A hip, funny, wise story for teens and adults alike.
That most primal of coming-of-age narratives–cool kid gives high-school nerd a makeover–gets a fresh, smart reworking in this hilarious bildungsroman.
Needing an unofficial senior project to stave off boredom, perpetually slick, wise-assed big man on campus Matthew can think of none better than the salvaging of Michael, the class geek. Michael is "the kind that reads science fiction, plays Magic and gets all flushed and out of breath describing a computer game to his fellow geeks"; he has greasy hair, carries a filthy backpack and has a haunted look from years of bullying and mockery by the student body (hence his verbose reverence for Gandhian non-violence). Confident of his well-honed, and deftly rendered, ability to manipulate people, Matthew persuades the wary Michael to let him reconstruct his dorky image. The campaign has many uproarious fronts, from hair-care to planted rumors of Michael’s badass street-fighting chops to a subtle plot to undermine Michael’s redneck stepdad by convincing him that his favorite NASCAR driver is gay. Callow Matthew strives to convince earnest, honest Michael that perception trumps substance, but his plans come undone as people he thought were safely pigeonholed fail to respond to his button-pushing. Matthew’s hidden insecurities surface, and suddenly the story is about his own desperate need for formative influences, which duly emerge in an awkward relationship with Michael’s strange half-sister Chrissy and a horrific summer job at a masonry depot. Don’t be fooled by the "juvenile fiction" label. There’s enough foul language and disdain for education–"it was hard to think with the teacher yammering away about chemicals"–to give school librarians pause, but more importantly, Schilling’s prose is almost too good to waste on the young. He’s a wonderful comic writer, with a punchy style and colorful, nuanced characters. Matthew’s narrative voice, in particular, combines razor-sharp wit with a sublime superficiality; it’s a treat to watch Schilling steer deep insights through Matthew’s shallow waters.
A hip, funny, wise story for teens and adults alike.Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-595-47495-0
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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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