Strong, wide-ranging tales that more than fulfill the promise of the author’s first book.
In the year 2000, as the millennium shifts, the characters in these 11 short stories shift their own perceptions by connecting with others.
Behar (Turn the Page, 2015, etc.) explains in an author’s note that he first drafted these tales in 1998 and 2002; as a result, a millennial preoccupation with change is at the heart of this well-observed collection. In the opening story, “Death Threats,” a struggling rock band finds itself making a devil’s bargain with Jennifer Newman, the daughter of a hated radio station owner. They’d hoped to manipulate her father by getting her to sing with them; soon, as the band’s lead singer, she brings them new success, but the narrator misses their old freedom, which is gone like Jennifer’s former pudginess: “they swear 2000 is the year we make it big…[but] when I look at Jennifer’s washboard stomach, all I can think about is what we’ve lost.” As this example shows, change can be transformative but also uncomfortable—or even strange, as in the story “Seepage.” In it, a suburban couple’s sweaty sensuality, symbolized by a fuel oil leak, at first disgusts their straight-laced neighbors, only to later become a welcome, if unwholesome, seduction. Other stories, told from first- and third-person perspectives, explore a range of viewpoints, including that of a young boy puzzled by his Chinese friend’s grandmother and her superstitions; those of a 30-ish yuppie couple hoping to adopt a Russian boy; and that of a young woman going fishing with her boyfriend. In all these situations, Behar ably employs a flexible, natural voice to trace his characters’ realizations. For example, in the final story, a makeup artist for a flamboyant women’s wrestling team describes an unlikely but dramatic romance between a fan and a wrestler: “I held out for a guy who would look at me the way Red had looked at Mount Fuji. It took fifteen years for that guy to come along. It was worth the wait.”
Strong, wide-ranging tales that more than fulfill the promise of the author’s first book.Pub Date: Nov. 25, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5393-3015-8
Page Count: 212
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 23, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
