The black is there, but the comedy comes and goes in this novel about quirky Sandspit Crossing—a sort of dusty, down-under Winesburg, New Zealand—by the author of Then Upon the Evil Season (not reviewed). Athol Buck's parents are among the first longtime residents to flee the town's sagging economy and seek fortune elsewhere. Athol remains with his neighbor and best mate Magdalen Maidstone, the bun-coiffed, Harley-riding spinster who runs the town library and would like to run Sandspit Crossing. The only person of culture and vision amid a sea of philistines, Miss Maidstone (as she's called) is like a benign Miss Jean Brodie; with lone protÇgÇ Athol, she launches grand, eccentric schemes designed to jump-start the town. But she's working with a bunch of loopy no-hopers: Mr. Ritter, the butcher, carves sausage phalluses to mark his love for the unattainable librarian before going berserk; Mrs. Mills is strangled with her husband's pajama string while he is found bound and gagged with his underpants; Beryl's a drunk and an adulteress; Charlie's a drunk and a madman; and the radical feminists are tea- partying old hens. Maidstone panhandles, writes letters to corporations, rolls in mud to rescue landmarks, and slings cow patties at members of Parliament—anything to keep dust and disinterest from burying her beloved hometown. Then Athol's parents, who've become Hollywood hotshots, send for him and Maidstone: Will they go? The conclusion, which answers this question, is as zany, tidy, and improbable as the ending of a Scooby Doo episode. Some of the Kiwi-speak is as difficult to read as ``shoving a pound of butter up your bottom with a knitting- needle,'' but it's the genuine, randy article. Gritty rural realities, wacky humor, and madcap antics—an odd mix, but it works...intermittently.
Pub Date: July 6, 1994
ISBN: 0-7206-0906-2
Page Count: 182
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s...
The traumatic homecoming of a wounded warrior.
The daughter of alcoholics who left her orphaned at 17, Jolene “Jo” Zarkades found her first stable family in the military: She’s served over two decades, first in the army, later with the National Guard. A helicopter pilot stationed near Seattle, Jo copes as competently at home, raising two daughters, Betsy and Lulu, while trying to dismiss her husband Michael’s increasing emotional distance. Jo’s mettle is sorely tested when Michael informs her flatly that he no longer loves her. Four-year-old Lulu clamors for attention while preteen Betsy, mean-girl-in-training, dismisses as dweeby her former best friend, Seth, son of Jo’s confidante and fellow pilot, Tami. Amid these challenges comes the ultimate one: Jo and Tami are deployed to Iraq. Michael, with the help of his mother, has to take over the household duties, and he rapidly learns that parenting is much harder than his wife made it look. As Michael prepares to defend a PTSD-afflicted veteran charged with Murder I for killing his wife during a dissociative blackout, he begins to understand what Jolene is facing and to revisit his true feelings for her. When her helicopter is shot down under insurgent fire, Jo rescues Tami from the wreck, but a young crewman is killed. Tami remains in a coma and Jo, whose leg has been amputated, returns home to a difficult rehabilitation on several fronts. Her nightmares in which she relives the crash and other horrors she witnessed, and her pain, have turned Jo into a person her daughters now fear (which in the case of bratty Betsy may not be such a bad thing). Jo can't forgive Michael for his rash words. Worse, she is beginning to remind Michael more and more of his homicide client. Characterization can be cursory: Michael’s earlier callousness, left largely unexplained, undercuts the pathos of his later change of heart.
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s aftermath.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-312-57720-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
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
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