A well-written, tightly focused novelette that will resonate primarily with avid dog lovers.
In this story for all ages, a young pup sees food as the most important thing in life.
A snowy white spitz puppy named Hurricane narrates her early years in this novelette by debut author Kali. The tale springboards from the pup’s first blissful “slurp,” suckling at her mother’s belly, to her adoption by her female, food- and treat-providing human owner. Indeed, food is the overriding theme here, as Hurricane’s observations primarily focus on mealtimes, snacks, treats, grocery shopping, and her seeming ability to influence menu choices (including salami, cake, barbecued chicken) through sheer will. When Hurricane thinks “Filet mignon, filet mignon, that’s what I want to try,” for instance, her vegetarian “Mother” provides it—after watching a TV butcher “making filet mignon out of ordinary steak.” Hurricane’s single-minded focus on eating extends to a stainless-steel food bowl that rings when set on the floor: “I would casually walk over to it. Under my breath, I’d say, ‘You rang?’ Oh, that food bowl, I miss it so.” Many dog lovers will undoubtedly recognize their own canines’ behavior in Hurricane’s pursuit of edibles, and it isn’t surprising to learn, from the author’s note, that the book is based on her real-life dog named Hurricane. The book has an agile narrative flow, hinting at stories outside its narrow, foodcentric focus. For instance, Hurricane makes references here and there to having been a wolf in a previous life (“I would go after food with tenacity”), relates resonant, if overly brief, observations of the older dog and two cats that share her home, and vividly describes her human “Mother” when they met: “Curly brown hair, big brown eyes, light on her feet, oozing energy.” Further Hurricane stories, perhaps expressing other facets of the dog’s personality, might have even broader appeal.
A well-written, tightly focused novelette that will resonate primarily with avid dog lovers.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-4602-8859-7
Page Count: 60
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
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
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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