by Han D. Cho ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 28, 2016
A slim but potent slice of Korean history, told through the lives of a troubled family.
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Two estranged Korean brothers weather their differences to rediscover their blood bond in martial arts instructor Cho’s debut novel.
Recent college graduate Steve Lee learns of his older brother Charlie’s drug troubles through a concerned friend and, with his father Jang’s help, he sets out to bring him back to their home in Massachusetts. When they, along with Charlie’s friend Benny, finally confront Charlie after a lengthy search, he’s aggressive toward them, provoking fistfights and shouting matches. The narrative adds texture and characterization as it effectively flickers between the past and present; Cho weaves the Lee family history into the story with flashbacks depicting Steve and Charlie’s harsh, hardscrabble childhood in Korea; their sexist father’s relentless abuse of their mother, Jasmine; and Charlie’s progression from rebellious, erratic behavior as a youth to his later self-destructive tendencies and opportunistic business scams. Also integral to the story is the Lees’ immigration from war-ravaged Korea to a city in New England. Cho writes in plainspoken, readable prose which serves the narrative well. Instead of melodramatic, overwrought episodes of a family in turmoil, he offers restrained chapters with vivid imagery from the Lee family members’ history, highlighting their strife and enduring spirit. He also addresses the brothers’ love-hate relationship and their desperate need to keep the family unit together. The story is flush with themes of belonging, heritage, honor, and brotherly solidarity, and it aligns closely with the author’s own life journey. Cho’s lean, concise novel gets to the heart of the immigrant family experience in a new world that’s full of trouble and temptation. The conclusion is satisfying and poignant, if a bit rushed; Cho would likely have served readers better by taking more time in reaching it.
A slim but potent slice of Korean history, told through the lives of a troubled family.Pub Date: June 28, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5347-1759-6
Page Count: 164
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006
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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by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951
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
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