bookshelf

IN THE SHAPE OF A BOAR

Name: IN THE SHAPE OF A BOAR
Author: Lawrence Norfolk
ISBN: 0-8021-1701-5

by Lawrence Norfolk ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2001

One of the year’s most imaginative and challenging novels.

bookshelf

Acclaimed British author Norfolk follows his earlier critical successes Lemprière’s Dictionary (1992) and The Pope’s Rhinoceros (1996) with a complex symbolic novel whose several plots are set in classical Greece, Romania under Nazi occupation, and Paris in (it seems) the late 1960s.

The brilliant 100-page opening section is a vividly detailed account of a hunt in which a party of 60 renowned heroes (including one woman warrior: Atalanta) pursues the otherworldly wild boar inflicted on the kingdom of Kalydon by the aggrieved and vengeful goddess Artemis. It’s a fine piece of action writing, accompanied by numerous mock-scholarly footnotes throughout its first third—and also an absorbing analysis of the interrelations of Atalanta, her soulmate (and perhaps lover) Meleager (son of Kalydon’s King Oeneus), and their companion and antagonist Meilanion, a solitary “nighthunter” implicitly likened to the “dark” supernatural force they have together pledged to destroy. These three characters are recapitulated in those (whom we meet in Paris) of Solomon Memel, a Romanian refugee who was rescued by Greek resistance fighters and who later authored a famous allegorical poem entitled “The Boar Hunt”; the woman (Ruth) who directs a film inspired by “Sol’s” work; and Sol’s old friend Jacob, whose own annotations to a new edition of “The Boar Hunt” suggest that Sol has fabricated his own sufferings and exaggerated both the heroism of a woman guerrilla, “Thyella” (another avatar of Atalanta), and the epical malevolence of a German intelligence officer named Eberhardt, who may have been nothing more than an entry-level bureaucrat. The novel isn’t easy going, but Norfolk blends its disparate elements together with consummate skill, subtly dramatizing the intricacy and impenetrability of both legend and history (as Solomon puts it, “Our heroes never live the lives we require . . . . Their true acts take place in darkness and silence and their untellable stories rest with them in the cave”).

One of the year’s most imaginative and challenging novels.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-8021-1701-5

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Grove

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2001

Categories:

HISTORICAL FICTION | GENERAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
JOHN SATURNALL'S FEAST
by Lawrence Norfolk

- BOOK REVIEW
THE POPE'S RHINOCEROS
by Lawrence Norfolk

- BOOK REVIEW
LEMPRIERE'S DICTIONARY
by Lawrence Norfolk

bookshelf

WE WERE THE LUCKY ONES

by Georgia Hunter ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 14, 2017

Too beholden to sentimentality and cliché, this novel fails to establish a uniquely realized perspective.

bookshelf

Hunter’s debut novel tracks the experiences of her family members during the Holocaust.

Sol and Nechuma Kurc, wealthy, cultured Jews in Radom, Poland, are successful shop owners; they and their grown children live a comfortable lifestyle. But that lifestyle is no protection against the onslaught of the Holocaust, which eventually scatters the members of the Kurc family among several continents. Genek, the oldest son, is exiled with his wife to a Siberian gulag. Halina, youngest of all the children, works to protect her family alongside her resistance-fighter husband. Addy, middle child, a composer and engineer before the war breaks out, leaves Europe on one of the last passenger ships, ending up thousands of miles away. Then, too, there are Mila and Felicia, Jakob and Bella, each with their own share of struggles—pain endured, horrors witnessed. Hunter conducted extensive research after learning that her grandfather (Addy in the book) survived the Holocaust. The research shows: her novel is thorough and precise in its details. It’s less precise in its language, however, which frequently relies on cliché. “You’ll get only one shot at this,” Halina thinks, enacting a plan to save her husband. “Don’t botch it.” Later, Genek, confronting a routine bit of paperwork, must decide whether or not to hide his Jewishness. “That form is a deal breaker,” he tells himself. “It’s life and death.” And: “They are low, it seems, on good fortune. And something tells him they’ll need it.” Worse than these stale phrases, though, are the moments when Hunter’s writing is entirely inadequate for the subject matter at hand. Genek, describing the gulag, calls the nearest town “a total shitscape.” This is a low point for Hunter’s writing; elsewhere in the novel, it’s stronger. Still, the characters remain flat and unknowable, while the novel itself is predictable. At this point, more than half a century’s worth of fiction and film has been inspired by the Holocaust—a weighty and imposing tradition. Hunter, it seems, hasn’t been able to break free from her dependence on it.

Too beholden to sentimentality and cliché, this novel fails to establish a uniquely realized perspective.

Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-399-56308-9

Page Count: 416

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016

Categories:

RELIGIOUS FICTION | HISTORICAL FICTION

- BOOK TO SCREEN
Hulu’s ‘We Were the Lucky Ones’ Adds To Cast

bookshelf

MAGIC HOUR

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

bookshelf

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.