A disturbingly believable account of a marriage gone bad.
Mullen’s novel tells the disturbing account of a woman trapped in an abusive marriage.
Katie O’Connell seems to have the perfect life upon marrying Jeff, a wealthy, charming man who whisks her off to Rhode Island. But she soon feels as though she married two people: loving Jeff, who’s at ease when they sail on their yacht, and the dark, angry Jeff on land, who thrusts his four children from a previous marriage onto Katie, thanking her with only biting criticism. Not long into marriage, Katie finds herself “in a constant state of readiness, one foot perpetually raised and prepared for the quick change of direction from one version of him to the other.” Jeff’s dark moods begin to overshadow their marriage, and sides of him she didn’t know existed begin to surface. Though he had claimed to be a staunch feminist when they were dating, he suddenly decides that Katie’s career as a newspaper columnist is no longer acceptable; she must raise his children. He asserts control over their finances and blames Katie for everything, including his mood swings and angst. As the marriage descends into a tense, dangerous place, Katie finds herself losing her conviction and choosing to believe Jeff’s apologies and promises. A cycle ensues: Jeff crosses lines of abuse that even forgiving Katie cannot tolerate, though she finds herself reconciling again as Jeff insists he’ll get help. But when Katie’s willingness to work with her troubled husband is put to the ultimate test, her resilience may not be enough. Told with a gentle touch, Katie’s story draws the reader into the desperate mind of a woman who needs to believe in her marriage. It’s every woman’s nightmare, and Katie’s determination makes her both a victim and a heroine; either way, she’s hugely sympathetic. The details of her turbulent marriage make for a gripping, heart-rending experience, which will stay with readers long after the story ends.
A disturbingly believable account of a marriage gone bad.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0615655727
Page Count: 244
Publisher: Tenacity Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 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
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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