by Lombe Kenani ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 20, 2016
An uneven tale of the occult.
In this debut novel, modern life clashes with African magic as a young British woman finds herself the target of her stepmother’s jealousy and animosity.
The opening lines of Kenani’s book set the stage for this strange tale: “Real zombies have no memory of taste, emotion or warmth. My name is Anne Hoboka. I was a zombie.” Anne is the protagonist and narrator, and this is the story of how she became, temporarily at least, a zombie. Her trouble begins when she accepts a warm invitation from her stepmother, Tamara, who lives in Johannesburg, to spend winter break with the family on a trip to Rio de Janeiro. The group includes Anne’s father, her two stepsiblings, and Tamara. Anne agrees to leave the cold of London, where she is a third-year university student, to spend some time in the sun. But the family vibes in Rio are unsettling. Her father spends most of the vacation reading while Tamara begins lacing into Anne for no discernible reason: “You always have to be the centre of attention, you always have to be in control, and you always fight!” Anne returns to London and begins to slip increasingly into a serious depression. Always a high achiever, she now starts missing classes; she stops eating; she loses her boyfriend, Fritz. This ambitious tale offers a captivating premise and the tantalizing seeds of an engrossing mystery with an intriguing heroine—an inside look at the gradual breakdown of a psyche. Unfortunately, Kenani doesn’t build a framework through which to understand Anne or the relationships between family members, who are scattered from South Africa to Sweden. There are no referential backstories. It is difficult to comprehend why Tamara’s treatment of Anne results in such a total deterioration of her mental state. And Fritz’s repeatedly bland reactions to Tamara’s cruel phone rants—at one point, he says that maybe “she’s trying to help you”—are additionally puzzling. Anne has become paranoid. But is she delusional, or has she been placed under a curse? This question provides strong narrative potential. But the prose, overloaded with mundane, day-to-day details, lacks enough energy to create a compelling drama.
An uneven tale of the occult.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5333-5264-4
Page Count: 212
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951
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
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APPRECIATIONS
by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006
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
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