The time-tested technique of withholding information works admirably in this fifth novel from Chamberlain (Brass Ring, 1994, etc.): a suspenseful (if somewhat unlikely) story of two women's attempts to come to terms with the past. When Rachel Huber—teacher, mother, widow—learns that her grandmother Helen has fallen ill, she returns to her Pennsylvania hometown of Reflection and is forced to confront her demons head-on for the first time in 20 years. The tragedy that left ten of the town's children dead was not really Rachel's fault, but with few exceptions the locals shun her. One key exception is Michael Stoltz, minister of the Mennonite church, who along with Rachel and her dead husband Luke once formed an inseparable childhood trio. The story of how Rachel and Michael fell in love, and of how Luke lost his mind and eventually his life, has its roots in the Vietnam War, when Luke went off to battle while Rachel and Michael, then in the Peace Corps, went to the village in Africa where they both were stationed. Although Luke is now gone, there are complications aplenty as Rachel and Michael strive to consummate the love they've been repressing for decades: Michael's wife Katy is the respected town doctor; his son Jason gets beat up for his dad's association with the stigmatized Rachel Huber; and his ministry would be his first and hardest sacrifice if he ever left Katy for any woman, let alone Rachel. Meanwhile, Helen recovers her health but not her spirits; she, too, has been hiding a secret that only her husband Peter (a famous composer who died ten years ago) ever knew. When Rachel's college-age son Chris comes to Reflection for a visit, the truths emerge; what Helen and Rachel decide will surprise and thrill all but the most jaded readers. A fast-paced, engrossing read focusing on a delightful pair of characters.
Pub Date: April 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-06-017652-0
Page Count: 384
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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