by Merrill Joan Gerber ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 15, 1991
Eight stories and a novella that are slick, competent, and, at their most successful—in the novella, for instance, in which an elderly woman kvetches her way into a retirement home and happiness—full of antic, bittersweet detail. Some of these are sketches; of the rest, the title story is a deft slice-of-life about a daughter faced with a live-in lover who's a bit solicitous and a mother who sends unexplained mammograms to her; the daughter, reading Kafka, finally decides on independence. Such surrealism balloons in ``See Bonnie & Clyde Death Car,'' wherein Phil and Lynn decide to go to Las Vegas—a downbeat story that seems spliced together from half-digested notes. In ``Honest Mistakes,'' a daughter holds a series of summer jobs, the last of which becomes the vehicle whereby she traces down a man who swindled her father of the family's life savings. The novella, however, itself made up of stories, is the book's reason for being: in ``Rad, Man,'' an accident with a Hanukkah candle leads the almost 80-year-old Anna to a reconciliation not only with her VCR-generation grandsons but also with contemporary culture; in ``Leaf Lady,'' Anna mistakes a ``filthy old man who ate pizza'' in a grocery store for her long-dead husband; and ``The Blood Pressure Bunch and the Alzheimer's Gang,'' wherein Anna plays piano for seniors before sidestepping a possible romance, brings her as low as she can go. ``Starry Night,'' set at Christmas, celebrates the season and brings her via flashbacks to authentic grief, while ``The Next Meal is Lunch'' ends at the aforementioned nursing home, after an accident, with Anna happy, holding ``the clear impression she was getting younger.'' Prolific Gerber (King of the World, 1990, etc.) creates in the novella a character who rages eloquently against the coming of the night. By comparison, the stories are mere afterthoughts. Overall, a strong effort.
Pub Date: Sept. 15, 1991
ISBN: 1-56352-011-7
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Longstreet
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1991
Share your opinion of this book
More by Merrill Joan Gerber
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2004
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
Share your opinion of this book
by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2008
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of...
Lifelong, conflicted friendship of two women is the premise of Hannah’s maudlin latest (Magic Hour, 2006, etc.), again set in Washington State.
Tallulah “Tully” Hart, father unknown, is the daughter of a hippie, Cloud, who makes only intermittent appearances in her life. Tully takes refuge with the family of her “best friend forever,” Kate Mularkey, who compares herself unfavorably with Tully, in regards to looks and charisma. In college, “TullyandKate” pledge the same sorority and major in communications. Tully has a life goal for them both: They will become network TV anchorwomen. Tully lands an internship at KCPO-TV in Seattle and finagles a producing job for Kate. Kate no longer wishes to follow Tully into broadcasting and is more drawn to fiction writing, but she hesitates to tell her overbearing friend. Meanwhile a love triangle blooms at KCPO: Hard-bitten, irresistibly handsome, former war correspondent Johnny is clearly smitten with Tully. Expecting rejection, Kate keeps her infatuation with Johnny secret. When Tully lands a reporting job with a Today-like show, her career shifts into hyperdrive. Johnny and Kate had started an affair once Tully moved to Manhattan, and when Kate gets pregnant with daughter Marah, they marry. Kate is content as a stay-at-home mom, but frets about being Johnny’s second choice and about her unrealized writing ambitions. Tully becomes Seattle’s answer to Oprah. She hires Johnny, which spells riches for him and Kate. But Kate’s buttons are fully depressed by pitched battles over slutwear and curfews with teenaged Marah, who idolizes her godmother Tully. In an improbable twist, Tully invites Kate and Marah to resolve their differences on her show, only to blindside Kate by accusing her, on live TV, of overprotecting Marah. The BFFs are sundered. Tully’s latest attempt to salvage Cloud fails: The incorrigible, now geriatric hippie absconds once more. Just as Kate develops a spine, she’s given some devastating news. Will the friends reconcile before it’s too late?
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of poignancy.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-312-36408-3
Page Count: 496
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2007
Share your opinion of this book
More About This Book
BOOK TO SCREEN
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.