A satisfying, feel-good novel about human shortcomings, perseverance and serendipity.
Big changes befall the sleepy town of Timber Lake, Mich., in a novel about ordinary people who try to achieve extraordinary goals after a local man finds God during a night of heavy drinking.
After an inebriated revelation, Cooper Moon sets out to build a church in the woods behind his trailer, with no money or education to ease his way. But what he lacks in biblical literacy and financial resources, he makes up for in charisma and blind faith. With the help of the young neighborhood troublemaker, TJ, who has set his sights on winning a network television competition, World Wide Warrior, Cooper navigates new religious and spiritual territory and makes key changes in his own life. He quits drinking, swearing and cheating on his ever-patient wife, Sally. Amid a memorable cast of characters—including cunning lovers, resentful husbands and a skeptical pastor—determined to throw him off his righteous track, Cooper traverses the precarious path to fulfilling his newfound vision. The plot crescendos when TJ goes off to compete in World Wide Warrior, the pastor unexpectedly revives his own faith, and spiteful supporting characters find creative ways to meddle in Cooper’s life even as he delivers a unforgettable, climactic sermon. At its core, this is a story about class, karma and ordinary people trying to accomplish difficult goals that require extraordinary strength of body, mind and spirit. Cooper contemplates his calling to build a church: “I’m broke. I’ve never even read the Bible….Why wouldn’t God just give this same idea to a rich guy who knows the Bible?” In an attempt to answer his own question, Cooper considers Moses: “God could have parted the sea before they ever got there and made a clear path for them. But he didn’t. He didn’t part the sea until they stepped into it.” And indeed, this novel suggests that hope, good humor and moral fortitude are keys to realizing one’s dreams. Packed with biblical analysis and pop-philosophy, this book has a strong, engaging voice that encourages readers to reflect on their own calling.
A satisfying, feel-good novel about human shortcomings, perseverance and serendipity.Pub Date: July 18, 2012
ISBN: 978-1478153658
Page Count: 360
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.
A love story about a life of second chances.
In Nassau, in the Bahamas, casino detective Vincent LaPorta grills Alfie Logan, who’d come up a winner three times in a row at the roulette table and walked away with $2 million. “How did you do it?” asks the detective. Alfie calmly denies cheating. You wired all the money to a Gianna Rule, LaPorta says. Why? To explain, Alfie produces a composition book with the words “For the Boss, to Be Read Upon My Death” written on the cover. Read this for answers, Alfie suggests, calling it a love story. His mother had passed along to him a strange trait: He can say “Twice!” and go back to a specific time and place to have a do-over. But it only works once for any particular moment, and then he must live with the new consequences. He can only do this for himself and can’t prevent anyone from dying. Alfie regularly uses his power—failing to impress a girl the first time, he finds out more about her, goes back in time, and presto! She likes him. The premise is of course not credible—LaPorta doesn’t buy it either—but it’s intriguing. Most people would probably love to go back and unsay something. The story’s focus is on Alfie’s love for Gianna and whether it’s requited, unrequited, or both. In any case, he’s obsessed with her. He’s a good man, though, an intelligent person with ordinary human failings and a solid moral compass. Albom writes in a warm, easy style that transports the reader to a world of second chances and what-ifs, where spirituality lies close to the surface but never intrudes on the story. Though a cynic will call it sappy, anyone who is sick to their core from the daily news will enjoy this escape from reality.
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780062406682
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A heartbreaking, laugh-provoking, and absolutely Ephron-esque look at the beauty and fragility of everyday life.
A woman faces a health crisis and obsesses over a local accident in this wonderful follow-up to Sandwich (2024).
Newman begins her latest with a quote from Nora Ephron: “Death is a sniper. It strikes people you love, people you like, people you know—it’s everywhere. You could be next. But then you turn out not to be. But then again, you could be.” It sets an appropriate tone for a story that is just as full of death and dread as it is laughter. Two years after the events of Sandwich, Rocky is back home in Western Massachusetts and happily surrounded by family—her daughter, Willa, lives with her and her husband, Nick, while applying to Ph.D. programs; her widowed father, Mort, has moved into the in-law apartment behind their house. When a young man who graduated from high school with Rocky’s son, Jamie, is hit by a train, Rocky finds herself spiraling as she thinks about how close the tragedy came to her own family. She’s also freaking out about a mysterious rash her dermatologist can’t explain. Both instances are tailor-made for internet research and stalking. As Rocky obsessively googles her symptoms and finds only bad news (“Here’s what’s true about the Internet: very infrequently do people log on with their good news. Gosh, they don’t write, I had this weird rash on my forearm? And it turned out to be completely nothing!”), she also compulsively checks the Facebook page of the accident victim’s mother. Newman excels at showing how sorrow and joy coexist in everyday life. She masterfully balances a modern exploration of grief with truly laugh-out-loud lines (one passage about the absurdity of collecting a stool sample and delivering it to the doctor stands out). As Rocky deals with the byzantine frustrations of the medical system, she also has to learn, once more, how to see her children, husband, father, and herself as fully flawed and lovable humans.
A heartbreaking, laugh-provoking, and absolutely Ephron-esque look at the beauty and fragility of everyday life.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9780063453913
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
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