A compelling, thoughtful take on a very real women’s health issue; both confidently sexy and lighthearted at the same time.
When a 25-year-old go-getter is unexpectedly hit with major news about her health, she’s forced to look at herself from a new perspective and ask what she (and her body) really wants.
Lacey Whitman is a planner. Her job as a fashion trend forecaster requires her to live 10 steps ahead of now. So it’s very much like Lacey to schedule a genetic screening to rule out certain health concerns. When that screening reveals she has the BRCA1 gene mutation, the “breast cancer gene,” her carefully forecast future comes to a grinding halt. Lacey’s mother died from breast cancer at age 31, so somewhere deep down, she knew this outcome was possible. It’s a sobering thought: No one likes to think it could be them. Lacey’s priorities shift from working on her startup project, Clean Clothes, "outfits that are on trend and ethically sound," to researching the pros and cons of a mastectomy—the Big M. This research opens doors to a community of women with the same gene mutation and whose outpouring of body positivity encourages Lacey to take charge of her situation. Enter the Boob Bucket List. Before she can confidently make the choice for preventative surgery, Lacey gives herself six months to enjoy her breasts to the fullest. While the contents of the bucket list are not the most imaginative, the list represents something greater than itself: a woman’s right to choose what’s best for her body. A focus on female sexuality and self-empowerment is not new for Clark (The Regulars, 2016, etc.), but this time it comes with a welcome dose of real-life gravitas. It’s easy to overlook the fact that Lacey only checks off some of her must-dos thanks to a few inelegantly inserted plot devices because, in the end, it’s really not about the list. Instead, we're left with the power of female support systems, the importance of self-care, and the sobering realness of Lacey’s prognosis. The fashion scene and a cute, well-mannered hipster supporting character are added bonuses.
A compelling, thoughtful take on a very real women’s health issue; both confidently sexy and lighthearted at the same time.Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-7302-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Emily Bestler/Atria
Review Posted Online: June 17, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
Suspenseful, full of incident, and not obviously necessary.
Atwood goes back to Gilead.
The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), consistently regarded as a masterpiece of 20th-century literature, has gained new attention in recent years with the success of the Hulu series as well as fresh appreciation from readers who feel like this story has new relevance in America’s current political climate. Atwood herself has spoken about how news headlines have made her dystopian fiction seem eerily plausible, and it’s not difficult to imagine her wanting to revisit Gilead as the TV show has sped past where her narrative ended. Like the novel that preceded it, this sequel is presented as found documents—first-person accounts of life inside a misogynistic theocracy from three informants. There is Agnes Jemima, a girl who rejects the marriage her family arranges for her but still has faith in God and Gilead. There’s Daisy, who learns on her 16th birthday that her whole life has been a lie. And there's Aunt Lydia, the woman responsible for turning women into Handmaids. This approach gives readers insight into different aspects of life inside and outside Gilead, but it also leads to a book that sometimes feels overstuffed. The Handmaid’s Tale combined exquisite lyricism with a powerful sense of urgency, as if a thoughtful, perceptive woman was racing against time to give witness to her experience. That narrator hinted at more than she said; Atwood seemed to trust readers to fill in the gaps. This dynamic created an atmosphere of intimacy. However curious we might be about Gilead and the resistance operating outside that country, what we learn here is that what Atwood left unsaid in the first novel generated more horror and outrage than explicit detail can. And the more we get to know Agnes, Daisy, and Aunt Lydia, the less convincing they become. It’s hard, of course, to compete with a beloved classic, so maybe the best way to read this new book is to forget about The Handmaid’s Tale and enjoy it as an artful feminist thriller.
Suspenseful, full of incident, and not obviously necessary.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-385-54378-1
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
This book sings with the terrible silence of dead civilizations in which once there was valor.
Written with quiet dignity that builds to a climax of tragic force, this book about the dissolution of an African tribe, its traditions, and values, represents a welcome departure from the familiar "Me, white brother" genre.
Written by a Nigerian African trained in missionary schools, this novel tells quietly the story of a brave man, Okonkwo, whose life has absolute validity in terms of his culture, and who exercises his prerogative as a warrior, father, and husband with unflinching single mindedness. But into the complex Nigerian village filters the teachings of strangers, teachings so alien to the tribe, that resistance is impossible. One must distinguish a force to be able to oppose it, and to most, the talk of Christian salvation is no more than the babbling of incoherent children. Still, with his guns and persistence, the white man, amoeba-like, gradually absorbs the native culture and in despair, Okonkwo, unable to withstand the corrosion of what he, alone, understands to be the life force of his people, hangs himself. In the formlessness of the dying culture, it is the missionary who takes note of the event, reminding himself to give Okonkwo's gesture a line or two in his work, The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.
This book sings with the terrible silence of dead civilizations in which once there was valor.Pub Date: Jan. 23, 1958
ISBN: 0385474547
Page Count: 207
Publisher: McDowell, Obolensky
Review Posted Online: April 23, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1958
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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