An overly philosophical novel at times, but one that capably captures the turmoil and excitement of the late 1960s.
In Levesko’s debut novel, a deep-thinking young man ponders life and love in Paris and beyond.
Alex, a footloose freelance journalist and American expat in his late twenties, flees France (and a failed relationship) for Athens, Greece, where he quickly gets involved with two women: Iris, a seductive Greek beauty; and Lisa, an innocent American tourist. When he eventually returns to France, Lisa follows him and the two fall in love. Before long, Lisa is pregnant, and Alex must confront his mixed feelings about family and the future if he wants to be the partner Lisa deserves. Meanwhile, social unrest in Paris and beyond mirrors his own internal struggle. The plot of Levesko’s novel certainly meanders, as the protagonist bums around Europe, visits a monastery, falls in love, and struggles to translate Albert Camus’ deceptively simple novel The Stranger—one of many references to notable European musicians, artists and writers, including Erik Satie, Pablo Picasso and James Joyce. He debates relationships, existence and politics with his colorful friends, who are all artists, rebels and drifters like himself. At points, these lengthy discussions threaten to derail the narrative, particularly when Alex idly ponders big, meaning-of-life questions: “Does anybody ever figure out what makes him or her so special?…What makes a life worth something?” However, the detailed stories that take readers into the milieu of 1960s Europe are far more interesting, such as Alex’s firsthand observations of Prague Spring and his emotional trip to the site of the D-Day invasion in Normandy. Everything leads up to the dramatic events of the May 1968 protests in Paris, in which Lisa becomes actively involved. It’s a compelling backdrop that gives the latter third of this novel weight and structure, even though the author fails to convey the purpose or significance of the countrywide revolt. Yet despite such shortcomings, Alex’s journey from irresponsible, unfocused youth to a more thoughtful maturity will resonate with anyone who’s struggled with questions of how to live in the world.
An overly philosophical novel at times, but one that capably captures the turmoil and excitement of the late 1960s.Pub Date: June 10, 2013
ISBN: 978-0615831695
Page Count: 384
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Aug. 9, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
