by Lane von Herzen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 16, 1991
First-novelist von Herzen's tale of an interracial friendship in early-20th-century rural Texas is based, in part, on oral history from the author's own forebears; and, indeed, there is a hearthside, grandmotherly, yarn-spinning rhythm to the telling of this story of tragedy and hardship, courage and love—all given a cosmic weight with ghosts slipping in and out. In Copper Crown, the color barrier was strong, the treatment of blacks by (poor) whites in general nakedly cruel. White Cassie and black Allie had to talk ``girl'' things in secret. Cassie, an ``almost bride'' at 15, had seen Murray, her husband-to-be, run off with cousin Lily Mark. But Murray and Lily Mark would leave Cassie a legacy—a fine horse and then, when doomed Lily Mark returned, the baby Ruby. It's with the horse and Ruby that Cassie and Allie finally leave the hell Copper Crown turned out to be—away from Cassie's sister's grave, Allie's dead brother, and the rows of innocent hanged black men. Eventually, the two will find work and home (of a kind) with brutal, stupid Mr. Skeet, owner of a ``dining house.'' Days are thin and hard, but with the friendship of a Mexican hired hand, they plant trees secretly, raise Ruby, save pennies. (Later, the dead Lily Mark appears, electric blue, from time to time, checking up on her child.) Finally, through chance and grim luck, the women own the restaurant. But then Warren, Allie's big husband, steps between them. Warren dislikes Cassie ``for her kind''; she dislikes him for ``seeing kinds instead of persons.'' There's a vicious killing, as well as the presumed end of a lifelong friendship, but at the close, hosts of the living and the dead—and soon-to-be dead—have a party. In a murmurous, intimate idiom, a moving tale of strength in terrible times, and a wise understanding of the power of ``person''-hood as opposed to ``kind''-hood.
Pub Date: Sept. 16, 1991
ISBN: 0-688-10688-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1991
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BOOK REVIEW
by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951
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
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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006
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
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