A thoroughly enjoyable and iconoclastic comic novel.
In Henry’s farcical adventure, a man pursued by the law flees his Central Asian country to become a fisherman in Hawaii but finds himself still hunted by his enemies.
Jefir Zaqq lives a simple life in Taboor City, Zazaristan, a (fictional) Islamic nation in Central Asia that’s experienced dizzying shifts in political fortune. Jefir sells melons with his brother, Rahim, but lands himself in trouble one day when he’s stopped at a checkpoint by Bashir Hallazallah, a powerful warden looking to shake him down. Jefir attempts escape, and in the process stabs Hallazallah’s son with a corkscrew, which proves fatal. Now Jefir’s life in Zazaristan is in danger, but while on the run, he finds unexpected help from mysterious businessman Wahiri Shwarma, who arranges to smuggle him out of the country on a cargo ship. For nine days, Jefir hides in a prefabricated home headed to somewhere in North America, which turns out to be Honolulu. Jefir changes his name to Jeff Zachary and almost immediately finds work as a fisherman on a tuna boat, the Monkey Fist, captained by the cantankerous Tasha Hale. Henry artfully combines satirical hilarity with genuine drama in these pages as Jeff is doggedly pursued by Customs and Border Patrol agents as well as a vengeful Hallazallah as he tries to raise funds to have Rahim join him in Hawaii. The plot is entertainingly absurd throughout; Henry shows himself to have a keen eye for the ludicrous and a sharp wit in its literary expression, as when he humorously lays out Zazaristan’s political upheavals in list form: “Centrally Planned Market Oligarchy, Proletarian Empire, Traditional Monarchy, Mixed Fascism, Second Wave Monarchy, Plutocratic Democracy, Full-on Anarchy, Uruguayan-Style Co-Participation, Social Republic, etc.” Indeed, this novel is a rarity in that it’s simultaneously politically irreverent, genuinely funny, and impressively thoughtful.
A thoroughly enjoyable and iconoclastic comic novel.Pub Date: Oct. 9, 2023
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 397
Publisher: Operation Dodecahedron
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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