Another winner for García.
The fortunes of three vividly characterized protagonists are deftly delineated in the Cuban-born author’s fourth novel.
Its structure of juxtaposed episodes follows the pattern employed in her earlier books The Agüero Sisters (1997) and the NBA-nominated Dreaming in Cuban (1992). In a compound narrative spanning the years 1968–87, we observe the distinct paths traveled and the hopeful meetings of a young Cuban immigrant (Enrique Florit), a refugee from El Salvador’s political violence (Marta Claros) and the daughter of a prosperous Iranian family (Leila Rezvani) who’s reluctant to be trapped in a loveless arranged marriage. We first encounter nine-year-old Enrique living in Los Angeles, after he and his widowed father, Fernando (a stage show magician), have fled Cuba following the Castro revolution. Over the ensuing years, Enrique survives both grief over his mother’s death (in a freak onstage accident) and his flamboyant “Papi’s” parental deficiencies and financial irresponsibility, fending for himself when the pair move to Las Vegas and he discovers his poker-playing skills. Parallel narratives depict Marta’s victimization by her mother’s emotional inertia (after her father has left them), as well as their country’s brutal military police, from all of which she escapes to California and a safe (albeit compromised) marriage; then Leila, whose family’s peregrinations bring them to America and her into surprised, and tempting, contact with Enrique. García braids their stories together skillfully, making us accept coincidences that bring them together, however briefly, embedding serious political and familial issues in subtly presented personal relations. The amusing extravagances that crop up (e.g., Papi’s efforts to channel the energies and artistry of a legendary Chinese conjurer) never compromise their credible, endearing humanity. Best of all, the permutations of bad and good “luck” that shape their individual and shared lives are quite ingeniously compared and contrasted.
Another winner for García.Pub Date: April 12, 2007
ISBN: 0-307-26436-X
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2007
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
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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