In Duncan's new fantasy (The Living God, 1994, etc.), few who contract ``star sickness'' survive; those who do are Cursed, afflicted with wild, uncontrollable magic talents that may be destructive or beneficial, or both. By ancient decree, the Cursed face banishment. Attractive widowed innkeeper Gwin Solitb, pestered by numerous unpleasant suitors, illegally shelters a young Ivielscath—she can cure all manner of diseases with a touch, or equally easily inflict them. Thereafter, Gwin is beset by inexplicable events. Her first visitor is a total stranger, a Shoolscath (he can ``premember'' the future, but forgets the past) who seems to know her. Then Bulion Tharn, a tough old farmer with a dangerously infected tooth, arrives, hoping for a miraculous cure. Another suitor attempts to abduct Gwin, and unaccountably falls dead. Gwin herself begins to hear voices. Meanwhile, an Ogoalscath—she can influence chance events—shows up seeking the Renewer, one fated to restore the old empire, and warns of a terrible threat from invading barbarians. Gwin persuades her timid Ivielscath to heal Bulion Tharn; and soon, through expediency and genuine affection, Gwin agrees to marry him. They head for the Tharn lands accompanied by the various Cursed, whose talents interact in fascinating and sometimes amusing ways. The prophesied Renewer's name, so it emerges, is—Bulion Tharn. Gwin herself turns out to be a rare Poulscath, one who can augment the powers of other Cursed and compel them to do her bidding; the voice she hears is the voice of her destiny. A truly ingenious scenario, with excellent characters and a reliable plot: continually surprising, charming, and engrossing despite the rather flat ending—Duncan in top form.
Pub Date: May 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-345-38951-4
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1995
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
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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