How can the author of a bombshell like 1970's Love Story follow up with such a long succession of dramatic duds (Prizes, 1995, etc.)? Readers are likely to occupy their minds with this question while leafing through the forgettable life and loves of Dr. Matthew Hiller, genetic engineer extraordinaire. With an alcoholic lit-professor father and a workaholic mother, young Matthew knew he was blessed to possess a talent as a pianist strong enough that one day it will carry him away from Dearborn, Michigan, forever. In college, he majors in music but also pursues an interest in medicine while carrying on a benign but creative friendship with a pretty cellist named Evie. After graduation, Evie marries her master-class instructor, and Matthew opts for med school, following up with a stint tending victims of Ethiopia's famine. There, he meets and falls hard for fellow doctor Silvia Dalessandro, an Italian super-heiress using this altruistic jaunt to escape a scheduled marriage to wealthy family friend Nico Rinaldi. Matthew and Silvia shack up together, but when Matthew is nearly killed by natives, Silvia agrees to marry Nico right away if he'll airlift Matthew to a Swiss hospital. Thus Matthew hangs on to his life but loses Silvia and—he realizes soon enough—his ability to play the piano. Heartbroken, he buries himself in research studies at Harvard, soon becoming the world's expert at destroying brain tumors through genetic engineering. Moving to New York to continue his work, Matthew rediscovers Evie (now divorced with two daughters), marries her, and lives happily until, lo and behold, Silvia appears at his office door with the biggest brain tumor of all. Will Matthew resist Silvia's fatal attraction, holding onto the family happiness he's found with Evie? Segal's brisk, oddly passionless prose does little to motivate the reader to care. (First printing of 50,000; TV rights to CBS; Literary Guild main selection; $150,000 ad/promo)
Pub Date: Oct. 27, 1997
ISBN: 0-399-14341-6
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1997
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Will simultaneously intrigue both romantics and skeptics. The science might oversimplify, but it’s gripping enough to read...
Marrs’ debut novel traces the stories of five people who find their soul mates—or do they?
Imagine if you could submit to a simple DNA test and then receive your Match in your email. Not just an online date who might be geographically compatible, but a true and unique genetically destined partner. While the potential long-term benefits may seem to outweigh the negative consequences, the system is far from infallible; as any science-fiction fan could tell you, if it sounds too good to be true, there’s usually a catastrophe lurking at the other end. Marrs’ novel traces five individuals who meet their Matches under varying circumstances and with widely conflicting outcomes. During the course of their romantic adventures (and misadventures), the entire DNA matching algorithm will prove to be susceptible to hacking, also proving that (gasp!) just because something may be driven by science doesn’t mean that it’s free from the world of human error. The philosophy posed by the novel speaks not just to the power of love and the laws of attraction, but also serves as a commentary on today’s world of genetic exploration. Do these breakthroughs simplify our lives, or do they make us lazy, replacing the idea of “destiny” or “fate” with “science” as a larger power that we don’t need to question? These ideas keep the novel moving along and create a deeper level of interest, since most of the narrative threads are fairly predictable. The two exceptions are the psychopathic serial killer who meets his Match and begins to lose interest in killing and the heterosexual man matched with another man, both of whom must then redefine sexuality and love, commitment and family.
Will simultaneously intrigue both romantics and skeptics. The science might oversimplify, but it’s gripping enough to read all in one sitting.Pub Date: Feb. 20, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-335-00510-6
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Hanover Square Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
In this new novella by the Nobel Prize-winner, a Colombian-village murder 20 years in the past is raked over, brooded upon, made into a parable: how an Arab living in the town was assassinated by the loutish twin Vicario brothers when their sister, a new bride, was rejected by her bridegroom—who discovered the girl's unchastity. Cast off, beaten, grilled, the girl eventually revealed the name of her corrupter—Santiago Nassar. And, though no one really believed her (Nassar was the least likely villain), the Arab was indeed killed: the drunken brothers broadcasted their intentions casually; they went so far as to sharpen their murder weapons—old pig-sticking knives—in the town market; and the town, universal witness to the intention, reacted with epic ambivalence—sure, at first, that such an injustice couldn't occur, yet also resigned to its inevitability. As in In Evil Hour (1979) and other works, then, what Garcia Marquez offers here is an orchestration of grim social realities—an awareness that seems vague at first, then coheres into a solid, pessimistic vision. But, while In Evil Hour threaded the message with wit, fanciful imagination, and storytelling flair (the traits which have made Garcia Marquez popular as well as honored), this new book seems crammed, airless, thinly diagrammatic. The theme of historical imperative comes across in a didactic, mechanistic fashion: "He never thought it legitimate," G-M says of one character, ironically, "that life should make use of so many coincidences forbidden literature, so there should be the untramelled fulfillment of a death so clearly foretold." (Also, the novella's structural lines are uncomfortably close to those of Robert Pinget's Libera Me Domine.) So, while the recent Nobel publicity will no doubt generate added interest, this is minor, lesser Garcia Marquez: characteristic themes illustrated without the often-characteristic charm and dazzle.
Pub Date: April 15, 1983
ISBN: 140003471X
Page Count: -
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1983
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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