A bare-bones, gritty, and entertaining first novel about street kids in 1955 Singapore. Ming's street-wise, primitive prose, written in a kind of clipped English, is initially jarring—``More talking turn into actions. The first successful job inspire others, some get caught. They learn, learn to exchange informations, about trust, about keeping their mouth shut, dress well to surprise victims as they change tactics.'' But a reader is soon swept up by the fast-paced story that's centered on Kwang, a 14-year-old who raises fighting spiders to compete with the spiders of his rivals. Highly organized and ritualized, these spider fights are the source of considerable neighborhood pride, and there's considerable betting done over their outcome. Like most other ``spider boys,'' Kwang is poor and looking for greater street action. And as with most Darwinian subcultures, the world of the Singapore street-urchins is dominated by the need to save face or to ``give face'' (show respect)—an intricate and subtle system that Ming skillfully renders. Meanwhile, as Kwang's respect spreads, he attracts the attention of Yeow, the king of the young racketeers and someone who dreams of reincarnating an old Chinese secret society—one that was wiped out under Japanese occupation and is now kept under wraps by the strict British rule. With Kwang's help, Yeow could make the society a reality again, but things are quickly complicated when Yeow is smitten by Kim, Kwang's childhood sweetheart. Although Ming's is a familiar tale of coming of age within a criminal organization, his unique setting and raw, quick pace keep the tale compelling, even when the voice-driven story seems to move too fast, especially toward the end when the action-packed scenes might have played themselves out a bit more. Still, an interesting voice on an age-old theme.
Pub Date: June 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-688-12858-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1995
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
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