Affecting yet inspiring in its positivity.
This collection of insightful, emotionally intuitive short stories by Grace succeeds in honoring the resilience of women around the world.
The female characters presented in these seven fictional stories hail from a broad range of backgrounds, yet they are united in their struggle against adversity. Their intensely private ordeals explore numerous scenarios, from a young woman’s battle against a degenerative disease to a mother’s attempt to reconnect with her daughter, who has returned from college. From deft character sketches, engaging and psychologically detailed narratives evolve. “A Sharp Mind” charts the physical deterioration of a woman with multiple sclerosis and the reactions of her family. This story in particular emphasizes the individual strength and determination of the remarkable characters found here: “I’m not a victim. I only have MS,” the narrator says. “I remember my quadriplegic uncle, immobile from a car accident. He’d been a world-class athlete. When I’d asked how he could stand being in a wheelchair he’d said, ‘Life is too sweet.’ ” Powerful and life-affirming, the narrative always captures the spirit of survival. “The Presence” is a story about a young girl being sent away to boarding school. Waving goodbye to her sisters, Sydney is bundled into the family’s Aston Martin. The ensuing journey maps the boundaries of trust between a mother and daughter. “The India Affair,” a story about a woman’s journey to Mumbai with a group of doctors, examines an outsider’s understanding of another culture, along with its inequalities and injustices. The author’s descriptive skills peak here, as she offers an evocative street-level view of the city: “There’s a swarm of two-tone, yellow and green rickshaws buzzing about, the drivers perpetually honking and swooping like disturbed bees.” “Leya’s Serengeti,” the story of a mother taking care of a dog her daughter purchased on a whim, further demonstrates the author’s stylistic versatility, as elegant prose is replaced with a more urgent stream-of-consciousness approach to reflect the psychology of emotional pressure. In its entirety, the collection is a delicate and thoughtful exploration of strength in suffering.
Affecting yet inspiring in its positivity.Pub Date: Oct. 23, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5029-8372-5
Page Count: 56
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Oct. 9, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2015
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
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
© Copyright 2024 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.
bookshelf
