A story with a well-developed protagonist who becomes more appealing as he overcomes obstacles.
In L.G.’s debut drama, a divorced man finds his calling as a truck driver, as the open road provides an escape from a life that’s been defined by failure.
Forty-something Sam Yost is stunned when his wife and the mother of his children, Chrystal, announces that she’s leaving him—and that she’d planned to do so for years. Tired of construction work and wanting a change of scenery, Sam becomes inspired by his brother-in-law and roommate Doug’s occupation as a truck driver, and he aims to become one himself. He takes a course to earn a commercial driver’s license; back in high school, he used to perform poorly on tests, and now he’s anxious about his instructor’s scrutiny from the passenger’s seat. Nevertheless, Sam prevails, but he’s soon faced with tribulations on the road, such as witnessing the aftermath of a horrific car collision and dealing with his truck sliding on ice. He takes solace in frequenting truck-stop diners, as the food reminds him of his tenderhearted mom, who used to console him with home-cooked meals. A waitress catches his eye, but he’s anxious about asking her out. He eventually realizes that all he needs is confidence, which is something that he has when he’s behind the wheel. The author smartly details the basics of operating a truck in lengthy sections devoted to Sam’s driving class; he does so by contrasting trucks with smaller vehicles—noting, for instance, the difference between air brakes and the better-known hydraulic variety. This amplifies certain scenes, including an unnerving moment when Sam nearly loses control of his rig during a turn onto an interstate. However, the story is at its best when it highlights the protagonist’s internal strife. Sam is shown to be socially awkward and possibly dyslexic, and the author draws on his protagonist’s recurrent childhood memories to show how he slowly gains self-respect in later life. With all this in mind, this is a surprisingly upbeat tale, as Sam revels in tiny victories: “Finding good diners on the road was kind of like finding a long-lost friend.”
A story with a well-developed protagonist who becomes more appealing as he overcomes obstacles.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4575-5901-3
Page Count: 234
Publisher: Dog Ear Publishing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 14, 2017
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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