A historical novel that paints an intimate portrait of J.P. Morgan, U.S. banker, financier and philanthropist.
A seasoned author, Mooers (Pillar of Stories, 2013) delves into the personal life of a giant in the financial world. The novel is framed around Morgan as an elderly man reminiscing on his life, his memories serving as the vehicle by which readers come to understand how his experiences shaped him. Sensitive and vulnerable aren’t feelings often associated with this shrewd businessman, yet Mooers reminds readers that Morgan was pierced with mortal longings and pain just like everyone else—from never receiving enough affection from his father to losing a close friend and later a great love to consumption. His sentimentality even permeated his penchant for collecting art: Many years after losing his love, Amelia, Morgan discovered a painting that reminded him of her; he purchased it, hung it over his mantle and never told his wife why, only saying once to someone while looking at it, “Art is the closest thing we have in our world to the eternal.” In addition to his personal losses, Morgan struggled with acne rosacea rhinophyma, a disfiguring condition that haunted him into old age. Despite all this, he was immensely successful, and it is clear his touch on modern life was profound. He helped finance Thomas Edison’s “light” project and was at the forefront of the great industrial consolidations of his time, merging large steel and iron businesses. Mooers weaves this tale together by alternating among the present and various points in Morgan’s past—an engaging storytelling technique, but Mooers jumps time periods with abandon, making some transitions bumpy and others altogether jarring. He also adds a few too many details, stretching out scenes longer than necessary, and although he attempts to reveal a new side to Morgan, Mooers ultimately glosses over the banker’s generally gruff manner and the controversy that surrounded him, particularly how he used his power to manipulate the financial system for personal gain. Still, this novel offers a waltz with history and gives readers the seductive sense of being let in on Morgan’s private, intimate recollections.
A history buff’s guilty pleasure, offering a behind-the-scenes peek into the world of a man whose impact on society lasts to this day.Pub Date: March 31, 2013
ISBN: 978-0988648647
Page Count: 360
Publisher: Riverrun
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Categories: GENERAL FICTION
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BOOK REVIEW
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
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Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
Categories: GENERAL FICTION
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BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
Lifelong, conflicted friendship of two women is the premise of Hannah’s maudlin latest (Magic Hour, 2006, etc.), again set in Washington State.
Tallulah “Tully” Hart, father unknown, is the daughter of a hippie, Cloud, who makes only intermittent appearances in her life. Tully takes refuge with the family of her “best friend forever,” Kate Mularkey, who compares herself unfavorably with Tully, in regards to looks and charisma. In college, “TullyandKate” pledge the same sorority and major in communications. Tully has a life goal for them both: They will become network TV anchorwomen. Tully lands an internship at KCPO-TV in Seattle and finagles a producing job for Kate. Kate no longer wishes to follow Tully into broadcasting and is more drawn to fiction writing, but she hesitates to tell her overbearing friend. Meanwhile a love triangle blooms at KCPO: Hard-bitten, irresistibly handsome, former war correspondent Johnny is clearly smitten with Tully. Expecting rejection, Kate keeps her infatuation with Johnny secret. When Tully lands a reporting job with a Today-like show, her career shifts into hyperdrive. Johnny and Kate had started an affair once Tully moved to Manhattan, and when Kate gets pregnant with daughter Marah, they marry. Kate is content as a stay-at-home mom, but frets about being Johnny’s second choice and about her unrealized writing ambitions. Tully becomes Seattle’s answer to Oprah. She hires Johnny, which spells riches for him and Kate. But Kate’s buttons are fully depressed by pitched battles over slutwear and curfews with teenaged Marah, who idolizes her godmother Tully. In an improbable twist, Tully invites Kate and Marah to resolve their differences on her show, only to blindside Kate by accusing her, on live TV, of overprotecting Marah. The BFFs are sundered. Tully’s latest attempt to salvage Cloud fails: The incorrigible, now geriatric hippie absconds once more. Just as Kate develops a spine, she’s given some devastating news. Will the friends reconcile before it’s too late?
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of poignancy.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-312-36408-3
Page Count: 496
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2007
Categories: GENERAL FICTION | FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP
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