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THAT'S THAT

Name: THAT'S THAT
Author: Gaye Walsh
ISBN: 978-1452077772

by Gaye Walsh ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 20, 2010

A breezy read from a capable talent.

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Generations of an Irish family cope with decades of personal and political turmoil in Walsh’s endearing debut novel.

In the midst of a devastating potato blight in the 1840s, the roots of the Callaghan family take hold when John is born in an impoverished Irish town. He is soon orphaned and a childless couple takes pity on the boy, granting him the opportunity—i.e., food—to grow up, take over the adopted-family business and get married. And so John does, as do his children and his children’s children. Only halfway through the novel does Walsh finally slow the rapid, increasingly tedious rhythm of small-town lovers courting and requiting, and shift to a more patient and revealing narrative centered on the Frowney family and their farm. Louise Callaghan, granddaughter of John, is the Frowney’s saintly matriarch and Charlie Frowney, detached alcoholic, is its stern patriarch. The couple’s nuanced relationship, from its spirited beginning to its disenchanted conclusion, emanates a spark lit by a passion that eludes the many other relationships in the novel. Some potentially engaging arcs are weakened by clichés—marriage is described as a “tug-of-war,” an annoyance is “a thorn in her side”—and baffling similes, as when “tears flowed like molten lava.” Yet Walsh, a poet, has a keen eye for detail, most admirably in poignant moments a less insightful author might deem unremarkable, as when Louise overhears Charlie and their young son quietly singing together in the barn at sunrise. At low volume throughout, Walsh politely, perfunctorily mentions Ireland’s political revolution as if those violent contentions were only an expression of whiskey preference. For spanning two centuries, the novel’s breadth does not translate into depth, but when focused, Walsh can delight.

A breezy read from a capable talent.

Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2010

ISBN: 978-1452077772

Page Count: 300

Publisher: AuthorHouse

Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2011

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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MAGIC HOUR

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

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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

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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by Kristin Hannah

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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951

A strict report, worthy of sympathy.

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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.