From mystery writer Wilson (Trouble in Transylvania, 1993, etc.), a pretentiously lyrical story of healing and recovery—one that pushes all the usual buttons as a woman recollects the long- buried losses and traumas of childhood. In her 30s, Cory Winter, a successful CPA and amateur painter, with Rosemary, a new lover, at her side, should be on top of the world. She isn't. Living in Seattle, she feels alienated, happier alone, and unable to respond to the abundant affection Rosemary offers. Cory recalls her seemingly happy childhood in southern California in the 1950's, with Polly, her mother, who created a flower-filled garden and taught Cory how to draw; West, a dependable father; and a cute little brother, Kevin. But gardens have a long history of harboring with their perfection the agents of their destruction, and the Winters' garden is no different. Polly Winter was raised as a Christian Scientist by her strict midwestern mother, and though she escaped to California, she could not free herself from either her mother or her faith. Which means that when she finds a lump in her breast, she tries to heal it with prayer, undergoing surgery, at West's insistence, only when it's too late. Intimidated by her mother's presence, Polly also failed to notice her brother Steve's abusive behavior to Cory on visits to them. When Polly became ill and died, Cory's childhood and life as part of a close-knit family ended. Her father moved them to an apartment, withdrawing into himself, and as soon as she was old enough Cory left. Years later, therapy, confessions to her brother, and a visit rich in epiphany to England enable her finally to put her past behind her and move on, with Rosemary at her side. Wilson's self-absorbed protagonist with her tiresome, politically correct lover and blighted family irritates more than she engages. Not this author's best. (Author tour)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1996
ISBN: 1-878067-83-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Seal Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her...
Another middle-aged mom in a muddle.
After years of false starts and big hopes, Elizabeth’s ruggedly handsome husband Jack, a former football star, just landed a spot as a sportscaster on national news. He still loves her, even though much younger women are giving him come-hither looks. Heck, he doesn’t want to betray the love of his life after she helped him kick drugs and stuck by him even when he was a struggling has-been. And won’t it seem hypocritical if he fools around with his sexy assistant while he does in-depth reporting on a rape case involving a famous basketball center? Well, he fools around anyway. Elizabeth, nicknamed Birdie, knows nothing of this, but she withdraws from Jack when her hard-drinking, salt-of-the-earth father has a stroke and dies. Now no one will call her “sugar beet” ever again. Time to return home to Tennessee and contend with Anita, the sort-of-evil stepmother so trashy she wears pink puffy slippers all day long. Naturally, it turns out that Anita actually has a heart of gold and knows a few things about Birdie’s dead mother that were hushed up for years. Mom was an artist, just like Birdie, and an old scandal comes to light as Anita unrolls a vibrant canvas that portrays her secret lover. Perhaps, Birdie muses, her mother died of heartbreak, never having followed her true love or developed her talent. Has she, too, compromised everything she holds dear? Hoping to find out, Birdie joins a support group that promises to reconnect confused women with their passion. She and Jack separate, prompting a how-dare-you fit from their grown daughters. Will Birdie fly her empty nest? Will she go back to college for a degree in art? Will her brooding watercolors ever sell?
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her previous tales (Summer Island, 2001, etc.).Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-345-45071-X
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2002
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