An unpretentious first novel, set mostly in northern Vermont, that says many wise and witty things about love and life. Odessa, 30-ish and Jewish, who fled to Waspish Vermont to escape her Long Island family, is determined to avoid commitment, family, and trouble. Now, ``as the only Jew in the Historical Society's membership—riveting stuff for someone who grew up in a ranch house''—Odessa works at Auntie's Antiques, where Auntie Byron (``high priest of the carriage trade'') is teaching her the business. Things are slow, though, especially in winter, and Odessa has lots of time on her hands. An affair with chintzy, married Wasp Malcolm is sputtering to an end, and she spends her days researching the village's legendary murderer, Rebecca Peake, who killed her husband and stepchildren. Then a chance encounter with ten-year-old Megan selling mushrooms irrevocably changes Odessa's life. Megan is living with stepmother Sam, while Sam contests her custody in the on-going divorce proceedings with Gil Velasquez, a handsome descendant of the Conquistadors. Well-born, wealthy Sam, whose life was filled with everything but her parents' love, has reacted by embracing every radical political group that opens its arms to her—a reaction that has been particularly hard on Megan, who wears thrift-shop clothes, is exposed to terrifying stories about battered women and imminent nuclear war, and endures a harsh diet and regimen. Over a year, Odessa, who fears her own mother would have rather been an artist than have a child, reluctantly draws closer to Megan, her splendid dog, and her father, Gil. Insights are earned, love triumphs—and Odessa can finally open her heart to young Megan. Lots of gentle skewering of contemporary Vermont—where ``ex- flatlanders,'' recently discovering ``that family was the latest rage, were having one big Ralph Lauren `at home' ''—as well as much unmawkish warm and fuzzy stuff. A writer to watch.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-312-09914-2
Page Count: 224
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1993
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
© Copyright 2024 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.
bookshelf
