Doesn’t traverse new narrative ground, but this is a lively tale about balancing one’s moral commitments with the realities...
A political drama that follows a campaign novice’s attempt to win a Senate seat from a cynical incumbent.
Author Collins’ second book-length effort (co-author Warning the Witness, 2011) draws heavily from his own experience as a lawyer, activist and as someone who has run for public office and has served as the assistant United States attorney in Washington, D.C., under President Clinton. The story opens with a scene from the protagonist’s childhood: Quinn Barnes, a black second-grader navigating a school largely attended by privileged white students, sees one of his peers being tormented by bullies. Following the counsel of his father, he intervenes and tries to shield the boy from harm. That child’s father turns out to be Aidan Coyle, a Democratic Party boss in Connecticut, a man who wields considerable clout and devotedly serves as a mentor to Quinn for the remainder of his days. The narrative fast-forwards to an adult Quinn, now an up-and-coming lawyer married with children, who is asked by an ailing Aidan to challenge Saul Berg for his Senate seat in the next primary election. Saul is corrupt, stirred only by power itself and shorn of any transcendent moral purpose. With great reluctance, Quinn finally agrees to run and finds his life torn asunder by the race; his wife departs with the kids, his own firm fires him, and Aidan, beleaguered by medical problems, is slowly slipping away. The drama of the campaign unfolds rapidly, highlighting the tension between Quinn’s idealism and the dark demands of political competition. Sometimes, as the author tries too hard to inspire the reader, the writing borders on cloying and the dialogue reads as stale boilerplate fare; e.g., “The Saul I know is choosing billionaires over college students drowning in student loan debt. The Saul I know is continuing to support subsidies for big oil and claims that there’s no money to put people to work rebuilding roads and bridges. The Saul I know puts his friends and his own interests first. And if you’re putting yourself first, you’re not doing the business of government.” Despite these occasional missteps, however, the story remains both timely and gripping.
Doesn’t traverse new narrative ground, but this is a lively tale about balancing one’s moral commitments with the realities of political life.Pub Date: Sept. 11, 2014
ISBN: 978-0990568377
Page Count: 330
Publisher: 21st Century Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 6, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Honeyman’s endearing debut is part comic novel, part emotional thriller, and part love story.
A very funny novel about the survivor of a childhood trauma.
At 29, Eleanor Oliphant has built an utterly solitary life that almost works. During the week, she toils in an office—don’t inquire further; in almost eight years no one has—and from Friday to Monday she makes the time go by with pizza and booze. Enlivening this spare existence is a constant inner monologue that is cranky, hilarious, deadpan, and irresistible. Eleanor Oliphant has something to say about everything. Riding the train, she comments on the automated announcements: “I wondered at whom these pearls of wisdom were aimed; some passing extraterrestrial, perhaps, or a yak herder from Ulan Bator who had trekked across the steppes, sailed the North Sea, and found himself on the Glasgow-Edinburgh service with literally no prior experience of mechanized transport to call upon.” Eleanor herself might as well be from Ulan Bator—she’s never had a manicure or a haircut, worn high heels, had anyone visit her apartment, or even had a friend. After a mysterious event in her childhood that left half her face badly scarred, she was raised in foster care, spent her college years in an abusive relationship, and is now, as the title states, perfectly fine. Her extreme social awkwardness has made her the butt of nasty jokes among her colleagues, which don’t seem to bother her much, though one notices she is stockpiling painkillers and becoming increasingly obsessed with an unrealistic crush on a local musician. Eleanor’s life begins to change when Raymond, a goofy guy from the IT department, takes her for a potential friend, not a freak of nature. As if he were luring a feral animal from its hiding place with a bit of cheese, he gradually brings Eleanor out of her shell. Then it turns out that shell was serving a purpose.
Honeyman’s endearing debut is part comic novel, part emotional thriller, and part love story.Pub Date: May 9, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7352-2068-3
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Pamela Dorman/Viking
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
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