A cerebral, heartwarming story that proves that even grown-ups can face growing pains.
In Schiff’s (The First Supper, 2014) novel, the three adult Gerson siblings, devastated by the loss of their parents, examine their own lives and get a healthy dose of self-discovery.
Elaina Beth “Laine” Gerson, the eldest sister in her family, is a prosecutor whose sharp tongue has proven more successful in lawsuits than in love. (The newspapers call her the “wicked bitch of the East.”) She’s been unable to win the affection of a nice Jewish man, like her late parents would have wanted. The problem, she thinks, is that Jewish men find her too familiar; for example, when she meets would-be suitor Peter Goodman, she describes his reaction: “It was a look that flatly stated ‘I know you. From Hebrew school, from my teen tour to Israel, from the Chinese restaurant I go to every Christmas.’ ” After another failed attempt at romance and an emotional breakdown, she finds that a Gentile man may hold the key to her heart. Meanwhile, middle child and technology whiz Michael is lukewarm about the latest in a string of Gentile girlfriends, whom he dates as a form of rebellion against his Jewish identity. Patricia Lewis, whom he nicknames “Patty-cake,” has been expecting a proposal any day now—and she’s in for a disappointment. Youngest sister Rachel gives birth to twins, but she firmly takes a back seat in this narrative, often as the moderator between her two stronger-willed siblings. Schiff unifies the storylines with references to the titular Sand Game—an annual endurance competition in which Laine and Michael bury each other in sand. This smart romantic comedy is the second novel that Schiff has adapted from one of her plays, so it contains more repartee and introspection than fast-paced action. The Gersons’ internal conflicts about their Jewish heritage feature heavily in the narrative, but the basic human need to be loved is the most prominent theme. The author makes Laine and Michael both sympathetic and fallible, and she sharply defines the secondary characters, as well; Glinda (nee Glenn) Armstrong, a transgender waitress who floats in and out of Laine’s life, is a particularly memorable figure. Some turns of phrase are simply magical: “Rays of light...bounced around the city like Mexican jumping beans, turning dull green park benches into emerald thrones and humdrum taxicabs into lemon drop carriages.”
A cerebral, heartwarming story that proves that even grown-ups can face growing pains.Pub Date: July 17, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5349-8861-3
Page Count: 176
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
Genetically engineered dinosaurs run amok in Crichton's new, vastly entertaining science thriller. From the introduction alone—a classically Crichton-clear discussion of the implications of biotechnological research—it's evident that the Harvard M.D. has bounced back from the science-fantasy silliness of Sphere (1987) for another taut reworking of the Frankenstein theme, as in The Andromeda Strain and The Terminal Man. Here, Dr. Frankenstein is aging billionaire John Hammond, whose monster is a manmade ecosystem based on a Costa Rican island. Designed as the world's ultimate theme park, the ecosystem boasts climate and flora of the Jurassic Age and—most spectacularly—15 varieties of dinosaurs, created by elaborate genetic engineering that Crichton explains in fascinating detail, rich with dino-lore and complete with graphics. Into the park, for a safety check before its opening, comes the novel's band of characters—who, though well drawn, double as symbolic types in this unsubtle morality play. Among them are hero Alan Grant, noble paleontologist; Hammond, venal and obsessed; amoral dino-designer Henry Wu; Hammond's two innocent grandchildren; and mathematician Ian Malcolm, who in long diatribes serves as Crichton's mouthpiece to lament the folly of science. Upon arrival, the visitors tour the park; meanwhile, an industrial spy steals some dino embryos by shutting down the island's power—and its security grid, allowing the beasts to run loose. The bulk of the remaining narrative consists of dinos—ferocious T. Rex's, voracious velociraptors, venom-spitting dilophosaurs—stalking, ripping, and eating the cast in fast, furious, and suspenseful set-pieces as the ecosystem spins apart. And can Grant prevent the dinos from escaping to the mainland to create unchecked havoc? Though intrusive, the moralizing rarely slows this tornado-paced tale, a slick package of info-thrills that's Crichton's most clever since Congo (1980)—and easily the most exciting dinosaur novel ever written. A sure-fire best-seller.
Pub Date: Nov. 7, 1990
ISBN: 0394588169
Page Count: 424
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1990
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