A short novel that explores gods and saints in the Caribbean during the time of slavery.
At the center of this book by Diaz (Triada de abril, 2006), is Matildo, a priest who prefers rum and collecting to prayer and salvation. With the help of a privateer, Matildo is able to collect things from around the world, including blue pearls, an ancient Egyptian chess set and even a painting by Carvaggio. For Matildo, people and souls are not nearly as important as collectibles. In a niche in his church, he has statues of Catholic saints only, and the reader learns that these are not ordinary statues. With time, the statues come to life and, furthermore, they come to life as African gods. The Virgin of Charity is not only the Virgin of Charity but an African goddess—or she’s the Virgin of Charity with African characteristics. Or better yet, she’s the African goddess in the body of the Virgin. Or what? Even the saints don’t fully understand their identities. Saints or gods or both, when the statues come to life, they’re not happy with the island or their captor Matildo. A little army of saint-gods is funny, particularly with their leader the Virgin, who curses quite a bit more than the Virgin most are familiar with from the Bible. This is not an attack against Catholicism; it’s an observation on the mixed identity of many Caribbean people. Unfortunately, as the villain, Matildo is too simple for these complex creatures. Not only is he a drunk and a bad priest, but he’s a child molester, has yellow teeth and, despite being a priest, has never once in his life prayed. He’s like a comic-book villain whose destiny comes as no real surprise. Aside from this, the story is imaginative and jokes with the saints play well. A brief magical adventure that’s worth the time for readers interested in the complicated nature of Caribbean identity.
Pub Date: Nov. 25, 2011
ISBN: 978-0965011921
Page Count: 124
Publisher: Oca
Review Posted Online: Feb. 13, 2012
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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