Erudite tales that should prompt readers, just like the characters, to contemplate existentially.
A debut collection of seven stories follows the struggle of ordinary characters facing extraordinary circumstances.
Wilma Watts is happy in her small Wisconsin town, waitressing and spending evenings at home with her dog in “Wilma and Harry.” But something happens that will alter everything for her, a change that Wilma may not be prepared to handle. Characters throughout the book are much the same, resigned to complacency that ultimately won’t last. Terry Addams of “Sweet Liberty” is happy with his unattached existence, bouncing from port to port, until he realizes in Central America that he may be a scapegoat for murder. In “Pilgrimage: A Modern Parable,” English teacher Dante McCullough’s annual trip to pay respects to his late mentor leads the unbeliever to question the notion of a soul and salvation. While there’s a major decision for each character to make, not every story reveals the final choice or its consequence. What, for example, will Wallace Wiggins do in “Embarrassment of Riches: A Romance”? Newly rich after selling his plumbing business, Wallace craves the freedom enjoyed by the wealthy while also being torn between potential love for Eunice Ellis and lust for Eunice’s daughter Linda. Similarly, the titular mountain recluse in “What Maisie Knew” feels she should help Jimmy, a man in need—and very possibly a murderer. The stories can occasionally wallow in gloom but have their share of cheerful moments. Freddie, for one, was an apparently hapless, depressed alcoholic when the war veteran died in the snow in “Rain.” But Arthur realizes he might not have known his little brother once a posthumous search through Freddie’s attic uncovers poetry and love letters. The best story is also the collection’s finale, “The Master.” Oliver Eiger, a schoolmaster at prep school St. Swithin’s, truly appreciates his stellar position at home and work. His jubilance is nevertheless shattered when the headmaster convinces him to give an affluent businessman’s son a slightly better grade and Eiger learns that his wife, Brooke, may be cheating on him. It ends the book on a high, a story more amusing than bitter that adds a cynical spin to the title.
Erudite tales that should prompt readers, just like the characters, to contemplate existentially.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-941573-09-9
Page Count: 148
Publisher: Damianos Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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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