A nicely put-together thriller from the talented Gould (Medusa's Gift, 1991, etc.), who can play all the pieces like another Bobby Fischer—but can't check to save her soul. The winding backcountry roads of Ireland, with their antiquated markers, hairpin turns, and narrow shoulders, are better suited for sightseeing than racing. This makes them the ideal setting for a rally, of course, since it ensures the international publicity that all the backers crave. And since the finish line is across the border that separates Northern Ireland from the Republic, it serves as a good photo-op for politicians who want to identify themselves with Peace and Harmony. There are a few problems, however. For one, Princess Victoria Anne, the blackest sheep of the Royal Family's tawny flock, has entered the race incognito. Also, bombs start going off along the course, and a high-society wedding is being held the day after the rally at Kyteler Manor, the estate of an Irish arms smuggler—while the Anglo-Irish Summit talks just happen to be under way a few miles down the road. It would be a good occasion for mischief if one were of a mind, and, this being Ireland, the occasion is not likely to be missed. One of the drivers, an American chap named Ludo, seems mischievous indeed. Something of a celebrity on the racing circuit, he is having an affair with his co-driver, the mother of his best friend Sam. Sam, meanwhile, is being held hostage by some nasty characters in New York. And all three of them have been invited to the wedding at Kyteler Manor, since the bridegroom was a roommate of Ludo and Sam's at Yale. There's a good deal more at stake than who will catch the garter: a terrorist plot, for instance, to devastate New York, London, and Washington, using smuggled plutonium. Will help arrive in time? Marvelously plotted for most of its length, with vivid, frightening characters, splendid dialogue, and excruciating suspense. But the story, alas, crashes and burns in a rushed, clumsy, unconvincing climax.
Pub Date: March 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-8050-4117-6
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1997
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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