Terrifically exciting and spiritually rich.
Intriguing, mini-sagas of samurai derring-do and nimble wit, with a distinctly Buddhist flavor.
Garbed in fabulous gear—“black-laced armor over a dark blue battle robe”—the 15th-century Japanese warrior monk Jomyo Meishu of Tutsui, in the blink of an eye, nails 20 men with his bow and arrow. A cunning chancellor ferrets out court conspiracies by infiltrating 300 teenagers, “the Rokuhara lord’s short-haired boys,” into the populace to spy on subversives. The wondrous champion dancer Gio, realizing that “we are mere sojourners in this life” turns her back on glamour and, retreating to a mountain sanctuary, spends the rest of her days reciting the name of the Buddha. Such are the facets of this jewel of a collection, compiling warrior tales, told by blind lute minstrels, that form the basis of No and Kabuki drama. Intended to laud and lament the courageous fallen, the adventure yarns are permeated often with an elegiac, wistful air, a resigned sense that “what flourishes must fade.” Fans of classic Asian literature, especially of the world’s first novel, Lady Murasaki’s The Tale of Genji, will recognize the fastidious attention to detail here—the cut of the clothes, the nuanced etiquette, the lyrical language—that contrasts these stories with their Western counterparts, either Homeric or Arthurian. What also distinguishes these tales is the poignant tension between the hero’s inspiring quest for glory and his ultimate realization—perhaps even more inspiring—that any transitory glory is only another form of attachment: the chief adversary of Buddhist enlightenment. An excellent introduction, tracing the genre’s historical context, and a complete glossary of characters make this edition invaluable not only for aficionados of Japanese writing but for all students of myth.
Terrifically exciting and spiritually rich.Pub Date: July 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-231-13802-4
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Columbia Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2006
Collins resolves these and many other questions at breakneck pace, with her inimitable touch of crass evident throughout....
The usual mixed bag of vixens, sexy louts, and a hardworking star or two from Collins (Lethal Seduction, 2000, etc), on familiar territory in la-la land once more.
Lissa Roman, singer and movie actress, is still gorgeous at 40, but she has to work at it. Too bad her pesky offspring, Nicci, is now old enough to actually be engaged. What’s next? Grandchildren? Perish the thought and get me my agent—who lands Lissa a fabulous gig opening a lavish new Las Vegas hotel. It’s a welcome distraction from her restless fourth husband, Gregg, part-time philanderer and full-time bodybuilding egotist. He’s so Hollywood—Lissa rues the day she married him. Well, perhaps her darling daughter will settle down with that hot young director, Evan Richter, and find happiness. Instead, Nicci finds she’s wildly attracted to Evan’s bad-boy twin, Brian. Will she stay faithful, or bed the naughty brother before her bachelorette party? And should she tell that weird guy in the stocking mask who just knocked on her door to go away? Decisions, decisions. Taylor Singer, a sometime actress married to a famous director who bores her in bed, has a few decisions of her own to make. Should she say yes to Montana, the bisexual woman director who wants her to play a leading role in a lesbian love story? Should she say no to Oliver Rock, the skanky but sexy young screenwriter who just sold his first opus for a million bucks? Getting back to the heroine: Lissa has the hots for Michael Scorsinni, the obligatory macho Italian cop and official Real Person in this hackneyed plot. Will he get the goods on cheating Gregg? And will Lissa let him out of bed long enough to save the life of her kidnapped daughter?
Collins resolves these and many other questions at breakneck pace, with her inimitable touch of crass evident throughout. Happiness awaits schlock connoisseurs and uncritical fans alike.Pub Date: June 22, 2001
ISBN: 0-7432-1634-2
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2001
Despite a promising premise, the book tries to do too much and never quite gets off the ground.
An ambitious debut novel about a plane crash investigation and the solitary survivor of the deadly accident.
Farrell tells two parallel stories that eventually intersect. Charlie Radford, who works for the National Transportation Safety Board, is on his first big assignment—probing the midair explosion of a passenger jet over southwestern Kansas. A would-be pilot grounded because of a heart condition, Charlie is anxious to prove himself and overcome feelings of inadequacy, engendered in part by his remote, alcoholic father. Erin Geraghty, a lawyer and mother of two, is chafing in a lackluster marriage (she’s also having an affair) and dealing with a recent diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. One day she boards a flight from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco that never reaches its destination. The author is good at building suspense around the cause of the air disaster as well as the fate of its unlikely survivor—a woman passenger who apparently tumbled through the sky and landed in a barn. He’s also good at describing the politics surrounding the investigation and the personalities of the NTSB team. A former pilot himself, he writes vividly, at times rhapsodically, about flying. Not so persuasive are his domestic scenes—for example, Charlie’s dust-ups with his wife, Wendy, who desperately wants a baby (Charlie resists); and Erin’s arguments with her lover, Adam, who presses her to reveal her identity as the “falling woman” (she demurs). Sole survivors of commercial plane crashes are not unheard of—the recent novel Dear Edward, about a young sole survivor, is based on a true story. Yet a number of plot points here strain credulity. And the musings on bravery, betrayal, the randomness of fate and the extraordinariness of the ordinary feel prosaic.
Despite a promising premise, the book tries to do too much and never quite gets off the ground.Pub Date: May 19, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-61620-857-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Algonquin
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
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