Stein’s deftly written literary novel examines the art world through the eyes of a young artist, Rand Taber.
The plot centers on a dispute between two longtime friends, Simon Pruhar and Harris Montrose. Montrose paints a depiction of an artistic Muse being raped, and it appears on the cover of Vanity Fair. Simon believes the rapist looks a great deal like him, and feeling hurt and betrayed, he sues. The court trial forms the story’s main narrative thread: Did Montrose maliciously portray his friend and in the process damage Pruhar’s reputation? Unfortunately, the trial’s outcome matters little to the reader. More interesting are the characters themselves—especially Montrose because of his casual cruelty to his friend—and the discussions about what constitutes art. Both men are colossal jerks, although Rand doesn’t seem especially bothered by that fact. He’s been hired as Montrose’s assistant, but his main focus is on getting laid by Binny, who happily keeps a two-boyfriend-at-a-time policy. Rand asks another character, “When did you become an asshole?” It’s a question he well could ask three or four people in this novel. Stein’s writing is fun, with original phrasing and expressions that make this a bearable story even though it’s about obnoxious, self-important artists. Montrose describes Michelangelo’s David as the world’s largest homosexual, and Rand observes of a woman: “She wore clothes only to show she wore nothing underneath.” On the other hand, there is plenty of beautiful descriptions of irrelevancies, such as the grill marks on the salmon a woman is cooking. The novel is certainly a worthy read for anyone interested in the art scene, but readers seeking an outcome to care about may want to keep looking.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-57962-223-7
Page Count: 206
Publisher: Permanent Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2011
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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
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