Old-fashioned multigenerational saga of buried treasure, hidden sin, and the redemptive power of religion and family, set in balmy Savannah. Originally issued last year by a small press, podiatrist Harris’s story is mostly an inspirational fathers-and-sons melodrama involving two Irish-Catholic Savannah families: the aristocratic and righteous Driscoll-Hartmans and the scrambling, parvenu O’Boyles. The story begins during the Civil War, when Captain Patrick Driscoll Jr., accompanied by his faithful slave Shadrach, hides the Driscoll family fortune in a jewel box on Raccoon Island, where Driscoll commands a Confederate island gun emplacement with the hopes of repulsing a Union attack on Savannah’s harbor. Both men die (Shadrach hugging his expiring master) without revealing the treasure’s location. Shadrach’s grandson, Abednigo, later hides his moonshine still on the island, while arriviste J.J. O’Boyle grows rich and politically powerful as a whiskey smuggler. Later, when hotheaded political reporter John Hartman, who’s married to Beth Dietz, the last of the Driscolls, checks into J.J.’s shady deals, J.J. forces Hartman to resign from the newspaper. Meanwhile, Anthony O—Boyle’s slightly retarded brother, Al, becomes a serial killer. Anthony’s solution to that problem, along with subsequent caddishness from Anthony’s son, Tony Jr., contrast with the naive goodness of Hartman, now a journalism teacher, and of his son, John-Morgan, who manages to stay a virgin throughout high school and the Vietnam War, where his wounds and his failure to marry the girl of his dreams almost make him lose his religion; meanwhile, Lloyd Bryan, son of the impoverished and estranged Abednigo, becomes a pro-football star but then renounces his success to become a priest and work with Savannah’s poor. Is it fate (or maybe the possibility of salvation?) that brings the gang—now middle- aged—back to Raccoon Island to dig up old sins and long-lost treasure? Cluttered, repetitious, yet ultimately uplifting reaffirmation of southern gentility, fair play, and blind faith. ($100,000 ad/promo; author tour)
Pub Date: Nov. 17, 1999
ISBN: 0-312-25495-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
Too beholden to sentimentality and cliché, this novel fails to establish a uniquely realized perspective.
Hunter’s debut novel tracks the experiences of her family members during the Holocaust.
Sol and Nechuma Kurc, wealthy, cultured Jews in Radom, Poland, are successful shop owners; they and their grown children live a comfortable lifestyle. But that lifestyle is no protection against the onslaught of the Holocaust, which eventually scatters the members of the Kurc family among several continents. Genek, the oldest son, is exiled with his wife to a Siberian gulag. Halina, youngest of all the children, works to protect her family alongside her resistance-fighter husband. Addy, middle child, a composer and engineer before the war breaks out, leaves Europe on one of the last passenger ships, ending up thousands of miles away. Then, too, there are Mila and Felicia, Jakob and Bella, each with their own share of struggles—pain endured, horrors witnessed. Hunter conducted extensive research after learning that her grandfather (Addy in the book) survived the Holocaust. The research shows: her novel is thorough and precise in its details. It’s less precise in its language, however, which frequently relies on cliché. “You’ll get only one shot at this,” Halina thinks, enacting a plan to save her husband. “Don’t botch it.” Later, Genek, confronting a routine bit of paperwork, must decide whether or not to hide his Jewishness. “That form is a deal breaker,” he tells himself. “It’s life and death.” And: “They are low, it seems, on good fortune. And something tells him they’ll need it.” Worse than these stale phrases, though, are the moments when Hunter’s writing is entirely inadequate for the subject matter at hand. Genek, describing the gulag, calls the nearest town “a total shitscape.” This is a low point for Hunter’s writing; elsewhere in the novel, it’s stronger. Still, the characters remain flat and unknowable, while the novel itself is predictable. At this point, more than half a century’s worth of fiction and film has been inspired by the Holocaust—a weighty and imposing tradition. Hunter, it seems, hasn’t been able to break free from her dependence on it.
Too beholden to sentimentality and cliché, this novel fails to establish a uniquely realized perspective.Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-56308-9
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
BOOK TO SCREEN
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
