A fun, unique novel, engagingly told from a child’s perspective.
In Lourie’s (Wizards and Warriors of Kriatha, 2012) latest novel, a mute 6-year-old observes the lives around her and tackles a mystery.
The suburbs of Brisbane, a charming Australian city, might seem ordinary, but for one girl named Evie, her neighborhood in Norman Park is a parade of endless fascination. Evie temporarily lost her power of speech due to a fall which damaged her larynx. Forced into silence, the girl becomes a sharp-eyed observer, quick to see the everyday magic in the world around her. From Evie’s point of view, we meet women like Mrs. Moorhouse, a compulsive cleaner whom Evie renames “The Fadeaway Lady” due to her predilection for muted colors. She encounters Rose Harkness, a kind, generous woman who introduces Evie to her first Shakespeare play and later presents her with the Bard’s complete works as a gift; even after Evie’s sister draws and scribbles on the book’s pages, it remains “a thing of beauty” to Evie. However, the child is frightened of Mrs. Edith Diamond, a grieving widow whom the child nicknames “the Wicked Witch of the Parade.” Evie’s neighbors gossip constantly, but at least initially, it seems that they have few worries in their quaint surroundings. But when Rose is suddenly accused of murder, Evie’s cleareyed observations become crucial to solving the mystery. Lourie offers a colorful, original tale, and Evie’s observations highlight the freshness of a child’s perspective. Overall, the novel delivers a highly readable, engaging story, rich with zany neighbors and an intriguing mystery. With Evie as narrator, the hidden secrets of the suburbs truly come alive.
A fun, unique novel, engagingly told from a child’s perspective.Pub Date: Nov. 20, 2012
ISBN: 978-1479272105
Page Count: 226
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Feb. 21, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
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
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
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.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
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