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PRIVILEGE

Name: PRIVILEGE
Author: Mary Adkins
ISBN: 978-0-06-288708-5

by Mary Adkins ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 10, 2020

A timely and resonant novel.

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The lives of three women are irreparably changed after a sexual assault accusation rocks their college campus.

Adkins’ (When You Read This, 2019) sophomore novel follows Annie, Bea, and Stayja as they navigate the complexities of Carter University. When Annie, a self-conscious white scholarship student, accuses Tyler—a fourth-year student and the son of Carter mega-donors—of sexual assault, all their lives begin to collide. Bea, a biracial student enrolled in the Justice Scholars Program, is assigned as Tyler’s student advocate—a job she finds complicated and unsettling as a feminist. Stayja, who's white, works at an on-campus coffee shop to help support her family and save money for nursing school. Over a series of deep conversations, Stayja and Tyler fall into a romantic relationship of sorts. After the accusation goes public, Stayja chooses to believe Tyler even when her friends and family express their concerns. Adkins' writing provides a multifaceted portrayal of campus life and politics in the #MeToo era. One moment in particular shows how deftly and honestly this novel treats trauma. Annie cycles through confusion, rage, and every emotion in between. When she thinks back to confronting Tyler about the assault (which he vehemently denies), she tries to diagnose her reaction: “I recall hope so vicious that it sliced through me, disguising itself as belief. Because while I don’t think I did believe him, I wanted to believe more than I’d ever wanted anything.” The diverse cast of characters helps portray the way race, class, and gender affect power dynamics and inform our worldviews. Following a traumatic climax, the novel races too quickly to its ending, though it’s both satisfying and realistic. In the wake of their suffering, Annie, Bea, and Stayja find ways to heal with hope and disillusionment in equal measure.

A timely and resonant novel.

Pub Date: March 10, 2020

ISBN: 978-0-06-288708-5

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Dec. 8, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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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

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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DISTANT SHORES

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2002

Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her...

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Another middle-aged mom in a muddle.

After years of false starts and big hopes, Elizabeth’s ruggedly handsome husband Jack, a former football star, just landed a spot as a sportscaster on national news. He still loves her, even though much younger women are giving him come-hither looks. Heck, he doesn’t want to betray the love of his life after she helped him kick drugs and stuck by him even when he was a struggling has-been. And won’t it seem hypocritical if he fools around with his sexy assistant while he does in-depth reporting on a rape case involving a famous basketball center? Well, he fools around anyway. Elizabeth, nicknamed Birdie, knows nothing of this, but she withdraws from Jack when her hard-drinking, salt-of-the-earth father has a stroke and dies. Now no one will call her “sugar beet” ever again. Time to return home to Tennessee and contend with Anita, the sort-of-evil stepmother so trashy she wears pink puffy slippers all day long. Naturally, it turns out that Anita actually has a heart of gold and knows a few things about Birdie’s dead mother that were hushed up for years. Mom was an artist, just like Birdie, and an old scandal comes to light as Anita unrolls a vibrant canvas that portrays her secret lover. Perhaps, Birdie muses, her mother died of heartbreak, never having followed her true love or developed her talent. Has she, too, compromised everything she holds dear? Hoping to find out, Birdie joins a support group that promises to reconnect confused women with their passion. She and Jack separate, prompting a how-dare-you fit from their grown daughters. Will Birdie fly her empty nest? Will she go back to college for a degree in art? Will her brooding watercolors ever sell?

Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her previous tales (Summer Island, 2001, etc.).