The 19th-century tale ``Undine'' by Baron de La Motte-FouquÇ inspired this novel about a spirit-bedeviled romance between a water maiden and a nobleman. At the beginning, Osborne tells the reader what neither lover knows: Undine, one of a race ``not quite mortal, not quite fish,'' was left as a babe on an old fisherman's doorstep by an ``ancient king of the sea'' who hoped ``to mate his kin with humanity.'' Eighteen years later, Lord Huldbrand discovers the maid, and in due course they are wed. Despite evil spirits that hover about her, Undine herself seems as pure as the water to which she is so mysteriously drawn. But the couple's happiness is haunted by strange manifestations, and Huldbrand's certainty of Undine's innocence is invaded by doubt. Soon he rejects her, and Undine vanishes into what seems to be a watery grave; but as Huldbrand prepares to remarry, she reappears to take him with her to a ``piscine life'' in ``an eternity of water.'' The lushly atmospheric narrative will draw readers who enjoy dark, otherworldly fantasies. Osborne sustains the tone of menace, despite occasional lapses into the mundane. Somewhat overwritten, but true to its genre; appreciative readers may enjoy going on to Hudson's Green Mansions. (Fiction. 12-15)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1994
ISBN: 1-56402-119-X
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Six short stories, five of them about characters from Crutcher's novels. The protagonists are involved in sports, but the real theme is growing—grappling with something tough and finding the courage to carry on. For instance, in ``A Brief Moment in the Life of Angus Bethune'' (originally published in Connections, 1989, edited by Don Gallo), huge Angus has been elected Senior Winter Ball King as a joke: he can't dance. Too proud to stay away yet terrified to go, his problems are complicated by his secret love for the elected queen and by the fact that kids have always teased him because both his parents are gay. With wry courage, Angus achieves a triumph that should lighten any reader's spirits. The so-vulnerable Lionel (Stotan!) tries desperately to forgive the boy who caused his parents' and brother's deaths; less successfully, ``Telephone Man'' (The Crazy Horse Electric Game) is slowly loosening the heavy racism placed on him by his beloved father. In ``The Pin,'' Johnny wrestles his father in a can't-win battle neither wants to win—or lose; ``The Other Pin'' is about a wrestler in love with the girl he's supposed to beat at an upcoming match. Finally, ``In the Time I Get,'' Louie Banks (Running Loose) overcomes another kind of prejudice when he befriends a stranger who has AIDS. An involving group of stories, somewhat uneven in focus but all thought-provoking and discussable. (Fiction. 12-15)
Pub Date: Oct. 23, 1991
ISBN: 0-688-10816-4
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1991
A subdued romance from the author of the well-received Daniel and Esther (1990). The summer before college, Cassie travels from England to the Canadian woods, where she meets her father for the first time and also falls in love with Brent, a brooding, full-blooded Huron. There's little plot here, but Raymond adds some mild tension by giving the characters choices to make: as Cassie's father clumsily pushes her toward Don McFall, the shallow (but well-meaning) scion of a wealthy industrialist, Brent and his sister Lita must decide whether to follow their hearts and leave the reservation or to settle down with Native American spouses chosen by their parents. Despite an occasional passionate outburst (``I know you're not savages,'' Cassie says. ``I won't let my father decide what I do'') and some quiet weeping (Brent, especially, is prone to this), the tone is generally serene and reflective. By summer's end, Cassie and Brent realize that they love the forest too much to leave it for good, so they depart to their respective universities in good spirits, knowing that they'll be reunited in time. (Fiction. 12- 15)
Pub Date: Jan. 15, 1992
ISBN: 0-09-174389-3
Page Count: 107
Publisher: Hutchinson/Trafalgar
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1991
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