Winner of the Pegasus Prize for literatures rarely translated into English, this novel introduces an experimental Turkish novelist to American readers—a rare find indeed. Karasu begins with all the standard clichÇs about night- -blackness, secrets, curfews, murders, fears at their height; he then proceeds to extend these banalities so far that the images they produce seem ingenious. The horrorscape he depicts is reminiscent of Chile or El Salvador, where people suddenly ``disappear.'' Characters are constantly under surveillance by the night's commanding forces; even chancing upon a forgotten notebook could lead to the finder's death. Writing to stave off madness, the narrator (or is it four different narrators?) says in a ``footnote'' to his writing: ``The main thing is to keep the reader from sensing that some of these paths won't take incidents or anybody anywhere....'' While on one level the whole book consists of ruminations on the act of writing, the product itself is not taken very seriously: ``[P]eople are put to sleep through the use of words.'' Letters are never sent; authors attempt to retract words spoken or written earlier. And they have no compunctions about publishing under someone else's name. If an image or a name is used more than two or three times, it's destined to become a metaphor: N. for ``night'' (or is it ``narrator''?), a deaf schoolmate for the writer ``deaf to the world.'' One unnamed narrator even comments on how many people are so self-involved that if tragedy (such as the well-plotted murders of the night) does not affect them directly, they go about their business pretending it doesn't exist. While it might seem odd to find such crafted postmodernist writing coming out of Turkey, Night reads so smoothly that we forget it's a translation.
Pub Date: April 6, 1994
ISBN: 0-8071-1849-4
Page Count: 142
Publisher: Louisiana State Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
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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