This tale of a teen's maturation doesn't reinvent the wheel—Harper Lee can probably rest easy—but Guhl's familiar story...
A Midwestern boyhood marked by tragedy and triumph.
Guhl's charming debut novel, set in 1960s small-town Wisconsin, shares many thematic concerns with Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, an affectionate homage underscored when the protagonist is assigned that classic novel in his English class. Delmar, our hero, is a bullied, underweight high school sophomore struggling with persecution from the school's burnout "grits" and, more dramatically, the recent murder of his policeman father and the worrying decline of his seriously ill mother. Del's journey from frightened pushover to confident, resourceful young man is aided by an endearingly ragtag group of allies, including his irascible grandfather, a brash juvenile delinquent, a churchgoing English teacher, and the school's sole black student, a serious-minded young beauty named Opal. Their campaign against the town's corrupt police department provides mild thrills and gentle life lessons in equal measure, all made palatable by Guhl's control of tone and way with character details; the narrative never pushes its progressive agenda, instead allowing the reader to inhabit Del's richly drawn world and draw his or her own conclusions. The setting of Neenah, Wisconsin, is vividly rendered, skirting simple nostalgia with well-observed, specific peculiarities of time and place, and Del and his companions are fully drawn personalities whose hopes, fears, and embarrassments resonate with the familiar, sweet ache of teenage growing pains.
This tale of a teen's maturation doesn't reinvent the wheel—Harper Lee can probably rest easy—but Guhl's familiar story rolls by with enough charm and heart to make it a worthwhile ride.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-299-31910-6
Page Count: 317
Publisher: Univ. of Wisconsin
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
The previous books of this author (Devil of a State, 1962; The Right to an Answer, 1961) had valid points of satire, some humor, and a contemporary view, but here the picture is all out—from a time in the future to an argot that makes such demands on the reader that no one could care less after the first two pages.
If anyone geta beyond that—this is the first person story of Alex, a teen-age hoodlum, who, in step with his times, viddies himself and the world around him without a care for law, decency, honesty; whose autobiographical language has droogies to follow his orders, wallow in his hate and murder moods, accents the vonof human hole products. Betrayed by his dictatorial demands by a policing of his violence, he is committed when an old lady dies after an attack; he kills again in prison; he submits to a new method that will destroy his criminal impulses; blameless, he is returned to a world that visits immediate retribution on him; he is, when an accidental propulsion to death does not destroy him, foisted upon society once more in his original state of sin.
What happens to Alex is terrible but it is worse for the reader.
Pub Date: Jan. 8, 1962
ISBN: 0393928098
Page Count: 357
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1962
SEEN & HEARD
IN THE NEWS
A perfect summer cocktail of sex, sun and scandal.
Nantucket artist ponders a tryst.
An accomplished glassblower, Claire Danner Crispin set aside her work to raise her children. Indeed, for most of her life Claire has followed the rules and been a reliable friend, wife and mother. All that changes when she is asked to co-chair Nantucket’s annual Summer Gala to benefit the children’s programs on the island. Wealthy Lock Dixon personally asks Claire to contribute her time and talents. Claire says yes. Soon she finds herself in the arms of Lock, who offers relief from the monotony of her marriage and the demands of caring for four youngsters. It’s fun to watch Claire give in to her desires. As the Gala nears, a threat of exposure looms. As an artist, Claire knows that creating something of value and beauty requires sacrifice, love and a strong will. The question is: Does Claire value her newfound passion more than her marriage? There are a few too many loose ends to make the novel fully satisfying: Hilderbrand (Barefoot, 2007, etc.) writes herself into a corner by introducing too many characters to track. But witnessing Claire’s walk on the dark side is pure voyeuristic fun.
A perfect summer cocktail of sex, sun and scandal.Pub Date: July 2, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-316-01860-9
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2008
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