Once again, de Berniäres turns magic realism into a literary Latin American theme park where the familiar attractions— levitating villagers, centuries-old wanderers, protean plants and animals—appear with nothing new or original added. Mythic hero Dionisio Vivo—fighter of druglords in Se§or Viva and the Coca Lord—is now living in the remote Andean village of Cochadebajo. Vivo, the father of 30 children, though he still mourns his beloved, long-dead Anica, is a national columnist—the country's conscience—as well as one of the defenders of the village against the assault by bloodthirsty religious fanatics bent on rooting out heresy. Plot, though, is secondary—it's here only to provide successive set-pieces in which various characters can display their larger-than-life vices, virtues, and talents: ailing Cardinal Guzman is haunted by the demons of his corruptions, torments that are cured only by surgery—his tumor turns out to be an unborn twin—and his decision to leave the church and do good with his longtime mistress and their dead son, Christobal, reborn as a humming bird. Also included: a Mexican musicologist married to twins Lena and Ena; the ghost of Thomas Aquinas, who, appalled by the fanatical priests' sincerity, wishes he'd never written; Professor Luis, whose inventions save the village from destruction; conquistadors in rusting armor; a false priest who levitates and quotes salacious classics; jungle cats that eat strawberries and chocolates; a corrupt, sexually obsessed national-president; an ancient, starving, Quixote-like knight in search of ``the beast'' he must kill. And the grand climax, the battle that defeats the crusading fanatics, is undercut by a frenetic display of ambitious but old-hat literary virtuosity. Faux fiction that fails because—not in spite of—the writer's best efforts.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1994
ISBN: 0-688-12583-2
Page Count: 388
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Irish novelist Williams (Four Letters of Love, 1999, etc.) takes spiritual issues seriously—and continues to write...
John the Apostle, now a revered Master in exile with a small band of Christian brothers on the island of Patmos, confronts heresy, schism and doubt.
Infirm of body but strong of spirit, John lives in harsh conditions with a fragile company of believers. Together they await the return of Christ, but impatience and uncertainty create fissures that are beginning to split the group apart. The leading dissenter is Matthias, a cunning cynic who doubts the divinity of Christ and proclaims himself a “divine” being. His scheme involves orchestrating a performance in which he “miraculously” brings back to life a supposedly dead follower of the Master. Matthias begins to eerily echo the words of Christ: “I come to speak the truth. For it has been given to me. I am come a light into the world that whosoever believeth in me should not abide in darkness.” At this point the group splinters into the believers in Matthias and those who remain loyal to John. Meanwhile, an announcement reaches Patmos that the Emperor is dead, though shortly before his death he had issued a decree that the persecution of Christians should cease. Elated, John and his small circle of believers travel to Ephesus, where they discover that Christianity has become a fragile sect in danger of dying away. Those who seek favors from John want something tangible rather than the insubstantiality of a “mere” blessing. The true believers have their faith tested by being spurned and spat upon. As John’s hold on life keeps getting more tenuous, Matthias (whom John labels the “anti-Christ”) reappears to wreak yet more theological havoc. Ultimately, John, “in perfect clarity,” is graced with a vision of the end of time and dictates the divinely inspired words to an amanuensis.
Irish novelist Williams (Four Letters of Love, 1999, etc.) takes spiritual issues seriously—and continues to write compellingly about them.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-59691-467-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2007
The inestimably gifted Boyle (The Road to Wellville, 1993, etc.) puts on a preacher's gown and mounts the pulpit to proclaim a hellfire sermon against bigotry and greedin this rather wan updating of The Grapes of Wrath. If Boyle is to be believed, Los Angeles County has gradually evolved into a kind of minimum-security prison, with the prosperous Anglos living in fear of their lives behind the walls of their suburban security compounds. Delaney and Kyra Mossbacher moved as far from the city as they could, and settled in a tastefully ``authentic'' tract development just above Topanga Canyon. Au courant to a fault, Kyra brings home the bacon as a hot-shot real estate agent, while Delaney stands in as Mr. Momcooking their lowfat meals, seeing after their pets and their son, and writing a monthly column for a nature magazine. Below them, in the Canyon itself, C†ndido and AmÇrica Ricon have crossed the Mexican border illegally and seek refuge of their own in the makeshift camp they've erected. C†ndido meets Delaney at the beginning of the story when Delaney runs him down with his car, and this pretty much establishes the tone of their relations throughout. C†ndido, as hapless as his namesake in Voltaire, wants only to work and look after his pregnant wife, but he's thwarted on every side by an exasperated white society with no room for him. Implausible circumstances keep bringing Delaney and C†ndido back to each other, and the tension that builds between them becomes an image of the ferocity that smolders within the city around themexploding in an apocalyptic climax that combines a brushfire and a riot, with an earthquake thrown in for good measure. A morality play too obvious to be swallowed whole: Boyle's first real lemon so far. (First printing of 100,000; First serial to Los Angeles Times Magazine; $100,000 ad/promo; author tour)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-670-85604-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1995
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