An educational, entertaining look at how one family pursued the American dream.
Spring’s (American Education, 2011, etc.) first historical novel presents an alternative, somewhat sarcastic narrative of Native American history.
The tale of half-Choctaw, aging hippie John Brader’s search for his Native American roots opens with a well-crafted, albeit gory and violent, account of a slave killing by Choctaw leaders, including a Brader family ancestor. Spring, an education scholar at Queens College, doesn’t gloss over the unflattering side of Native American history, nor does he romanticize it; yet the book doesn’t quite give an equally balanced account of white Americans, whom the story regularly portrays as crass, uneducated, greedy capitalists. Spring’s characters convey the personal and communal toll of the Trail of Tears, the Choctaws’ decision to join the Confederacy during the Civil War, and how later attempts to turn Native Americans into citizens made them feel that they were “the plaything of the United States.” He capably demonstrates how both sides—Native Americans and whites—manipulated religion and education to achieve their ends. At times, though, the storytelling is uneven. The life-or-death consequences of Brader’s investigation—which adds a sense of mystery to the story—are only mentioned in passing and lack any sense of urgency. Nonetheless, the story lives up to its title, tracing the Brader family’s history from the early 19th century to the present, covering their involvement in slavery, commerce and civic affairs as well as rape, murder, homosexuality and questionable business practices. Spring also weaves in larger issues, such as intratribal racism, workers’ rights, the communist scare, civil rights, and the sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll culture. That’s a lot of ground to cover, though it’s handled fairly well until the abrupt final chapter, which devolves into a cynical description of how John Brader ultimately uses his long-lost inheritance to develop a Disney-esque theme park. Given the depth of detail in the rest of the story, this fast-forward ending ties the loose ends together a little too quickly.
An educational, entertaining look at how one family pursued the American dream.Pub Date: May 20, 2013
ISBN: 978-1482092134
Page Count: 342
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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