An antic, often very amusing social satire that occasionally loses its way.
A witty, comic novel in which God encounters plenty of very human problems.
Wilson’s debut features an opinionated, bad-tempered, sometimes hilariously contradictory version of the Judeo-Christian God as its hero, its anti-hero and very nearly its sole character. As the story opens, God is in his office busily going about his usual tasks of creating stars, galaxies and planets, but ever since he was knocked unconscious by Father Time in the foyer of his house, he’s been having problems recalling little details: “He had already begun a daily excursion through the waters of forgetfulness where He often ran aground on the reef of short-term memory loss, which was located not too far from the shoals of anger and frustration.” This leads to several embarrassing incidents, as when God takes some friends out for a night on the town but belatedly realizes that he’d grabbed the keys to his lawn tractor instead of his SUV. This prompts God to seek help; he tries over-the-counter supplements, but they do no good. He dislikes the Internet—he claims it was invented by the Devil and the government—but the special assistant he cooks up in his microwave wastes no time suggesting what the problem might be: God isn’t delegating enough. The author then delivers a droll commentary on American marketing culture: “By the end of that week God had become God Incorporated.” Wilson handles most of the story with precise comic timing. However, the book’s digressions into sexual satire tend to be odd or mean-spirited. Wilson’s version of God manages to be both likable and Old Testament-style vengeful: “God accepts name-calling and seldom responds, but He abhors being admonished,” Wilson tells readers, right before God kills the writer of a negative editorial.
An antic, often very amusing social satire that occasionally loses its way.Pub Date: Dec. 19, 2013
ISBN: 978-1490507224
Page Count: 206
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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