A beautifully crafted, uplifting meditation on the inner, personal dimensions of hope.
A self-styled “children’s book for adults” about finding contentment in the world.
Weill’s big, ornately produced debut opens with an elementary restatement of the core philosophical outlook of 18th-century Italian Jewish mystic Ramchal (Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto) about the essential oneness of all creation and how existence is a constant journey to re-attain the oneness of creation’s beginning. In bright, simple watercolors (one image per page, with plenty of white space), Weill follows a central visual character—a man in a suit and hat whose face is a blur—through a series of vignettes, some purely conceptual (walking up a graph of life events partitioned like a piece of modern art), others very concrete (waiting at train stations, sitting at the seaside, etc.), while the narrative—generally one line per illustration—elaborates on Weill’s concept of how individuals find peace through introspection: “Well-being is generated not from the outside but from inside.” Each of the illustrations suggests a separate tale, and this fits neatly with Weill’s idea that each person’s life journey is essentially a collection of such tales. “We organize our circumstances into stories,” he writes, “stories we pick up along the way.” Through darker imagery (including one image of Auschwitz and another of the 9/11 attack), the author references life’s obstacles, and Weill contends that all such obstacles can be overcome with inner resources: “When we lose touch with well-being, joy seems to depend on circumstances, on what happens outside of us.” Introspection continues to be the key: “When we become aware of our own thinking,” he writes, “we awaken.” The book’s simplicity of insight is well-matched by its impressive production quality; the pages are thick and heavy, meant to convey the impression of timeless wisdom. As with most modern books on such weighty themes, Weill’s narration more often than not resorts to vague generalities to move its lessons forward. Readers may feel encouraged to read their own life experiences into these stark images, using Weill’s paintings like spiritual Rorschach blots. What wisdom or reassurance they draw from such an exercise will depend on what they put into it.
A beautifully crafted, uplifting meditation on the inner, personal dimensions of hope.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0985800307
Page Count: 216
Publisher: Jean-Pierre Weill Studios
Review Posted Online: Aug. 23, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Like a 12-episode TV series condensed into a single book—categorically engaging, but occasionally overstuffed.
Terrorists planning a New Year’s Eve attack against the U.S. are working with people on American soil in Turney’s debut thriller.
In the post-9/11 world, federal agents pay meticulous attention to seemingly harmless behavior. But what appears to be a routine check on a monitored website in Arizona leads from an Arkansas redneck looking to mix a poisonous concoction for personal reasons to an Islamic extremist in Vegas who has already piqued the FBI’s curiosity. Mixed martial artist Taseen “Taz” Hamshan, with ties to the extremist, is recruited by agent Kyle Morel to go undercover and make nice with a suspected terrorist. But how are the terrorists staying ahead of the FBI? At first glance, readers might suspect that Turney’s 600-plus-page novel would hit lulls. Nope. He allows no off-the-cuff introduction to any character or subplot, providing rich back stories and, surprisingly, never dropping any of the minor plots. Even agents sent to handle mundane surveillance are established in detail—which makes it startling when anyone dies. It’s epic, almost excessively so, but the author does keep the numerous characters from overwhelming the book with subtle reintroductions, such as a soft reminder that Russian intelligence operative Kondrashov is watching the Iranian and Venezuelan presidents. Despite the multiple storylines, there’s cohesion. However, the novel might have benefited from giving stories and characters some breathing room. And the U.S. isn’t the squeaky-clean hero among indignant foreign countries—American citizens must contend with an unpopular president, while Russian agents, despite their country’s neutrality, debate warning the U.S. of a possible jihadist attack. The author laces the story together with striking transitions—evidence being blown up shifts to people watching pyrotechnics at the Treasure Island casino. As the New Year’s celebration approaches, Turney maintains intensity with a natural countdown and an abundance of people in peril. And don’t forget: One of the characters is a jihadist mole.
Like a 12-episode TV series condensed into a single book—categorically engaging, but occasionally overstuffed.Pub Date: May 20, 2012
ISBN: 978-0615645889
Page Count: 640
Publisher: Lionhorse Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A smart, entertaining take on eternal conundrums.
Celestial gumshoes search for the source of evil in this knotty supernatural allegory.
Recently deceased ex–CIA agent Stewart Willoughby is an Observer, an almost-angel who uses rough tactics in the fight against demonic adversaries. He gets a break when he recruits a new informant, a senior executive at the Company—aka hell—who’s willing to give him information on “The Formula” that demons use to goad humans into sin. (The impish fiends are forever whispering malevolent hints into people’s ears, sometimes in person and sometimes over the phone from infernal call centers.) With his fetching partner and former fiancée, Layla, Stewart embarks on an extended investigation into the nature and causes of evil, from garden-variety manslaughters to horrific genocides. Their sleuthing takes them to some of history’s grisliest crime scenes—and eventually starts to eat away at their souls, as they resort to methods that are uncomfortably similar to the brutalities they want to eradicate. In this installment of his Logic of Demons series, Goodman continues fleshing out his inventive vision of the afterlife as an edgy, inglorious, down-to-earth place, where heaven itself is divided between hostile liberal and fundamentalist factions, and no one is sure that an always-absent God even exists. The devils, as usual, get the best lines; Goodman’s portrait of hell as a dreary corporate bureaucracy is a satiric gem—the chief torments are pointless routine, office gossip and nasty performance evaluations. The novel drags, though, when it focuses on Stewart and Layla’s relationship, which stays blissfully bland even after it takes a satanic turn. But Goodman also probes meaty philosophical themes with sophistication, as his characters wrestle with the problem of evil and the blurry line separating right from wrong. Subversively, he suggests that evil may not be a demonic plot but just another name for human nature. Goodman’s allegorical symbology isn’t too intricate—a farm boy Stewart encounters turns out to be the quite literal embodiment of Time and Chance—and at times the novel’s intellectual debates feel like an undergraduate seminar. Still, Goodman’s cross between a detective novel and The Screwtape Letters makes for a stimulating read.
A smart, entertaining take on eternal conundrums.Pub Date: May 4, 2012
ISBN: 978-1432790790
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Outskirts Press Inc.
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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