by Betty Jean Tucker ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 20, 2018
A novel that glosses over some aspects of Swift’s life but adroitly portrays the world in which he made his mark.
Tucker (On a Darkling Plain, 2014) presents a work of historical fiction based on the life of the legendary Anglo-Irish writer Jonathan Swift.
At the outset of the story, set around 1676, famed satirist Swift is a precocious 9-year-old who’s being flogged for acting up in school. The youngster may be talented in Latin and Greek, but he’s also quite the prankster. Swift is 16 when he goes off to Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, where his passions include poetry, flirting, and, of course, more pranks. He graduates in 1686 with the embarrassing distinction on his diploma that he did so only “by special grace.” His precocity remains when he goes on to work for the writer Sir William Temple before striking out on his own. Swift becomes an Anglican priest, and in this role, he learns much about the poverty of Ireland. He earns a doctorate in divinity in 1702 and takes his talents to London, where he becomes a thorny satirist, unafraid of ruffling feathers. After gaining notoriety in the English capital, Swift goes back to Dublin, where he does his most famous work, including penning the novel Gulliver’s Travels and harshly criticizing English-Irish relations. Throughout Swift’s journey, readers are kept abreast of his love affairs—particularly his long, complicated relationship with a woman named Hetty Johnson, whom he called “Stella.” The book also details Swift’s associations with famous figures, such as Alexander Pope. Readers come to understand how Swift’s “talent makes him powerful” and to appreciate the dichotomy of a man who loved both God and ribald humor. Tucker’s version of the Swift story sometimes unfolds rather quickly, but at others, it’s a rather slow burn. For instance, the author extensively examines Swift’s awkward romantic relationships, but he gives some other elements short shrift, including the years that Swift spent getting his doctorate, for instance. This choice will leave readers with some questions about Swift’s life, although it does allow the book to focus on how the writer was perceived by others, exposing multiple facets of his famous persona. For example, Tucker presents a man who eloquently championed the poor but also once brutally beat his servant in a fit of rage. What truly steals the show here, though, is the author’s consideration of the time period that produced the famous figure that we know today. Swift’s writing was risky, but he was able to publish it anonymously; the publishers who printed it, however, could not hide behind false names, and as a result, they were open to reprimand. Modern readers in the United States, who are used to saying just about anything they like, will find that this book offers a deep exercise, indeed, imagining a world of dire consequence for satire. Swift’s success shows the triumph of the pen over the sword, but Tucker’s text dutifully reminds readers of just how dangerous that process was.
A novel that glosses over some aspects of Swift’s life but adroitly portrays the world in which he made his mark.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-60489-220-8
Page Count: 342
Publisher: Livingston Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 5, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006
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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by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951
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
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