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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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MAGIC HOUR

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

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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

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WOMEN
by Kristin Hannah

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THE FOUR WINDS
by Kristin Hannah

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THE GREAT ALONE
by Kristin Hannah

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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951

A strict report, worthy of sympathy.

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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.