An enchanting spiritual odyssey that endures beyond story's end.
A young man's out-of-body experience opens the door to spiritual adventures.
Thomas McKenzie, 20, lives in a world of privilege and wealth, marred by the behavior of his psychotic mother and her threats of disinheritance should he pursue a relationship with his father. After a violent scene in their New York apartment, Tom retreats to a roof-top terrace where he leaves his body and visits distant stars that welcome and comfort him. His senses acutely sharpened, he reluctantly returns to Earth and the demands of his boss, "the Chairman," head of the Chicago-based Apollo Corp. Frustrated with the establishment, Tom quits his job and parties hard with what little remains of his finances. He then accepts an offer from his friend Caroline, also a child of wealth, to stay and work at a girls' camp in New Orleans. He heads south in a Volkswagen Beetle, hoping for romance with Caroline and instead finding friendship and a group of young girls who think he’s pretty cool. He learns about himself while telling stories, riding horseback and singing songs. He also encounters the Chicken Man–the "voodoo king of New Orleans"–who sheds light on a personal mystery. Tom then leaves the Big Easy and heads west, agreeing to rendezvous with Caroline later in Aspen. On the road, he meets many travelers, including a band of hippies, Caroline's drug-dependent friends, philosopher Merlin, an ex-Marine in search of intelligent life in the universe, man's best friend Rocket and more. Tom confronts danger, enjoys sensual pleasures–sex, pot, cocaine, hallucinogenic mushrooms–and falls in love. But beneath it all is his earnest quest to understand the soul and his place in the universe, which makes him a most endearing character. This is a gentle, quietly sensuous, beautifully crafted story with appeal for mature readers, young adults and any student of life who seeks greater self-understanding and fulfillment.
An enchanting spiritual odyssey that endures beyond story's end.Pub Date: Jan. 29, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4415-9827-1
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
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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