Beautifully written, introspective, and packed with Eastern philosophy and mysticism; a smart book that will appeal to...
In this tale of magic and self-discovery, 10-year-old Su Ling—given the so-called honorof being sent to a workhouse in place of her older sister—discovers she possesses hidden powers when she gains entry into a secret society in touch with the unseen forces of the universe.
In Osborne’s first novel, set in Imperial China of 5 B.C., she meticulously constructs her protagonist from the ground up. Su Ling is a nonentity in a rigidly structured society, clinging to her only possession—a glass fledgling bird. The first-person narrative poignantly conveys her fear, awe and submissiveness as she leaves her family to sleep in a windowless room with many other girls, toiling day after day under the watchful eyes of seemingly everyone. Eventually, her skills at preparing potions are noticed, and she’s promoted to the temple, where she, along with her friend Wèi Wèi, a budding clairvoyant, is brought into a clandestine spiritual group. “I named our special group Kou, or ‘family members,’ but I kept this description to myself.” Su Ling becomes an integral part of Kou, which actually engineers the empire’s smooth running, but she pays a tremendous emotional and physical price for her participation. Osborne makes exquisite use of color and description: “It seemed to be adorned with precious lapis lazuli, garnets, rubies, and other stones of deeper hues….These were surrounded by embroidered figures in subtler shades of soft pinks, greens, and ivory.” She intriguingly portrays the tale’s magical aspects—particularly a labyrinth of doors and hallways that appear and disappear at will—and employs to great effect a pervasive theme of bird symbolism, from the glass fledgling to the Temple of the Heavenly Bird with its gardens lined with caged birds. However, the book seems to go on longer than necessary. Of two major incidents that concern Kou, Su Ling is a major participant in only the first, which also seems to be the denouementand her epiphany; the second, she merely sits out.
Beautifully written, introspective, and packed with Eastern philosophy and mysticism; a smart book that will appeal to fantastical and thoughtful sensibilities alike.Pub Date: May 6, 2013
ISBN: 978-1481793025
Page Count: 362
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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