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SAVING ST. GERM

A Los Angeles scientist hits upon a TOE (``Theory of Everything'') at the very moment her family needs her most—in a witty and sophisticated 90's-style drama by the poet and author of Dear Digby (1989). Eccentric, independent Esme Charbonneau has experienced the pleasures of intellectual success as a gifted child, a Harvard undergraduate, and the protÇgÇ of renowned chemist Kendall Quandahl. But since she's moved to L.A. to teach organic chemistry and splice genes at the male-dominated University of Greater California, Esme's satisfactions have steadily lessened. Having adjusted to the California culture, married a TV technical director who moonlights unsuccessfully as a stand-up comedian, and given birth to a daughter whose odd, metaphoric use of language causes doctors to suspect mental illness, Esme finds herself struggling in vain against what looks like mediocrity in her career, in her marriage, and as a mother. On top of this, Esme's abstract mind, which tends to dwell on such things as the chemical composition of lipstick when she's supposed to be interacting with another human being, has been distracted lately by hints of a connection uniting the concept of molecular ``handedness'' with the Big Bang—a sort of universal theory that she believes could make her famous. But the timing is all wrong: Esme's intellectual snobbery has caused a frat-like student to scheme against her; her insensitivity has caused her husband to move out; and her physical absence has left her beloved daughter prey to those who want to help but cannot understand her. As Esme reaches a climax in her theorizing, her personal life reaches a climax of disaster and life becomes a frantic juggling act—before she pins down her theory and discovers the tragic ways in which her daughter's strange behavior and her own forgotten past are intertwined. A sparkling, invigorating story, though the author's obvious preference for brilliant Esme over her doltish colleagues and stammering husband detracts from its effect.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1993

ISBN: 0-670-84047-5

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1992

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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

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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MAGIC HOUR

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

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