A compelling story filled with realistic characters displaying genuine emotion.
Arnold’s (Peace: Medjugorje Miracle and Message, 2004, etc.) novel is a well-crafted religious fiction about a big city lawyer who moves to a small town seeking a secure environment in which to raise her young daughter, only to find that she must face her worst nightmares.
Karen is a bright 30-something lawyer in a prestigious Los Angeles law firm. Although she is plagued by the untimely, accidental death of her husband, she delights in parenting their six-year-old daughter, Lisa. Karen thrives on hard work and single motherhood, yet worries that city life is too dangerous for raising a child. She and Lisa move to rural Oregon, where the pace is slower, the air is cleaner and the people are more caring and friendly. Or at least that’s what Karen thought–soon after their arrival, Lisa is brutally raped and murdered by a pedophile. Despite the fact that the murderer is caught and convicted, Karen is unable to rid herself of personal guilt. She interviews a prestigious psychiatrist who specializes in pedophilia cases and concludes that castration is the only cure for the mental illness. Determined to do everything she can to avenge Lisa’s death and assuage her guilt, Karen returns to her old job in Los Angeles and aids a former colleague in prosecuting a child molester. When the women suggest castration as a plea-bargaining solution, the case blows up in their faces. They lose their jobs, their reputations and become estranged. Karen seeks solace from a fatherly priest in a Catholic confessional. Re-energized, she marries and partners in business with David, a ruggedly handsome, successful businessman who makes her laugh. When a business deal falls through, their idyllic lifestyle crashes. Near total breakdown, Karen and David look to their religious roots for comfort, answers and a fresh start. Frequent lack of appropriate punctuation, choppy sentences and less-than-fluid movement between first person narrative and third person viewpoints only slightly detract from the story. The characterization and atmospheric staging otherwise blend seamlessly to provide a distinct and well-paced plot.
A compelling story filled with realistic characters displaying genuine emotion.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-4196-8922-2
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942
ISBN: 0060652934
Page Count: 53
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943
This first novel, ostensibly about the friendship between two boys, Reuven and Danny, from the time when they are fourteen on opposing yeshiva ball clubs, is actually a gently didactic differentiation between two aspects of the Jewish faith, the Hasidic and the Orthodox. Primarily the Hasidic, the little known mystics with their beards, earlocks and stringently reclusive way of life. According to Reuven's father who is a Zionist, an activist, they are fanatics; according to Danny's, other Jews are apostates and Zionists "goyim." The schisms here are reflected through discussions, between fathers and sons, and through the separation imposed on the two boys for two years which still does not affect their lasting friendship or enduring hopes: Danny goes on to become a psychiatrist refusing his inherited position of "tzaddik"; Reuven a rabbi.... The explanation, in fact exegesis, of Jewish culture and learning, of the special dedication of the Hasidic with its emphasis on mind and soul, is done in sufficiently facile form to engage one's interest and sentiment. The publishers however see a much wider audience for The Chosen. If they "rub their tzitzis for good luck,"—perhaps—although we doubt it.
Pub Date: April 28, 1967
ISBN: 0449911543
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1967
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