A slice of life, vividly rendered, that most Americans will never experience.
Set in the Philippines of the early ‘70s, a pivotal turning point in the country’s history, Layumas’s historical fiction novel paints a vivid picture of a young man coming of age in a chaotic society.
David Cordero Eastman is the son of an American GI and a Filipino bargirl. When he is only seven years old, David’s father abandons him and his mother, condemning them to a hopelessly impoverished existence. In a culture where Muslim, Christian and Communist ideologies clash, David grows into an embittered teenager. His father’s rejection and his mother’s chronic illness (and the poverty and filth of his surroundings) are sharply contrasted by the wealth and decadence of Americans and bourgeois politicians. On a stormy September night, David leaves his mother asleep in their rat-infested, dirt-floor hut. He pledges his loyalty to the Communist Party, only to find that the local leader, suspicious of his glaringly American features and previous aversion to violence, merely grants him probationary status within the group. While David’s best friend, Archie, becomes an even closer comrade, his girlfriend, Juliet, cautions him against declaring a political affiliation. When the Marcos regime enforces martial law, David’s cohorts target major military leaders. During an assassination attempt, Juliet is killed in the crossfire. Eluding political chaos, Archie’s betrayal and his grief over Juliet’s death, David seeks refuge on the plantation of a powerful American millionaire who cares more about the people than acquiring wealth. While there, he meets an attractive nurse who takes him to church and teaches him about spiritual healing. The writing ranges from well done to dodgy, plagued by occasionally choppy dialogue, misspellings and grammatical errors. Additionally, not all foreign words and customs are explained. Despite these problems, the book is unusually rich in authentic visuals and has genuine cultural appeal, its characters remaining believable and three-dimensional throughout.
A slice of life, vividly rendered, that most Americans will never experience.Pub Date: June 14, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-4134-6849-6
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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