by Harry Cummins ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A
A clever but meandering political and cultural tale.
A debut novel takes a deep dive into Australian culture, politics, geography, nature—and whatever else in world history that the author fancies.
The main character here is narrator Patrick Mynts, a British art gallery owner, who is in Australia on a government culture junket. He also happens to be the nephew of Australian Prime Minister Sir Dewy Popkiss, a fact that may give him access to Tray Beautous, a reclusive artist whose work he admires. Tray lives on Magnetic Island in North Queensland. At the Australian National Gallery in Canberra, Patrick encounters The Old Folks Home, one of Tray’s paintings, which features “a giant Tolga Melon like a green Zeppelin” (“Phallic symbolism at its freshest”). Crazy characters abound in the novel. Dewy is one, of course (“To the extent that he had political anger at all, Dew’s was focused on members of his own party, the only ones who could do him harm as an individual, rather than as the adherent of a particular, political faith”). And then there is his predecessor, Knut Fagan, and his dead wife, Brooklana, subject of a colossal statue made by Tray and subsequently destroyed (think Ozymandias). Other key characters include Sir Quntee Mush and his lovely wife, Arkana Muckadilla, the “Texans.” The plot concerns Dewy’s agreement with Patrick that he will be enriched if he can persuade Tray to paint Quntee and Arkana while they are in flagrante delicto, which supposedly will result in the violent death of both of them. Of course, only a rogue would reveal the outcome, which is as wacky as the rest of the tale. Cummins’ ambitious work is not for everyone, although it does have its weird charms. Patrick has strong opinions on everything but especially on matters of politics and race, and he indulges in long rants that do nothing to advance the plot. In fact, given the absurd plot, it would be more accurate to describe the work as a long and varied polemic masquerading as a novel. It also might be called a political/cultural satire. But there is a problem: The author has little regard for American readers. A crucial term in the story is “Tim-Tam.” Google explains that Tim-Tam is a very popular Australian biscuit (cookie), but clearly it has a derogatory slang meaning—which the audience is never enlightened about. Most American readers will not know what the term means or what group of people constitutes the Tim-Tam. A glossary would be a welcome and simple fix. A similar case has to do with Quntee and Arkana. Are they really from Texas, or is that simply a snide Aussie reference, comparable to the way Yanks sometimes use “cowboy”? And Patrick doesn’t get to Magnetic Island, where there are truly bizarre goings-on, until the very end of the tale. But a sort of epilogue (L’Après-Midi d’un Prawn) that reads like a fever dream tops that for the fantastical. Still, there are readers who will enjoy giving themselves over to this sort of smorgasbord of a book, those who enjoy a good rant, love to try to puzzle things out, and will appreciate Cummins’ wit and obvious erudition. The wide-ranging story should especially appeal to avid museumgoers and fervent fans of the op-ed pages.
A clever but meandering political and cultural tale.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-925826-29-6
Page Count: 463
Publisher: Connor Court Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 23, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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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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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