Lemann's third novel moves farther away from her native New Orleans, and farther from the engaging and eccentric world of chaos and decay that made her first book (Lives of the Saints, 1985) such a delightful, boozy romp. The girlish voice of Lives here sounds too cutesy, an affectation that no longer suits Lemann's more serious purposeto show that ``honor is home,'' a purpose as ill-conceived as it is awkward-sounding, for the values the author discerns in her pantheon of venerable southern men (honor, decorum, generosity) are as vague as her all-purpose adjective ``old-fashioned.'' Turning to her inestimable New Orleans clans, the Colliers and the Stewarts, Lemann chronicles the big decision in 28-year-old Grace Stewart's life: whether to marry the parochial Monroe Collier, a journalist, or to accept the hand of Walter Sullivan, an investment banker she meets during a family vacation at a Virginia resort. An admitted ``incorrigible flirt'' who cultivates a ``dilapidated air of hopelessness,'' Grace bats her eyelashes a lot and imagines herself a ``failed and tragic figure.'' While slightly crazed Walter copes with insecurities about his purpose in life, Grace introduces him to the ``fiery pantheon'' of the title: a place reserved for the noble men she admires, mostly elderly gents like her father and the judge for whom she clerks. When the Stewarts continue their family sojourn abroad, Walter follows, invited by Grace's mother, who hopes to cure him of his psychic ailments. After Monroe finally joins them somewhere in the Mediterranean, Walter heads to London, where he resumes his work for Merrill Lynch. Only then does Grace realize her mistake: She mistook Monroe's stability and its ``ideal of Southern Living'' as the key to her happiness. A love letter to investment bankers, especially those with poets' souls, this coy and grating fiction fails to convince us of its ``demented scope.'' Instead, Lemann indulges her fondness for all things quaint and dashing, nostalgia for an imagined past.
Pub Date: March 8, 1998
ISBN: 0-684-84114-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1998
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
