An earnest, candid portrayal of a woman who learns just as much about herself as she does of others.
In Diersen’s (Unmatched, 2012) drama, a Marine wife’s animosity toward an insolent, chauvinistic sergeant is matched only by her growing fondness for the man’s fiancee.
Jackie’s husband, Sgt. Kevin Thompson, introduces her to Katrine, soon to be part of the Marine Corps family via her marriage to Sgt. Rob Copeland. Right away, Jackie doesn’t like Rob; at a party, he humiliates Katrine for not wanting to play a board game and initiates unwanted physical contact with Jackie. Her liberal views are constantly at odds with Rob’s conservatism, yet her relationship with Katrine flourishes, and soon the new acquaintances are much more than mere friends. It’s only a matter of time before possessive Rob learns that the women have become lovers, and because a prologue teases that someone’s been killed, things aren’t likely to turn out well. Diersen’s novel features a complex protagonist who’s reticent and standoffish, but she’s actually pushing people away for reasons that are eventually revealed to both herself and readers. Despite her self-described “defective filter,” the opinionated Jackie isn’t especially offensive in any of her stances. She’s also quite charming: For Halloween, she dresses as an amnesiac and, in response to Kevin’s question of what they should call her, wryly says, “That’s a good question.” Jackie engages in numerous political discussions throughout the story, but the ones with Rob are eventually redundant, simply confirming what’s already been well established—that he’s sexist and insulting. The book tackles several serious issues, including abusive relationships (even if the abuse isn’t always physical) and neglectful parents. But Diersen keeps the story light with dark humor, most notably an abundance of jokes about murder, like Jackie telling her friend Lyn that she doesn’t want to see Rob dead but would prefer it over seeing him alive. Jackie does seem to be testing her marriage in the story, but her scenes with Kevin are some of the book’s best; the couple’s ebullient banter, even when talking about the volatile Rob, is irresistible fun.
An earnest, candid portrayal of a woman who learns just as much about herself as she does of others.Pub Date: July 11, 2014
ISBN: 978-0692201138
Page Count: 450
Publisher: Blue Gentian Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 9, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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