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MEN WHO WOULD BE GOOD

Name: MEN WHO WOULD BE GOOD
Author: Gordon Weaver
ISBN: 0-929968-17-4

by Gordon Weaver ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1991

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A disappointing sixth collection from Weaver (A World Quite Round, Getting Serious, etc.), particularly after the exuberant tour de force of his most recent novel (The Eight Corners of the World, 1988). With the exception of the novella, these seven instances of men at their emotional limits ends with Weaver's creativity at its lowest ebb. ``Under the World,'' the novella, is an inventive Vietnam fable about a short man who is recruited to infiltrate North Vietnam's vast system of underground tunnels and who decides never to come out: ``I didn't go back to The World because I wanted to keep on being who I am. Me. Huff.'' Here, there's a satisfying diversity of incident and a good deal of wordplay, as though Weaver's heart these days is in longer fictions. In the meantime, ``Whiskey, Whiskey, Gin, Gin, Gin'' is ``a kind of collage'' in which an alcoholic narrator's family history-like father, like son, carried through two generations-is structured as a pseudo-confession to a third party, presumably a counselor or therapist; ``Zen Golf'' is a familiar take on a man, failing at 43, who takes up golf to find ``wholeness.'' The plot escalates until the man loses all interest in anything but the nirvana he finds on the course, where he ``becomes'' the golf ball; ``The Good Man of Stillwater, Oklahoma'' is a slice-of- life, with pretensions to fabulism, about a man whose life as an Allstate employee is disrupted by drought, invasions of snakes and locusts, and tornadoes before a rhetorical apocalyptic finish; ``Turner's Dream'' goes inward to reveal the bleak life of a man who dreams of his dead parents and faces family problems by slipping into solipsism. At best, Weaver is struggling in these shorter fictions to find a new direction; at low ebb, but a fine craftsman work. Some of the pieces appeared in Quarterly West, Western Humanities Review, and Pushcart Prize X.

Pub Date: April 1, 1991

ISBN: 0-929968-17-4

Page Count: 248

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1991

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
LONG ODDS
by Gordon Weaver

- BOOK REVIEW
FOUR DECADES
by Gordon Weaver

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WAY WE KNOW IN DREAMS
by Gordon Weaver

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BETWEEN SISTERS

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2003

Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...

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Sisters in and out of love.

Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?

Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.

Pub Date: May 1, 2003

ISBN: 0-345-45073-6

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Ballantine

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WOMEN
by Kristin Hannah

- BOOK REVIEW
THE FOUR WINDS
by Kristin Hannah

- BOOK REVIEW
THE GREAT ALONE
by Kristin Hannah

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.