A crusading novel that blends architectural elements with the beauty of nature to evoke the benefits of sustainable...
A young man receives a mysterious letter and map from the father he once thought dead in this debut novel.
Charlie Cadwell lost his mother at an early age and was raised by his grandmother, all the while believing his father never came back from the Vietnam War. But upon his college graduation, Charlie receives a letter from his long lost father asking him to come to him in Washington. There, he is met with a wondrous sight: the Fish Camp, an architectural utopia built upon the principles of enabling structures. Even more wondrous than the architecture he encounters at Fish Camp, however, is Maggie, the beautiful young woman who works as a nature conservationist. Reunited with his father, Charlie learns the truth behind their estrangement: broken by the Vietnam War, his father, CM, committed an act of treason and went underground. But CM has plans for Charlie; he wants him to present a design based on the Fish Camp for a contest soliciting ideas about the future of urban development. While Charlie decides whether or not to help his father, he embarks on building the last Fish Camp unit, mostly to impress and seduce Maggie. The book showcases what seem to be Alt’s two great loves: nature and architecture. With detailed, meticulous descriptions, Alt brings the Fish Camp to life and does a commendable job of explaining how it exemplifies the idea that building horizontal is more advantageous than building vertical. But Alt is equally concerned with the conservation of nature; Maggie’s battle against fish hatcheries works as metaphor for the entire battle to save the environment from destruction caused by humans. The lofty message, at times, feels a little too heavy handed with characters serving as uniformed stereotypes who don’t understand the negative consequences of their actions. Despite a rather rushed ending, Alt’s book draws to a satisfying conclusion that hinges on the strength of the relationships the author creates.
A crusading novel that blends architectural elements with the beauty of nature to evoke the benefits of sustainable development.Pub Date: Nov. 22, 2011
ISBN: 978-1457507205
Page Count: 376
Publisher: Dog Ear Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 7, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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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