An enjoyable, earnest look at growing up.
Kroll’s debut novella offers a collection of vignettes about the bond between twins growing up in the late 1960s.
The story is framed as a series of reminiscences by Susie and Pete, fraternal twins spending Christmas at home in the present day. The only family member missing is their brother, Russell, which reminds Pete, the narrator of these tales, of the last Christmas that Russell missed, way back in 1969. Each chapter describes a game that Susie and Pete played in their youth, and how it affected their familial bond. Susie was the more popular of the twins—bold, brash, daring, and overwhelmingly kind—while Pete was more cautious, always getting Susie out of trouble. Nearly every chapter ends with a reaffirmation of Pete’s love for Susie. Supporting characters, such as Danny, a blind boy from the neighborhood whom Susie and Pete befriended, and Heidi, a German immigrant who moved in across the street, make nice counterparts to the twins. Chapters focusing on the twins’ letters to Russell, who was serving in Vietnam at the time, hit the right emotional notes and give the mostly breezy stories some depth. Kroll’s prose style is simple and colloquial, and he successfully re-creates the sincerity and naïveté of young children. A scene in which the twins pretend to fly to the moon and meet Neil Armstrong is particularly effective in this way; although it’s just a game, the feelings that the kids experience are very real. Other chapters, though, strain to extract lessons from the twins’ games, and wrap things up too quickly. The end of the story, as it returns to present day, similarly and neatly ties up all the loose ends. This doesn’t dampen the reading experience, however; overall, it’s a fun way for people who came of age in the ’60s to see a glimpse of their own childhood.
An enjoyable, earnest look at growing up.Pub Date: Dec. 16, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9971111-0-1
Page Count: 92
Publisher: YardPlay Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Pub Date: April 7, 1998
ISBN: 0-446-52356-9
Page Count: 322
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1998
Genetically engineered dinosaurs run amok in Crichton's new, vastly entertaining science thriller. From the introduction alone—a classically Crichton-clear discussion of the implications of biotechnological research—it's evident that the Harvard M.D. has bounced back from the science-fantasy silliness of Sphere (1987) for another taut reworking of the Frankenstein theme, as in The Andromeda Strain and The Terminal Man. Here, Dr. Frankenstein is aging billionaire John Hammond, whose monster is a manmade ecosystem based on a Costa Rican island. Designed as the world's ultimate theme park, the ecosystem boasts climate and flora of the Jurassic Age and—most spectacularly—15 varieties of dinosaurs, created by elaborate genetic engineering that Crichton explains in fascinating detail, rich with dino-lore and complete with graphics. Into the park, for a safety check before its opening, comes the novel's band of characters—who, though well drawn, double as symbolic types in this unsubtle morality play. Among them are hero Alan Grant, noble paleontologist; Hammond, venal and obsessed; amoral dino-designer Henry Wu; Hammond's two innocent grandchildren; and mathematician Ian Malcolm, who in long diatribes serves as Crichton's mouthpiece to lament the folly of science. Upon arrival, the visitors tour the park; meanwhile, an industrial spy steals some dino embryos by shutting down the island's power—and its security grid, allowing the beasts to run loose. The bulk of the remaining narrative consists of dinos—ferocious T. Rex's, voracious velociraptors, venom-spitting dilophosaurs—stalking, ripping, and eating the cast in fast, furious, and suspenseful set-pieces as the ecosystem spins apart. And can Grant prevent the dinos from escaping to the mainland to create unchecked havoc? Though intrusive, the moralizing rarely slows this tornado-paced tale, a slick package of info-thrills that's Crichton's most clever since Congo (1980)—and easily the most exciting dinosaur novel ever written. A sure-fire best-seller.
Pub Date: Nov. 7, 1990
ISBN: 0394588169
Page Count: 424
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1990
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