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HOOK'S TALE

Name: HOOK'S TALE
Author: John Leonard Pielmeier
ISBN: 978-1-5011-6105-6

BEING THE ACCOUNT OF AN UNJUSTLY VILLAINIZED PIRATE WRITTEN BY HIMSELF

by John Leonard Pielmeier ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 18, 2017

The author's thorough, affectionate knowledge of both the original book and the historical period grounds this fantasy in...

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In his playful first novel, playwright Pielmeier (best known for Agnes of God, 1979) allows Peter Pan’s Captain Hook a chance to tell the story from his point of view.

It’s not that of J.M. Barrie, that “sad little Scotsman,” as Hook (nee James Cook) refers to him. This James is something of a lost boy himself, sent away to be bullied at Eton, orphaned early, and shanghaied onto a British ship that gets lost in a temporal loop somewhere in midocean. There he meets the rotund Smee and the other future pirates he'll command after a trip to England sends him spinning into the future. But not before he finds his way, accompanied by his beloved pet crocodile, Daisy, into the real “Never-Isle,” which is populated by mermaids with “whiskers. Of the walrus variety” as well as an erratic Peter Pan, whose memory stretches back only as far as yesterday and whose “Darker Nature” makes him inclined to sprinkle unsuspecting comrades with fake fairy dust for the pleasure of watching them fall off cliffs. Hook’s long months at sea grow tedious for the reader, but Pielmeier’s revisionist version of the Enchanted Isles is vividly sensuous, and the novel offers the particular pleasure of explaining the key points of the original in new ways. Cameo appearances by Sherlock Holmes and possibly the real Jack the Ripper, as well as various characters from Treasure Island, the world of which oddly intersects with that of Hook and his comrades, add texture to the tale. While the author’s meditations on the costs and benefits of mortality don’t break any new ground and some of his references are obscure enough that only Victorian scholars will catch them, anyone who would like another trip to Barrie’s enchanted world should be pleased with the opportunity the novel offers to see it anew.

The author's thorough, affectionate knowledge of both the original book and the historical period grounds this fantasy in rich detail.

Pub Date: July 18, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-5011-6105-6

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Scribner

Review Posted Online: May 14, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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SUMMER ISLAND

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...

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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

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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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.