None
An exquisitely mounted, immaculately designed fable in a jeweled medieval setting that pierces to the heart of an ancient scholarly/spiritual dilemma: Should one live within a world of faith with its invisible perfections—or only in the world as it is seen and sensed, of things as they are? The author portrays the conflict with venerable theological dialectic and an inventive use of the enduring myth of the wolf-raised child. Quoting St. Augustine to the effect that ``morning knowledge is different from evening knowledge,'' the gentle scholar Benedix explains the problem to Severo, the cardinal prince of their Church-owned island: in the knowledge of angels, morning knowledge deals with ``the nature of a straight line; evening knowledge is knowing that no line in the world is really straight.'' Severo has come to the monastery for help in converting an avowed atheist, Palinor, a stranger from a far country—handsome, highly intelligent and companionable. Severo is determined to save Palinor from a heretic's death. Meanwhile, a wild creature raised by wolves is captured, and Severo sends her to a convent to be tamed—but with the stern stipulation that she hear nothing of God. Will then the denial of God-knowledge in a child of nature—proving that knowledge of God is revealed and not innate—save Palinor? While the wolf child is (outwardly, at least) ``humanized,'' the cardinal, the famous scholar, and the atheist meet in a paradisiacal setting of greenery, fountains, and colonnades to discuss philosophy and theology. But looming, gathering savagery and horror, is the Inquisition, about to bring death to one and, for others, the absence of angels. At the close, the wolf girl sees—without understanding—the start of an inevitable conquest. With timeless personalities, grounded firmly within the hot windstorms of an on-going human conundrum: a brilliantly crafted, haunting tale—the author's second novel for adults (after a mystery, The Wyndham Case, 1993).
None NonePub Date: March 28, 1994
ISBN: 0-395-68666-0
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1994
IN THE NEWS
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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