News anchor Lehrer's ninth novel (Fine Lines, 1994, etc.) is set in his own backyard—in the twin contests between the ethics of the journalist as neutral reporter and as responsible citizen, and between journalism and the political process. It's an election year again, but this time only one presidential debate has been scheduled between the two candidates—Paul Green, a lackluster, liberal Democratic governor; and David Donald Meredith, an ultraconservative, fundamentalist racist who has surged ahead in the latest polls. In the hours before the debate in Colonial Williamsburg, Mike Howley, a respected, old-school reporter moderating the panel of three other journalists, comes into possession of documents revealing the detestable Meredith as a man of uncontrollable temper who has a history of physically and verbally abusing women and children. Without verifying the allegations, Howley gets his fellow panelists to abandon the pre-agreed format and sandbag Meredith with questions about abuse. The result: The Republican candidate loses his cool, stalks off the stage after 28 minutes—and throws the election to Paul Greene. Did the "Williamsburg Four" abandon their journalistic standards or act courageously to protect their country from an evil fool? And, having done so, do they have an obligation to say how and why? The tale is narrated by self-righteous investigative reporter Tom Chapman, who easily justifies using bribery, innuendo, misrepresentation, and other investigative chicanery in the name of truth, and who "reports" in new-journalism, novelistic form how he discovered what really went on in the panel selection process, how Howley got the documents and seduced the others to go along, and what happened to them all afterward. Near the close, Chapman's effort to interview Meredith at the Music of the Messiah Life and Living Center in Tashobi, Oklahoma, where all communication is sung, is especially memorable. Broad satire, but entertaining—Lehrer finds plenty of recognizable targets in the heart of the news business.
Pub Date: Sept. 7, 1995
ISBN: 0-679-44159-X
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1995
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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
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