One man’s personal and spiritual adventure makes for a profound and intriguing tale.
In this debut novel set in the late 1980s, a young Indian American, descended from a Buddhist saint, falls in love on his path to bringing enlightenment to the world.
John Yogacara Asanga, born to an Indian father and American mother, endures his fair share of racism in Kokomo, Indiana. After his dad dies and his mom remarries, the teenager leaves home to explore the world, starting with Chicago. He finally finds acceptance with the El Quawai gang, which runs drugs and forces girls to become sex workers. But before long, he embarks on the next part of his journey in India. Immediately smitten with Aanya Devi Ghosa, a local Indian Buddhist and widow, at an ashram, he tries to surpass her other suitors. But John has a destiny, the one his father once sought to fulfill; he wishes “to reveal to Westerners truths that emanate from the East.” A council of kings allows him to become an emissary but first tasks him with retrieving the Antahkarana, an Indian relic stolen long ago. Aanya joins John on his quest to the Kaziranga jungle, a spiritual mission that involves facing a demigod and restoring the bridge between humankind and God. Davis’ captivating novel opens with a lengthy coming-of-age tale. John falls in love twice, indulges in cocaine in Chicago, and winds up entangled in an FBI investigation. Amazingly, the story hardly slows down when he reaches India, as he competes with a prince to win Aanya’s affections and soon begins his quest. The author exalts Eastern religions, presenting such notions and sights as a “tiger-sorceress” as genuine, never otherworldly. At the same time, he deftly grounds the protagonist. Wherever he goes, John is an outcast—too dark-skinned for bigoted American schoolmates but not a “pure” Indian in Ladakh. This book unfortunately falters with a few mistakes; for example, John’s father’s death prompted the teen’s Kokomo departure in June 1988. But readers later learn that his father died in October of that year.
One man’s personal and spiritual adventure makes for a profound and intriguing tale.Pub Date: May 10, 2021
ISBN: 978-9-39-026020-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Rupa Publications
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
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