28, 2023
ISBN: 9780063291935
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
Not as thematically ambitious as Whitehead’s earlier work, but a whole lot of fun to read.
Another surprise from an author who never writes the same novel twice.
Though Whitehead has earned considerable critical acclaim for his earlier work—in particular his debut (The Intuitionist, 1999) and its successor (John Henry Days, 2001)—he’ll likely reach a wider readership with his warmest novel to date. Funniest as well, though there have been flashes of humor throughout his writing. The author blurs the line between fiction and memoir as he recounts the coming-of-age summer of 15-year-old Benji Cooper in the family’s summer retreat of New York’s Sag Harbor. “According to the world, we were the definition of paradox: black boys with beach houses,” writes Whitehead. Caucasians are only an occasional curiosity within this idyll, and parents are mostly absent as well. Each chapter is pretty much a self-contained entity, corresponding to a rite of passage: getting the first job, negotiating the mysteries of the opposite sex. There’s an accident with a BB gun and plenty of episodes of convincing someone older to buy beer, but not much really happens during this particular summer. Yet by the end of it, Benji is well on his way to becoming Ben, and he realizes that he is a different person than when the summer started. He also realizes that this time in his life will eventually live only in memory. There might be some distinctions between Benji and Whitehead, though the novelist also spent his youthful summers in Sag Harbor and was the same age as Benji in 1985, when the novel is set. Yet the first-person narrator has the novelist’s eye for detail, craft of character development and analytical instincts for sharp social commentary.
Not as thematically ambitious as Whitehead’s earlier work, but a whole lot of fun to read.Pub Date: April 28, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-385-52765-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2009
BOOK TO SCREEN
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