A lucid, gratifying novel with appeal for both LGBT readers and anyone interested in a particularly pivotal slice of San...
History and melodrama combine in this brisk novel centered on the murder of gay rights political advocate Harvey Milk.
Charles, a poet and English professor at the University of Montana, dramatically addresses an important era in San Francisco history with this tale of equality and sexual liberation. At the helm of his novel is Christopher Mann, a closeted gay man who moves to San Francisco in 1978 to begin law school after months of career and personal indecisiveness. Though he chalks up his clandestine gay tendencies to “experimentation, like dropping acid or parachuting,” Mann’s burgeoning homosexuality continues to simmer throughout law school against a revolutionary backdrop of changing societal mores. Impressively drawn supporting characters march in, adding flair and personality to Charles’ companionable narrative. Among them are Mann’s new best buddy, Jim Reilly; Gordo, a Hispanic homeless man with a secret history; Mexican-American student and Jim’s fiancee, Laura Esquival; and Wendy, another first-year student, who ends up interning for a legislator and becomes knee-deep in the historic anti–gay-teacher initiative, Proposition 6. Personal opinion heats up Mann’s torturous law classes and his personal life, a confused space he still hasn’t worked out while sleeping with Wendy. Ultimately, what drive the novel are the author’s impressive exploration of Mann’s internal struggle with his orientation, his parents’ generational divide, and the region’s embroilment in the prickly sexual politics of the late 1970s. Atmospheric and historically accurate, Charles’ memorable set pieces include Mann’s fidgety first time in a gay bar and a forbidden beachfront tryst with Jim, which ultimately sabotages his engagement. Perhaps most compelling is the pivotal era in which the novel is set, a time when Harvey Milk became the first openly gay Bay Area elected official while homophobic opponents such as Anita Bryant, Jim Briggs, and city supervisor Dan White staunchly advocated public intolerance. Charles expertly weaves his characters into the era’s drama while compassionately addressing issues such as coming out, bigotry, and the struggle for equality.
A lucid, gratifying novel with appeal for both LGBT readers and anyone interested in a particularly pivotal slice of San Francisco history.Pub Date: April 26, 2013
ISBN: 978-1619290860
Page Count: 300
Publisher: Regal Crest Enterprises, LLC
Review Posted Online: April 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
