Evocative Mediterranean atmosphere, but the love story is a bit of snooze, and the author merely touches on the religious...
Gay Columbia professor loses his bearings—and heart—when he travels to Tunisia for a conference.
When hyper-literate archaeology lecturer Maurice Burke arrives in Sousse, Tunisia, he is filled with disdain for the tacky tourist culture and economic avarice of the locals. His opinion begins to change around the time he meets Nidhal, an impoverished youth he first spies playing in the ocean. Nidhal claims to be 15, looks younger, and can neither speak nor hear. The two strike up a fairly innocent friendship, Maurice taking the sweet-natured Nidhal swimming and buying him ice cream. Seeing bruises on the boy’s skinny body, Maurice grows increasingly concerned that some older boys are bullying Nidhal, who does not go to school. Hoping to do something to help the boy, he approaches a charismatic local Muslim scholar who knows Nidhal, and finds himself both drawn to and repelled by an exotic culture he does not understand. Is Nidhal involved with some kind of fundamentalist movement? Could he possibly take on guardianship of the young Tunisian? The smitten scholar then extends his stay and struggles with his conflicted feelings for Nidhal, which seem to combine paternal regard and contained lust. Meanwhile, Maurice satisfies his baser urges with a local hustler, while fielding calls from his increasingly needy (and HIV-positive) partner Eddie back in New York. He also must contend with the hysteria of his close friend Henri, who, familiar with the hypnotic allure of North Africa, wants to jet from Paris to Sousse for some kind of intervention with his increasingly wayward friend—if he’s not too late. Geraci (Marrying Tom, 2001, etc.) has created a believable (if occasionally pretentious) hero in the well-meaning intellectual Maurice. He does not fare as well with the plot.
Evocative Mediterranean atmosphere, but the love story is a bit of snooze, and the author merely touches on the religious and political complexities of that part of the world.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-299-21894-5
Page Count: 196
Publisher: Terrace Books/Univ. of Wisconsin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2006
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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