Genial but hardly subtle: a nicely drawn tale that goes overboard on the local color—to the point of turning Southern Gothic...
An extended sitcom in prose as Chappell (Giving Up the Ghost, not reviewed, etc.) follows a young ne’er-do-well back home for her mother’s funeral.
Carrie Hudson has kept in touch with her kinfolk in Oysterback, Maryland, ever since she left home 20 years ago. Now 37, Carrie is still a drifter, sleeping on a futon in the back of her Econoline van and driving cross-country to buy and sell antiques—or, as her family would call it, junk—at garage, stoop, and house sales. A 21st-century drifter, equipped with cell phone and e-mail, she’s home in a flash when she learns that her Momma Audrey has died at a Florida alligator park (she fell into the pit). But that’s only the start of the Hudson family tragedies: Carrie’s brother Wayne has been arrested for fighting with airport security in Miami (they wouldn’t let him carry his Momma’s ashes on the plane), and her brother-in-law Delmar is having trouble getting the authorities to release the ashes that are now being held as evidence. So now Carrie is stuck in Oysterback, cooling her heels as she waits for the guest of honor, meanwhile catching up with the old boyfriends, shopkeepers, and gossipy neighbors she grew up with and was only too happy to leave behind. But there are some surprises—like Professor Jack Shepherd, an old boyfriend of her Momma’s who has recently been fired and is squatting in her house for lack of anywhere else to go. Or, more frighteningly, the escaped convict Alonzo Deaver (another one of Momma’s beaux), also hiding out in Momma’s place until it’s safe to be seen in daylight again. Living under the same roof with characters like these can make ordinary domestic traumas seem pretty tame.
Genial but hardly subtle: a nicely drawn tale that goes overboard on the local color—to the point of turning Southern Gothic into Mayberry Gothic.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-7432-1529-X
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
A cosmic straw man is vanquished in the fight against dangerous ideals such as social justice and equality. This is not the place to look for original ideas or honest analysis. Presumably, Sowell’s (Migrations and Cultures, 1996, etc.) goal is to entertain those who share his convictions rather than convince open-minded readers, and this audience will be pleased. “Cosmic justice” is presented as a fundamental departure from the “traditional” conception of justice, which Sowell claims has the “characteristic of a process,” rather than of a particular outcome. He conveniently forgets to mention that this “tradition” dates back only to the emergence of liberal-democratic states and that contrasting notions of procedural vs. substantive justice remain the subject of lively debate. Admitting legitimate disagreement over even something as slippery as justice would soften the blows he aims at those who think inequality and any associated oppression raises concerns a just society should address, and Sowell is not one to temper a political argument simply to maintain intellectual integrity. He is not straightforwardly defending inequality, of course, but rather is pursuing the familiar strategy of attacking measures that could alleviate it. Sowell, a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford, boldly asserts that those who believe equality should be pursued through public policy “assume that politicizing inequality is free of costs and dangers.” No names are mentioned, and it is indeed hard to imagine that anyone would believe there are no costs or dangers. By stating the issue in terms of extremes, however, he ducks the real issue—the challenge of weighing costs and benefits—and avoids the need for incorporating any subtlety into his discussion. Confronted with such disingenuous blather, readers may find Sowell’s criticism of others applies well to Sowell himself: “To explain the levels of dogmatism and resistance to facts found in too many writings . . . it is necessary to explore what purposes are served by these visions.”
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-684-86462-2
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Free Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Not flawless, but one of the best recent analyses of the contemporary woes of American economics and politics.
Remarkably comprehensive and coherent analysis of and prescriptions for America’s contemporary economic malaise by Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Smith (Rethinking America, 1995, etc.).
“Over the past three decades,” writes the author, “we have become Two Americas.” We have arrived at a new Gilded Age, where “gross inequality of income and wealth” have become endemic. Such inequality is not simply the result of “impersonal and irresistible market forces,” but of quite deliberate corporate strategies and the public policies that enabled them. Smith sets out on a mission to trace the history of these strategies and policies, which transformed America from a roughly fair society to its current status as a plutocracy. He leaves few stones unturned. CEO culture has moved since the 1970s from a concern for the general well-being of society, including employees, to the single-minded pursuit of personal enrichment and short-term increases in stock prices. During much of the ’70s, CEO pay was roughly 40 times a worker’s pay; today that number is 367. Whether it be through outsourcing and factory closings, corporate reneging on once-promised contributions to employee health and retirement funds, the deregulation of Wall Street and the financial markets, a tax code which favors overwhelmingly the interests of corporate heads and the superrich—all of which Smith examines in fascinating detail—the American middle class has been left floundering. For its part, government has simply become an enabler and partner of the rich, as the rich have turned wealth into political influence and rigid conservative opposition has created the politics of gridlock. What, then, is to be done? Here, Smith’s brilliant analyses turn tepid, as he advocates for “a peaceful political revolution at the grassroots” to realign the priorities of government and the economy but offers only the vaguest of clues as to how this might occur.
Not flawless, but one of the best recent analyses of the contemporary woes of American economics and politics.Pub Date: Sept. 11, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4000-6966-8
Page Count: 576
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
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