A fragmented, off-kilter romance that never quite coheres.
Two young lovers—a Scotsman and an American—move to Oregon to start a life together in this novel.
In the early 1990s, Jim Cumming and Lou MacLeod, 28 and 22, respectively, meet in Glasgow, fall in love, and decide to move to the U.S. Jim is a Scottish civil engineer, hoping to find work soon in America, and Lou is an Oregonian with an M.A. in the humanities. They fly to Portland to stay with Lou’s family in Eugene for a bit as they get settled. The couple plan to stick around with the clan for the holidays and then embark on a road trip through California into Mexico. In Eugene, they befriend Lou’s cousin Jack, “the richest old” hippie in Oregon. Jim and Lou’s marriage is briefly tested when she encounters old flame Matt Gere. But she ultimately returns to Jim, and in the New Year they drive to Mexico. Along the way, they meet Running Wolf, a Native American struggling off the reservation. They ask Jack to help Running Wolf get work in Eugene as well as return him to his wife, Red Shield, who has been put in a mental institution. Jim and Lou drive through California, spending time with friends along the route, including a harrowing trip to Los Angeles in the wake of the Rodney King riots. In Mexico, they share an illuminating vacation, exploring and expanding their relationship before they begin again in Oregon. The ambitious tale features rich details about the appealing couple’s travels and a diverse cast of characters. But the plotting, as handled by Cumming (Pieces of You, 2016), is haphazard and jumps around frequently; there are multiple threads introduced throughout the story that do not come to anything. Characters are often introduced with no context and are just as quickly discarded, making the story somewhat hard to follow. Besides Lou’s brief reunion with Matt, the novel lacks conflict; mostly, Jim and Lou have fine experiences, and the more ominous plot strands never come to fruition. In addition, some errors throughout—typos like “dessert” for “desert”—can make for a disorienting read.
A fragmented, off-kilter romance that never quite coheres.Pub Date: March 11, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4918-9225-1
Page Count: 156
Publisher: AuthorHouseUK
Review Posted Online: June 21, 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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