Hassler's seventh (North of Hope, 1990, etc.) again delivers the goods: this time, Agatha McGee (who first appeared in A Green Journey, 1985) travels to Italy to visit her old friend and pen-pal James, a Catholic priest. Sandwiched between the parts of this European journey is the usual assortment of gently comic portraits of the denizens of Hassler's mythical town of Staggerford, Minnesota. Miss Agatha McGee finds herself at loose ends when St. Isidore's Elementary School closes and she's faced with a sort of late-life crisis. In the novel's first section, we meet Lillian Kite, Agatha's neighbor who will go to Italy with her, along with Sylvester Juba, a wealthy retiree who proposes marriage to Agatha; French Lopat, a shell-shocked Vietnam vet who stays at Agatha's house while she's away; and Lillian's daughter Imogene, who's envious of Agatha and finds a way to compromise the latter's sterling reputation. The story then moves on to Italy, where James is recovering from intestinal cancer. Hassler has a good deal of fun, † la Innocents Abroad, satirizing the tourist trade (Agatha has no reverence for antiquities); Agatha also finds a ``present contentment'' with James. Later, back home in Staggerford, she must undo the damage that Imogene has done her, though she also decides to go to Ireland, where James is on a lecture tour. By the close, Agatha will attain, as James does, a late-life poise and sense of forgiveness that she's able to irradiate the town with. Old-fashioned storytelling at its best. Hassler satirizes both Minnesotan and European types, but his affection for his people is evident in the great good humor that's pervasive.
Pub Date: May 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-345-37707-9
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942
ISBN: 0060652934
Page Count: 53
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943
Hoffman (The Red Garden, 2011, etc.) births literature from tragedy: the destruction of Jerusalem's Temple, the siege of Masada and the loss of Zion.
This is a feminist tale, a story of strong, intelligent women wedded to destiny by love and sacrifice. Told in four parts, the first comes from Yael, daughter of Yosef bar Elhanan, a Sicarii Zealot assassin, rejected by her father because of her mother's death in childbirth. It is 70 CE, and the Temple is destroyed. Yael, her father, and another Sicarii assassin, Jachim ben Simon, and his family flee Jerusalem. Hoffman's research renders the ancient world real as the group treks into Judea's desert, where they encounter Essenes, search for sustenance and burn under the sun. There too Jachim and Yael begin a tragic love affair. At Masada, Yael is sent to work in the dovecote, gathering eggs and fertilizer. She meets Shirah, her daughters, and Revka, who narrates part two. Revka's husband was killed when Romans sacked their village. Later, her daughter was murdered. At Masada, caring for grandsons turned mute by tragedy, Revka worries over her scholarly son-in-law, Yoav, now consumed by vengeance. Aziza, daughter of Shirah, carries the story onward. Born out of wedlock, Aziza grew up in Moab, among the people of the blue tunic. Her passion and curse is that she was raised as a warrior by her foster father. In part four, Shirah tells of her Alexandrian youth, the cherished daughter of a consort of the high priests. Shirah is a keshaphim, a woman of amulets, spells and medicine, and a woman connected to Shechinah, the feminine aspect of God. The women are irretrievably bound to Eleazar ben Ya'ir, Masada's charismatic leader; Amram, Yael's brother; and Yoav, Aziza's companion and protector in battle. The plot is intriguingly complex, with only a single element unresolved. An enthralling tale rendered with consummate literary skill.
Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4516-1747-4
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
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