Moeyaert’s memoir, translated from the Flemish, consists of 42 brief vignettes of childhood exploits with six older brothers. The young Moeyaert is a willing, often baffled accomplice as his brothers ogle a neighbor girl, lob a toad onto a scorching-hot tin roof or attempt to steal a pie from the bakery van. In several touching pieces, the author allows himself starring roles: In “Ground,” he stays behind to tend a tiny new garden patch long after his brothers have run off; in “Seldom,” he finds a rare shell at the beach, marveling at his father’s profound reaction. While the English subtitle seems to portend unique characterizations of each brother, quite the opposite occurs: They career along in tale after tale as a seething, unified mass of boy-energy—one organism with seven heads, many flailing limbs and a single intent, whether to enjoy a nice game of playing dead or thwart an annoying summer guest. Moeyaert laces the unaffected observations of his tag-along child self with the rueful, elegiac tones of the adult looking back. The result—wistful prose tinged with irony—is best suited to mature readers, similarly equipped to cast a net back on childhood memories. (Memoir. 10-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2005
ISBN: 1-932425-18-7
Page Count: 168
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2005
Cosmopolitan aunt to the rescue! Fourteen-year-old Ruthie feels stifled by her tiny Delaware town, her frumpy and overprotective mother and the fact that her father was an unknown sperm donor. When she falls head-over-heels in love with lifelong friend Perry, she knows mom can’t help. In secret, hardly breathing, she telephones glamorous Aunt Marty, mom’s estranged sister who writes magazine love columns and is an official expert on men. Ruthie being smitten with rich Aunt Marty is at least as important as the tumultuous relationship between the adult sisters and Ruthie’s pursuit of Perry. Hogan excels at young tenderness, such as Perry spooning Ruthie’s foot, and an enchanted day they spend together in D.C. Mom gets a bum rap (caricatured confusingly as both a dowdy ’50s throwback and an intentional single mom) while heroine Marty’s high heels, manicures and diet examples (appetizer portions only) far outshine any depth that Hogan attempts. Fun, especially for readers who thrill at secret tips like “[a]lways wear silk underpants.” (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: April 1, 2007
ISBN: 0-06-084108-7
Page Count: 208
Publisher: HarperTempest
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2007
After the society-changing events of Sky Carver (2005), shapeshifting Raven returns home to find a world that has not been touched by the distant revolution she helped orchestrate. In her home valley of Cutter’s Landing, her people are still mistreated bondservants with no opportunity for freedom. There has been one change, though: Raven’s mother Roxaine has borne a child to her new lover, Baron Cutter. Raven is infuriated with what she sees as Roxaine’s betrayal, but when Baron Cutter dies and the cruel Steward sells Roxaine into the mines in order to maintain his own power, mother and daughter must work together to save themselves and their fellow serfs. The fantasy quest is painfully touched with the disagreements between Raven and her mother, as Roxaine comes to terms with Raven’s independence and magical powers, and Raven learns to accept her mother as a fallible woman with an independent life. Flat supporting characters don’t keep this offering from being a fast-paced, heartwarming adventure. (Fantasy. 11-13)
Pub Date: May 21, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-618-70224-4
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2007
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