Columnist and children's book author Viorst infuses her premiere adult novel with the quicksilver pace, naughty optimism, and heartwarming humor of her bestselling nonfiction (Necessary Losses, 1986, etc.). The novel's premise is wacky: Brenda Kovner, the narrator, 46- -an accomplished hostess, gourmet cook, devoted wife of Jake, a pediatric surgeon, mother of their two grown sons, Jeff and Wally, and a wildly popular nationally syndicated advice columnist- -resolves to murder a somewhat sinister D.C. neighbor named Mr. Monti, who is ``doing harm to my family.'' The reason he's doing harm: His adored youngest daughter Josephine wants to marry Wally, who refuses to convert from Judaism to Catholicism for the occasion. The harm he's doing: As Brenda doggedly discovers, he's been bankrolling a number of baseless malpractice suits against Jake, is laying a plan to entrap greedy elder son Jeff in a bogus real-estate deal for the purpose of bankrupting him, and seems to be planning to have Wally killed on Halloween. Brenda—who's had sex with Mr. Monti once as the third stage of a one-day experiment in the pleasures of adultery after a lifetime if monogamy—first tries to poison him, then nails him (or rather, by mistake, his twin brother) into an airtight closet, and finally hires two muggers she's met while investigating Jeff's real-estate troubles to assassinate him. Nothing works—luckily for Brenda, since it turns out that (a) a psychotic social-work client is the one who's really been trying to kill Wally, and (b) Mr. Monti's wife controls all the family's assets and has no intention of letting Mr. Monti waste them on tormenting the Kovners. Finally, Wally and Josephine- -who's gone through a lesbian phase—marry; Brenda and Jake, whose marriage has been rocky, to say the least, reunite. Facile, funny—Viorst at her best.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-671-76074-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This is the sort of book that stirs one so deeply that it is almost impossible to attempt to convey the impression it leaves. It is the story of today's Exodus, of America's great trek, as the hordes of dispossessed tenant farmers from the dust bowl turn their hopes to the promised land of California's fertile valleys. The story of one family, with the "hangers-on" that the great heart of extreme poverty sometimes collects, but in that story is symbolized the saga of a movement in which society is before the bar. What an indictment of a system — what an indictment of want and poverty in the land of plenty! There is flash after flash of unforgettable pictures, sharply etched with that restraint and power of pen that singles Steinbeck out from all his contemporaries. There is anger here, but it is a deep and disciplined passion, of a man who speaks out of the mind and heart of his knowledge of a people. One feels in reading that so they must think and feel and speak and live. It is an unresolved picture, a record of history still in the making. Not a book for casual reading. Not a book for unregenerate conservative. But a book for everyone whose social conscience is astir — or who is willing to face facts about a segment of American life which is and which must be recognized. Steinbeck is coming into his own. A new and full length novel from his pen is news. Publishers backing with advertising, promotion aids, posters, etc. Sure to be one of the big books of the Spring. First edition limited to half of advance as of March 1st. One half of dealer's orders to be filled with firsts.
Pub Date: April 14, 1939
ISBN: 0143039431
Page Count: 532
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1939
Honeyman’s endearing debut is part comic novel, part emotional thriller, and part love story.
A very funny novel about the survivor of a childhood trauma.
At 29, Eleanor Oliphant has built an utterly solitary life that almost works. During the week, she toils in an office—don’t inquire further; in almost eight years no one has—and from Friday to Monday she makes the time go by with pizza and booze. Enlivening this spare existence is a constant inner monologue that is cranky, hilarious, deadpan, and irresistible. Eleanor Oliphant has something to say about everything. Riding the train, she comments on the automated announcements: “I wondered at whom these pearls of wisdom were aimed; some passing extraterrestrial, perhaps, or a yak herder from Ulan Bator who had trekked across the steppes, sailed the North Sea, and found himself on the Glasgow-Edinburgh service with literally no prior experience of mechanized transport to call upon.” Eleanor herself might as well be from Ulan Bator—she’s never had a manicure or a haircut, worn high heels, had anyone visit her apartment, or even had a friend. After a mysterious event in her childhood that left half her face badly scarred, she was raised in foster care, spent her college years in an abusive relationship, and is now, as the title states, perfectly fine. Her extreme social awkwardness has made her the butt of nasty jokes among her colleagues, which don’t seem to bother her much, though one notices she is stockpiling painkillers and becoming increasingly obsessed with an unrealistic crush on a local musician. Eleanor’s life begins to change when Raymond, a goofy guy from the IT department, takes her for a potential friend, not a freak of nature. As if he were luring a feral animal from its hiding place with a bit of cheese, he gradually brings Eleanor out of her shell. Then it turns out that shell was serving a purpose.
Honeyman’s endearing debut is part comic novel, part emotional thriller, and part love story.Pub Date: May 9, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7352-2068-3
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Pamela Dorman/Viking
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
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