A harsh yet alluring novel of compounding tragedy.
A legal novel of corrupted ideals in past and present Detroit.
“Nicholas Winterstein returned many years later to the house where he had been born and raised, and he committed three murders there.” So begins this story of race, anger, and the law that plays out over many years in the tragedy-plagued city of Detroit. In the present, Winterstein is an accomplished, if amoral, defense attorney who sees the law as a means to profit. There’s a reason for his current lack of legal partners: “Nick approached a case one way, and the partners approached it from the opposite end. The impact became economic. He now worked alone.” His ruthless proficiency brings him to the attention of former judge Goodwin Marshall, an aging civil rights leader who finds himself accused of insider trading. The case involves a number of other ghosts from the civil rights movement, which “had become an enticement for corruption, an industry unto itself, replete with greed at the sacrifice of the innocent.” Winterstein’s present is intercut with scenes from his past, growing up poor in Detroit with his tempestuous father, his fearful mother, and his predatory grandfather. Familial bonds, old and new, intertwine to bring Winterstein to the murders with which the novel opens. Nicholas writes with sharp, cold prose that mimics his protagonist’s cynical worldview. The novel is populated with flawed men and women, though, under the circumstances, nobler intentions seem difficult. Staccato chapters leap forward and backward in time, drawing the reader ever deeper into the repressed, generational pain that created Winterstein and continues to shape his actions. The book flirts with political critique—one central character is a thinly veiled stand-in for Jesse Jackson—in ways that sometimes feel clumsy, but for pure storytelling, the novel is quite satisfying. Its structure and voice are fresh, and Nicholas admirably hides its trajectory. This book may be the opposite of heartwarming, but it attaches itself to the reader’s psyche all the same.
A harsh yet alluring novel of compounding tragedy.Pub Date: Feb. 27, 2015
ISBN: 978-0692313848
Page Count: 302
Publisher: Copperthwait Books
Review Posted Online: July 10, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
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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