An erotic novel of love and religion in the Caribbean.
Christine (Caribbean Love Affair, 2014) brings readers into the passionate world of Tricia Dessington, the wife of Elias, the bishop of Calvary Isle, a tightknit community off the coast of Grenada. Tricia and Elias seem to be deeply in love, but Tricia’s intense sexual appetites are quietly tearing their happy life apart. She’s secretly begun seeking satisfaction outside of her marriage, and although these encounters are sexually fulfilling, they wreak havoc on her emotional and spiritual well-being (“Her heart felt heavy again; she felt like she was a total disappointment to God. But what was she to do? How do you suppress these types of feelings?”). When Roger Duncan, an old flame from Tricia’s past, returns to the island, she finds her loyalties torn, and soon her sexual infidelities threaten to come to light. Christianity plays a large part in this story, with questions about faith, sin, temptation and trust in God interwoven with lushly descriptive sex scenes. This makes for an original novel, but it’s uncertain who its audience is intended to be, and its ultimate message is unclear. Overall, the book seems to suffer from an identity crisis. There’s a certain amount of moralizing in awkward lines such as, “Searching for love in all the wrong places, Roger had gone about his worthless activities trying to prove that he was wanted,” and judgmental descriptions of Tricia’s passions sit by side with more steamy scenes, leaving the book stranded somewhere between erotica and Christian fiction. The story also confusingly jumps back and forth in time with lengthy expositional passages, and its sudden ending is somewhat incongruous. However, the book’s rich setting and distinct, multidimensional characters are certain to draw readers in, and those looking for a thoughtful, complex erotic thrill will find plenty to sink their teeth into.
A descriptive and dramatic, if somewhat disjointed, tale of infidelity.
Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2014
ISBN: 978-1496935205
Page Count: 132
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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