With the exception of a totally implausible coincidence around which the plot revolves, this book is well written and...
A woman of a certain age works through a late-in-life crisis by heading for her dream city of Paris in this second novel by Luckett.
Nicole-Marie Handy loved speaking French with her father when she was a child. Nicole used to dig through her parents’ cedar chest when they were out, pulling out the worn blue book of French words and reading them over and over. Later, she would speak phrases she memorized with him, but one day the book disappeared, and Nicole grew up to marry and move on with her life. Now, in her mid-50s, divorced with an off-again/on-again married lover and spurred on by the death of a close friend, she decides to fulfill a lifelong dream and spend a month in Paris. What she finds there changes her life, but it takes time to unravel the mystery of the photo she finds in an old book taken from a carton filled with literature by and about African-Americans. Fortunately for Nicole, she meets a man who can help her trace the photo. Interwoven with Nicole’s story is that of Ruby, a sultry Mississippi beauty who succumbs to love and desire and deserts the stultifying subservience that defines Mississippi during World War II. Tired of the Jim Crow laws that make her a second-class citizen, Ruby dreams of life beyond the drudgery and despair that face her and decides to get out. When Ruby meets a dangerous older musician, Arnett, she makes her break and sets off a series of events that spill over into the lives of many others. Luckett’s loving descriptions of Paris evoke the sights, smells and sounds of the City of Light. Nicole’s story is one with which any woman, regardless of age or skin color, can relate, but Ruby’s tale and the author’s meticulous research into the Paris of the period following WWII is the real star of this novel.
With the exception of a totally implausible coincidence around which the plot revolves, this book is well written and engaging, a celebration of life after 50.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-446-54299-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
Chicana writer Castillo (whose reputation until now has been mostly regional) brings a warm, sometimes biting but not bitter feminist consciousness to the wondrous, tragic, and engaging lives of a New Mexico mother and her four fated daughters. Poor Sofi! Abandoned by her gambler husband to raise four unusual girls who tend to rise from adversity only to find disaster. ``La Loca,'' dead at age three, comes back to life—but is unable to bear the smell of human beings; Esperanza succeeds as a TV anchorwoman—but is less successful with her exploitative lover and disappears during the Gulf War; promiscuous, barhopping Caridad—mutilated and left for dead—makes a miraculous recovery, but her life on earth will still be cut short by passion; and the seemingly self-controlled Fe is so efficient that ``even when she lost her mind [upon being jilted]...she did it without a second's hesitation.'' Sofi's life-solution is to found an organization M.O.M.A.S. (Mothers of Martyrs and Saints), while Castillo tries to solve the question of minority-writer aesthetics: Should a work of literature provide a mirror for marginalized identity? Should it celebrate and preserve threatened culture? Should it be politically progressive? Should the writer aim for art, social improvement, or simple entertainment? Castillo tries to do it all—and for the most part succeeds. Storytelling skills and humor allow Castillo to integrate essaylike folklore sections (herbal curing, saint carving, cooking)—while political material (community organizing, toxic chemicals, feminism, the Gulf War) is delivered with unabashed directness and usually disarming charm.
Pub Date: April 17, 1993
ISBN: 0-393-03490-9
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1993
An experienced novelist takes her sweet time to rich rewards: overall, an affecting saga, nicely handled.
Well-oiled Picoult sets her latest expertly devised search-and-rescue tale in rural New Hampshire, where a kidnapping case is uncovered 28 years too late.
As usual, Picoult (My Sister’s Keeper, 2004, etc.) spins a terrifically suspenseful tale by developing just the right human-interest elements to make a workable story. Single mom Delia Hopkins works with the local Wexton police and a bloodhound named Greta to find lost children. Delia’s close relationship with her divorced, 60-ish father, Andrew, who runs a senior-citizens’ home, grows strained when he’s suddenly arrested on kidnapping charges. The victim is Delia herself, named Bethany Matthews before her father fled with her from a drunken Mexican mother in Arizona. For 28 of her 32 years, Delia has believed her mother was dead. With Andrew extradited to Phoenix, the strange history of the case unravels, complicated by the choice of Delia’s fiancé, Eric (father of daughter Sophie), as Andrew’s lawyer and the assignment of her childhood buddy Fitz to cover the case for his newspaper. Picoult is a thorough, perceptive writer who deliberately presents alternating viewpoints, so that the truth seems constantly to be shifting. When Delia finally meets the attractive, remarried Elise Vasquez, she can’t quite vilify a woman who has been sober for many years and works as a curandera (healer). Her father’s story is both suspect and understandable, especially in light of his horrific treatment in prison, caught up in the violence of rival gangs. The magnetic Eric is a recovering alcoholic who falls off the wagon when stressed, while dependable, silent lover Fitz waits in the wings for his chance. Meanwhile, Delia and Sophie make a fascinating digression into the mythical world of the local Hopi tribe. At times, Picoult goes over the top, allowing Sophie to get lost so that Greta can find her and, at the eleventh hour, inserting into the trial the possibility of Delia’s sexual abuse .
An experienced novelist takes her sweet time to rich rewards: overall, an affecting saga, nicely handled.Pub Date: March 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-7434-5454-5
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2005
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