An evocative novel that details the gradual evolution of an artist and a woman.
Rose tracks the development of a confused, creative girl in this debut bildungsroman.
Growing up in 1960s Texas, Airstream is at odds with her parents. Her mother, D.J., is the bullying, artistically inclined daughter of wealthy cattle farmers; her father, Mitchell, is the rage-filled aspiring ball player who impregnated D.J. Airstream is named for the trailer where her parents lived during D.J.’s pregnancy, before they were given a large home in a prominent neighborhood by her grandparents (with the understanding that they’d buckle down and stop embarrassing the family). Yet D.J.’s pathological insistence on being “u-niqe” and Mitchell’s abusive temper only increase over time, driving Air deeper inside herself. After the family moves to California, she discovers a group of personalities in her head that whisper to her in voices that only she can hear. When her parents kick her out of the house on her 18th birthday—she comes home to find her belongings stacked unceremoniously on the front porch—Air confronts a confounding world of men, promises, and compromises. She decides that she will become an artist, but she must also find a way to love herself, regardless of the affection she receives from other people. That, and tame the voices in her head. Rose writes in a conversational prose that is never far from Air’s thoughts: “She wondered what she was missing out on. It seemed like all her girlfriends had boyfriends walking with them. Did they hang out somewhere before going home?” The plot builds via a slow accumulation of events, and, while it never becomes truly compelling, it settles into a rhythm that keeps the reader engaged. Though the novel is at least 100 pages longer than it needs to be, the comprehensive exploration of Air’s life, from the trends that shape her to her attempts to escape them, succeeds in presenting the reader with a fully developed character. In the unlikely specificity of Air’s problems, the reader finds a human that feels surprisingly universal.
An evocative novel that details the gradual evolution of an artist and a woman.Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4917-7496-0
Page Count: 406
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Entertaining and thoroughly engrossing.
Another reboot of Jane Austen?!? Hadlow pulls it off in a smart, heartfelt novel devoted to bookish Mary, middle of the five sisters in Pride and Prejudice.
Part 1 recaps Pride and Prejudice through Mary’s eyes, climaxing with the humiliating moment when she sings poorly at a party and older sister Elizabeth goads their father to cut her off in front of everyone. The sisters’ friend Charlotte, who marries the unctuous Mr. Collins after Elizabeth rejects him, emerges as a pivotal character; her conversations with Mary are even tougher-minded here than those with Elizabeth depicted by Austen. In Part 2, two years later, Mary observes on a visit that Charlotte is deferential but remote with her husband; she forms an intellectual friendship with the neglected and surprisingly nice Mr. Collins that leads to Charlotte’s asking Mary to leave. In Part 3, Mary finds refuge in London with her kindly aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner. Mrs. Gardiner is the second motherly woman, after Longbourn housekeeper Mrs. Hill, to try to undo the psychic damage wrought by Mary’s actual mother, shallow, status-obsessed Mrs. Bennet, by building up her confidence and buying her some nice clothes (funded by guilt-ridden Lizzy). Sure enough, two suitors appear: Tom Hayward, a poetry-loving lawyer who relishes Mary’s intellect but urges her to also express her feelings; and William Ryder, charming but feckless inheritor of a large fortune, whom naturally Mrs. Bennet loudly favors. It takes some maneuvering to orchestrate the estrangement of Mary and Tom, so clearly right for each other, but debut novelist Hadlow manages it with aplomb in a bravura passage describing a walking tour of the Lake District rife with seething complications furthered by odious Caroline Bingley. Her comeuppance at Mary’s hands marks the welcome final step in our heroine’s transformation from a self-doubting wallflower to a vibrant, self-assured woman who deserves her happy ending. Hadlow traces that progression with sensitivity, emotional clarity, and a quiet edge of social criticism Austen would have relished.
Entertaining and thoroughly engrossing.Pub Date: March 31, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-12941-3
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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