The author achieves a fine duality of her own, reveling in her characters while keeping a gimlet eye on their motivations:...
Tempered, sympathetic, and highly readable study of the dynamic created by queens Mary and Elizabeth, rulers of an island that was too small for the both of them.
One of the great boons for this tale of the interplay between Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots is the abundance of primary source material—letters, speeches, poems, prayers, dispatches, and reports—of which Dunn (A Very Close Conspiracy, 1991, etc.) makes copious, fluid use. The author also understands the 16th-century frame of mind: the role of superstition and the agency of magic in that febrile, unpredictable world; the insecurity of succession. Dunn concentrates on the contrary and vibrant personalities of the two monarchs as they drive events before them, or slow to a molasses crawl and let the speculations of others fill in the blanks. What Dunn does so well is to usher readers into a bygone world so they can understand the whys and wherefores of the queens’ acts. This works especially well for Elizabeth, “a subject too . . . proud that she was born of a domestic union and not from a dynastic alliance,” who governed by sufferance of the public will. Dunn’s approach works nearly as well for Mary, impetuous and given to the pleasure principle, but also a subtle thinker (at least at times). The two queens never met, and this “black hole at the heart of their relationship” allowed Elizabeth a freedom of action that Mary’s preternatural charm might otherwise have disarmed. Dunn’s knack for keeping the many players in focus gives her narrative the quality of a great big theatrical performance, with cabals here and conspiracies there, lovers coming and going, ethics publicly tested, and one head finally rolling as Mary turns treason into religious martyrdom.
The author achieves a fine duality of her own, reveling in her characters while keeping a gimlet eye on their motivations: wise, unwise, and suicidal. (24 pp. color illustrations, not seen)Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2004
ISBN: 0-375-40898-3
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
