More terrific work from a writer who gets better with each book.
Risk-taking fiction from Kelly (The Last Summer of the Camperdowns, 2013, etc.), this time featuring a canine narrator, an apparition, and a whole mess of trouble between fathers and sons.
Whatever resemblance the wry musings of Ned may bear to the inner life of an actual Shih Tzu, he serves Kelly brilliantly as an outside observer suddenly thrown into the dysfunctional interactions of the Monahan family when prodigal son Spark steals him from the back seat of a Mercedes to bring home to Maine as a peace offering to his own son, Hally, whom he hasn’t seen in four years. Spark does not, to put it mildly, get along with his father, Pastor Ragnar, leader of a sect Ned describes as “occupying the murky middle ground somewhere between Jonestown and the La Leche League.” Kelly’s trademark dark wit is in evidence throughout, as Ned’s scornful running commentary on the foibles of other dog breeds provides some light notes in the increasingly sad drama that plays out after 12-year-old Hally sees the Virgin Mary standing on a cliff near their island home. This vision is a red flag to Spark; Hally’s mother, Flory, it gradually emerges, heard voices and imagined things as a result of the mental illness that descended after Hally was born. The last thing Spark wants is for his son to be used as a marketing tool by manipulative, self-serving Pastor Ragnar. But having left infant Hally with his family in the aftermath of Flory’s death, Spark is not in a position to do much but watch with dismay as Pastor Ragnar’s publicitymongering attracts hordes of invasive gawkers who further unsettle Hally’s already fragile emotional state—as well as a murderous stalker whose menacing actions drive the plot toward a dramatic climax. Plenty of damage is done, but Kelly allows her vulnerable, fallible characters to grope toward better understandings of themselves and each other, with Ned acting as their engaging and affectionate chronicler.
More terrific work from a writer who gets better with each book.Pub Date: May 10, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-63149-179-5
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Liveright/Norton
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Moyes has mastered the art of likable, not terribly memorable, but far from simple-minded storytelling.
Popular British author Moyes (The Girl You Left Behind, 2013, etc.) offers another warmhearted, off-kilter romance, this one between a financially strapped single mother and a geeky tech millionaire.
Ten years ago, Jess Thomas got pregnant and dropped out of high school to marry Marty. Two years ago, hapless Marty temporarily moved out of their home on the southern coast of England to sort out his life. He never returned. Cleaning houses by day and working in a pub at night, Jess barely earns enough to support her 10-year-old daughter, Tanzie, and her 16-year-old stepson, Nicky, whom she’s been raising since he was 8. Jess worries constantly about sensitive Nicky, a moody goth regularly beaten up by the local bully. Math genius Tanzie presents a different crisis: She’s been offered a generous scholarship to a private school her current teachers say she needs, and Jess can’t come up with the balance. The only hope is winning prize money at a math tournament in Scotland, but how to get there? Meanwhile, one of Jess’ cleaning clients, computer whiz Ed Nicholls, has come to stay in his seaside vacation home to avoid publicity surrounding insider trading charges. He and Jess share an instant mutual dislike, but when he ends up drunk at the pub, Jess makes sure he gets home safely. Partly out of gratitude, but largely to escape pressure from lawyers, his ex-wife and his sister—who’s nagging him to attend his father’s birthday party—Ed offers to drive Jess, her kids and their large dog to Scotland. A road-trip-from-hell romantic comedy ensues, complete with carsickness, bad meals and missed signals. Unsurprisingly, hostility evolves into mutual attraction. But Moyes throws in a few wrenches, like Tanzie’s failure at the competition, Ed’s father’s cancer and the cash Jess has secretly kept since it fell out of Ed’s pocket at the pub that first night.
Moyes has mastered the art of likable, not terribly memorable, but far from simple-minded storytelling.Pub Date: July 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-525-42658-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Pamela Dorman/Viking
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2014
PROFILES
Pain, grief, and hurt are all part of life in this moving portrayal of the many forms love can take.
An isolated, prickly septuagenarian in London who has lost her husband works to overcome her fears that she is a burden to those around her.
Millicent Carmichael—Missy—married the man she loved, Leo, in 1959. But after a half-century of living, loving, and growing older in a huge house in Stoke Newington, London, he is gone, and she is bereft. Her son and grandson, both of whom she dotes on, live more than 9,000 miles away in Australia, and she is recently estranged from her daughter, who lives nearby in Cambridge. Missy is a difficult person with sharp edges—she knows this, her Leo knew this—and she is at loose ends, having lived in a community for all this time without getting to know anyone because she held so tightly to her family she made no time for anyone else. But now, the loneliness is crushing her. A few life-changing moments happen in quick succession: She faints in the park and meets neighbor Sylvie, who kindly sits with her for a bit; her home is robbed while she feigns sleep; and she agrees to do a favor for brusque neighbor Angela—journalist, friend of Sylvie, and single mother to Otis. And so Missy finds herself tending to a vivacious dog of indeterminate breed, Bob, that she neither wanted nor feels capable of taking care of. Debut author Morrey has deftly created a series of love stories, interwoven together and told in snippets through time: Missy’s undying devotion to Leo, despite his—and her—many flaws; her devotion to her children, which she often isn’t able to verbalize; and her growing niche in the community that Bob—her Bobby, her unexpected companion and confidant—introduces her to during their daily walks. There are no saccharine moments to mar this tale.
Pain, grief, and hurt are all part of life in this moving portrayal of the many forms love can take.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-525-54244-5
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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