First-timer FitzGerald gives us ten stories of life among the young, the innocent, and the merely naive in this appealing and understated look at midwestern domesticity. Most of the heroines in the overwhelmingly female society that FitzGerald takes us into are characters with too little or too much in the way of history. The unhappy wife in ``Sister Boom-Boom,'' for example, is an ex-nun whose marriage (to an ex-priest) is collapsing quietly and inexorably, whereas the thirtysomething librarian in ``Penis or No'' cannot quite decide whether she wants to lose her virginity or not. Many are still in school: The title story concerns a high-school senior whose excruciatingly ordinary daily routine—cheerleading practice, class trips, school dances- -encloses a gnawing sense of guilt and terror over the mysterious disappearance and death of one of her classmates several years before, and the major issue at hand in ``Pork Chops'' is the successful and happy deflowering of a Bloomington coed. Although the looseness of narration can be an annoyance at times—especially in pieces like ``Reading Braille,'' which plays with ideas about AIDS and homosexuality the way a cat toys with a mouse—for the most part there is a strength of vision in FitzGerald that manages to locate and reveal the emotional intensity present in even commonplace events. Thus the relentless interference (in ``Zoo Bus'') of a prying mother in her daughter's daily routine does manage to convey the obsessiveness of the mother's feelings, just as the jumbled mental wanderings of a waitress in ``Missy'' gives a fair indication of both her innocence and aspirations. The understated tone of voice that's employed throughout succeeds, for once, in adding color to a picture that is vivid to begin with. Modest but rewarding. FitzGerald's reach doesn't exceed her grasp, and she nicely animates the small sphere of life that she offers us.
Pub Date: Oct. 10, 1996
ISBN: 0-312-14530-6
Page Count: 208
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1996
A kind of Holden Caulfield who speaks bravely and winningly from inside the sorrows of autism: wonderful, simple, easy,...
Britisher Haddon debuts in the adult novel with the bittersweet tale of a 15-year-old autistic who’s also a math genius.
Christopher Boone has had some bad knocks: his mother has died (well, she went to the hospital and never came back), and soon after he found a neighbor’s dog on the front lawn, slain by a garden fork stuck through it. A teacher said that he should write something that he “would like to read himself”—and so he embarks on this book, a murder mystery that will reveal who killed Mrs. Shears’s dog. First off, though, is a night in jail for hitting the policeman who questions him about the dog (the cop made the mistake of grabbing the boy by the arm when he can’t stand to be touched—any more than he can stand the colors yellow or brown, or not knowing what’s going to happen next). Christopher’s father bails him out but forbids his doing any more “detecting” about the dog-murder. When Christopher disobeys (and writes about it in his book), a fight ensues and his father confiscates the book. In time, detective-Christopher finds it, along with certain other clues that reveal a very great deal indeed about his mother’s “death,” his father’s own part in it—and the murder of the dog. Calming himself by doing roots, cubes, prime numbers, and math problems in his head, Christopher runs away, braves a train-ride to London, and finds—his mother. How can this be? Read and see. Neither parent, if truth be told, is the least bit prepossessing or more than a cutout. Christopher, though, with pet rat Toby in his pocket and advanced “maths” in his head, is another matter indeed, and readers will cheer when, way precociously, he takes his A-level maths and does brilliantly.
A kind of Holden Caulfield who speaks bravely and winningly from inside the sorrows of autism: wonderful, simple, easy, moving, and likely to be a smash.Pub Date: June 17, 2003
ISBN: 0-385-50945-6
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2003
A fable about the consolatory and strengthening powers of religion flounders about somewhere inside this unconventional coming-of-age tale, which was shortlisted for Canada’s Governor General’s Award. The story is told in retrospect by Piscine Molitor Patel (named for a swimming pool, thereafter fortuitously nicknamed “Pi”), years after he was shipwrecked when his parents, who owned a zoo in India, were attempting to emigrate, with their menagerie, to Canada. During 227 days at sea spent in a lifeboat with a hyena, an orangutan, a zebra, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger (mostly with the latter, which had efficiently slaughtered its fellow beasts), Pi found serenity and courage in his faith: a frequently reiterated amalgam of Muslim, Hindu, and Christian beliefs. The story of his later life, education, and mission rounds out, but does not improve upon, the alternately suspenseful and whimsical account of Pi’s ordeal at sea—which offers the best reason for reading this otherwise preachy and somewhat redundant story of his Life.
Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-15-100811-6
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2002
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