Of special interest to native Chicagoans, but will appeal to those who don’t mind keeping a scorecard of the many players.
Along its meandering way, this narrative details the inner workings of a longtime political machine.
Set in a fictionalized city strongly resembling Chicago, this action-packed novel reveals–and almost exults in–the municipality’s political corruption by tracing the reluctant rise of city Alderman Eamon DeValera Collins, more generally known as “the Chairman.” The novel chugs through the late 20th century, fueled by personal loyalty, behind-the-scenes reciprocity and just a little old-fashioned strong-arming. The Chairman is a career pol in the eighth ward whose sobriquet derives from his powerful and lucrative position as head of the city council’s zoning committee. An old-school backroom dealmaker in a city still ruled by monolithic machine politics, he’s set for life. But when the mayor is assassinated (apparently by organized crime, though no one seems eager to investigate too closely), a young reformer unexpectedly manages to get elected as his successor. The ensuing consequences–for the chairman and the city–take more than a decade to unfold, and the novel takes frequent detours to explore the nefarious infighting, nepotism and graft that motor the machine. But without being an apologia, the book also provides ample evidence of the machine’s efficiency, resilience and service to the public. Quinn, a journalist, provides a wealth of damning detail–both of the politicians’ shenanigans and the voters’ indifference, as long as their streets are safe and the city runs smoothly. What’s most interesting and original, though, is not the down-and-dirty politicking, but the discussion of how the machine adapts to changing times. These cagey bosses modernize their methods by courting the new populations taking over their old ethnic wards–here, African-Americans, Mexicans and gentrifiers replacing the Irish and Italians, among others–and encouraging their sons and daughters to earn fancy academic credentials. However, the book’s wealth of detail and concern for verisimilitude can sometimes bog down the action as the author retraces history to introduce a new character or digresses into anecdotes which may illustrate the city’s corruption, but don’t always further the plot.
Of special interest to native Chicagoans, but will appeal to those who don’t mind keeping a scorecard of the many players.Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4392-5559-9
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Dec. 24, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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