Ordinary as waves lapping sand, tempestuous as a stormy sea- -the growing-up years of Sonny Mendoza in Hawaii in the 50's and 60's derive their metaphors from the surrounding sea. Taking the long view, like Irene Hunt in Up a Road Slowly, Salisbury relates a pivotal event each year: Sonny, at six, leaving an aunt and uncle to move in with his widower father; discovering the binding, quiet love between his family members; capturing a shark for a movie crew (an ambitious allusion to The Old Man and the Sea); fearing, more than once, that his father has been taken by natural enemies; etc. Salisbury has a sure hand, writing with grace and cool conviction of Sonny's confusion over his untalkative parent, his dealings with bullies, his growing awareness that he lacks the ``macho'' of other Mendoza men. An exotic and particular way of life is made universal as Sonny acknowledges the sea he feared, faces high school, falls in love. Ripe with images, the work—its writing, people, style—is tantalizing, well-realized, and mature. (Fiction. 11+)
Pub Date: June 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-385-30596-6
Page Count: 216
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1992
Illuminated by sudden twists and magical transformations, these linked stories from the author of Winning Scheherazade (p. 392) will have middle readers wondering if their schools and teachers aren't more than they seem. Every year, graduating eighth-graders at the old school on Poor Farm Road have sewn keepsake pillows. This time they have to hurry, for the building is collapsing—the well over which it was built wants it back—so, with the help of three very senior members of the faculty (Ms. Oakes, Ms. Laurel, and old librarian Ms. Holly), the students work away, matter-of-factly accepting the apparitions that appear one after another to share a memory, a memorable character, an urban legend, or a campfire story. A headless ``Silver Skier'' swoops down the slope to snatch a loved one away; a ring of ``Gypsy Gold'' brings loss in one tale, but solace to lonely ``Myra'' in another; the title story explains why manners are important near a well; ``An Old, Often Retold Story of Revenge'' is funny and satisfying, but definitely not delicious; while other tales feature ghostly touches, just deserts, or hilarious slapstick. The main plot is more than a device to bridge the stories, it's strong enough to stand on its own. Appealing and well-told. (Fiction. 11-15)
Pub Date: Oct. 18, 1991
ISBN: 0-399-21803-3
Page Count: 119
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1991
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The complementary strengths of a social-science writer and a psychiatrist produce a balanced sociological/neuro-biological exploration of violence as a public-health problem. Humans are exceptional: other species rarely kill their own. The authors tell how violence has been explained and countered, from exploding the XYY myth and giving a history of psychosurgery (including lobotomies) to trying to understand hate crimes. Seeing violence as multicausal in nature (drug addiction, poverty, and a search for control, etc.), they cite cases to demonstrate both sides of each issue, e.g., violence and its relation to TV. Perhaps the gravity of the problem comes through most arrestingly in street terminology, where a ``mushroom'' is a person unwittingly caught in drug-war crossfire. Aside from an occasional tendency to lop off stories (Joe abused of the elderly, but what did he do?), a thoughtful examination that compares theory with a reality where there are no satisfactory answers. Glossary; notes; sources; bibliography; index. (Nonfiction. 12+)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-531-11060-5
Page Count: 144
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1991
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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