A raucous, if at times difficult, literary concoction in a bizarre world of radicals.
From debut author Parks comes a disjointed novel about a man named Walter and his paranoid adventures in Seattle.
When readers first meet Walter, he rummages through his mail, finding mostly junk that includes an offer for a magical Soviet Elixir and a chain letter promising a large sum of money. After a letter containing a quote from Nostradamus convinces Walter that he is “being stalked like a little rabbit,” he decides to flee. And what better destination than a “bunker of a building graced under the banner name of the New Museum of Indecision and Hysteria and the We B Art Gallery”? There, he meets Mac, a man who can discuss the Baader-Meinhof gang, quote Gen. George Patton, make quick work of a punching bag, and cool himself off with a beer after the effort. Casting his lot with Mac, Walter finds himself involved in the Seattle underworld, complete with drugs—“It’s all about the democratization of cocaine, don’t you see?” Mac says—weapons, and an assortment of left-wing ideas: “the power of the workers is not rooted in organization, but in disruption,” one character comments. As increasingly strange characters and events are added to this simmering pot of madness, how it will all end is anyone’s guess, particularly in later chapters when the World Trade Organization sets upon Seattle. As thoroughly wacky as this Pynchon-esque plot may seem, nestled among a quote from “John Hinkley” (sic) and a crude illustration of an art gallery is a reasonably discernable, consistently wild story about Walter and his quest. This is by no means a light read: while not untraceable, the narrative adeptly challenges readers with an assortment of historical references and twists, and certain portions may require rereading to ascertain just what exactly is going on.
A raucous, if at times difficult, literary concoction in a bizarre world of radicals.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-0-9975163-0-2
Page Count: 158
Publisher: Brave Dog/Dead Dog Artworks
Review Posted Online: Oct. 8, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 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
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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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