by James Wellington ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 9, 2014
A thoughtful, philosophical skimming of American culture, but one that misses an opportunity to turn its observations into...
A contemplative novel in which a foreign student seeks an education in both women and American culture.
Two young roommates, Charles and Henry, are watching a TV program graphically depicting the execution of one of Henry VIII’s wives. It spurs a late-night philosophical conversation about men’s dominance over women, leading Henry to declare that “the American woman is quite exceptional and unique.” Charles, a foreigner originally from Africa and studying in Austin, Texas, fixates on the idea. Their subsequent dialogue about this certain allure of American women continues ad nauseam as they lazily consume tacos, pizza and TV. “Freedom makes her appreciate the fact that beauty is significantly essential to her inner calmness, confidence, and the environment,” Henry muses. Eventually, as they bring up these ideas with other friends and professors, fascinating observations arise about American culture compared to the rest of the world. Yet much of it feels far removed from the reality of an American woman’s life. Their dialogues remain completely respectful—there are no crass vulgarities that might be expected from college-age males, only vague allusions to “midnight trysts.” But the conversations are also formal and academic to the point of feeling stiff, as if the initial brainstorming for a feminist-studies paper has been superimposed over these young men. The story picks up the most momentum when actual American women are present, but this comes a bit too little, too late. As Henry’s friend Lisa points out: “I think for Charles to appreciate the mindset of an American woman, he needs to date one. Talking about her just won’t cut it. All talk and no action.” Along those lines, a stronger female counterpoint to Charles’ probing, right from the beginning, would have given the narrative some much-needed dramatic tension and balance. Unfortunately, for all the interesting ideas that Charles and Henry come up with relating to freedom and gender, their “modern American woman” is still trapped in the perspectives of men.
A thoughtful, philosophical skimming of American culture, but one that misses an opportunity to turn its observations into an engaging narrative.Pub Date: June 9, 2014
ISBN: 978-1492147152
Page Count: 252
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Hanya Yanagihara ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 10, 2015
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
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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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by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951
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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