Women Under Siege

Name: Women Under Siege
Author: Lois Mathieu
ISBN: 978-1-5369-1081-0

by Lois Mathieu ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 22, 2016

A contemporary girl-meets-boy story that taps into an age-old lament by women: Men. Can’t live with ’em. Can’t live without...

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Mathieu’s (The Next to Last Drink, 2014, etc.) novel explores the evolutionary concepts of masculinity and femininity, the societal norms that shape us, and some good, old-fashioned romance.

Nora Bookbinder is a flinty go-getter of a gallery owner in Maine. She lives a happily single existence, helping her ailing father, Eugene; walking on the beach and discussing life with her best friend, Emma; and feeling that most men have a violent streak and that she’s better off without them. But when an earthquake hits (in an apt metaphor for the havoc it wreaks on the protagonist’s life), seismologist Drew Hollister comes to town. He’s smart, capable, and interesting, which would be enough to turn any woman’s head. When he turns Nora’s, in spite of her well-crafted defenses, he not only taps into her passion but pierces her very sense of self. It’s a cataclysmic shock that leads to her skipping town for a vacation. As readers watch Nora grapple with what love means and what it does, Mathieu’s prose is often ponderous (“Drew was always on my mind, continually, like a compressor running in the background”), and scenes often shift from past to present with stop-and-start jerks. Also, Nora’s independence-at-any-cost persona and distrust of all male-female relationships can make her feel less than three-dimensional; it’s hard not to want her character to evolve, even as one roots for her to hang onto her feminist ideals. “I had become like ordinary women I had long criticized for succumbing to desire,” Nora tells readers. “Loving Drew had made me vulnerable.” Of course, that’s exactly what love does—and how it often brings about the best in people. That said, women who’ve dealt with similar conflicts in their own lives will want to cheer Nora on.

A contemporary girl-meets-boy story that taps into an age-old lament by women: Men. Can’t live with ’em. Can’t live without ’em.

Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-5369-1081-0

Page Count: 290

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2016

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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SUMMER ISLAND

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...

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Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.

Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.

Pub Date: March 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-609-60737-5

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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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.