American Indians and colonial settlers struggle to understand each other in Virginia of 1700.
In just a few years, the Saponi Indian tribe has lost half of its people to war and the white man’s sickness. To make matters worse, it’s facing increasing pressure from more powerful Iroquois and Tuscarora raiders, and, of course, from the endless wave of European advancement. Unsure of how to meet these challenges, the Saponi chief sends his 13-year-old son, Kadomico, to school in Williamsburg, the capital of Virginia. This fast-paced work of historical fiction from Laird (Quail High Above the Shenandoah, 2006) then follows Kadomico and other Indian students as they learn more about the English, their “firesticks,” their “talking papers” and their religion. Meanwhile, Tuscarora raiders attack a defenseless Nahyssan village and capture a girl on whom Kadomico has a wild crush. Laird vividly describes daily life in 1700 for both colonists and Indians and peppers in some suspenseful fight scenes. Though generally well-researched, the book contains a few factual mistakes. Antelope, for example, never lived in the southeastern United States, and pheasants hadn’t yet been introduced. Some of the dialogue also comes across as wooden or hackneyed. “Horses act crazy, no good off-trail, no good in the river. Horses are no good,” an Indian warrior says at one point. Overall, though, Laird captures the spirit of the time. His characters, both Indian and white, are overwhelmingly brave, competent and interested in helping their fellow humans (not counting one group of drunken white yokels and the troublemaking Tuscarora). This is mostly a feel-good book. Laird hints at, but never goes into detail, about how the settlers eventually drove the Saponi and their neighbors practically to extinction. Perhaps that will come in the planned sequel. A worthwhile read that focuses on the daily lives of Indians and colonists rather than on famous historical events.
Pub Date: May 27, 2010
ISBN: 978-0982544327
Page Count: 363
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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
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