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EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN

Name: EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN
Author: Justin Bass
ISBN: 978-1479135257

A STORY ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING

by Justin Bass ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 4, 2012

A verbose discourse for readers whose political views are in alignment with those of the author.

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Bass projects ideas for creating an eco-aware future—along with his political views—in his debut novel.

Tony, a former solar-panel salesman, discusses the benefits of solar energy—and the disadvantages of its alternative—with his boss and his clients, all of whom become immediately inspired to change their lifestyle and help the cause. At the same time, Gabby, a leader in environmental science, enlightens Mariposa, her young and naïve intern, while attributing the issues faced by the United States government to the Republican Party as a whole. The Pott family, who is “big into oil,” is cast in a negative light, as is Daniel DeLeno, a libertarian member of the Conservative Committee, until his solar panels begin to malfunction—that’s where Tony sheds light on the situation. Tony rattles off his knowledge of the solar-energy industry in true adman fashion, without being prompted. It’s clear that Bass has done his research on the topic of solar energy, and he provides extensive information about how to incorporate renewable energy into one’s life. It’s presented in a dry and didactic manner, however, with very little buildup or character development. Tony is quick to fall into his rehearsed rant to his boss, clients, friends; all of whom serve as unrealistically receptive audiences. In the first 20 pages, the novel tackles such issues as global warming, the weak economy and the Iraq War. While these issues are undoubtedly worth discussing, the resulting narrative reads like a cross between a solar-panel infomercial and a political diatribe. Though the political opinions begin as dialogue between characters, the author’s own opinions seem apparent as the novel continues and quotation marks begin to disappear.

A verbose discourse for readers whose political views are in alignment with those of the author.

Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2012

ISBN: 978-1479135257

Page Count: 280

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: Feb. 21, 2013

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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SUMMER ISLAND

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...

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Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.

Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.

Pub Date: March 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-609-60737-5

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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LAST ORDERS

by Graham Swift ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 5, 1996

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Britisher Swift's sixth novel (Ever After, 1992 etc.) and fourth to appear here is a slow-to-start but then captivating tale of English working-class families in the four decades following WW II. When Jack Dodds dies suddenly of cancer after years of running a butcher shop in London, he leaves a strange request—namely, that his ashes be scattered off Margate pier into the sea. And who could better be suited to fulfill this wish than his three oldest drinking buddies—insurance man Ray, vegetable seller Lenny, and undertaker Vic, all of whom, like Jack himself, fought also as soldiers or sailors in the long-ago world war. Swift's narrative start, with its potential for the melodramatic, is developed instead with an economy, heart, and eye that release (through the characters' own voices, one after another) the story's humanity and depth instead of its schmaltz. The jokes may be weak and self- conscious when the three old friends meet at their local pub in the company of the urn holding Jack's ashes; but once the group gets on the road, in an expensive car driven by Jack's adoptive son, Vince, the story starts gradually to move forward, cohere, and deepen. The reader learns in time why it is that no wife comes along, why three marriages out of three broke apart, and why Vince always hated his stepfather Jack and still does—or so he thinks. There will be stories of innocent youth, suffering wives, early loves, lost daughters, secret affairs, and old antagonisms—including a fistfight over the dead on an English hilltop, and a strewing of Jack's ashes into roiling seawaves that will draw up feelings perhaps unexpectedly strong. Without affectation, Swift listens closely to the lives that are his subject and creates a songbook of voices part lyric, part epic, part working-class social realism—with, in all, the ring to it of the honest, human, and true.