Writer/husband/father Maurice Locksley faces a midlife crisis consisting of writer's block and marital uncertainty in this fourth novel and sequel, of sorts, to Duberstein's debut, The Marriage Hearse (1987). In the summer of his 48th year—``summer of my second death,'' as he calls it—Maurice has brought his two sons, Willie (from a previous marriage) and Ben (from the current one), to the family summer house in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains. His wife, Kim Orenburg (a.k.a. Kayo), also a writer, is spending a month in San Francisco having her screenplay—genteelly entitled ``Is it Natural to Fuck a Walrus?''—produced for public television. Meanwhile, daughter Sadie (also from a previous marriage) has just returned from Paris with new boyfriend Daniel in tow. Maurice, recovering from a monstrous bout with walking pneumonia, misses Kim, misses having a working space of his own, and is about to miss his book deadline. He suddenly decides to build a studio on the property— his own version of Xanadu. Not one to repress an impulse, he enlists the boys straight away and begins the project without bothering to get the appropriate permits. Needless to say, Maurice ends up going head-to-head with the local building inspector, who happens also to be the local builder. And something else is clearly amiss: The daily calls from Kim have stopped, and she fails to arrive on the scheduled night. When she finally does get home, bearing news of an infidelity, the humbled Maurice retreats to Xanadu to sort it out. Eventually, he, Kim, and the kids all get back on track. An endearing portrait of modern family life from a husband/dad's perspective: Duberstein has created a warm, witty, and self-effacing male protagonist whose funny insights and quirky ways make him immensely appealing.
Pub Date: May 1, 1995
ISBN: 1-877946-59-1
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Permanent Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1995
Florian’s seventh collection of verse is also his most uneven; though the flair for clever rhyme that consistently lights up his other books, beginning with Monster Motel (1993), occasionally shows itself—“Hello, my name is Dracula/My clothing is all blackula./I drive a Cadillacula./I am a maniacula”—too many of the entries are routine limericks, putdowns, character portraits, rhymed lists that fall flat on the ear, or quick quips: “It’s hard to be anonymous/When you’re a hippopotamus.” Florian’s language and simple, thick-lined cartoons illustrations are equally ingenuous, and he sticks to tried-and-true subjects, from dinosaurs to school lunch, but the well of inspiration seems dry; revisit his hilarious Bing Bang Boing (1994) instead. (index) (Poetry. 8-10)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-202084-5
Page Count: 158
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1999
Anna may learn to laugh with, instead of at, Grey, but the constant lampooning leaves the reader numb.
Can a young, preternaturally successful corporate executive overcome his 50 shameful secrets to find true love?
Andrew Shaffer (Great Philosophers who Failed at Love, 2011), writing as Merkin, skewers both E. L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey and Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight in his debut novel. Both series are certainly ripe for parody, yet Shaffer misses a real opportunity by indulging in easy, crude jokes, rather than incisive satire. Shaffer’s Anna Steal, like James’ Anastasia Steele and Meyer’s Bella Swan, suffers from a relentless interior monologue. Unfortunately, she offers little in the way of thought or advice, but instead wonders how elevators work and gulps in awe of Mr. Grey. Anna meets Grey while interviewing him for Boardroom Hotties, the magazine her too-often-hung-over roommate writes for, and the attraction is instantaneous. Grey quickly seeks to acquire Anna, dazzling her with his wealth by purchasing Wal-Mart just to give her the afternoon off for a date, buying Washington State University just to relieve her of taking tests, flying her about in his fighter jets and helicopters, ordering two of everything on the room-service menu, and whisking her away to a private island. Yet Grey has “dangerous” secrets. Unlike Edward Cullen, who was a lethal vampire, or Christian Grey, who sought the perfect submissive for his domination, Earl Grey indulges in rather tame danger. His secrets include a fondness for spanking, swimming in silver thongs, dressing up as an elf, and decorating with black velvet paintings. Warning Anna about his kinky sexuality, he introduces her to his Room of Doom, where they play Bards, Dragons, Sorcery and Magick. More a Master of Dungeons and Dragons than BDSM, Grey shocks Anna not with his deviance but his self-delusions.
Anna may learn to laugh with, instead of at, Grey, but the constant lampooning leaves the reader numb.Pub Date: July 31, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-306-82199-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Da Capo
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
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