A well-intentioned but dated effort.
A Jim Crow–era tale of young love, faith, and perseverance.
Humble (The Scribe and the Sword, 2013) tells the story of Michael Hunter, a teenager who spends his time dreaming of learning to fly planes instead of focusing on school, friends, or church. His head-in-the-clouds attitude causes him to run afoul of his parents and classmates, including a group of local bullies. These tensions come to a head when he begins a relationship with his long-term crush, Karen. A chance, noisy encounter in the bushes between the two teenagers causes rumors to fly (“Sounded like some serious doings there….You two making out?”), and Michael finds himself at the receiving end of speculations and violence that tear his family and their small town apart and threaten his flying dreams. Michael, who is white, also receives scrutiny for associating with his African-American classmates. Humble addresses the racial tensions of the time and ably shows the effects of segregation, but this thread feels like it could be developed further. In addition, several uncomfortable racial and gender stereotypes appear in the text; e.g., Kim, a Korean man at an airfield, speaks in awkwardly broken English (“You leave now or Kim give you final lesson in martial arts, you no soon forget”), and Michael worries at one point that Karen “must be hysterical.” While Humble’s heart is clearly in the right place, these dated characterizations undermine the storytelling. And readers may balk at leaden lines like “Michael did not usually play sports and he was self conscious of his lack of skill.” The portrayal of Michael’s conflict is strong, however, as is the depiction of the consequences of his decisions.
A well-intentioned but dated effort.Pub Date: June 25, 2012
ISBN: 978-1475933376
Page Count: 208
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942
ISBN: 0060652934
Page Count: 53
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943
Deep schmaltz in the Bible Belt.
Christian-fiction writer Martin (The Dead Don’t Dance, not reviewed) chronicles the personal tragedy of a Georgia heart surgeon.
Five years ago in Atlanta, Reese could not save his beloved wife Emma from heart failure, even though the Harvard-trained surgeon became a physician so that he could find a way to fix his childhood sweetheart’s congenitally faulty ticker. He renounced practicing medicine after her death and now lives in quiet anonymity as a boat mechanic on Lake Burton. Across the lake is Emma’s brother Charlie, who was rendered blind on the same desperate night that Reese fought to revive his wife on their kitchen floor. When Reese helps save the life of a seven-year-old local girl named Annie, who turns out to have irreparable heart damage, he is compassionately drawn into her case. He also grows close to Annie’s attractive Aunt Cindy and gradually comes to recognize that the family needs his expertise as a transplant surgeon. Martin displays some impressive knowledge about medical practice and the workings of the heart, but his Christian message is not exactly subtle. “If anything in this universe reflects the fingerprint of God, it is the human heart,” Reese notes of his medical studies. Emma’s letters (kept in a bank vault) quote Bible verse; Charlie elucidates stories of Jesus’ miracles for young Annie; even the napkins at the local bar, The Well, carry passages from the Gospel of John for the benefit of the biker clientele. Moreover, Martin relentlessly hammers home his sentimentality with nature-specific metaphors involving mating cardinals and crying crickets. (Annie sells crickets as well as lemonade to raise money for her heart surgery.) Reese’s habitual muttering of worldly slogans from Milton and Shakespeare (“I am ashes where once I was fire”) doesn’t much cut the cloying piety, and an over-the-top surgical save leaves the reader feeling positively bruised.
Deep schmaltz in the Bible Belt.Pub Date: April 4, 2006
ISBN: 1-5955-4054-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: WestBow/Thomas Nelson
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2006
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