A dark, disturbing, but beautifully described Amazonian adventure with overtones of Heart of Darkness.
In the first English translation of a Peruvian classic, an ambitious young man arrives in the jungle to make his fortune and finds himself swept along on a mysterious adventure.
In the early 20th century, Abel Barcas arrives in the Amazonian village of Santa Ines to make a living in the burgeoning rubber trade. What he doesn’t expect is the drama of dispatching a corrupt, drunken governor and his vile minions, the Bull and the Piquicho. The new governor appoints Barcas as his partner in the rubber business and sends him on a journey to survey the surrounding jungle for harvestable rubber trees. He is accompanied by an intrepid explorer known as the Matero; the wise man and rumored sorcerer Sangama, who is seeking an ancient, legendary treasure; Sangama’s beautiful daughter, Chuya, with whom Barcas falls in love; and the villainous Bull and Piquicho. Together, the group encounters hurricane winds, ravenous anacondas, and what might be demon spirits that fill the darkest corners of the jungle. The novel, based on Peruvian author Hernández’s own experiences in the jungle, was first published in Spanish in 1942; this is the first time it has been available in English, thanks to the translation efforts of Enstam. It is an elegant, poetic translation, with Hernández’s passionate prose painting a vivid picture of the jungle’s untamed beauty and danger, giving readers a rare glimpse into a world that, at the time, was still mostly unspoiled by modern man. “Some maintain that the jungle is a green prison,” Sangama says. “Others claim that it is the true Hell. Others describe it as an environment fit only for the life of the trees, but not for the dwelling of men.” Barcas’ relationship with Chuya—and the novel’s treatment of women in general—is a bit shallow in some of its more testosterone-fueled moments, but one imagines (and hopes) that attitude is a relic of the time period.
A dark, disturbing, but beautifully described Amazonian adventure with overtones of Heart of Darkness.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-0978691400
Page Count: 358
Publisher: Quaestor Press, Limited
Review Posted Online: April 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
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
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