A profound, heartfelt story—even when hilarity ensues.
In debut novelist Lewin’s coming-of-age tale, a 20-something New Yorker must decide between joining the family business or forging his own path.
Delton Lowe isn’t sure that law school is for him, but his father, Larry, believes that his son, as an attorney, will excel when he takes over his shoe and apparel business. At school, Delton doesn’t make friends easily, but he finds a kindred soul in Jerry Finkle, with whom he shares study time and recreational drugs. Delton is frustrated because he doesn’t feel that any of the intricate legal material he’s studying is sinking in. He seizes on the chance to do something different when, with Larry’s help, he becomes a summer intern for an assemblyman. Delton solicits political contributions from various people and meets a potential romantic interest, Carmen, who’s in public relations. Making it through just the first year of law school is arduous, but Delton has two more years and the bar exam ahead of him, and Larry, who has powerful (and sometimes-seedy) New York connections, seems to have his son’s life mapped out. As Delton considers which direction to go, he confronts a tragedy that may accelerate his decision. The story’s father-son dynamic is strong and convincing, but Lewin’s novel is primarily a comedy. Even Delton’s burdens are played for laughs; for example, he bemoans not being able to meet an attractive fellow student due to the school’s “exceedingly limited prison yard hours.” There are also some tongue-in-cheek moments that further develop the irresolute protagonist; the best is when Delton sees a business owner about making a political contribution and the visibly anxious man mistakenly believes that Delton’s there to extort money on behalf of his father. Other characters add further color, such as Delton’s neighbor Jaspr Furley, whose heavily accented advice is blunt but sound. The final act is more serious, but effectively so, firming up Delton’s professional and personal lives.
A profound, heartfelt story—even when hilarity ensues.Pub Date: Jan. 23, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9991133-0-1
Page Count: 276
Publisher: Jeffrey Park Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 19, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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