Earnest debut, long on consciousness-raising, short on plot.
Buppie love.
Noire, a semiradical Amherst grad pursuing a doctorate at Columbia, has mixed feelings about academe and its privileges. And that’s on top of her struggle to find herself: Who is she and where is she going? And what should she do about all the double-degree brothas with $500 shoes and no social conscience who want her body but not her mind? Enter Innocent Pokou, a handsome, studly investment banker from the Côte d’Ivoire, who e-mails his beloved Maman regularly, makes a ton of money, and treats Noire like a lady. But she still isn’t sure she should commit to him—or any other man. Meanwhile, a rich social life keeps Noire busy: intellectual soirées, Harlem book parties, East Village poetry jams, etc., all providing opportunities to explore the ever more contemporary issues that interest Noire (not that she doesn’t find time for romantic evenings with Innocent). African-American perceptions of class and color are touched upon repeatedly, as exemplified by Noire’s New Orleans cousins, who drew troubling lines between one shade of brown and the next (the lighter the better, and black not admired). Noire still wears her hair in a nappy ’fro, seeing political ramifications in the ever-changing requirements of black fashion as well. Innocent’s strong ties to his homeland bring back memories of her student trips to Africa, which opened her eyes to the diversity of black identity and taught her a thing or two about the limits of her American upbringing. If only she could speak so many languages! And move so readily between different cultures! Like Cudjoe, her half-Jamaican, half-Ghanian lover who spoke so movingly of the centuries of black history and his ancestors’ struggle to endure despite slavery. Noire and Cudjoe were together years ago, but she remembers every word. When Innocent and Noire travel to Jamaica, the two men meet—triggering many more ruminations from Noire on the Meaning of Life.
Earnest debut, long on consciousness-raising, short on plot.Pub Date: July 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-06-053679-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
To her usual mix of love, mystery, and passion, Roberts (Sanctuary, 1997, etc.)—author of 115 romancers in some 17 years—adds Renaissance art and a decidedly Medici-like family: the Joneses of Maine. Dr. Miranda Jones, nearly six feet with flaming red hair and a glacial reserve, is an archeometrist who specializes in the analyzing and dating of Renaissance bronze sculpture. Miranda hopes to secure a world-class reputation for herself by authenticating a 15th-century statue of the Dark Lady, one of the mistresses of Lorenzo the Magnificent, as the undiscovered work of a young Michelangelo. Miranda's mother, Dr. Elizabeth Standford-Jones, the emotionally remote director of the Standjo art lab in Florence, has summoned her daughter from the family's Victorian cliffside home in Jones Point, Maine, to test the statue. Meanwhile, Miranda's father, equally remote, is an archaeologist who spends more time at his digs than at home. In fact, no one in the Jones family has made a successful run at marriage, a failure that Miranda and her alcoholic brother Andrew call the Jones curse. As for the statue, when it's discovered to be a fake, Miranda sets out to prove that someone stole the original. In this she's helped by gorgeous art thief Ryan Boldari (half-Italian, half-Irish), who's come to Jones Point to steal yet another bronze, which also turns out to be a forgery. Ryan's plan had been to use Miranda as a pawn, but now, naturally, he finds himself falling hard for her. While the two search for bronzes, a standard-issue romance-novel psychotic is stalking them. Most readers will twig to the killer's identity: Here, as always, Roberts's sexual tension is more compelling than her suspense. Perhaps it's time to take a sabbatical from the pink sweatshop and turn her considerable wit and narrative skills to a more original piece of work.
Pub Date: March 23, 1998
ISBN: 0-399-14387-4
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1998
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