Next book

ROCK 'N' ROLL BABES FROM OUTER SPACE

The title says it all about this cartoonish second novel by the author of Eat Me (1997): Three alien babes escape to Earth in order to enjoy lots of sex, drugs, and loud music. Jaivin pretends that every pop sci-fi universe is real, from the space babies of the tabloids to the paranoid fantasies of The X-Files, and there's even a nod to Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker books, which clearly serve as some sort of prototype for the extraterrestrial antics here. Baby-Baby, Lati, and Doll are hybrid ``ayles'' (i.e., aliens) from Nufon, the most boring planet in the ``yoon'' (i.e., universe). The spawn of previous Earth abductees, the three aspiring rock star/sex fiends steal a rocket and head to Sydney, where Baby-Baby soon hooks up with Rasta-coiffed slacker and rocker wannabe Jake, the lead singer in the band Bosnia. After a night of otherworldly sex, Jake will do anything for his alien love, except commit. Meanwhile, the rock scene in Australia is mesmerized by the most amazing band they've ever heard—the three slightly greenish super-babes, whose antennas are assumed to be just part of their act. Up in space, an interplanetary committee, headed by Capt. Qwerk, decides to recapture the girls, before all of Earth learns of the ``Hidden Agenda.'' The babes manage to escape ahead of Qwerk, and bring a number of earthlings along for the ride—including UFO-spotting George, who's been waiting a long time for alien contact; and Ebola Van Axel, a leather-clad metal superstar. Their hasty getaway is assisted by none other than God, who makes cameo appearances throughout. The flimsy plot, though, is beside the point: Jaivin devotes most of her energy to re-creating the sounds of such things as inter-species lovemaking: ``Um um um! Socky wocky wocky! Um um um! Chp chp chp. Ooooooh. Smelly welly welly . . . .'' Strained humor and annoying bouts of intergalactic jive talk. ($50,000 ad/promo)

Pub Date: April 13, 1998

ISBN: 0-7679-0165-7

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Broadway

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1998

Categories:
Next book

THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

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

Categories:
Next book

MAGIC HOUR

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

Categories:
Close Quickview