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BODY SNATCHER

Name: BODY SNATCHER
Author: Juan Carlos Onetti
ISBN: 0-679-40178-4

by Juan Carlos Onetti ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1991

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A somber novel, barely relieved by scattered elements of black humor, from noted Uruguayan writer Onetti, now makes its American debut. The story of two doomed dreamers—Larsen (``the Body Snatcher'') and the grieving widow Julita—is set in fictional Santa Mari†, a provincial backwater where boredom and self- righteousness are endemic. When the local council finally approves the establishment of a brothel, Larsen—a brooding and solitary man—believes that at last his dream of being the perfect pimp with the perfect brothel will come true. Meanwhile, the mourning Julita can go on living only by believing that young brother-in-law Jorge is her dead husband. The rest of the town watches as a house is bought; Larsen brings women from the city; the men of the town begin to call; and Julita becomes even crazier. Business is brisk, which enrages the townspeople, who try to enlist the local priest to head a crusade. The priest preaches that the whole town is sinful, but the locals prefer their own scapegoat. A group of young women also write detailed anonymous letters, and the outrage mounts. When the brothel finally closes, Larsen leaves, his dream destroyed. Then Julita, realizing that her husband is indeed dead, commits suicide. All of this is observed and commented on by an assortment of local cynics and idealists. The hypocrisy and intolerance of provincial life are marvelously evoked, as is the numbing tedium—but the themes and voices here never quite mesh. Too episodic really to engage.

Pub Date: May 1, 1991

ISBN: 0-679-40178-4

Page Count: -

Publisher: Pantheon

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1991

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
A DREAM COME TRUE
by Juan Carlos Onetti ; translated by Katherine Silver

- BOOK REVIEW
LET THE WIND SPEAK
by Juan Carlos Onetti

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BETWEEN SISTERS

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2003

Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...

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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

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WOMEN
by Kristin Hannah

- BOOK REVIEW
THE FOUR WINDS
by Kristin Hannah

- BOOK REVIEW
THE GREAT ALONE
by Kristin Hannah

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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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.