A timely, meticulously wrought tale of young manhood gone wrong that never quite gets to the heart of the matter.
In Graham’s debut novel, a troubled young man experiences tragedy when he goes too far in his quest to become a hometown hero.
When Officer Peter Logan of the Smithton, Ill., police department arrives at Mike Burke’s home to arrest him, the events unfold with a weary inevitability: Mike doesn’t bother to resist, and his parents sadly stand by on the front porch. As residents of the small, economically depressed town drive by, they slow down to eagerly catch a glimpse of the action. Years of gradual marginalization led Mike to this point, and his story unfolds in a series of methodical flashbacks triggered by Mike’s police-car ride through town. Readers learn that Peter and Mike played cops and robbers together as children and that Peter, the son of a real-life policeman, always made Mike play the bad guy. As the years went by, Peter developed into a callous, confident high-school sports star while Mike grew increasingly withdrawn and fixated on hypermasculine role models such as Rocky Balboa and a local Desert Storm veteran. Mike’s attempt to enlist in the Army after high school was stymied by a birth defect—the “inverted heart” of the novel’s title. As a grown man living at home and working at a dead-end grocery store job, Mike’s hunger for recognition finally gave way to a misguided act of violence that no one saw coming. At its most effective, Graham’s slow, methodical prose manages to mimic the gradual erosion of Mike’s humanity. His decidedly thin characterizations of most of the supporting players also hint at Mike’s increasingly impassive regard for others—a trait that eventually leads to his downfall. Too often, however, these devices make for rather tedious reading, particularly for those seeking a closer connection to the characters. They impose a psychological distance that may prevent readers from truly relating to Mike, or the reasons behind his numbing crime.
A timely, meticulously wrought tale of young manhood gone wrong that never quite gets to the heart of the matter.Pub Date: Dec. 18, 2013
ISBN: 978-1492714217
Page Count: 288
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Feb. 26, 2014
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
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Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of...
Lifelong, conflicted friendship of two women is the premise of Hannah’s maudlin latest (Magic Hour, 2006, etc.), again set in Washington State.
Tallulah “Tully” Hart, father unknown, is the daughter of a hippie, Cloud, who makes only intermittent appearances in her life. Tully takes refuge with the family of her “best friend forever,” Kate Mularkey, who compares herself unfavorably with Tully, in regards to looks and charisma. In college, “TullyandKate” pledge the same sorority and major in communications. Tully has a life goal for them both: They will become network TV anchorwomen. Tully lands an internship at KCPO-TV in Seattle and finagles a producing job for Kate. Kate no longer wishes to follow Tully into broadcasting and is more drawn to fiction writing, but she hesitates to tell her overbearing friend. Meanwhile a love triangle blooms at KCPO: Hard-bitten, irresistibly handsome, former war correspondent Johnny is clearly smitten with Tully. Expecting rejection, Kate keeps her infatuation with Johnny secret. When Tully lands a reporting job with a Today-like show, her career shifts into hyperdrive. Johnny and Kate had started an affair once Tully moved to Manhattan, and when Kate gets pregnant with daughter Marah, they marry. Kate is content as a stay-at-home mom, but frets about being Johnny’s second choice and about her unrealized writing ambitions. Tully becomes Seattle’s answer to Oprah. She hires Johnny, which spells riches for him and Kate. But Kate’s buttons are fully depressed by pitched battles over slutwear and curfews with teenaged Marah, who idolizes her godmother Tully. In an improbable twist, Tully invites Kate and Marah to resolve their differences on her show, only to blindside Kate by accusing her, on live TV, of overprotecting Marah. The BFFs are sundered. Tully’s latest attempt to salvage Cloud fails: The incorrigible, now geriatric hippie absconds once more. Just as Kate develops a spine, she’s given some devastating news. Will the friends reconcile before it’s too late?
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of poignancy.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-312-36408-3
Page Count: 496
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2007
BOOK TO SCREEN
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