An uneven story of ancient Greece that, at its best, may capture readers’ imaginations.
This first novel of the Song of Greece series brings ancient history to life as religions and cultures clash, resulting in a great deal of blood, toil, tears and sweat.
In-Shushinak is a merchant-priest from Sumer who returns to the pastoral Greek village where he spent time as a child, and he offers both his goods and his monotheistic religion to the earthy locals. The people worship an earth goddess whose sacred grove is guarded by the Chaos-King Phanes, who has fought and killed many men who have attempted to steal his godhood. Phanes and his wife, Ilithyia, were once mere mortals, but now, they’re deemed so holy and powerful that villagers haven’t seen their faces in years. A chance encounter between the Chaos-King’s young daughters and In-Shushinak’s teenage student Hypsistos begins a chain of events that will change everyone’s lives forever. Phanes’ eldest daughter, Parthenia, plans to use her feminine wiles to coerce Hypsistos into overthrowing her father and making her queen. However, the locals fear that the foreigner will introduce his new religion to the sacred grove. Giarmo (The Adventures of Freefall O’Keefe, 1997) does a good job imitating the dense, detailed prose of old texts, making readers feel as though they are reading a story written long ago. In fact, after a while, the repetitive metaphors grow tiring—particularly those used to describe characters (the emerald-eyed woman, the shaven-headed youth and so on)—and, as a result, many scenes feel overlong. Other readers may be turned off by vividly described, unsavory aspects of the ancient culture, including graphic violence and incestuous and pedophilic sexuality. However, the story will still likely keep many readers engaged due to its high-stakes action and intriguing cultural debate.
An uneven story of ancient Greece that, at its best, may capture readers’ imaginations.Pub Date: May 7, 2012
ISBN: 978-0615697727
Page Count: 626
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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