A very good book about a very bad man.
A scintillating tale of a dreadful man who successfully sleeps his way to the top.
It is said that, upon the publication of Madame Bovary, more than a few French women came forward claiming that they were the model for Flaubert’s philandering heroine. It is hard to imagine anyone similarly identifying with Nat Green, the despicable, cheating anti-hero of The Black Sheep. Nat–whose story is told by his son Alan–is a violent, self-centered, money-grabbing, manipulative, womanizing lout who nonetheless possesses abundant charisma to win friends and influence people. His modus operandi involves charming, seducing and ultimately bilking unsuspecting women out of their money. Sometimes he marries them and sometimes not, but aside from a few redemptive moments near novel’s end, he frequently leaves the scene of the crime a smoking pile of rubble. Therefore, it is much to Oppenheim’s credit that he manages to make Nat an alluring subject. Though readers hate Nat to the core, they can’t take their eyes away from him, like the proverbial impossible-to-ignore car wreck. This is not to say that the author doesn’t periodically cross the line and allow the narrative to lapse into tastelessness or needless cruelty. When Nat initiates a game of strip poker in an attempt to seduce his three older sisters, readers merely shudder. Later, when one of Nat’s wives presents him with undeniable proof of his infidelity and he pulls a gun, readers wonder if Oppenheim has gone too far. But he always pulls back at a crucial moment, keeping readers intrigued with his diabolical creation until the end.
A very good book about a very bad man.Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-4196-9678-7
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: April 17, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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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