A sobfest about a mother, her brain-damaged child, and the two men she’s loved. Rice’s eighth novel confirms the worst fears of those who admired her earlier work, particularly Crazy in Love (1988) and the flawed but interesting Secrets of Paris (1991). Perhaps in an effort to gain wide readership—and maybe even a nod from the all-powerful Oprah—a solid domestic novelist has turned sentimental and trendy, constructing her story around topics a generous publicist might call “ripped from today’s headlines” and a disappointed fan might deem way too topical and formulaic. Shortly before Dianne Robbins gave birth to a developmentally disabled daughter, her handsome, irresponsible fisherman husband, Tim McIntosh, leaves her. He couldn’t deal with the fact that his child would be less than perfect. Twelve years later Dianne and Julia are in the same rural Connecticut town, dependent on Dianne’s plainspoken librarian mother, Lucinda, and Tim’s pediatrician brother, Alan, whom Dianne had dated once before marrying Tim. Although Alan is still in love with Dianne, instead of admitting this to her’she loves him too, by the way—he stays close by ministering to Julia. Soon, however, the lovers admit their feelings and ba-boom, something bad happens: Dianne is in a freak accident, and by mistake the wrong McIntosh—Tim—is called to the scene. Will the long-suffering Dianne, the ideal mother, the Good Person, succumb to her ex’s charms? Will Alan the Saint forgive Tim for behavior that stems, Rice tells us, from his pain at watching another brother die in adolescence? In case all this isn’t hokey enough, tune in to the misunderstood neighbor girl who baby-sits for Julia and provides Dianne with a glimpse of the daughter she might have had, and to last chapter, “Julia’s Story,” in which the 12-year-old who cannot speak reveals her thoughts and feelings. Predictable plot, stock characters, and unnuanced emotion. The good news: At least there are no violins.
Pub Date: Feb. 8, 2000
ISBN: 0-553-11073-X
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1999
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
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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