An uneven historical novel, but its action scenes make it worthwhile.
The handsome, resourceful Hawaiian John Tana is back in this second volume of Fernandez’s (John Tana, 2017, etc.) trilogy, set in 19th-century Hawaii.
This time around, John has fled the corruption and dangers of Honolulu and gone back to his home island, Kauai. He’s lost his great love, Leinani, but he eventually marries a good woman, Mahealani. But the evil, powerful sugar baron Robert Grant is still his sworn enemy, and Hawaii is at a political tipping point: Will Grant and his cronies manage to get the United States to annex the islands, and is this the beginning of the end for the Kingdom of Hawaii? These difficulties are complicated further by existing racial tensions between the Anglos, the native Hawaiians, and the Chinese. Also, John has converted to Christianity, but Mahealani and others still follow the old religion, gods, and superstitions, and this issue becomes a festering wound on the marriage. John tries many jobs, including working as a rice-field guard, the chief of security at a sugar plantation, and an occasional bodyguard for Hawaiian King Kal?kuau. As a Hawaiian, he wants the respect that he feels he deserves, and by the end of the book, he gets it and begins to prosper, laying the groundwork for a third volume. Fernandez’s description of a raid on a counterfeiting operation, the tracking and slaying of a wild boar, and other bits of derring-do are well-done. He also introduces readers to Hawaiian history and culture, including the mysteries and terrors of the aforementioned “old religion.” There’s even a cameo appearance by the real-life Father Damien De Veuster, who was famous for his work with lepers. All these things help to pull readers into the story. On the other hand, the villainous character of Grant veers steadily toward Snidely Whiplash–style caricature, and the backstory of a character named Joe Still is mystifying. Illustrations include rather fuzzy black-and-white photos of the Hawaiian countryside as well as sketches by Judith Fernandez that lend an effectively primitive charm to the story and bring to mind Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's sketches for The Little Prince.
An uneven historical novel, but its action scenes make it worthwhile.Pub Date: Dec. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9990326-5-7
Page Count: 235
Publisher: Makani Kai Media
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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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