An immersive and cerebral historical novel steeped in Zen Buddhist ideas.
Parker chronicles the wanderings of a defrocked warrior-monk in this debut historical novel.
Japan, 1745: Samurai and Zen monk Kinko Kurosawa serves as the senior music instructor at Nagasaki’s Kuzaki Temple. Like all members of his order, Kurosawa is not only a swordsman—he’s also a flautist, dedicating a portion of each day to mastering the shakuhachi flute. It is his skills with the shakuhachi that get him into trouble, in fact; his music catches the attention of a young married noblewoman, and it is only a matter of time before word of their clandestine affair reaches the temple’s abbot. In order to save face, the abbot does not outright expel Kurosawa, but strips him of his priesthood and reassigns him to a sister temple in the capital city of Edo. “Your musicianship is technically exceptional, but it does not yet reflect your depth of soul,” a mentor advises the miserable Kurosawa as he prepares to depart. “Claim that greatness of heart. Allow it to shape your music, then you will be on the path to Buddha-nature.” Dishonored and ashamed, Kurosawa sets off on a journey through a country ruled by the authoritarian Tokugawa shogunate, in which spies, assassins, and rebel samurai wage an underground struggle against the regime. He also finds a country of merchants, courtesans, kakure kirishitans (“hidden Christians”), and monks from other Buddhist traditions who do not share the same narrow worldview of mendicancy and self-denial that Kurosawa has honed in his years at the monastery. As he travels the roads, sharing music and stories in the inns, Kurosawa begins to question the tenets he has tried (and failed) to live by, all while seeking to become the soulful flautist his teacher challenged him to be. Though Kurosawa aims to avoid politics, he soon finds that every samurai—even monkish, flute-playing samurai—must choose a side in the simmering unrest against the shogun’s rule.
Parker reconstructs Edo-era Japan in convincing detail, from the weapons-free pleasure quarters of the cities to the basket-headed humility of the komusō (“monks of nothingness”). The author’s quiet prose artfully evokes Kurosawa’s world, in which every space and person has a spiritual dimension. Here the protagonist climbs a holy mountain: “The route through the forest was narrow, and as Kurosawa made his way higher up the mountainside, he found himself walking through dense clouds. A thin blanket of snow lay upon the ground, crisp and hard…Kinko felt as though he had left the ordinary world behind him and journeyed into a sacred, hidden realm.” Readers looking for a swashbuckling historical epic may be disappointed: Kurosawa’s journey is highly episodic, and Parker is primarily focused on the character’s philosophical growth. Much of the novel comprises the conversations he has with people he meets along the way. Based on the historical figure Kinko Kurosawa, who traveled around Japan collecting musical pieces for the shakuhachi, the novel succeeds in re-creating a time and, perhaps more importantly, a worldview that many readers will enjoy getting lost in.
An immersive and cerebral historical novel steeped in Zen Buddhist ideas.Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9781960018007
Page Count: 402
Publisher: Running Wild Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.
A love story about a life of second chances.
In Nassau, in the Bahamas, casino detective Vincent LaPorta grills Alfie Logan, who’d come up a winner three times in a row at the roulette table and walked away with $2 million. “How did you do it?” asks the detective. Alfie calmly denies cheating. You wired all the money to a Gianna Rule, LaPorta says. Why? To explain, Alfie produces a composition book with the words “For the Boss, to Be Read Upon My Death” written on the cover. Read this for answers, Alfie suggests, calling it a love story. His mother had passed along to him a strange trait: He can say “Twice!” and go back to a specific time and place to have a do-over. But it only works once for any particular moment, and then he must live with the new consequences. He can only do this for himself and can’t prevent anyone from dying. Alfie regularly uses his power—failing to impress a girl the first time, he finds out more about her, goes back in time, and presto! She likes him. The premise is of course not credible—LaPorta doesn’t buy it either—but it’s intriguing. Most people would probably love to go back and unsay something. The story’s focus is on Alfie’s love for Gianna and whether it’s requited, unrequited, or both. In any case, he’s obsessed with her. He’s a good man, though, an intelligent person with ordinary human failings and a solid moral compass. Albom writes in a warm, easy style that transports the reader to a world of second chances and what-ifs, where spirituality lies close to the surface but never intrudes on the story. Though a cynic will call it sappy, anyone who is sick to their core from the daily news will enjoy this escape from reality.
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780062406682
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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