by Janet L. Furst ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 14, 2017
Sensual, spiritually intuitive writing.
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A free-spirited middle-aged woman leaves her husband and family to pursue her dreams in this second novel by Furst.
Furst’s 2016 debut novel, Everyday Truth of a Rainbow Woman, recounts the story of Grace Heronheart, a school psychologist from rural West Virginia who quits her job to become a writer. This follow-up rejoins Grace on her journey. The aspiring writer has formed a strong bond with an enigmatic “cabin-dweller” named Shaun, who lives alone by a river. Grace makes day trips to the river and talks with Shaun about “books, reading, writing, or his life in the cabin” while her son, Justin, swims in the river. It’s not long before passions flare between Grace and Shaun, and they become locked in a deeply sensual relationship. Grace leaves her unhappy marriage to live in the cabin, much to the chagrin of her son, who refuses contact with her. So continues Grace’s spiritual and literary adventure as she plunges deeper into a bohemian lifestyle, living simply and spending nights by the campfire listening to music, wrapped in Shaun’s arms or embarking on road trips. As with the first book, the voice used here is first-person singular, and Furst has the uncanny knack of fooling readers into thinking that this is a memoir. Her writing has a natural confessional style that seems to speak directly from the heart: “The little voice inside me that had drawn me to him was not one of logic. I had given up on the world of logic several years earlier. I listened to the voice without knowing, without attachment.” Readers skeptical of New-Age spirituality may balk at some of the language: “Oya is the goddess of change and wind and weather. We spun in circles nine times and asked for gentle changes in our lives.” Yet those who enjoyed being introduced to Grace and learning about her past lives in this book’s prequel will delight in reuniting with her as she embarks on a new and exciting journey.
Sensual, spiritually intuitive writing.Pub Date: Dec. 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5043-7336-4
Page Count: 172
Publisher: BalboaPress
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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BOOK REVIEW
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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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006
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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