As the book draws to a close, Billy has finally attained a fullness of character that he had previously lacked–a wisdom only...
An eager young soldier learns lasting life lessons during the Civil War.
William Joseph Butler is the youngest son of a prominent family in Drew County, Arkansas. The scholarly youth is left behind when his brother–along with the rest of the South–gets swept up with Confederate fever and sets off north to conquer the Yanks. Billy grows restless as the war rages, the bravado and glory of the distant battle never far from his thoughts. One day, he mistakenly stumbles upon two men committing a horrendous crime and intercedes, narrowly escaping. Realizing the danger his son faces, Billy’s father immediately enlists him in the Confederate army, far from vengeance’s reach. Billy is soon overcome with notions of battlefield heroics and is persuaded he can win his sweetheart’s love if he is valiant enough. But his naïveté renders him oblivious to the suffering and death that inevitably accompany war. Billy and his fellow soldiers are eager to prove themselves; in one poignant scene, a private attempts to trade rations for a spot in combat. The request is refused, in a fortunate turn, as the soldier is killed moments later in battle. The young regiment learns the hard truths of war as the fighting progresses, enduring injuries and the loss of comrades. Putting the inhuman elements of war into words is a difficult task for any writer and several passages take a sharp detour into the melodramatic as triumphant soldiers are quickly elevated to superhuman status. For the most part, however, Willis writes in an elegant, evocative style and maintains a strong literary touch. He deftly envisions the inane conversations that might occur in the face of enemy fire–mundane requests for the canteen or observations of the natural world around them.
As the book draws to a close, Billy has finally attained a fullness of character that he had previously lacked–a wisdom only achieved through suffering and loss. An erudite, coming-of-age war novel.Pub Date: Dec. 18, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-59568849-4
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A bold but flawed debut novel.
There’s a mystery, a coming-of-age, abundant melodrama and even more abundant medical lore in this idiosyncratic first novel from a doctor best known for the memoir My Own Country (1994).
The nun is struggling to give birth in the hospital. The surgeon (is he also the father?) dithers. The late-arriving OB-GYN takes charge, losing the mother but saving her babies, identical twins. We are in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1954. The Indian nun, Sister Mary Joseph Praise, was a trained nurse who had met the British surgeon Thomas Stone on a sea voyage ministering to passengers dying of typhus. She then served as his assistant for seven years. The emotionally repressed Stone never declared his love for her; had they really done the deed? After the delivery, Stone rejects the babies and leaves Ethiopia. This is good news for Hema (Dr. Hemalatha, the Indian gynecologist), who becomes their surrogate mother and names them Shiva and Marion. When Shiva stops breathing, Dr. Ghosh (another Indian) diagnoses his apnea; again, a medical emergency throws two characters together. Ghosh and Hema marry and make a happy family of four. Marion eventually emerges as narrator. “Where but in medicine,” he asks, “might our conjoined, matricidal, patrifugal, twisted fate be explained?” The question is key, revealing Verghese’s intent: a family saga in the context of medicine. The ambition is laudable, but too often accounts of operations—a bowel obstruction here, a vasectomy there—overwhelm the narrative. Characterization suffers. The boys’ Ethiopian identity goes unexplored. Shiva is an enigma, though it’s no surprise he’ll have a medical career, like his brother, though far less orthodox. They become estranged over a girl, and eventually Marion leaves for America and an internship in the Bronx (the final, most suspenseful section). Once again a medical emergency defines the characters, though they are not large enough to fill the positively operatic roles Verghese has ordained for them.
A bold but flawed debut novel.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-375-41449-7
Page Count: 560
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2008
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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