After a ten-year hiatus from novels, Gutcheon (The New Girls, 1979; Still Missing, 1981) offers a contemporary tale about the state of domestic life in the Big Applea surprisingly upbeat story of romantic love complicated by exes and adolescent offspring, if somewhat cushioned by money. When the ex-husband of children's book illustrator Martha Forbes dies in a plane crash, Martha is forced to deal with his attorney Charles Leveque, whom she hates for his rote in the meager divorce settlement she received. Despite their differences, though, they soon discover a mutual respectand attractionas they both navigate the waters of single parenting. For them, getting together is easy; staying together, much harder. Real life problems abound, in particular the heavy crush that develops between her teen-age son Jack and his teen-age daughter Phoebe. In the meantime, Gutcheon has her usual sharp ear for dialogue, deft skill with plot, and sound insight into the workings of the human heartthe way in which both Martha and son Jack are able to end relationships with dignity, for instance, is more useful learning than any self-help book. And while the hardships that accompany private-school privilege may not always stir our sympathy (nor, perhaps, does Martha's protest that, except for the $100,000 she inherited from her grandmother, she's had to work ever since she got out of school), the characters' searcha search shared by almost every adult and child in the novelfor love and acceptance, and the comfort of family ties, as labyrinthine as they may have become, ultimately make this a pleasure all the way through. A delicious and satisfying read.
Pub Date: June 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-394-54579-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Villard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1991
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
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