A breezy and often eccentric collection of fiction and nonfiction.
Halcombe (Ser un Tusitala, 2016) delivers an absurd novella about a fame-seeking traveler along with several essays on a wide range of topics.
In this collection’s opening story, a fictional character named Halcombe Norilsk, originally from Russia, decides “to become famous traveling the world.” How would he obtain this fame? He has a plethora of schemes, each less successful than the last, including attempting to write for the British newspaper the Guardian and trying to be a model. Wherever shall such a hapless character wind up? After Norilsk’s zany adventure ends, the reader is met with a series of diverse, personal essays by the author, written in a more earnest, yet still often playful, tone. Their subjects range from tips on sleeping (such as “do not enter into your bedroom until the time you go to sleep”) to a discussion of the 1957 film The Bridge on the River Kwai (spelled “Qwai” here). There’s also a list of the 30 best songs by Jack White of The White Stripes and background information on a script for a short film that the author wrote for a screenwriting course. However, the author’s grammar is sometimes less than perfect, as when describing a punk-rock concert: “Punk-monger of Evaristo was positive as always, yet who did really triumph rendering a paramount punk performance it was MKB.” That said, Halcombe’s opinions are still coherent throughout. The author clearly has an affection for his subjects that shines through in each piece, such as one about the history of the Academy Awards. The essays that analyze aspects of American culture are the most intriguing, as the author is not from the United States, nor is he a native English speaker. As a result, his essays on the movies of Quentin Tarantino and the life of Jimi Hendrix have an unusual perspective, shedding new light on cultural items that readers may think they already know well.
A breezy and often eccentric collection of fiction and nonfiction.Pub Date: Dec. 6, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5246-5343-9
Page Count: 180
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
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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