A touching, intelligent read filled with moments of wisdom.
A troubled teen gets a new outlook in Carinci’s (Defying Death in Hagerstown, 2014, etc.) uplifting novel about second chances.
After a run-in with the law, young Brian Sanchez is beginning to wonder where he’s headed. He worries that his occasional shoplifting is only the start of a life of crime. But when he meets a friendly homeless man in the park called Everett Quinn, things start to take a surprisingly different turn. Despite sleeping on a park bench in all kinds of weather and never knowing where his next meal is coming from, Everett is a content and happy man who’s full of gratitude. Dumbfounded, Brian eventually learns more about this peculiar man as they spend long afternoons deep in conversation. It turns out that Everett has what one might call an alter ego; the spirit of an Englishman from 1802 lives inside him, he says, who likes to sporadically voice his opinion. At first, Brian is skeptical about the man’s sanity, but he becomes humbled and even inspired by the wealth of life experience that he has to offer. Strangers often approach Everett for advice on their problems, and he’s always ready to offer new ideas or fresh insight. This makes him somewhat of a household name among the locals, and Brian’s proud to be his friend. As time passes, Brian’s life undergoes unanticipated changes. Carinci takes the story in an unexpectedly religious direction when it becomes clear that much of Everett’s resilience comes from his enduring Christian faith, and there are many instances of insightful dialogue: “We have no idea when our time will be up. So we must maximize our time and help others every chance we get. We are all brothers and sisters.” The transformation of narrator Brian from a troubled street kid into a kind and compassionate man gives the plot a satisfying emotional depth. Along the way, readers will enjoy a delightful, entertaining sense of camaraderie with the protagonist.
A touching, intelligent read filled with moments of wisdom.Pub Date: Feb. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64416-930-8
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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