A mostly breezy read that sheds light on one woman’s relatable struggle.
Debut author Holder offers a novel about an abused young mother’s quest to survive.
In June 1967, Liz Harmon tells her husband, the drunken Ron, that she’s leaving him. He responds violently, forcing her to flee with her two young children—bloodied, missing a tooth, and afraid. Fortunately, she’s able to move in with her boss, Lucille Frantz. Liz earns money dancing at a bar called The Jet, although after Ron’s attack, she’ll need to stay offstage until she heals. She wants to start a brand-new life without her husband in the picture, but she finds the prospect difficult—there are medical bills, lawyer’s fees, and the well-being of her kids to think about. Where will the money come from? How long will she be able to stay with Lucille? Meanwhile, Ron travels to Nashville to stay with his parents and try to turn his life around; as his father tells him, “If you want your family back, you have to get yourself right first. That means stop the drinking.” But his chances at success are anyone’s guess, and it seems sure that if he decides to come back to town, trouble won’t be far off. Family troubles are at the heart of this narrative that’s both recognizable and sprinkled with surprises. Readers will find themselves engaged by the fates of both the exotic dancer and her estranged, unpredictable husband. Liz lives a small-town, celibate existence for most of the book, but this eventually gives way to erotic scenes and travel to new places. The dialogue can be mundane at times, as when a mechanic goes through the play-by-play of replacing the spark plugs in Liz’s car. But despite such speedbumps, the book progresses quickly, showing that even the most impossible circumstances may have an exit.
A mostly breezy read that sheds light on one woman’s relatable struggle.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5390-2114-8
Page Count: 318
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: April 28, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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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