ACROSS GREAT DIVIDES

Name: ACROSS GREAT DIVIDES
Author: Monique Roy
ISBN: 978-0615846682

by Monique Roy ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 7, 2013

Despite some promising subplots, this historical tale only skims the emotional surface of two of the 20th century’s most...

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In Roy’s (Once Upon a Time in Venice, 2007) novella, a Jewish family bears witness to Nazism and apartheid.

“[I]t’s hard to believe that little man will be anything,” says teenage Inge to her identical twin sister, Eva, during a 1932 concert at the Berlin Philharmonie. “I think he is somewhat comical…don’t you?” Of course, the man in question is no laughing matter: over the next six years, Adolf Hitler will transform the “cultural jewel” of Berlin into a city ravaged by anti-Semitism and teetering on the brink of war. Initially, none of Eva and Inge’s family members know what to make of the Nazis; their parents, Oskar and Helene, assume that the threat will blow over, while their younger brother Max urges everyone to flee the country. After surviving the horrific Kristallnacht pogrom in November 1938, the family wisely heeds Max’s advice. Using his connections to the resistance movement, he manages to sneak them out of Germany—first to Antwerp, Belgium, and then on a globe-trotting journey that takes them to France and Rio de Janeiro. In 1944, the family settles in Cape Town, South Africa, where they finally enjoy calm and prosperity. The new restrictions of apartheid, however, force Eva, Inge, and the others to choose between fighting against oppression, fleeing once more, or protecting themselves by ignoring injustice. Roy’s narrative, based on her grandparents’ own flight from Nazi-era Germany to Cape Town, often feels assembled from clichés rather than specific, intimate details. Too often, the prose and dialogue rely on platitudes (“It was a constant and painful sight to watch human beings being cruel to other human beings”) and awkward exposition (“It’s ludicrous that Hitler blames the Jews for taking over the country, yet we are only one percent of the population”), which makes the story feel secondhand and never lived-in. Fortunately, the lives of Roy’s supporting cast feel more immediate; for example, the chapters focusing on Trudy, the twins’ best friend–turned-Nazi; and Zoe, the family’s South African maid, offer a more challenging, richer reading experience.

Despite some promising subplots, this historical tale only skims the emotional surface of two of the 20th century’s most devastating chapters.

Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2013

ISBN: 978-0615846682

Page Count: 222

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: March 17, 2015

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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MAGIC HOUR

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

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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

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951

A strict report, worthy of sympathy.

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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.