Extraordinarily knowledgeable, ingeniously woven, and powerfully engrossing: a portrait of nothing less than an entire piece...
Lanchester follows Mr. Phillips (2000) with yet another book unlike his others, albeit every bit as absorbing: the brilliant tale of Hong Kong over 75 years seen through the lives of three who lived there.
Dreaming of the exotic, Tom Stewart is 22 when he leaves his pub-owning family in England and, in 1935, books passage for Hong Kong. As usual, everything Lanchester touches comes miraculously to life, and Tom’s passage east is no exception—nor are the people he meets on board, most particularly one Sister Maria, the young Chinese nun who teaches him Cantonese during the six-week voyage (there’s a wager involved as to whether she can succeed) and who in this and other far deeper ways influences his life forever. In Hong Kong, Tom quickly finds success in the hotel business—but then WWII gradually takes the world in its crushing grip and, after attempting to work in the resistance against the Japanese, he finds himself arrested, beaten, and imprisoned instead. Many die—close friends and co-workers among them—but Tom survives, recovers, returns to hotel work, and takes part in the extraordinary economic rise of postwar Hong Kong—though not without one grievous element of disaster and terror, when his life is touched once again by Sister Marie—and then quickly in turn (and forever) by the deadly criminal hand of Hong Kong’s financial underworld. An intelligent but wounded figure—much like a character from Graham Greene—Tom lives through the ’80s and then the ’90s in Hong Kong, his story filled out for the reader by the stories of two others that intertwine with his in wondrously unexpected ways: one about a youthful Chinese business man, the other about a coarsened young English journalist who goes east to make—successfully—her fortune.
Extraordinarily knowledgeable, ingeniously woven, and powerfully engrossing: a portrait of nothing less than an entire piece of the world and most of a century.Pub Date: July 8, 2002
ISBN: 0-399-14866-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2002
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...
Hoover’s (November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.
At first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers; Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye. When Ryle is not in the throes of a jealous rage, his redeeming qualities return, and Lily can justify his behavior: “I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen so that I would know his past and we’d be able to work on it together,” she tells herself. Lily marries Ryle hoping the good will outweigh the bad, and the mother-daughter dynamics evolve beautifully as Lily reflects on her childhood with fresh eyes. Diary entries fancifully addressed to TV host Ellen DeGeneres serve as flashbacks to Lily’s teenage years, when she met her first love, Atlas Corrigan, a homeless boy she found squatting in a neighbor’s house. When Atlas turns up in Boston, now a successful chef, he begs Lily to leave Ryle. Despite the better option right in front of her, an unexpected complication forces Lily to cut ties with Atlas, confront Ryle, and try to end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read.
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of the survivors.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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