Tales that are emotional and intellectual but almost always moving; a superb collection.
A debut volume of short stories captures small slices of characters’ lives.
Most of the tales in this collection focus on brief incidents, like an EMT, new on the job, watching police deal with a deer struck by his ambulance or a kid trying to run home after getting caught stealing beer. Arias makes a strong impression with his stories, many of which have been previously published in journals and magazines. The time elapsed in a tale might be less than an hour, but he expertly reveals something particular about his characters and hints at something universal. This is obvious from the first story, “Deer Don’t Scream, Do They?” The inexperienced EMT is standing by the side of the road with a couple of cops and the ambulance driver as a deer lies dying on the road. If the animal were a person, the EMT would be helping the injured party. But he can’t, and neither, apparently, can the rookie cop, who makes a mess of trying to put the deer down. In the end, no matter what they do, they all have to move on to the next moment, the next sufferer. Some of the tales are gritty like that one, while others are more esoteric, such as “The Case for Viable Life in Atlantis,” which sets out opening and closing arguments and exhibits to prove that people should be able to breathe underwater. The central metaphor here gets a bit cloudy. Arias’ work is much more striking when he grounds it in more visceral events, no matter how strange the subject matter. In “Closer,” a man who recently lost his wife to illness finds himself drawn to crowds and contact and doesn’t break down to properly mourn until he is rejected after an awkward bathroom encounter. In “Writing Code,” a nerdy kid tries to come out of his shell by hanging mistletoe from trees and overhead wires on the route his crush walks to school. The author sets up the story from a “his and hers” perspective, which not only gives readers a look inside both characters, but also provides a heartbreaking twist.
Tales that are emotional and intellectual but almost always moving; a superb collection.Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9980116-5-3
Page Count: 132
Publisher: Black Bomb Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Genetically engineered dinosaurs run amok in Crichton's new, vastly entertaining science thriller. From the introduction alone—a classically Crichton-clear discussion of the implications of biotechnological research—it's evident that the Harvard M.D. has bounced back from the science-fantasy silliness of Sphere (1987) for another taut reworking of the Frankenstein theme, as in The Andromeda Strain and The Terminal Man. Here, Dr. Frankenstein is aging billionaire John Hammond, whose monster is a manmade ecosystem based on a Costa Rican island. Designed as the world's ultimate theme park, the ecosystem boasts climate and flora of the Jurassic Age and—most spectacularly—15 varieties of dinosaurs, created by elaborate genetic engineering that Crichton explains in fascinating detail, rich with dino-lore and complete with graphics. Into the park, for a safety check before its opening, comes the novel's band of characters—who, though well drawn, double as symbolic types in this unsubtle morality play. Among them are hero Alan Grant, noble paleontologist; Hammond, venal and obsessed; amoral dino-designer Henry Wu; Hammond's two innocent grandchildren; and mathematician Ian Malcolm, who in long diatribes serves as Crichton's mouthpiece to lament the folly of science. Upon arrival, the visitors tour the park; meanwhile, an industrial spy steals some dino embryos by shutting down the island's power—and its security grid, allowing the beasts to run loose. The bulk of the remaining narrative consists of dinos—ferocious T. Rex's, voracious velociraptors, venom-spitting dilophosaurs—stalking, ripping, and eating the cast in fast, furious, and suspenseful set-pieces as the ecosystem spins apart. And can Grant prevent the dinos from escaping to the mainland to create unchecked havoc? Though intrusive, the moralizing rarely slows this tornado-paced tale, a slick package of info-thrills that's Crichton's most clever since Congo (1980)—and easily the most exciting dinosaur novel ever written. A sure-fire best-seller.
Pub Date: Nov. 7, 1990
ISBN: 0394588169
Page Count: 424
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1990
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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