Leisurely paced but warmhearted tale of a widower and his feline inspiration.
In Toldy’s debut novel, a California retiree’s life changes after he reluctantly takes in a stray cat.
Andrew Daniel “Andy” Flowers has been living alone in a one-bedroom apartment since his wife, Dorothy, died. When a neighbor tells the widower there’s a kitten at his door, he makes it clear that he’s not remotely interested. But when a storm blows in, he lets it in for the night. Andy wants to find someone else to take the cat; meanwhile, he buys it food, kitty litter, and a carrying case while repeatedly insisting it’s not his cat. He later blames the feline for his string of bad luck, including a minor multicar accident. Of course he grows fond of the female cat, naming her Cilla. Now feeling less alone, he may be ready for romance with Domino, a woman he’s recently met, without believing that he’s somehow betraying Dorothy. Toldy’s novel maintains a momentum befitting its protagonist—a retiree who’s rarely in a hurry. Readers will likely sympathize with Andy, who often reminisces about Dorothy and seemingly has only one true friend in Sam Dart, his former neighbor. The no-frills prose outlines sometimes-routine events, like trips to the pet store or vet. But endearing scenes of Andy grudgingly warming up to “the damned cat” provide feel-good entertainment. Andy’s interactions with humans, meanwhile, showcase his diminishing aloofness but typically prompt frequent discussions on everything from religion to political ideology. In the book’s penultimate chapter, the spotlight shifts to Jazz, a parking lot guard who, as a black woman, has endured discrimination. Although the story periodically shows Andy through others’ points of view, this prolonged focus on another character, even with a minor tie to the protagonist, is jarring. Nevertheless, all is tied up neatly at the end.
Leisurely paced but warmhearted tale of a widower and his feline inspiration.Pub Date: June 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-73308-200-6
Page Count: 262
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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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