A compelling work of fiction that successfully captures the anger, frustration, and freedom of kids on the brink of...
Lapoma’s (The Summer of Crud, 2018) novel tells the story of a group of misfit boys navigating adolescence in northern Buffalo, New York.
James Lombardi narrates the story of his childhood, during which he contended with a bullying clan of seventh-graders at his Catholic middle school; an angry, unforgiving father; and a gaggle of siblings. James calls his mental illness “the Darkness”; it manifested as periods of murderous “Evil Thoughts,” disembodied voices, and random violent outbursts. “A war had begun inside my head.” James reflects. “I was nine. I had no idea I was now both superhero and villain.” Still, he managed to remain focused thanks to basketball games, schoolwork, an ambitious newspaper-delivery route, and a series of mind-calming rituals to ensure sleep. He played basketball at Hammond Park with a rebellious group of outcasts that included Gerry, Tony, James, ringleader Ray, and others. They all found common ground on the courts, and as they incrementally matured over the next few years, they experimented with sex and drugs and dreamed of becoming basketball stars. Lapoma’s first-person narrative effectively and evocatively captures James’ frail emotional state as he stumbles through boyhood and his early adult years. The author is wise to incorporate moments of humor into his story, which leavens other parts of the book, such as those that focus on James’ psychologically precarious psyche. He also demonstrates a distinct knack for characterization for both his central players and peripheral ones, such as the local monsignor, who spouts expletives out a rectory window. The description of 13-year-old Luke, known among the kids as the “King of Hammond,” is also skillfully handled. Overall, this is an earnest, hardscrabble story of restless youth, mental illness, and the saving grace of sports-inspired camaraderie.
A compelling work of fiction that successfully captures the anger, frustration, and freedom of kids on the brink of adulthood.Pub Date: Dec. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9988403-5-2
Page Count: 290
Publisher: Almendro Arts
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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
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