Eighth novel but only second US appearance for British writer Nicholson (Hunters and Gatherers, 1994): a darkly comic cornucopia set in a mythic London department store—gigantic and posh. The book's structure mirrors that of the sprawling, opulent store as we're taken through each of the nine floors—plus the many hidden rooms, subfloors, and secret corridors—and introduced to the over-the-top characters who inhabit Haden Brothers. There's the last of the brothers, Arnold, a recluse who keeps to himself in the store's penthouse, emerging only to ravish young shopgirls; then there are the anarchist porters who try to bring Haden Brothers to its knees; the perfect saleswoman whom everyone else hates; the apolitical, amoral, spineless artist who's there only because he can't seem to find a suitable artistic field—and who, while he contemplates searching for the right creative outlet, is being wooed by the anarchists as well as by the forces of consumerism within the store itself. Throw in a blind elevator attendant who can smell the goings-on in every corner; a kleptomaniac shopgirl; the fear of terrorism; and the ghostly presence of the architect who designed secret chambers for himself within Haden Brothers, and you have the usual Nicholson madcap, page-turning plot. But also, as usual, the author's crafty structural maneuverings are an excuse to probe deep into complex societal issues, here aiming right at the heart of conspicuous consumption, spinning off wicked takes on power and sex, longing and gratification, creativity and political engagement. Nicholson, the genius behind this commercial Tower of Babel, is both a master of large, complex, convoluted structures—and a comic satirist of biting precision.
Pub Date: June 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-312-13069-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1995
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
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
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